Chapter 2: Orbis Online
"Hold on, the developers never said anything about side-effects. Maybe this is just an aftereffect?" King wondered aloud. It was strange, really. In real-life, he would only have all 5 sensations, and in the game, the only extra would be the HP, MP and ST bars. Yet, when he awoke from the game, the HP, MP and ST bar were still there.
It wasn't really just three bars which were always on the bottom of his field of view, so it was a little discomforting.
"If this could go away faster..." King thought, annoyed at the side effects. The second he thought that, the three bars of red, blue and green disappeared.
"Huh, that was fast. Still, annoying side effect." King said. "What next, my inventory appears?" King joked.
And when he said that, his inventory appeared on the right side of his field of view.
"Huh. Another side-effect? Man, those developers should've warned us. This one is more annoying than the previous one." King said. And when he did, the inventory disappeared.
"Strange. Still, hope they fix that soon enough." King said, rubbing his eyes to make sure the inventory was really gone.
"Let me guess, my stats appear next." King joked again.
Lo and behold, before his eyes, his status bar appeared.
"Okay, once is a coincidence, twice is could be luck. The third time means something is definitely wrong." King said, realizing something was amiss. Every time he stated something, or thought about something, it would happen. Based on his in-game stuff, anyway.
Thinking about his inventory again, it showed up, but with his in-game items inside. A tiger pelt, tiger bones, tiger fangs, tiger everything but flesh and organs. That, and a wooden bowl, and one very important thing.
King took out his [Upgraded Materialization Sphere] from his inventory, and like the game, it could materialize into anything. King knew because he was thinking of a pen at the time, and a pen swiftly materialized from his own Mana.
"This is... just like every other novel I've read that involved reincarnations. Getting some super-power and all that. Is this happening to me, or..." King said, pinching his thigh. A sharp pain soon emanated form where he pinched himself.
"Ouch- yep. Not dreaming." King said, conforming that he was currently awake and not in some crazy dream.
King then picked up a kitchen knife, and thought about its stats.
"Surely something that doesn't come from the game doesn't have stats, right?" King said aloud.
He was wrong.
Item: Stainless Steel Kitchen Knife
DMG: 10~20
Tier: F-Class Weapon
Value: 15 gold
Description: An everyday kitchen knife. Can be used as a weapon. Has bleed effect of 1 damage every second for 10 seconds every hit.
Items needed to upgrade to next tier: 0/1 Superior Whetstone, 0/1 Titanium-Tungsten Alloy {60% Titanium 40% Tungsten Content} (20 g)
"So even a kitchen knife can be upgraded, huh..." King said, reading the kitchen knife's stats. What surprised him was that the knife had stats better than some weapons in the game, too. A common dagger dealt 5~15 damage, and a sword did 15~25 damage. A spear did 25~75 damage, which was why the spear was the strongest starting weapon in the game. Well, excluding the [Materialization Sphere], anyway.
"I wonder..." King said, picking up his multi-use aluminium tea-pan which kept him company for almost 10 years. He bought it first when he was just 20, when he was in college, and it accompanied him until now.
Item: King's Aluminium Tea-Pan
DMG: 25~50
Tier: F-Class Weapon
Value: 50 gold
Description: An aluminium tea-pan. Can be used as a bludgeoning weapon. Gives extra 10% EXP when cooking. Food cooked with [King's Aluminium Tea-Pan] has 10% increased beneficial effects. Personal property of King, Rank 7 S-Class Hero.
Items needed to upgrade to next tier: 0/1 Tungsten-Titanium Alloy {70% Tungsten 30% Titanium Content} (100 g), 0/1 Teflon (1 g), 0/1 Chromium (10 g)
"Wow. I can use my tea-pan as a weapon." King smiled wryly. Never did he ever think of using his tea-pan as a weapon, yet its lowest damage rating was comparable to a spear!
"Only difference is, I can upgrade my tea-pan and kitchen knife easily, as the materials can be afforded. Except the Tungsten-Titanium alloys. But apart from that, they're easier to upgrade compared to my [Materialization Sphere] to a [Upgraded Materialization Sphere]." King stated.
"Still, I get an increased 10% EXP from cooking with my tea-pan? It even has an increased 10% beneficial effects for food cooked in it?" King asked himself, puzzled. Why did his tea-pan have such effects for some reason?
"Well, that's not the most pressing matter." King shook his head. "What's more important is..."
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!?"
King still wasn't over on the fact that he for some reason had gained abilities comparable to the protagonists of those novels and the manga that he had read. Not that he was complaining, mind you.
He still hadn't comprehended what was going on. Much less complain about it.
[15 minutes later...]
"Phew... Calm down, me. There's bound to be a reason for all of this." King calmed himself down. If it weren't for him soundproofing his apartment when he first moved in, his neighbors would have been puzzled on why King, the widely acclaimed 'World's Strongest Man', an S-Class hero no less, was screaming on the top of his lungs for 15 whole minutes.
"I mean, this could be good, I could level up and gain EXP enough for me to get stronger, so I won't be a fraud..." King tried to look on the bright side of things.
"But what if the ability disappears on me? What if some monsters appear that are too strong for me to handle?" King then went back to worrying.
Ten minutes of pacing later, King breathed out a sigh.
"Well, I'll cross that bridge when the time comes. For now, I should figure out what's going on..." King said, checking out his abilities.
Currently, he could do anything he could do in the game, including use magic. Well, he had an MP bar for a reason.
"So, can I upgrade things?" King wondered.
[15 minutes later...]
"Here you go, Mr King. There's no need to pay for any of this, the Heroes Association will shoulder all costs." A Heroes Association employee handed King a black box with the Heroes Association logo on it. It was full of Titanium-Tungsten alloy which he requested earlier.
"I honestly wanted to pay, but I guess this would be the fastest method to get what I needed. I guess being an S-Class hero does has its benefits, aside from its pay..." King thought. He felt guilty for requesting this from the Heroes Association without paying them, but hey, an S-Class hero was an S-Class hero. His presence stopped criminals already, and just from him living in City M, the crime rate of city M was the lowest. Well- after City A was wiped off the map, City M was just the second-most crime-free city.
Difference was, City A had the deterrence force of the entire Heroes Association Headquarters. City M had King alone. That was how much weight King's presence had.
