<Chapter 2. God's Secret Shop>
"If I close my eyes... ooh, oooh."
When he closed his (nonexistent) eyes, he could see it as an extremely intuitive image. It felt as though there was another eye centered on him that watched from above and scanned the entire area. And within that area, only the correct path shined brightly.
'...Shall I go?'
There wasn't much more he could gain from staying here. Lee Shin Woo made up his mind, opened his eyes, and started moving along the confirmed path.
The clearing had stagnated from silence to dead quiet, and only the sound of his moving footsteps rang out. His footsteps had gotten a lot quieter, perhaps due to the Feather Bone Boots.
'Hoo.'
The passageway was quite long. Various parts of the passageway had collapsed thanks to the Treasure Eater's rampage. In order to reach those places, Lee Shin Woo had to at times jump high, and at other times jump far. He eventually came to, in a sense, the obvious realization: the Sprint skill could be used in tandem with his jump.
'If I become proficient in my Sprint skill, then time it, no, I may become a skeleton who can run in the sky... Ah.'
As he walked through the continuing passageway, the atmosphere in the passageway changed in no time.
If it seemed as though he had been reluctantly trudging through the underground passageway, filled with nothing but rocks and sand thus far, then this current area is the first place to have a clear path.
'This is the real Empire... I can see the walls.'
There was a clear distinction between the external passageways and the genuine Underground Empire: the castle walls. According to the quest's explanation, he would have to face Skeleton Soldiers over there again.
Honestly, he didn't think he'd lose to a few Skeleton Soldiers now, but he couldn't release his tension, so long as he couldn't ascertain how many of them there were.
[Halt...]
Lee Shin Woo stopped, his bone joints rattling. There was a single, imposing platoon of skeletons atop the castle walls, aiming their bone arrows at him. Yet, their numbers were small. They soon disclosed that reason themselves.
[The monster... was it hunted...?]
"Yeah, we got it! Though, everyone else died except for me..."
Now, he could start acting at the flick of a switch. A part of the soldiers that guarded the walls were probably sent to hunt the Treasure Eater!
This all happened because Lee Shin Woo had made a huge fuss. He lauded his foresight, which he hadn't even been aware of, and continued to speak.
"Paul, please open the castle gate for me. I have to return to guard duty too."
[Wait... just a minute...]
It seemed like this quest would go smoothly. However, had he jinxed it? One of the skeletons wielding a bone bow rattled its teeth as it spoke.
[I haven't seen that... spear before...]
"The Treasure Hunter dropped it."
Lee Shin Woo, who was only focused on entering the Empire, roughly concocted a plausible story. But the soldier's response caused his (nonexistent) heart to pound.
[Then... report it to your superiors...]
"Huh?"
[I'll... report it.]
No wait, he didn't think their military discipline was this strict. Moreover, superiors? Doesn't that mean someone stronger than them will come? He felt pressed and requested.
"Hey, Paul. Wait a sec. I'll give the report myself, so open the gates first."
[The report... comes first...]
Report-then-action? Damn it! They hadn't even thought of complimenting and taking care of a comrade who had returned with great difficulty, and instead, would call their superiors when they heard the news that he had picked up a new item. You damn egotistic and ambitious skeletons!
"I said I'd be the one to report it!"
Since it came to this, there was no need to hide anymore. If that superior arrived, he'd definitely die at least once! He clicked his tongue and sprinted. The Skeleton Soldiers were startled and aimed their bone bows at him.
[Are you... revolting against the Empire?]
[Are you trying... to embezzle?]
[Is it corruption[1]...?]
"Sprint!"
He completely ignored what the skeletons were saying and jumped while using his Sprint and clung to the castle wall. Surprisingly, it was possible for him to jump close to 2m high.
Even though he was only at the tutorial level, he thought that he had already transcended humanity, and belatedly realized that he was no longer physically human.
[Attack... Subduing.]
[Subduing.]
The Skeleton Soldiers determined that he was their enemy and began to aim and shoot their arrows at him. Though he planned to get hit by a few of them, when the arrows closed in on him, his hand, holding the bone spear, moved by itself.
'Huh!?'
It happened in a split second. Right after he grasped the trajectory of the arrows with the naked eye, he instinctively swung his bone spear and parried two arrows! The arrows he couldn't block hit his shoulder, but the damage was minor.
[You have learned the passive skill, Beginner Weapon Defense Lv1.]
That wasn't all. When he thought he needed to stop the skeletons from drawing their bowstrings again, he naturally opened his mouth and shrieked.
"Kuhwaaaaaaahk!"
[You have learned the active skill, Beginner Shriek of the Dead Lv1.]
[By using the Shriek of the Dead, the enemies in the entire area have momentarily fallen into a frenzied state.]
He didn't know how he had learned Beginner Weapon Defense yet, but the source of the Shriek of the Dead was clear. It was the Treasure Eater! He had wanted to learn the Roar of Healing, but the results were contrary to his expectations.
[You bastards... just when did you infiltrate...!]
[I'll... kill you...!]
He felt momentarily dizzy since he had used the Shriek of the Dead with his low mana, but its effects were astounding. The Skeleton Soldiers treated each other as enemies and started to attack each other!
Lee Shin Woo aimed for that opportunity, exerting himself, and crawling up the wall. He felt motion sickness due to his unreasonable use of mana, but he grit his teeth and endured.
[W-What about that guy?]
"I'm right behind you."
[Ugh!?]
