The Final Desperation

7156 accepted his rewards for his world settlement and returned to his room. It was a crazy world that he had returned from, and he was honestly exhausted from it. Who would have expected such a drastic turn of events at the end?

The fact that he had managed to survive that fight with that behemoth was something else altogether. He had no idea how common bosses of that level were, but something told him he had gotten involved in something abnormal.

7156 got up from his bed and pulled up his friend list. The column of friends was mostly empty, with only three names on it. There used to be one more, but Gladiator died in the real world. 7156 couldn't understand how a champion could be killed with all their equipment, but it served as a reminder to always be cautious.

Gladiator's death, though, didn't bother 7156. He had only added him because Champion was a fellow champion around his strength. Think of it as building connections with his peers.

Out of the three names on his list, two of them were lit up. As for the last one, it was dim, indicating she was not in EverRealm at the moment. He opened the recent message from Logan, a trustworthy friend, and reliable business partner.

"Glad to see you survived."

"Of course."

Almost instantly, he got a reply. Not much of a surprise since EverRealm made the quality of life very convenient when it didn't involve survival abilities.

"How's your harvest?"

7156 smiled and sent pictures of his loot.

"I will leave this to you."

For context, 7156 had an agreement with Logan where Logan would help him find buyers in return for a small cut. Think of it as creating his own quest for some coins. 7156 was quite impressed when he heard the details of this, but he didn't seek to recreate it. Doing so would require connections and socialization, something 7156 sucks at.

"Not bad. You got a quasi-legendary drop. You must have raided a powerful boss."

"Quasi-legendary?"

7156 was confused by this new term. To his knowledge, there was no such rating in EverRealm.

"An item stronger than normal epics but not at the level of a legendary. Members of the realm coined this term to describe these items that are half a step above the others."

"So will it net me more money?"

"You bet!"

That's all 7156 cared about.

"By the way, I have a job from a client. Are you interested?"

Over the next few minutes, Logan explained the situation of the job to 7156.

"That sums everything up. You in?"

"What's the pay?"

"Seriously, what's with you and money?" Logan asked, exasperated with his friend's money-grubbing ways.

"But is it good?"

"Yes. The client's rich and will pay lots to get the job done."

"Then I'm in."

"So what world number will this be for you?"

"Third."

"No way! You mean to tell me you managed to get 2 rocket launchers, 1 machine gun, and a bomb in your first world?!?!"

"Yeah, and?"

"What the hell! If I didn't know how rare they are, I would think you're one of those champions."

"I am?"

"Holy shit!"

"Something wrong?"

"No. It's all good. I might be able to negotiate a better contract for you if you're okay with revealing your rank."

"Go for it."

"Cool. I will get back to you once I finalized the other members."

"Members?"

"Yes. This will be a team mission with a few others."

"I might have a good candidate then."

"☉Ô☉ You know someone? I didn't realize you had other friends with your personality."

7156 ignored the sudden jab and continued.

"I don't know his world count, but he was reliable when we teamed up."

 

---

 

"How much for the skill book?" A person approached Genji's stall and asked him.

"Give me an offer."

Genji didn't know the value of this skill, but since it came from an insane boss, he doubts it will go for cheap.

"500,000."

"Nah. Doesn't seem worth it."

When in doubt, play the experienced person. Since he has no idea, he can't appear like it, or he will make a loss. And frankly, he never trusts the people to give an actual price on the first offer. Plus, the person said the price way too casually, making Genji think he has coins to spare.

"700,000."

"Can you please stop trying to scam me? It's very annoying having to deal with this every time I try to sell something."

"What price do you have in mind then?"

"Preferably something of similar value in skill books."

Since he doesn't know, he will assume the other person knows the actual value. And judging by the price he was willing to offer, Genji knew he hit the nail on the head.

The man smiled and reached into his inventory and brought out a book.

"One master flexible knowledge book."

"It's tempting, but it's still not enough. Master level isn't that helpful for me."

"You have to realize knowledge for one person varies in value compared to another."

Knowledge? Could it be that the flexible knowledge books aren't limited to proficiencies? Genji's heart started to race at this possibility, but he needed to confirm.

"EverRealm, does the flexible knowledge book allow any subject?"

[Affirmative.]

"It still doesn't justify the price," Genji replied.

"150,000 coins on top of it," the person bid again.

"Make it 300,000, and it's yours." Genji decided to take the gamble as if the book works the way he thought it will, then he will profit massively.

Hearing this, the man gritted his teeth but make the transaction unwillingly. As he walked away, his unhappy expression changed to a happy smile, fully aware he made a profit.

"What a sucker. I can't believe I managed to get him to lower the price with just a flexible knowledge book. That's a quasi-legendary skill. It's the best stuff you can get when legendaries can only be dreamed about," the man thought to himself.

Yet while he thought this, Genji felt he was the one to make a profit.

"What an idiot he. Did he really believe a flexible knowledge book is that common? At a glance, it looks like 2.6 million coins, but what if it's used for some rare knowledge?"

Genji packed up his stall as he had sold everything. The Ogre horn had been sold to a party a while ago for 50,000. Combining that with the coins he earned when killing in the last world, he has about 400,000 coins right now.

