11
Like that, two weeks passed.
During that time, the sales stand of Thundercloud’s shop had not been filled even once.
The Awakened who had connected to the System at exactly eight every morning and hit refresh were, in every sense, falling into despair.
└ Is it real that nothing’s gone up for two whole weeks? Did Boss Thundercloud become monster food?
└ Ha...my body can’t hunt without that stuff anymore, and after catching nothing but grubs for two weeks, I feel like a grub myself.
└ I’m seriously getting withdrawal symptoms. It’s not like I could always buy it before, but now that nothing’s going up at all, even hope is gone...?
└ For real, production jobs controlling supply like this need to be searched and seized.
└ Veteran fact: a high-level player was messing around in the low-level zone, got bored, and quit. Wake up, suckers. It’s never going up again.
For two weeks, the Awakened had been boiling over.
Just then, as everyone was despairing, a notification popped up on the Buy This channel.
[Live] {Breaking News} I’ve been “chosen” by Thundercloud... First reveal of his new item!! But what is up with the price...? Shiver shiver shiver shiver!
The server screamed.
The broadcast had not even started yet, but 2,000 viewers had already poured in and were smashing the chat window apart.
└ Wow, holy shit, lol. Thundercloud survival report is real!!
└ Look at the title getting plastered with shivers. How much is he trying to rob our wallets for this time?
└ Is it cheap, or is it expensive? Someone answer, shiver shiver.
└ Look at this guy’s brain capacity; how would anyone here know, lol? Cut the headcanon.
└ Ah, I’m getting dizzy! Host, hurry up and pop out!!
Soon afterward, Buy This’s live broadcast turned on from the middle of Underground Slime Swamp, where damp, fishy air lingered near the Area 3 underground waterway.
The moment her face, flushed redder than usual, filled the screen, the viewers who had been waiting began bombarding the chat window.
“Hell...”
└ If you drag this out, I’m leaving immediately. 5, 4, 3....
└ A C Grade dagger just popped up in the auction house, and I can’t press the buy button because of this. Take responsibility, seriously.
└ 2, 1, 0.9....
└ If it’s Thundercloud’s new item, I’ll sell my underwear to buy it. I’m getting dizzy, so please hurry.
└ If today’s thumbnail is bait, I’m unsubscribing. Serious.
└ 0.8....
“...o? Wow. There are so many people...! Is this firepower real? This must all be because Thundercloud took two weeks off, right?”
A victor’s smile hung on Buy This’s lips.
She had no intention of dragging things out like usual either.
After all, so many people had already entered when the broadcast had barely begun.
“Wow... Already 4,000 people? No, viewers, I’m hurt! Usually you don’t even give me 2,000!”
└ We get it, so go resolve your hurt feelings alone later and start already.
└ Fact: 3,500 out of 4,000 came to see the boss.
└ Bullshit no.
└ Cut out the bootlicker and get to the point.
└ Wow, she talks so damn much, lol. Are we even going to see the new item today?
“Hmph. Since this is an important occasion, I’ll express my hurt feelings this much and get started in earnest, shall I? First of all, I was on the verge of getting dizzy too because Krushvalbi Potion hadn’t gone up for two weeks! Then, a few days ago, I received an email. It was from Thundercloud himself! He said he had shut himself away for two weeks to make a new product! And this is....”
She carefully took out one small container from inside her clothes as if handling a treasure.
The viewers’ eyes were fixed on the screen.
“His masterpiece!”
└ What, isn’t that the same bottle as last time’s Krushvalbi Elixir?
└ Is the boss recycling empty bottles? lol
└ The elixir bottles were dollar-store bottles in the first place, lol.
└ But there isn’t even half as much inside? Did Thundercloud switch from generous to rip-off mode?
└ Look closely. It’s not liquid; something’s rolling around in there, isn’t it?
“You have good eyes! This time, it doesn’t seem to be a potion, but a pill—or rather, jelly form!”
Ji-yun enjoyed the viewers’ reactions and drove the wedge in.
“The boss officially offered me a sponsorship for his new product. So how much is this, you ask? I doubted my ears at first too! It’s a full 100 coins!”
For a moment, the runaway chat window froze as if it were a lie. The silence lasted only an instant. Soon afterward, screams and rage poured out together like a burst dam.
└ 100 coins?? The boss got greedy as hell, lol. Did he turn dark?
└ Going from 6 coins to 100 coins crosses the line;
└ Is that profit rate real? Even Bingcoin doesn’t rise like that, lol. 6 coins to 100 coins? That’s some insane creative economy.
└ 100 coins is a month’s rent for my house. That price is crazy.
└ Even rent for prime Area 4 land doesn’t go over 3,000,000 credits, and this is 100 coins? Isn’t that seriously too much?
└ [Cookie Man] See, I told you he was a scammer! With 1,000,000 credits, you can stuff yourself with protein blocks for life and build a castle out of Dubaing Cookies, you lunatics!