By the time the Skeleton Soldiers escaped the status ailment, Lee Shin Woo was already atop the castle wall!
There's no way arrows would be effective at close range. Lee Shin Woo cold-bloodedly swung the Lv2 Lord Bone Spear and broke them in a single strike. It was a quick and clean finish.
[You have hunted a Skeleton Archer.]
[You have hunted a Skeleton Archer.]
For a brief moment, the castle walls regained its silence. Lee Shin Woo grabbed and removed the arrow lodged in his shoulder and sighed. Though he had been slightly injured, he had stopped them from reporting to their sup...
"...The hell is this?"
After he had climbed atop the castle wall, he was finally able to see the scenery beyond.
Since the walls of the castle had remained intact, he had thought that the city within would look like it was from the middle ages... but there was a different sight before him, as though it were mocking his naiveté.
"Is this the demon world or something...?"
A city? Perhaps it may have been called that some time ago. However, all the buildings were weathered, decayed, entangled with weeds here and there... it was already ruined, without any proper buildings remaining.
The entrance was the only thing barely intact. When he looked further ahead, he saw plains, covered in thick grass, and a sandy desert mixed together conflictingly. If this were like a game, it was as if the developers had tried implementing both a desert map and a plains map at the same time, but the two maps had clashed and failed.
"What superiors?"
There's no way there would be any military systems left intact here. The skeletons here were just souls trapped in the past.
And those he would have to face from now on were probably the same. Even if he thought he was conversing with them, there was no actual conversation going on at all.
"Ha..."
Lee Shin Woo suddenly realized what situation he had been dumped into, sighed softly, and shrugged his shoulders.
Honestly, before he had come here, when God had told him that she wanted him to purify this place, he felt something like 'I don't really care, but if I can come back to life, I might as well.', but now he felt like he wanted to fix this place, at least to rid himself of his uneasiness.
'First, let's pick up the loot.'
He couldn't just sit thinking forever. Lee Shin Woo collected the scattered Perium atop the castle wall, as well as the Skeleton Archers' bones, bone bows, and bone arrows.
Strangely, their finger bones remained, and when he reinforced himself with them, the message was the same among them.
[You have reinforced your finger bone. Agility has increased by 1. Absorbing a portion of the Skeleton Archer's memories and experiences.]
[Why are you putting an apple on my head? ... Wait a second, fine, I'll learn archery! Jeez, I said I'll learn it! - A nameless boy]
Compared to his leg bones, which he had reinforced to the limits and which wouldn't really raise in agility, whenever he reinforced his finger bones, his agility would raise with a high probability.
[You have acquired a Lv1 Bone Short Bow.]
[You have learned Beginner Archery Lv1.]
"That's right, I had expected this too."
He searched the entire area and used all the finger bones he found to reinforce himself. As a result, even without the effects of the Feather Bone Boots, his agility had risen to 62, and his Beginner Archery rose to Lv2, even though he hadn't shot a single arrow yet.
He continued, combining (reinforcing) the less than 10 Bone Short bows into one.
[Bone Short Bow +4]
[Lv1]
[Durability: 220/220]
[Attack Power: 20 - 25]
"This ain't half-bad."
Though its attack power was incomparable to the Lv2 Bone Spear, he felt reassured, now that he had acquired a way to attack from a distance. He felt even better since there were almost 200 arrows stored in the castle walls.
[Quest complete!]
[You have acquired an inventory. You can open and close it by shouting the inventory command.]
[You have acquired a permit to access god's secret shop. You can open it by shouting the shop command.]
"Wow."
After he finished collecting the loot, climbed down the walls without much thought, and set foot in the Empire's territory, Lee Shin Woo saw messages in front of him, one after another.
He was lost in thought, so he had forgotten that he had been in the middle of a quest, so Lee Shin Woo was briefly surprised, and inwardly cheered. After all, he couldn't carry 200 arrows all at once.
"Inventory."
He muttered, and a checkered, transparent window appeared in front of him that he often saw in games. Lee Shin Woo muttered, saying it was an intuitive inventory, and when he touched the window, his hand was powerlessly sucked in. He was startled and pulled his hand out, but his hand was fine.
'Will this work?'
He grabbed a bone arrow and put it inside. The bone arrow was instantly sucked in, and an arrow icon appeared on one of the checkered boxes. The x1 sign next to it was a bonus.
"Let's see."
He shoved all his bone arrows into his inventory. The sign instantly shot up to x189. He wasn't absolutely sure yet, but he felt like he'd be able to stack the same item inside, as long as they were identical. Since the inventory, divided into checkered boxes, currently only had 10 boxes, when he realized that they could stack, he was more than a little relieved.
"Let's put the bow in... ah, money too."
When he threw the money pouch inside, the pouch disappeared somewhere, and a black coin icon appeared below the inventory, along with the amount 3,420. He honestly wanted to compliment it because of how intuitive it was.
"Good, close."
However, it didn't close. He thought perhaps it would close if he muttered 'inventory', and when he did, the inventory completely disappeared.
Lee Shin Woo suddenly had an idea and he muttered inventory in his head without saying it out loud. The inventory opened. With this, he'd be able to open and close the inventory amid battle without much difficulty.
'Then next up...'
With this, he completely understood the inventory. Lee Shin Woo took a deep breath again and muttered the command of the other reward.
"Shop."
At that moment, the surrounding area distorted. At the same time, even Lee Shin Woo's consciousness became faint. He tried opening his eyes in an attempt to get a hold of himself no matter what, then...