While he can pay the debt off, Genji figures it would be more worthy to invest in himself for the upcoming world. As he was walking back to his room, he got a prompt.

[Logan has sent a friend request.]

"Logan? Who's that?" He accepted the request, curious about what the stranger wanted with him.

"I'm a friend of 7156. He recommended you for help with a job."

"A job?"

"Yes. Can we meet up somewhere to talk about the details?"

"Cafe in 97th Street?"

"Works for me."

Genji decided to indulge in the stranger as 7156 doesn't seem like the type to mess around. If he recommended him for something, Genji doesn't mind hearing him out.

When he arrived at the cafe, he sat down at a table and ordered a drink. Then he waited. A few minutes later, he got a message.

"I'm here."

Genji looked up and saw a tall muscular man in a white tank top.

"Over here."

He waved at the person.

"I'm Logan," he introduced himself when he sat down.

"Enigma. So what's this job you were talking about?"

"It's like this. I have a client that wants to hire a bunch of people to protect him in the next world, and 7156 recommended you."

"So what's the pay?" Genji asked, causing Logan to groan.

"Birds of a feather flock truly together. Why is payment the first thing both you and 7156 ask about?"

"Because if I'm being dragged into some random job, I want to know if it's worth the trouble," Genji replied.

"Makes sense. The payment is negotiable, but it's worth the trouble."

"Give me a ballpark."

"300,000 as a deposit. Depending on your performance, the payment will increase."

Genji raised his brow. That's a decent chunk of coins, but something doesn't make sense.

"And how many people are hired?"

"I don't know, but I'm settling for around 10."

"So why doesn't the person use that money to make himself stronger?"

"*sigh* It's complicated. Long story short, the guy sucks at fighting."

"Okay? Then how does he have this kind of money?"

"Like I said. It's complicated."

"Go on."

"Well, his parents are powerful champions so they don't hesitate to pamper him."

"That still doesn't answer my question. Why doesn't he use the money to strengthen himself?"

*Sigh*

"Ok, fine. I won't ask anymore. Does this happen every month?"

"No. Only every 3 months."

"Every three months? He's a servant?"

"Yes."

"Wait a moment. You said this guy has champion-ranked parents?"

"Yes."

"Then why is he still a servant?"

"Well, he's one of those special recruits in EverRealm. As this is a dangerous place, his parents used their authority to push him down to this rank to protect him. The guy's not cut out for this place. And to ensure his safety, his parents are willing to pay lots of money to keep him safe."

Genji was speechless at this situation. The guy has all the resources he needs to become strong but cripples himself like this. Just what kind of situation is this?

"It sounds good, but there's one thing I need to clarify. I don't specialize in protection. Rather, I suck at it. I have never protected anyone in my life. Instead, what I specialize in is killing. I can be the sharpest sword that removes all the threats, but if you want me to sacrifice my life for his, then I will let him go. If your client is okay with that, then I don't mind joining this team."

"Before I ask, can you tell me your capabilities? Like what's your highest proficiency and how many worlds have you been through?"

"Why do you need to know my world count?"

"You know how each world scales up in difficulty?"

Genji nodded.

"Well when you are in a team, the mission difficulty is the average between all the members. Since the client is going to be on his 5th world, we need some lower numbers to balance it because if the mission's too difficult, we won't be able to complete it."

"Is there some nasty punishment for failing a mission?"

"Nothing the client can't pay for, but that's not the problem. The problem is that once one fails too many missions, they will face a demotion. And you know what happens when someone gets demoted below servant, right?"

"EverRealm kills them."

"That's correct. And our client already has some bad records."

"I see. I have an expert level in total weapon mastery."

Genji decided to reveal his lowest combat proficiency as he doesn't trust Logan too much.

"Total weapon mastery? That's very rare."

"Is it?"

"Let me put it this way. The shop only provides specific proficiencies so having a broad version is very hard to obtain and even harder to improve. Having such a flexible skill at such a level means you can be helpful in any situation. Let me contact him first."

It seemed like this skill was enough to bypass the second question, making Genji sigh in relief. He doubts telling the truth would be a good idea considering how shocking it was and lying is not even an option. His unfamiliarity with the realm would instantly expose him.

Logan paused and stared into space. Genji assumed he was messaging the person for his opinion.

"He said he will come down to sign the contract," Logan answered.

A few minutes later, a teenager around 14 came into the cafe. He looked around until he saw Logan and walked over.

"River Stream, this is the person. He's a flexible fighter so he can help you out in any nasty situations."

"Ok, let's sign the contract."

Logan applied to EverRealm as a contract formed above the table. Logan took it and started drafting the terms of the employment. After he finished, he drew two lines for people's signatures and handed it over to Genji. Genji took it and started reading the terms. To sum everything up, Genji will be responsible for removing external threats and try his best to protect the client as long as it's not life-endangering.

In return, the client will pay a high reward at the end of the world and cover the costs of any consumables he used in the process. Everything was laid out clearly and there were no loopholes.

Genji checked for any fine prints or hidden clauses and found none. It was very professionally done. Genji picked up the pen and signed his username. Then he handed it to River Stream who took it and did the same without reading the contract.

