A few hours later Norn finally came back from his shopping spree.
He couldn't stop thinking about the fact that he ran out of food, and if not for the doll's help - he would've died of hunger!
To prevent that, he decided to spend some more time on actually making sure that he doesn't run out of food. Ever.
Thus, the most logical decision in his head was quite simple - buy as much food as possible.
Of course, this time he also considered water, vitamins, vegetables...
In total, he spent more than 3000$ on food alone.
He had to sell all of his remaining goblin bodies to get such a sum, but in his mind it was worth it.
Well, at least he didn't regret it.
Obviously, he bought a little bit more than he actually needed, but so what? He wont mind sharing it then.
As for cooking all of it?.. He decided that it's too much work, if anything - he can just eat it raw.
It's not like he bought something that just needs to be cooked.
Everything he had in his inventory could be eaten raw without any damage to his body, so who cares if he eats it raw?
He ate barely cooked meat before, and it's not like it's that much different from meat he bought in the store... right?..
Well, whatever it is - Norn already decided on it.
...
"Now that i look at it... It's a bit too good to be real, isn't it?"
Norn was staring at his monitor.
On it was a map of every dungeon in his city, it was publicly available and one could just register directly with his system.
"I dont remember registration being there the last time?.."
As he looked at the map he found a particular dungeon.
It was the first time he saw something like that, and he wasn't alone.
This dungeon was a bit special, and people had to register before actually entering it.
How could one register?
Well, just open that website, register on it and press [Apply].
That's literally all you needed to do.
It didn't check for you skills, abilities or even stats.
Why was it like that?
Well, Norn didn't know, but he readily pressed the button.
[Thank you for participating in [Champion's Challenge 1]!]
[You will soon be able to enter...]
[Your position in queue: 22]
[Approximate wait time: 15:04:37]
"So it's really a part of the system?.."
"No wonder it's so badly designed then, holy hell."
Norn wasn't surprised.
To him, it was quite obvious that no sane human being would be able to create something that can track those dungeons.
It even showed how much time was left until it erupts!
"Well, if says when it will erupt - how the fuck are people missing it?"
Norn couldn't understand it.
It clearly says when the dungeon will erupt, so why are monsters still running on the streets?
Could it be that people dont know about this website?
If so - how the fuck does he know about it?
He couldn't even remember how he found it, he just knew that it exists...
"Didn't i find it on the forum or whatever?.."
"Well, whatever, it's beneficial to me if people dont know about it."
Of course it was.
Norn wasn't a hero or a saint, why would he expose such a thing?
It showed him every dungeon in his city, sometimes even before they appeared!
Sadly, as [Info] page said - it was all tied to his own power.
Stronger people will see more stuff, and Norn's "vision" was limited to [C] dungeons.
"Oh so that's why, and here i am thinking they just dont exist."
"Wait.. Cant i just run around and check dungeons on the map then?.."
"If it's not there - it means it's above [C] grade"
"Whoever made this rule is a fucking retard" [False]
That's also true, but whether or not it's actually a "bug" is unknown.
Whoever made this website doesn't actually have a reason to hide those dungeons from people that use it.
He gave then access to it already, and it's not like there's a subscription system there, it was free.
If anything, one should be grateful that it even exists...
Too bad it's ad campaing was shitty and barely anybody knew about it for some reason.
"Whatever."
Norn decided to not think about it anymore, as it was generally a bad thing for him to do.
Everytime he tried thinking - he'd come up with the worst idea ever.
It'd be good if it was just bad, but sometimes his morally questionable actions actually worked.
As an example - The doll that he basically stole from her dungeon.
He tried taking her out of his inventory, but...
[No]
"What the fuck do you even mean "No"?"
"Who the fuck are you to tell me "No"!?"
He couldn't do that for some reason. [Mine]
No matter how much he tried it always failed, and the only reason he got was [No].
"Why do i even need her then? I thought i'll get myself a nice maid..."
His dissapointment was immeasurable and his day was ruined.
No, his whole life was ruined because of that!
He tried so hard to get her, just standing there was horrible...
And he cant even take her out of his [Inventory]!?
What bullshit was that!?
Well, i dont know, Norn doesn't either, so who knows? [Me]
That's right, nobody does.
So, if anything, he can just wait and see what comes out of it. [Nothing]
...
"Well then, let's start reading?"
"I have like 14 something more hours to understand at least something..."
Norn thought as he looked at 5 books infront of him.
Obviously, those were the ones he took from [Auwiren's Playground], he wont read random books for no reason.
"Hmm... Well, whatever, let's start with the easiest one, i guess..."
Saying that outloud he chose [Magic for dummies].
Why would he say it though?.. He was alone here... [False]
Norn wasn't really sure if the book was really what it said, but he couldn't just take something like [True use of Elemental Qu'on on the battlefield]
What the fuck was a "Qu'on" in the first place?
Anyway, as he readied himself to read something useful first time a while...
[You found a stat book!]
[Would you like to redeem it?]
"What..."
"Are you fucking kidding me or something?"
"Do not redeem."
[Please put your hand on the book if you wish to redeem it.]
"You fucking cunt."
Norn couldn't believe his eyes.
