Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: One Billion a Month
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‘One billion a month.’
Of course, I knew that too.
The world of art isn’t something you just barge into lightly.
In a field overflowing with aspiring artists, geniuses, and hard workers, what could I possibly achieve just because I heard it makes a lot of money?
‘Not to mention, I have zero interest in it.’
I’d never even drawn a comic or written a novel, let alone read many. No input means no output—it’s only natural.
But there was a way.
‘Just copy them.’
Ardenia had its own culture, and novels were a given. Knight novels, romance novels, war novels, and so on.
‘They probably won’t be popular, though.’
That’s to be expected. It’d be like trying to sell medieval plays in the modern world. Hoping medieval land’s works would appeal to modern people accustomed to all sorts of entertainment was nothing but wishful thinking from a thief.
‘Still… there have to be niche tastes out there. And more importantly.’
I had my own edge that no other author could match.
‘Win with quantity.’
If I really buckled down and copied, I could churn out several books a day. Securing even the bare minimum readership for Ardenian works would bring in decent revenue!
Of course… there was always the risk of producing nothing but flops without even that minimal audience.
‘But it doesn’t cost anything anyway.’
Sure, the civilization level was low, but Ardenia was a fantasy world. The novels written there could be called proper fantasy in their own right, right?
Ardenia’s narrative-heavy stories might be dull and boring, but they’d have their fans.
Beep beep!
Back in my one-room apartment, I boot up the PC. As I search for ‘places to read novels’ and browse the endless platforms, I think about Ardenia.
More precisely, about places likely to have lots of novels.
‘The closest is the royal library in Chrome Kingdom’s capital. And the Wheel Mage Tower, maybe.’
The Chrome Kingdom wasn’t particularly cultured, but a capital of any nation would have an impressive collection.
The problem was whether those books had survived intact amid gates opening and monsters pouring out.
The Chrome Kingdom’s capital, Gimail, was even located in a blaze point.
A [Special] location requiring a dedicated攻略.
‘Well, it’s a place I’ll have to conquer eventually anyway.’
I open the Revenge homepage and check the dungeon info.
[Ice Queen’s Paradise (Advanced ~ Heroic)].
The dungeon’s rating was the same as the orc dungeon, but that didn’t mean they were truly equal. It was due to the traits of the monsters inhabiting the blaze point.
‘You can’t clear it without cold resistance.’
Not only that, but [blaze point] dungeons required additional conditions to challenge Hell difficulty.
‘Gotta do a Special Raid.’
Even the same Heroic-grade monsters differed between normal, elite, and bosses.
And raid bosses were on another level entirely. The Special Bosses unique to each blaze point were even more so.
‘It’s not time to conquer it yet.’
I hadn’t even reclaimed my own territory, let alone a blaze point.
So, my immediate goal was set: steal some books.
“Man, it’s been a while since I had some free time.”
With auto-hunt running, I suddenly had nothing to do for once.
The stunt at the broadcasting station had wrapped up my schedule for the day.
“…Alright. Might as well knock out these backlog main quests.”
From Killians to Killiansfor, all level 39.
Leveling was painfully slow.
‘Well, yeah. Still grinding normal and advanced hunting grounds at this level.’
Plus, any decent items went straight to Ardenia, tanking my hunt speed.
My Ardenia self was steadily building a collection and gaining levels, while my game character stayed the same. Basically a sub- free-to-play character at this point.
“No need to level the other four characters.”
From Killiansfive to Eight, they were just mules for storing loot.
Normally, I’d clear inventory in Ardenia whenever it filled up, but during the Khan Slasher fight, I couldn’t, so I bought cash shop [Character Slot Expansion] to make more.
Cain: Roaming rangers are causing havoc at the fortress. Mind taking out 150?
Senson: Lizardman spearmen are raiding the village! Just 200, please!
Dolce: Gotta smite some evil undead! Skeleton Warriors, 300 of them….
“Ugh, this grind is such a drag. What kind of half-assed quests are these?”
Grumbling, I powered through the backlog main quests. It was inefficient hunting that burned more on potions than it earned, but since the quests themselves were the goal, I pushed on.
Rewards: gold, EXP, and class summon tickets.
“Wonder what I’ll get. Actually, even good pulls are a problem here.”
Bringing Revenge items to my side had conditions. The item had to be flagged for [deletion].
No idea why a copyable data item had such restrictions, but it was impossible otherwise.
Without conditions, I’d have swiped quest loans like [Royal Sword Asgard (Legendary)] or [Guardian Goddess Statue (Legendary)] to Ardenia.
In short.
Quest reward class summon tickets couldn’t be deleted.
If a Heroic job popped here…!
Swordsman (Common), Wizard (Common)…
Flash!
Iron Shield (Advanced)! High Archer (Advanced)!
“Sheesh.”
I chuckled.
“What pointless worrying…”
Shaking my head, I finished the main quests. A linked quest popped, but level 40 restriction blocked it.
“Well, two Advanced out of four class tickets isn’t bad? They say quest rewards have better rates, and it’s true… Wait, what’s that?”
