Chapter 7: Promotion (2)

Meditation, a skill to recover mana.

It was also the only way to accumulate rank experience. So Han-seong repeatedly meditated, and in the process, he discovered something new.

‘I can meditate even when my mana is at maximum.’

This meant he could focus on meditation solely for the purpose of gaining rank experience. Han-seong invested all his time in meditation, except for eating, sleeping, and using skills.

As a result, he was able to achieve the experience needed for promotion in about three days.

[Rank Experience: 100% achieved!]

[Promotion to 2nd Tier possible.]

[Would you like to proceed?]

There was no reason to refuse.

As soon as he touched the accept button, a dazzling light enveloped the room. The light quickly disappeared, and a status window appeared before Han-seong’s eyes.

[Name]: Kang Han-seong

[Class]: Remote Support Mage

[Grade]: 2nd Tier

Along with meditation, Han-seong diligently hunted zombies. Thanks to this, his level had risen dramatically compared to three days ago, and he had also collected many coins.

However, what mattered now was his rank.

He could browse the shop later.

[2nd Tier achieved!]

[Acquired skill slots increased.]

[Slots: 5 → 10]

He could now learn up to 10 skills.

Realizing this, Han-seong felt his tight chest loosen a bit.

‘Then shall I browse the shop now?’

He currently had about 1,600 coins.

The reason he was able to earn this much in just three days was all thanks to the Tinder skill.

When used in areas where zombies were moderately clustered, it was possible to earn dozens of coins at once.

Just as he was about to open the shop, an unexpected message appeared.

[The grade of your unique skills has been enhanced.]

[Special effects have been added.]

“Huh? Special effects?”

It seemed that new effects had been added to Meditation, Open Map, and Magic Castle respectively.

Han-seong decided to examine them one by one.

[Special Effect: Rapid Meditation]

-Recover a large amount of mana in a state of super concentration.

▷Recovery: 1% of maximum mana per second

▷Duration: 30 seconds

▷Cooldown: 12 hours

▶Grade: 2nd Tier

The special effect of Meditation, Rapid Meditation.

It was a skill that recovered a large amount of mana in a short time without consuming mana.

Since his mana was currently reduced, he decided to experiment with the special effect and entered meditation. Then a new guidance message appeared.

[Would you like to enter Rapid Meditation?]

Upon accepting this, a strange phenomenon occurred.

The distracting thoughts swirling in his head disappeared, and he couldn’t think of anything. While spending time in this state of emptiness—

[All mana has been recovered.]

[Ending Rapid Meditation.]

The effect was amazing. What would have normally taken over 30 minutes of meditation was completed in just 30 seconds.

It was a satisfying function.

Grinning, Han-seong decided to look at the special function added to Open Map next.

[Special Effect: Expansion]

-The observation range of Open Map is expanded.

-The effective range of [Remote] skills is expanded.

▷Open Map Effective Range: 2.5km radius

▷Skill Effective Range: +100%

The moment he confirmed the special effect, Han-seong’s eyes widened. The map spread out before his eyes suddenly expanded greatly.

The range, which had been limited to a 500-meter radius, changed to 2.5km, five times larger, and accordingly, the number of red and blue dots increased significantly.

This was especially true across the Han River, where one place stood out with an exceptionally high number of survivors.

Han-seong knew where that place was.

“Is that Kangil Girls’ High School?”

A girls’ high school just across the Han River. There, a sight of over a hundred blue dots swarming could be seen.

Han-seong breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that there were more survivors than he had thought. Then he focused on the special effect again.

‘Increase in skill effective range.’

As the map expanded, the range of all skills Han-seong had acquired also increased to twice their original distance.

Call Lightning’s original range was 400 meters, but now it’s 800 meters. The same applies to all other skills.

“This worked out well.”

Due to repeated hunting, it had become difficult to find zombie hordes nearby. Now that the area had expanded, it was a welcome development.

