Chapter 5 - Shop and Gear (Patreon)

Nova popped back at the floating island. He died again, but this time it didn't hurt as much. It seemed that if he died quickly there would not be any strain on his brain and nerves.

This was honestly good news for him, as long as he would die quickly he would not experience that hell again.

He immediately returned to the hallway and sprinted once again, but this time the same wall ate him.

...

'How strange...' Nova stroked his chin. 'Did the traps change?'

He was constantly eaten by that wall, so much so that he had to give up after the 20th attempt.

Since there was no pain, he always sprinted through the hallway until he died, trying to find out the trap locations and their cooldowns, but this thing convinced him that the place was different to what he previously experienced...

'I have 20 Death Coins, so I should probably buy more things...' Nova narrowed his eyes.

He went to the shop and looked through it once again.

Spells were useless for now, as he didn't have any Mana. Weapons would likewise not help him for the time being.

'That leaves Traits and Skills...'

The Trait was locked and the skills were quite expensive, the cheapest one was for 10 Death Coins.

There was also a Skill Customization that he could use once.

What it did was that it would create a Skill from his words and then balance it against the Skills already in the shop.

He didn't want to waste this opportunity for the time being, since he didn't know how badly nerfed it would get.

[Sprint Lv.Max (✦)]

[Rarity: Single Star]

[Decreases your Stamina in return for a boost of speed.]

'I don't see my Stamina...' Nova frowned. He didn't know if he even had any Stamina, to begin with!

'Will it not work if I can't see my Stamina?' Nova narrowed his eyes.

He dismissed that Skill, but there was an issue.

[Strength Increase Lv.Max (✦)]

[Endurance Increase Lv.Max (✦)]

[Stamina Increase Lv.Max (✦)]

'All these Skills are for the first Classification!' It seemed like Nova should not purchase any of those Skills since it would be a waste of his Death Coins.

[Starting Gear (Q-1): 5/5]

The description of this one was once again a slur of words, so Nova believed that this would be a good purchase, but...

[Cost: 100 Death Coins]

'It's damn expensive!' Nova frowned. It could be useful for him, but that meant he would have to die another 80 times!

Nova did not buy anything at this ridiculous stop and went back to the podium in order to take the hallway again.

He pondered if he even needed the starting gear when...

[Please choose the Tutorial difficulty.]

>Easy

>Normal

>Hard

>Brutal

>Hell

'Does difficulty increase the reward...?' Nova narrowed his eyes. 'Could it be possible that the 'Angel' chose the Hell difficulty just for the demonstration?'

The more Nova thought about it, the more plausible it was. The 'Angel' did not need to create a special dungeon just for him, but she just had to choose the highest difficulty!

Nova clicked the >Hell difficulty.

...

Nova appeared once again in that familiar hallway, with the wind blasting past him.

'This dreadful feeling-!' Nova's eyes shined, it seemed like this was the way to go forward.

He took one step and something blew his leg away. The pain shot through his body and he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"FUCK- YEAH!" Nova was convinced that he would get rewarded for this pain, as he died being pierced by the spears.

...

Nova screamed as he appeared from the light, startling everyone once again. He quickly looked at his Death Coins.

[Death Coins: 20+5]

[Death Coins: 25]

'Fuck yeah!' It was truly painful, but a very quick way to harvest all the Coins that he would ever need!

...

......

.........

[Death Coins: 4,995]

[Death Coins: 5,000]

Nova wheezed from the pain that was coursing through his body. It was a very simple way of gaining Death Coins.

Nova was shaking from the pain and Nina helped him rest.

"You are overdoing it." Nina shook her head. 'You never change. Why do you have to harm yourself so much...' She was feeling sorry for Nova.

'Possible.' Nova could not even speak at this point and he immediately closed his eyes to reset his brain.

The first ten tries were truly difficult, but once he got past that, he was able to just click the tutorial button again and again like he was in limbo.

He farmed enough points that it should give him everything he required.

[You have obtained a ??? Title: [Suicide Specialist]]

'I feel like I'm being insulted...' Nova groaned in displeasure, but he could not refute that Title, since that's what he was doing...

[Suicide Specialist]

[You were the first one to die in the Tutorial Area more than 1,000 times!]