In the Legendary-grade castle [Elsa’s Ice Kingdom] at the blaze point, where I was grabbing main story rewards, I spotted players dancing in the central plaza.
Not one or two. Easily 100… no, 200.
Text floated above their heads.
[Guildmaster Legendary Skill Prayer Dance]
“What the hell?”
I mouse over to the dancing players.
Killians: What are you all doing?
Bukbuk Old Man: Prayer dance for the guildmaster!
Killians: Praying for what?
Bukbuk Old Man: See for yourself!
Following his words, I look at the player in the central plaza. Watching quietly, a screen pops up over their head.
Meaning they were streaming.
[Ah… failed again. Gonna open 100 treasure chests next, then skill box crafting. BRB, paying diamonds…]
‘Ah, got it. The guild master’s… doing gacha.’
Three ways to get skill books.
‘First, monster drops.’
Most pointless option. As I’ve said a million times, Revenge blasts world messages for rares. Expecting Heroic or Legendary drops? Too greedy.
‘Of course… drops aren’t impossible.’
They’re in the tables: Heroic, Legendary, even Mythics.
But the odds are negligible.
Despite hordes of players auto-hunting, server-wide Legendary skill books drop once or twice a year.
Mostly from raid bosses.
‘Second, crafting.’
Use mana-infused parchment and ink as materials.
Problem: those are drops too. Easier than finished products, but crafting guzzles gold and has failure chance.
‘Third, Goddess Treasure Chests.’
No need to elaborate.
Yeah. ‘Gacha.’
[Here we go again!]
I forget auto-hunt and watch the stream.
Pop pop pop!
100 chests open in a row, skill stones spilling out. Mostly one per, sometimes two.
[Gonna relog once.]
Character vanishes, reappears.
Killians: Why log out and back in?
Bukbuk Old Man: Relogging boosts success rates.
Killians: …
I glance back at the dancing players.
[Guildmaster Legendary Skill Prayer Dance]
[Ultimate Macho Kim Macho!]
[Milk-White Macho Kim Macho!]
[Holding Breath Until Guildmaster Gets Legendary]
“Ah… I see.”
World of probability. No point in extra effort, so superstitions it is.
[Skill crafting time… Please, gotta pop within two tries…]
While watching, I open a new tab to check treasure chest prices.
‘800 diamonds.’
80,000 won. Skill crafting takes 10 skill stones; 100 chests yield about 110 on average. Success rate 5%.
Simplify: ~800k won per craft attempt, averages 20 tries to succeed.
Thus.
“Whoa… 16 million won per skill? Even for Legendary…”
[Ah! It’s gotta drop soon. Ah! This time for real, guys… Ah!]
The middle-aged man on screen groans nonstop. Cracking glass sound as stones shatter, spelling [Failure].
Revenge’s failure system is brutal.
Fail, and nothing left. Spend 100 million won chasing something, fail, and you’re back to square one with f2p players. Winner-takes-all.
But persistence pays eventually.
[Waaaaaah! It dropped! Dropped! Thank you! Thank you! Shadow Twice acquired after 9.28 million won! I’m golden-handed, told ya!]
The guy screams in joy; guildies pop fireworks, blare fanfare.
[Guildmaster Legendary Skill Victory Dance]
“Whoa. Drops ten million on one skill and says thanks…”
While stunned, a group of players approaches from afar.
Park Cry: Congrats on the Legendary skill! Now our guildmaster’s turn.
Kim Macho: Hahaha! Go get ’em!
Dancers scatter; equal number replace them.
I ask.
Killians: Why do they come here? What’s special about forging here?
Bukbuk Old Man: It’s a hot spot! Archmage Supreme pulled a Mythic class here! Ah! Guildmaster’s calling for dinner—gotta go!
Killians: Okay…
Bukbuk Old Man leaves. New players float signs overhead.
[Guildmaster Legendary Class Prayer Dance]
“…”
Absurd. I watch a bit, then search the skill name.
“Let’s see… Shadow Twice?”
Results instant.
[Shadow Twice (Legendary) (Passive)]
On critical hit, guaranteed hit, max damage, counter, or status ailment attack (stun, blind, silence, burn, slow, etc.) success: identical damage after 1 second.
Then, after 3 more seconds, damage equal to sum of both attacks.
“…”
Stunned, I stare at the description. Text doesn’t change.
“No way… this is insane? And it’s passive?”
Universal warrior skill too. Any melee job can learn it.
Look at those triggers.
Insanely generous.
“How many ‘or’s is that? Even for Legendary, who designs this?”
Cursing devs, can’t look away.
Identical damage after 1 sec.
Then sum after 3 more sec.
Still broken.
“Whoa… gotta make bank.”
I need this.
“Gotta move now. Not just Chrome capital—all accessible spots.”
Not easy. Dungeons 100km apart.
But ways exist.
“Today’s earnings… all in today.”
I start gacha. Not crazy treasure chests—efficient spending.
Pet gacha.