"Guten morgen [2], Mr. Skeleton."
He had arrived in God's secret shop.
[1] T/N: This term doesn't have a specific enough English equivalent. It's when you perform illegal activities because you need the money. Typically refers to politics.
[2] T/N: Good morning in German.
When he came to, he was no longer in the Empire, but somewhere else. It was an enclosed space, with silver walls emitting a delicate light on all four sides, and one of those sides was the 'store'. The secret shop permit gave him permission to come to this place.
"Why are you just staring at me? I'm sorry but I'm not for sale."
Lee Shin Woo tilted his head when he saw the woman behind the counter look back at him with a bewitching smile.
"... Have we met somewhere before?"
"Oh my, are you hitting on me? Unfortunately, your body's not my type."
"I'm not hitting on you, you know. Even if I were, it wouldn't matter."
She spoke while laughing annoyingly, and Lee Shin Woo became short-tempered. He had accepted that he was an undead now, but he needed more time before he accepted his impotence!
Even so, the woman, the storekeeper, giggled.
"Ah yes, you're right. Aw, how sad."
The storekeeper was a remarkable beauty with burning red hair. Her red, bobbed hair trailed down to bottom of her neck, and slowly shimmered and swayed as if it were actually fire.
Yes, Lee Shin Woo had seen that almost living red hair before; he had seen it just recently.
"Are you God?"
"There's no way God would be that free. Are all people with red hair gods, then?"
"Ugh..."
Indeed, she looked different from the God that Lee Shin Woo remembered. By Earth standards, God looked both eastern and western, had truly strange physical features (ears, eyes, mouth, and nose), and looked like a 10 year old girl, and a 60 year old lady at the same time, such that it was difficult to tell.
On the other hand, the woman in front of him was different. She looked energetic and in her early 20s, and had western physical features as well. Her hair was shorter, and her red eyes were different from God's (God's eyes glimmered in five different colors).
But he was sure of one thing: she was an undeniable beauty. That was her only similarity to God.
"If I were to explain... yes, think of me as a priestess. My role, given to me by God, is to supply my customers, that is, heroes, what they need in return for the proper price. I follow God's orders, so I'm a merchant and a priestess at the same time."
"If a hero needs something, you should just give it to them for free."
"Hehe."
She'd probably heard that a lot from the other heroes until now. She narrowed her eyes and explained.
"You know the term 'karma', right? Karma exists in everything in this world. When you are accomplishing a special feat, perfecting a special skill... or even killing others; you gain karma."
"Then are levels and stats a kind of karma, too?"
"It's nice that you catch on quick. You're right, They are a type of karma. And customer, by using that karma as a price, you're able to receive a different 'karma' in return. The karma I receive in return for my items is... Perium."
The explanation was long, but it just meant that achievements, skill training, and killing would allow him to raise his level and stats and that the Perium he received from killing monsters could be used to buy items.
When Lee Shin Woo heard that Perium was also a type of karma, he took out a portion of his karma from his inventory and looked at it thoroughly, but as expected, he couldn't figure anything out. It seemed as though the woman was used to it, and continued.
"Customer, you don't have the ability to process, or use it in another place yet. It will be much more helpful to you if you just buy items from me."
"... Then, one more question. You said that levels are also a type of karma, but why haven't I leveled up yet when I've killed so many monsters?"
The merchant’s smile thickened. Levels were a number that represented one's league and was also this world's standard of absolute strength. Lee Shin Woo mentioned it so casually, so she pitied him.
"I don't know what levels you're talking about, but levels in this world aren't something that can be raised that easily. You have to gather an appropriate level of karma to level up. And the most typical example of that karma are stats."
"Then to become level 2..."
"All your stats combined must become 200, solely from your body, excluding all items or temporary buffs. It's easy to understand, isn't it?"
'200? How and when am I supposed to get that much', is what he wanted to say, but when he added up all his stats, he was already at 186. That meant that he could raise his level when he raised his stats by 14 more.
"But you don't need to be in such a rush to level up. You see, what you did to get to that level is just as important as the level up itself. Whether it's by a special feat or a skill, other types of karma are important as well. Well, you'll see once you've experienced it yourself."
It seems like level ups aren't simply a change in number in this world. That means that... it might mean a job change? In any case, it would happen soon, so just like the merchant said, he'd find out for sure once he experienced it himself.
He was briefly lost in thought, and the merchant tapped the counter to snap him out of it.
"I think I've explained enough, back to the point that I should receive karma in exchange for goods. Would you like to buy something now, customer?"
"What do you sell?"
"I sell everything, aside from what I don't have. First off, potions."
"Hmm..."
He really didn't feel like he needed potions, setting aside whether a skeleton could even drink a potion or not. That's because his injuries could be healed through Bone Reinforcement.
"Next are magic books."
"Hm..."
Magic books, huh. Perhaps he might need them later, but not now. He didn't even have enough mana for the Shriek of the Dead and he could only use it once, so what would he do by learning magic?
If he hadn't learned the Shriek of the Dead, he might've thought about it, but since he already had a skill that could turn the tides of battle, it didn't really feel very appealing to him right now.
"But you won't be able to buy them right now since you don't have enough Perium. Of course, we also have equipment that you can wear."
"Equipment, huh. As I thought, I'd really like to see th..."
"Ah, and finally we have bones."
"Bones!?"
"Bones."
Lee Shin Woo, who was about to buy equipment, stopped moving and talking at once without hesitation. They sold bones? What if he was right, and they were the bones he was thinking about? He wondered why they sold such a thing and he tilted his head, while the merchant's expression remained calm.
