Chapter 8

“Collection?”

I knew about this collection feature. It was content where items could be added to a collection, giving small increases such as Strength +1 or Magic Power +1. I thought it was just a side content but now it is both alpha and omega? What about equipment, levels, and most importantly, the fraudulent ‘class’ system?

“Well, it’s just putting dropped items so they can be filled while leveling up.”

Thinking lightly about it, I left the room and entered the elevator. The studio apartment I rented was located in Room Tower, Jongno-gu, Seoul. It was an 80-story building consisting of rooms in various sizes. I moved towards the elevator for a meal. Then Cheeda followed me with a ‘dodododo’. It was convenient that my smartphone would automatically follow without needing attention.

“Woof woof!” I heard barking from afar while waiting for the elevator. Turning my head, I saw a brown toy poodle emerging from a door halfway down the corridor.

“Sit! Be quiet!” A woman in her early 20s followed after the dog. With her hair loosely tied back and casual attire, she still displayed considerable beauty.

“Sniff! Sniff!”

The toy poodle quickly ran towards me, approached Cheeda, and started sniffing its rear end. Naturally, as a smart pet, Cheeda didn’t pay any attention to it. Its attitude wouldn’t change unless the dog showed hostility or attacked.

“Sissy! Oh, sorry about that.”

“No problem at all.” Dismissing the incident, I pressed the button for the first floor. The woman also entered the elevator with us.

‘It seems like a real dog.’

In this era of smart pets, it was rare to see such cases. A real dog needed its poop and pee cleaned up, as well as being fed at regular intervals.

Ding!

We arrived at the first floor without much conversation and headed towards the restaurant. Despite no conversation, our destination was the same—the bibimbap place closest to the elevator.

“Donkatsu bibimbap.”

-Your order has been completed.

“Squid bibimbap!”

-Your order has been completed.

We each took separate seats.

‘First, I need to play the game more. Instead of returning immediately, if I continue playing Revenge on Earth, maybe I can acquire better equipment.’

Then, a thought struck me:

‘But obtaining a class doesn’t seem that straightforward.’

“Cheeda.”

When jae-yeon called out Cheeda’s name, it sprang from its crouched position under the table onto a chair and then sat on top of the table, exposing its belly. Since Cheeda had to maintain a certain size for functionality purposes, it resembled a chubby cat, filling up most of the screen.

“Mrrr! Mrr!”

“Shhh, be quiet now.”

“Ruff…”

jae-yeon ignored the dog-like sound as he picked up his bibimbap bowl and returned to his seat, patting Cheeda’s tummy.

“Let’s see…”

He searched through official websites and fan forums but found almost no mention of acquiring classes while playing the game. It wasn’t impossible, but the probability was so low that it might as well have been nonexistent. Classes were difficult items to trade, so it seemed like the only way to get one would be by paying real money.

“I guess I’ll just have to buy one.”

I had played many games but lived far away from microtransactions. I thought it was ridiculous to spend quite a bit of money on mere data fragments. However…

Grip.

I felt my extraordinary strength just by clenching my fist. Moreover…

Wooong!

I could feel the inner strength flowing inside me. Despite what the scout said about not being able to accumulate one year’s worth of ‘inner strength’ until death, there was a sense of fullness within me now.

‘Amazing.’

It was unbelievable. Even with Earth’s advanced technology, which stood out in the universe, it would be difficult (not impossible, but it required hundreds or thousands of billions…) to overcome my ‘[Incompatibility with Mana]’ attribute. Yet this class seemed to have done exactly that! And wasn’t its rarity only second-lowest among the ranks: General, Advanced, Rare, Hero, Legendary, and Mythical?

I checked the official website for the class description.

“There is somewhat of a pattern here. For ordinary classes, there is a total of 100 points for increased stats. One main stat receives 40 points, two secondary stats receive 20 points each, and the remaining two stats receive 10 points each.”

For example, the increase from the ordinary Archer class that I already obtained was Strength +20, Agility +40, Stamina +20, Health +10, Mana +10. The main stat agility received 40 points, while the secondary stats strength and stamina received 20 points each, with health and mana gaining 10 points.

Then what about advanced classes?

‘A total sum of 200 points. There is twice the increase in stats at the same ratio.’

This could be seen from the advanced class job High Swordsman currently equipped, which provided Strength +80, Agility +40, Stamina +20, Health +40, Mana +20. The only difference with High Swordsman was its main stat being strength.

Then there was the next step, rare class…

“Total stats of 300 points. Adding it creates a job buff.”

For example, the rare swordsman-class Sword Ghost had a constant 50% increase in attack speed that overlapped with all buffs. The rare wizard-class Pyromancer added 50% fire damage while the archer-class received a buff for either a 50% increase in ranged damage or a 50% increase in range.

The difference between the buffs was huge. A 50% increase in attack speed without any conditions, did this make sense? Suddenly, the high-class which provided maximum satisfaction seemed insignificant.

“And hero classes…”

I checked one of the hero classes.

[Variant Ranger (Hero)]

Strength +80, Agility +160, Stamina +80, Health +40, Mana +40

[Increased range by 50%]

[Dark Observer]

“Let’s see… A total of 400 stats with job buffs and job characteristics.”

And those job characteristics were…

[Dark Observer]

If not observed for more than one minute, intermediate Stealth without cost is activated.

