I couldn't believe it.
Confusion piled rapidly on top of shock.
A wooden club cost ten points? That was literally my entire current fortune! And the bone weapons required food resources that I didn't even have access to yet!
(And wait a minute!)
(The math doesn't add up at all! If a wooden club costs 20 Wood, then how come the wooden bench in the Furniture tab only needed 10 Wood?)
A bench was clearly much bigger and more complex than a simple club. Material-wise, it made zero sense. Bigger, more substantial things should cost more resources, right? So why was the pricing completely backwards like this?
If that were truly the case, wouldn't it be smarter, and cheaper, to just buy a bench and break it down into pieces to craft multiple wooden clubs?
(And besides, I wonder… just how big is one unit of Wood, anyway?)
(I guess I'll need to actually see it once I manage to obtain some.)
I was about to launch into a full internal rant at the system for these ridiculous, inconsistent prices when I noticed something useful. I could click on any item image to view its detailed stats.
I did exactly that.
And instantly, everything clicked into place.
(Ooooh!)
(Sorry, System. I may have been too harsh on you after all!)
Because these items… they actually seemed surprisingly good!
[Wooden Club]
- Type: Weapon (Normal)
- Rarity: F
- Description: Big stick. Good smash. Good for bonk!
- Effect: +1 ATK
- Special Effect: Holder gains Skill: [Bonk!]
- Bonk: Every hit on an enemy has a chance to stun them! Higher chance if it hits the head!
[Wooden Hammer]
- Type: Weapon (Normal)
- Rarity: F
- Description: Big stone on stick. Best for smash! Or make swords.
- Effect: +1 ATK
- Special Effect: Holder gains Skill: [Crafting (F)]
- Crafting (F): While holding the hammer, the user can make simple items when interacting with crafting stations.
[Wooden Shield]
- Type: Armor (Light)
- Rarity: F
- Description: Round piece of wood. Stop stabby things.
- Effect: +1 DEF
- Special Effect: Holder gains Skill: [Piercing block (F)]
- Piercing block (F): Reduce extra 10% damage caused by piercing type attacks.
[Bone Dagger]
- Type: Weapon (Piercing)
- Rarity: F
- Description: Sharp bone on a stick. Good for stab.
- Effect: +1 ATK
- Special Effect: Holder gains Skill: [Backstab (F)]
- Backstab (F): Attacks from behind deal 20% extra damage.
****
Obviously, these weren't ordinary, everyday items.
The rarity might be total trash at F-tier, but every single one of them provided actual stat boosts and useful skills. No wonder they were priced noticeably higher than the plain furniture. The system was charging a premium for the hidden value.
To verify my new theory, I quickly went back to the Furniture tab and checked those items again. I even opened the Food tab for good measure. None of them offered any stat boosts or special effects whatsoever. They were just… normal, mundane stuff with zero combat or utility advantages.
That aside, one particular skill caught my attention: [Crafting (F)] from the wooden hammer.
So, in other words, one could learn skills simply by holding the right item?
Did that mean… if I somehow acquired a sword with a ridiculous skill like "Dragon God of Destruction Sword Art" or something equally overpowered, I could instantly use that Dragon God of Destruction Sword Art without ever needing to train, practice, or learn it beforehand?
That made my gamer instincts tingle for a moment.
I didn't know how other weapons worked in this world, but at least my weapons from the System were quite incredible! Once I upgraded the shop and gained access to better items, I might even unlock some truly broken skills. Who knew what kind of ridiculous abilities waited further down the line?
Speaking of upgrades, I noticed something else when I scrolled all the way to the bottom of the Equipment shop. A bunch of smaller text appeared in neat, unobtrusive print.
[Shop Info]
Refresh Rate: The Daily Equipment Shop will refresh daily at midnight.
Selection: Provides new randomized options based on rates determined by Shop Level.
Upgrade Benefit: Upgrading the shop will increase the amount of options available and improve the rates for better equipment.
Current Rates:
F Tier: 100%
E Tier: 0%
D Tier: 0%
C Tier: 0%
B Tier: 0%
A Tier: 0%
S Tier: 0%
SS Tier: 0%
SSS Tier: 0%
EX Tier: 0%
(Damn, there are this many tiers?)
(And the shop doesn't stay fixed? It refreshes daily with completely random options?)
(GASP! Don't tell me!)
I looked a little further down the panel, and there it was…
(Of course…)
(OF COURSE! THE BLOOD-SUCKING SYSTEM!)
[Refresh Now: 5 Points]
[Free Daily Refresh Available: 1 Refresh]
Yeah, I knew this design all too well. TOO WELL!
It locked all the potentially good options behind heavy RNG, turning the whole thing into a goddamn resource sink for anyone desperate enough to chase the best items!
Honestly, years of playing Miyoyo games had left deep scars on my soul. I'd been trapped in the endless hell of artifact grinding more times than I cared to remember. It was such an evil, predatory system, and yet so strangely addicting. You just kept rolling and rolling until you burned through a small fortune min-maxing, desperately hunting for that perfect golden crit value item or that elusive 1% increase in power!
Yet most of the time, you just ended up gearing your best DPS character with sad, useless HP and DEF artifacts that did almost nothing.
Anyway, it was good that the shop at least offered one free refresh per day!
So I used it immediately. I wanted to see exactly what kind of things got randomized.
Soon, I got my answer.
(Well, I'll be damned!)
Not only could the primary effects and stats be randomized, but the skills they came with could change too! If you got an ass skill or terrible stats on a roll, then the entire item would basically be trash!
My soul was literally trembling as I stared at some of the randomized results that popped up.
****
[Stone Axe]
- Type: Weapon (Normal)
- Rarity: F
- Description:Rock tied to stick. Heavy. Good for chopping.
- Effect: +1 DEF
- Special Effect: Holder gains Skill: [Lumberjack (F)]
- Lumberjack: Chopping wood consume 10% less stamina and 20% more efficient.
[Bone Dagger]
- Type: Weapon (Piercing)
- Rarity: F
- Description: Sharp bone on a stick. Good for stab.
- Effect: +1 SPD
- Special Effect: Holder gains Skill: [Butchering (F)]
- Butchering (F): Can harvest materials from dead creatures.
[Wooden Hammer]
- Type: Weapon (Normal)
- Rarity: F
- Description:"Big wood club. Good for… chopping?"
- Effect: +0.5 HP Regen
- Special Effect: Holder gains Skill: [Lumberjack (F)]