As more and more powder from the Dark Crystal was absorbed into the earrings, the brighter the earrings shone, until that light completely went out. There wasnât any change to its appearance and for a second there, I thought it had failed, until a message appeared.
==[The King-Emperorâs Commitment has received the power of the Dark Crystal.
The King-Emperorâs Commitment has received the Dark Crystalâs first effect and one of its seven effects will be upgraded by one tier.
The King-Emperorâs Commitment can no longer receive any more power from the Dark Crystal.]==
âIt worked!â I bet on the 1% and I struck gold, getting the exact effect I wanted. âItem Check!â
==[The King-Emperorâs Commitment (Rank 10)
The King-Emperorâs true treasure.
All Stats increased by 450 points
Increase Mana Conversion skill level by 2
Increase CRIT damage by 500%
Increase Penetration by 240 points
Increase EXP gain from monsters by 15%
âHoly shit!â Ever since I had gained the King-Emperorâs Commitment, I had always checked it whenever I could. It was just that powerful and I was so proud that I had crafted it myself. I knew what its effects were so well that I immediately noticed what had changed. Mana Conversionâs skill level was no longer increased by one, but two levels now!
âHehehe.â There was only a 1% chance it would work, and a one in seven chance that the Dark Crystal would choose Mana Conversion. I cackled to myself. There was no one around me anywayâŠ
âCheck Mana Conversion!â
==[Mana Conversionâs level has been raised from level 2 to level 3.]==
==[Mana Conversion Level 3
Convert your Mana to one of the Five Attributes.
For every successful attack, there is a 30% chance to inflict the damage effect of the chosen Attribute type.
Increase damage of all Attribute-based attacks by 15,000-75,000.
This skill has no cooldown.]==
More than anything, the ATT boost was raised by 15%. That meant that this skill was 30% stronger than anyone else using Mana Conversion. 30% wasnât a huge difference between devas who only have about 10,000-20,000 ATT, but that wasnât the case with me. 30% of my ATT was nothing to scoff at!
I broke out into a fit of laughter again, happy that the Dark Crystal had sharply increased my already high combat abilities.
I took out the Random Skill Chest. âStrike while the iron is hot, right?â I opened the chest without hesitation.
==[You have opened a Rank 9 Random Skill Chest.
You currently have 0 skill points.
You will receive a skill that requires 0 skill points.]==
I knew that. That was why I had just spent all of my remaining skill points. This was one hell of a gamble. A light shone out of the chest for a while before disappearing.
==[You have obtained the skill, Listen.]==
âHuh?â I was taken aback. What the hell was Listen?
âWhat the hell is this? Iâve still got two ears and Iâm not deaf. Why does a skill like this even exist in the first place?â There were so many good skills out there, like Muskanâs Descendant of the Destruction God, Lagusâs Psychokinesis. I knew about Phoenix Summon, Immortal, and so many more that I wouldnât have time to list them all. I didnât want one of those. Well, okay. Maybe I did. But I did at least expect something almost as good those skills.
âBut what the fuck is Listen!? Itâs not what I wanted!â I finally realized that it was stupid to gamble on 0. I had screwed up and just wasted a damn Rank 9 Random Skill Chest.
==[You may decide whether or not to learn the skill, Listen.
You will not be able to delete the skill after learning it.
Another message appeared while I was frothing with anger. âGod damn it! Check Listen!â No matter how angry I was, I needed to check what it was first.
==[Listen (1/10, (Passive)
Grants the ability to listen.
Required golden rings: 0]==
ââŠâ I stared dumbly at the skill description. I thought that maybe there was more to it, but reality was cruel.
âHa. Haha. HaâŠha.â I plopped down on the ground and stared at the message, unsure if I should really learn it or not.
Benten-jima, Hokkaido, JapanâŠ
Three people were gathered on this deserted island that sat closest to Russia from Japan. They were Wai Chung, Okamoto, and Kazunari.
Benten-jima wasnât really an island, more of a rock that sat in the northernmost part of Japanâs waters. It was only 0.005 square kilometers in area, its perimeter roughly 0.5 kilometers around and its highest point only 20 meters above sea level. Its small size was the reason Kazunari decided to meet here.
A small, deserted rock of an island was the perfect place to create a prison-like dungeon. One would think how that would work on a small, narrow space, but that didnât matter. Like all other dungeons, the ones Kazunari could create were bigger on the inside. All he needed was a secluded area that wouldnât attract too much attention.