[All Skills about Death are either buffed or nerfed!]

[You can enhance certain things with your Death Coins!]

[You have earned the Skill: [Danger Sense Lv.Max/1 (✦)]]

'Outside the vague buff and nerf, it's an incredible Title...' Nova was happy, but he was unwilling to die like this again. He would definitely die later in the tutorial, so there was no need to do it now!

He rested his head on Nina's lap as he drifted into sleep.

-----

The people were terrified of the young man. He kept going in and in, over and over again, until he would pop out screaming his lungs out. They believed that he was sick in the head and no one dared to approach the podium for the Tutorial Area.

They were sick and tired of this place...

The only people who would willingly go inside were that lunatic and a few others, but since they were loners who never returned, nobody paid any attention to them...

-----

Nova finished sleeping and wanted to stand up.

"Shouldn't you rest a bit more?" Nina frowned at him. 'You are too harsh on yourself.'

"No, I will tell you about the traps." Nova shook his head and whispered into Nina's ear all the traps that he had encountered. 'Better share information now, so that I can enjoy that soft feeling later.' He believed that he turned into a simple man after experiencing death so many times...

"..." Nina was left speechless, but she still nodded with appreciation. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask us." She sighs. 'I hope he will rely a bit more on me...'

Nova chuckled before leaving. He would buy a lot of things so that he didn't have to rely on others.

The first thing would be-

[Starting Gear (Q-1): 5/5] for 100 Death Coins.

[We have detected an abundance of Death Coins!]

[Unlocking the Shop options.]

[You can enhance the [Starting Gear] with your Death Coins.]

[Would you like to spend 100 Death Coins to enhance [Starting Gear]?]

[Yes/No]

Nova was startled by the barrage of words, but he quietly listened to them.

'Can I enhance it later-' Nova didn't know if he could enhance it later, but-

[You can't, only during purchase you can enhance the equipment with Death Coins.]

This would be the first time that the system would actually answer something.

'What kind of enhancements are we talking about?' Nova narrowed his eyes.

[Depends on how much Death Coins you are willing to sacrifice.]

>Transformation: - -> [Growth]

>Transformation: - -> [Imbuing]

>Transformation: [Starting Gear] -> [Training Gear]

>Enhancement: [Soulbound]

>Enhancement: [Durability]

...

...

'So many...' Nova's eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets.

[Growth]

[Transformation that allows the Equipment to grow alongside you.]

[Imbuing]

[Transformation that allows the Equipment to be imbued with new materials.]

[Soulbound]

[Enhancement that will protect your equipment from thieves!]

'Too many...' Nova frowned, some cost only 100 Death coins, but others cost 1,000!

For example, the [Growth] cost 1,000, while the [Imbuing] cost 100!

'What a scam.' Nova clicked his tongue.

[System is working as intended!]

[Imbuing is a Classification-related Skill and, as such, is cheaper than others.]

'So the expensive ones are the best ones.' Nova nodded his head, it was plausible that it was like that.

Nova went through all the Transformation and Enhancements. Carefully weighing his pros and cons. He didn't want to spend too much Death Coins on these, but at the same time, he should spend enough to enhance the gear.

"Fuck!"

Suddenly someone cursed behind him.

"My equipment got destroyed before I died and I lost it all!"

There was a youth crying about his loss.

"It was 100 Death Coins, but it got destroyed and I can't buy it again!"

He was crying his heart out.

'If I'm going to enhance it, I have to make sure it can't be destroyed, or it can be recovered...' Nova narrowed his eyes.

[Rebirth]

[Allows your equipment to grow in strength through destruction.]

[Cost: 1,000,000 Death Coins]

'Not this one.' Nova immediately dismissed it, since he would have to die too many times.

[Persisting]

[Your equipment will persist even if destroyed, but you won't be able to use any of its effects unless it's repaired.]

[Cost: 100 Death Coins]

'Why is this one so cheap?' Nova tilted his head. Does it have to be repaired with the same material it was created from? That would be troublesome.

'...' Nova clicked a few floating buttons in front of it and assigned the transformations and enhancements.

[Starting Gear(Q-1): 5/5]

[Effects: [Growth], [Soulbound], [Persisting]]

[Cost: 100+1,000+1,000+100 = 2,200 Death Coins]

'Gosh, so expensive...' That was almost half of the coins that he had!