└ Cut Cookie Man;
└ Please cut him.
└ That bastard exists everywhere.
└ But isn’t 100 coins seriously crossing the line?
└ Buy This sis, is the ad money sweet? You’re defending something that costs 1,000,000 credits each, lol. Let’s get a confession of conscience.
└ 100 coins is the price of a decent B Grade potion, lol. No sucker’s buying that, right?
Looking at the chat window that had become a scene of chaos, Buy This swallowed dry saliva.
However, her eyes held the “truth” inside the letter Ja-hyeon had sent, something the viewers could not see.
“Everyone! I was going to reject the advertising offer at first too. 100 coins...that’s too expensive, isn’t it? I was scared of how much you would curse me out! But after I saw the letter tucked into this package, I changed my mind. Look at this. The boss wrote it himself!”
Buy This held up a sheet of paper close to the screen.
[The true value contained within my elixir is once again hidden by the System’s incompetence and is not properly displayed. However, I believe that Buy This, an expert on Awakened items, will prove this thing’s true worth better than anyone. Please let the world know the true value of this item!]
└ Krrrrr. He just called the System “incompetent.”
└ Is his confidence arrogance, or is it skill?!
“You see that? This heartfelt sincerity, saying he trusts me as an expert! How could I refuse? Now, I’ll show you right away. First, if I reveal the options from the incompetent System, they’re like this!”
Name: Krushvalbi Elixir (True)
Type: Consumable
Effects:
– Strength and Agility increase by 20% for 4 hours.
The viewers’ reactions were still cold.
└ Is this a B Grade potion? Sure, 20% for 4 hours is a decent option. But isn’t that level of option common in B Grade? An elixir that raises 30% for 2 hours should cost around 60 coins, so what on earth does this thing believe in to charge almost double? Because it’s 4 hours instead of 2? Everyone knows this. If you think about cost-effectiveness during a hunt, you die. Even if the duration is short, a higher percentage is king.
└ The comment above is right. Of course, it probably has irreplaceable bonus options like the last elixir...but no, just how irreplaceable would they have to be to justify that price?
The mood in the comments began to worsen.
Thinking about it, it was an obvious reaction.
If they did not know the hidden options, they had no choice but to think this way.
“Everyone, calm down! I told you, didn’t I? The hidden options the boss mentioned are real!”
└ Show your cards. Ah, show them!
└ Stop beating around the bush and go already.
“Fine, I got it! Shall we find out quickly?”
The reason she had come here was to strike a slime.
For that, she had come together with a buffer she collaborated with.
As before, the buffer cast a buff on her, and her damage appeared like the System.
100. 100.
As always, her damage was 100.
As if a blade were cutting water, the slime took no real impact.
Then Buy This ate the Krushvalbi Elixir (True).
Nom, nom, nom....
“Wow...this is my first time eating it, you know? This is pretty delicious, isn’t it? It’s sweet like licorice, and it feels like the mana inside my body is instantly aligning.”
└ Don’t act up. Nothing beats Dubaing.
└ Please get lost. Vanish to the old city of Dubaing.
└ There’s even a theory that that dessert didn’t exist in Dubaing, and that it originated in Korea.
└ What a joke. Then it would’ve been called Korean Chewy Cookie or something. Why would they be crazy enough to call it Dubaing?
“Ahem! Now, now, focus! The test starts now.”
Whooo.
In truth, this was also Buy This’s first time taking the elixir, without even a trial run.
Because there had only been a few elixirs enclosed.
[Strength and Agility increase by 20% for 4 hours.]
Sure enough, the System message listed the information values raised by the elixir.
But it said nothing about the hidden effects.
Would such incredible options truly be hidden there, just as the letter said?
‘Haaah...!’
Several times more viewers than usual were watching her!
If Thundercloud was lying, this smooth-riding bus she had climbed onto would turn into a hell train bound straight for rock bottom in an instant.
‘Believe... I need to believe in him!’
Like that, Buy This lifted her sword and swung it.
According to the System, 120 should appear.
Because Strength and Agility had been increased by 20%.
But if that were the case, the previous elixir should have produced 105 instead of 109 as well.
After all, it had been a 5% increase.
The result?
138.
Chaos erupted.
└ 138? A 38% increase???
└ What is this? What is this? Why does 20% become 38%? What kind of hidden option is in there?!
But Buy This, who should have answered that, could not say anything.
“Uh...uh?”
138.
Her hands and feet trembled.
A 38% increase?
Some might wonder what was so significant about a 38-point difference in basic attack damage.
That was something said by people who did not know.
Because when a skill entered the equation, damage was multiplied from the base.
That was why the Awakened risked their lives over 1 or 2 points of basic attack damage. The higher one went among rankers, the more the difference of 1 or 2 basic attack damage could determine ranking superiority.
And yet, 138?
38%!
She swore she had never produced this level of basic attack before.
