Chapter 8
[Would you like to purchase this item immediately?]
[500 coins will be deducted.]
The moment he tapped the confirm button, a notification announced that the purchase was complete, and a dazzling white skill book appeared before his eyes.
[You have acquired Wind Cutter.]
[Recipient: Remote Support Mage]
[The skill will be modified to suit your class.]
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[Remote: Wind Cutter (Lv. 2)]
* Attacks an enemy at a designated coordinate. When an enemy is killed, there is a 10% chance to consume 30 mana and charge one blade.
▷ Effective Range: Up to 100 m
▷ Strike Radius: 1.5 m
▷ Maximum Charges: 7 shots
▷ Mana Cost: 420
▷ Cooldown: 55 minutes
─────
Hanseong's prediction had been correct.
The skill had been modified to suit his class, dramatically increasing its range. What had once been a mere five meters had now increased to 100 meters.
‘But it's still a little short.’
Wind Cutter's range was the result of the Open Map's special effect, Expansion. Without it, the range would have been half as long—just 50 meters.
‘Well, it's still better than five meters.’
Meanwhile, immediately after Hanseong purchased the skill book, comments began pouring in beneath the listing.
* Huh? What? Someone actually bought it?
* Wow, someone really went and bought that.
* How did they even collect 500 coins?
After casually skimming through the various reactions, Hanseong looked around the auction house again. He still had 1,000 coins left to spend.
However, there was nothing else worth buying. Just as he was about to leave, a sudden burst of noisy fireworks accompanied a flashy notification.
[72 hours have passed since the auction house first opened!]
[Initiating Special Event (Round 1)!]
[Don't miss out on these limited-quantity items.]
An event? And what were these limited-edition items?
A short while later, a new tab titled Special Event Items appeared in the auction house. When Hanseong tapped it, several items were displayed.
He tilted his head in confusion.
"Huh? Is that...?"
Only three limited-edition items had been revealed.
A red gemstone, a longsword, and a skill book. Hanseong wasn't particularly interested in the first two, so he immediately tapped the skill book.
And the moment he did—
"...!"
Hanseong's eyes widened.
He couldn't help it.
The limited-edition skill book had exactly the effect he'd been looking for earlier: retrieving loot remotely.
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[Item for Sale]: Skill Book—Inventory
[Class Restriction]: Universal
[Acquisition Requirement]: Tier 1, One-Star
[Starting Bid]: 1,000 coins
[Buyout Price]: No Limit
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Inventory. A virtual space used to store possessions in games and similar settings. That much was easy enough to understand, but the important part came next.
─────
[Skill Book: Inventory]
▷ Creates a subspace that can be used like a warehouse. It can store or release all kinds of objects, but living creatures cannot be stored inside.
▷ Cooldown: 3 hours
▷ Collection Range: 10 m
▷ Storage Capacity: 1 m³
▷ Class Restriction: Universal
▷ Limited Quantity: 1
─────
‘If it has a collection range, that means...!’
If Hanseong acquired this skill book, there was a chance its collection range would increase dramatically. That would allow him to collect loot even from inside his room.
* Wow, I'd really like to have Inventory.
* But seriously, isn't it way too expensive?
* A starting bid of 1,000 coins? What the hell?
* If anyone's actually collected that much, I'll castrate myself.
↳ Screenshot taken.
The other survivors also seemed eager to get their hands on Inventory. Most of them, however, agreed that it was far too expensive.
Of course, it was quite costly, but Inventory was a skill Hanseong absolutely needed. Without hesitation, he decided to place a bid.
[Item Name: Skill Book—Inventory]
[Would you like to bid on this item?]
[The minimum bid increment is 10% of the starting bid.]
In other words, he'd need to add another 100 coins to the initial 1,000 before he could place a bid. Since he had just enough coins, he went ahead.
[Your bid was successful.]
[You may place another bid in 10 minutes.]
