Chapter 12. Mammonism
So he was hiding there.
Bruno revealed his violent nature towards the enemy that was hidden behind the wooden pillar.
"Guhaaaaa!"
An attack strong enough to instantly break a cow"s neckbone smashed the enemy"s head.
It was impossible to escape Bruno, a being who had an extremely developed nose.
Bang! Crack!
The pillar crashed and a cloud of dust rose up into the air.
The enemy was helplessly smashed by the power of Bruno"s attack.
"…Tch!"
Bruno clicked his tongue and stopped walking.
Jin, who had been watching from afar, smiled.
This was one of the many ways that his power could be used.
The method was quite simple.
2. Put an extremely high price on the mannequin and put it on the market.
3. When needed, cancel the sales order on the market.
Because the object hadn"t been sold due to its price, it would reappear where it previously existed.
Well, if he was just testing this one thing, Bruno would"ve already died by now due to the blunder.
Bruno realized that he had been tricked and began to shout in anger.
"I have become stronger! Much stronger! Much, much stronger!!!"
He was a natural born predator.
He was a king that was recognized by the heavens itself.
The fact that he was weak enough to be tricked by something as simple as this made Bruno angry enough to explode.
"Where are you?! Where are you hiding?! d.a.m.n coward!!"
Bruno destroyed everything in front of him as he chased the "scent".
Because of that, Bruno almost fell into Jin"s second trap, but…
"Guha!"
Bruno wasn"t an idiot.
Bruno found the real one "who had a status screen", and opened his mouth.
Rows of teeth from Bruno"s victims revealed themselves on the roof of his mouth.
This was the physical capability that Bruno had attained by coming into this world.
"This is the end!"
But right before he could swallow Jin"s head—-.
"Big…?"
Something peculiar happened.
His head that had been ripped off was flying in the empty s.p.a.ce around him.
Bang.
Bruno looked up at his headless body in stupefaction.
"Attacked? How…?"
Chuaaaa.
It stood still for quite a while until it dropped down unto its knees.
The impact caused Bruno"s head to begin rolling again.
"My breath…!"
He was desperately clinging to his life using the life force he had taken from his victims, but even that was running out now.
Roll… clack.
The rolling head stopped moving again.
Bruno, while feeling a little sick from all the rolling, couldn"t help but notice something stuck on the wall.
"A canine tooth…?"
The tooth wasn"t his.
After all, the ones he collected were all molars.
He could only think of a single possibility.
"He broke his own canine with his tongue and spat it out like a blowdart? Such an idiotic…!"
He tried to shout out that it was all just nonsense, but no sound was coming from his mouth.
"I… a king… at a place like this…!"
His eyes lost vitality.
Eventually, a dark curtain was cast over his vision.The short life of the man-eating lion had come to an end.
"First, one."
Taking care of powers that could grow endlessly was top-priority.
Compet.i.tions between strong individuals happened in any society, at any time, after all.
I suppose it can be summarized by saying that he didn"t have "plot armor".
I began to dig through the body of my unfortunate victim.
The two jewelry items that I found were respectively priced at 6,000 dollars and 5,000 dollars each.
I immediately sold it in the market.
Kaching, kaching.
The sound effect of money piling up rang in my head.
[Current funds: 11,500 dollars]
Barababa♬
The amount of cash in my wallet slowly came to a stop and a little chiptune played in my head.
An extra message popped up at the bottom.
What"s this?
I don"t have many expectations… but let"s check it out, shall we?
[Gold Achieves All = Heart of Gold]
– [Lv.1] Trade (Buy, Sell)
– [Lv.2] Purchase (Luck, Talent, Appearance, Charm, Health, Skill, Knowledge, Information, Ability, Life)
"……."
I lost the ability to speak.
To think I could buy something like this…
"Hah…"
I now understood.
If level 1 dealt with material goods,
Level 2 dealt with conceptual goods.
I was taking a look at my new ability as I walked.
[Luck]
– You can pull one joker card out of one hundred tries.
– You need ten million dollars to increase this stat by one.
Ten million…?
Pretty much a cheat, isn"t it.
In any case, I suppose it would be wise to keep myself away from this for now.
Next…
[Talent]
– If unbeatable talent is a stat of 100, it requires one million dollars to increase the stat by one.
[▷ Sword Talent]
[ Acting Talent]
…
The list seemed to have no end.
As for [Looks] and [Charm]…
It"s possible to increase my height?
What can"t you do with money?
I clicked the category next to those two as I was marveling at the usefulness of cash.
[Health]
– The stats that you purchase with money is no different from the stats you gain through training.
[▷ Health: 10,000 dollars]
[ Attack: 100,000 dollars]
[ HP Regen: 1,000,000 dollars]
[ Defense: 1,000,000 dollars]
[ Magic Resistance: 2,000,000 dollars]
I can buy stuff like this, too?
I tried clicking on the stat that had the exclamation mark next to it.
[Mana]
– You cannot collect mana.
Oh dear.
What about the others…
[Attack]
– Force is ma.s.s times acceleration. If you increase your attack, you will be able to accelerate faster. There is no need to increase agility if you increase this stat.
There was no need to get something like this.
