Chapter 178: Chapter 177: Betting On Zero and One Part II
Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
“Human! Kill!”
“Kill! Human!”
“Sorry, maybe in your next life you can.” I barely gave a glance at the Trolls charging at me and struck each one of them down. They fought back hard, being monsters of a high-grade dungeon, but fell nonetheless.
==[You have gained a level.]==
“Yes! Finally.” As soon as the last Troll Warrior fell, the message I was waiting for appeared. I finally reached it! “Open Stats Menu!”
==[Name: Lee Jiwon
Level: 650 Death Count: 0
t.i.tle: Earth’s First Deva
HP: 8,815,700/8,815,700 MP: 347,800/347,800
Strength: 19,934 + 1,887 Agility: 13,951 Vitality: 14,051
Willpower: 3,418 Intelligence: 3,148
Una.s.signed Stat Points: 200 + 126
Fatigue: 0
Special Effects: Luck Boost (X+1), immune to all Status effects, Dungeon Seeker 14 points
Physical Attack: 73,080 Physical Defense: 29,197
Magical Attack: 10,994 Magical Defense: 16,884]==
“Hehehehe.” It always happened whenever I looked at my own Stats Menu, but I couldn’t help laugh. I was just doing too well. I could confidently say that I was the top 0.1% of the entire world.
“Ah, right. This isn’t the important one.” I invested all una.s.signed points into STR once again.
“Open Skill Menu.”
==[Skill Menu
Una.s.signed Skill Points: 5
Pa.s.sive skills: 2
Unrivaled (1/1) (First Unrivaled)
Selfish p.r.i.c.k (1/1) (Stupid Selfish p.r.i.c.k)
Active skills: 3
Warrior’s Brave Spirit (1/3)
Mana Conversion (2/1)
Judge’s Gavel (1/3)
Additional skills: 4
Blink 1 (Azazel’s Lightning Boots)
Blink 2 (King-Emperor’s Commitment)
Altered Equality (Shaman Ko’s Selfishness)
Howl of the Wolf (Clan Badge – Werewolf)]==
“…” I didn’t laugh this time as I looked through my Skill Menu. I was just in awe at the skills I had. I had Mana Conversion past its max level, and my four additional skills didn’t require a single skill point, yet they were all very powerful and very valuable skills. I had never had an additional skill in my past life. I also still couldn’t see the Absolute Destruction after it was eaten up by Shaman Ko.
“Well, then again, Absolute Destruction wasn’t exactly a skill and more of a trait. And… I have no idea what Predation is supposed to be since I haven’t even seen it at all.” Either way, all of my skills really were second to none.
“Meh. It doesn’t matter. I think five skill points should be enough to open the random chest now.” If I could, I would have saved up to like ten skill points before opening the chest. The more I had, the better skills I could learn, after all.
I moved to a place where there were no Trolls around and took out the Random Skill Chest from my inventory. “Please! I beg you. I don’t need a skill like Lagus’s Psychokinesis. Just give me something I can use!”
I nervously placed my right hand on the chest’s clasp and was about to open it when I felt a strange feeling. It wasn’t a hostile feeling and there weren’t any Trolls around me. It was a feeling that was telling me that I was about to make a very bad decision.
“The more skill points required, the better the skill?” I said to myself. That was how it was supposed to be when it came to skills. That’s what I believed now and in the past.
“But…I know of an exception to that rule; Shaman Ko’s Selfish p.r.i.c.k.” No matter how you looked at it, Selfish p.r.i.c.k was an amazing skill. The stat points I got from it were over 2000, it got me Altered Equality and actually saved me from being eaten by the Duke. But all it needed was a single skill point. I reread the Random Skill Chest’s description.
==[… However, the yielded skill will depend on the amount of skill points the person opening the chest has available. If the person opening this chest only has 1 skill point available, the yielded skill may be a skill that only requires 0 or 1 skill point.]==
I didn’t realize it until now about how the description was very specific on the 0 points part.
“Is there even a skill that doesn’t require skill points?” From what I knew, there weren’t any. Besides, skills were supposed to require at least one point to learn, not including item skills like Blink.
“0 points…0 points, huh?” Once I realized the 0 points part, it was all I could think about. It could also be a complete fluke and whatever skills that didn’t require skill points could really just be useless and I would have wasted not only five skill points but a d.a.m.n Rank 9 Random Skill Chest. But I just couldn’t stop thinking about it.
“s.h.i.t!” If only I hadn’t noticed it, I wouldn’t be agonizing over this. I wouldn’t end up blaming my luck for opening the chest and getting some c.r.a.p skill and could at least get a decent skill with my five skill points. But something at the back of my head just kept telling me that if I didn’t do it, I would regret it.
“What the h.e.l.l is wrong with this random chest and the Dark Crystal? I went to New York, not Las Vegas!” Both items I received from getting involved with Shire Guild were like a high roller table in Vegas. The chest wanted me to bet on 0 and the Crystal wanted me to bet on 1.
“Gah!” I stood straight up. No matter how many times I was going to think about it, there was only one answer. I was going to have to gamble one way or the other. If there was a chance I was going to hit the jackpot with either of these items, I wasn’t going to spend my life wondering what would have happened if I had bet on them.
I sprinted for the dungeon entrance, ignoring every single horde of Trolls in my way.
—
Seoul’s Store 72…
As soon as I left the Troll Dungeon, I headed straight for London, barely glancing at the Werewolves who greeted me as I sprinted by. Once I got to London, I headed straight for the Teleporter there and warped to Seoul.
I put my hat and sungla.s.ses on and went straight up to the skill store, to use all five of my skill points. I had already picked out the skills I wanted to learn as I was leaving the dungeon.
