Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 52

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Player of the Ruined World – Episode 052
Kim Suhan stared at me with a dazed expression.
He seemed to be asking if it was okay to accept.
I nodded, and Kim Suhan swallowed hard before pressing accept.
Zzzt—
Sparkling flames flickered before Kim Suhan’s eyes, and a skill book materialized from within.
Kim Suhan’s face was bewildered.
“D-Doyun hyung, what is this…?”
“Open it. Let me see what skills you can learn too.”
I stood up with a wry smile, and Kim Suhan approached my side while opening the skill book.
[Precision Shot: Increases hit rate by 50% for all weapons used by Shooters.]
-Point Cost: 200
-Active Duration: 1 minute (Cooldown: 10 minutes)
-For single shots, please say “single shot.”
-Single shots can be used even during cooldown and consume 10 points per attack.
[Multi-Hit: All Shooter attacks land twice.
-Point Cost: 20
[Headshot: Damage dealt to enemies increases by 2x.]
-Point Cost: 20
Kim Suhan stared blankly at the three skills displayed before him and looked at me.
“Hyung, which one is good?”
“Right now, Headshot or Precision Shot would be good.”
“Then… I’ll go with Precision Shot.”
“I thought you’d pick Headshot. That’s unexpected.”
“I’ve never even held a gun before. What’s the point of learning Headshot if I can’t hit anything? It’d be completely useless.”
Fair point.
Once Kim Suhan learned Precision Shot, the other Shooters watching also learned Precision Shot first.
They reasoned that learning Precision Shot first made sense in case they needed precise shooting later.
But one person.
“Elder Chulmin, you’re learning Headshot?”
Park Sangil asked with curiosity as he saw the skill book Gwak Cheolmin had chosen.
Elder Chulmin held a pistol in his hand and spoke while aiming at the dead Giant Zombie.
“I’m confident in my marksmanship.”
“Ooh.”
“Shouldn’t at least one person have a one-shot-kill skill?”
Right, it was good to have at least one person with an instant-kill skill.
“Doyun, what should I learn first?”
Park Sangha approached next, checking the System Message.
Park Sangha’s class was Maker.
“Isn’t there something called Equipment Upgrade?”
“Yeah, I have it.”
“It’s best to learn that first.”
Park Sangha learned equipment upgrades, then gathered the students who had chosen Maker and instructed them to learn equipment upgrades.
Meanwhile, Park Sanghun wore a contemplative expression and asked me a question.
“Doyun.”
“Hm?”
“This Whisper class—is this right?”
Why Whisper is Whisper.
Literally, whispers.
It’s necessary for smooth communication with party members, but the more important reason comes from now on.
“What skills can I learn right now?”
“The skill names are a bit strange.”
“What are they?”
“Seductive Breath, Hallucination, Roar. There are three of them… Is this right?”
Park Sanghun’s expression filled with mischief, then he blew air and spoke.
“Look here. Seductive Breath coming in. Whoosh~ Ahhh~”
“….”
“Is this right, dammit….”
Park Sanghun felt self-loathing at his own performance.
Seeing that, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Learn Hallucination first.”
“Hallucination first?”
“Yeah.”
“If you say ‘first’… does that mean I have to learn all of those later?”
“Right. Roar slows down nearby zombies, correct?”
“Yeah. Actually, I was torn between Roar and Hallucination.”
“If you use that, zombies within a 50-meter radius slow down, but instead, zombies further away can hear the sound and come looking.”
“Then isn’t that good? Right now we need to hunt as many zombies as possible to raise our points….”
“What if a Mutant or Giant Zombie hears the sound and comes?”
“…You have a point.”
“So learn Hallucination first. It has many uses in various situations.”
Park Sanghun checked the System Message and relayed the description written there.
“It says you can control one enemy for 30 minutes. Does this work on zombies too?”
“It works on zombies, and it’s even more effective against people. Later, if you raise the skill level, you can control more enemies.”
“It says the cooldown is 4 hours, so you can become a Necromancer every 4 hours?”
“You’re closer to a Succubus than a Necromancer.”
“A Succubus? Me?”
“Seductive Breath is a skill that makes the target feel attracted to you.”