Sure, he wasn't really as strong as people called him to be, but at least he did something. Intimidate all other criminals.
But hopefully he could properly get stronger this time. After all, if the stronger King's in-game character, the stronger King was in real life, then the better it was for King. At least his title as an S-Class hero wouldn't be for show anymore. And if some monster decides to actually fight King, he wouldn't need to run away.
Remembering what Saitama said to him before, "Get strong for real, huh?" King thought to himself. Back then, he took it with a grain of salt. After all, it was more than just a pipe dream to be able to catch up with the other S-Class heroes with his strength at the time.
Now, it looked like he would be able to actually get stronger. With the materials problem solved, King could now start his experiment to test whether his everyday tools could be upgraded to decent weapons. There was just one problem he was facing now.
"How do I actually upgrade these things?"
King actually gained information on how to upgrade his [Materialization Sphere] through in-game information, but for these... The best King could do was melt down the materials and coat the item with it, and use the respective items to upgrade it?
"First, I guess I'll coat the kitchen knife in the metal, and then sharpen it with a whetstone?" King guessed. Still, if he guessed wrong, best-case scenario, he has an overpriced kitchen-knife which would be nearly indestructible. Worst-case, he'd have to throw away both the kitchen knife and the material.
Sure, he didn't actually pay for it, but a waste was a waste, and King disliked waste.
"Hmm, maybe I need to upgrade it the same way I upgrade in-game items?" King wondered, before remembering something.
"Oh, yeah, I wonder what about that black combat knife I won when I participated in that small gaming tournament?" King remembered about his black combat knife. All it did was look cool to him, but if a standard kitchen knife could deal more damage than an ordinary dagger, maybe his combat knife would deal even more damage than a sword?
If so, maybe if wolves ambush him while he was sniping other mobs, he could deal with them using his dagger- if he could even bring items into the game, that is.
Picking it up from his bedroom, King checked it's stats, and...
"The fuck?"
Item: King's Combat Knife (1st Form)
DMG: 2,500~5,000
Tier: Special Weapon (Limitless Tiers)
Value: N/A (Cannot Be Sold)
Description: Black combat knife. Property of King, Rank 7 S-Class Hero. Soul-bound to King. Cannot be owned by anyone but King. Gains stronger properties as weapon is upgraded. When upgraded more than 6 times, [King's Combat Knife] will undergo transformation into its true form.
Effects:
[Bloodlust]: Increases damage dealt by 100%. Effect is gained when 10 enemies are killed under 5 seconds. Effect lasts for 30 seconds. Effect is renewed with every kill.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Can only be used for a combined period of four hours each day. Time spent not using the weapon from previous days can carry over to the next day. Allotted time of weapon use is increased with every upgrade, and after five upgrades, can be used indefinitely without time-limit.
Objectives needed to complete to upgrade weapon to next tier:
- 0/50,000 enemies killed with [King's Combat Knife].
- 0/5,000 enemies killed with [King's Combat Knife] when under [Bloodlust] effect.
- 0/500 enemies killed under 5 minutes with [King's Combat Knife].
"... So where'd the overpowered stats come from?" King asked himself, which he was sure he wasn't getting an answer, seeing as it was a rhetorical one.
No but really, all he did was use it as a cool thing to look at, or opening boxes. When did his knife get so many overpowered stats? And an extra 100% damage increase for killing 10 enemies in under 5 seconds? Sure, it had to be done with the knife, but with that damage value, it would be easy, so long as they don't attack from a range. And they clumped up together.
"Well, its OP-ness aside, at least this would make my journey to being stronger easier..." King said, looking at the knife in a different light. Previously, he just thought of it as a cool knife he won once. Now, it looked like it was a bloody reaper's sickle. Sure, it didn't have the damage range of his [Upgraded Materialization Sphere], but even a SCAR, a gun that is basically an auto-sniper, was not even as powerful as the knife's lowest damage rating. At it's highest, the knife could dish out five times more damage than the SCAR would.
And what did he read? Limitless tiering? Would that mean that he would be able to upgrade his weapon limitlessly?
Well, at least they balanced themselves. Out of a full day, King would only be able to pull it out for a grand total of four hours a day. That meant King couldn't just use it on any random mob. He should save up the time for boss fights and such.
"Still, it doesn't use materials to upgrade, but kills. I guess this will be easier to upgrade?" King said, looking at the knife.
...In the far future, King would laugh himself silly for thinking this knife was easy to upgrade. But that was a thing for the future.
"Well, I guess it's time to check out my theory." King said, before preparing to enter Orbis Online once more.
"Hopefully I can bring my knife in. Or else this'd be a total waste of what my knife is capable of." King said, before entering the game-world once more.
...
...
"Urgh, fuck. That feeling is not going to be normal for the next month or so." King said, getting back to his senses. It was as if he was falling down, then up, and then going back down in hyper-speed.
King then opened his inventory, and... "Yes." King could take out his knife. And kitchen knife. And aluminium tea pot.
"I guess, the best thing to do now is grind." King said, before going to the grassy flatland to grind some more. Currently, he had no clear plan yet, so he may as well get stronger in the meantime. After all, nothing could possibly go wrong with getting stronger.
[30 minutes later...]
King had just finished killing everything he could see, and ahead of him was another E-Class beast, or so to say, another {Elite Beast}.
Instead of a 5,000 mark, it had a 2,500 on it, and instead of a tiger, it was a lion this time. And the difference, was this one wasn't alone. If it was just alone, King would simply need to cripple its limbs and make sure it wouldn't be able to reach King, as he waited for the thing to bleed to death, and land the final blow with his combat knife. But, the problem was, there was more than one. It wasn't two, or three, or four.
A whole pride of lions. That's right, a whole pride of {Elite Beasts}. King counted at least 15 of them. Sure, they were weaker than the tiger, but the tiger was alone. King just needed to shoot all four limbs. This time, King needed to shoot 60 limbs in total for him to be considered fully safe. Also, he was only 500 meters away from them this time. It was further than the hunting rifle, since he was using a literal auto-sniper. However, as far as he was form them, King still wasn't sure if he could actually shoot every single one of their limbs out.
Sure, he could just shoot them with just three bullets each, as strangely enough, three bullets was enough to kill one lion, but King didn't want to just do that. King wanted the extra 20% bonus EXP from killing them with at least 20 points of pain and fear.