'But it could be worth it. It can't be stolen and it will grow over time. Whoever, how well it will grow...' Nova did not know if that growth would be significant or not. He had to hope that it would be significant.

[Death Coins: 4,900 -> 2,700]

[You have bought Commoner Clothing!]

[You have bought Disciple Clothing!]

[You have bought Trainee Clothing!]

[You have bought a Wand as a weapon!]

[You have bought a --- as a weapon!]

[You have bought a Wooden Sword as a weapon!]

[You have bought a Mana Regeneration accessory!]

[You have bought a Qi Gathering accessory!]

[You have bought a Vitality Strengthening accessory!]

[The Starting Gear is combining!]

[Choose Skin: Commoner, Disciple, Trainee]

'Oh?' Nova's eyes narrowed. This thing knows what transmog means. (AN: The act of changing the appearance of items in games.)

'The Commoner looks too basic, while the Trainee feels too militaristic... The Disciple one is the most comfortable, but also out of place...' Nova sighed. No matter what he would choose, he would lose either way.

But if he had to attract attention, it would definitely be in style.

[Disciple Clothing = Commoner Clothing + Disciple Clothing + Trainee Clothing]

[You have chosen the Disciple Clothing.]

[Stats of: Commoner Clothing and Trainee Clothing; are being merged.]

[Disciple Clothing(Q-3): 16/16 ((5+5+5)x(1+.1))]

[Rarity: Starting Gear]

[Effects: [Growth], [Soulbound], [Persisting], [Slight Mind Increase], [Slight Insight Increase], [Slight Willpower Increase], [Slight EXP Increase], [Slight EXP Increase], [Slight EXP Increase], [Slight Proficiency Increase], [Slight Proficiency Increase], [Slight Proficiency Increase], [Slight Familiarity Increase], [Slight Familiarity Increase], [Slight Familiarity Increase], [Slight SubClass Gain Increase], [Slight SubClass Gain Increase], [Slight SubClass Gain Increase]]

[Growth: -]

[Soulbound: Nova]

'This is...' Nova was shocked by all the effects. He had the option to increase EXP or Proficiency, but those cost in the 10,000s, so he decided not to pick them.

[Detected copies of the same Effects on equipment, do you wish to merge them?]

[Yes/No]

'Should I combine them?' Nova narrowed his eyes. 'But how are they going to combine?' He was unsure if they combined as + or increased by a whole rank.

'Should I risk it?' Nova pondered on it, but he could not find anything negative. 'No, maybe if it's combined it could stay the same?'

[Not detecting any answer.]

[Choosing the options: Yes]

'Well, fuck! Nobody told me there was a time limit!' He cursed in his mind.

[System is working as intended! There are no bugs!]

'Bullshit!' Nova cursed the system. He would have to get some kind of thinking ability to speed up his thoughts further.

[Disciple Clothing(Q-3): 16/16 ((5+5+5)x(1+.1))]

[Rarity: Starting Gear]

[Effects: [Growth], [Soulbound], [Persisting], [Slight Mind Increase], [Slight Insight Increase], [Slight Willpower Increase], [Small EXP Increase], [Small Proficiency Increase], [Small Familiarity Increase], [Small SubClass Gain Increase]]

[Growth: -]

[Soulbound: Nova]

'...' Nova blinked a few times. 'This is not bad.' He nodded to himself. Nothing was lost and it seemed like it changed to a higher stat increase.

[Would you like to equip Starting Gear?]

[Yes/No]

[Warning! Changing Clothing, while already having equipped one, will sell the previous one!]

Nova frowned, but he then paused. 'My current Clothing doesn't give me any bonuses, so it should be alright to change it.' He nodded to himself.

[Yes]

[Stats:

Vitality: 2/2 (Max. 100)

Mana: 0/0

Qi: 0/0

Aura: 0/0

Mind: 2 ((1)x(1+.01)) (Max. 5)

Insight: 16 ((15)x(1+.01))

Willpower: 2 ((1)x(1+.01)) (Max. 5)

]

[author]

Now I will start working in converting Aiko into this format, so that it's easier to manage, but I'm not sure how long will it take, so please be patient, kind readers! >.<

[/author]