“That’s a useless skill in combat. Why does this even exist?”
“It’s part of the game design. Whisper is actually… a female class.”
Park Sanghun’s mouth fell open in a daze at the mention that Whisper was a female character.
“So what? It’s not like you’re turning into a woman.”
“Right? I just gain the skill, nothing else?”
“What if my gender changes the more I awaken?”
“Never mind.”
Park Sanghun exhaled a sigh of relief.
Well, in a world where they create zombies, changing gender would be nothing.
Do Sohee, who had been observing the situation, raised her right hand slightly and asked.
“Um… Leader.”
“…”
“Leader?”
Do Sohee tugged gently at the hem of my clothes.
Was she calling me?
“Were you calling me?”
“Ah, would it be better to change how I address you?”
“Leader is a bit…”
“But calling you oppa seems too much of an age gap, and uncle doesn’t quite fit either…”
I’m not doing this because I want to hear her call me oppa.
It’s just that the weight of the word “leader” feels burdensome.
“Just call me mister.”
Han Hye-ri then spoke while draping an arm over Do Sohee’s shoulder.
Do Sohee looked at Han Hye-ri with a surprised expression and asked.
“Ah, mister?”
As Do Sohee became flustered, Han Hye-ri looked at me and asked.
“Didn’t you say you’re twenty-eight?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you’re a mister. So Hee is fifteen, so a thirteen-year gap makes you a mister.”
“I’d rather you call me uncle.”
In the end, Do Sohee decided to call me uncle.
Though Han Hye-ri continued calling me mister regardless.
Do Sohee looked at the System Message and asked.
“I have two skills. Which one should I choose?”
“What are the skill names?”
“Accelerated Healing and Critical Cure.”
This required some thought.
It would be best to decide based on the growth rate of the zombies…
“Let’s split them up.”
“Pardon?”
“Since we have five Healing Factors, three learn Critical Cure and two learn Accelerated Healing.”
“Ah, understood!”
Do Sohee walked among the Middle School Students, exchanging opinions on who would learn Severe Treatment and who would learn Acceleration.
Do Sohee and the healers from the 2nd and 3rd parties learned Severe Treatment, while the healer from the 4th party learned Treatment Acceleration.
The remaining one was at the Safe House, so it wouldn’t be too late to explain when we returned.
The healers who learned Severe Treatment could now even reattach severed limbs.
Meanwhile, those who learned Acceleration could complete a ten-minute treatment in just three minutes, so we needed both skills.
I gathered the Giant Zombie and the stake embedded in the ground, then called to the group.
“Everyone, look here.”
After confirming the group’s attention, I spoke loudly so everyone could hear.
“Inventory!”
Whoosh—
Sparks flew from my right hand, and a black sphere resembling a black hole materialized.
“What is that?”
Everyone’s eyes gleamed with curiosity.
I placed the stake I’d been holding into it and closed the inventory, causing Park Sangil to widen his eyes in astonishment.
“Huh?! What, what is it? Where did it go?”
“The Inventory function is now activated. Since it’s a function only we can use, please keep it secret if you meet other Survivors.”
“Can I do it too?”
“Yes. And when you want to retrieve something you’ve stored….”
I opened the Inventory again and visualized the stake in my mind.
Tap.
Then I felt the texture of the stake at my fingertips.
As I pulled, the stake shot out from the black sphere.
“Just as you saw, if you imagine the item you stored in your mind, it will appear in your hand.”
Elder Chulmin gazed at it with wonder, then burst into hearty laughter.
“Hehe, I shouldn’t use it carelessly.”
“It’s fine, anyone can use it.”
“I’m just worried I’ll forget what I put in it.”
Elder Chulmin’s joke sounded strangely melancholic.
What must it feel like to grow old…?
Park Sangil mastered the Inventory usage on his own, then called to the League Members.
“Come on! Everyone practice. Is anyone having trouble?”
“It works.”
“It does!”
“Me too!”
Teenagers really do learn quickly.
Park Sangha and Park Sanghun also grasped it immediately.
Park Sangil distributed the stakes I’d retrieved to everyone one by one, moving them into the Inventory as he spoke.
