#231
Cleaning Up the Aftermath (3)
The Karma Shop was an essential system for an awakened one, sent alone and unaided to another world, to survive.
No matter how exceptional one’s unique skill was, and even if rapid growth was guaranteed, in an unfamiliar world where danger lurked everywhere, there was no such thing as having too much strength.
By now, this was widespread common sense on Earth—nothing particularly special, practically an established formula.
‘Of course, there’s nothing to be done about cases where they die a sudden, miserable death before they can gather that much karma. Like how Hans became an undead in just two days.’
But that all-important Karma Shop.
That simple shop which, despite calling itself a shop, had only contained “Return,” “Unique Skill Enhancement,” and “Stat Enhancement”—
‘It was something where the next stage only unlocked if you had as many as ten million points?’
It was information I had never come across until now, even after building up a decent information network on Earth.
Well… normally, it was hard to gather that much karma in the first place, and even if someone did, they would spend it as soon as it accumulated. Who would just keep holding on to it?
‘This incident was a special case for me, too.’
It was completely unexpected, but in any case, this was also an excellent gain.
With a satisfied heart, I checked the upgraded Karma Shop… the “Karma Shop Ver.2.”
『Karma Shop Ver.2』
『Unique Skill Enhancement (1,200,000)』
『Other Skill Enhancement – View Details』
『Stat Enhancement – View Details』
『Item Purchase – View Details』
『VIP Market – View Details』
『Dimensional Barrier Mitigation (5,000,000)』
Unlike before, when it had felt rather empty, it was now filled with categories I was seeing for the first time.
First was “Other Skill Enhancement.”
Now, it had become possible to enhance not only unique skills, but also skills below that level.
‘…Can’t it enhance the skills my avatars have?’
However, the detailed list was limited only to the skills possessed by “Han Seonghyeon.”
Starting with “Mind Hub,” an ability derived from “Avatar,” and including skills acquired through stat enhancement such as “Super Recovery” and “Clear Mirror Still Water.”
‘It would have been better if I could enhance my avatars’ skills too. Well, I guess it can’t be helped.’
Putting that small disappointment behind me, the next thing that caught my eye was “Item Purchase,” which allowed me to buy actual goods like a real shop.
‘Isn’t this exactly the ability Hesperon claimed to have?’
The fake unique skill I had used as an excuse when explaining the procurement of goods through “Avatar Cloud”—“summoning a specific item by paying some kind of price.”
In other words, I had ended up actually gaining that ability.
‘Let’s see… are the only items I can buy right now things obtainable in Auterica?’
Starting with equipment such as weapons, armor, and magic tools, all the way to foodstuffs and materials like minerals.
Most of the things obtainable in Auterica were on the list.
‘…It looks like the price fluctuates depending on how difficult it is for me to obtain it.’
And after examining it in a little more detail, I could roughly understand the basis by which the prices were determined.
What more needed to be said when iron ore of far lower quality than the Aonian iron ore Howard was currently using in heaps was more than twice as expensive simply because its place of origin was far away and difficult to obtain?
Cause and effect were, in the end, the fruit of karma.
To put it simply, it was close to paying karma as the price to skip the intermediate process and bring about the result.
‘Still, it’s not bad. No, it’s actually excellent.’
In any case, if there was even the slightest possibility of obtaining something, being able to get my hands on it by paying an expensive amount of karma was a huge advantage.
Yes, for instance, things like the items currently on the list.
『……』
『Horn Containing the Essence of the 14th Demon King R’lyeh (5,150,000)』
『Dragon Heart of the White Dragon Shiraionil (1,830,000)』
『XX Fragment of the XXed XXX (30,000,000)』
『……』
“Ugh, but what’s with those prices?”
The price range was horrifyingly inefficient.
Something as unidentified as that fragment was even thirty million points.
‘Surely it isn’t a method that forcibly takes something with a clear owner…’
Whether those items were actually lying dormant somewhere in Auterica, or whether it was calling up information on items that had been lost for some reason, and in that case whether the assigned price was determined based on the difficulty of obtaining a similar item—nothing had been clearly confirmed yet, but…
‘…I’ve still got plenty of ammunition. Let’s look around more and shop as efficiently as possible.’
