The reddish-orange rays of the setting sun pierced through the window of the inn room, casting a warm golden glow across the wooden floor. I sat slumped on the edge of the bed.
Just outside the window, I caught sight of crimson clouds streaking the slowly darkening sky as night encroached.
The chirping of birds flying home to their nests became the faint background melody drifting into my ears.
Faintly, I could also hear the footsteps and conversations of people outside the inn, seeming to get swallowed up by the bustling din of the city's activities.
This was calming...resting in the room without thinking about anything was just what I needed.
Charlotte had already left me earlier to head to her office.
Before parting, she had asked me to meet her again in the morning.
So eager... I wanted to refuse. But... I sighed. Forget it.
I shifted my gaze to the air, where a transparent status screen hovered before my face. It displayed my current status.
Level 13 (50/100)
Stats: (+10)
Strength: 1
Stamina: 1
Endurance: 3
Intelligence: 1
Agility: 3
Luck: 1
I had 10 stat points to distribute. For a moment, I fell silent, carefully considering how best to allocate them.
I paused, pondering the stat upgrade options before me.
My fingers tapped slowly on the bedspread as my mind weighed the pros and cons of each choice.
Strength... It might be very useful if I had to fight barehanded. But it would be a different story if I was a sword user... would that affect my sword skills? Would I be sharper? Or just stronger?
It seemed ambiguous...
Stamina... Besides for Ei... I shook my head slightly. For now, my physical endurance was still sufficient. Perhaps the wiser choice was to first improve other more crucial stats.
I mean, it was still too soon to meet Ei...I wasn't strong enough to provoke the Archon. I was still just a regular human.
Endurance... Hmm, well, besides for Ei, increasing toughness certainly wouldn't hurt. But I felt the main focus now was strategy to avoid danger, not face it head-on.
What kind of madman wants to be a punching bag?
I wasn't that insane!
Intelligence... I stroked my chin, then shook my head. Forget it, I was an idiot.
Luck... Yes, it seemed I really needed more luck.
Maybe I'd be lucky enough to get a limited OP item.
May the goddess of fortune favor me... after saying that, I first raised my Luck to 5.
With the remaining 6 points, I decided to raise my Agility to 9.
Level 13 (50/100)
Stats: (+)
Strength: 1
Stamina: 1
Endurance: 3
Intelligence: 1
Agility: 9
Luck: 5
With my new Agility, I wondered how fast my reflexes would be. My attacks would surely be swifter and quicker than before too.
After that, I shifted the menu to my Inventory.
An Inventory menu appeared, showing a green-trimmed Common Crate and 4 other question mark crates.
Those five Crates were rewards I received from completing quests - the one Common Crate from a Special Quest, the other four from regular quests.
My fingers reached for the Common Crate. Its appearance was plain with a light green border.
I didn't expect much from its reward.
Still, at least I was grateful to receive a reward.
I glanced at those 4 question mark crates.
Would their contents be better than the Common Crate? I shrugged. Who knows?
Maybe yes, maybe no...I would just keep hoping to get a Mythic or Legendary Crate.
After pondering for a moment, I decided to open the Common Crate first.
[COMMON CRATE]
UNLOCKING THIS CRATE WILL GIVE YOU RANDOM REWARDS [ITEM, SKILL, EFFECT, SKILL POINT, EXP, QUEST]
After reading that, I went ahead and opened it without delay.
I inserted my fingers into the side crevice, then with both hands I pried it open with all my strength. Suddenly a blinding light burst forth from within the crate, momentarily blinding me. I blinked rapidly, feeling the glare searing my eyes.
Damn...as usual this was always startling and annoying.
A second later the light began rapidly fading.
CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE GAINED A SKILL: CHAIN BIND
CHECK THE SKILL IN THE SKILL MENU
I immediately opened the Inventory menu and read the skill's description.
[ACTIVE SKILL]
Chain Bind: Common Rarity
The "Chain Bind" skill is the ability to bind an opponent's abilities for 1 second, effectively restricting the enemy's movement and capabilities. However, the user must wait 5 minutes before using this skill again.
This skill... is so useful!
If I use it correctly, this skill could be extremely troublesome for enemies!
The only downside is the cooldown for reusing this skill is too long... that's 5 minutes!
Nevertheless, it's undeniable that this skill is extremely valuable for fighting powerful foes. Say against a boss, if Oliver used his fire spear, I could cancel that skill within 1 second. In that brief moment, he'd be baffled: Why is my spear gone?!
Then he would assume... fighting me with the fire spear is useless, since it's restricted and he can't use it.
With that mindset, he would attack me another way.
It's truly an OP skill... I could outwit enemies this way.
I could also use it in other situations, like when my enemy uses their trump card, I could cancel that and immediately attack without waiting for them to unleash their trump card again. Isn't that a great opportunity?!
Of course it has many uses.
I couldn't help but curve my lips upon receiving this skill.
After opening the Common Crate, honestly, my curiosity was piqued to open the other crates in my Inventory.
Soon after, I reached for one of those question mark crates. I opened it slowly, anticipating the blinding light from before.
Slowly another box suddenly appeared.
Another crate!
I glanced at my Inventory menu and saw a new crate pop up there with an orange frame.
An Epic Crate!
Without waiting long, I shakily grabbed another question mark crate. Like before, once I opened it a box formed the contours of a crate swiftly.
In my Inventory, a new purple-framed crate appeared. I received a Rare Crate!
Isn't this insane?!
Biting my lip to contain my surging enthusiasm, I took another question mark crate.
At this, my eyes widened seeing yet another new crate appear labeled Rare Crate!
Damn... I got two?
My luck really was increasing!
I could hardly believe I got an Epic Crate and two Rare Crates all at once!
Now only one final question mark crate remained.
Hopefully this time I would get a Legendary, if possible I wanted Mythic Rarity!
Shifting my gaze to the last crate, I immediately opened it. This time what appeared wasn't a box... but rather, an ornate multi-layered box in an elegant formation!
A new teal-glowing blue-framed crate had appeared there.
A Legendary Crate!
This was the second time I received a Legendary Crate.
My eyes alternated between the four rare crates - the final result of opening all the question mark crates in my Inventory. The orange-trimmed Epic Crate, two purple Rare Crates, and a teal Legendary Crate.
***
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