“...I-I lost sight of my role and got a little flustered! Of course, the reason this happened is because of this option!”
Like that, one line was revealed.
– Equipped item performance increases by 20% for 4 hours.
A full 20% increase to the performance of equipped items!
└ The option appeared! But isn’t a 30% performance increase common in B Grade? You can get plenty for 70 coins.
└ Look at this guy’s brain capacity; the key is combining what you’d need two potions for into one. Can’t you see the cost-effectiveness?
└ 60 coins (buff) + 70 coins (enhancement) = 130 coins, but this costs only 100 coins. Can’t you calculate?
└ Oh...now that I hear it, it really is in the cost-effective line. Is Thundercloud a god?
└ Haters, stop stirring things up. Instead of buying something mixed in halfway, it’s better to pay more and take two definite B Grade potions, lol.
└ Dumbass, do your ancestors make inventory slots for you? Do you know how precious one slot is in a hunting ground? lol.
└ For real. Saving one slot is not even fucking comparable for hunting efficiency. This is worth the money.
└ But Single-Point Explosion should be included in the options too, right? Then doesn’t that justify 100 coins?
└ It might have disappeared, though.
Reading that chat at just the right time, Buy This answered.
“Single-Point Explosion is gone!”
Before chats saying, “Then isn’t it trash?” could pour in, Buy This immediately began moving to the next step.
“I’ll say this in advance. What I’m about to swing now is a basic attack with no skill used.”
The same basic attack as just before.
It was clearly going to be a basic attack with 138 damage.
Just as it cut through the slime’s surface,
BOOM!
An explosion occurred.
It was a faint explosion.
The damage that appeared was?
276.
A full double damage!
“...Wow, this actually works?”
Buy This was dumbfounded.
It had merely been a basic attack, but suddenly, power had burst from her grip, clung to the blade, and exploded the moment something touched the impact point!
When she came back to her senses and checked, there was a flood of question marks(?) pouring in, too many to confirm!
Before answering one by one, Buy This revealed the information first.
– One explosion every 3 basic attacks (200%).
In other words, after landing three basic attacks, the next strike exploded for double damage.
“A-Ask one at a time, please, one at a time! Ah! Of course, you are probably asking one at a time, but...! Yes. It explodes on the fourth basic attack! It also seems to have a knockback effect!”
In truth, because this was Buy This’s first time using it as well, there was not much she knew.
She only knew that after landing three basic attacks, the next attack exploded for double damage.
***
[It doesn’t seem to work with three whiffs! What if I just touch it without doing my best? One moment, please...! Slash slash...? Shot. Ah, no, it doesn’t work. Does it work if I hit another monster three times and then attack afterward?]
BOOM!
[It works!]
“Oh...that works?”
There was one viewer watching Buy This’s explanation in surprise, and that was Thundercloud.
Ki Ja-hyeon himself.
Ki Ja-hyeon had made the elixir, but he had not tried using it.
The information he could see was limited, so even while watching the transformed effects of the elixir he had made, he was being surprised like this.
Buy This diligently resolved the viewers’ questions one after another, and many facts even Ki Ja-hyeon himself had not known were uncovered.
Only then did at least some in the comment window begin nodding at the expensive price.
[As I said, unfortunately, there is no Single-Point Explosion. But I heard that if you drink it together with the existing elixir, that problem is solved!]
“Hmm, that part. I’m disappointed about that too.”
As a result of compressing Krushvalbi Elixir, its base stats had improved greatly. An autospell skill that exploded for double damage after three slashes had also appeared. However, Single-Point Explosion disappeared, so the situation had unavoidably become one where the existing potion had to be taken.
The chat window went wild.
└ What is this? Bundling? You made it like this on purpose, didn’t you?!
“It wasn’t on purpose....”
└ Then you have to take both of them, don’t you? On top of that, the existing elixir lasts 2 hours, so if you want to take them together, you need two! What an evil merchant!
“I’m not evil... It couldn’t be helped!”
At this point, the atmosphere in the chat, which had been about to improve, began sinking back into the mire.
They had said it was expensive, then said it was cheap, and now their reaction was that it was appropriate, but because it was too appropriate, it was irritating and his commercial intentions were obvious.
But Ki Ja-hyeon was confident it would sell out.
Because there was final information left that could not even be compared to such things.
“Come to think of it, she really is a broadcast person, isn’t she?”
Ki Ja-hyeon had personally expected her to say that information first.
No, he had thought she would list it as information without particularly mentioning it, then explain the effects.
But apparently, Buy This had judged that option to be the core of the Elixir (True).
Even though he had not asked her to leave it out, she had smoothly left it out while explaining the item, and was now about to detonate it at the very end.
“Well, when I think about it, that information value really is the most lethal.”
That information was not an effect or anything of the sort.
But it would be more lethal than any effect.
And soon, that lethal option began flowing from Buy This’s mouth.