Chapter 36: On The Other Side

Chapter 36 – On The Other Side

“Kyle, if you don’t pull up your pants, I’m going to cut it off.”

“Come on, Lauren, it’s not even real, look—AAAH!”

Idiot.

“Motherfucker! That actually hurt!” Kyle exclaimed, pointing accusatorily toward him. “Also, don’t call me Kyle. Let’s use our nicknames. Ain’t that right, Crouching Tiger?”

“Be quiet…”

The two were currently on their way to some random city they noticed in the beta instruction guide.

It was just a simple map with information, and Lauren couldn’t be bothered to read it fully.

But there was one thing he was certain of.

Celestara seems like a good starting zone for me…

Lauren thought, tapping his tooth-shaped claymore on his shoulder.

He got the Berserker class, and frankly, he thought it was bad at first glance.

But when he read up on the rarities, he realized (Epic) was actually pretty rare and not many people had gotten it.

So, he flaunted it to his friends, who were still leveling in the starting zone.

As for Lauren? He was already above them.

[Status]

Name: Crouching Tiger

Race: Human

Class: Berserker (Epic)

Level: 10

Experience: [332/3,162]

•—Balance: 5,000 Trell—•

•—Inventory—•

Storage Space—[2/50]

•—Perks—•

Inspect [Special]

•—Stats—•

Health Points (HP): [600/600]

Mana Points (MP): [100/100]

Strength: 155 (+25)

Agility: 60 (+10)

Constitution: 60 (+10)

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

Charisma: 10

Attack Power (AP): [310]

Movement Speed Increase: [30%]

Critical Hit Damage Increase: [0.5%]

•—Skills—•

Enrage: [Level 5 | 28/1,118] (Common)

Ground Slam: [Level 3 | 52/520] (Common)

•—Equipment—•

Weapon: [Harriet’s Tooth (Common)]

•—Quests—•

Active Quests—0

Total Quests Completed—[9]

•——•

A level 10, likely the first person to do so out of all beta testers.

And this idiot beside him?

—Sausage Handler [Level 7] [1,500/1,500 HP]

“Why do you keep maxing out your Constitution stat?” Lauren grumbled. “You’re just being a meat bag right now.”

Since he wasn’t responding, Lauren added a little nudge at the end.

“…Sausage Handler?”

“That’s me.” Sausage Handler nodded smugly, but just as he was about to speak, he tripped, falling face-first to the ground.

“Pfft… Haha, idio—Woah…” Lauren’s eyes widened in awe.

They had been traveling through a dense forest moments ago, but now, there was giant crater before them.

Moreover, an elevator by the side.

Since he had read the guide somewhat, he knew this was Celestara.

Damn… This game looks really realistic.

Lauren thought, grabbing his friend by the collar and dragging him back to the elevator.

He pressed a few buttons, and they began heading down.

Even though Lauren was new to games, he was skilled in combat, having been a former Marine. Kyle here was one of his old squadmates.

But of course, a bullet to the leg cut his career short, and he had to rely on his family to support him.

Not anymore,

Lauren sharpened his gaze.

I will become a top ranker, get rich, and fix everything…

“Yo, Crouching Tiger, can you give me a healing potion? It feels like my balls are on fire,” Sausage Handler asked.

“Fat chance, idiot. Shouldn’t have stuck your junk out like that… But who knew you could do that? It’s pretty realistic for a game,” Lauren commented.

“I know, right? They even got the size right,” Sausage Handler said with a chuckle, making Lauren roll his eyes.

They finally arrived at the bottom, and there was one long pathway leading into the city.

All sorts of ornaments were scattered on the trees, and a bunch of people had gathered everywhere.

No one greeted them, but Lauren went around inspecting them.

—Sarah Badock [Level 5] [50/50 HP]

Oh, so I could’ve masked myself as an NPC. Chance lost…

Lauren thought as he strolled through the streets.

There were murmurs of some new king, which had caught Lauren’s interest.

But not for long, as he wasn’t much into the lore of games.

“Sausage Handler, this is pretty peaceful. Don’t you think?” Lauren asked. “I expected a bit more from an area marked as extremely dangerous.”

“You look for shit, you get stuck in the ass, I suppose,” Sausage Handler remarked. “Not that I’m saying this place looks like shit—in fact, I like the aesthetic.

“Yeah, you’re still shit with metaphors. Let’s just find a quest or something,” Lauren said as he made his way to the most obvious spot where a quest would be.

The city center.

He kept inspecting the people until, eventually, he stumbled upon a guard.

—Thomas Jacker [Level ??] [???/??? HP]

Lauren’s Inspect skill could only reveal a person’s level if they were within 30 levels of him. However, if the stat difference was too great, it wouldn’t work even if their level was close.

The guard shot him a knowing glance before turning away.

They can detect me…? That’s the least of what I expected from the guards. Good. I can ask one of them to teach me and trigger a quest.

That was his plan anyway, but as he arrived in the city’s center, the only thing he found was a giant fountain surrounded by people and barely any guards.

However, as he thought this would be a waste of time, Kyle suddenly halted, his eyes glowing.

“What’s up?” Lauren asked before following Kyle’s gaze over to a certain store.

It looked like an empty boutique from a distance, but upon closer look, there was a sign in the window, with two weird kitty-eared crystal dolls sitting beside it, their arms raised cutely.

The Platinum Gacha Boutique? …Gacha? Isn’t that like gambling?

Lauren thought, and before he could say a word, Kyle grabbed him by the hand and practically ran inside the boutique.

“Sir!” Kyle called out. “My name is—”

“Sausage Handler,” a cold voice finished.

Lauren looked to where the voice came from and saw a white-haired man wearing a cocky grin.

His clothes seemed a bit too fancy for someone running a run-down boutique.

Out of habit, he used his Inspect skill.

The moment he did, Lauren’s eyes widened, and his hands started trembling.

What the…?

—Rael Sutekh, ??? (???) [Level ???] [ERROR/ERROR HP]

Whose fucking store did we just walk into!?

Lauren’s hair stood on end, but his oblivious friend walked over to that man and began talking.

The man tapped a few times in the air, testing stuff out, until finally, a smile beamed on Kyle’s face as he said a few words and walked to the corner of the store.

I can’t hear them… Shit… I need to calm my breathing—

“Pleasure doing business with you, my dear customer,” the man’s voice rang out as he glanced toward Lauren and signaled him to come over.

Almost by instinct, Lauren did so, his body not listening to him.

“I’m Rael Sutekh. You can call me Rael if you become a repeat customer,” the man said with a chuckle before suddenly tapping in the air.

As he did, an interface appeared in front of Lauren.

•—The Platinum Gacha Boutique—•

Category: Gacha

•—Balance: 5,000 Trell—•

• Crystallite Set (Common): 4,500 Trell

“This is…?”

“It’s an armor set. It would be immensely helpful to you right now as it doesn’t have a level requirement,” the man added. “You can get some good stuff, or you can get something shit. Either way, you’re getting something way above your level.”

Is he supposed to know so much about this…? Lauren tilted his head before falling into thought.

If he were to buy—

“Ah, I don’t have much time. Are you buying it or not? You’ve got five seconds,” the man said sternly, making Lauren momentarily panic and press the buy window, which seemingly floated toward his finger.

…Yes.

Lauren nodded with a defeated sigh.

A flash of light appeared, followed by five items materializing in his inventory.

He glanced inside, and the moment he saw the item’s stats, his eyes widened as he turned toward the grinning man.

“Pleasure doing business with you, my dear customer.”

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