Damned System

Chapter 77. Laying the Foundation (2)

‘Ah, their doctrine is charity, isn’t it?’

The meaning of charity was to feel pity for others and help them.

‘So…….’

The Order of Palao was essentially a gathering place for those accustomed to giving freely.

Even though Hemar acknowledged the high cost of the black wood, he had handed it over without hesitation, his gentle face overlapping with the bright face of Rashar.

Their goodwill was certainly not a bad thing for me, yet it felt overwhelming.

‘When managing a particular group, what happens if you only spend without investing?’

It goes bankrupt. Without additional forces coming in and with only the affiliated members dying off, what would be a stagnant order indeed.

They were the perfect conditions for extinction.

‘Players dying is inevitable.’

Wishing for no casualties was arrogance.

Therefore, recruiting new members was of utmost importance.

Yet, the person responsible for leading this had set the accumulation rate of points needed for increasing personnel to just 0.1%.

‘Moreover, they even have a restriction on the number of new recruits.’

The thought that I might have chosen the wrong faction began to creep back in.

But I tried to ignore it.

‘No, it can’t be. It’s not too late yet.’

I was already part of the Order of Palao.

Unless I had 1000 achievements, which I didn’t, I couldn’t escape from here.

‘I should at least stop it from failing.’

I sighed, brushing my face, as I began to speak.

“I’m really saying this out of concern.”

“Hmm?”

Looking at Rashar, who tilted her head with an innocent expression, made me feel quite complicated.

In her mind, setting the allocation to the minimum was most likely her way of considering the players.

But in the long run, it was merely a bad move.

Hence, I couldn’t just be grateful and accept it.

“If we continue down this path, we’ll all end up bankrupt.”

Eventually, I spoke harshly.

* * *

Once my nagging was over, Rashar was left looking downcast.

Still, before we parted ways, she offered me several times,

-You belong to the Order of Palao, don’t you? I am an apostle of Palao, so providing convenience to you is also my duty.

-You have come to a foreign world without any relatives, please allow me to help you; it would make me happy.

She was inviting me to stay at her residence.

Honestly, pondering over whether to accept was strange, given the offer.

It made it easier to inquire about other orders’ information and saved me undue mana usage.

And so, I readily accepted the offer to stay.

As a result, I was shown to the guest room, which was as good as, if not superior to, a well-facilitated hotel.

It included a bed spacious enough for three adult men to lie on comfortably, along with a desk, much like a reading room.

All the other furniture had a uniformly antique charm.

Inside the sleeping quarters was a bathroom with a bathtub, along with a separate room with a dressing gown and casual clothes hanging.

Various magic tools were installed here and there, bringing it up to the convenience level of modern civilization.

The lights turned on with a mere finger gesture, and water flowed generously.

Staying at Rashar’s residence was a far better choice than going out and using my mana.

Satisfied, I unpacked the belongings I had stored in my inventory, then indulged in a refreshing bath before falling asleep.

“Hoo……”

Yet the reason I sighed as soon as I opened my eyes in the morning was quite simple.

“Umnya, um….”

It was because of the little one, Berta, who was sleeping with her tail wrapped around my neck.

-Meow! Meow!

In the wee hours, I had awoken to the sound of a cat crying, only to find Rashar carrying the kid to me.

-She woke up seeing you aren’t there, and kept crying…..

No matter how hard she tried to soothe her, her cries refused to cease.

I was inclined to shoo her off, regardless of the child’s cries.

Still, knowing I was merely a guest at this residence, I hesitated to vent my irritation.

Of course, Berta’s status also played a part in curbing my temper.

‘Seems like she’s from an esteemed family.’

Perhaps it was even possible to expand my network through this kid.

Therefore, I sang a lullaby to the child in my arms under the moonlight.

Something I had only managed for my siblings when my parents passed away, I now did for a kid I’d met less than 24 hours ago.

While I succeeded in getting her to sleep, this unexpected child-villain in my life wasn’t an easy one.

Whenever Rashar took her away, she would wake up and come right back, repeating this act multiple times.

By the second instance, she even ran to me by herself, maybe having recognized where I was.

It was as if I had some sort of honey on me; she refused to stop clinging onto me.

When I tried lying back down to sleep, it was meow meow.

When I thought she was quietly asleep, it was meow meow.

Ignoring it and trying to sleep was met with more meowing.

Due to the relentless, night-long meowing, I nearly went insane.

Ultimately, I picked her up, brought her inside when she cried her heart out at my door.

-J, just go. I’ll put her to sleep for today.

-Y, yeah……

After sending a bewildered and somewhat dazed Rashar away, I managed to get the child back to sleep, which brings us to the current situation.

I tossed and turned all night with her kicking me, hence getting no proper sleep.

Amidst this, upon waking, found myself ensnared with her tail wrapped around my neck.

Although the nap I had taken earlier prevented any bodily strain, I couldn’t help but sigh repeatedly.

“Hoo.”

As I expelled a deep sigh, I gently untangled the tail wrapped around my neck.

It was then I noticed colorful fur stuck to my clothes, making my cheeks tremble slightly.

‘I can’t tell whether I’m taking care of a child or a beast.’

Why does she keep coming to me, anyway?

Feeling utterly baffled, I set those feelings aside and rose, checking my store window.

While I slept, a message refreshed at the bottom of my line of sight.

「The item crafting is complete!」

「The item synthesis is complete!」

The messages that appeared with a few-hour gap were stimulating enough.

The first tab I pressed after opening the store window was custom crafting.

This feature was one among the restricted functionalities when the server connection had begun.

Therefore, only after the server connection had ended, was I able to experiment this and that, and it had produced results during my sleep.

