Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
As more and more powder from the Dark Crystal was absorbed into the earrings, the brighter the earrings shone, until that light completely went out. There wasn’t any change to its appearance and for a second there, I thought it had failed, until a message appeared.
==[The King-Emperor’s Commitment has received the power of the Dark Crystal.
The King-Emperor’s Commitment has received the Dark Crystal’s first effect and one of its seven effects will be upgraded by one tier.
The King-Emperor’s Commitment can no longer receive any more power from the Dark Crystal.]==
“It worked!” I bet on the 1% and I struck gold, getting the exact effect I wanted. “Item Check!”
==[The King-Emperor’s Commitment (Rank 10)
The King-Emperor’s true treasure.
All Stats increased by 450 points
Increase Mana Conversion skill level by 2
Add Blink Skill
Increase CRIT rate by 9%
Increase CRIT damage by 500%
Increase Penetration by 240 points
Increase EXP gain from monsters by 15%
DEF 1000, MDEF 1000]==
“Holy shit!” Ever since I had gained the King-Emperor’s Commitment, I had always checked it whenever I could. It was just that powerful and I was so proud that I had crafted it myself. I knew what its effects were so well that I immediately noticed what had changed. Mana Conversion’s skill level was no longer increased by one, but two levels now!
“Hehehe.” There was only a 1% chance it would work, and a one in seven chance that the Dark Crystal would choose Mana Conversion. I cackled to myself. There was no one around me anyway…
“Check Mana Conversion!”
==[Mana Conversion’s level has been raised from level 2 to level 3.]==
==[Mana Conversion Level 3
Convert your Mana to one of the Five Attributes.
Increases ATT by 45%
For every successful attack, there is a 30% chance to inflict the damage effect of the chosen Attribute type.
Increase damage of all Attribute-based attacks by 15,000-75,000.
This skill has no cooldown.]==
More than anything, the ATT boost was raised by 15%. That meant that this skill was 30% stronger than anyone else using Mana Conversion. 30% wasn’t a huge difference between devas who only have about 10,000-20,000 ATT, but that wasn’t the case with me. 30% of my ATT was nothing to scoff at!
I broke out into a fit of laughter again, happy that the Dark Crystal had sharply increased my already high combat abilities.
I took out the Random Skill Chest. “Strike while the iron is hot, right?” I opened the chest without hesitation.
==[You have opened a Rank 9 Random Skill Chest.
You currently have 0 skill points.
You will receive a skill that requires 0 skill points.]==
I knew that. That was why I had just spent all of my remaining skill points. This was one hell of a gamble. A light shone out of the chest for a while before disappearing.
==[You have obtained the skill, Listen.]==
“Huh?” I was taken aback. What the hell was Listen?
“What the hell is this? I’ve still got two ears and I’m not deaf. Why does a skill like this even exist in the first place?” There were so many good skills out there, like Muskan’s Descendant of the Destruction God, Lagus’s Psychokinesis. I knew about Phoenix Summon, Immortal, and so many more that I wouldn’t have time to list them all. I didn’t want one of those. Well, okay. Maybe I did. But I did at least expect something almost as good those skills.
“But what the fuck is Listen!? It’s not what I wanted!” I finally realized that it was stupid to gamble on 0. I had screwed up and just wasted a damn Rank 9 Random Skill Chest.
==[You may decide whether or not to learn the skill, Listen.
You will not be able to delete the skill after learning it.
Learn/Don’t Learn.]==
Another message appeared while I was frothing with anger. “God damn it! Check Listen!” No matter how angry I was, I needed to check what it was first.
==[Listen (1/10, (Passive)
Grants the ability to listen.
Required skill points: 0
Required golden rings: 0]==
“…” I stared dumbly at the skill description. I thought that maybe there was more to it, but reality was cruel.
“Ha. Haha. Ha…ha.” I plopped down on the ground and stared at the message, unsure if I should really learn it or not.
—
Benten-jima, Hokkaido, Japan…
Three people were gathered on this deserted island that sat closest to Russia from Japan. They were Wai Chung, Okamoto, and Kazunari.
Benten-jima wasn’t really an island, more of a rock that sat in the northernmost part of Japan’s waters. It was only 0.005 square kilometers in area, its perimeter roughly 0.5 kilometers around and its highest point only 20 meters above sea level. Its small size was the reason Kazunari decided to meet here.
A small, deserted rock of an island was the perfect place to create a prison-like dungeon. One would think how that would work on a small, narrow space, but that didn’t matter. Like all other dungeons, the ones Kazunari could create were bigger on the inside. All he needed was a secluded area that wouldn’t attract too much attention.
