Chapter 8: Promotion (3)

[Do you wish to purchase the item immediately?]

[500 Coins will be deducted.]

The moment Han-seong touched the confirmation button.

Along with a notification that the purchase was complete, a brightly glowing skillbook appeared before his eyes.

[You have acquired Wind Cutter.]

[Acquisition Target: Remote Support Mage]

[The skill will be modified to fit your class.]

[Remote: Wind Cutter (Lv.2)]

-Attacks an enemy at specific coordinates. When an enemy is killed, there’s a 10% chance to charge one blade by consuming 30 mana.

▷Effective Range: Up to 100m

▷Impact Range: 1.5m

▷Max Charge: 7 shots

▷Mana Cost: 420

▷Cooldown: 55 minutes

Han-seong’s prediction was correct.

The skill was modified to fit his class, greatly increasing its range. The range, which was only 5 meters before, had increased to 100 meters.

‘But it’s still a bit short, huh.’

Wind Cutter’s range was the result affected by Open Map’s special effect, Expansion. If it were before, it would have been half, meaning 50 meters.

‘Well, it’s still better than 5 meters.’

Meanwhile, right after purchasing the skillbook.

Comments started flooding in under the product.

-Huh? What? It really sold?

-Wow, someone actually bought this.

-How did they gather 500 Coins?

After briefly skimming through the various reactions.

Han-seong looked through the Auction House again. He still had 1,000 Coins left, so.

But there was nothing worth buying, and just as he was about to leave the Auction House, suddenly, along with a loud fireworks sound, a flashy guide message appeared.

[72 hours have passed since the Auction House’s initial opening!]

[A special event (1st round) will be held!]

[Don’t miss out on the limited quantity products.]

Event? What’s this limited product?

Shortly after, a tab called Special Event Product List appeared in the Auction House, and when he touched it, several products were revealed.

Han-seong tilted his head.

“Huh? This is…?”

There were only 3 limited products revealed.

A red gem, a longsword, and a skillbook. Han-seong wasn’t particularly interested in the first two products, so he immediately touched the skillbook.

And at that moment.

Han-seong’s eyes widened.

He couldn’t help it.

The skillbook that appeared as a limited product had the effect Han-seong had wanted earlier, the ability to collect loot remotely.

[Acquisition Condition]: 1st Tier, 1-Star Rank

[Initial Bid]: 1,000 Coins

[Immediate Purchase Price]: No limit

Inventory. It refers to a virtual space used to store possessions in games and such. Up to here, it was understandable, but the important part came next.

[Skillbook: Inventory]

▷Creates a subspace that can be used like a warehouse. Can store or release all types of items, but cannot store living beings.

▷Cooldown: 3 hours

▷Collection Range: 10m

▷Storage Capacity: 1㎥

▶Class Restriction: Common

▶Limited Quantity: 1

‘The fact that there’s a collection range means…!’

If Han-seong were to acquire this skillbook, there’s a possibility that the collection range would greatly increase. Then he would be able to obtain loot even from inside the room.

-Wow, the Inventory is quite tempting.

-But isn’t it too expensive?

-What’s with the initial bid of 1,000 Coins?

-If someone has gathered that much, they’re a monster.

↳ Screenshot taken.

Other survivors also seemed to be eyeing the Inventory. Most added opinions that it was expensive, but.

Of course, it was quite expensive, but Inventory was a skill Han-seong absolutely needed. So he decided to bid on the product without hesitation.

[Product Name: Skillbook-Inventory]

[Do you want to bid on this product?]

[The minimum bid is 10% of the initial bid price.]

This meant he needed to add 100 Coins to the 1,000 Coins to be able to bid. As the amount of Coins was just right, he proceeded with the bid.

[You have successfully bid on the product.]

[The next bid will be possible after 10 minutes.]

[Current Bid Price]: 1,100 Coins

The countdown deadline started simultaneously.

If no higher bidder appears for the next 12 hours, the skillbook will be Han-seong’s.

Meanwhile, the comments section was in chaos.

-Someone actually bid on this??

-No, before that, how did they gather so many Coins?

-Seriously. Isn’t this manipulation?

-Where’s that guy who said he’d castrate them? LOL

-Make sure to prove it. We’re waiting.

Surprise, envy, jealousy, and so on.

While looking at the various reactions, Han-seong left the Auction House. Although it was somewhat fun to watch the comments, he had something to do now.

‘I need to gather more Coins.’

Because there was a possibility that there might be a higher bidder. Han-seong opened the map with eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

To start hunting.

Shadow Assassin, Seo Ha-eun.

She had left the officetel where she had been living and joined a group of survivors, repeating a daily routine of facing zombies or going out to find food.

Then she suddenly realized something.

‘We can’t just keep running away.’

Killing zombies earns Coins.

Coins are used as currency in the shop, where you can buy food, weapons, and so on. The same goes for skills needed to fight zombies.

Realizing this, Ha-eun and her group began to hunt zombie groups of five or fewer.

Puk! Kwadeuk!

The head of a zombie caught by Ha-eun snapped.

Her only attack skill, Shadow Smash, had hit squarely. At that moment, Tae-min’s voice was heard from not far away.

“Let’s call it a day here.”

Necromancer, Kim Tae-min.

He, who had been using five zombie corpses to hunt other zombies, spoke while looking at the setting sun.

The survivor group Ha-eun belonged to had a few rules. One was to stop zombie hunting at night and secure a safe place to stay.

Although earning Coins was important, it wasn’t worth risking their lives for.

“How much did everyone earn?”

“Hmm, I earned 34 Coins.”

At Min-cheol’s words, Tae-min opened his palm.

While it had shown the number 20 in the morning, now it displayed 54, confirming that he had indeed earned 34 Coins.

“I earned 21 Coins.”

