Level 1 Player (MT Novel) - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Awakening (Part 1)

– Oh! – I burst out in surprise.

My head felt fuzzy and my heart almost jumped out of my chest.

I’d heard a story recently about a man who won the lottery in a big way and died of a heart attack for the joy of it… Now I understand why it happened to him.

– Uh-oh,” I took a few deep breaths. That helped. I calmed down a little, but my heart was still pounding furiously in my chest.

Trying to calm my excitement, I said:

– Well, let’s look at the status window.

I closed my eyes and prayed that I had good characteristics and skills, and then looked at them.

[Name: Choi Hyun Seong
Level: 1
Class: None
Characteristics:
Strength – 5;
Dexterity – 3;
Endurance – 4;
Magic – 1;
Willpower – 5
Bonuses: 0
Special Skills: Trade
Active Skills: none
Passive skills: None]
– What the hell was that?! – My face twisted in indignation.

Of course, the characteristics always fell out randomly. But still!

– It had always been 10 by default! Why did I get so few?

Strength – 10, Dexterity – 10, Endurance – 10, Magic – 10, Willpower – 10.

It was the usual way of doing things. However, it could differ depending on the active and passive skills gained. Simply put, warriors could have Strength – 5, Dexterity – 5, Endurance – 30, Magic – 5, Willpower – 5.

Mages and Healers could have Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Endurance 4, Magic 20, and Willpower 20.

The total number of points was always around 50.

– That’s not fair,” I felt like I was being set up.

I realized that the value of the characteristics could be completely different. Everything depended solely on luck and the Player’s skills. So I was just catastrophically unlucky.

– What the hell was that? That’s ridiculous! What the hell did I get?! – I couldn’t take it anymore, so I started cursing. – If you add it all up, you don’t even get 40!

Previously, if a Player got a low level of characteristics, you could fill in the information in the status window, and the total would go up to 41.

When the very first Players appeared, they were awarded low characteristics. But now everything has changed. The characteristics were usually higher.

– 5, 3, 4, 1, 5…” I looked at my characteristics again.

I tried to add them up.

– How many is that? 18? – I was at a loss for words.

Yes, yes, only 18. Not even half of the standard lineup.

– Ha, and the others got twice as much? Jealous to death!

My rapidly pounding heart finally calmed down, but it was still awful. How do you start from such a low start?

– Starting characteristics are very important…

My head was splitting.

– Why did the others have a total of 50 characteristics and I only had 18?

I was 6-7 levels behind the other Players.

– Even if I moved to another level, it wouldn’t make much difference!

I had to try hard to get up to level 6-7. There are no active or passive skills at levels 1 and 2.

– Will you shut up? You’re not the only one who lives here! – I heard a noise from the next room.

Is it because I yelled too loud?

– I’m sorry. I’ll be quieter,” I apologized to my roommate, and turned toward the wall.

Again a grimace of despair twisted my face. I was no longer listening to my neighbor’s cries. All because of the characteristics and skills.

– It was bad…

The game was only fun if you had good skills and characteristics.

How could I be good at what I got?

I could have been one of the best, but no, now I have to bow down to the guilds and worry about my own skin.

It’s like in the case of Kim Hana, who surpassed any star in popularity. Right from the start she got the Mecha.

When you become a Player, you get the most standard skills upon awakening. However, Kim Hana was immediately given powerful powers and heroic skills.

Of course, each class had its own advantages.

– Yeah, getting good skills is also kind of a lottery.

Mecha enhanced the Player’s characteristics. What seemed impossible before could become doable if you had this mobile armor.

Kim Hana had been helped to level up since she was a child, and she was rapidly gaining levels and completing tasks quickly. The difference between us was enormous.

* * *

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Usually after your first awakening you become a tank, a Damager, or a Healer. Ninety-nine percent of Players became one of these. However, Kim Hana was the only one in Korea who got the Mecha. Only ten people in the entire world had such mobile armor. You have to be very lucky to get such a unique item.

Even Players with similar skills started from different positions.

“A tank doesn’t have much skill, but it can protect others with its strong shield and attack opponents.”

Skill is an important indicator that determines a Player’s direction of development.

If you are a tank, your goal is to increase your abilities and power. Because you are the main defender of the team.

Of course, it wasn’t all that simple. Some had not only the skills of a tank, but also the skills of a damager. This was due to the fact that many were afraid to fight monsters on the front lines.

Players who chose a direction of development unrelated to his original characteristics and skills were stuck at one level and were rarely able to make amends. But! These Players still got pretty good skills and characteristics in the beginning. In the past 19 years, I haven’t heard a single instance of zero abilities.

– They must have just died,” I fell into despair.

I was ready to fight if I had the skills of a tank. I had none, however. With my characteristics and skills, I couldn’t evolve. Rookies with bad characteristics can’t get into a pack, let alone guilds. To be a loner? It’s tantamount to suicide. Because even Players with normal characteristics couldn’t hunt monsters alone.