"So how should I do this..." Naturally, King was unwilling to give up. If all of them gave even half the EXP of the tiger, King would still get a lot of EXP, 15 lions would be worth around 7 tigers!
"Hmm?" King noticed that it began to darken, and as soon as he noticed it, it was already about to be nightfall. Through the scope, King could even see some of the lions beginning to sleep.
"Things cannot be more perfect." King said to himself, smiling a smile that was not quite a smile.
If it was at night, he could more that perfectly kill them all quietly, AND sadistically. Well, he wasn't really happy about the 'sadistic' part, but the 'getting EXP' part. Sadism wasn't his thing, but if it got him more EXP, fuck it, sadism it is then.
Sneaking up behind the lions, King ensured not to make a sound, or else he was pretty much fucked.
He was right behind a lion, and it was a female one, fast asleep.
King swiftly stabbed its throat with a knife conjured from his [Upgraded Materialization Sphere] and then moved to stab each of its limbs to avoid it moving about too much.
The lion barely awoke when King had basically robbed it of all its fighting power.
"With a torn throat, it'll die from suffocation or just bleed to death. No worries about it waking up the other lions, then. I'll take my time to increase its fear and pain points." King mentally planned. He was going to slowly, bit by bit kill all the lions in the pride one by one this way.
Floating above its face were two numbers, one in red, which was a glowing '50', and one in yellow, which was a glowing '10'.
"Seems like its not very scared now. Well, that'll have to change." King thought again, and soon continued stabbing the lion all over its body.
After a few dozen stabs, the lion finally died with a total of '220' pain and '103' fear on it. Seems like fear was pretty much literally just fear, as in the beginning when the lion was just immobilized, it attempted to bite King, though when its fear reached '75', it just tried to escape.
Leaving the lion's corpse for skinning later, King moved to the next lion, and it was just rinse and repeat.
[5 minutes later...]
King was down to the last lion, and it was the biggest one yet. A male lion with more HP than the others, it had a total of 4,500 HP. Still, it was lesser than the 5,000 HP the tiger he killed had.
"Just to be sure..." King thought, before taking out his overpowered combat knife. He hadn't gotten any kills with it yet, seeing as most of his kills came from him putting a bullet through his enemies heads, or in the case of E-Class beasts, their joints, and then finally their head.
Also, because of that, King gained a new skill.
[Headhunter], as its name states, was a skill which increased the damage King dealt if he were to land a head-shot. Normally it would be a 5x multiplier, but with the new passive skill, the damage for King had changed to a 6x multiplier now.
Getting back to King's knife, it was a just in case something happened. Just two or three hits would be enough to kill the lion, so he had it on standby. In case he snapped a branch or something stupid. King wasn't taking risks.
Walking closer and closer, King got his materialized knife out, and went to work.
As per usual, the lion wasn't able to react fast enough. Mostly because King skipped the throat since it was the only lion left, and he wasn't worried about the lion waking any other lions up. King double-checked. There were no other lions around.
A loud roar sounded out, scaring everything alive within a 4 kilometer radius. The noise even reached the main city. Well, only until the edges of the wall. Not the interior, populated part of the city.
Only King was unaffected since he was already mentally prepared. Not to mention, this wasn't all that loud, compared to when he watched that video that ear-raped him. Only difference was the video was painful whereas this was just loud and King could feel the vibrations throughout his body. Then again, that's a characteristic of a lion's roar.
Only reason King knew this was because of a trip to the zoo when he was in first grade. He was scared, sure. But it was only for a while. He wasn't so scared until he peed his pants like some others did.
"Well then, time to raise its pain and fear points." King said to himself, but after the first few stabs, an idea struck him.
"I remember than a second-degree burn in the most painful burn you can get, and every other pain more painful is either a disease or a genetic defect, so..." King then stopped his stabbing, before materializing a lawnmower from his [Upgraded Materialization Sphere] to cut the grass surrounding the lion.
[20 minutes later...]
King had finally managed to collect a large mound of cut grass, and to be sure he didn't burn the entire area, King made sure that there was a ring that was clear of grass, which was between the rest of the plains and the part which King wanted to burn. IE, the one with the one surviving lion on it.
Taking two twigs, King utilized the common method of rubbing two sticks together to make a fire. When a small spark was seen, King continued spinning as hard as he could until a small fire was seen. King then put some dry twigs and grass on it, and left it to burn. When a real fire was finally sparking, King took the rest of the dry grass and piled it surrounding the lion, and set it aflame with the fire.
"That should do it. I should be able to continue skinning the other lions now." King said, stretching his back and leaving the area. The fire would do the job well enough. In the meantime, he had already dragged out the rest of the lion's corpses, and begun to skin them. King was perfectly happy with letting one burn to ash. He just wanted to see how many 'pain' points would accumulate afterwards. 1 out of 15 wasn't that bad.
Every so often, King would check on the lion burning while skinning the others. Currently, he was on the third lion, and the flames started to burn the lion already. Steadily, the red numbers on the lion were increasing, but for some reason, the yellow numbers weren't, and instead were dipping into the negatives.
"Is it something like anger so it forgets its fear?" King wondered, looking at the burning body of the lion. It was thrashing and twisting angrily, more so then when it saw the remaining bodies of its pride. Its 'fear' points had dipped into the negatives as well at the time.
"Well, hopefully it can even go up to 500, then another requisite to the perk to upgrade can be completed.' King said to himself, before continuing to skin the lion corpses.
After the fifth lion corpse, King checked the lion again, and it was almost dead, and wasn't struggling nearly as much as earlier anymore. The 'pain' had risen to 800, and 'fear' was at 600.
"I guess burning is pretty useful for the 'Sadism' perk, huh?" King noted. And as the lion's HP bar dwindled to nothingness-
[Congratulations, you have obtained the perk, [Pyromaniac]! See perk details for more information.]
"Another perk, already? Nice!" King pumped his fist. He almost took out his SCAR to finish the lion off to get a Sadist's Strike charge, but who knew because he was too late in killing the lion on his own, he got a new perk!
Still, 'Pyromaniac'? First, it's Sadism, now it's Pyromaniac. Why am I getting such criminal-like perks?" King sighed. He didn't mind, but it made him a little uncomfortable.
Checking his current stats, he was probably currently the highest-leveled player in the game.