I clicked the next category.
[Skill]
– Starting from pen spinning to tap dancing, any skill you might desire is listed here.
[▷ Vocal Mimicry: 500 dollars]
[ Lockpicking: 1200 dollars]
…
I guess I can look at this later as well.
Is it different from [Knowledge]?
[Information]
– A trained professional will be hired to find the information you want. Please type your request in the box below.
A search engine…
There were two categories left.
[Ability] and [Life].
[Ability]
– Supernatural abilities, incantations, magic, martial arts, it is possible to buy any ability in the multiverse.
[▷ Disturbing Blessing: 35,000,000 dollars]
[ Red Lotus Power: 11,000,000 dollars]
[ Phase Shift: 12,000,000,000,000 dollars]
…
There"s no end to it.
This place probably has more than a million abilities.
I took my hand off the scrollbar and listed the abilities by their price, from low to high.
[▷ Boiling Blood: 10,000 dollars]
[ Poison Transmission: 50,000 dollars]
…
The cheapest one was ten thousand dollars…
That was the only thing I could buy at the moment.
Should I collect more money, or should I just buy it?
"…Mm."
I suppose I should just try buying it.
I tried clicking [Boiling Blood].
[Boiling Blood]
– An ability that increases physical capabilities by rapidly heating up blood. Spends ten percent of your current health.
Pretty good.
I think I can synergize it with a different ability as well.
Of course it"s a yes.
Diding♬
I had 1500 dollars left now.
My body became enveloped in light.
As I thought.
There didn"t seem to be a lot of risks other than the fact that I lose a bit of health.
I tried taking a look at the [Life] category.
"Buying and selling" life…
[Life]
– Lives left: <>
– Price: 10,000,000,000,000 dollars.
10 trillion…?
It"s amazing, but…
I didn"t even have the money. Is there any point in thinking about it?
I guess I"ll just focus on my current task.
"Hah-"
Now, it"s time to hunt the Nail Hunter.
I turned eastward and took a look at the Nail Hunter.
She was currently residing inside Slenderman"s starting place with a pale face, inside the steel door.
She"s like a spider, huh.
She stuck herself on the inner walls using her bladed nails.
Slenderman was hidden in the swamps, observing the situation.
So the only person who knows how to use her head is the Nail Hunter, huh.
As soon as she understood that she couldn"t win, she moved towards Slenderman"s location.
After all, they had never talked to each other before.
But since he knew that "it was disadvantageous to fight first", he would try to avoid fighting.
Nail Hunter knew this as well, hence the reason why she moved east.
They might"ve thought that they had hidden themselves well, but with my floating eye, they might as well have been in the palm of my hand.
I had prepared something in case this happened.
I took out a lighter as well and lit it on fire.
The ball of flames let out a plume of smoke as it entered the other side of the door.
If I could use my hands, it would"ve ended here, but…
But that glare soon turned into a look of confusion and happiness.
"Lord Menticide?"
Her voice was mixed with happiness and surprise.
"Really?!"
Slenderman still wasn"t moving.
"Oh my G.o.d! It"s for real!! U-um, nice to meet you! I"m Kirisaki Hatsume (霧崎初芽)!"
I knew her.
She was famous for targeting high school girls and taking their fingernails.
She probably knew a lot about me as well.
"Your name is Jin? I"m a Jin (じん) as well! You won"t go easy on me, right? Right? Kyahaha! So funny! What am I saying?!"
Jin, as in human (人)?
She acted friendly around me as she used her bladed foot to aim for my neck.
I leaned sideways and dodged the attack.
Since the sword on her foot could change its angle as it moved, I leaned a little more than usual.
If I tried to just barely dodge it because she was weak, I"d get my neck cut off.
I only knew this because I invested time in a.n.a.lyzing her.
Shua!
Her five bladed fingers came at me even before her foot landed.
The back of her hand was covered to the brim with fingernails.
–It"s coming.
The nails on her glove instantly turned into fifty blades.
Chuachuachua!
A steel flower of death!
If I had thought that her ability was to turn her body into blades, I would"ve gotten the impression that only her body parts could be weaponized.
But since I already knew about her ability, I could easily dodge her attacks.
Kigigigi! Kii!
The attack was blocked by a shield that I had created.
"…Hah? What the h.e.l.l is this?"
There was confusion on her face.
Her best attempt to kill me was just foiled by a piece of furniture.
The Nail Hunter"s shoulders lost all strength.
"So funny."
That was it.
[Boiling Blood] activate.
I spun my body.
I put my left foot down on the concrete below me, which broke under the impact, and the left foot that hit the refrigerator caused the fridge to crumple.
The blades stuck to the refrigerator broke into pieces from the impact.
A loud boom sounded throughout the complex.
"Kyaa!"
"Waah!"
The audience screamed from the shock that shook the building.
So this was the ability"s power…?
Crack. Craack.
Pieces of stone fell off the destroyed walls.
As the dust settled, the remnants of my attack showed itself.
Drip… drip.
Blood was flowing below the fridge.
I would"ve taken care of it in a much cleaner fashion if I could use my hands…
I turned around, feeling a little regretful at my inability.