Chapter 10

[Translator – Peptobismol]

Chapter 10: The Level 4 Extra (3)

“…Ah!”

Yechan, who was staring at Yeongwoo, was so startled that he almost fell backward.

Yeongwoo’s appearance suddenly changed when put the coin in his mouth, which was the reason.

“Wh-what’s happening?”

Yechan asked with his eyes wide open.

It was clear. Yeongwoo was surrounded by a translucent dotted line outlining his body.

Moreover, this dotted line seemed to flow in a certain direction, just like blood circulating.

Seeing this, Yeongwoo took the coin out of his mouth and examined his body.

“Seems like some kind of customization mode… or something like that.”

“Customization mode?”

“Yeah, you know, like those modes in games where you can readjust a character’s appearance.”

“Really? Then, right now…?”

Before Yechan could finish his sentence, a new interface appeared in Yeongwoo’s sight.

[Character settings change]

|Appearance

|Stats

“That’s it. So, inserting the coin in my mouth opened up this function?”

At Yeongwoo’s words, Yechan quickly grabbed the coin and brought it close to his mouth.

Ding!

“Oh, it seems like just touching the lips is enough.”

“The lips?”

Yeongwoo looked at the coin, now covered in saliva, with an amused expression.

Nevertheless, now that they understood how to use it, it seemed fine.

‘It doesn’t look like anyone else is coming yet.’

Yeongwoo raised his head to see that the timer had already decreased to 11 minutes, and then turned his gaze back to the interface.

|Appearance

|Stats

There were only two menu options: Appearance and Stats.

‘I’m curious about changing my appearance, but there’s no time.’

Yeongwoo skipped the appearance option and chose ”Stats.’

As he did, a sort of guide screen appeared first.

Pah!

[From now on, you may use karma to enhance your physical abilities. Please carefully select after reading the description of each category.]

[Strength]

|Affects body strength and speed.

[Endurance]

|Affects the ability to sustain and repeat movements.

[Durability]

|Affects the durability of skin, bones, muscles, etc.

[Senses]

|Affects overall body control, reflexes, balance, etc.

There were only four physical abilities that could be enhanced with karma: Strength, Endurance, Durability, and Senses.

Thanks to this, it didn’t take long to grasp the concepts of each ability.

‘Durability seems a bit peculiar. What’s next?’

As Yeongwoo thought this, the guide text vanished, and the actual settings page appeared.

[Character: Jung Yeongwoo07]

[Strength] 19

[Endurance] 21

[Durability] 13

[Senses] 24

* 1,000 Karma is consumed per Stat Point.

* Available Karma: 153,000

‘1,000 Karma per point? So, I can raise the stats by 153 points in total?’

If he invested all of it into Strength, it would increase his strength by a whopping 8 times.

‘…Incredible.’

Yeongwoo felt a rush as if every cell in his body awakened.

He felt as if he finally understood the true value of the currency called karma.

‘This is a way to transcend the level one’s assigned at birth.’

As long as one can continuously secure enough Karma, even a Level 4 individual could become stronger than anyone else.

Considering there’s an ‘Appearance’ option among the other settings, it was highly likely that things like appearance or physique could also be altered.

It had truly became a world where anything was possible as long as one had money.

“…”

Yeongwoo swallowed dryly and checked the timer in the air once more.

[00:06:22]

In 6 minutes, monsters and mutants would appear.

‘Anyway, if I can’t win against them, my neck will be on the line right here. So, using the money I have for stat growth is the right move.’

Now, which stat should be enhanced?

‘I don’t know how many and what types of monsters will appear. So…’

It should be evenly distributed as much as possible.

However, he decided to exclude Durability and Senses.

‘Even if I put 50 points into durability, I don’t think I’ll be able to deflect a knife or claw with my bare skin.’

He also felt that Senses wouldn’t be of much help initially.

So far, he felt more lacking in Strength and Endurance.

‘Let’s divide it appropriately between Strength and Endurance. If my strength improves, handling the shield will be easier, boosting my survival chances.’

As soon as he made his decision, he started distributing the points.

He put 77 points into Strength and 76 into Endurance.

It was an ‘all-in’ move, leaving no Karma even for the tax due tomorrow at 10 PM.

Then…

Pahaht!

Numbers began to fill up in his pitiful settings window.

[Character: Jung Yeongwoo07]

[Strength] 96 (19+77)

[Endurance] 97 (21+76)

[Durability] 13

[Senses] 24

Simultaneously, a change occurred in Yeongwoo.

“…!”

Though he hadn’t suddenly grown in size or developed new muscles, he could tell just by sitting still.

His strength and stamina had increased enormously.

‘…I can barely feel the weight of the Early Bird.’

Moreover, the shield he held in his left hand felt much lighter than before.

Whoosh.

Even the act of getting up from his seat felt different. He didn’t need to push off with his hands; the strength in his legs alone was enough.

‘What’s this? It’s so different.’

His Strength had increased from 19 to 96.

In pure numerical terms, that meant his strength had increased about 5 times, so feeling the difference was natural.

“Mister, are you… okay?”