"There are bones scattered around the Empire, so there's no way our shop wouldn't sell them. The other heroes don't have a Bone Reinforcement skill, so they would mostly sell them to me at a cheap price."
"Of course."
Since he didn't really have anything worth selling right now, this didn't mean anything to him right now, but it would change in the future. He had an inventory that could store pretty much anything now.
Lee Shin Woo decided that he'd pick up stuff he didn't immediately need in the future and nodded his head. And he told her the type of item he wanted.
"Please show me the bones."
"Hehe, I knew you'd say that customer, so I had them prepared."
He pondered between the equipment and the bones, but most of his strength came from his Bone Reinforcement skill, so he went with the bones.
He simply thought that bones were, of course, better since they'd permanently increase his abilities, rather than equipment which he would have to change eventually, but it was mostly due to his experience with Bone Reinforcement, and the variety of abilities he could gain from it.
'There's, of course, the possibility of gaining skills, but I can't deny that the original owner's memories within the bones are greatly affecting my combat abilities.'
Lee Shin Woo knew well. The reason he, who hadn't learnt any martial arts on Earth, could get this far and put up a decent fight against the Treasure Eater, was because he had indirectly gained the combat experience from absorbing the Skeleton Soldiers' bones.
The true ability of Bone Reinforcement wasn't just the increase in stats or the acquisition of skills. It was inheriting the innate experiences and memories that only others had! If he continued to gather these, it would eventually become his strength, and no one else's, that would surpass everyone.
"Oh my, customer. You have 3,420 Perium on you right now...? I honestly didn't have any expectations, but you came with quite a lot, didn't you? Let's see, a bone that you could buy with that much money... here, you can buy one of these two."
"...Huh?"
The merchant took out two pieces of bone and placed them on the counter, though he didn't know where she had taken them out from. Both of them were large, so he couldn't even guess what part they came from. One of them was slightly dyed red, and the other was dyed blue.
When he saw the two bones, Lee Shin Woo couldn't help but retort.
"...The Matrix?"
"You won't wake up from a dream just because you choose the red bone. After all, this is reality."
"No, wait. Can't I just buy a lot of bones? I want to acquire as many experiences as possible."
"You can only buy 1 bone with the money you have. Our shop doesn't sell level 1 monster bones. I won't stop you from buying bones cheaper than these two, but you'll regret it."
Ultimately, it seemed like he had no choice but to pick one of the two bones. If so, he wanted to at least get the most information possible before buying, but she firmly shook her head.
"Item information is also karma. Customer, you don't have enough Perium to get information on these bones, and buy them."
"Eeek..."
At this point, this woman didn't seem like a priestess who helped heroes under God's orders, but a scammer instead, but it didn't seem like she'd give him the information on the bones no matter what he did. If both bones cost the same, then their potential should be the same as well... if so...
"Of the two, which is more expensive?"
"The blue one's a bit more expensive. It costs 3,350 Perium."
He would only be left with 70[1] Perium once he bought it... It would be irreversible, regardless of his choice. He nodded stiffly.
"Please give me that one."
"A manly choice. Here you go."
The Perium disappeared from his inventory, without him needing to pass her the money. When he saw the blue bone replace the money in his inventory, Lee Shin Woo felt somewhat relieved. Then, the merchant clapped her hands.
"Now, it's time to part ways. If you work hard on quests, you'll probably see me again soon. I'll tell you one thing, you just made a very good decision, customer. Since the base is important."
"The base...?"
"Then, I'll see you next time."
She said grinningly, and though he was incredibly confused, she smiled beautifully and clapped her hands again. At that moment, the space surrounding Lee Shin Woo instantly broke down, and he was returned to the place he was before entering the shop.
"..."
To be honest, he was a bit disappointed. These past few days, he hadn't been able to have a proper conversation with someone else. Regardless of how similar she looked to that cheeky god, just the fact that he was able to have a conversation with her was a huge comfort to him.
Only after that thought did Lee Shin Woo realize that he was starved of human contact.
"No... Don't be negative."
The only thing that could push Lee Shin Woo forward right now was positivity. If he wasn't positive, he wouldn't be able to do anything. He shook his head so much that his neck joint creaked, and then, took the bone out of his inventory.
"Bone Reinforcement."
[Would you like to use ???'s bone to reinforce your own bones? You can reinforce your skull.]
He had a good feeling about this. It was his first time reinforcing his head, but he felt like it wasn't a part that he could reinforce very easily.
"Alright, reinforce."
He proceeded with the reinforcement without hesitation, and then, the blue bone in his hand disappeared without a trace; simultaneously, he felt a dull shock to his head.
"Ugh..."
[You have reinforced your skull. Magic has increased by 7. You have gained a portion of ???'s memories and experiences.]
[I can't understand you people. This research will lead us to ruin. - ???]
When a portion of the memories of the original owner of the bone flowed into his head, he understood the 'base' that the merchant had told him about. He didn't know about Earth, but it was the ability to wield the energy that was at the base of all existence in this world.
[You have gained the passive skill, Beginner Magic Affinity Lv1. Magic recovery rate increases.]
After Lee Shin Woo had barely overcome the migraine, he blankly raised his head and looked at the world.
He had thought there was only death in this world, but there was something that remained that still harbored life.
It was mana.
[1] T/N: Author writes 90 Perium, but that's not correct based on what he wrote earlier.