“The Inventory is done, and everyone learned their skills, right?”
“Yes!”
“Then… let’s start the settlement!”
Settlement?
Well, there’s not much to settle.
We all receive points distributed equally.
It’s essentially a time to confirm how much we’ve earned.
With great anticipation, I opened my player information with excitement.
[Player Information]
[Name: Baek Doyun]
[Age: 28]
[Occupation: Buster (Physical Enhancement)]
[Title: Battle Team Honorary Player]
[Current Stats: Health 60(+5), Strength 60(+5), Agility 30(+5), Epidermis 110, Mentality 50]
[Held Points: 11,116]
[Held Coins: 3]
[There are items you have not yet acquired.]
[Would you like to check the items?]
Text appearing at the bottom of my player information.
Items I haven’t acquired yet?
Could it be that Gaia gave me a skill book too?
That would be beneficial.
That prickly Gaia, after all that attitude, it seems she did look out for me after all.
My Health and Strength decreased to 60, and the points I had invested there came back properly.
The total of clear points, bonus points, and points earned from hunting zombies came to 11,116.
Excluding the points gained from stat refunds, I obtained a whopping 9,616 points this time.
And that was in just a single day.
Moreover, it wasn’t just me earning this much—it was everyone in our party.
‘Thanks, you idiot Gaia.’
My lips naturally curved upward.
From the start, I had no intention of raising my Strength further.
My plan was to raise Agility and Health instead.
It’s unfortunate I can’t raise Health more, but thanks to this, I now have time to comfortably increase my Mentality.
Without hesitation, I invested the acquired points into my stats.
“Raise Agility by 30, and use the remaining points to increase Mentality.”
[Consuming 3,000 points to raise Agility by 30, and consuming 8,100 points to raise Mentality by 81.]
Ding!
[Current Stats: Health 60(+5), Strength 60(+5), Agility 60(+5), Epidermis 110, Mentality 131]
[Held Points: 16]
[Held Coins: 3]
I had also considered raising Epidermis to learn a skill, but that became unnecessary.
Since I now have a skill book.
So it’s better to raise my Mentality while I have this leisure time.
“Activate Skill Book.”
[Currently, there is only one skill available to learn.]
“I know. Learn that one.”
[You have acquired the skill ‘Challenge of the Tyrant Lv.1’!]
[Challenge of the Tyrant: All status abnormalities are removed, and you become immune to status abnormalities for 1 hour.]
-Can be used twice per day.
-Challenge of the Tyrant can be used whenever the player wishes, and automatically activates if afflicted with a status abnormality.
After finishing my point allocation, I looked at my companions, and they all wore expressions of contemplation about where to invest their newly acquired points.
Yeah, that makes sense.
The League Members of the Hunting Dog Alliance were probably seeing this many points for the first time.
Ding!
In that moment, another System Message appeared alongside the familiar mechanical sound.
[The time limit for #2-1 ‘Strong Bond’ has ended.]
[Confirming the party that eliminated the most zombies within the time limit.]
[Confirming…]
I had been so focused on hunting the Giant Zombie that I completely forgot the main episode was progressing.
There’s no problem.
No survivor today killed more zombies than we did.
[Confirmation complete!]
[The League ‘Hunting Dog’ that eliminated the most zombies receives 1,000 points as clear reward!]
[All League Members of the ‘Hunting Dog’ League receive 2,000 points as victory reward!]
[Additional point reward of 2,000 points is granted!]
[Additional reward ‘Blueprint’ is provided!]
[The ‘Blueprint’ is provided to the Maker of the party.]
[If no Maker exists in the party, the above reward cannot be used.]
Watching the System Messages cascade down, I couldn’t close my gaping mouth.
The points were impressive enough, but something even better had arrived.
A Blueprint.
If my memory serves me correctly, this is…
“Doyun, what’s a Blueprint?”
Park Sangha also checked the System Message and approached my side.
I gazed at Park Sangha, letting out continuous exclamations.
“This is huge.”
“So what is it?”
“Originally, it’s an item that can only be obtained by progressing through the emergency episode of the fifth episode. It should contain modification technology.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————