The Last Fork in the Road
“Oh. An item shop? So there was such a thing.”
An icon appeared, one that reminded him of a supermarket cart.
The unlock condition for the Item Shop has been met: total RP acquired has surpassed 2,000. Thanks to your magnificent defeat of the Giant Troll, Guardian, the condition has been fulfilled.
Dalhiha explained it to Ho-yeong, who looked delighted.
Rare items and below are stocked and rotated periodically in the shop, and can be purchased with RP. The spatial storage box you mentioned earlier, Guardian, will also be stocked in the future.
Ho-yeong immediately tapped the shop icon.
The equipment display case was empty, but the consumables shelf was lined with potions.
“Hm, potions, huh. Guess they’re only normal grade since this shop has just opened. Still, let’s take a look.”
Low-Tier Stamina Potion
- Price: 10 RP
- Grade: Normal
- Type: Active / Single-use consumable
- Effect: Upon drinking, restores aura by 10% of maximum and slightly reduces fatigue.
- Side Effect: For 3 minutes after drinking, you will vomit up any potion you try to consume. (This side effect also applies if you drink this potion again.)
- Background -
This black liquid, made from the ashwater of dead Dodum Trees, smells and tastes atrocious.
It is not helpful for healing wounds.
“Ten percent recovery? That’s pretty stingy. It does have the fatigue-reduction effect, but… if that’s all I care about, tea or cookies made from Mandragorani horn leaves would be way better. And it even blocks overdosing?”
The price was cheap, but the effect was underwhelming.
Pretty similar to the normal-grade items sold in the in-game shop. Low price means low performance, and anything that performs a little better comes with a nasty price tag. If it’s good value for money, there’s always some penalty or use condition attached.
Still, because they were cheap, Ho-yeong took all three in stock.
“The other potions are all about the same, huh. Oh? Found an advanced-grade one!”
He found two potions that stood out among them.
Flash-Freeze Potion
- Price: 100 RP
- Grade: Advanced
- Type: Active / Single-use consumable
- Effect: When consumed, select one ability and reset its cooldown.
- Side Effect: That ability’s cooldown will increase by at least threefold for one use.
Super Coolant
- Price: 100 RP
- Grade: Advanced
- Type: Active / Single-use consumable
- Effect: Pour it over one piece of equipment with a cooldown, and the cooldown is reset.
- Side Effect: That piece of equipment’s cooldown will increase by at least threefold for one use.
“I like the effect, but the side effect’s the problem. And the cooldown multiplier isn’t exactly three times—it’s ‘at least three times’? So I have to run my own tests just to figure out the exact penalty. Feels like a brutal emergency treatment.”
After a brief hesitation, Ho-yeong pressed the button.
“Whatever, I’m buying it! Being able to fire off abilities or items with No Cooldown is way too good to pass up.”
A total of 400 RP has been spent. Remaining RP: 1,670.
Two glass bottles filled with a deep blue liquid appeared.
“It’d be bad if I broke these by accident. I desperately need an inventory. But when do the rest of the items get stocked?”
While browsing the status window, Ho-yeong found a notice attached to the empty equipment display.
“Hm, more items will be stocked as Chapter 2 progresses? Come to think of it, we’re still in Chapter 1. When the heck is this supposed to end?”
Guardian, have you decided to accept the invitation from the hostile NPC?
Dalhiha answered Ho-yeong’s question with one of her own.
“Huh? Of course I have. And besides, this is a main quest, right? Like I’ve got any choice in the matter.”
<Meeting with the Cliad Sect Leader> is an important quest, but it is not mandatory. The risk is too high. Please do not forget that another important quest, <Responding to the Summons from the Capital>, is also currently in progress.
“Ah, right. I was on my way to see Queen noona. How much time do I have left?”
Remembering his original travel objective, Ho-yeong scratched the back of his head.
The grace period for that quest is about 5 days. However, only 46 hours remain to complete the bonus quest <Speed Run>.
“Yeah, I said we’d get a huge reward if we reached the capital quickly. Hm… still, the fanatics are the priority right now.”
After only the briefest pause—too short to really call it deliberation—Ho-yeong answered.
“Sure, maybe like Dalhiha says, I don’t have to do this quest. If I go charging in just because I want to see that cult leader’s face, I might walk right into a trap, and that’d be a pain in the ass. Of course, if I turned around and beat the crap out of him, the payoff would be huge, but there’s no need to take the high-risk route for no reason. I’ve only got one life, and if I die, it’s game over. So no, I don’t need to make some pointless five-on-five meeting with those fanatics.”
What he stood to lose seemed greater than what he could gain.
“But what about the kidnapped children and soldiers? Setting aside whether I can take down the cult freaks or not, I have to save the people they took.”
If you do not rescue them, it will hinder game progression for a time, but it will not directly affect the clearing of the main quest.
Even after Dalhiha’s cold, practical advice, Ho-yeong shook his head.
“Even if it’s not necessary, it’s still my duty. I just gave a passionate speech about saving those people—how could I take it back now? A man’s word is worth a ton of steel.”
Ho-yeong’s resolve was firm. Perhaps moved by it, Dalhiha did not bother correcting the proverb he had mangled.
“It’s not because I care about my image or anything. But I can’t just stand by and watch children get kidnapped for no reason. And I’ve got to save Shrakhim too.”
