27. My Buff is a Drug
27. My Buff is a Drug
"How much does this actually raise your stats?"
Curious about the Essence of Strength, Hye-yong asked.
"Mm... Since it dropped from an F-rank netherworld, it's probably down to the two-decimal range? There's no way to check exactly. You can't quantify this sensation, and the terminals don't show decimal places."
Two-decimal range.
That meant it started from at least 0.09.
It was Choi Ah-young's guess, but it wouldn't be far off.
"Pretty stingy for something that's supposed to be a rare drop."
"Still, the fact that a Strength Essence even dropped is something to be thankful for. Once your stats go past a certain point, no matter how hard you train, you inevitably hit a plateau. Essences give you a permanent, guaranteed boost, so I'm always happy to get one."
Now that he thought about it, that made a lot of sense.
Everyone had growth limits.
Even if the numbers were small, something that let you keep getting stronger without limit was definitely useful.
"So you got lucky at the end today, huh?"
"Yeah. It was a good day."
"Come on, the day isn't over yet. Let's meet at eight."
"Right, right. See you in a bit."
They made plans to meet at eight and went their separate ways.
Back in his room, Hye-yong cleaned his dirty shoes, gave his face a quick wash, changed into fresh uniform clothes, and plopped down on the edge of his bed.
'Phew. About an hour and a half until eight... Let's get myself sorted and head out.'
Before that, he had to create a buff and go.
A growth buff!
Now that he could use it, he damn well ought to make the most of it.
Working out without it would be a straight-up loss.
[ Stamina Stat Growth Speed Increase ]
Stamina Stat Growth Speed Increase Level 3
Self-only
You feel like you'll be able to approach your workout today with a much more committed mindset.
"Ahhh, my bed."
After finishing his workout, showering, and flinging himself onto the bed...
He could state it plainly.
Today had been damn fulfilling.
There was always a sense of relief when you lay down in bed after properly finishing everything you had to do.
BWEE-REEK!
Just then, his messenger alarm went off.
[ Choi Ah-young : Hye-yong, are you thinking of going on raids like this tomorrow too? ]
It looked like she'd finally resolved to say whatever was on her mind when they'd parted ways at the physical training room.
'Cute. I'm the only friend you can grind raids with like this, aren't I?'
In game terms, he was the kind of friend who'd grind with you for eight hours, ten hours straight!
From Choi Ah-young's perspective, she'd want to hunt like they did today every single day.
Knowing that, Hye-yong decided to play a little hard to get.
[ Choi Hye-yong : Tomorrow's the day we all go together. You still want to go? ]
[ Choi Ah-young : That wraps up fast. Come with me. ]
'Yeah. Don't think I don't know exactly what's in your heart.'
But since she was asking in a way that sounded like a favor, he figured he might as well cash in and make a move.
[ Choi Hye-yong : Fine. It wasn't in my plans, but if you insist, I'll go. ]
[ Choi Ah-young : Did you have a prior arrangement or something? You're not canceling plans for me, are you? ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : I had plans to laze around in my room with my tomorrow-self, and I canceled them. I figure roaming the netherworld and slaughtering monsters with you in private beats hanging out with a drab, boring dude any day. ]
[ Choi Ah-young : Yeah. A raid sounds way better. Thanks for coming with me. See you tomorrow. ]
'Looks like tomorrow's gonna be another packed day.'
That was when he thought that.
[ The duration of Warm Resonance has ended. ]
"Ah."
He'd tuned it out, but Instructor Yoo Ji-ah's buff had finally worn off.
'All that constant comfort I felt might've been because of this buff.'
Now that it was over, he felt a slight twinge of... something missing.
He even had the vague sense that things felt a little more uncomfortable now that the comfortable feeling was gone.
Though that sensation faded before long.
'...Ah?'
In a moment of idle thought, Hye-yong had a sudden flash of insight.
What he'd just thought about seemed awfully important.
'A buff that puts the mind at ease, huh...'
He decided to think it through more carefully.
Suppose there was a person whose presence made you feel inexplicably reassured and at ease.
And suppose stepping away from that person left you feeling regretful.
Then wouldn't you gradually grow to like that person?
Even if you felt nothing at first, if it kept repeating like that...
'Nice. It's not a cheat code like hypnosis or anything. Just making someone feel at ease is something I can definitely create with Buff Custom.'
If he designed the skill well, maybe he could even make a buff that was better than what Instructor Yoo Ji-ah had cast.
