I literally froze for a second as I stared at the notification.
Oh shit! Would you look at that?
Hah! So I actually get rewarded for being struck by lightning?
Finally...
FINALLY!
I can unlock the damn System Shop!
Finally, I can actually start progressing!
Thank you!
Thank you, my best friend, Thunderstorm!
Even though getting struck by lightning hurt like hell, those 20 Points were more than worth it.
I was so happy that, if the storm wanted to blast me another hundred times in exchange for another 20 Points, I would probably still take the deal.
Unfortunately, before I could celebrate too much or figure out how to spend my newfound fortune, another problem demanded my immediate attention.
There was now a giant hole in my roof.
Rainwater poured through the opening nonstop, splashing onto the stone floor below and slowly forming puddles throughout my castle.
Urgh...
I groaned inwardly as I watched the horrifying scene.
Well, on the bright side, I don’t have any furniture in the first place, so this doesn’t actually cause any damage to me...
Still, having rainwater pour directly into my interior was incredibly annoying.
I was a castle, damn it.
I was supposed to keep the rain out, not invite it inside!
More strangely, I suddenly felt an inexplicable urge to fix the damage as soon as possible.
Well, I have a Self-Repair skill, don’t I?
With that thought, I summoned my System.
"System, open."
The familiar blue screen appeared in my vision almost instantly.
After scanning through the menu for a moment, I found the skill I was looking for.
[Self-Repair Lv. 1]
"Now then... how exactly do I use this?"
At first, I tried the most obvious approach.
"Self-Repair!"
I mentally shouted the skill’s name with as much determination as I could muster.
Nothing happened.
Right...
Maybe screaming skill names like some rookie anime protagonist isn’t the correct activation method.
So instead, I focused directly on the damaged section of my roof.
I imagined the broken stones and shattered slate slowly pulling themselves back together, piece by piece, until the entire structure was restored to its original condition.
A moment later, the System responded.
[Insufficient materials! Self-Repair process failed.]
[Required Materials: 1x Stone, 1x Wood]
"Huh?"
I stared blankly at the message.
"Materials? Where the hell am I supposed to get materials now?"
Sure, there was an entire forest surrounding my castle, packed with trees and loose stones.
But there was one tiny problem.
I couldn’t move.
There was no way for me to walk outside and gather materials.
Then, suddenly, a thought flashed through my brick-filled mind.
"Wait... shouldn’t I already have materials?"
The lightning strike blasted chunks of my roof apart. Those pieces had to land somewhere nearby, right? Maybe I can recycle them back into myself somehow.
Thinking that, I quickly switched to my external vision and scanned the courtyard through the pouring rain.
But strangely enough... I couldn’t find a single piece of debris.
"Huh? Where did everything go?"
Now thoroughly confused, I suddenly remembered the window I had destroyed several days ago during my brief and tragic drumming career.
That window... It should still be there... right?
But to my horror, the result was exactly the same.
Nothing.
The broken window pieces had completely vanished. Not even a tiny splinter remained.
A cold realization slowly settled over me.
Wait a fucking minute...
*So let me get this straight. *If parts of me break off... they just disappear? Completely erased like they never existed in the first place?
Then...* how the hell am I supposed to repair myself now?!*
Sure, I could survive one storm. But what about the next one? And the one after that?
If pieces of my castle simply disappeared every time I took damage, then eventually, I would be worn down bit by bit until there was nothing left!
The thought sent my consciousness spiraling into panic.
But just as I was beginning to imagine the horrifying possibility of myself slowly crumbling into nothingness, another System message appeared.
[If insufficient materials are available, Points may be used instead.]
Oh! Right!
I still have the 20 Points I earned from the "Wrath of the Gods" achievement!
"Yeah, use the Points," I replied immediately.
However...
[Repairing damaged roof section.]
[Cost: 10 Points.]
"HUH?!"
I nearly had a mental heart attack.
"Ten?! That much just to repair one tiny section of my roof?!"
Instantly, every survival instinct I had developed from years of gaming started screaming at me. Something seemed incredibly wrong here.
No...
Absolutely not!
I knew this trap!
After all, these Castle Points felt exactly like the kind of premium currency you were supposed to hoard carefully in a gacha game.
Every gacha game started the same way. They gave you plenty of points for free, made you feel rich, and then tempted you into spending them on some completely useless shit.
Then, the moment the next limited-time banner appeared with a super-rare SSR waifu carrying completely broken skills, or some game-changing item that could completely transform your progression, you would be sitting there with an empty wallet and no resources left.
Your only option?
Swipe the credit card.
Yeah...
Years of suffering through Mihoyo games had prepared me for a moment exactly like this.
"Haha! You can’t fool me, System!"
"And besides... do I really need to repair the roof right now?"
Honestly?
Not really.
I was already soaked anyway.
At worst, some mold and mushrooms would probably start growing inside me eventually. But weirdly enough, I didn’t completely hate that idea. A tiny ecosystem forming inside my castle actually sounded kind of interesting.
At least something would finally be alive around here.
So, after thinking it over carefully, I decided to hold onto my Points for now.
"Let’s save them first. I should check what else the System can do before wasting everything on roof repairs."
"System, open shop."
Almost immediately, another notification appeared.
[Do you wish to unlock Shop Level 1?]
[Unlock Cost: 10 Points.]
"Yes!"
I answered without hesitation.
[Ding! System Shop Level 1 Unlocked.]
[Points -10]
[Remaining Points: 10]
A brand-new screen unfolded before me, glowing brightly against the darkness of the storm outside.