Ch.181July’s Dungeon, and Terror (4)

After that, we all decided to return to the hideout together.

“I have something to do at the hideout.”

That was how I started the conversation.

‘Green Beard… I wonder if he’s growing the vegetables properly.’

Checking on the vegetables was my main reason. And while I was at it, I could also mess with Violet.

“Then we’ll go too.”

Umi said.

“Right. Eri and Mika are there anyway, aren’t they?”

Taiga chimed in.

“I’m the hero’s wife, so I’ll follow you anywhere!”

Tina said with a bright smile.

Do these guys… not have the option to act separately from me?

“Sasith, what are you going to do?”

I asked Sasith and Frill.

“Today… I planned to go on a date with Frill.”

Sasith replied.

“Heh. I see.”

Sweet. Their romance seemed to be going quite smoothly.

——-

Anyway, we headed to the hideout.

While my girlfriends were chatting briefly, I went straight through the door in the corner of the hideout.

“Damn it… it’s hot.”

Green Beard was tending to the garden in classic farmer fashion, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and a straw hat.

“Blue Beard, sir. Don’t you have air conditioning or something in here?”

Green Beard complained.

“You feel hot because you’re thinking about it. If you stay still, you’ll feel cool.”

Blue Beard replied.

“Then you do the work, Blue Beard sir!”

Green Beard shouted.

“No. You do it.”

Blue Beard was openly being lazy.

“Damn it…”

Green Beard clicked his tongue and resumed working on the field.

“Woooah!! They’ve grown quite a lot!”

I exclaimed as I looked around the garden.

The tomatoes and turnips had grown considerably.

“Ah. It might be a bit early, but you can harvest them now if you want.”

Green Beard said, wiping his sweat.

“Hehehe. Then right away!!”

I immediately pulled out a turnip.

Pop-!!

With an exaggerated sound that belonged in a cartoon, the turnip came out.

Pop-! Pop-!

“Hahaha! This is farming!!”

I excitedly pulled out turnips and tomatoes. They were valuable items that restored HP and SP. I couldn’t use them in the survival mode where all equipment gets reset, but there was no harm in preparing in advance. Unlike real crops, these vegetables and fruits didn’t spoil.

“It seems you’re facing a troublesome dungeon.”

Blue Beard said.

“Ah. That’s right.”

I nodded.

“In that dungeon, equipment and consumables are meaningless. You must overcome challenges with your own strength alone.”

Blue Beard said.

“Those vegetables… seem useless to you right now. I’ve prepared something good for you.”

Blue Beard opened his mouth to speak.

“It’s a blessing from Blue Beard sir. Accept it gratefully.”

Violet said firmly.

“When will Violet bestow her blessings upon me?”

I immediately closed the distance toward Violet.

Whoosh-!!

Violet moved away from me at the same speed. She really hates me too much.

Ding-!

At that moment, my status window vibrated.

‘Reincarnated Hero’s Workshop’

A new skill tree had opened from the base-related skill I had learned before.

‘Equipment is important for a hero fighting on the front lines. Of course, equipment isn’t everything. With your excellent adaptability to various worlds, you can strengthen anything. You can enhance Psychorobos using specific materials.’

Some amazing explanation just passed by.

“P-Psychorobo enhancement?!!!”

Is that possible? Why wasn’t this awesome content in the original game?!

“Yes. If you input materials or resources, the Psychorobo will be strengthened. The stats or abilities enhanced depend on the materials used. It would be good to experiment with various things.”

Blue Beard snapped his fingers.

Flash-!!

An anvil with blue flames appeared. It had a futuristic structure with an input slot for materials and a platform to place the Psychorobo on.

“Of course, Sasith can use it too, not just you.”

Blue Beard winked.

“Then… can I only enhance Pinocchio?”

I asked.

“Yeah. Actually, you don’t have any other choice. It’s the only Psychorobo you know how to handle.”

Blue Beard said.

“Master!!! Can I really get stronger?!!”

Pinocchio’s eyes lit up immediately.

“Sigh…..”

Thinking about it made me lose interest.

“Even if you enhance garbage waste, it just becomes regular garbage.”

I said.

Pinocchio is a Psychorobo that follows the Onion Knight gimmick from Final Fan***y. The moment you hit level 99, all stats become 99. But… honestly, there’s no need to reach 99. Until then, it remains equally useless.

“That’s so mean!!!”

Pinocchio shouted.

“I won’t follow the same path as Geppetto!!!”

I can’t experience the worst-case scenario of a man’s life—getting dumped, then divorced by his wife in his twilight years… and having his child drain his resources!!!

Besides… isn’t Pinocchio closer to being enhancement material? In a gacha game, Pinocchio would just be used as material. Enhancing enhancement material with enhancement material? Ridiculous!