First, he decided to copy it and try making the same thing.
[ Warm Resonance ]
Stamina Stat +8 Levels
Fatigue Recovery Level 5
Warm Resonance Effect Level 3
'So if I dump all my cost into it, I can make something similar.'
He cast it on himself to check the effect.
A resonance that seemed to spread from the heart.
It did feel similar.
'Though maybe it's just my imagination that it feels a little different.'
Still, the fatigue recovery and Warm Resonance effect were definitely applying.
'I haven't attached any exclusivity restrictions yet. That means I can cast this on anyone.'
But something still felt lacking.
Couldn't he make a buff with a more direct effect?
Not outright mind control, but more like subtly, softly nudging someone's mood.
[ Relief ]
Relieved Emotion Level 6
'Ah... I do kind of feel... relieved?'
It felt like the future had been ever so slightly guaranteed.
Like a salaried worker at a small-to-medium company making 2.1 million won a month who suddenly won second prize in a pension lottery and is now set to receive 1 million won every month for ten years.
It wasn't total, absolute relief or anything like that, just the feeling that, ah, things would be a bit more comfortable from now on, that worries and troubles had lightened a little.
Maybe it was a weird analogy, but Hye-yong's frame of reference was limited to stuff like that, so it couldn't be helped.
'This is good, isn't it?'
In a tense situation, feeling relieved could be a problem, but for things like going to sleep or speaking in front of crowds, it seemed like it could be pretty useful.
'That means I can use this freely on other people too.'
He quickly set about trying to create other skills.
[ Impossible! ]
He wanted to make a buff that induced a regretful feeling, but an 'impossible' message popped up.
He puzzled over why it wouldn't work for a moment, then one thought occurred to him.
Maybe making something purely a negative feeling didn't qualify as a buff.
So he tried making this.
[ Regret ]
Stamina Stat +1 Level
Regretful Emotion Level 5
'Whoa, this actually works.'
It always felt good when his predictions were right.
He immediately cast it on himself.
'No... what is this?'
Within less than ten seconds of casting it, he genuinely started feeling something regretful.
'It's this vague sense of regret? When have I felt like this before?'
After thinking for a bit, Hye-yong pulled up an experience that hit the mark.
That moment on a rushed morning bus to work when you see your wireless earbuds are completely dead!
This buff provided exactly that level of regret.
Human emotions sure are fuzzy things.
He worked hard making and experiencing other emotions, thoroughly testing them.
[ Joy ]
Stamina Stat +1 Level
Joyful Emotion Level 5
At first he wondered what was going on, but as time passed he did seem to gradually feel more joyful.
A sense that something good was about to happen.
[ Satisfaction ]
Stamina Stat +1 Level
Satisfied Emotion Level 6
He wasn't entirely sure, but as he kept it applied, he did seem to grow more satisfied.
[ Irritation ]
Stamina Stat +1 Level
Irritated Emotion Level 4
'Ugh. Let's dispel this one fast...'
The prickling, creeping annoyance of the Irritation buff was deeply unpleasant.
'Next, shall I try making one with a feeling of despair?'
[ Impossible! ]
Curious what it would feel like, he tried to create it, but no matter how he tweaked the attempt, it only gave him the 'impossible' message.
Making someone despair felt too much like a debuff, he supposed.
'Though how making someone feel irritated counts as a buff is anyone's guess.'
Alternatively, maybe it just required way too much cost.
What was certain was that Hye-yong could only speculate.
If it worked, great. If it didn't, too bad.
As he continued creating, deleting, and experimenting over and over, time flew by in an instant.
"Hm... What a headache..."
Such a headache that he ended up talking to himself even though nobody was around.
Since emotions weren't something neatly divisible like math, it was natural, in a way.
First, he decided to systematically sort out what he'd learned from all his experimentation.
First off!
Emotion-related buffs consumed way more cost than he'd thought.
Compared to when he'd first arrived, Hye-yong had grown considerably.
The cost he could use to create buffs had increased quite a bit too.
Even so, when making emotion-related buffs, his ceiling was barely around level 4 or 5.
It was as if the Buff Custom skill was telling him, "You thought messing with human emotions was that easy, you damn free-riding scumbag?!"
And second.
The properties differed depending on the emotion being altered.
For buffs that improved mood, the effect wasn't immediate the moment they were cast.
It was gradual, over a long period.
Slowly, your mood improved.
Same for worsening your mood.