Name: King
Level: 35
Title: None
HP: 35,000/35,000
MP: 35,000/35,000
ST: 35,000/35,000
STR: 350
VIT: 350
INT: 350
DEX: 350
LCK: 350
Job Class: None
(Skills)
Active: [Take Aim], [Silent Movement II], [Vital Strikes]
Passive: [Predator's Cunning III], [Hunter's Grace III], [Ranged Weapon Mastery (Tier III: {58,645/1,000,000}) ], [Melee Weapon Mastery (Tier III: {12,403/1,000,000}) ]
(Perks)
Active: None
Passive: [Sadist I], [Pyromaniac I]
EXP: 340,640/350,000
"Nice. Already level 35." King cheered. "Huh, when'd it turn to 35,000?" King saw the difference. At level 1, King just had 100 HP, MP and ST. At level 35, if going linearly, he should be at 3,500 HP, MP and ST! Where'd the extra zero come from?
"Then again, the mobs grow stronger and stronger with each level, so I guess this is a way for players to match up to the mobs as they grow stronger." King guessed.
After a long period of grinding, King managed to upgrade his base skills, and as seen in above, he got some new skills, too.
[Vital Strikes] was a skill that allowed for certain 'vital' points to be shown, and when attacked at the spot would deal 3 times the normal damage and has a chance to cripple whatever part the strike was aiming at.
[Melee Weapon Mastery] was gained when King killed a few mobs with his materialized mana-knives, so with each stab to increase the pain value, King dealt enough damage for the skill to be gained. King now dealt an extra 30% more damage with melee weapons, so King's already OP combat knife became even more powerful.
Checking his new perk, the stats were as shown:
[Pyromaniac I]
Description: You burnt a large amount of things and spent a long time beside the fire you created! Did you even manage to burn something alive in it? Does it matter? You are now a pyromaniac, whom loves starting fires, being near fires, and anything related to fires, really! Killing things with fires, too! Just more fire, fire, FIRE! BURN EVERYTHING!
Effect: Fires you create will last 20% longer and will burn 20% brighter, and will deal 20% more damage. Fires will also take 20% less materials to create. Fires created by you will also be more painful and fear-inducing when an enemy is burnt by it. Enemies that die by fires created by you will also give 20% more EXP, and will burst into flames, damaging other enemies. If you are nearby any form of fire, you deal 20% more damage and receive 20% less damage. You take 40% less fire damage. You take 60% less damage from your own fires. You regenerate HP, MP and ST at a 20% increased rate while near fires. If 10 enemies are killed with your fire, the effect [Firestorm] will be activated, and all your fires will deal 100% more damage. Effect is renewed with every 10 kills with your created fires.
Note: All forms of fire created by the character is considered 'your fire'. Even fires conjured by mana, or fires which were indirectly caused by you.
Requirements to upgrade perk:
0/10,000 fires started,
0/50,000 damage dealt by fire,
0/500 pain and fear dealt by fire on one mob,
0/5 fires started that lasted for 100 hours each,
0/1 Boss mobs killed with [Firestorm] perk active.
"Okay, this seems more psychopathic than the other one." King noted, after reading the description. Really? All he did was burn a lion to increase its pain so he could fulfill one of the conditions for his perk to level up, he didn't have severe pyromania!
Still, he may as well have, seeing as he'd probably be killing more mobs with fire very often. Don't look down on extra 20% EXP. Not to mention, it dealt more 'pain' and 'fear', supplementing the [Sadism] perk! In fact, both of them working in tandem was pretty good!
The [Firestorm] effect was also similar to his [Bloodlust] effect from his combat knife, as well. If 10 enemies died by a fire he created, his fire attacks would deal 100% more damage.
"I guess my next best weapon is a flamethrower." King jokingly said. As per usual, the [Upgraded Materialization Sphere] changed from a SCAR to a flamethrower.
"Not again- you know what, why not." King sighed. He was going to utilize fire-based attacks, and he was going for incendiary ammo, but most animals would probably run away from a massive torrent of fire in the first place, so King just had to make sure he didn't get sneak-attacked. He didn't get extra EXP for killing enemies stealthily, but only extra damage. A flamethrower did damage over time, and it was an effective weapon for clearing out large swathes of mobs.
...Those weren't exactly the conditions needed for the current situation, as he was on a grassy flatland, not a dungeon of sorts where there were concentrated waves of enemies and the like. At least, there weren't any dungeons, yet. Currently, everyone only knew the place to farm was the grassy flatland just right outside the starting area. Any further, and the mobs were too high-leveled. At least, for the others. King was already there, and the flatland still had no end in sight.
"Maybe you can find dungeons by asking NPCs?" King suddenly had a thought. There was no way a game like this wouldn't have labyrinths or dungeons to farm mobs, and at the start, there were no dungeons yet. Maybe as the most of the game would be explored by players and also gained from asking NPCs, like when King found out how to make more [Mana Potions], King asked an NPC for it.
"Hopefully I can find a D-Class beast in one of the dungeons or something." King said to himself. Most materials could just be bought, in fact King could buy every material he needed to upgrade his [Upgraded Materialization Sphere]. Only problem was money. Stuff like [Mana Potions] and {Mana Crystals} could be easily made, so those weren't really much of a hassle. The usual material used to coat the sphere, in this case, {Mage's Gold}, could be found and mined. But King wasn't going to mine himself for the materials, no way in hell.
Problem was, all of the materials, every one of them, were expensive.
A single [D-Class Mana Crystal] would cost about 1 million in-game gold, due to the difficulty in procuring them. F-Class beasts had on average, 100 HP. E-Class beasts had, on average, 10,000 HP. The E-Class beasts King had been hunting were on the weaker side. Well, D-Class beasts? They had an average of 1,000,000 HP. King was more than far from it, and the lowest leveled D-Class beast was level 40, five levels higher than King's current level. King could barely scrape together 250 gold from selling all of his wolf-pelts, and you wanted him to gather a million?
10 [Mediocre Mana Potions] were pretty simple, for King at least, he didn't need to worry about collecting {E-Class Mana Crystals}, as he already killed a pride of lions, all of them whom were E-Class beasts. King currently had 18 {E-Class Mana Crystals}, enough to make 18 [Mediocre Mana Potions].
