"First off is either a weapon or a weapon upgrade."
"I mean, I'm not even going to ask so hand over whichever one you want to upgrade."
Thinking about it for a second, I opted to hand over my kusarigama instead of the long rectangular weapon wrapped in cloth on my back, as they were literally just chunks of silver that had been forged into those shapes, lacking necessary enhancements for good control like a grip, balance, and lightness.
"So, do you want me to give this to a blacksmith, or do you just want me to do it right here right now?"
Most would choose to hand it over to the blacksmith, as they mistakenly believed that because the blacksmiths took longer to upgrade the item, the quality was better, but in actuality, because of the secret the AI was hiding, it was able to do it much quicker and for a much higher quality.
"Sorry for troubling you."
With my intent implied into those words, my kusarigama was pulled by an unknown force, where in front of me, a blinding light enveloped it.
After a few seconds, the light died down and two new weapons faced me.
The both had red, fire-like wood as their handles, with contours in them that fitted my hand perfectly.
There was a layer of the highest quality rubber, that was patterned, over the contours, making the grip even better.
The metal for the blade of the sickle, the chain, and the weight had all turned black, with streaks of silver like damascus steel on it.
They floated over to me where I picked them up again.
I swung them around a little and was astounded by the difference between the old version and the new one.
First off, due to the removing of a lot of metal from the blade and chains, by making them a lot thinner, and because there was no metal handle anymore, the weight was reduced by a lot.
Furthermore, the blade was so sharp that it created a buzzing sound every time it was swung through the air.
"Shzzzzzzz, shzzzzzz."
"Also, I've put an enchantment on the chains, so that if you inject your spiritual energy in them, they'll expand and contract as you wish." (AI)
"Thank you so much for the gift!" (Akimitsu)
"Alright, alright, I know I'm just that great." (AI)
'Fucking asshole.' (Akimitsu)
"So now, for your second gift, I'll be letting you decide from 3 options."
"First is a nightmare grass that let you directly break through to the peak of (D+) rank."
"The second option is just a gift of 100,000,000 Lams."
(A/N: 1 Lam = 1 Yen = 0.0078 USD so 100,000,000 Lams = 100,000,000 Yen = 782,074.80 USD)
"The third and final option is a singular moment of help from me."
After hearing these options, I felt like it really was a no brainer, but I didn't want to be too hasty.
"Can I ask you a question about the options?"
"Yeah, shoot."
I prepared to ask something that could definitely be the cause of my death.
"Is the third option help from this form of yours, or your true form?"
...
"Hahahahahaha, how did a kid like you manage to learn about my true identity."
In a matter of seconds, the childish voice that seemed to come from a computer had turned into a deep, unfathomable bellow that reverberated throughout my body and soul.
I winced at the overwhelming presence of just a sliver of the true god's presence.
That's right, the childish AI, that had held a death game just for its entertainment, was in reality, the true god of this world. "He" was the father of the angels and demons, the administrator of our status windows, and the maker of this entire universe, well inside "My Side of Midnight" that was.
Well, he didn't have all that power now as most of his power had been stolen by his children, so all he could do was just watch as his children tore each other apart in world after world.
But, when it came to the special case on Earth, where there was peace, he decided that he couldn't just be a bystander anymore as this was probably his best chance, so his consciousness infiltrated and merged with the main AI's in both Laramil and Raikato.
Back to the situation, I pressed on and asked, "So which one is it?"
"Well, I was only going to give you help as the AI, but since you know my true identity, I'll change it to help from my true form, just for you."
"So, what can I call you?"
"Just call me Xion, it's the name of the original AI."
"Okay Xion, it's a deal."
And with that, I now had the protection of the most powerful person in this novel, well, for a singular moment.
"Now, for your third reward, it's just going to be better options for your job."
"So here's the list."
After he said those words, a status window like screen appeared in front of me.
[1. Slaughterer
2. Warlord
3. Soul Sovereign
4. Archmage
5. Deviant
6. Saint
7. Siren
8. Tyrant
9. Traveler
10. Kleptomaniac]
"Which one do you want to chose?"
I was stuck in a revere for a few seconds because the options that I had been given had exceeded my expectations.
Jobs like Soul Sovereign, Archmage, Tyrant, Traveler, and Kleptomaniac were just extremely overpowered, even the MC would probably almost die facing an opponent with one of these jobs.
But, I didn't want any of them.
"May I make a job request?"
I could almost hear the curiosity disguised in "his" silence. (A/N: Akimitsu doesn't call the god Xion right now as the presence of the true god is still there.)
"Sure, if it's not a job that's any more powerful than one of the ones on the list, then I can bestow it upon you."
"Then please allow me the chance to become a Magician."
...
"Are you sure?"
'Man, this guy is just plain up looking down on me.'
"Yes, I'm sure."
With the utterance of those words of confirmation, a darkness engulfed me.
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Sorry about not updating yesterday.
I spent all of yesterday night making the new cover for this novel (check it out if you didn't already notice), a new cover for "Omniscient Tower Ranker" that will be released when the hiatus ends, and the cover for my newest novel, "The Villain Always Dies in the End".
You might be thinking, "Isn't this guy too ambitious right now? He's definitely gonna burn out." Well, you'll find out the reason why I won't when you read the synopsis.
Here's the synopsis:
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I was a regular guy.
I had a regular job.
A regular family.
And, although I was still a bachelor, I had been in several relationships, although none of them got far enough to lead to marriage.
Then, I was stabbed in the back.
I didn't even get to see their face before everything blacked out.
'Why was I killed? I just lived a normal life!'
Then, I woke up in a baby's body.
At the age of 10, when we were finally getting our status windows, I suddenly realized something.
When I looked at my twin sister, I almost choked from shock.
'Fuck, don't tell me I got reincarnated into "that" novel!'
'And furthermore, I'm the main villain, the villainous brother!'
This is the story of my quest for a lazy life, one where I didn't have to do anything. I just wanted to live a lavish life as the son of the duke, my sister could do whatever she wanted and save the world, and I wouldn't interfere.
At least, that was what I thought at first.
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This is literally just going to be a novel that I can relieve my stress into, and a novel where I explore how to write slice of life and romance so don't expect regular updates. But, intermittent updates doesn't mean that the quality will be lower, it will have the same in-depth world building of my other novels, and the plot will be pretty good, at least I think it will be.
This is a novel that embodies my question of, "Why the fuck are all Korean romance novels female lead?"
The best example of this is if you go to Novel Updates, and then go to "Random Novel" up on the right side. Try filtering out only romance and Korean. Once you do this, keep clicking the random novel button, and I guarantee you that 99.99% of the novels will be female lead with the other 0.01% being a BL.
So yeah, read this novel if you're just as frustrated as me.
Here's the link: https://www.webnovel.com/book/the-villain-always-dies-in-the-end_23934303406710305