<Chapter 2. God's Secret Shop>
"If I close my eyes... ooh, oooh."
When he closed his (nonexistent) eyes, he could see it as an extremely intuitive image. It felt as though there was another eye centered on him that watched from above and scanned the entire area. And within that area, only the correct path shined brightly.
'...Shall I go?'
There wasn't much more he could gain from staying here. Lee Shin Woo made up his mind, opened his eyes, and started moving along the confirmed path.
The clearing had stagnated from silence to dead quiet, and only the sound of his moving footsteps rang out. His footsteps had gotten a lot quieter, perhaps due to the Feather Bone Boots.
'Hoo.'
The passageway was quite long. Various parts of the passageway had collapsed thanks to the Treasure Eater's rampage. In order to reach those places, Lee Shin Woo had to at times jump high, and at other times jump far. He eventually came to, in a sense, the obvious realization: the Sprint skill could be used in tandem with his jump.
'If I become proficient in my Sprint skill, then time it, no, I may become a skeleton who can run in the sky... Ah.'
As he walked through the continuing passageway, the atmosphere in the passageway changed in no time.
If it seemed as though he had been reluctantly trudging through the underground passageway, filled with nothing but rocks and sand thus far, then this current area is the first place to have a clear path.
'This is the real Empire... I can see the walls.'
There was a clear distinction between the external passageways and the genuine Underground Empire: the castle walls. According to the quest's explanation, he would have to face Skeleton Soldiers over there again.
Honestly, he didn't think he'd lose to a few Skeleton Soldiers now, but he couldn't release his tension, so long as he couldn't ascertain how many of them there were.
[Halt...]
Lee Shin Woo stopped, his bone joints rattling. There was a single, imposing platoon of skeletons atop the castle walls, aiming their bone arrows at him. Yet, their numbers were small. They soon disclosed that reason themselves.
[The monster... was it hunted...?]
"Yeah, we got it! Though, everyone else died except for me..."
Now, he could start acting at the flick of a switch. A part of the soldiers that guarded the walls were probably sent to hunt the Treasure Eater!
This all happened because Lee Shin Woo had made a huge fuss. He lauded his foresight, which he hadn't even been aware of, and continued to speak.
"Paul, please open the castle gate for me. I have to return to guard duty too."
[Wait... just a minute...]
It seemed like this quest would go smoothly. However, had he jinxed it? One of the skeletons wielding a bone bow rattled its teeth as it spoke.
[I haven't seen that... spear before...]
"The Treasure Hunter dropped it."
Lee Shin Woo, who was only focused on entering the Empire, roughly concocted a plausible story. But the soldier's response caused his (nonexistent) heart to pound.
[Then... report it to your superiors...]
"Huh?"
[I'll... report it.]
No wait, he didn't think their military discipline was this strict. Moreover, superiors? Doesn't that mean someone stronger than them will come? He felt pressed and requested.
"Hey, Paul. Wait a sec. I'll give the report myself, so open the gates first."
[The report... comes first...]
Report-then-action? Damn it! They hadn't even thought of complimenting and taking care of a comrade who had returned with great difficulty, and instead, would call their superiors when they heard the news that he had picked up a new item. You damn egotistic and ambitious skeletons!
"I said I'd be the one to report it!"
Since it came to this, there was no need to hide anymore. If that superior arrived, he'd definitely die at least once! He clicked his tongue and sprinted. The Skeleton Soldiers were startled and aimed their bone bows at him.
[Are you... revolting against the Empire?]
[Are you trying... to embezzle?]
[Is it corruption[1]...?]
"Sprint!"
He completely ignored what the skeletons were saying and jumped while using his Sprint and clung to the castle wall. Surprisingly, it was possible for him to jump close to 2m high.
Even though he was only at the tutorial level, he thought that he had already transcended humanity, and belatedly realized that he was no longer physically human.
[Attack... Subduing.]
[Subduing.]
The Skeleton Soldiers determined that he was their enemy and began to aim and shoot their arrows at him. Though he planned to get hit by a few of them, when the arrows closed in on him, his hand, holding the bone spear, moved by itself.
'Huh!?'
It happened in a split second. Right after he grasped the trajectory of the arrows with the naked eye, he instinctively swung his bone spear and parried two arrows! The arrows he couldn't block hit his shoulder, but the damage was minor.
[You have learned the passive skill, Beginner Weapon Defense Lv1.]
That wasn't all. When he thought he needed to stop the skeletons from drawing their bowstrings again, he naturally opened his mouth and shrieked.
"Kuhwaaaaaaahk!"
[You have learned the active skill, Beginner Shriek of the Dead Lv1.]
[By using the Shriek of the Dead, the enemies in the entire area have momentarily fallen into a frenzied state.]
He didn't know how he had learned Beginner Weapon Defense yet, but the source of the Shriek of the Dead was clear. It was the Treasure Eater! He had wanted to learn the Roar of Healing, but the results were contrary to his expectations.
[You bastards... just when did you infiltrate...!]
[I'll... kill you...!]
He felt momentarily dizzy since he had used the Shriek of the Dead with his low mana, but its effects were astounding. The Skeleton Soldiers treated each other as enemies and started to attack each other!
Lee Shin Woo aimed for that opportunity, exerting himself, and crawling up the wall. He felt motion sickness due to his unreasonable use of mana, but he grit his teeth and endured.
[W-What about that guy?]
"I'm right behind you."
[Ugh!?]
