"Rael, do you know why I called you here?" A bald man in a fancy suit asked, leisurely holding a pistol in his right hand.
Fucking prick wants his tribute money early again, doesn't he? Rael grumbled inwardly before putting on a soft smile.
"Why? Do you want me to polish your gun or something? You know I don't swing that way."
Rael's response made the bald man furrow his nonexistent brows and aim the gun at him.
"You think this is funny?" he said in a cold tone before continuing, "Sketa Online was a major source of our income... our items, everything. And what did you do? You went ahead and lost it all!"
"Can you blame me? Did you see the item that could drop?" Rael replied, amusement flickering in his eyes as the man scooted closer, his anger practically oozing into the air.
Alright... maybe I should stop. He seems pretty cranky today.
"Carl... listen, that shit was too good to pass up," Rael stated, pulling out his phone.
"Just look at this! Ten billion Trell to the person who can get the item first? Of course I took that gamble!"
Carl looked at him as though he was some sort of idiot before patiently saying, "Did you win?"
"Well... no, but I—"
"Then shut the fuck up!" Carl slammed the gun's handle into Rael's forehead, sending blood trickling down.
Has he lost it? Rael put a hand to his forehead, wiping away the blood before it could drip into his eyes.
"I don't have insurance!"
Carl froze. "Are you serious?"
"Well... Eighty Trell wasn't something I wanted to spend haphazardly every month," Rael answered with a tilt of his head.
"You spent fifty million Trell on gambling... Do you not know your place? You're just a gun smuggler for the Yakuza. Nothing more." Carl sighed and pressed the gun against Rael's temple.
"Twenty-four hours," he said before emphasizing, "I am giving you twenty-four hours to make that money back, whatever it takes. If you fail to do so, well..."
Suddenly, Carl brought his finger onto the trigger, causing Rael to flinch.
"I will kill you and harvest your organs to make up for the loss, even if just a little bit. Do not test me," Carl finished, smacking Rael in the head with the gun again, this time lighter.
Fuck... how am I supposed to get fifty million Trell in twenty-four hours!?
Before Rael could ask for a lighter punishment, the car's door swung open, and a man in an equally fancy black suit picked Rael up and slammed him onto the ground.
Groaning in pain, Rael turned toward the car, meeting Carl's cold gaze.
"Twenty-four hours."
With those words, the bodyguard that had slammed him onto the ground a moment ago got into the car and immediately drove off.
Rael collapsed onto the cold, hard ground, looking at the night sky above.
"I am fucked..."
Just as he had begun to lose all hope, he remembered something.
He spent a total of fifty million Trell to get ten pulls.
However, he only used nine of them, saving the last one for when he was drunk to lessen his depression.
Now was as good a time as any to open it. What did he have to lose anyway? He could always get one of the other expensive items.
Standing back up, Rael immediately sprinted toward his apartment, which just so happened to be a few blocks away.
It took him only a few minutes before he dashed up the stairs to the fifth floor and entered his apartment.
Looking around, he spotted an energy drink and immediately downed it before walking up to the blue VR pod and lying down inside it.
Closing it after himself, he was greeted with the familiar sensation of his body relaxing before, finally, he grew sleepy.
Yet in the next moment, Rael opened his eyes, finding himself in the luxurious ten-thousand-Trell-a-night room, which he had to admit might have been a bit overboard.
Nonetheless, he opened his status screen.
•———•
[Status]
Name: Quarterpounder69
Race: Human
Class: Earth Evoker
Level: [209]
Experience: [27,800 / 515,506]
•—Balance: 67 Trell—•
•—Titles—•
The Unyielding (Grants +10% Defense when HP < 20%)
•—Inventory—•
Storage Space [17/50]
•—Stats—•
Health Points (HP): [16,000 / 16,000]
Mana Points (MP): [101,000 / 101,000]
Strength: 200
Agility: 200
Constitution: 400
Intelligence: 2,525
Wisdom: 1,500
Charisma: 400
•—Advanced Stats—•
Attack Power (AP): [250]
Movement Speed Increase: [100%]
Critical Hit Damage Increase: [75%]
•—Skills—•
Earth Manipulation: [Level 49 | 3,450/50,619] {Common}
Stone Wall: [Level 16 | 1,232/8,444] {Common}
Quake Strike: [Level 88 | 89,883/129,173] {Common}
Quagmire: [Level 100 | MAX] {Common -> Ready to Evolve}
•—Equipment—•
Weapon: [Larique's Earth Staff (Rare)]
Head: [Magic Lancer Latisha's Helmet (Uncommon)]
Chest: [Earthborn Royal Robe (Rare)]
Legs: [Elder Jester's Pantaloons (Uncommon)]
Gloves: [Thief's Gloves (Common)]
•—Accessories—•
Cloak: [Red Fairy Cloak (Common)]
Neck: [Night Owl Necklace (Common)]
Ring: [Flaunder's Ring of Traps (Uncommon)]
Ring: [Magic Amplifying Ring (Rare)]
Belt: [Empty]
•—Quests—•
Active Quests: 17
Tracking Quest [Troll Vengeance (Level 100) | Progress 60/250]
Total Quests Completed: 456
•———•
Pulling out a purple orb the size of a soccer ball, he took a deep breath and prepared to open it.