However, if the <Meeting with the Cliad Sect Leader> quest takes too long to complete, there is a high possibility that you will fail to finish <Responding to the Summons from the Capital>. In that case as well, game progression will suffer major disruption.
“Sure, I might get punished for ignoring a royal command. But the queen clearly said it herself at the start: protect the precious people. If I just bail and leave everyone in trouble, wouldn’t that be breaking the royal command too?”
While she was handling state affairs, Daisy suddenly had a terrible itch in her ear, but she couldn’t afford to scratch it and preserve her dignity, so she suffered in silence.
“And what about Shrakhim? Honestly, I’ve gotten attached to the guy, and yeah, I’m worried about him, but that’s not the only reason I want to save him. He’s been acting as my pack mule by accident, but originally he was supposed to be the messenger carrying out the royal command. So can I really go around saying, ‘Sorry, the messenger vanished on the road, so I had no choice but to come alone’? There’s a bunch of people trying to slander me, and from their point of view it’d look like I buried Shrakhim somewhere.”
Ho-yeong laid bare his feelings about Shrakhim while still assessing the situation with a cool head.
“So here’s the conclusion: I’m going to rescue the children and soldiers! If I can smash the fanatics too in the process, that’s best. If I can’t beat them but still save the people, that’s good. If I only crush the fanatics and fail to save the people, that’s bad. If I can’t smash anyone and save no one, that’s the worst.”
With that, the sound of a trumpet rang out.
You have completed Chapter 1, <Endless Forks in the Road>! You have entered Chapter 2, <Twisted Sunset>.
“Huh? It’s completed all of a sudden?”
Confused, Ho-yeong was given a surprising explanation by Dalhiha.
The conversation you just had was a test from the systems, and the final fork hidden within Chapter 1, <Endless Forks in the Road>. Congratulations! Guardian, you have passed the angels’ trial.
“So it was basically a hidden-camera prank? Hah, seriously. I knew something was off. Dalhiha’s been testing me the whole time, too, for some reason.”
He let out a hollow laugh.
“Still, finally! Chapter 1 is over, so that’s a relief. But do I get a separate completion reward? I went through hell over all those branching choices and whatnot during this chapter.”
There is no separate reward for completing the chapter.
Ho-yeong quietly sighed and muttered, “Man, the game progression in this thing is straight-up ass….”
A message has been delivered from the system!
“Ah, it meant I should’ve converted the fanatics sooner.”
Startled, Ho-yeong quickly swallowed the rest of the sentence.
Fortunately, the angels did not come down hard on him.
The angels have sent praise and gifts to the Guardian! Congratulations!
In fact, this was very good news.
The praise of <Guardian of the Fork> angel Oriad has been conveyed. “Guardian, your insight in uncovering the Cliad Sect’s scheme, your resourcefulness in repelling multiple waves of invasion, and no, your knack for handling people are truly remarkable.” Oriad proposed granting you precious sacred relics as items.
“Ohhh… thank you! You’re giving me two of them! Wait a second. Choose one of two…?”
He’d been happy to see the silhouettes of two items, but it was a fake-out.
“Heh. You kept putting forks in the road all chapter long, and now you’ve put my gift on a fork too. Still, having a choice isn’t bad. Thank you very much, Oriad.”
Shaking his head as if conceding defeat, Ho-yeong suddenly closed his eyes against a radiance that seemed to pierce the heavens.
“W-what the hell. What is this gaudy, blinding effect?!”
High in the sky, two sacred reliquaries floated, wrapped in multicolored light.
In a world frozen gray, only that light burned with vivid color.
The praise of <Guardian of Hardship> angel Soliad has been conveyed. “Rather than fleeing down the easy road, you walked the thorny path until blood seeped through your sandals. It is praise-worthy.” The grade of the item you will receive as a gift has been upgraded from Legendary Item to Mythic Item!
“Mythic… seriously?!”
Among the ranks graded as normal, advanced, rare, legendary, and mythic, it stood at the very top. As the name suggested, a Mythic Item could only be earned through deeds that had reached the level of the gods.
If it was a unique type with a one-of-a-kind property layered on top, the recipient’s nickname would even be permanently etched into the item’s name. So it was only natural that players who obtained Mythic Items became objects of envy.
If sold at a player auction, it would fetch tens of millions of won as a baseline, and items with a fixed number in circulation could easily command prices in the hundreds of millions.
“Now that’s a real reward!”
That was why Ho-yeong and so many others had participated in the season-limited quest <Aupocalypse Territory Defense>. The clear reward included five Mythic Items. You could gain both wealth and prestige at once; for a gamer, it was the ultimate reward.
“After all those years playing games—over ten thousand rounds—and I never once got my hands on anything like this, and now I’m getting it all in a game world.”
Guardian, you are not only exceptionally skilled, but also possess a straight and righteous heart. You are truly a model player.
Since coming to this world, you have changed the fates of many beings. Through conversion, you turned despair into hope and hatred into love.
In ancient times, there were also taming users, but they only oppressed other races and used them as tools. But you are different, Ho-yeong. You did not seek obedience; you drew forth devotion. You did not manipulate; you treated them with affection.
Only you have shown conversion in its truest meaning.
The reliquaries opened, and shafts of light flooded out.
Messages covered in pure white feathers drifted into view.
Unique properties will be added to the Mythic Items!
Choose one of Haria's Tear and Saliad's Well.