By the time the Skeleton Soldiers escaped the status ailment, Lee Shin Woo was already atop the castle wall!
There's no way arrows would be effective at close range. Lee Shin Woo cold-bloodedly swung the Lv2 Lord Bone Spear and broke them in a single strike. It was a quick and clean finish.
[You have hunted a Skeleton Archer.]
[You have hunted a Skeleton Archer.]
For a brief moment, the castle walls regained its silence. Lee Shin Woo grabbed and removed the arrow lodged in his shoulder and sighed. Though he had been slightly injured, he had stopped them from reporting to their sup...
"...The hell is this?"
After he had climbed atop the castle wall, he was finally able to see the scenery beyond.
Since the walls of the castle had remained intact, he had thought that the city within would look like it was from the middle ages... but there was a different sight before him, as though it were mocking his naiveté.
"Is this the demon world or something...?"
A city? Perhaps it may have been called that some time ago. However, all the buildings were weathered, decayed, entangled with weeds here and there... it was already ruined, without any proper buildings remaining.
The entrance was the only thing barely intact. When he looked further ahead, he saw plains, covered in thick grass, and a sandy desert mixed together conflictingly. If this were like a game, it was as if the developers had tried implementing both a desert map and a plains map at the same time, but the two maps had clashed and failed.
"What superiors?"
There's no way there would be any military systems left intact here. The skeletons here were just souls trapped in the past.
And those he would have to face from now on were probably the same. Even if he thought he was conversing with them, there was no actual conversation going on at all.
"Ha..."
Lee Shin Woo suddenly realized what situation he had been dumped into, sighed softly, and shrugged his shoulders.
Honestly, before he had come here, when God had told him that she wanted him to purify this place, he felt something like 'I don't really care, but if I can come back to life, I might as well.', but now he felt like he wanted to fix this place, at least to rid himself of his uneasiness.
'First, let's pick up the loot.'
He couldn't just sit thinking forever. Lee Shin Woo collected the scattered Perium atop the castle wall, as well as the Skeleton Archers' bones, bone bows, and bone arrows.
Strangely, their finger bones remained, and when he reinforced himself with them, the message was the same among them.
[You have reinforced your finger bone. Agility has increased by 1. Absorbing a portion of the Skeleton Archer's memories and experiences.]
[Why are you putting an apple on my head? ... Wait a second, fine, I'll learn archery! Jeez, I said I'll learn it! - A nameless boy]
Compared to his leg bones, which he had reinforced to the limits and which wouldn't really raise in agility, whenever he reinforced his finger bones, his agility would raise with a high probability.
[You have acquired a Lv1 Bone Short Bow.]
[You have learned Beginner Archery Lv1.]
"That's right, I had expected this too."
He searched the entire area and used all the finger bones he found to reinforce himself. As a result, even without the effects of the Feather Bone Boots, his agility had risen to 62, and his Beginner Archery rose to Lv2, even though he hadn't shot a single arrow yet.
He continued, combining (reinforcing) the less than 10 Bone Short bows into one.
[Bone Short Bow +4]
[Lv1]
[Durability: 220/220]
[Attack Power: 20 - 25]
"This ain't half-bad."
Though its attack power was incomparable to the Lv2 Bone Spear, he felt reassured, now that he had acquired a way to attack from a distance. He felt even better since there were almost 200 arrows stored in the castle walls.
[Quest complete!]
[You have acquired an inventory. You can open and close it by shouting the inventory command.]
[You have acquired a permit to access god's secret shop. You can open it by shouting the shop command.]
"Wow."
After he finished collecting the loot, climbed down the walls without much thought, and set foot in the Empire's territory, Lee Shin Woo saw messages in front of him, one after another.
He was lost in thought, so he had forgotten that he had been in the middle of a quest, so Lee Shin Woo was briefly surprised, and inwardly cheered. After all, he couldn't carry 200 arrows all at once.
"Inventory."
He muttered, and a checkered, transparent window appeared in front of him that he often saw in games. Lee Shin Woo muttered, saying it was an intuitive inventory, and when he touched the window, his hand was powerlessly sucked in. He was startled and pulled his hand out, but his hand was fine.
'Will this work?'
He grabbed a bone arrow and put it inside. The bone arrow was instantly sucked in, and an arrow icon appeared on one of the checkered boxes. The x1 sign next to it was a bonus.
"Let's see."
He shoved all his bone arrows into his inventory. The sign instantly shot up to x189. He wasn't absolutely sure yet, but he felt like he'd be able to stack the same item inside, as long as they were identical. Since the inventory, divided into checkered boxes, currently only had 10 boxes, when he realized that they could stack, he was more than a little relieved.
"Let's put the bow in... ah, money too."
When he threw the money pouch inside, the pouch disappeared somewhere, and a black coin icon appeared below the inventory, along with the amount 3,420. He honestly wanted to compliment it because of how intuitive it was.
"Good, close."
However, it didn't close. He thought perhaps it would close if he muttered 'inventory', and when he did, the inventory completely disappeared.
Lee Shin Woo suddenly had an idea and he muttered inventory in his head without saying it out loud. The inventory opened. With this, he'd be able to open and close the inventory amid battle without much difficulty.
'Then next up...'
With this, he completely understood the inventory. Lee Shin Woo took a deep breath again and muttered the command of the other reward.
"Shop."
At that moment, the surrounding area distorted. At the same time, even Lee Shin Woo's consciousness became faint. He tried opening his eyes in an attempt to get a hold of himself no matter what, then...