“I earned 13 Coins.”

Following Min-cheol, Ha-eun also opened her palm.

On the other hand, Eun-ji had zero.

It was an inevitable result. As a Healer, she had no attack skills.

“Then that’s 17 Coins per person.”

“Yes. Shall we distribute them?”

The second rule of Ha-eun’s group, distribution.

It means pooling the Coins earned from zombie hunting and dividing them into four shares. Hearing this conversation, Eun-ji waved her hands and said,

“Ah, it’s okay. I didn’t do anything…”

“You’ve been plenty helpful, so take it.”

“That’s right. I can fight actively all thanks to you, unni.”

Min-cheol and Ha-eun mainly used close-range skills. Therefore, unlike Tae-min, they were at greater risk of being bitten or counterattacked by zombies.

In such situations, the presence of a Healer was a great comfort. Even if there were no injuries.

“Um, then I’ll gratefully accept.”

Eun-ji smiled brightly.

After finishing the Coin distribution, the group returned to the shopping mall building where they had been staying. They had looked around other places, but that was the safest.

Right after returning to the shopping mall.

With a sound like fireworks going off, suddenly an alert message appeared before Ha-eun’s eyes.

[Rank Experience: 100% achieved!]

[Promotion to 2nd Tier possible.]

[Do you want to proceed?]

“…Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“No, just now some message…”

As Ha-eun was muttering blankly.

Suddenly her status window opened.

[Name]: Seo Ha-eun

[Class]: Shadow Assassin

[Grade]: 2-Star Rank

What’s this all of a sudden, without even saying anything?

Ha-eun tilted her head. Then she explained to her inquiring companions what had just happened.

“My rank went up.”

“Rank?”

Eun-ji tilted her head.

That’s when Tae-min’s eyes widened.

“Ah, come to think of it, every time I used a unique skill, something called rank experience accumulated. Could it be related to that?”

“It seems so.”

Ha-eun nodded.

In fact, recently she had noticed alerts about rank experience accumulating every time she moved a certain distance, so she looked into it and found this.

[Rank Experience]

▷Acquisition Condition: Use of Unique Skill

▷Unique Skill: Shadow Walk (Lv.1)

▶Acquisition Amount: 0.1% per 10m

0.1 percent for every 10 meters traveled.

This means to reach 100 percent, one would need to travel 10km.

‘I certainly walked that much.’

After all, they had walked quite a distance to find food or hunt zombies.

That’s when Eun-ji asked curiously.

“But what’s good about ranking up?”

“It says special effects are added.”

“Really? Can you tell us about it?”

“Yes, so…”

There were two added special effects.

Ha-eun looked at each of them.

[Special Effect: Quick Step]

-Movement speed increases momentarily.

▷Movement Speed: +200%

▷Duration: 5 minutes

▷Cooldown: 1 hour

▶Grade: 2-Star Rank

First, the special effect of Shadow Walk, Quick Step.

As the name suggests, it has the effect of increasing movement speed, so she tried using it once.

And…

“Ouch!”

She hit her head against the wall.

She thought she had only moved a little, but suddenly her body lurched forward and instantly reached the opposite wall.

“Ha-eun! Are you okay?”

“Yes, I didn’t hit it too hard.”

Her forehead stung a bit, but it was fine.

It seems I’ll need practice to use Quick Step skillfully. Thinking this to herself, Ha-eun looked at the next added special effect.

[Special Effect: Weakness Identification]

-Allows you to see through a single target’s weak spot.

▷Effective Range: 100m

▷Duration: 10 seconds

▷Cooldown: 30 minutes

A special effect added to Shadow’s Eye.

Like Quick Step, the explanation was simple. So Ha-eun tested the skill on Tae-min’s zombie, and soon saw an interesting sight.

‘The head is glowing.’

The head and neck area were enveloped in light.

There was no change in the heart area. In reality, zombies continue moving even if their hearts are destroyed, but they die immediately if their heads are destroyed or severed.

After finishing the experiments with the special effects, Ha-eun explained this to her companions.

“I see. So it seems new special effects are added to unique skills.”

“Is there anything else that’s changed?”

“Hmm, it says I achieved an achievement, but…”

As Ha-eun was narrowing her eyes.

Suddenly something appeared before her.

“Th-this is…!”

“What? Did something else come up?”

“An Auction House has appeared.”

“Huh? Auction House?”

Ha-eun explained in detail the screen that only she could see. After hearing the whole story, Min-cheol asked with a surprised expression,

“You can communicate with survivors from all over the world?”

“Yes, all the languages seem to be translated into Korean.”

At Ha-eun’s words, Min-cheol looked amazed. On the other hand, Tae-min let out a hollow laugh.

“Haha, it really has become like some kind of game.”

“…Who on earth created something like this?”

“Well, I guess it was prepared by the transcendent being that made the world like this.”

Tae-min shrugged his shoulders.

“More importantly, if it’s an Auction House, it means we can buy and sell things, right? How many products are registered?”

“Quite a lot. Over hundreds.”

The registered products were truly diverse.

There were all kinds of food and clothes, as well as weapons like pistols and axes. There were also skillbooks, and the common point was that they were cheaper than in the shop.

As Ha-eun relayed this information, her companions each furrowed their brows and muttered.

“Hmm, it’s still quite expensive.”

“We don’t have nearly enough Coins for this.”

“Yes, and we don’t have anything worth selling either… Ah!”

Eun-ji, who had been agreeing, suddenly widened her eyes.

As if she had remembered something she had forgotten.

“Come to think of it, we have this.”

“Huh? What is it? Oh!”

Tae-min’s eyes also widened a bit.

What Eun-ji pulled out was a thick book that looked like an encyclopedia. It was the skillbook they had obtained as loot yesterday while hunting zombies.