Suppressing the urge to impulse-buy that surged up at the dazzling array of items, I forced my gaze downward and examined the next category.
『VIP Market – View Details』
‘VIP, huh. That sounds promising.’
I naturally nodded at that satisfying expression.
Well, I was a customer with ten million points, so that level of treatment was only natural.
However, when I saw the detailed list, I could clearly feel that, to this system, VIP was synonymous with sucker.
『Elixir of Growth (7 Days) (200,000)』
『Acquire Random Other Skill (500,000)』
『Summon Otherworld Transfer Formation Once (Auterica) (1,000,000)』
『……』
‘Is the Elixir of Growth something like an EXP booster? If it’s 200,000 for a week, then it consumes just under 30,000 a day, doesn’t it?’
A miraculous elixir capable of burning through one million points—which an ordinary awakened one would have to gather over about ten years—in just a little over a month.
Even so, this product was at least on the better side.
It was certainly expensive, but if that level of performance was guaranteed, it was not something I couldn’t use.
After all, no matter what anyone said, I was someone who had earned as much as ten million karma in less than a month.
The problem was the following listings.
“Random… gacha?”
Acquire Random Other Skill.
For example, it meant a skill with ambiguous performance like “Sturdiness,” which the first Heinz had possessed, could come out.
And for a whopping five hundred thousand points, at that.
‘The points I spent to obtain “Super Recovery” totaled 310,000. At least that one was an additional gain that came along with my stats rising.’
On top of that, the next listing, “Summon Otherworld Transfer Formation,” was the very thing I was using as a perk every time.
An item I would only look for in a truly urgent moment, if it happened to be on cooldown, cost a whole million.
Just in case, I searched to see if there was also a transfer formation heading to a dimension other than Auterica, but unfortunately, perhaps there was a restriction on that too, because that was the only product related to transfer formations.
In the meantime, all I learned was that one use of “Extra Life” cost ten million.
‘…Good. For now, let’s keep these in mind too. Then this is the last one. Dimensional Barrier Mitigation… five million points?’
Unlike categories such as “Other Skill Enhancement” and “Item Purchase,” which were intuitive, it was difficult to clearly understand the effect of “Dimensional Barrier Mitigation” from its name alone.
Despite the price being five million, there was no explanation either, as unfriendly as could be.
‘Dimensional barrier… It must mean the wall dividing each dimension. Does that mean it becomes weaker? Even now, I can go back and forth between both sides as I please, so does it have any great meaning?’
After glaring at the phrase for a moment and turning it over in my head, I suddenly realized that it had a very great meaning.
‘The restrictions on divine power and the abyss will lessen.’
As a bonus, the penalty on summoning would also be affected by it.
That much came to mind immediately.
Considering the price, it was entirely possible there was something more beyond that.
‘It’s a chance to reduce the restrictions on Hans and Heinrich, my greatest forces. Ah, and Harris too.’
I shouldn’t judge impulsively, but for some reason, I had been feeling a subtle pull toward it for a while now.
As though my intuition, which had developed dramatically while commanding five transcendent beings, was telling me this was absolutely necessary.
‘All right, let’s buy it.’
Of course, the number five million was staggering, but this was a change in the system that had appeared as the Karma Shop upgraded through the perk.
It was not even listed in the “VIP Market”; it was being treated specially enough to have its own independent category.
‘It must be expensive because it has that much value!’
Surely the system wouldn’t scam its users, would it?
Swept up by that strange certainty, I ultimately failed to overcome the impulse and resolutely spent the points.
And as a result of that impulse purchase—
“Oh?”
I felt something surrounding my body, something I had not been conscious of all this time, squirm.
However, I was only able to sense it for a very brief instant, and that strange sensation vanished in the blink of an eye.
‘It does feel like something changed…’
And that was it.
…To begin with, I hadn’t expected anything flashy, but thinking that I had burned five million in that short instant inevitably left me feeling hollow.
To soothe this feeling, I would have no choice but to personally confirm that my current spending had not been in vain.
‘I’ll have to check the details by using “Individual Projection” or something. Then the remaining karma is…’
Including what I had received as achievement rewards, about 5.3 million.