"Guten morgen [2], Mr. Skeleton."
He had arrived in God's secret shop.
[1] T/N: This term doesn't have a specific enough English equivalent. It's when you perform illegal activities because you need the money. Typically refers to politics.
[2] T/N: Good morning in German.
When he came to, he was no longer in the Empire, but somewhere else. It was an enclosed space, with silver walls emitting a delicate light on all four sides, and one of those sides was the 'store'. The secret shop permit gave him permission to come to this place.
"Why are you just staring at me? I'm sorry but I'm not for sale."
Lee Shin Woo tilted his head when he saw the woman behind the counter look back at him with a bewitching smile.
"... Have we met somewhere before?"
"Oh my, are you hitting on me? Unfortunately, your body's not my type."
"I'm not hitting on you, you know. Even if I were, it wouldn't matter."
She spoke while laughing annoyingly, and Lee Shin Woo became short-tempered. He had accepted that he was an undead now, but he needed more time before he accepted his impotence!
Even so, the woman, the storekeeper, giggled.
"Ah yes, you're right. Aw, how sad."
The storekeeper was a remarkable beauty with burning red hair. Her red, bobbed hair trailed down to bottom of her neck, and slowly shimmered and swayed as if it were actually fire.
Yes, Lee Shin Woo had seen that almost living red hair before; he had seen it just recently.
"Are you God?"
"There's no way God would be that free. Are all people with red hair gods, then?"
"Ugh..."
Indeed, she looked different from the God that Lee Shin Woo remembered. By Earth standards, God looked both eastern and western, had truly strange physical features (ears, eyes, mouth, and nose), and looked like a 10 year old girl, and a 60 year old lady at the same time, such that it was difficult to tell.
On the other hand, the woman in front of him was different. She looked energetic and in her early 20s, and had western physical features as well. Her hair was shorter, and her red eyes were different from God's (God's eyes glimmered in five different colors).
But he was sure of one thing: she was an undeniable beauty. That was her only similarity to God.
"If I were to explain... yes, think of me as a priestess. My role, given to me by God, is to supply my customers, that is, heroes, what they need in return for the proper price. I follow God's orders, so I'm a merchant and a priestess at the same time."
"If a hero needs something, you should just give it to them for free."
"Hehe."
She'd probably heard that a lot from the other heroes until now. She narrowed her eyes and explained.
"You know the term 'karma', right? Karma exists in everything in this world. When you are accomplishing a special feat, perfecting a special skill... or even killing others; you gain karma."
"Then are levels and stats a kind of karma, too?"
"It's nice that you catch on quick. You're right, They are a type of karma. And customer, by using that karma as a price, you're able to receive a different 'karma' in return. The karma I receive in return for my items is... Perium."
The explanation was long, but it just meant that achievements, skill training, and killing would allow him to raise his level and stats and that the Perium he received from killing monsters could be used to buy items.
When Lee Shin Woo heard that Perium was also a type of karma, he took out a portion of his karma from his inventory and looked at it thoroughly, but as expected, he couldn't figure anything out. It seemed as though the woman was used to it, and continued.
"Customer, you don't have the ability to process, or use it in another place yet. It will be much more helpful to you if you just buy items from me."
"... Then, one more question. You said that levels are also a type of karma, but why haven't I leveled up yet when I've killed so many monsters?"
The merchant’s smile thickened. Levels were a number that represented one's league and was also this world's standard of absolute strength. Lee Shin Woo mentioned it so casually, so she pitied him.
"I don't know what levels you're talking about, but levels in this world aren't something that can be raised that easily. You have to gather an appropriate level of karma to level up. And the most typical example of that karma are stats."
"Then to become level 2..."
"All your stats combined must become 200, solely from your body, excluding all items or temporary buffs. It's easy to understand, isn't it?"
'200? How and when am I supposed to get that much', is what he wanted to say, but when he added up all his stats, he was already at 186. That meant that he could raise his level when he raised his stats by 14 more.
"But you don't need to be in such a rush to level up. You see, what you did to get to that level is just as important as the level up itself. Whether it's by a special feat or a skill, other types of karma are important as well. Well, you'll see once you've experienced it yourself."
It seems like level ups aren't simply a change in number in this world. That means that... it might mean a job change? In any case, it would happen soon, so just like the merchant said, he'd find out for sure once he experienced it himself.
He was briefly lost in thought, and the merchant tapped the counter to snap him out of it.
"I think I've explained enough, back to the point that I should receive karma in exchange for goods. Would you like to buy something now, customer?"
"What do you sell?"
"I sell everything, aside from what I don't have. First off, potions."
"Hmm..."
He really didn't feel like he needed potions, setting aside whether a skeleton could even drink a potion or not. That's because his injuries could be healed through Bone Reinforcement.
"Next are magic books."
"Hm..."
Magic books, huh. Perhaps he might need them later, but not now. He didn't even have enough mana for the Shriek of the Dead and he could only use it once, so what would he do by learning magic?
If he hadn't learned the Shriek of the Dead, he might've thought about it, but since he already had a skill that could turn the tides of battle, it didn't really feel very appealing to him right now.
"But you won't be able to buy them right now since you don't have enough Perium. Of course, we also have equipment that you can wear."
"Equipment, huh. As I thought, I'd really like to see th..."
"Ah, and finally we have bones."
"Bones!?"
"Bones."
Lee Shin Woo, who was about to buy equipment, stopped moving and talking at once without hesitation. They sold bones? What if he was right, and they were the bones he was thinking about? He wondered why they sold such a thing and he tilted his head, while the merchant's expression remained calm.