“Then lastly…”

Let’s look at the special effect of Magic Castle.

Han-seong touched the screen in the air.

[Special Effect: Dimensional Isolation]

-Isolates Magic Castle from reality.

The area within Magic Castle’s effective range gains immunity to all attacks. It activates automatically when the owner receives damage one or more times.

▷Duration: 5 minutes

▷Activation Time: 10 seconds required

▷Cooldown: 48 hours

This was clearly a defensive skill.

A skill that could be used for protection when the officetel where Han-seong was staying was attacked.

While immunity to all attacks was certainly an advantage, there were also considerable drawbacks.

‘The cooldown is too long.’

Being able to use it only once every two days.

At this rate, he couldn’t even try it out experimentally. If he used it and the place was attacked within the cooldown period, it would be troublesome.

And the activation time wasn’t short either.

‘Still…’

Han-seong decided to be satisfied with the fact that he now had a last line of defense. As he was examining all the special effects—

[New Achievement: Promotion Complete]

[Additional function unlocked.]

▷Central Auction House

Suddenly, a new function appeared.

Auction house? Is it like a shop? Han-seong opened the auction house with such speculation.

A short while later.

Han-seong’s eyes widened.

“Th-This is…!”

And for good reason. What unfolded before his eyes was a screen of incomparable scale to the shop.

Even more surprising was that numerous survivors were already engaged in transactions with each other.

[Auction House Notice]

-The Central Auction House is a space where you can sell or buy items. Communicate with survivors from around the world and purchase the items you need.

Han-seong, still wide-eyed, examined the items listed in the auction house.

Food, weapons, blankets, clothes, shoes, and so on. The items up for auction were truly diverse. Han-seong decided to click on one to take a closer look.

[Starting Bid]: 10 Coins

[Buy Now Price]: 50 Coins

A cheeseburger listed by an unidentified seller.

Following this was a photo of the frozen burger, and at the bottom, a space marked ‘Reviews’. Looking at it, numerous comments could be seen.

-Hey, who’s going to pay this much for something like this?

-Are you out of your mind? We can’t even use microwaves.

-I’ll buy it for 5 coins if you thaw it out.

-Ah haha, I would’ve bought it if it was a set meal.

Han-seong’s eyes widened again.

The users here were survivors from all over the world. This meant that the people leaving comments were also survivors from around the globe.

He felt strangely glad about this.

It made him feel like he wasn’t alone.

Han-seong continued to browse the auction house a bit more, and in the process, he realized a few things.

‘The trading currency is the same as the shop.’

Coins that can be obtained by eliminating zombies.

After that, if you place a bid on the item you want, a 12-hour countdown begins.

If no one outbids you by the deadline, the item becomes Han-seong’s property.

However, if someone clicks ‘Buy Now’ in the meantime, it’s useless. In other words, you need to judge appropriately according to the situation to obtain items.

‘And it’s generally cheaper than the shop.’

This was especially true for food items.

While the shop was selling a bottle of water for 10 coins, in the auction house, it was observed being sold for a minimum of 2 coins to a maximum of 5 coins.

Of course, products that are too cheap usually have defects.

The comments in the reviews proved this.

-Everyone, don’t buy this.

-Tastes like tap water after just one sip lol

-Where did the seller’s conscience go?

The point is that the quality of items sold by survivors is not guaranteed.

In the current situation where hospitals are inaccessible, it would be troublesome to drink contaminated water and fall ill. Han-seong decided to keep this in mind when making purchases.

At that moment.

Something suddenly caught his attention.

“A-A skillbook?”

Among the registered items, there was a skillbook.

Moreover, among them was a skillbook that Han-seong had been eyeing to purchase.

A skill that, like Magic Arrow, is rechargeable and theoretically allows for infinite magic use.

It was Wind Cutter.