This time, for sure, it was time to deliberate for the sake of reasonable spending.
***
Beorsen, a desert city in the south that had suffered enormous damage from the Immortal King’s rampage.
Many people had lost their lives amid the chaos, but there were also quite a few who had survived.
That was thanks to the fact that, while Hans had paid attention to the berserkers in various ways, he had not particularly taken active measures against the city’s residents, whom he had considered a bonus.
Of course, if only a little more time had been delayed, the number of survivors would have decreased exponentially because of the death energy spreading through the air.
Fortunately, thanks to the hero party that entered before it was too late, the situation was prevented from reaching the worst possible outcome.
“Hey! Old man! You were alive!”
“Kkeuk-kkeuk— You managed to come just in time. If you’d been even a little later, you would’ve ended up clearing away my corpse, wouldn’t you?”
“Grandmother! Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Oh, Misty. Thanks to you, I’m safe. You’ve been through a lot all this time.”
Morna, the great shaman and representative of the southern delegation, had hidden inside a barrier with as many residents as possible immediately after the abnormal situation occurred.
As there was a mountain of work to be done, she put aside the joy of reunion and immediately devoted all her strength to handling the situation.
With the aid of the warriors who had come running all the way here, the damage in Beorsen began to be dealt with one by one, and as they continued cooperating with other regions, they gradually tightened the noose around the remaining remnants.
“Great Shaman! They say the berserkers are regaining their senses one by one!”
“Kkeuk-kkeuk, that is good news.”
“However, perhaps because of the madness, many still seem to be suffering from side effects. They say it’s especially severe the longer they were brainwashed…”
“Tell them to gather those warriors separately. It will be difficult to resolve with shamanism alone, but if Harley’s ability is added to it, it shouldn’t be too hard.”
There were still many matters that required time, but the remaining issues were ones they could handle with their own strength.
In effect, it was fair to say the problems of the south had already been resolved.
And in the midst of that.
Once some time had passed and the chaos entered a phase of being brought under control, a strange change slowly began to spread out from Beorsen, the place where the incident had occurred.
“You saw that back then, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did! How could I not see it when they were fighting so noisily?”
“True, I’d never seen such an incredible battle in my life.”
“That’s what I’m saying! I thought warriors like that only appeared in stories!”
The residents who had once been deceived by Baltheon and supported him.
They felt a terrible sense of betrayal toward him for offering up the entire city to the Immortal King, and naturally came to fervently revere Harley, who had opposed him and liberated them.
Of course, that was not particularly strange.
After all, idolizing great warriors was the general tendency of the south to begin with.
“So that’s why you’re dressed like that? To imitate that great warrior Harley? You suddenly came out wrapped in some rags, so I wondered.”
“Ahem, rags, you say! How dare you say such a thing after seeing the attire of a true warrior, boasting the long-standing tradition of the south!”
“If you at least had the body for it, I wouldn’t say anything. You’ve just grown a belly with age. How could an outfit like that possibly suit you? Know your place.”
“…Come here, you bastard! Let’s have a bout! I’m still stronger than you!”
“Oh-ho? Just because you dressed like that, you think you’re Harley or something? Fine, let’s have a bout!”
However, along with that idolization, the “barbarian warrior look,” which had repeatedly declined since the generation of the elderly and could now only be seen at traditional festivals, began to come back into fashion… and that was something no one could have predicted.
With the appearance of a superstar named Harley, a retro craze had suddenly begun to blow.
Of course, for the moment, this was only limited to Beorsen, but it was only a matter of time before it expanded to the entire south.
“There are so many rumors these days. I’d like to see him in person just once. They say he’s so big that even Baltheon looks like a child next to him?”
“They say that great warrior Harley from the punitive force, this time in Beorsen…”
“Lately, Harley…”
Even at this very moment, rumors about him were spreading rapidly, one after another, of course…
《The entity has met the conditions and gained enlightenment. The skill “Calcos-Style Combat Engraving” evolves into the special skill “Engraving of the Fighting King.”》
Because that very Harley was the new Fighting King of Calcos, born for the first time in several hundred years.