That one thing that he thought would make him a proper mage turned out to be a simple stat book!?
What bullshit was that!?
What about the words inside of it?
He doesn't need to know it or something!?
This book probably had more information about magic than his whole world combined!
Why couldn't he read it!?
"Nah, i dont believe you."
Saying that he rushed to the table books were laying on.
He didn't actually touch him after he left the dungeon, he could just place stuff wherever he wanted using his [Inventory]]
"I just got one stat book, right?"
"The rest are normal... RIGHT!?"
He screamed as he touched the book...
[You found a stat book!]
[Would you like to redeem it?]
"FUCK YOU"
[You found a stat book!]
[Would you like to redeem it?]
[You found a stat book!]
[Would you like to redeem it?]
"NO I FUCKING DONT"
[Please put your hand on the book if you wish to redeem it.]
[Please put your hand on the book if you wish to redeem it.]
[Please put your hand on the book if you wish to redeem it.]
"STOP WITH THOSE PROMPTS YOU CUNT!"
[Inventory]
"Fuck off from my table you useless pieces of trash"
"AND YOU, WHOEVER DECIDED THAT THOSE SHOULD BE STAT BOOKS, FUCK YOU!"
Norn was quite angry, to say the least.
His only hope was crushed just like that.
There's simply no way that he can become a decent mage without actual knowledge.
Even thought he was kinda stupid - he knew perfectly well that it's just not possible.
Unless his stats were a hundred times bigger than stats of his opponents...
But that's just wishful thinking.
Even if he took every single book from the library he doubted that he would climb to 100 [Magic].
"You, please, be a normal book..."
He said as he extended his hand towards the last book.
It was [Might of Magic].
He couldn't even help but weep a little.
As he touched [Redeem] the book it immediately started glowing slightly.
"What the fuck are you doing!?"
[The Doll is reacting to [Might of Magic]...]
[The Doll is redeeming [Might of Magic]...]
[The Doll is showing her gratitude to *******!] [Love] {Love}
"Oh, so i got 4 books instead of 5, fucking great."
"Who is she showing gratitude to? What the fuck? U're mine you [Adorable] doll!" [False]
"Also, why the fuck could she even activate it? Why didn't it ask ME?"
"Piece of shit system."
"Well, fuck you then."
Saying that out loud, for some reason, he took out 4 books that he had left...
"Redeem"
[+4 Intelligence]
[+3 Intelligence]
[+1 Intelligence]
[+7 Intelligence]
"Huh? It's not even [Magic] stat!?"
"The fuck do i need [Intelligence] for!?"
"Oh for fuck's sake, why cant you be normal for once!?"
Norn was completely dissapointed in the system now.
Not only dissapointed, but insanely angry aswell!
It's the angriest he's ever been!
It couldn't even compare to his previous "explosion", as it wasn't even that sad!
Norn wanted to break something as he looked around furiously...
But sadly, he took every piece of furnite into his [Inventory] and sold it some time after.
More than that, his dream of becoming a proper mage shattered right before him!
The system didn't even give him any actual power!
Why would he need [Intelligence]!?
This stat didn't contibute to offensive power at all!
Yeah, it does make him somewhat smarter, but its effect is negligible.
At most, it will just make his memory better.
Well, his logical thinking also improved thanks to this stat, but that's all.
He doesn't actually need it unless he has knowledge to leech from.
Does he have it? Well, he thought he did, but it turned out that those books were somewhat useless in the end...
"Fuck you..."
He whispered in a weak voice as he fell on his bed.
It was the last remaining piece of furniture left in his house apart from his PC table.
He didn't even move, he just wanted to sleep after all that bullshit he had to go through.
...
[Please come to the dungeon, you're next!]
System prompt appeared with a loud sound, waking up Norn from his peaceful sleep.
"Fuck you!"
He screamed loudly, clearly wishing for more sleep.
Alas, he knew that not going there would be a great loss.
It's not like you can find a dungeon with a queue everyday, can you?
So, he had no other choice but to be patient and just try to improve.
Soon after, he left his house.
This time he actually dressed properly, as his pants were insanely dirty and the shirt that he wore wasn't clean from the start.
Now, he was wearing a pair of brown pants and a greenish longsleeve along with white sneakers.
It wasn't exaclty stylish but it was the only clean set of clothing he could find in his inventory.
The rest was marked with [Dirty] to his amazement, he even took out some to check if it's true...
What do you think? Even though from a first glance it was clean...
The more looked - the more he found.
In the end, he decided to not argue with the system and just wear whatever's clean.
It's not like he cared anyway.
He wasn't the prettiest guy ever, so wearing a strange set of clothes wont make him uglier, it would just look somewhat fitting.
...
Some time later he finally arrived to the dungeon in question.
To his surprise, however...
He couldn't even see it.
The map on his phone clearly said that the dungeon is right infront of him, but the only thing there was...
"A fucking university? Are you kidding me?"
"You're trolling me or something?.."
It wasn't exactly a university, but the building looked exactly as he imagined a university would look like.
A somewhat old design, no fancy "new" looks and brick pathways on it's territory gave him this feeling.
"Well, whatever..."
He thought as he strolled inside...