"There are bones scattered around the Empire, so there's no way our shop wouldn't sell them. The other heroes don't have a Bone Reinforcement skill, so they would mostly sell them to me at a cheap price."
"Of course."
Since he didn't really have anything worth selling right now, this didn't mean anything to him right now, but it would change in the future. He had an inventory that could store pretty much anything now.
Lee Shin Woo decided that he'd pick up stuff he didn't immediately need in the future and nodded his head. And he told her the type of item he wanted.
"Please show me the bones."
"Hehe, I knew you'd say that customer, so I had them prepared."
He pondered between the equipment and the bones, but most of his strength came from his Bone Reinforcement skill, so he went with the bones.
He simply thought that bones were, of course, better since they'd permanently increase his abilities, rather than equipment which he would have to change eventually, but it was mostly due to his experience with Bone Reinforcement, and the variety of abilities he could gain from it.
'There's, of course, the possibility of gaining skills, but I can't deny that the original owner's memories within the bones are greatly affecting my combat abilities.'
Lee Shin Woo knew well. The reason he, who hadn't learnt any martial arts on Earth, could get this far and put up a decent fight against the Treasure Eater, was because he had indirectly gained the combat experience from absorbing the Skeleton Soldiers' bones.
The true ability of Bone Reinforcement wasn't just the increase in stats or the acquisition of skills. It was inheriting the innate experiences and memories that only others had! If he continued to gather these, it would eventually become his strength, and no one else's, that would surpass everyone.
"Oh my, customer. You have 3,420 Perium on you right now...? I honestly didn't have any expectations, but you came with quite a lot, didn't you? Let's see, a bone that you could buy with that much money... here, you can buy one of these two."
"...Huh?"
The merchant took out two pieces of bone and placed them on the counter, though he didn't know where she had taken them out from. Both of them were large, so he couldn't even guess what part they came from. One of them was slightly dyed red, and the other was dyed blue.
When he saw the two bones, Lee Shin Woo couldn't help but retort.
"...The Matrix?"
"You won't wake up from a dream just because you choose the red bone. After all, this is reality."
"No, wait. Can't I just buy a lot of bones? I want to acquire as many experiences as possible."
"You can only buy 1 bone with the money you have. Our shop doesn't sell level 1 monster bones. I won't stop you from buying bones cheaper than these two, but you'll regret it."
Ultimately, it seemed like he had no choice but to pick one of the two bones. If so, he wanted to at least get the most information possible before buying, but she firmly shook her head.
"Item information is also karma. Customer, you don't have enough Perium to get information on these bones, and buy them."
"Eeek..."
At this point, this woman didn't seem like a priestess who helped heroes under God's orders, but a scammer instead, but it didn't seem like she'd give him the information on the bones no matter what he did. If both bones cost the same, then their potential should be the same as well... if so...
"Of the two, which is more expensive?"
"The blue one's a bit more expensive. It costs 3,350 Perium."
He would only be left with 70[1] Perium once he bought it... It would be irreversible, regardless of his choice. He nodded stiffly.
"Please give me that one."
"A manly choice. Here you go."
The Perium disappeared from his inventory, without him needing to pass her the money. When he saw the blue bone replace the money in his inventory, Lee Shin Woo felt somewhat relieved. Then, the merchant clapped her hands.
"Now, it's time to part ways. If you work hard on quests, you'll probably see me again soon. I'll tell you one thing, you just made a very good decision, customer. Since the base is important."
"The base...?"
"Then, I'll see you next time."
She said grinningly, and though he was incredibly confused, she smiled beautifully and clapped her hands again. At that moment, the space surrounding Lee Shin Woo instantly broke down, and he was returned to the place he was before entering the shop.
"..."
To be honest, he was a bit disappointed. These past few days, he hadn't been able to have a proper conversation with someone else. Regardless of how similar she looked to that cheeky god, just the fact that he was able to have a conversation with her was a huge comfort to him.
Only after that thought did Lee Shin Woo realize that he was starved of human contact.
"No... Don't be negative."
The only thing that could push Lee Shin Woo forward right now was positivity. If he wasn't positive, he wouldn't be able to do anything. He shook his head so much that his neck joint creaked, and then, took the bone out of his inventory.
"Bone Reinforcement."
[Would you like to use ???'s bone to reinforce your own bones? You can reinforce your skull.]
He had a good feeling about this. It was his first time reinforcing his head, but he felt like it wasn't a part that he could reinforce very easily.
"Alright, reinforce."
He proceeded with the reinforcement without hesitation, and then, the blue bone in his hand disappeared without a trace; simultaneously, he felt a dull shock to his head.
"Ugh..."
[You have reinforced your skull. Magic has increased by 7. You have gained a portion of ???'s memories and experiences.]
[I can't understand you people. This research will lead us to ruin. - ???]
When a portion of the memories of the original owner of the bone flowed into his head, he understood the 'base' that the merchant had told him about. He didn't know about Earth, but it was the ability to wield the energy that was at the base of all existence in this world.
[You have gained the passive skill, Beginner Magic Affinity Lv1. Magic recovery rate increases.]
After Lee Shin Woo had barely overcome the migraine, he blankly raised his head and looked at the world.
He had thought there was only death in this world, but there was something that remained that still harbored life.
It was mana.
[1] T/N: Author writes 90 Perium, but that's not correct based on what he wrote earlier.
