I Level Up With In-app Purchases

I Raise With In-app Purchases – 14

EP.14 The Saintess is a Con Artist (3)

“Where are you going?”

“Huh?”

“It seems like you’re only buying things necessary for the practical training.”

“Oh! Hehe, yes. I’ve been promoted to A-rank this time. So, I applied for practical training!”

Among the SSRs, there are characters that have been updated as new characters, and there are characters that have been SSR since the beginning of the game, right?

Shine was one of the original SSR characters.

Moreover, her performance was somewhat good, but she was overshadowed by the newly updated characters with outstanding abilities.

Nevertheless, I once put Shine in my party without much thought.

‘I just did the scenario without thinking too much, and her stats were so good that I used her.’

Her scenario had a decent level of difficulty.

But surprisingly, Shine and I had a good synergy. The scenario I played with her once was quite successful, and her stats were impressive.

‘I relied on her quite confidently, but she got overshadowed by the new characters with excellent performance.’

In the game, compared to the Saintess I met today, Shine’s appearance was too ordinary and easily forgotten.

But the Shine I saw in reality was not someone like me could mock for being ordinary.

‘The real-life upgraded pretty girls are no joke.’

And the content of the scenario I played just once back then…

‘Break through the stagnation of growth, overcome the wall of talent, or something like that?’

Shine failed to grow from B-rank to A-rank.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t achieve an A-rank record.

The family that had been patiently waiting and supporting her couldn’t hold on any longer and cut ties with Shine.

The beginning of the scenario was receiving an order to stop support from the family.

‘But if I equip her with unique equipment, a choice appears.’

Wearing unique equipment during the scenario gives a grace period on the order to stop support from the family.

During that grace period, Shine must break through to A-rank.

She thought experience was needed to grow to A-rank, so Shine applied for practical training and left for the Contaminated Zone.

Whether she wore unique equipment or not, applying for practical training was the same.

However, if she went for practical training without unique equipment, the stress would start at 50%.

‘You need to manage it well because if stress reaches 100%, you end up hospitalized in the ward.’

What happens if stress reaches 100% during a mission?

Of course, there are penalties.

‘You can’t use skills at all.’

Can a character who can only use normal attacks win a mission?

Of course not.

That’s why stress is considered one of the culprits that ruin scenarios.

“It’s going to be dangerous.”

I paused my complicated thoughts for a moment and spoke.

“Well, anyway, it’s something you have to do right after graduation. I guess you have to gain experience diligently now to avoid criticism later in real battles.”

Shine doesn’t know.

How dangerous this practical training will be for her.

‘I’m having trouble remembering.’

When entering the character scenario, the game recommends items.

If you have these items, your survival rate will increase! That’s what they say.

Even if I had an excellent memory, it would be impossible to remember all of that for each scenario.

‘But I know what is helpful.’

I stood up and went into a small warehouse.

“Uh? Where are you going? I need to pay for this.”

“Wait.”

The items displayed on the shelves in the general store were quite useful, but the real deal wasn’t there.

Even those items surprised Shine, who wondered how they ended up here.

‘These are items that are borderline, but can be sold here.’

But the real deal items I picked were products that couldn’t be sold here.

These real deal items would be useful not in an academy or training institution but at the forefront of the Contaminated Zone.

Even now, this world was under threat from contamination.

In order to reduce the 1% contamination, an apocalyptic world where hundreds of lives disappeared.

So, scrolls that helped in conquering the Contaminated Zone were exclusively distributed to the front lines.

‘With these and these, I’ll have more than enough.’

Game scrolls usually had various effects.

Who would enjoy continuously pressing a scroll with a clicking sound?

People prefer pressing it all at once to get multiple effects at once.

I also grabbed large health and mana potions and came out.

“Put that away.”

“Huh?”

“Use this.”

“What are all these?”

“you’re going for practical training. These are things that kids usually use.”

“Wow! Are there things with better performance than these?”

Without answering, I just blinked my eyebrows, so she and her friend started looking at the products together.

“All these effects are packed into one scroll?”

Shine’s friend checked the items and muttered in amazement.

“Are they good?”

Shine, not knowing how to assess the items, asked her friend if they were good or not.

“It’s impossible to distribute such things casually! I don’t know how they’re selling these in this store. Mister, is this really officially distributed?”

“Wow! I told you he’s not just an ordinary merchant.”

“These are items that can only be obtained at the forefront.”

Shine’s friend was quite smart.

“So, does that mean they’re really good?”

