Chapter 40: A Dangerous Discovery
[ Once a single attribute reaches ten points, players can gain a talent. At present, talents appear randomly. Each attribute seems to have only five possible talents available. Players who reach ten points through equipment can repeatedly remove and reequip their gear to reroll talents until obtaining a satisfactory one before locking it in permanently. It is currently unclear whether this is a bug or an intended game mechanic. Players capable of doing this are advised to make their choices as soon as possible ]
[ Be careful of normally insignificant animals such as cockroaches, insects, rats, and birds. Birds especially are extremely dangerous. If you choose to explore outside, pay close attention to them. Their appearance has not changed much compared to before infection, making them very easy to mistake for ordinary birds ]
[ These are all the discoveries I have for now. Feel free to add more information. I hope everyone survives the apocalypse. ]
After confirming there were no mistakes, Joo Joowon uploaded the product onto the market.
Revealing the existence of Dead Man Treasure Chests was not a decision he made lightly.
Although it was entirely possible that many criminals and malicious people still did not know about this mechanic yet, and exposing it might instead allow them to discover this shortcut toward becoming stronger, keeping silent carried dangers as well.
If nobody knew the truth, then innocent players might still trust fellow survivors too easily and eventually suffer betrayal from behind.
Although the apocalypse currently involved game mechanics, meaning there was a possibility that situations like resource shortages and cannibalism might never happen, that was still only speculation.
What if reality eventually became even worse?
In the apocalypse, everyone needed to learn caution and vigilance.
Rather than allowing people to lose their lives while remaining ignorant and naive, it was better to expose the truth immediately so everyone could become more guarded from the beginning.
If morality was destined to collapse sooner or later anyway, and human nature inevitably rot away, then what difference did it make to shatter the illusion of peace and friendliness a little earlier?
Joo Joowon did not believe the game would allow players to develop peacefully and safely.
On the contrary, he believed the future would only grow increasingly cruel.
This judgment was not baseless imagination.
It came from years of gaming experience.
In most game worlds, disasters and chaos always escalated after players arrived, leading into one expansion after another.
Rather than continuing to believe that kindness and goodness still naturally existed everywhere, people would be better off accepting reality from the very beginning.
Furthermore, his wording remained relatively vague.
Without knowing that Dead Man Treasure Chests could potentially grant attribute points, most people probably still would not immediately begin murdering others solely for treasure chests.
At present, every player was dirt poor anyway.
Even knowing Dead Man Treasure Chests existed would not create especially strong greed when nobody possessed valuable belongings yet.
Realistically speaking, as long as the benefits were not tempting enough, most people could still maintain their moral boundaries.
Because Joo Joowon had already posted a beginner guide yesterday when the marketplace first opened, many players had remembered his name.
As a result, the moment this new guide appeared, it quickly surged onto the marketplace front page.
The moment an item was listed on the marketplace, it would immediately appear under the [Newest] section.
After that, players could search through different categories.
The homepage of each category usually displayed the hottest items, ranked according to the number of comments they received.
Items could also be filtered by price, either from lowest to highest or highest to lowest.
[ GhostRogue: Finally I have been waiting for you! Didn’t expect the guide to even have a Version 1.0. Will Ashfall release more guides later if you discover new things? ]
[ DarkNova: I’m in the front row! Claiming my spot before reading! ]
[ BotInTraining: Why do you know players drop treasure chests after dying? Did you kill someone? ]
[ SofaKing: Am I the only one noticing that Boss Ashfall already broke past ten attribute points? That’s insane. ]
[ ToxicTroll: Leveling this fast... are you sure you didn’t level up by killing players? Growing stronger by feeding on human blood? ]
Perhaps because the information revealed in this guide was far more shocking than before, the comment section this time contained significantly more conspiracy theories and suspicions.
Joo Joowon calmly skimmed through a few comments before exiting the page without taking any of it to heart.
There were certainly many people who preferred viewing the world with kindness.
At the same time, however, there were just as many people who instinctively became cautious the moment they encountered other humans.
Compared to miracles falling from the sky, most adults trusted conspiracy theories far more.
Fortunately, Joo Joowon neither planned to establish a team nor intended to maintain excessive contact with other players.
Because of that, he naturally did not care much whether other players trusted or doubted him.
All he needed was fame and attention.
Whether that reputation was positive or negative did not matter.
In fact, if other players believed he was difficult to provoke, then Joo Joowon would actually welcome that outcome.
Most people bullied the weak while fearing the strong.
If anyone assumed he was some kind hearted good person simply because he shared game guides, then they were overthinking things.
He had absolutely no intention of becoming some selfless savior.
Even the reason he posted guides in the first place was largely influenced by what the customer service had previously told him.
Without those words from the customer ervice, Joo Joowon might still have eventually posted guides, but he definitely would not have chosen to stand out as the first person doing so.
At the end of the day, the apocalypse was a paradise for ambitious people.
Certain groups and organizations would inevitably release information publicly in order to recruit members and gain favor with independent players.
Perhaps the information Joo Joowon currently knew had already been discovered by those groups long ago.
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