─────
[Item for Sale]: Skill Book—Inventory
[Class Restriction]: Universal
[Acquisition Requirement]: Tier 1, One-Star
[Starting Bid]: 1,000 coins
[Current Bid]: 1,100 coins
[Deadline]: 11:59:59
─────
The countdown began.
If no one outbid him over the next twelve hours, the skill book would be his.
Meanwhile, the comments section had exploded.
* Someone actually bid on it??
* Wait, before that, how did they get so many coins?
* Exactly. Is this some kind of scam?
* Hey, where's the guy who said he'd castrate himself? LOL
* You'd better post proof. We're waiting.
Shock, envy, jealousy, and all sorts of reactions flooded the comments.
After watching the commotion for a while, Hanseong left the auction house. Reading the comments was entertaining in its own way, but he had something else to do now.
‘I need to collect more coins.’
There was always a chance someone might outbid him. With determination shining in his eyes, Hanseong opened the map.
It was time to start hunting.
---
Shadow Assassin, Seo Ha-eun.
She had left the officetel where she'd been living and joined a group of survivors. Since then, she'd fallen into a routine of fighting zombies and searching for food.
Then, one day, she came to a realization.
‘I can't just keep running away.’
Killing zombies earned coins.
Coins served as currency in the shop, where survivors could purchase food, weapons, and other supplies. The same applied to skills needed to fight zombies.
After realizing this, Ha-eun and her companions began hunting groups of five zombies or fewer.
Thud! Crack!
The head of the zombie Ha-eun had grabbed twisted violently.
Her only offensive skill, Shadow Smash, had landed a direct hit. Just then, Tae-min's voice rang out from not far away.
"Let's call it a day."
Necromancer, Kim Tae-min.
He had been using five zombie corpses to hunt other zombies. Looking at the setting sun, he spoke.
The group of survivors Ha-eun belonged to followed several rules. One was to stop hunting zombies at night and find a safe place to stay.
Earning coins was important, but not enough to justify risking their lives.
"How much did everyone earn?"
"Um, I got 34 coins."
In response to Min-cheol's answer, Tae-min held out his palm.
That morning, the number 20 had been displayed there. Now it showed 54, meaning he'd earned 34 coins.
"I got 21 coins."
"I got 13."
After Min-cheol, Ha-eun held out her palm as well.
Eun-ji, on the other hand, had zero.
It was an unavoidable outcome. Given the nature of her class as a Healer, she had no offensive skills whatsoever.
"Then that's 17 coins per person."
"Looks like it. Should we split them up?"
The second rule of Ha-eun's group was to share their earnings.
They pooled the coins obtained from hunting zombies and divided them equally among the four of them. Hearing their conversation, Eun-ji waved her hands in protest.
"Oh, no, it's fine! I didn't really do anything..."
"You've helped us plenty, so take your share."
"That's right. I can fight so actively because of you, unnie."
Min-cheol and Ha-eun primarily used close-range skills. Unlike Tae-min, that meant they were at greater risk of being bitten or struck by zombies.
In such circumstances, having a Healer was a tremendous comfort, even if no one actually got hurt.
"Okay, then. I'll gladly accept it."
Eun-ji smiled brightly.
After dividing the coins, the group returned to the shopping mall where they'd originally been staying. They had explored other places, but the mall had turned out to be the safest option.
Shortly after they returned, a sound like fireworks suddenly rang out, and a notification appeared before Ha-eun's eyes.
[Rank Experience: 100% achieved!]
[Promotion to Tier 2 available.]
[Would you like to proceed?]
"...Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just got some kind of message..."
As Ha-eun murmured in a daze, her Status window suddenly opened.
─────
[Name]: Seo Ha-eun
[Level]: 6
[Class]: Shadow Assassin
[Stamina]: 260/350
[Rank]: Two-Star
─────
Why had this suddenly appeared without her doing anything?
Ha-eun tilted her head in confusion. When her companions asked again, she explained what had just happened.
"My rank went up."
"Your rank?"
Eun-ji tilted her head.
Then Tae-min's eyes widened.
"Oh, now that you mention it, I noticed that I gain something called Rank Experience every time I use my unique skill. Could this be related?"