Fuck it. This is my last chance. If this doesn't save me, Carl's gonna carve my kidneys out tomorrow.
Then, he pressed the lone button on the purple orb.
Soon, a system interface appeared before him, rolling through the hundreds of items inside the orb.
But there was one item in particular he was looking for.
Eye of the Beast. The only thing the community knew was that it was an extremely rare, one-of-a-kind item, which the developers of Sketa Online called revolutionary.
To Rael, it was just an opportunity to make money. He didn't give a shit if it was rare or even unattainable—so long as it could pay off his debts, it was worth it.
He saw the icons of different items flashing, colors shifting.
However, there was one color in particular that flashed more than he expected.
Black.
The highest Rael had ever seen was Mythic, and it was pink in color.
Whatever that black rarity was had never been seen in any of the Sketa Online community forum posts.
Come on... black... give me the goddamn jackpot...
The gacha interface began slowing down. Black flickered a few more times before the roll stopped square on it.
Rael was speechless as miniature fireworks burst around him, followed by a loud voice from the sky.
[Congratulations! Player: Quarterpounder69 obtained the (Divine) Grade item, Eye of the Beast!]
Then came another message.
[New title unlocked!]
Heavenly Attraction: 500% increased affinity with NPCs.
Wow... How mighty generous. I'm about to die here, and they made me prettier? Well, I guess I might not be dead just yet, hehe.
He had gotten it.
The item that would make his problems go away.
Great, now I just have to...
Eye of the Beast [Divine] [Soulbound]
—Consume the eye to receive #####.
Soulbound.
Untradeable.
There were many emotions swirling in his mind, but the main one was despair.
Fifty million Trell for an item he couldn't even sell.
He immediately logged out, staring at the ceiling of the pod with a dazed look.
Before he could even mope, his phone rang. At the same time, someone began pounding on his door.
"Hey! Bastard!" Carl screamed from the other side. "Open the fuck up! Sleeping with my wife? Did you think I wasn't going to find out, huh!?"
"...Oh shit."
There was only one person Rael had slept with in the past month, and she was a beautiful blonde.
I knew that overly beautiful woman wasn't single... What a small world, huh?
He had a few guns in the closet, but fighting back would mean the Yakuza hunting him until the day he died.
But if I can somehow get something useful when I eat the eyeball...
Before Carl and his goons could break the door down, Rael jumped back into Sketa Online.
He swiftly pulled out the item and inspected it.
It was a consumable, much like all food and potions in the game.
Here goes nothing.
Rael gulped the eyeball down in one go.
Its taste was surprisingly sweet, just like candy.
In an instant, dizziness overwhelmed him. Yet this particular dizziness felt real, almost like he was in the real world.
[Eye of the Beast has been consumed!]
[Reality migration commencing!]
Reality what now?
His chest tightened as he toppled over onto the bed, his consciousness slipping away.
Am I dying? Why does it feel so... realistic...
The final message appeared.
[Role change! User → ### BOSS MONSTER]
[Possibilities: Calculating...]
Rael tried moving, but nothing worked. He was there and not there at the same time.
[Calculations complete!]
[Boss Monster Variation Possibilities: 9,554,117]
[To ensure fairness, pick a random number, which will decide your variation.]
[...]
Uh... 69? Nah, that's too stupid. How about—
[Confirmed.]
Wait, I didn't type anything!
A flash of light blinded him. When it dimmed, the only thing he could see was a massive glowing stalactite in the distance.
[Congratulations! You've chosen the Special-Type Boss Monster Variation: The Pay-to-Win Boss.]
[Bestowing Skills!]
[No Skills to Bestow! Analyzing...]
[Unique Perks Obtained!]
Premium Leveling [Special-Unique]
—The user is able to use currency to level up or raise their stats.
Premium Evolution [Special-Unique]
—The user can evolve infinitely by spending currency.
Premium Shop [Special-Unique]
—The user can spend currency to acquire any item or skill.
[Congratulations! You've become a Boss Monster!]