The three men moved to the center of the island where the entrance to the created dungeon was located. Kazunari spoke as he stood in front of the entrance. “Entering the dungeon through this door is the only way you can come back out.”
“What do you mean?” asked Wai Chung.
“I mean exactly what I said. Lee Jiwon cannot and will not open this door on his own. When I invite Lee Jiwon to this dungeon, it won’t be to this door, which means he won’t be able to find this one door by himself,” Kazunari said, with a wicked smile on his face.
The three entered the dungeon. “As I’ve said before, I can’t create a prison. I have to put in a way out of the dungeon once it’s cleared, even if it’s not a door. For example, I can set a requirement like ‘clear the monsters’ or ‘defeat the boss monster in set amount of time’ or ‘find a hidden message or key’ and clear the dungeon that way. It’s the one rule I have to follow when creating dungeons.”
Wai Chung frowned at Kazunari’s explanation. “Will it work on Lee Jiwon, and for at least a year or two at that?”
Kazunari smiled again. He knew how strong Lee Jiwon was. He knew when Lee Jiwon defeated the Blood Prince, but even he was surprised when the Predator Duke was defeated. The Duke had the highest potential of becoming the strongest out of all the Monarchs, after all. There was no way Kazunari would set a simple requirement for Lee Jiwon. If he did, he might as well hand the dungeon rewards to Lee Jiwon personally. He had to set a requirement that was practically impossible to clear.
“I’m completely aware of that problem. I didn’t ask for two thousand people to incur an irreversible death penalty for no reason. It was all because of Lee Jiwon.” Kazunari continued forward while smiling, and with Wai Chung and Okamoto were right behind him. When they arrived in a small space, a message appeared before them.
==[You have arrived at the safe room.
The boss of this dungeon must be defeated in order to leave this dungeon. If the boss remains undefeated, this dungeon will remain closed to the outside world.]==
“How simple.”
“It’s enough if we’re only going to imprison Lee Jiwon.”
“But all he has to do is defeat the dungeon boss? Will it be enough? Lee Jiwon is able to defeat most dungeon bosses on his own.”
“I can’t create a dungeon boss monster that is any stronger than that of a mid-grade dungeon. I know very well that it’s not enough to hold Lee Jiwon in this place.”
“If you do know, then what…” Okamoto said, but Kazunari only laughed and headed for the boss room.
==[You have entered the boss room.
Defeating the boss will yield a Rank 8 Random Item Chest.
A Random Golden Ring Chest containing 100,000,000-300,000,000 golden rings will also be rewarded.]==
Wai Chung and Okamoto barely gave a glance at the new message. They already knew about it, as they were the ones who provided the dungeon rewards. They focused instead on the small, cute animal standing in the middle of the room.
It was a mole.
==[Dungeon Mole (Invincible)
Dungeon Moles are extremely rare.
They prefer to roll around in damp earth and have quite the sweet tooth. Give one a piece of candy and it will follow you around.]==
“That’s…”
“The boss monster?”
There was nothing in the boss room, except for the small mole that was as big as a man’s palm.
“That’s right.”
It did not look anything like a boss monster, but Wai Chung and Okamoto weren’t necessarily disappointed. It was very special indeed.
“I used those two thousand lives to give it the Invincible special effect. Of course, as time goes on and every time it’s attacked, it’ll lose its Invincibility .”
“Is that why you said one to two years?”
“Yes. If, for any reason, Lee Jiwon decides not to do anything when he realizes the mole is Invincible, the effect will last up to three years. But if we take into account his personality, I would give it at least a year, and at most two.”
Wai Chung and Okamoto finally broke out into smiles at Kazunari’s description. The dungeon’s requirement was to defeat an invincible boss. That was just impossible for anyone.
“I doubt anyone could ever bring themselves to attack something as cute as this little guy,” Kazunari said.
“Kyuu?” The mole purred as if it were replying to Kazunari.
Wai Chung and Okamoto remained silent, though. They weren’t sure if he was joking or being serious.
—
Guryong Mountain…
“Ha…I’ll learn it.”
==[You have learned the skill, Listen.
Skills learned from Random Chests cannot be deleted.]==
I decided to just learn the skill. Why? Because I did something stupid, and it would serve as a constant reminder to not do anything as stupid ever again.
“I swear I’m not going to gamble ever again!” I did manage to win with the Dark Crystal, but I was too angry to care about that right now.
Just then, I heard something off in the distance.
‘Gah! I’m so pissed, damn it!’
“Huh?” I looked around me. My high Stats actually allowed me to sense the presence of people around me. I was absolutely positive there wasn’t a single soul in my vicinity.
“What’s going on?” I couldn’t tell if whoever was ‘talking’ was a man, woman, child or adult. It was more like a ghost was whispering, and was very annoyed about something.