But the buff that induced regret was different again.
The effect manifested within ten seconds of casting, at least.
And just as the effect came on fast, it vanished fast too.
It seemed he'd have to carefully consider these properties when designing buffs.
Third!
Even when altering emotions, there were no dramatic shifts.
That meant casting a mood-improving buff on someone who felt absolutely terrible wouldn't instantly make them feel good.
That was something he'd confirmed by putting himself in a bad mood with the Irritation buff and then casting Joy.
By a similar principle, casting Regret while in an extremely satisfied state drastically reduced Regret's effectiveness.
Fundamentally, it seemed the correct approach was slow, gradual change.
He'd tried sacrificing performance to speed up the emotional-shift rate, but it didn't work well.
It crossed his mind that, like how Bwitgwitgak had said the growth buffs were locked, this might be something similar.
Fourth!
The moment something involved another person, the required cost skyrocketed through the roof.
What did that mean?
Take "love," for example.
If you roughly divide love into two categories, there's love directed at others and love directed at yourself.
[ Self-love ]
Self-love Level 2
A skill that made you love yourself was created without any issue.
But a skill that made you love someone else could not be created no matter what he tried.
It wasn't just love.
Making someone's mood improve when they thought of someone.
Or making them feel inexplicably wistful when they thought of someone.
Buffs like that couldn't be produced.
Even when he threw in all sorts of restrictions and desperately reduced the cost, it was the same.
He even tried making the bizarre buff, "thinking of someone makes you crave orange juice," but sure enough, it failed.
Maybe if he had a truly colossal amount of cost it would be possible, but as things stood, he had to consider it impossible.
[ Longing ]
Longing Emotion Level 4
However, just inducing a general feeling of longing was perfectly doable.
In short, he could only draw out an emotion that existed inside a person, but he couldn't direct it at anyone in particular.
But just because he couldn't manipulate it didn't mean the emotion wouldn't attach to someone. When an emotion arose in the human heart, it was bound to be directed at someone.
He just had to make sure that direction was aimed squarely at himself, Hye-yong.
'That seems to roughly wrap up the summary.'
Emotion-regulating buffs were a sensitive matter, so he had to think them through carefully and deliberately.
He resolved to use his head and make a prototype.
[ Comfortable Feeling ]
Stamina Stat +1 Level
Comfortable Feeling Effect Level 3
Derivative skill: Regretful Heart activated upon skill end
Exclusive to Choi Hye-yong
[ Regretful Heart ]
Regretful Emotion Level 3
Exclusive to Choi Hye-yong
Here's the design Hye-yong constructed in his head.
First, induce comfort. Then, when that skill ended, induce regret.
There was a reason he'd deliberately spent the cost to create a separate derivative-skill function.
What was the point of making someone regretful when they were already physically and mentally at ease?
The comfort felt good, and when it disappeared, they were left feeling regretful.
By building in that gimmick, wouldn't it amplify the presence of the buff — and by extension, the presence of Hye-yong himself?
He cast the buff he'd made onto himself and waited until he felt he was properly comfortable.
'Mmm. Comfy. Would be great to sleep if I cast this before bed.'
And then he immediately dispelled the buff.
Because he'd built in the chain-skill function, the next skill activated right away.
[ Regretful Heart ]
Regretful Emotion Level 3
Exclusive to Choi Hye-yong
'Ah, man. This is faintly regretful. Faintly.'
The gimmick was flawless.
It had also been confirmed to work properly.
It was so faint you'd barely notice, but these buffs were definitively altering a person's mood.
However, there was one critical flaw.
The full content of the buff was visible to the other person.
'Yeah... this is ultimately the problem.'
He imagined casting this buff on Choi Ah-young.
— Hye-yong, I'm grateful you cast a buff on me... but what's this "Regretful Heart" thing?
— Why were you trying to make me feel regretful?
— And a buff that induces regret in the first place... what even is this?
— Can a buff like this even exist? Where and how did you get this?
'Oof. Horrifying. Absolutely horrifying!'
That wasn't to say he hadn't thought of any countermeasures at all.
He just hadn't checked yet whether it would work or not.
If it didn't work... well, he'd just have to rack his brain like hell again.
'Don't assume failure before you've even tried. Let's just do it first!'
The countermeasure Hye-yong had in mind was to make part of the buff's description invisible!
Hye-yong wanted to believe in his ability.
With Buff Custom, wouldn't something like that be possible?