(Oh, come on!)
(I can accept randomized stats, but putting fucking [Lumberjack] on a hammer?!)
(How the bloody hell is someone supposed to chop wood with a fucking hammer? This makes no sense!)
I began to imagine the worst-case scenarios in vivid, horrifying detail.
Imagine rolling for a god-tier SSS Divine Sword with god-tier primary stats and insane base damage…
Only to get stuck with a completely useless skill like [Cooking (C)] or [Fishing (F)]!
Oh my god…
A cold sweat ran down my non-existent spine. I had a very bad feeling about what kind of cruel jokes the system was going to cook up for me in the future.
(Oh no… Don't tell me…)
I scrolled a little further down the panel, fearing for the worst.
And there it was.
(FUCK MY ASS!!!)
Another predatory feature of absolute evil.
[Item Reroll - Stats]
Description: Spend Points to reroll the stats of an item to another randomized set. The item Rarity will be maintained, but all stats will be randomized unless locked by using additional Points.
[Item Reroll - Item]
Description: Spend Points to reroll the item itself to another one of similar rarity and randomized stats.
…
…
(Oh yeah… it's hopeless.)
At that point, I got genuinely scared for my future. With this kind of system running the show, my wallet would never stay full, would it? It felt like I was destined to stay permanently broke no matter how hard I tried.
(Haha, and let me guess, I'll also need to spend Points if I want to lock an item in the shop too?)
I already knew the answer deep down, but I checked anyway.
As I searched through the small print, there it was! Just as I had predited!
[Item Lock]
Description: If you don't have enough Points to purchase the item right away, don't worry. You can spend Points to lock it! The item won't refresh in the next shop rotation.
I checked the costs.
Lock 1 item: 10 Points
Lock 2 items: 100 Points
Lock 3 items: 1,000 Points
…
I wasn't even surprised anymore. The system's greed had already sickened me beyond belief! It was layered, calculated, and designed to squeeze every last drop of currency out of desperate players like me.
(Well, enough for the Item Shop, I guess!)
The last thing I checked was what I'd get if I ever managed to upgrade the Item Shop to Level 2. Turns out, the benefits were straightforward but promising.
[Upgrade Item Shop]
- Level: 1 → 2
- Requirement: System Shop Level 2, Castle Core Level 1
- Upgrade Cost: 100 Points
- Unlocks: Item Combining, more options in shops, better item tiers.
And just like the Construction Shop, upgrading it would cost a painful 100 points, which felt way out of reach right now. I still didn't know any reliable way to earn more points besides random achievements, and 100 seemed like an enormous mountain to climb.
(Sigh...)
(Do I really have to get struck by lightning ten more times? Wait, does that even work? What if the "Wrath of the Gods" achievement was only for the very first strike?)
In the end, with no one living inside me yet, the Furniture Shop, Food Shop, and even the Item Shop were all pretty much useless right now. I couldn't eat the food, I had no one to sit on the benches or sleep in the straw beds, and there was nobody around to swing the hammers, axes, or daggers.
But that would all change dramatically the moment I got even a single person living inside me!
Not that I had any idea when — or how — that would actually happen…
I just hoped it wouldn't take something ridiculous like a hundred years. By then, I'd probably be covered head to toe in thick cobwebs, moss, and the heavy weight of endless existential dread.
*****
Now, only one shop remained: the Castle Core Shop. The name gave almost nothing away, so naturally, my curiosity was burning. But earlier, I had noticed that both the Construction Shop and Item Shop required a "Level 1 Castle Core" in order to upgrade. This shop had to be the critical piece of the puzzle.
(Alright, time to open the Castle Core Shop!)
The interface materialized smoothly before my mind's eye. As I looked inside, I finally found a real clue about what I truly was in this new world.
[Castle Core — Current Level: 0]
- Description: A Castle Core is the heart of your very being, where your soul resides. It is buried deep beneath the foundation of your castle to ensure protection. The higher the level and the stronger your core becomes, the stronger you will become.
- Status: Currently, due to being low-level, your castle skills and abilities are very limited. Try to level up as soon as possible!
- Warning: If the Castle Core is destroyed, you will die!
(Wow! So I'm really a magic castle that can grow and evolve! This is actually amazing!)
And not only that, now that I knew the core existed, I focused my mind and reached inward. I could feel it clearly for the first time.
My core… it was literally a small, dense ball of swirling energy buried deep within the earth beneath my foundations. If I had to guess, the diameter was tiny — perhaps the size of a tennis ball.
Still, it was pulsating steadily. It pumped some kind of mysterious, warm energy into every wall, every turret, every brick, and even the old iron torch sconces. That energy… it was powering my entire structure. It really was like a beating heart keeping me alive.
(Now then, how do I upgrade this core?)
There was a big, prominent button on the screen that simply said [Castle Core Upgrade].
I inspected it carefully.
(Oh my!)
(This is exactly what I need!)
***
[Upgrade to Level 1]
[Unlocks:]
- Skill: Generator – Generates 1 Point per day.
(Hell yeah! So I really have a reliable way to generate points now!)
(One point a day is, honestly, a tiny amount. But as a castle, I have all the time in the world! I can wait!)
Then I saw the price.
[Upgrade Cost: 100 Points]
(ONE HUNDRED FREAKING POINTS?!)
(COME ON!)
I only had 10 points right now. Without the Generator skill active, gathering the remaining 90 would take an absolute eternity! I could only rely on sporadic achievements — which was an utterly unreliable and unpredictable way to farm currency!
I was about to scream internally at the system for yet another cruel roadblock, when it came suddenly.
[DING!]
A surprise notification flashed brightly across my vision.
The upgrade button suddenly turned a tempting, metallic gold, pulsing with urgent light.
[BIG SALE! 90% OFF CASTLE CORE UPGRADE!]
[NEW COST: 10 POINTS!]
[Time Left: 5 Seconds!]
(WHAT?! FIVE SECONDS?!)
I knew for sure this was the system messing with me again. It was pure predatory design — forcing me to spend my precious remaining points before I could even think twice or weigh my options properly.
But the timer was ticking down far too quickly…
I couldn't even afford to hesitate!
(DAMN IT!)
(Alright, System, you win! Spend 10 points to upgrade my core!)
And just like that, all my remaining points were wiped out in an instant.
[Ding!]
[Purchasing Castle Core Upgrade… Success!]
[Initiating Castle Core Upgrade Process…]
Suddenly, I felt strangely sleepy.
I could sense something significant happening deep inside my core. It grew hotter, pulsing more rapidly and powerfully. Vibrations hummed through my stone foundations, gently shaking loose dust from the ceiling beams and sending faint tremors across my empty halls.
But that was all I could feel… before everything faded and I lost consciousness.