[You have won 1 u/p]
[You have won 1 u/p]
Hearing that sweet sound, Illios came back to reality.
"I made it! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Anyone watching him would likely have called the police to take this madman away.
After a few minutes of savoring his achievement, Illios immediately thought about his next plan.
"Now I need to buy the other two systems and try to combine them."
This idea was a bit ambitious since, unlike the cheap crypto system, the multiplier system cost around 800 u/p at Lv0, and its multiplier was 1.5, giving a total profit of 2.25 u/p per second, or 8,100 u/p per hour.
He only had to wait 13 minutes to earn enough for the multiplier system. In the meantime, he wondered why there were no additional messages from the system or about the next target, such as grace period events.
"I guess the system wants us to adapt to reality," Illios mused.
After imagining his future if his plan succeeded, Illios realized that the 13 minutes had already passed and went to check.
[You have won u/p]
[Balance: 801 u/p]
Seeing this, he immediately set out to buy the multiplier system.
[Do you want to buy the Lv0 multiplier system for 800 u/p?]
Illios confirmed his purchase right away.
Suddenly, another message appeared:
[You have gained 1 u/p]
[You have won 1 u/p. With a multiplier of 1.5 from the multiplier system, you have won a total of 2.25 u/p.]
Seeing that the system worked as he thought, Illios was pleased and checked the value of the final piece for his grand plan.
[Critical system Lv1: 20,000 u/p
Enhances the rarity of an acquired item with a 70% chance to double its rarity, a 29% chance to triple it, and a 1% chance to increase it fivefold.]
"As I suspected," he thought, "the critical system essentially upgrades an acquired item."
For instance, if someone has a sword with F rarity and uses the most basic effect of the critical system, they could acquire a D-rank sword—or even an A-rank sword if the highest effect activates.
"Since there's only one 'rarity' in universal points, this effect would apply to the multiplier by increasing its percentage. This would allow me to improve both the multiplier and critical systems more efficiently."
Illios calculated that, with his current earnings, it would take 148 minutes—or 2 hours and 28 minutes—to gather enough for the critical system.
To kill time, he entered the world chat to review the topics discussed there.
He discovered some interesting things, like how everyone, regardless of origin, could understand each other perfectly (except for idioms and slang). He also learned that there might be over a hundred million humans in the game—a huge number.
Some people speculated that there would be an elimination round or something similar at the end of the grace period.
"Sounds likely, but I don't care," Illios thought. He was focused on becoming the ultimate powerhouse in universal points.
With that, he'd be able to buy enough perks to reach the top of any system ranking.
When the time for the critical system had passed, Illios set out to purchase the last piece of his plan.
[Do you want to buy the critical system for 20,000 u/p?]
After confirming, this happened:
[You have earned 1 u/p. With a multiplier of 1.5 from the multiplier system, you have earned a total of 2.25 u/p.]
[You have earned 2.25 u/p. Since this currency cannot be upgraded, you get 2 times the acquired amount.]
[You earned 4.5 u/p.]
"Well, well, well, haha," Illios thought, as his wild plan was working perfectly. He imagined the amazing items he'd soon be able to buy in the system's store.
"Now, I just need to continuously upgrade the multiplier and critical systems, and no one will be able to match me," he said to himself.
While he was reveling in his success, the universal system finally reacted, and a notification appeared for all players:
[Dear players, we hope you have adapted to your situation. Next, we will introduce the activities available during the grace period, allowing you to earn enough u/p for your first transmigration.]
[During the grace period, you will be given special bodies tailored to each activity to ensure fair competition.]
Following this, a list of activities appeared, ranging from simple races to a melee weapon battle royale.
"Even though they say they'll encourage fair competition with these bodies, it's not really fair. The mind is just as crucial for success," Illios thought.
A fit person, for instance, knows how much their body can handle and is better prepared for physical challenges, unlike an obese person who might struggle. In most cases, the fit person would win just because they're mentally better adapted.
"Not that it matters to me, since I don't need points," he chuckled. Illios wasn't planning to participate in the tests—he preferred to watch the show and continue perfecting his u/p mining method.
--
And so, 10 days passed.
[Do you want to upgrade the multiplier system for 15,000,000 u/p?]
Accept
[You have earned 1 u/p. With a multiplier of 10,000, you have gained a total of 10,000 u/p.]
"I've upgraded the multiplier system to Level 6!" Illios exclaimed.
The maximum level of the multiplier system increased earnings by 10,000 times. The system was theoretically "cheap" because it multiplied items obtained through methods where data could be manipulated.
For instance:
In a "Lord World" or a world where data can be clearly seen, the system works as the consciousness of that world provides resources based on what its system represents. The multiplier system then modifies this data and sends it back to the world consciousness.
However, this doesn't work in worlds where data isn't easily visible, such as fantasy worlds without status windows or spiritual worlds. To make it work, Illios would need to combine it with another system that directly provides items, like a login system.
"Now, the final step—up to 50 days," Illios muttered as he checked the following.
[Do you want to upgrade the critical system for 150,000,000 u/p?]
Accept
[You have earned 10,000 u/p. Since this currency cannot be upgraded, you get 10 times the acquired amount.]
[You have earned 100,000 u/p]
The critical system was far more expensive because it upgraded the quality of objects. It could turn a basic bomb into a mythical nuke. Plus, it had a 29% chance to increase quality by 100 times or a 1% chance to increase it 1,000 times, depending on how the world consciousness valued the item.
"Now I just have to wait 50 days and spend my earnings in the most spectacular way," Illios laughed, planning to spend the time accumulating u/p for his upcoming adventure.
During those 40 days, Illios got bored and participated in the grace period activities purely for fun, while everyone else competed like starving wolves.
After losing at chess for the tenth time and returning to the dark world where he'd started, Illios received a message that chilled him.
[ERROR!]
[ERROR!]
[ERROR!]
[AN ILLEGAL OPERATION HAS BEEN DETECTED…]
[RESOLVING...]
"Shit," Illios panicked, fearing punishment for his exploitation of the systems.
This was why, despite having an account with more than nine zeros, he hadn't spent any of it except on the multiplier and critical upgrades. He figured if they caught on, they'd just reset his account—or so he hoped.
After a while with no further warnings, he checked his balance.
[Balance: u/p: 10,000,000,000,000,000,1000]
"Huh? Nothing's gone?" Illios thought. He checked his systems, and everything was maxed out and intact—except the crypton system, which had stopped producing u/p.
Then he saw this:
[Anomalous use of the crypton, multiplier, and critical systems has been detected and corrected.]
"This went to the global chat…" Watching the chat, Illios saw various reactions appear.
Host #1243223: "Damn! Someone hacked the system and got wiped out."
Host #4534343: "Good thing I didn't try that. Whoever did is probably dead now."
Host #56935832: "F in chat."
"F x2."
"F x3."
Seeing the flood of "F's" in the chat, Illios was surprised that nothing had happened to him.
He realized that he should take the grace period trials seriously, in case he lost everything and needed to prepare for the next phase.
--
Nine days passed, and just a few hours before the grace period ended, Illios had only earned an extra 1,000 u/p.
"They still haven't taken anything from me."
[Balance u/p: 10,000,000,000,000,000,1000]