"I think so."
Ha-eun nodded.
She'd already noticed that notifications about gaining Rank Experience appeared whenever she traveled a certain distance. After looking into it, she'd discovered the following information.
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[Rank Experience]
▷ Acquisition Condition: Use of a unique skill
▷ Unique Skill: Shadow Step (Lv. 1)
▷ Amount Gained: 0.1% per 10 m
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She gained 0.1% every time she traveled ten meters.
That meant she'd have to travel ten kilometers to reach 100%.
‘I've definitely walked that far.’
She'd covered quite a distance while searching for food and hunting zombies.
Eun-ji then asked curiously, "But what's the benefit of increasing your rank?"
"Apparently, you get additional special effects."
"Really? Can you show us?"
"Sure. Let's see..."
Two special effects had been added.
Ha-eun examined them one by one.
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[Special Effect: Swift Step]
* Temporarily increases movement speed.
▷ Movement Speed: +200%
▷ Duration: 5 minutes
▷ Cooldown: 1 hour
▷ Rank: Two-Star
─────
First was Swift Step, a special effect added to Shadow Step.
As its name suggested, it increased movement speed, so she decided to try it out.
And then...
"Ouch!"
She slammed her head against a wall.
She'd thought she'd moved only a short distance, but her body suddenly shot forward, carrying her to the opposite wall in an instant.
"Ha-eun! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I didn't hit it that hard."
Her forehead was throbbing, but she was fine.
‘Looks like I'll need to practice if I want to use Swift Step properly.’
Thinking that to herself, Ha-eun examined the next special effect.
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[Special Effect: Weakness Detection]
* Allows the user to see the vital points of a single target.
▷ Effective Range: 100 m
▷ Duration: 10 seconds
▷ Cooldown: 30 minutes
▷ Rank: Two-Star
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This was the special effect added to Eyes of Shadow.
Like Swift Step, its description was straightforward. Ha-eun decided to test the skill on one of Tae-min's zombies, and soon witnessed something strange.
‘Its head is glowing.’
The zombie's head and neck were enveloped in light.
Nothing had changed around its heart. In fact, zombies continued moving even when their hearts were destroyed, whereas they died immediately if their heads were crushed or severed.
After finishing her experiments with the special effects, Ha-eun explained everything to her companions.
"I see. So unique skills gain new special effects as your rank increases."
"Did anything else change?"
"Um, it says I achieved an achievement, but..."
Just as Ha-eun narrowed her eyes, something suddenly appeared before her.
"T-This is...!"
"What is it? Did something else pop up?"
"There's something called an auction house."
"Huh? An auction house?"
Ha-eun explained everything displayed on the screen that only she could see. After hearing the full story, Min-cheol asked in astonishment,
"You can communicate with survivors all over the world?"
"Yes. It seems like everything gets translated into Korean."
Min-cheol looked amazed by her explanation. Tae-min, meanwhile, let out a hollow laugh.
"Haha. The world really has turned into some kind of game."
"...Who on earth could have created something like this?"
"Well, probably the transcendent being that turned the world into what it is now."
Tae-min shrugged.
"More importantly, if it's an auction house, that means we can buy and sell things. How many items are listed?"
"Quite a lot. There must be hundreds of them."
The listed items were incredibly diverse.
There was all kinds of food and clothing, as well as weapons like pistols and axes. Skill books were available, too, and they all had one thing in common: they were cheaper than the items sold in the shop.
As Ha-eun explained this to her companions, each of them frowned and muttered.
"That's pretty expensive."
"We don't have anywhere near enough coins for that."
"Yeah, and we don't really have anything worth selling, either... Oh!"
Eun-ji, who had been agreeing with them, suddenly widened her eyes.
It was as though she'd just remembered something she'd forgotten.
"Come to think of it, we do have something."
"Hm? What is it? Oh!"
Tae-min's eyes widened slightly as well.
What Eun-ji took out was a thick book that looked like an encyclopedia. It was the skill book they'd obtained as loot while hunting zombies just yesterday.