– No, no! It doesn’t have to end like this! – I was completely freaked out.

Generally speaking, the awakening is true for everyone. If you have terrible skills at first, then you will be rewarded on merit. For example, the Player with the skill “Calgal” suffered a lot at first. Later on, however, things changed. I found out that his skill, though with a big kuldown, increased his speed several times over. He became a scout in one of the biggest guilds, collecting steam locomotives, raising levels, and getting things done quickly. He became a master of his craft, a successful Player. He was also a money-grubber.

When I looked at the status window again, something struck me as odd. I read everything again carefully.

[Special Skills: Trading]
– What is this!!! A special skill?

Only Players could see their characteristics, but if they wanted to, they could be shown to others. Players would access their status window and join a pair with other Players with similar abilities. Even when joining a guild, this was a very important criterion. In addition, the common inhabitants were also aware of the status window. Some Players kept their broadcasts, and some of them even became entertainers. They were proud of their characteristics and showed them off to everyone.

– This is the first time I’ve heard of special skills. After all, there are only levels, characteristics, and normal skills. Also, they are divided into active and passive. But special skills? I haven’t met or even heard of them.

I took a look at my special skill, Trade. Still, there was something good about it.

– It wasn’t useless crap, was it?

At that moment, a new icon appeared in the window.

[Elven one-handed sword (rare)]

It was the first time I’d ever seen one of these. I read the description and immediately realized that this sword could be a good aid for the Player. Other than that, there was something else important.

“Well, well, this is a rare thing,” a spark flashed in my eyes.

This was no ordinary item. Rare items are valuable items that can only be used with the appropriate parameters, or at least with medium levels. If your level was lower, you couldn’t use such an item. And the reason was the capabilities. Rare items, unlike regular items, had extra features.

– Let’s see,” I opened the icon flashing blue, and was surprised.

This weapon had not one, but two additional characteristics:

[10% Energy Reduction]
[+10% Health Restoration].
– Wow,” I was speechless. – I was amazed. How could a weapon possibly have two powers? It suited me just fine.

Reduced energy expenditure and quick health regeneration. Tanks are obsessed with these things. Then why were the trinkets created by the Players so much worse?

“Hmm, what’s the price?” – I glanced at the screen.

[Seller: ElBroHealth]

[Price: 199,999,999 points]

– Wow, that’s not that expensive. I’ll add it to my favorites. Hmm, where do I get those glasses? And what are “glasses” anyway? – muttering to myself, I looked at the screen.

At the bottom of the store page I saw the number of my glasses. There were quite a few.

– 1, 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000… – once I knew the exact number of points, my jaw dropped. – 2… 2 billion? Really? What am I supposed to do with them now?

Sometimes the tanks advertised the weapons they created on TV. The cost of the items was usually in the neighborhood of 100 million won*. These were also rare weapons, but their performance was much worse. I liked that with this sword I could reduce my energy costs. If you compare them to each other, they are heaven and earth. Despite their similar abilities, they were different from each other. First, the cost. The price of mid-level weapons and luxury items ranged around a few million won. However, the cost of rare items exceeded that figure.

(P.p.: as of Jan. 25, 2019, the exchange rate is: 1000 won is $0.89, 100 million is about $88650).

“How much would an elven one-handed sword be worth? – I shook my head. – I think somewhere in the neighborhood of 300-400 million won*. Even if I sell it, I won’t have a problem buying an inhibitor for my father.”

(P.p.: ~$266-355k.)

[Do you want to buy a rare Elvish one-handed sword item?]
[You can always exchange or make a refund for the item you bought]
[Yes] [No]
– Should I buy it? – I was overcome by a strong desire to spend. – No, I need to restrain myself.

Gritting my teeth, I suppressed the urge to buy the sword. But I so wanted to take another look at the status window.

“Wow, something else showed up here.”

[Dwarf’s Hammer (rare)]
[Dragon Tooth (rare)]
[Spear of Light (rare) ]
[Angel’s Bow (rare) ]
[Dagger of the Dark Elves (rare) ]
[Staff of Space (rare) ]
Rare items that only Mid-level Players could wield were scattered all over the world.

“Yeah, I really don’t have anything to do.”

I glanced down the list and realized that the elven swords were of no interest to me. There were a lot of mid-level items, but I still didn’t manage to snag anything worthwhile. So I concentrated on browsing through the rare items.

“Hmm, the prices are relatively in the same range.

The most expensive item was worth 400 million, the cheapest was 200 million. But I saw something strange. One gray icon appeared among the glittering blue ones.

– Hmm, what is that? – My curiosity got the better of me.

[Dagger of the Dark Elven King (rare) blocked]
[5% chance to poison the target]
[5% chance to cause bleeding]
[5% chance to cast a curse of decay]