[D-Class Mana Crystal] aside, {Mage's Gold} was a bit trickier to get. Not only money was required, but a select few shops only ever get to sell {Mage's Gold}, due it its scarcity. Trying to collect 1 kilogram of it was akin to collecting a quarter of all of it on the markets. Well, not exactly, but most {Mages Gold} purchases were done in grams. The ingots were almost the same value as a rare work of art, or an incredible magic weapon fit for a general. At least, that's what the lore said about it.
So putting aside the {D-Class Mana Crystal} King would get personally because no way in hell was he paying 1 million gold for something he could get later in the game. The potions also weren't much of a hassle. He could already make them. The problem was getting {Mage's Gold}. One kilo would be close to 500,000 gold, or half a million gold. Getting the money wasn't enough of a hassle, finding it was also a pain.
First things first, King needed the money to afford it in the first place. Finding all the places to get them would be useless if he didn't have money.
"So how should I sell these lion pelts...?" King thought. If he sold it to a street vendor, he would not only probably get scammed, the street vendor might not even recognize its true value. After all, if going by in-game data, a lion would take at least 40 arrows to kill. 40 flimsy iron arrows, though. And they all needed to land square on the head.
"Maybe there's a place to sell high-end items..." King said out loud, before he turned to his left, and saw in big bold letters on a massive sign, "MERCHANT'S GUILD'.
"Talk about lucky."
King walked in, and it was a clean atmosphere, similar to the one when King walked into that chain alchemy store. "What was it called, The Potion? Yeah, that's the one." King thought, remembering the place he learnt how to make potions.
"Good morning, how may the Merchant's Guild help you today?" As King walked towards the counter, he was greeted by a friendly receptionist. She was a young woman in her mid-twenties, and had green hair and yellow eyes. A strange combination, but hey, there's swords and magic and dragons (presumably) so something like this shouldn't be weird.
"I'd like to sell some pelts." King answered as per usual, short and straight to the point. He was worried long sentences might confuse the AI. Well, he thought, anyway. If every character was all equally human-like, then it would not only be highly taxing for the servers, but for the electricity required to run the damn thing.
"Alright, how many and what kind?" The receptionist asked.
"10 of them. Lion pelts. {Elite Beast}." King gave all the necessary information without a single excess word.
"Alright. Please fill in the form, and bring the items tomorrow." The receptionist noted. She probably didn't think all of it was currently on King, anyway. After all, only players had access to their inventories. NPCs probably only had stuff like space-time magic to do so. Players could do the same, but they had inventories so who cares.
"I'd like to deposit the pelts as soon as possible." King said.
"Of course. Please come again when you have the pelts ready." The receptionist waved, assuming King was about to leave to get the pelts.
"I already have them with me." King said.
"Eh? Where-" The receptionist asked, before being interrupted.
"Whoooey! A beauty!" A loud, gruff and rude voice sounded out.
"Oh for fuck's sake, not this cliche scene again." King inwardly groaned. "Please let it not be this girl, please let it not be this girl-" King hoped that their target was someone else, and not the receptionist in front of him, or else it was going to be a pain in the neck.
"Hey, blond asshole! Move out the way!" Alas, King's hopes were dashed. Turning around, a bald barbarian- at least King presumed he was a barbarian due to the large battleaxe on his back- was looking straight at him. King was blocking his view of the girl.
"Could you wait? I'm just about to finish my transaction-" King said, before the barbarian took out his axe, and pointed it at King. "You deaf!? I said move out the way, bastard!"
King sighed. Looks like there was no way out this one. "Level 25, so not all bad, I guess." King checked the barbarian's level. He was around the same level as the tiger he first killed, so King wasn't too troubled. Only thing was this was either a cliche interaction that the developers put in for fun and would occur randomly, or it was a trigger for a quest or something. Thing was, quests would delay his grinding.
"You little-" When he saw King still hadn't moved out the way, the barbarian was pissed, and was approaching King, before another blond young man wearing full-plate armor with the symbol of the Merchant Guild's chest on his chest-plate appeared, blocking the way between King and the barbarian.
"Stop! No violence is allowed in the Merchant's Guild! Drawing your weapon already incurs a 500 gold fine, if you attack someone, you'll be banned from the Merchant's Guild for your entire lifetime!" The young man said.
"Get the fuck out of my way!" The barbarian seemingly didn't hear a word he said, and still strode with big steps towards King.
"Are you sure you're willing to go against the Merchant's Guild?" The young man's tone lowered, and the guards on the outside of the building had stepped into the building as well, drawing their swords.
"You... tch!" The barbarian finally saw sense, as he kept his weapon. The young man in front of him was the same as him, level 25, and the guards outside were level 30. There was no way he was winning this fight. Even an idiot such as he would be able to tell.
"You still need to pay a 500 gold fine!" The young man wasn't letting up, however.
"Why you- I'm leaving!" The man said, about to walk out. Clearly he didn't have to money to pay.
"Until you pay your fine, you're banned from trading at any branch of the Merchant's Guild!" The young man said right before the barbarian left the building, and the barbarian froze.
Looking back, he glared at King before going through the doors.
"Level 25... let's hope there's no one stronger than him that'll pop up later on." King thought.
"Sorry about earlier, sir. Everyone in the Merchant's Guild is protected by any and every possible method of harm." The young man apologized to King.
"Thanks." King thanked. Turning back. King procured the ten lion pelts from within his inventory, which appeared onto the floor.
"These are the pelts I wanted to sell." King said to the receptionist, whom was visibly shocked. He had just taken ten lion pelts from seemingly nowhere, after all.
"S-sir, you have an item bag?" The young man asked.
"Hmm? Oh, yes. I found it one day when I was exploring." King explained.
"Such good fortune..." "How come he gets one?" "Even those Silver-Ranked adventurers might not have one!" "Where'd he get it?" As he said so, a wave of commotion descended into the guild, as everyone was discussing King's 'item bag'.
Obviously, King knew what an item bag was. It was a magical pouch of any kind with the enchantment of being able to store things with space-time magic. They were rare items which could only be found in ancient ruins blah blah blah, and they were inferior to the inventories of players. Inventories could hold anything, as long as it was an item, no matter how large, and a stack of 100 each item. So an example would be if he had a 100 hay-bales, it would only take up a single slot in his inventory.