“That’s right. It won’t be a loss no matter how much you buy them for. We, ordinary people, can’t get these even if we want to.”

“So, are you going to buy them, or are you not going to buy them?”

“Oh! I’m buying them! I’ll definitely buy them.”

Shine, overwhelmed by her friend’s words, hastily tried to take out her wallet.

“Mister, do you have anything other than this?”

At that moment, Shine’s friend asked me if there was anything else.

“Something else?”

By the way, the friend Shine brought was one of the characters I picked.

The problem was that the character was not an SSR but an R-grade character.

I had never raised an R-grade character.

I didn’t even know what abilities this character had, just recognizing her face.

“In fact, I came along with her because I interested in the weapon you are selling.”

“Oh, I see.”

Since Shine got a weapon, her skills had improved significantly. From her friend’s perspective, it was natural to be interested.

‘Does she have a usable weapon?’

Unique equipment is something only SSR characters can have.

R-grade characters like her friend don’t have unique equipment.

“There should be a lot of weapons hanging over there.”

“Not those common weapons. I need a special weapon that suits me. Like Shine.”

Could Shine have obtained a weapon that could be easily obtained with a few pennies?

Moreover, since she was an R-grade character, there was no equipment that could be sold.

“None.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t have any.”

My harsh answer disappointed the friend, and Shine noticed her friend’s mood.

“Ah…”

“I, I mean, the equipment I use isn’t easily obtainable. Good weapons are rare. Right, Mister?”

From her expression, it seemed she wanted me to match her words.

For a moment, I wondered why, but realizing that she, too, belonged between the powerful and powerless, she spoke.

“Even among the weapons hanging there, there are many usable ones.”

Even if they were mass-produced products, these weapons were obtained through in-game purchases.

The quality was better than weapons made by most craftsmen.

So, before asking me if I had weapons, I told her to go and check the weapons being sold in the general store.

“You seem to have a good eye for things.”

“Hehe, it’s not a compliment because she’s my friend, but her family has been a well-known artisan family for quite some time. So, she has a good eye for things. Take a look. There might be something useful.”

“…Alright.”

Although my definite answer seemed to displease her, Shine didn’t reject her friend’s suggestion.

After looking around the weapons hanging in the general store for a while, she requested to see some of them in detail.

I helped her take out the equipment she wanted to see more closely.

“The quality of these weapons is all above average. It’s like… they’re exactly the same as if they were copied.”

For someone from an artisan family, her eyes for examining objects were quite sharp.

Indeed, these weapons could be considered replicas as they were exact copies.

“How can you mass-produce products of this quality? I’ve never heard of an artisan family with such technology.”

Shine’s friend looked at me as if expecting an answer.

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “I’m a merchant selling goods. Don’t ask me about anything else.”

“Isn’t there a place where these goods are created? Can’t you introduce me there?”

Introduce her to a place where goods are created?

How would I introduce a shop window?

She’s been asking for impossible things since earlier, making things difficult for people.

“Why should I do that?”

“I’ll generously compensate you for the introduction fee.”

Regardless of how much she add as an introduction fee, it’s an impossible task. It’s troublesome to refuse.

Feeling increasingly uncomfortable, I glanced at Shine, who brought her friend along.

“If you’re not buying anything, leave. Don’t disturb the business.”

By expressing it this way, the answer can only be pressed out.

Shine seemed to sense my growing discomfort and hesitantly poked her friend’s side.

“I think it might be better not to ask…”

“Just a moment. I’ll generously compensate you for the introduction fee. You won’t be disappointed.”

“Do I have to chase you out?”

“Yaya. Stop it~ Mister seems uncomfortable. Right?”

“Really, can’t you? It might not be a bad thing on your end.”

The place that created this doesn’t exist in the first place. What nonsensical words are these?

The friend probably asked for a connection with that place ultimately to obtain ‘technology.’

However, what use is it for me, a merchant for in-game purchases?

“I have nothing to say.”

Fortunately, Shine, who had been awkwardly observing the situation, subtly took her friend outside.

“Mister, sorry! I’ll come by next time! Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll bring you a gift after the training!!”

She hastily left after leaving a greeting to me.

It seemed like this wouldn’t be the last time her friend bothered people, but considering that I could provide items before the training, I thought it worked out well.

Having conversations with people who have experienced the death of someone they’ve interacted with face-to-face during mercenary life happened countless times, but it always left a dirty feeling.

‘For the sake of this world, we should avoid SSR-grade Shine dying too early.’

For now, I decided to wait for that guy to return safely.