Seeing Yeongwoo’s thoughtful expression, Yechan asked with a concerned tone.

[Translator – Peptobismol]

Instead of answering, Yeongwoo jumped with all his might.

Thud!

Friction on the soles of his shoes felt like they might tear apart, and he immediately sprung into the air.

“Whoa…!”

Yeongwoo’s shadow passed over Yechan’s widened eyes.

Even Yeongwoo, looking down from a much higher point than he anticipated, was surprised.

At least 1.5 meters, by eye estimation.

Yeongwoo felt a sudden fear.

Such a high jump was far from his regular exercise routine, he had no idea about any falling techniques or landing from high altitudes.

Whoosh!

Eventually, gravity grabbed hold of Yeongwoo’s body abruptly.

“Huh!”

For a moment, it felt like his body’s center was tilting forward, but thankfully, his feet touched the ground before that.

However, the impact of the landing without any cushioning sent piercing pain from his heels to his knees.

“…Ugh!”

Reflexively clutching his knees, Yeongwoo realized his mistake.

‘So, that’s why there are separate Stats like Durability and Senses.’

For instance, assuming he leapt about 5 meters with much stronger strength than now.

Even if soaring to 5 meters high wasn’t a problem, how would he land?

Would his legs, with a mere Durability of 13, be able to withstand the impact?

It would probably be the same while facing monsters with swords or blocking powerful attacks with a shield.

‘If I survive this time, I definitely need to pay attention to Durability and Senses.’

As Yeongwoo was resolving this, Yechan called out to him in a somewhat urgent tone.

“Mister…! What about me? Which stat should I raise first?”

“Huh?”

Yeongwoo belatedly came to his senses and turned his head in that direction, noticing that Yechan was also surrounded by a translucent dotted line.

“How many points can you use?”

“I can use 73 if I spend everything.”

“Then, put 30 each into Strength and Endurance, 10 into Durability, and 3 into Senses.”

Given the recent trial and error, Yeongwoo recommended the best possible choices within his knowledge limit.

Following the advice without a word, Yechan adjusted his stats accordingly.

[Character: Kang Yechan306]

[Strength] 44 (14+30)

[Endurance] 52 (22+30)

[Durability] 27 (17+10)

[Senses] 22 (19+3)

Soon after, Yechan, too, made a face similar to Yeongwoo’s a while ago.

“…Uhh, what is this?”

“I don’t know how much karma we’ll gain in the future, but if things continue like this, it won’t be long before superhumans start to appear.”

“Ye-yeah, that seems likely.”

“So, if possible…”

After speaking up to this point, Yeongwoo checked the timer in the air.

[00:00:49]

49 seconds left.

“It’s better for us to become those superhumans. There is nothing bad about being strong.”

Actually, it was not just not bad—it’s a necessity.

Yeongwoo still remembered vividly.

Being surrounded by faceless individuals at the exchange booth, he got slapped, and his arms twisted.

Even now, when entering combat situations, their angry gestures and hands full of instruments came vividly to his mind, making him tremble.

That’s why he didn’t want to be pushed down under their feet again. Never again.

[00:00:21]

21 seconds.

Around this time, Yechan also stopped swinging his spear and stood straight in his place.

Meanwhile, Yeongwoo scanned his surroundings for any potential ambushers.

[00:00:10]

Then finally, when the timer reached 10 seconds, both of them were staring at the blue light pillars from above.

Will the monsters pour down from above?

Or will they suddenly appear where the pillars of light touch the ground?

While inwardly pondering various thoughts to calm their restlessness, the timer hit 3 seconds.

…3.

…2.

…1.

And then.

Boom!

A tremendous rumbling echoed and spread from the top of the light pillars, followed by an unusual tearing sound from the edge where the sky met the pillars.

Squeak!

Squeak!

“Mister…! Something is coming down!”

“I can see that. You’d better step back.”

Yeongwoo saw several faint lights appearing inside the upper part of the light pillars.

And their sizes were oddly increasing.

Squeak!

‘Those things’ landed successively from the top of the light pillars right in front of Yeongwoo and Yechan.

Thud! Thud!

“…”

Precisely 12 entities.

As they landed, they crushed the ground, and Yeongwoo could easily guess that if a person were standing underneath, they would have shattered into pieces.

‘Fortunately there aren’t too many.’

Of course, with 12 creatures per light pillar, there could easily be hundreds of monsters scattered throughout the Gumi City.

While falling from the sky, they were all wrapped in oval-shaped white spheres, receiving some sort of protection.

But the issue was that the spheres were much larger than expected.

“Oh, Mister…?”

Yechan stepped back, suggesting something was wrong.

Yeongwoo was equally stunned.

Each of the 12 spheres stood at about 2 meters in height and had a width of around 1.5 meters.

‘What on earth could they…’

Clunk!

Before Yeongwoo could finish his thought, the spheres suddenly split apart.

Then…

Boom!

12 heavily armed goblins stepped out from within their respective spheres, striding out valiantly by kicking the inner walls of the spheres.

“…”

At this, Yeongwoo and Yechan could only look up in dismay.

These entities stood at a height of 2 meters.

[Translator – Peptobismol]