I saw the description but couldn’t understand it well. It seemed quite good since there was no cost and it would activate after just one minute of not being observed, but I didn’t know exactly what ‘intermediate’ Stealth meant.

“I need to look at other jobs.” I examined the swordsman-type hero job, Sword King.

[Sword King (Hero)]

Strength +80, Agility +160, Stamina +80, Health +40, Mana +40

“A sword-related class but with agility as its main stat instead of strength?”

Upon closer inspection, Sword Ghost also had agility as its primary attribute. Among various swordsman classes, some like Highlander (a two-handed sword wielder) had strength as their main stat. It seemed martial arts-based jobs favored agility.

“How many alternative job options are there?”

A sudden thought prompted jae-yeon to tap Cheeda’s belly repeatedly. The scroll on Cheeda’s stomach started moving downward.

Down it went…

Still going down…

“Oh my God.” jae-yeon stopped tapping, incredulous. His current job was still listed as Hero. He’d have to keep scrolling for quite a while before reaching legendary or myth rank jobs.

He hastily initiated a search.

“What…there are over 300 jobs? And they keep increasing continuously…”

In particular, there were insanely many rare and hero jobs. For example, just for the Barbarian job alone, it was divided into Fire Barbarian, Earth Barbarian, Wind Barbarian, etc., while Ranger had numerous variations such as Silver Ranger, Phantom Ranger, Grand Ranger, Grand Abyssal Ranger, etc. Even among the cleric-related jobs I saw earlier, there were countless options like Plum Blossom Swordsman, Qingcheng Warrior, Shaman Swordsman, etc.

The problem was that there wasn’t much difference between these jobs.

“They seem to be churned out with slightly different job buffs and attributes… Some jobs are even identical except for their main or secondary stats…” Ultimately, I returned to Sword King again.

“Let’s see… The job buff increases attack speed by 50%, just like Sword Ghost. And the attribute is… [Expert’s Timing].”

[EXPERT’S TIMING]

When a critical hit occurs, one stack of Expert’s Momentum is generated. Up to 20 stacks can be saved. Duration: 30 seconds.

[EXPERT’S MOMENTUM]

Self-buff; Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Health increase by five points each.

“This is insane…”

I was speechless. Each stat could rise by five points with up to twenty stacks? That means each stat would increase by 100 points for a total of 400 additional points! With my current advanced class, I’ve already gained 200 points, transforming me completely from before, but now there’s a potential boost of 400 points through this buff alone…

‘If one stat exceeds 900 out of a maximum of 999, it is myth level and yet they are giving this away?’

This wasn’t just fraud. If this was what heroes were like, then how much would legendary be?

I looked at the sword-related legend class as if possessed, and I discovered it:

[Sword Star (Legend)]

Strength +100, Agility +180, Stamina +100, Health +60, Mana +60

Attack speed increased by 50%.

[Master’s Gap]

[Cheonkyum]

“If you enter a legendary class, there will be a total increase of 500 stats…and unique skills.”

I read the description of the unique skill.

[Cheonkyum]

Available when Stacks of Momentum reaches its maximum value (20 stacks). One can choose from two forms to activate.

[Cheonkyum – Hundred Simultaneous Cuts]

After activating the skill and dealing damage to an enemy, the same amount of damage will be applied to up to 100 surrounding enemies.

[Cheonkyum-Gwanmoya]

When the skill is activated, additional damage amplification of 1,000% (calculated as final damage) will be applied to one enemy. Defense, evasion or counterattack isn’t possible.

”…”

I looked away from Cheeda’s stomach and started eating bibimbap. The fried tonkatsu covered with seasoning, along with eggs mixed into the rice, boasted heavenly flavors that were unimaginable in Middle Age Land. I drank a cup of water beforehand and sighed.

“It is insane… Isn’t it crazy?”

Even this high-level skill, Ganhap, showed greater fraudulence in Ardenia. Why?

‘It is because I can infinitely extract critical hits.’

The continent of Ardenia had the same setting as Revenge and even applied the game system but… it was still reality. There were places where the game system worked like my stats, while there were other areas where it didn’t apply. For example, critical hit, hit, evasion, etc. In Revenge, these elements depended on the probability based on the weapon held or character’s abilities, whereas in Ardenia, if I succeeded in attacking, it was considered a hit, and if I avoided, it was judged as evasion. Furthermore, any fatal wound dealt would be considered a critical hit.

Based on what I’ve observed so far, cutting the neck, striking the head, or piercing the heart always resulted in a critical hit. Additionally, when blocking an attack, it registered as a parry judgment.

In other words, if I stacked up and used Hundred Simultaneous Cuts on an orc’s neck…the heads of 100 surrounding orc warriors would fly off with one strike.

“Cheeda. G-Bank 1173-5511.”

“Mew!”

Cheeda sat at the table, crying softly and meeting my eyes. Iris confirmation.

“Hup!”

I extended my hand and it licked my finger. DNA confirmed.

“Mew!”

Once again, Cheeda cried out and showed me a bank account. After using it for various reasons since moving, there was around 36 million won in the balance. It wasn’t a large amount but it was more than enough to buy several cash items.

“I will buy them.”

I made up my mind. I must purchase these items. Legend class. Sword Saint.