Item-bags, however, were bags with limited amount of space, like say... 4 or 5 meters cubed. And every single item took their own space, unlike inventories where a single slot was only filled when there was 100 of the item in it. Sure, if all you wanted was carrying weapons, sure, it was good. But say you went dungeon raiding, and they dropped hundreds to thousands of priceless materials. Inventories would be able to carry them all, whereas item bags were limited to the space it held.
The ONLY downside an inventory had was that it was limited to the slots left. King was currently level 35, so he had 40 slots for different items. More than enough, actually.
But, the game didn't have anything about inventories, and the game simply had this to say:
"Please simply say that your inventory is an item bag to the NPCs, the concept of an inventory does not apply to them."
Then again, if everyone had an inventory, there would be a problem already. Screw transport companies, any random person might be carrying 10,000 tons of gold and silver. But as players were players, that was pretty much normal in the gaming world. Some games allowed you to keep TANKS in a single inventory slot.
After selling the 10 lion pelts, King netted a total of 3000 gold coins. 300 gold per pelt, it was quite something. 250 gold was 250 wolves, a single lion was worth more than 250 wolves. Then again, wolves were easy to kill. Lions weren't.
King kept the other 4 pelts because... well, he just wanted to sell only ten. A nice, even number.
As he walked out of the city gates, King saw a familiar figure. It was the bald barbarian in the city. They were rather far out, and no one from the city gates could see them.
"Seriously? If it weren't for the lack of a name hovering over his head, I'd think that this guy was an actual player." King inwardly sighed.
"Hey, asshole! Remember me!?" The bald barbarian called out gruffly.
"Oh, the person from the Merchant's Guild?" King called out.
"So you do remember me! Tch! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be banned from the Merchant's Guild! Hand over 500 gold now, and I'll consider sparing your life!" The barbarian said, pulling out his axe.
"You're speaking so casually about killing someone." King said.
"Hmph! I've done this to hundreds of people, I've killed at least 60 people, too!" The barbarian yelled out. "Furthermore, we're far away from the city! Your own life is your responsibility the second you step outside the gates!"
"So no one will bother if someone died outside here?" King asked once more.
"Of course! Even if a city guard saw me killing you, they probably wouldn't even care, as it isn't even their duty!" The barbarian yelled out once more.
"So no matter whomever is killed out here, no one would ever bother." King asked one last time for conformation.
"No one! Unless they're nobles, where their own personal force will come looking for them, and the King and the Royal Family, where the entire city guard will go looking for them, no one will care about some idiot blond dying here!" The barbarian said, before smiling. "You're not giving me 500 gold yet? Fine. Give me 500 gold now, and beg for mercy, and I just might consider taking an arm instead of your life."
"Hmm. Great, so that means you can help me with my experiment, then." King said.
"What-" The barbarian didn't even get the chance to finish his sentence until a sharp pain came from his left thigh. But when he looked again, say no more about the thigh, his entire left leg from below the ankle was gone.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" His scream was so inhuman and unpleasant King wondered if this kind of sound could even be produced by humans. Well, from what King knew, the NPC voices were all made from voice synthesizers, so it was not even made by a human in the first place.
As he fell down due to missing support from his missing leg, he then noticed that his leg was over by his left, severed extremely cleanly.
"Huh, that's a clean cut." King noted. The katana he had materialized was incredibly sharp! The swords he used in the testing area didn't even come close! Then again, those were F-Class weapons. King was using a katana made from mana materialized from an E-Class weapon.
"But I don't want clean cuts. Jagged cuts raise pain points significantly more." King said, before de-materializing the katana. What came out next, was a bonesaw.
"Let's try just sawing an entire leg off." King said.
The barbarian that was still screaming, noticed that King was approaching, and attempted to back away, swinging his axe madly with both hands. "S-stay away!"
"Stop moving, will you?" King said, before materializing a gun, and shot at both his arms. "Oh, just to be sure..." King said, before shooting the other leg for good measure.
Ignoring the continued screams, King started to saw at the barbarian's foot, until he went halfway, then the barbarian passed out.
"Eh? But he was only at 200 pain... he already passed out? His fear is... ah. 1,000." King checked the two numbers floating on the unconscious barbarian's head.
"Usually the fear value is harder to raise than the pain value. Maybe cause this person is actually a coward and not an animal running on instinct?" King thought. Slowly, the fear dropped bit by bit.
"Must be because he's unconscious and can't feel fear." King said, before hitting the barbarian in his solar plexus, waking him instantly.
"K-keuk! W-what... was that a- IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!?" The barbarian looked around for a bit, before noticing King's face, and the severed leg on his left. King looked at the fear points, and it was rising steadily, already at 1,400. His pain was still at 200-ish, though.
"Anyway, hold still." King said.
"So I know the [Upgraded Materialization Sphere] can materialize weapons, and even some complicated things, like a crusher or a gun with working ammo. So I wonder if toxins or poisons can be made." King wondered, before a syringe was materialized on the tip of the sphere.
"Well, one way to find out." King said, jabbing the syringe into the man's leg.
"W-what? What'd you just- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-" The barbarian barely managed to get out before a scream was heard from him.
"So they still work... If only the things materialized can become physical. I can just sell these then." King noted. For now, the things he materialized were made of his own mana, meaning they would slowly dissipate over time. It only needed to be materialized once, but once outside of a certain range, the item he materialized would slowly dissipate over time, leaving no trace. That was why most of his kills didn't have any bullets stuck in them. They already dissipated by the time King got to collecting the carcass.
If it could turn into a physical object with real materials, that would be too good. But by then it wouldn't just be a 'materialization sphere' anymore. The materialization sphere just materialized something from mana into a state of mana which has the exact properties of the physical thing, like a kind of mana which was explosive, in the bullet casings, or a type of mana with toxic properties, like the bullet-ant venom he injected into the barbarian, but it was still just mana.
Turning mana into physical objects was more like transmutation. Previously, it was mana with the exact physical properties. But it was still mana. This time, it was the actual physical object.
"Well, its good enough, for now." King said, before continuing on experimenting with everything the [Materialization Sphere] was capable of. His unlucky experimentation subject, however... let's just say it was only the beginning for him.
[30 minutes later...]