「Would you like to receive the item? (Y/N)」

Upon selecting ‘Yes’, the items stacked neatly in my inventory.

All these items were crafted using the materials I had.

The edged weapons I found among the mummy-like corpses were exactly those materials.

‘They were hardly usable as they were.’

Not only were some sections chipped off but there were rusted parts as well.

In terms of usable items, only two identical daggers were in good condition.

That’s why I experimented with the malformed ones.

‘The range of applications for custom crafting.’

As a result, I found that for items existing in the shop, the cost was discounted according to the materials’ worth.

‘Firstly, the crafted item.’

The first thing I checked was the longsword.

Since my longsword had melted while capturing an evolved crocodile, I had none at the moment.

The one I made this time resembled exactly the double-edged sword sold in the shop, weighing almost twice as much compared to the tutorial-issued equipment.

Hence, its destructive power significantly enhanced as a weapon.

‘It’s feasible for use for a while.’

Alongside the sword, I had also prepared equipment to protect my arms and legs.

‘The total cost was 2,015 mana.’

If I had bought them, it would have been over 7,000 mana, yet through the custom crafting tab, I had saved on mana.

Thus, I was also utilizing the black wood received from the Order of Palao for custom crafting before going to sleep.

When I requested them to make it identical to the smallest dagger-like weapon sold in the store, each only cost 150 mana.

A total of 8.

‘Completion rate of 90 percent?’

Having set in the custom crafting last night, it seemed these would be completed quite soon.

Of course, the function of custom crafting wasn’t solely about that.

「A slightly bigger random box」

• Category: Mission reward

• Acquisition Difficulty: Special

• Description: A reward obtainable upon accomplishing a system-intervened mission. Provides an optimized reward for the player based on possibilities permitted by causality.

‘Their naming sense…….’

Despite the slightly underwhelming name, it wasn’t an item to be taken lightly.

Obtained three random boxes upon completing the main scenario mission.

Rather than a heap of trivial items, synthesizing one big one seemed more beneficial.

As seen, the result was thus successful.

While fiddling with the somewhat bigger random box, I got lost in thought.

‘Based on experience, there’s a tendency for needed items to appear.’

The item description even mentioned providing an optimized reward for the player.

Rather than opening it as soon as it was in hand, keeping it reserved to use as a last resort in a crisis seemed the strategy to go.

But indiscriminately hoarding it also wasn’t wise.

It could be a breakthrough that could expedite my growth to the next level.

‘What should I do?’

Should I use it right now? Or keep it for later?

The dilemma didn’t stretch too long. I had a clear desire at this moment.

‘An area attack.’

Ever since missing the fireball due to a barrier, the opportunity hadn’t arisen.

The mana I had absorbed from the bus operated by Rashar’s party had also been consumed investing in gear.

‘I should also not neglect collecting to ascend to the silver rank.’

Using mana certainly necessitated much consideration.

‘Even as attribute mana possesses minimum attack power.’

Viewing it as the decisive blow was still a stretch.

‘For ordinary humans, the odds are high they’d die upon being struck by lightning.’

Yet, aren’t the entities I face far from ordinary?

Hence, the result merely ended with the paralysis effect from electrocution.

As ever, I yearned for a reliable area attack skill.

‘Let’s do it.’

Resolving my hesitation, I utilized the random box.

A radiant light burst forth, and what landed in my hand was……

「Jebel Supply Model Mana Accumulation Tool」

• Category: Auxiliary Equipment – Detachable type

• Acquisition Difficulty: Rare

• Grade: ★★★★★

• Description: Allows accumulation of about 10,000 attribute mana. The storable amount varies with the nature of mana, enabling the use of accumulated attribute mana through activation words.

It was a fist-sized yellow gem.

The item description window had been updated to deliver more accurate and definite information than before.

This was a result of the updates I had requested.

Thanks to that, I immediately knew how to put this item to use.

After repeatedly confirming the term auxiliary equipment, I retrieved the armor from my inventory.

Then, I inserted the magic tool into the shoulder section of the light armor, where a beast-shaped mouth lay agape.

A soft click indicated the gem snugly fit the space.

“…….”

For a moment, I regarded the gear and magic tool with a perplexing expression.

‘It’s true I needed it, but…….’

While an extremely good item on the surface, it didn’t bring pure joy.

Something just gave me an inexplicable cool tingling feeling.

It was almost an intuition that acquiring skills from random boxes would henceforth be challenging.

After letting out a shallow sigh, I surveyed the armor that had become complete with the fitting of the mana accumulation tool.

「Jebel Elite Recon Corps Armor Set (7,343 Mana)」

• Category: Armor

• Acquisition Difficulty: Common

• Description: Equipment provided to the reconnaissance soldiers of the Kingdom of Jebel. Designed to protect vital points without hindering mobility and activity; supports detachable mana accumulation tools.

‘Acquisition difficulty…….’

The acquisition difficulty for store-sold items is all marked as ‘Common.’

In contrast, the basic acquisition difficulty of mana accumulation tools starts at ‘Rare.’

My other mana accumulation tool is also marked rare, which seems accurate.

「Ownerless Mana Accumulation Tool」

• Category: Accessory

• Acquisition Difficulty: Rare

• Grade: ★★★

• Description: A magic tool that can accumulate about 2,000 attribute mana. The storable amount varies with the nature and quality of mana, enabling usage of accumulated mana through activation words.

There was a reason why magic tools weren’t sold in the store.

‘Does that grading, those stars only appear with rare items…….’

Briefly contemplating while looking at the star symbol, I switched over to the skills tab after scanning the gear tab filled with common-grade items.

This tab too had numerous changes post server connection.