The three men moved to the center of the island where the entrance to the created dungeon was located. Kazunari spoke as he stood in front of the entrance. âEntering the dungeon through this door is the only way you can come back out.â
âWhat do you mean?â asked Wai Chung.
âI mean exactly what I said. Lee Jiwon cannot and will not open this door on his own. When I invite Lee Jiwon to this dungeon, it wonât be to this door, which means he wonât be able to find this one door by himself,â Kazunari said, with a wicked smile on his face.
The three entered the dungeon. âAs Iâve said before, I canât create a prison. I have to put in a way out of the dungeon once itâs cleared, even if itâs not a door. For example, I can set a requirement like âclear the monstersâ or âdefeat the boss monster in set amount of timeâ or âfind a hidden message or keyâ and clear the dungeon that way. Itâs the one rule I have to follow when creating dungeons.â
Wai Chung frowned at Kazunariâs explanation. âWill it work on Lee Jiwon, and for at least a year or two at that?â
Kazunari smiled again. He knew how strong Lee Jiwon was. He knew when Lee Jiwon defeated the Blood Prince, but even he was surprised when the Predator Duke was defeated. The Duke had the highest potential of becoming the strongest out of all the Monarchs, after all. There was no way Kazunari would set a simple requirement for Lee Jiwon. If he did, he might as well hand the dungeon rewards to Lee Jiwon personally. He had to set a requirement that was practically impossible to clear.
âIâm completely aware of that problem. I didnât ask for two thousand people to incur an irreversible death penalty for no reason. It was all because of Lee Jiwon.â Kazunari continued forward while smiling, and with Wai Chung and Okamoto were right behind him. When they arrived in a small space, a message appeared before them.
==[You have arrived at the safe room.
The boss of this dungeon must be defeated in order to leave this dungeon. If the boss remains undefeated, this dungeon will remain closed to the outside world.]==
âItâs enough if weâre only going to imprison Lee Jiwon.â
âBut all he has to do is defeat the dungeon boss? Will it be enough? Lee Jiwon is able to defeat most dungeon bosses on his own.â
âI canât create a dungeon boss monster that is any stronger than that of a mid-grade dungeon. I know very well that itâs not enough to hold Lee Jiwon in this place.â
âIf you do know, then whatâŠâ Okamoto said, but Kazunari only laughed and headed for the boss room.
==[You have entered the boss room.
Defeating the boss will yield a Rank 8 Random Item Chest.
A Random Golden Ring Chest containing 100,000,000-300,000,000 golden rings will also be rewarded.]==
Wai Chung and Okamoto barely gave a glance at the new message. They already knew about it, as they were the ones who provided the dungeon rewards. They focused instead on the small, cute animal standing in the middle of the room.
==[Dungeon Mole (Invincible)
Dungeon Moles are extremely rare.
They prefer to roll around in damp earth and have quite the sweet tooth. Give one a piece of candy and it will follow you around.]==
There was nothing in the boss room, except for the small mole that was as big as a manâs palm.
It did not look anything like a boss monster, but Wai Chung and Okamoto werenât necessarily disappointed. It was very special indeed.
âI used those two thousand lives to give it the Invincible special effect. Of course, as time goes on and every time itâs attacked, itâll lose its Invincibility .â
âIs that why you said one to two years?â
âYes. If, for any reason, Lee Jiwon decides not to do anything when he realizes the mole is Invincible, the effect will last up to three years. But if we take into account his personality, I would give it at least a year, and at most two.â
Wai Chung and Okamoto finally broke out into smiles at Kazunariâs description. The dungeonâs requirement was to defeat an invincible boss. That was just impossible for anyone.
âI doubt anyone could ever bring themselves to attack something as cute as this little guy,â Kazunari said.
âKyuu?â The mole purred as if it were replying to Kazunari.
Wai Chung and Okamoto remained silent, though. They werenât sure if he was joking or being serious.
âHaâŠIâll learn it.â
==[You have learned the skill, Listen.
Skills learned from Random Chests cannot be deleted.]==
I decided to just learn the skill. Why? Because I did something stupid, and it would serve as a constant reminder to not do anything as stupid ever again.
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âI swear Iâm not going to gamble ever again!â I did manage to win with the Dark Crystal, but I was too angry to care about that right now.
Just then, I heard something off in the distance.
âGah! Iâm so pissed, damn it!â
âHuh?â I looked around me. My high Stats actually allowed me to sense the presence of people around me. I was absolutely positive there wasnât a single soul in my vicinity.
âWhatâs going on?â I couldnât tell if whoever was âtalkingâ was a man, woman, child or adult. It was more like a ghost was whispering, and was very annoyed about something.