3. My Buff is a Drug
3. My Buff is a Drug
[ The Choi Hye-yong Buff Custom mod has been applied. ]
'At least the damn thing works.'
In the original modpack, system messages only appeared in the terminal, but here they popped up right in front of me.
Watching text materialize in midair and then slowly fade was genuinely incredible.
For some reason, if I decided I didn't want to look at the words, they didn't obstruct my view at all.
I wondered if this was what a full-dive VR game would feel like in the age of the Singularity.
'Now that it's applied, time to try making a custom buff.'
In the original New Generation, the standard way to modify mod features was by using an item from your inventory.
That was how it worked in my modpack, too.
But here, I had a feeling it might activate just by saying a keyword, so I gave that a shot.
"Buff Custom."
A Buff Custom window, like a hologram, opened in front of my eyes.
'Why is it exactly the way I designed it...?'
In a way, that was only natural, since I'd built it myself.
[ Stamina Enhancement ]
Stamina stat +1 level
Wow.
Hye-yong inwardly marveled as he looked at the skill list.
How the hell did he end up with nothing but this one piece of trash skill?
It really drove home why I'd had the character assassinated right after the chapter ended.
'Even though I designed him, this is seriously too much.'
I'd deliberately made him completely useless, since he was just a companion to burn through during the tutorial chapter and then discard.
'To make the player's contribution stand out, I'd intentionally made everyone except Choi Ah-young totally worthless...'
If I ever made it back home, I figured I should at least raise his skill level a little.
Let's see, to modify this...
'Maybe I can just say it.'
Better to just try it instead of overthinking. If it didn't work, I'd find another way.
"Skill name."
The moment I said that, an arrow appeared next to the words "Stamina Enhancement" on the buff.
Did that mean it was selected?
'So it just works by talking. Huh.'
Then what should I name the skill?
After no small amount of deliberation, I decided to name the skill "Full Power."
No particular reason.
I just liked something simple and straightforward.
[ Full Power ]
Stamina stat +1 level
"Skill effect."
This time, an arrow appeared next to the "Stamina stat +1 level" part.
Effect, hmm...
For now, I'd be heading to the raid with them tomorrow, and it'd be weird to stand out too much, so should I try plugging in a modest +15 to all stats?
"All stats +15 levels."
[ Impossible! ]
What?
Hye-yong checked the skill.
[ Full Power ]
All stats +7 levels
I'd clearly input 15 levels, but it said impossible and dropped to 7 levels.
'Still, it did get modified.'
But why did it hit a limit this fast?
I'd definitely set it to allow up to level 99.
'Should I ask Bwitgwitgak?'
I had a feeling that even if I asked, it'd just spam emoticons and say something like [ I don't really know since it's the Creator's ability, sniffle... ], but it still seemed better than not asking at all.
Hye-yong wrote down what had just happened in the chat room.
[ Bwitgwitgak : That's because you failed to draw on the World's Power. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Drawing on the World's Power? ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Whatever else you might say, you, Creator, are in some sense a co-creator of this world! It seems you can draw on the World's Power to some extent. ]
Right, granting stats doesn't just materialize out of thin air, after all.
[ Bwitgwitgak : Judging by the lowered skill power due to failure, it seems you've lost a lot of authority because of the Virus. If we gather the Power of Perception and I can suppress the Virus a bit more, we might be able to increase the skill's power as well. ]
So, I'd have to manage somehow with this for now.
It looked like I now had enough information to set up a reasonable plan.
'First, they'll come looking for me tomorrow to go on a raid. I'll start by raising the favorability of those four—Seo Ha-yoon, Chae Hwa-ra, Han Geon-hu, and Choi Ah-young.'
Oh, come to think of it, there was a keyword I hadn't touched yet.
"Character Dex."
The Character Dex, which organized the cast of characters.
Even though I'd made this feature, I hadn't used it much, so I'd only just remembered it.
If I wanted to earn their favor, I'd need to know about them first.
It would help if the Character Dex would open...
< Character Dex >
"Oh."