"Okay. So anything that is a solid, liquid, or gas can be materialized from mana, and retains all chemical properties as the actual solid. Stuff like fire, lightning, and actual light can't yet be materialized, but in the last case just making a flashlight should good enough." King said. As long as it was physical, the [Materialization Sphere] could probably materialize it. Anything else couldn't.
"Surprisingly, he managed to stay alive." King said, looking down on the barbarian. He was charred, frozen, had limbs cut off, tumorous growths, and if a normal person were to see it, they'd be horrified on all the afflictions on the body of the barbarian. It would even be more merciful to just end his suffering right then and there.
"I-I'm sorry. P-please let me go..." The barbarian pleaded weakly.
"I heard this over 300 times while I was testing stuff out. What makes you think I'm going to spare you?" King asked rhetorically. Not that he was cruel, but the barbarian came at him first. All he did was use him as an experiment instead of killing him outright. "Not to mention, letting you live or not, you'll die sooner or later with all those injuries." King pointed out.
"Still, the physical effects are accurate to a tee. Gross, but still, I've seen worse on D*v**nt *rt." King thought. All the boils and scars and rashes and... organs were a little off-putting, King had to say. If he hadn't already witnessed worse when he was in an aftermath of a monster attack, King would've vomited already.
"Well, I'll be a good guy, and end your suffering already." King said, before de-materializing the picks which he created through the [Upgraded Materialization Sphere], and brought out a flamethrower.
"N-no... please, anything, a-anything. I just want to live..." The barbarian still pleaded. Did this person really value life so much? King was actually not surprised he wasn't begging for death. After all, he was afflicted with all kinds of poisons and burns and frostbite. He would die no matter what, anyway.
"Why do you even want to live so badly? Even I feel like putting you out of your misery." King asked, puzzled. He really was planning to be a good guy and just killing him straight, after completing all his experimentation.
"J-just let me live-" The barbarian didn't even manage to finish when King stuck his black combat knife into the throat of the barbarian, killing him instantly.
"Well, that was a good experimentation. I now know its limits." King said, looking at the [Upgraded Materialization Sphere] in his hands.
"Alright, time to farm!" King said, getting pumped up. He had came up with the perfect way to farm for EXP.
[4 hours later...]
"Only level 42? Man, the level up requirements are getting more and more stringent..." King sighed. "Those were quite a lot of mobs, too. Meh, I guess there's a limit to what mostly level 20-30 mobs can do..." King said, looking ahead.
In front of him was a mostly burnt field, with the ashes of grass, carcasses of wolves, there was even some leopards and bears in there, too.
Basically, all King did was create a napalm bomb. When King materialized the first one, it took out as much as 30,000 MP to make. But man, was it worth it.
Well, it wasn't exactly napalm, but it was a bomb, at least. Unlike napalm, this fire doesn't really stick, and also it burned at a much lower temperature.
All King needed was EXP. And of course, to be sure, King found out through the experiment, that most of his materialized items could take on whatever physical properties he wanted, as long as it was physically possible through any means. King still couldn't make a perpetual-motion machine, sadly.
However, what King could do was change how brightly and painful the fires created from the explosion would be. All it took was changing their chemical properties, and from the new upgrade, King's [Upgraded Materialization Sphere] could create it as long as King had a clear image of what it could do.
So, with that, King manipulated to explosion to be precisely an explosion with a 70 meter radius and would not burn outside the area to preserve the rest of the field without burning the entire grassy flatland, and in exchange for size of the explosion and duration of the fires burning... King traded it in for burning intensity.
"Now, these fires are supposedly able to last an entire 100 hours without need of re-kindling. I've heard of fires lasting thousands of years, but that's because they were tended to. Hopefully these actually last that long." King said, scratching his head. Now, this specific area, an entire...
uh...
Author: Gimme a sec. *checks calculator*
Ah yes. The entire area of 15,400 meters squared, or around 4 acres, was constantly burning. For about 100 hours, hopefully. The bomb was basically a napalm which had an absurdly longer burn time but much lower burn temperature, which exploded instantaneously. Well, due to logic and whatnot, although the temperature of the fire was mostly controlled, the center of the explosion, also known as where King put the bomb, was hottest, and the outer edges weren't as hot. On average, however, the fires were mostly the same temperature as a wood fire.
And the second he detonated it, it instantly leveled him up from level 36, to level 42. Okay, not instantly. Most enemies there were already level 20-30, so they were either max-leveled F-Class beasts, or actual E-Class beasts. So it took a while for them to die from the fires.
Now, King wasn't worried about the drops. What King wanted was more EXP. The more EXP, the more leveling up, the more stats, the greater firepower, and greater killing, therefore gaining more EXP. It was an endless cycle, where King was unconcerned by the drops.
Well, {Mana Crystals} aside. King felt a pang of pain in his heart when he detonated it, but quickly became overjoyed when he learnt that {Mana Crystals} were highly heat-resistant. Even F-Class {Mana Crystals} would have the melting point of aluminium. But napalm fire was hotter than that, which was why he toned down the temperature to the level of a wood fire.
So after the fire was done burning, King could spend his time collecting the {Mana Crystals} which would be perfectly intact. Everything else... not so much.
"Well, I honestly expected to be leveling up a bit faster. Guess not." King sighed. Three levels for 30,000 MP? Not that he was complaining, it was fast. But that kind of mana consumption was no joke. It was like three [E-Class Mana Potions]. Okay, fine. That was an amazing trade-off. But still, it was much, much lower than King's original efficiency. 10 MP was worth 2000 in damage from a single shot from a bullet. Then again, bullets were bullets. They were basically the most efficient killing machines in terms of price-to-production.
Before, he got limited to the damage range of the original [Materialization Sphere]. But now, King's [Upgraded Materialization Sphere] had a damage range of 10,000 damage at max. It's lowest damage rating would never change, and it would be one. Although, why damage from a bullet would be limited is questionable, it was to maintain balance. If every weapon did the same amount of damage because they 'were the same weapon and an edge is still an edge', and the skills are what counts, etc, etc, King would be surprised at the realism, and a little disappointed.
After all, the point of a fantasy game was FANTASY. Not realism. 'Fantasy' was literally in the name.
Getting back on track, now, the area where King exploded the bomb was now completely covered in fire, and there were no longer any living creatures anymore.
