Chapter 79: Ways to get equipment?
He opened the status and attempted to spend his coins in the stats menu, but no matter how hard he tried, the coins didn’t decrease even in single digits.
The very first thought that crossed his mind was that maybe it wasn’t working because he didn’t have enough coins. However, he quickly dismissed this idea. He had a reason to dismiss it as well because before the evolution, no matter how many coins he invested in the stats, the coins would disappear, and the stats would increase accordingly, even if they were in just fractions.
So, the fact that his coins didn’t disappear clearly meant that he wouldn’t be able to increase his stats from this point on.
This came as shocking news, but he had prepared for this the moment the moment he had transformed into a monster.
’I guess not everything will work in my favor. Now that I can’t upgrade my stats with coins, the only way to increase them is through the bonuses I’ll receive from evolution,’ he sighed.
Speaking of evolution, he realized he didn’t have a clear picture of his current appearance. He was curious to see how he looked now since he had noticed a change in his height and wanted to get a glimpse of his new appearance.
As he started to remove his leather armor to get a clear view of his body, a thought crossed his mind.
’This whole thing feels like a game, yet the monsters don’t drop armor or weapons after they die. They should also drop equipment’ he thought trying to make a logical evaluation.
He was pretty confused by this because if he could get exp and coins from the monsters then why not some pieces of equipment as well. Without Monster Drop, he had only three ways to get the equipment and none of them were viable or efficient at the moment.
The first method was to purchase it from the Cosmic store. This would have been the best method if it weren’t for the fact that there wasn’t any high-level gear available, only common-level items were listed there.
He felt frustrated but also somewhat understood this logic. If anyone could easily purchase high-level equipment, then there wouldn’t be any challenges in the quests, and anyone could just breeze through them.
’But can’t that be countered if they just increase the high price for the equipment?’ he thought.
The second method, which is also how he obtained his current armor and spear, involved obtaining equipment from chests received after appraisal. This method relied on luck and wasn’t reliable, but it offered the possibility of getting high-level equipment so, that was one thing good about it.
But then agin you could only get one chest per quest and the level of the chest will reflect your capabilities.
The third method was to craft your own equipment. While he hadn’t personally seen this method in action, Dhruv was fairly certain that this would be the most important of the three, not just for him but the whole world.
Just like how he had a mage class before, there would likely be someone with a blacksmith or toolsmith class out there, who can make pieces of equipment with magical features. They didn’t have to search for raw material as it could easily obtained from the byproduct of hunting after all humans didn’t need monster meat for essence.
’Maybe others are even crafting their equipment this second. I need to find a way to either make or bring a blacksmith to this island; otherwise, I’ll have to rely on common gear which wouldn’t cut for the higher tiers monsters’ he thought.
With these thoughts racing through his mind, he had already set down his [Leather Tunic of Unholy Souls] and was searching for any mirror to see his own reflection.
’How am I supposed to see my own reflection here when there’s no mirror around?’ he pondered the situation. Then, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
"Who said I need a mirror to see my reflection?"
He lifted his hand and began to construct something.
First, he found a metal cuboid with dimensions matching his own only the thickness of the structure was a few centimeters. Then, he left the side facing his body empty and began to fill it with water. After filling the entire box with water, he stopped and allowed the water to become calm.
When the water calmed, he could finally see his reflection in this mirror.
"Sometimes my genius... It’s almost frightening" he said while laughing.
The moment he gazed into the mirror, he noticed an exciting change on his head. The color of his hair had shifted from a light brown to a pure white. He wasn’t entirely certain about the reason behind this change but was happy nonetheless.
Examining the overall structure of his face, he realized he still looked mostly the same as before, with some subtle changes that made him even more handsome. Moving lower, he discovered that he now had six-pack abs, and the same star tattoo was also there.
’Getting a six-pack without doing anything sure feels nice. So, I have a tattoo as well; it makes sense since I have the mark of Asteri after all. But why does the location of the tattoo vary for everybody?’ he wondered but quickly dismissed it.
His tattoo was located precisely in the middle of his chest, just above his six-pack. As he looked further down, he didn’t find any more new changes, except that his legs felt stronger than ever.
After getting a proper look he quickly picked up his leather vest and began traveling toward the trio in the hope of eating something so he could test how this essence worked. While wearing the vest another change which he didn’t notice got hidden.
When the thought of mutation comes to his mind he quickly realizes something,
"Huh! Why wasn’t there any section for the mutation on my status" To confirm his suspicions he opened the status and found out that he was right: there wasn’t such an option.