It opened.
There were four people in the Character Dex.
Naturally, it was the four I'd just mentioned.
'The Character Dex design looks the same but seems slightly different.'
Originally, all information would be displayed, but now it was somewhat limited.
It seemed only characters Hye-yong had personally met and talked to were registered.
Still, just having it open was something.
I decided to think positively. If I let myself dwell on every little thing like this, I really wouldn't be able to endure it.
'Let's see...'
First, Seo Ha-yoon.
[ Seo Ha-yoon ]
A personality so timid anyone could see it.
Stutters when nervous.
Has psychogenic anemia; faints when seeing bright red blood.
I remembered.
It was all a setting Hye-yong had put in himself.
But I'd designed it so that if she saw blood and fainted, the aggro would reset, so she wasn't a character who died easily... but
here, that kind of kindness probably didn't exist.
According to the game settings, even if you died in the other world, you wouldn't really die.
You'd just take mental damage and be unable to do anything for about a week.
I didn't know what would happen here.
Anyway, I figured I'd have to be careful.
[ Han Geon-hu ]
Oblivious and has a tremendous appetite.
Strangely, every time he casts magic, if he doesn't eat something, the spell won't work.
Right, this guy was set up to eat two chocolate bars from his inventory after every spell.
[ Chae Hwa-ra ]
Seems deeply into manga and the like.
If you play along with her concept, she's full of bravado, but if someone who views her negatively is nearby, she shrinks infinitely.
She was blatantly a comic relief character.
The role was to spout grandiose lines, run out, take one hit, and faint.
I'd just roughly set her up for laughs, but seeing them gathered like this, I felt a little sorry.
Who could have known it would turn out like this?
[ Choi Ah-young ]
The party leader.
Seemed to think all kinds of misfortune followed her around.
Was definitely the strongest of the party members.
At least she was the most normal.
"Wow..."
Just thinking about having to do something with these members made me dizzy.
But I had no choice but to try.
'First, let's try using a buff.'
I'd created the skill, but if it didn't work, that would be a problem.
Would it just work if I thought about using it?
[ Full Power spread throughout your entire body. ]
All stats +7 levels
"Ooh."
I felt something drain out of my body, then immediately felt strength welling up.
So this was a buff?
To be honest, Hye-yong was a little thrilled.
It was an absurd situation, but anyway, he was now inside a game.
Using game skills in real life was a dream every gamer had.
He was experiencing that for real, so he couldn't help but feel his heart race.
'It's pretty good, but also a little disappointing.'
All-stats was a simple yet powerful effect.
But in a situation where the power I could use was limited, it was somewhat inefficient.
Hye-yong used the custom feature again to change the skill.
[ Full Power ]
Adaptive Stats +11 levels
'So adaptive stats can go up to level 11.'
I'd switched to adaptive stats to balance things out.
If all-stats simply raised every stat evenly, adaptive stats maximized the already high stats.
If Strength was high, it boosted Strength; if Magic Power was high, it boosted Magic Power.
Not only did it focus on stats like Strength or Magic Power, but it also affected stats like Swordsmanship Proficiency.
It was a stat that boldly abandoned what was unnecessary and only frugally raised the strengths.
Compared to the same numbers, it was inferior to all-stats, but adaptive stats had many ways to be obtained.
So, even with the same power usage, receiving it as adaptive stats was more efficient.
'So, what should I do...? Just giving this buff to Choi Ah-young would probably make the raid go smoothly.'
An adaptive stat +11 buff would be useful in the game almost up to the mid-story.
It could easily handle a tutorial battle.
Even giving it to Chae Hwa-ra wouldn't be a big problem.
'But my goal isn't just to clear the tutorial chapter without a hitch.'
It's to etch the existence of Choi Hye-yong into a corner of the hearts of this world's characters.
In a positive direction, if possible.
For that, just gliding through without leaving an impression felt a bit lacking.
If I had to do it anyway, shouldn't I at least do it properly?
'First, there are two with obvious problems: Seo Ha-yoon and Han Geon-hu.'