“Well… your Psychorobo is weak. But it seems to have potential. As a test… why not input some vegetables you’re not using?”

Blue Beard said with a smile.

“Well… if that’s the case.”

Right. Might as well think of it as throwing away something I’m not using.

“I want to get stronger!!”

Pinocchio was already excited.

I immediately put tomatoes and turnips into the input slot.

Sluuurp-!!!

The materials were sucked in and converted into crystals of light.

Whoosh-!!

And that light was absorbed into Pinocchio’s body.

Ding-!

Oh. Something did happen.

Pinocchio’s stats… increased slightly. The increase was between 1 and 2 for all stats. At this stage, it was actually meaningless. Since Pinocchio doesn’t have any attack skills to begin with, there’s no way for the stat strength to be utilized.

“……….”

Pinocchio openly looked down at the ground with a dejected expression.

“Well… Pinocchio, the fate of a weakling doesn’t change easily.”

I tried to console Pinocchio.

You had a happy dream, didn’t you?

“Well, vegetables might not be enough. Try putting in various things. A miracle might happen.”

Blue Beard strangely pushed me to enhance Pinocchio. This forced content seems suspiciously odd.

But at this point, I didn’t have any monster materials or anything like that to use.

“I wonder if this would work?”

I immediately opened my wallet. Being a Korean gamer by nature, I had the habit of spending money first and thinking later.

Well… honestly, it’s a waste to spend money on Pinocchio… but this is a kind of test.

“My 5,000 yen…!!!”

That’s an appropriate amount for the first real-money purchase.

I immediately inserted the bill.

Whoosh-!!

As soon as I let go, the bill was sucked into the input slot.

Flash-!!

The bill seemed to be converted into power as well.

Ding-!!

A status window appeared above the anvil.

‘First Payment Bonus!!!’

‘Stat increase doubled!!! One free Epic skill provided!’

Some dizzying message appeared. This… is a familiar marketing tactic.

Ding-!!

Strength, speed, and luck all increased by 5 stats. Even so, Pinocchio’s stats were still rock bottom, but… I lost my mind at the next content.

‘Skill: Wood Enchant’

‘Temporarily infuses the power of nature to increase the defense of the caster and the Psychorobo.’

Pinocchio… finally got a skill!!!

“Hmph. It seems human money is quite effective.”

Blue Beard said with a smile.

So money really does solve everything…? I once again faced the cruel order of the world.

‘New Psychorobo User Support Pack 1: Increased chance of obtaining Epic skills, double stat bonuses!’

Another dizzying package flickered on the status window.

“Aren’t you going to buy it?”

Blue Beard asked with a profound smile.

“Argh!! Damn it!!!!”

I ended up buying the New User Support Pack 1.

Ding-!!!

“Ah!! Damn it!!”

I didn’t get a skill. But my stats did increase.

‘New User Support Package 2’

Another new package appeared.

“Nah. I won’t. This kind of marketing…”

I’ve had my fill of bitter experiences with online games. I couldn’t burn money here.

“But it might work this time.”

Blue Beard continued with his profound smile.

“Besides… it seems the higher the amount, the greater the chance of getting a skill.”

Blue Beard gradually numbed my reason.

“Argh!!!! I don’t care anymore!!”

I immediately put in another 10,000 yen.

——-

In the end… I burned a total of 25,000 yen. That was about 250,000 won.

Pinocchio’s stats increased somewhat, and for skills… I barely obtained one.

‘Wood Weapon Enchant: Wraps the power of nature around weapons to inflict additional nature attribute damage.’

It was a weapon enhancement skill. I barely got it. Damn… though the cost was too high in the process.

‘New User Support Package 4’

The mysterious new user support package continued up to 4. This… isn’t going to go all the way to Baekdusan, is it? I had such a suspicion.

Honestly, I did feel regret… but Pinocchio did get stronger than before.

“Master!! Can you feel it? My power!!”

Pinocchio shouted in a triumphant tone.

“Yeah… as long as you’re happy.”

I decided to just think positively about it.

But… let’s not burn cash, and if possible, enhance with monster materials. I secretly made such a resolution.

Anyway, after finishing what I needed to do, I left the soul room.

——

“Shota. Why are you spacing out?”

Eri stared at me intently.

Ah. The brief moment I spent in the soul room wasn’t shared with these guys.

“No reason. Just that Eri is too beautiful.”

I smiled and shook my head.

“Really!! Look at that quick wit!!”

Eri laughed brightly and threw herself into my arms.

Anyway, after enjoying happy time with my girlfriends, I spent that night running through the dream dungeon for training.

Sasith… didn’t attend again today. He must be spending passionate time with Frill. Well… since they’re a new couple, I decided to let it slide.