"Well, understandable. Would be pretty stupid if mobs just up and spawned at the place willy nilly, giving me free EXP for the whole period of 100 hours." King lamented at the realism. Couldn't a bit more 'fantasy' be included?
It made sense though. A wolf wouldn't be able to spawn in literal fire and last more than a second. Slimes, maybe. They had moisture or something. So obviously, the spawn rating was determined whether the mob spawned was able to survive for more than three seconds, more than ten seconds, more than a minute, and etc. If a mob would logically thrive at a specific spot, the spawn-rate of the mobs in that area would obviously be increased. For obvious reasons.
But currently, he situation in front of him was just pure fire. The only thing that would logically survive were mobs with a great fire attribute.
"Well, I guess I'll check again later. For now, I should regenerate my MP and then use another one of these on a higher-leveled area." King said, before deciding to move further ahead while he had the time. His [Firestorm] perk was worth quite a bit.
[1 hour later...]
"I think..." King said, looking at the devastation ahead. "I went too far."
After some time making more explosives to gain more levels, King finally had the ability to enter those level 40-50 areas, which were all E-Class beasts. Occasionally there was the sight of a massive D-Class beast, but King would swiftly and sneakily evade them, with his stealth stats.
Originally, he'd just blow up a bomb and collect the EXP afterwards. However, instead of spending it on one bomb, an idea struck King, and he thought about combining a few bombs. King had found out he could combine weapons, like three materialized mana daggers could turn into a sword.
King did just that, but with the bombs.
It was risky business, as a single mishap could allow him to be spotted by every E-Class beast in the distance, and maybe if he was unlucky, a wandering D-Class beast.
After he materialized like, 40 or 50 of those explosives, King attempted to combine them, and for some reason turned the original explosives into larger, more dangerous explosives, and finally... into a small cube. Keep in mind, that small cube was the result of combining 40-50 explosives which leveled 15,400 meters squared worth of land, and all the mobs on it.
At the time, King shrugged and didn't care. It never failed him before. King just needed it to kill as much as it could. And it did. Too well. King apparently forgot to edit the characteristics of the explosive... and it had went from napalm... to nuclear.
Seriously. King swore he was at least a few kilometers away from the thing, and even then he could see the damn mushroom cloud and felt the vibrations.
"Shit. I hope there's no radiation..." King silently hoped. But he was bound to be disappointed. King produced a Geiger counter, and... well, let's just say King ran the fuck out of there faster than a car. Seriously. The physical abilities of a level 42-well, now level 52 was amazing. Still, King felt a small loss.
He had created a literal nuclear explosive... and only leveled up seven times. He leveled up three times before he had went into the level 40-50 area. King could go to those level 50-60 areas now, but still...
"A nuclear explosive for 7 levels... well, I can't complain. I got it immediately, after all." King sighed. He wasn't sure if he was being too greedy. He literally seized 7 levels for free... okay, not really. He gained seven levels by spending... a couple million MP, now that he thought about it. 30,000 MP per explosive, and he had made around 40 to 50 of them... He spent 1.2 to 1.5 million MP.
"Okay, now that I think about it, it was okay. I only spent 30 minutes to materialize all the explosives to gain 7 levels... it's a little faster, but that's from the extra EXP gain from [Sadism] and [Pyromaniac]." King thought. This speed wasn't all too bad, considering the fact that he was so high-leveled. At this pace, he'd be able to breach level 100 in the next two to three weeks, if the rhythm of grinding was same as all MMORPGs. All MMORPGs would have the same characteristics;
The first few levels are incredibly easy to farm. The middle levels are average and don't take too long to level up. The later ones are much harder, and the last 5 levels would take the longest to pass than the first thirty levels. After all, it only took him what... five whole hours to level up to level 52.
"What can I do for the next levels, though..." King was in a dilemma. He was already increasing his levels at a very fast pace, but that was because he had a really, really unfair edge. His [Upgraded Materialization Sphere]. The first hour, he already got himself a hunting rifle. Next was an auto-sniper from the military, and now, he was on to napalm bombs, and finally, nuclear weapons.
…Everyone else had medieval weapons. It really was unfair. All other players were stuck on swords, spears, bows and arrows, meanwhile King was sitting back taking shots at mobs from afar using a gun, and now, he was using nuclear weapons.
"I like leveling up, but this is a bit too much." King said, crossing his arms. "Alright! I've decided!" King came to a decision.
"I'm not using any form of modern weaponry unless other players can access it too!" King decided. Being the highest-leveled player was fun. But it wasn't as fun when you got to the top using an edge that only you yourself had. It was considered your gain, but it didn't feel very satisfying. King got to the top, and beat the second highest-leveled player by a massive margin of nearly 30 levels. But they had spears. King used nuclear bombs.
So King decided he was using swords, spears, bows and arrows like everyone else. As long as it was a weapon everyone else can use, King was using it. But it didn't mean he wasn't going to not use his [Upgraded Materialization Sphere]. He'll still be using it to create weapons, unless some better weapons appear.
"For now... I need to get back to real life. It should be about time for dinner, now." King said, before logging out. He had already rushed into the city when he saw the readings of the Geiger counter, so he could safely log off. No need to fear logging in right in front of a horde of possibly mutated E-Class beasts and radiation poisoning.
Preview Of Next Chapter...
As King logged off and took off his helmet, his guess was right. It was currently 6 p.m, and about time for dinner. Usually, he'd go out for some takeout, but he was a little lazy today. He already bought some groceries earlier- by groceries, King meant a replenishment of his Instant-ramen stock. Well, that and some fruits. No matter how unhealthily King lived, every person needed a balanced diet.
"Well, time to cook." King said, stretching, and about to take out his tea-pan to cook some instant ramen, before he heard a knock on the door.
"Hey, King! You there?" Saitama's voice called out from the other side of the door.
"Oh, yeah. Coming." King then walked to the door, opening it to see Saitama, wearing casual clothes and a plastic bag in hand.
"Want some bananas?" Saitama offered.
"Sure." King accepted it. "So what'd you come here for?"
"Well... you see... this is a little embarrassing, but can I ask for a loan?" Saitama asked.
"A loan? What for?" King asked.
"I want to try out that new VR-helmet thingy that everyone's so crazy about, but I don't have enough to actually buy the thing. Can I just borrow like, 200,000 yen? I'll pay you back as soon as I can." Saitama answered.
End Of Preview.