Chapter 53: Veteran (2)

“I’m done.”

If Dohyuk did not serve him, the only profit that Dohyuk could gain from the contract with Aruga was… the catapults that he just gave up his ownership on.

“Well, I guess we have no deal then.”

“W-wait! Just wait a second…”

“What would you think if you were me?”

“…?”

Aruga frowned. He understood the question as, ‘If I were you, would you make a deal with me?’, but the wording seemed off.

“What are you talking about? What I would do if I were you?”

“I mean exactly what I said.”

Dohyuk did not consider Aruga a god. He considered him more or less just an enemy.

But..

“Since you are a god… It means you were a veteran in this game, right?”

“…?”

It was what Dohyuk had in mind since the beginning when he called Aruga out.

“Think about what you would do if you were in my shoes.”

What he was asking was a question that a god did not imagine for a human to ask.

“As you know, everybody knows me because I was famous. And to get there… the strongest one there is just counting the days until he gets a chance to kill me.”

“Hmmm..”

“And if I, if YOU, need to survive, what would you do? Where would you start?”

Aruga became serious. He began to think way back in the day when he faced the changed world all of a sudden. He thought back to the days when he was just surviving.

“…First, you’ll need to form a group.”

“Group?”

“You don’t need good ones. You are stronger than most in this world, so having not-so-powerful ones will just hinder you. Living beings admire strong ones and follow them. Even if they all are like trash, at least two out of ten will choose to follow. Then, they will be useful.”

“How would they be useful?”

Dohyuk was interested, as Aruga began explaining proudly.

“Well, they can die for you, or do suicide bombing…”

“You stupid f*ck.”

Aruga flinched at the sudden, aggressive words.

“W-what! I was just giving you good adv…”

“I forgot what sick stuff you were doing.”

Dohyuk remembered that Aruga was the type to smash his followers into a giant ball to form a weapon to do his bidding. He was, after all, a beast.

“What’s wrong with that?! My followers are proud to be used by me. That is the trust between the weak and strong. You are a fool to think…”

“Do you want me to drop the deal, Chickenhead?”

Dohyuk turned to the catapults. They were no longer Aruga’s property.

“I have nothing to lose.”

“…”

“Any other advice?”

“…Tell me your stats.”

Dohyuk opened up his status screen.

<<Ability>>

-Strength: 240(+2)(C)

-Stamina: 240(+10)(C)

-Agility: 240(+7)(C)

-Magic: 2(+8)(F)

-Endurance: 94(+11)(D)

-Charisma: 38(+11)(E)

“W-what… what is that?”

Aruga was shocked for two reasons. The first was that Dohyuk’s physical stats were too high for the current stage. The second was that the other stats were too low.

“Why have you not invested in ‘Magic’ and ‘Charisma’?”

“Are they important?”

“…”

Aruga shook.

“I…I lost to this… this…”

“I asked you a question. Are they important?”

“Of course they are!” Aruga shouted angrily.

“If you are a god… no… If you are one who stands on top of others, ‘Charisma’ is a must.”

“What difference can it make, other than becoming a bit more handsome…”

“It makes a huge difference,” Aruga claimed confidently. Other than changing physical appearance, Charisma had other uses.

“Let’s say you go up against a weak loser. It’s easier to make them fear you and they will lose the will to fight if you have a higher stats in Charisma. It also works with threats or persuasion.”

“…!”

“And, if you are competing against someone with similar power for the ownership of a certain group, it will increase the chances of the group deciding to side with you too.”

This… was a good lesson to learn.

“It also makes it easier to have your servants follow your orders.”

“Then, what about ‘Magic’?”

“I don’t think it will be of much use now, but you said your ‘kick’ skill is at proficiency level 4?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you should invest in some eventually. There will be a time where you will regret that you only invested in physical attributes.”

Dohyuk nodded. That lesson was more important than what he thought he was going to get. Aruga was, after all, the survivor of the trials in his own world.

“Then..”

Dohyuk asked, “What about Endurance?”

“You don’t need it.” He replied solemnly, “That one is least, if not at all, necessary. It just lets you withstand pain and mental distress… Pain is still pain, you just need to endure it. As for mental distress, the Magic stat can help you with that.”

“…”

“Don’t waste your coins on Endurance, and if you have some leftover coins right now, invest in Magic and Charisma.”

…

-Charisma: 174(+11)(D)

Was it because he invested in Charisma as per Aruga’s advice?

Or maybe it was because Dohyuk had shown enough force.

“I-I know the place.”

Duhoon pointed out Barkatu’s location. It was a city of Aruga’s, located nearby.

Before Aruga disappeared, he made an offer to Dohyuk.

‘Go there, and I will give you payment for the contract.’

Each city had a Godly Item that was the core of the city. According to Aruga, the city of Barkatu had a ‘book’, and the book contained a skill.

“T-then, can you let me…”

Dohyuk kicked the back of Duhoon’s neck and made him faint.

“Status.”

It was time to use his coins, so he opened the status window. He had invested all his coins into Charisma, but he now had a few coins to spare from all the digesting he did from the previous battle.

-Coins: 23503

He had already chosen what to invest in.

-Magic: 2(+8)(F)

Without thinking of how much to spend, Dohyuk just used all of the coins. He tried to see how much it increased as he finished, but what popped up was unexpected.

<<Magic has reached the required number>>

<<Unlocked Parasitic Spirit>>

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