Seo Ha-yoon faints at the sight of blood.
A truly nonsensical weakness for a tank!
The reason she kept being a tank was probably because of the tanking skill Hye-yong had given her.
Of course, even that had miserable performance.
'When I talked to her, she seemed like a good kid. If she's struggling here because of me, I'd feel a little sorry.'
In a way, since Hye-yong could be considered the creator, I wanted to solve her problem.
'Can't I do something about it with Buff Custom?'
— "Whatever else you might say, you, Creator, are in some sense a co-creator of this world! It seems you can draw on the World's Power to some extent."
When I actually made it, I'd only put in simple features, but hearing what Bwitgwitgak said, it seemed like something might be possible.
If I could draw on the World's Power, shouldn't I be able to do at least this much?
'Nothing to lose by trying. Let's give it a shot.'
If I were to make a buff that could solve Seo Ha-yoon's problem, how would I do it?
After a short deliberation, I had an "Aha!" moment.
If the problem was fainting from seeing blood, then I just had to make her not see blood.
What if the liquid that flowed from a cut wasn't bright red blood but green vegetable juice?
And going further, what if instead of blood, cute things like flowers or ornaments appeared where blood would flow?
Seo Ha-yoon would be able to keep fighting without fainting.
If it didn't work, there was no helping it, but if it did, that'd be great.
Hye-yong, half-doubting, customized a buff.
In the sense of causing an illusion that, upon seeing blood, one would see a feast of flowers.
[ Flower's Feast ]
Cognitive Filter applied
"Oh...."
Somehow, it got created.
I needed to check if it worked properly...
Where?
Looking around the room, there was a small paring knife near the spoon and chopsticks.
"Hoo..."
Should I just prick it a little?
Poke!
'A little painful.'
Still, I successfully drew blood.
I applied pressure to squeeze the index finger I'd pricked with the tip of the knife.
Squirt!
Instead of a round drop of blood forming, a tiny, pretty flower popped out with a poof.
"Whoa, insane."
This actually works.
When I crushed it with my thumb, the flower was pitifully torn off, leaving only debris.
I pressed my index finger again, and another flower sprouted.
When I deactivated the buff in that state, I properly saw the smeared blood and the droplet.
Performance confirmed!
Isn't the Buff Custom ability actually incredible?
A happy circuit went off in Hye-yong's head.
[ Flower's Feast ]
Cognitive Filter applied
Adaptive Stats +7 levels
Maybe because there was power left after adding the cognitive filter, it also included adaptive stats +7.
'Alright, with this, Seo Ha-yoon's problem is practically solved.'
Now, what's left? Han Geon-hu?
This guy's problem is that after casting a spell, he has to eat something before he can cast another one...
'Wouldn't it work if I just made him stuffed as hell?'
If he's really full, he won't eat more.
Making someone full with a buff, huh.
I thought it was a bizarre attempt, but since turning blood into flowers worked, this might work too.
'Let's create a new buff.'
The Choi Hye-yong Buff Custom mod Hye-yong made could create up to 10 new buffs in total.
Of course, buffs couldn't stack on each other, but I'd set it up so they could be used according to the situation.
But the problem was that this wasn't a simple copy-paste of the game.
What Hye-yong was using now was the limited World's Power.
That power had practically changed the mod's functions, so I didn't know what would happen if I made a new buff.
'I'll just make it and see.'
Hye-yong began buff customization.
The buff name was Feeling of Fullness.
Obviously, it was just roughly named.
The effect was constantly filling satiety.
When I attempted to create it...
[ Impossible! ]
The impossible message appeared.
The skill wasn't even created.
I wondered why it hadn't worked.
'Maybe the problem was thinking that satiety would increase?'
In a way, increasing satiety meant the stomach was actually full.
To be full without eating anything.
If you think about it, wasn't that creating something from nothing?
To achieve that with just a buff, it might require quite a bit of power.
Hye-yong decided to try making the buff again.
This time, not to actually make the stomach full, but to make it feel full.