Genji couldn't tell if he was naive or had a deep trust in Logan. Either way, Genji found out about contracts, a way to ensure agreement between two parties. Genji is confident in this because there's a clause that lists the punishment if the contract was violated.

In the case of this contract, Genji will lose his strongest piece of equipment while River Stream will be demoted. It was an outcome neither party desired, so there's a bond of trust.

 

---

 

After Genji finished his discussion with Logan and River Stream, he returned to his room and prepared to use his knowledge books. Just for experimentation, he decided to use his intermediate one first.

[Please select a topic.]

"Development of healing consumables based on the knowledge from the four books I assimilated."

Genji purposely set a complicated and specific topic to test how far he could push the rules of the item.

[Checking feasibility. Possible.]

[As you have champion-level privilege, this request is possible.]

[As EverRealm has little knowledge in this area, the derivation process will begin. Estimated time: 18 hours.]

Seeing this, Genji let out a small laugh. If that's possible, the next part should also be possible. He took out the master-level book and used it.

"Development of poisons based on my infection knowledge."

[Derivation started. Estimated time: 23 hours.]

After setting all that up, Genji decided to expand his room to make an area for his substance creation. After he paid 30,000, a new door appeared, and he started decorating. Then he ran into a problem. The equipment he needed cost too much. He could afford it, but it would cost him almost everything. That means he would not have any consumables for the upcoming world. It's a deadlock.

Genji racked his head to find a way to raise enough funds to make use of this knowledge while still having enough to buy materials for his consumables. Yes, he needed to purchase the materials for his items. At least the process was simple since he could buy directly from EverRealm.

Since he plans on making both healing items and poisons, he will need a good amount of them. Especially when he wants the good stuff. He could continue to use the healing balms, but those are pretty much unusable in the middle of combat.

What Genji is looking for is something that can recover a good amount of health in a short period of time and won't get him killed. A daunting task as most of the items on the market only satisfy two of the requirements. As for those that meet all three, they cost too much to be worth it. That's why he's trying to make his own.

And luckily, he has an idea about the last requirement. It's the injection syringes he got from the previous world. Although they are called syringes, these are high-tech containers that are very durable and useful. Just stab the needle into your body and press a button. The syringe will then stick to the body and quickly inject its contents. After that, the syringe will fall off, allowing the user to be unhindered by it.

Genji took out a steroid injection and consulted EverRealm on their production.

[It has been analyzed that this item has great potential. A sample will be required to start the production.]

Genji submitted one for analysis and waited for a prompt.

[As this item has been generated by EverRealm, the cost has increased to 2500 coins per unit.]

This was a hefty price for a vessel, but Genji brought a good amount anyway.

"I should probably get someone to make these instead of relying on EverRealm. Otherwise, I will be paying way too much when I make more medicines."

Next, Genji turned his attention back to trying to pay for a decent lab. He scrolled through the notifications until he found a potential method.

"EverRealm? I will contribute Flashstep."

[Understood. This skill will be available for purchase in higher-level shops.]

[You have been rewarded with 7 privilege tokens.]

Genji gleaned another piece of information from these prompts. It seems like there are different levels to the shops provided by EverRealm. It seems that a lot of things can be purchased as the shop levels up. As for how to do that, Genji will figure that out later. He pulled up the privileges he can buy and found his solution.

[Buy access to advanced production tools for 1 token?]

"Buy."

Genji then spent 2 more tokens to get ownership of one set of these tools. As Genji was scrolling through the long list, he saw something else that caught his eye.

[Buy access to the low-level training area for 3 tokens?]

"What's the difference between this and what I have in my room?"

[A low-level training area is designed to speed up one's training.]

An answer that's not an answer. Curious about the difference, Genji decided to make the purchase as nothing caught his eye. Okay, that's a lie. There are plenty of privileges that interested him, but they are outside his budget. So the proper wording should be: there's nothing in his price range that caught his eye.

After making the purchase, Genji felt his realm card vibrate. Taking it out, he noticed a map had been added to his view. While examining the new feature, he realized there were many grayed-out areas he couldn't access. Some parts of the map were familiar to him, places he knew, while others remained unvisited.

Upon finishing his examination, Genji's attention was drawn to one of the grayed-out areas, which was flashing yellow. Tapping on it caused the gray fog to dissipate, revealing a dojo icon labeled 'Training Hall.'

'Let's check it out,' Genji thought as he got up from his seat and walked over.

A few minutes later, Genji understood why this training area was so special. It significantly accelerated his practice. Every time Genji made a swing, he felt two other copies form and replicate the same motions. Then the clones would vanish, transferring their experiences back to him.

"If this is the low-level version, I wonder what a high-level one would be like."

Genji then cleared his mind and took this opportunity to recall the epiphany he had during his fight with Risa. He replicated those movements and worked to refine them. Through continuous practice, he gradually eliminated the flaws in his movements. Step by step, his motions inched closer to that mysterious state.

Everything became more precise and efficient. Genji's movements took on a dreamlike quality as ephemeral afterimages danced in the air. It was a peculiar dance, but only time would reveal its true value.