“Welcome.”
“Show me your skills.”
“Of course.”
Once the buy menu came up, I searched up the skills I wanted.
==[Spear Mastery (3/3), (Pa.s.sive)
Applies additional benefits when using a spear.
Cannot receive these benefits when using a different type of weapon.
Learning requirements: none
Level 1: Increase equipped spear’s ATT by 1%, ATT speed by 1%, CRIT rate by 1%, CRIT damage by 30%.
Level 2: Increase equipped spear’s ATT by 2%, ATT speed by 2%, CRIT rate by 2%, CRIT damage by 60%.
Level 3: Increase equipped spear’s ATT by 3%, ATT speed by 3%, CRIT rate by 3%, CRIT damage by 90%, increase chance to ignore enemy DEF by 1%.
Skill Points required: 1
Golden rings required: 10,000]==
This was the most basic skill I should have learned. Everyone should be learning weapon mastery skills. Its actual effectiveness wasn’t exactly that great but it was cheap to learn.
“I really should have learned it sooner.” A level 3 Spear Mastery skill was definitely good to have. It’s easy to level up as well since it gains EXP every time I attack with my spear.
“Learn.”
“Spear Mastery costs 10,000 golden rings to learn. With your 20% VIP discount, your total comes out to 8,000 golden rings.”
I paid the clerk and searched up the next skill.
==[Fissure (3/3), (Active)
Pierce the ground in front of you strongly with your spear.
This skill splits the ground in front of you for ten meters. The shock of the attack damages enemies in its range. (This skill’s range can increase depending on the user’s STR.)
Learning requirements: STR 6500, INT 1500
Level 1: 600 second cooldown. Inflicts 100% of user’s ATT in addition to skill’s base damage upon enemies in range. Movement speed of enemies in skill range is decreased by 30%.
Level 2: 600 second cooldown. Inflicts 125% of user’s ATT in addition to skill’s base damage upon enemies in range. Movement speed of enemies in skill range is decreased by 40%.
Level 3: 600 second cooldown. Inflicts 150% of user’s ATT in addition to skill’s base damage upon enemies in range. Movement speed of enemies in skill range is decreased by 50%.
Skill points required: 3
Golden rings required: 6,507,750]==
-This one is really good, too.-
I didn’t know much about melee skills, as I was a Fire Mage in the past. This skill I had heard a lot about, though, in that it was good AoE skill for fighter cla.s.ses.
-Still, it only does 150% more damage at level 3.-
Judge’s Gavel did 500% more damage at level 3, had a base damage of 100,000, and increased CRIT damage by 1000%, even though it required 3 skill points, as well.
-Then again, it’s a special skill that gave me a thousand extra Stat points for being the first to learn it.-
I decided to learn it regardless, to finally have an AoE skill under my belt. 100% of my ATT was nothing to scoff at, after all.
“With your 20% VIP discount, your total comes out to 5,206,200 golden rings.”
I had one skill point left.
-I guess I should learn that one then.-
==[Increase CRIT Rate (3/3), (Pa.s.sive)
Increases your CRIT Rate.
Learning requirements: none
Level 1: Increase CRIT rate by 1%
Level 2: Increase CRIT rate by 3%
Level 3: Increase CRIT rate by 5%
Skill points required: 1
Golden rings required: 37,009,980 golden rings.]==
I didn’t and couldn’t learn this skill in the past because of its price tag.
-I guess this is the best option right now.-
The best thing I had going for me and my normal attacks was my CRIT rate and CRIT damage. I more or less got three critical hits for every ten attacks. In other words, I got about one critical hit for every three attacks and most of my enemies couldn’t last against three or four attacks. That was why I decided to learn this skill, so that I could get one critical hit for every two attacks.
“I’ll learn this skill.”
“Increase CRIT Rate costs 37,009,980 golden rings. With your 20% VIP discount, your total is now 29,607,984 golden rings.”
Man, was it expensive, even with the 20% discount. It was no wonder I couldn’t learn it in my past life. I paid the clerk, left the Store and headed for Guryong Mountain, the mountain I went to when I a.s.sembled Azazel’s Boots.
—
Halfway up Guryong Mountain…
“I’m beginning to think that this is way better.” I was satisfied that I finally got to learn at least a few of the skills I wanted to learn after pushing it back so many times. I really should have learned them earlier, at least to level them up some.
“Man, I was stupid. I didn’t need to save that many skill points. There’s no such thing as too many skills,” I chastised myself. “Well, whatever. What’s done is done. At least I know better now.”
I took out the Random Skill Chest and the Dark Crystal from my inventory. “I guess I have you to thank for helping me come to my senses.” I raised the chest to eye level. It seemed to shine a darker red than the Dark Crystal.
“Which one should I use first?” The only thing different between the two was what I was betting on; 0 and 1.
“I guess I’ll start with the Rank 8.” The Random Chest had the potential to be bigger jackpot of the two, so I decided to save it for last.
I unequipped the King-Emperor’s Commitment and read through its description. I whistled in amazement. Having seven effects on a single item was just not right. It shouldn’t exist at all.
“If I could get it to raise Mana Conversion’s level again, it would be at level 3…”
I only wanted one thing from it.
I raised the Dark Crystal over the earrings. “I believe in you, 1%. This is the exact spot I a.s.sembled the impossible Azazel’s Boots.” Then again, I did already know the formula back then.
Either way, I really didn’t want the other effect. I didn’t have any Dark magic to use.
I gripped the Crystal hard, crushing it into dust, and the powder was absorbed by the King-Emperor’s Commitment.