Item for Sale: Skillbook – Wind Cutter

[Class Restriction]: Mage, Spirit User

[Acquisition Condition]: 1st Tier

[Starting Bid]: 500 Coins

[Buy Now Price]: 500 Coins

It was a poor attitude that blocked bidding altogether by setting the starting bid and buy now price the same, but it was still much cheaper than the shop.

The price of the Wind Cutter skillbook sold in the shop was a whopping 1,500 coins.

‘Moreover, there’s no need to worry about the quality of skillbooks.’

Because it’s not something that can be counterfeited.

The price was within the range of coins Han-seong currently had. He was about to click ‘Buy Now’.

But then, the comments in the reviews caught his attention.

-Wow, this is really too expensive.

-Is there anyone who has gathered that many coins right now?

-And the effective range is too short.

-This is completely close-range magic.

‘Huh? They say the range is short?’

Come to think of it, I hadn’t considered the range.

Han-seong opened the detailed description.

[Skillbook: Wind Cutter]

▷When activated, loads 7 wind blades that deal magic damage. If the attacked target dies, there’s a 10% chance to immediately create a new wind blade by consuming 30 mana.

▷Cooldown: 1 hour

▷Effective Range: 5m

▶Class Restriction: Mage, Spirit User

It’s certainly extremely short.

Even if you picked up a stone from the ground and threw it, it would probably fly farther than 5 meters.

On the other hand, Han-seong didn’t need to worry.

‘I’m a Remote Support Mage after all.’

All the skills he learned are converted and acquired to suit a Remote Support Mage.

Just like Magic Arrow, which originally had a short range, but when [Remote] was added to the front, its range greatly increased.

At that moment, the seller left a comment in the reviews, followed by numerous comments from survivors.

[Seller]: It’s still cheaper than the shop, right?

↳ Ah haha, of course it should be cheaper than the shop.

↳ Who even buys skillbooks from the shop in the first place?

↳ Right. You’d have to be an idiot lol

Han-seong suddenly became an idiot.

↳ Can’t you sell it a bit cheaper?

↳ I could buy it if it was around 200 coins.

[Seller]: I’m sorry. I listed it at that price because I also have something I want to buy.

↳ Well, then you’ll just have to wait until it sells.

The comments continued on.

As he watched this, Han-seong suddenly felt a question arise. It was a doubt he had felt when he saw the comment that had made him an idiot earlier.

‘Where did the seller get the skillbook from?’

Weren’t skillbooks only available for purchase through the shop? Caught up in this question, Han-seong finally decided to leave a comment himself in the reviews.

▷By the way, where do you get skillbooks?

While waiting for someone to answer.

And not long after, an answer came.

↳ They drop when you kill zombies, don’t they?

↳ Isn’t that common knowledge if you’ve reached 2nd Tier?

↳ You never know lol. Maybe their luck is so bad they’ve never gotten a skillbook drop.

↳ Ouch, that would be…

“Zombies drop skillbooks?”

Han-seong muttered with a surprised expression.

He had killed over 2,000 zombies so far, but he had never obtained any loot other than coins.

Could it really be because his luck was that bad?

No, that possibility was slim. There was a more plausible guess.

‘Could it be because I killed them remotely?’

Coins don’t have a physical form.

They’re engraved as numbers on the palm.

On the other hand, there’s no way to obtain items with physical form. Han-seong uses skills from inside the room, and the loot would drop where the zombies were.

“Ugh, this is troublesome…”

If this hypothesis was correct, it meant he had missed out on numerous loot drops so far. Han-seong furrowed his brow and sighed.

“…I need to do something about this.”

Even though he said that, there wasn’t much he could do right away. It’s not like he could go outside in his wheelchair.

‘I wonder if there’s a teleportation skill?’

If such a thing existed, he could briefly go outside and come back to collect the loot. Despite looking through the auction house repeatedly with this hope, the desired skill didn’t exist.

“Sigh, can’t be helped.”

Let’s learn Wind Cutter first.

It was a skill he was going to learn anyway. Han-seong touched the ‘Buy Now’ button.