NOVEL NEXT Chapter 24: 2 plus 2 is 4 minus 1, that’s 3 Quik Mafs – New Status and Newfound Confidence!
Alex is desperately using his recently enhanced INT to calculate the cost of learning all those skills. He muses: 500 FC to learn a base skill and 750 FC to upgrade it to level 1.
“Let’s see: 500 + 750 = 1250 x 8 = 10,000 FC for the basic skills. Wait, what? That much? And there’s more. 1500 FC and 2000 FC for [Pistol Proficiency], that makes it… 13,500. Damn.”
“And I still need to level up [Genius Conjurer] and [Annihilation Grenade]. Thankfully, I’ve already learned them, so I don’t have to pay twice like I do with those skill books. [Genius Conjurer] will use up 1500 FC and one crystal. Apparently, small crystals work for skills up to level 5. After that, I’ll need larger ones. [Annihilation Grenade] will annihilate another 1500 of my FC.”
Alex gulps, his heart nearly skipping a beat as the total amount hits him like a freight train: “17,500 FC?! That’s not just shocking, it’s ‘sell my kidney on the black market and take out a loan from a shady mob boss’ kind of shocking! I’m gonna be broke, destitute, and probably eating ramen for the next five missions!”
If you throw in the 8 skill books he just bought for 800 FC, that brings the grand total to... “18,300?! Every. Last. Coin. Gone! I’m officially bankrupt!”
With tears welling up in his eyes, Alex still decides to go through with it.
[Host could have asked me to calculate the expenditure, sparing both the tears and quite a bit of time.]
“Why didn’t you tell me beforehand then?” Alex snaps at 1337, annoyed.
[Host deserves to suffer a little.]
“...” Alex is speechless. Maybe he should be a bit nicer to 1337 in the future.
After 30 grueling minutes of learning from each skill book and upgrading all his available skills, Alex finally spends his last FC and sheds his last remaining tear.
“1337, show me my stats and highlight all the changes from last time!”
Alex Kerber: Lvl 1
HP: 80/80, MP: 80/80
STR: 7, AGI: 7, PHY: 7, SNS: 7, CHA: 7, MNA: 7, INT: 7 SPR: 7, LUK: 7
Available Stat Points: 0
Innate Skills: Genius Conjurer lvl 1, Statistical OCD lvl MAX
Free Skill Slots: 1/2, Free Basic Skill Slots: 0/8
Basic skills: Basic Close Combat Prowess lvl 1, Basic Footwork lvl 1, Basic Endurance lvl 1, Basic Long-Range Combat Prowess lvl 1, Basic Eloquence lvl 1, Basic Concentration lvl 1, Basic Meditation lvl 1, Basic Mana Control lvl 1
Passive Skills: Pistol Proficiency lvl 1
Active Skills: Annihilation Grenade lvl 1
Fantasy Coins: 0 Soul Crystals: Small x1
Current Weapons: Mr. 5’s Revolver (Deep Blue), Solid Marine Saber (Light Green), Navalia Hunting Bow (White)
Current Armor: Navalia Fur Armor (White), Navalia Fur Boots (White), Navalia Fur Gauntlets (White)
Miscellaneous Items: Navalia Wolf Jerky x14 (Gray), Navalia Arrow x66 (White)
Alex stares at his stats, and the section showing his Fantasy Coins balance fills him with deep pain and regret. But seeing all those new skills—and more importantly, feeling his enhanced body—brings a wide grin to his face. His mind feels sharper, his body stronger, and his senses more heightened than ever before. “This was worth it!” he thinks. The basic skills may not be great on their own, but they scale with his stats, and since his stats are all above average, even the basic skills are quite effective on him!
"Wait, 1337, you may have ridiculed my math skills before, but 70 HP x 1.15 from Basic Endurance’s improvement isn’t 80. Shouldn’t it be 80.5? Why did you round it down?"
[Host will most likely not survive with just 0.5 HP. Is the host interested in testing it out?]
"... it’s fine like that."
Completely broke, Alex decides to leave the Skill Hub. Though tempted to check out the Trading Hub, he chooses to leave the Fantasy Realm for now. He desperately needs sleep, and time still flows like Earth’s here. His real-life situation worries him. The last time he was headed to Mario’s for some pizza, he ended up a bloody corpse on the street. Where will I end up when I go back? I need to find out.
It should be near midnight by now.
After a brief walk back to his room in the Fantasy Realm, he pauses, glancing around once more. "Damn, this room could use some decoration... but I guess I won’t be here that long. Still, even if it’s only four weeks, and that repeats a few more times, I’m looking at months.”
He steps onto the marked platform. “1337, bring me back to Earth.”
[Acknowledged]
The world before him blurs and fades, and within seconds, Alex finds himself standing on a dark street. Not just any street, though—the same street he had walked down hundreds of times before. The street where he died not too long ago.