NOVEL WEB Chapter 3: Bastard Spender
He messed up.
No, he really messed up.
He was more than aware of the magnitude of his blunder, and the realization was suffocating.
Imagine spending 9,000,000 karma points, an absolutely colossal amount on a sub-race, only to be met with a completely separate talent selection phase afterward. And to make matters worse, the best talents, the only ones worth considering from his hardcore gamer perspective, were all going for 1,000,000 karma points or more.
He barely had 900,000 left.
"Screw this," he muttered, rubbing his face with both hands. "Screw this big time."
"Fuck this!" he snapped aloud. "Shouldn't there be more options? Something that's not complete trash?!"
The words echoed in the character creation void, but no answer came.
How could he have been so reckless? Nine million karma points blown away without even considering the possibility that there might be another selection afterward. A second layer to the customization process. If he had known, if he had taken a breath to think things through, he wouldn't be standing here, practically naked, both in resources and options.
He stared helplessly at the pathetic list of talents within his price range. Body Reinforcement, Phantom Step, Blood Memory, Beast Whisperer, all B-rank junk.
To him, anything below A-rank was a waste of pixels. Forget B-rank. Forget "functional" or "balanced." He wanted excellence. If he couldn't afford it, he'd rather go without.
"I'll just skip talents altogether," he muttered. "What's the point of picking something useless?"
At least, that's what he told himself until a sudden notice interrupted his spiral of frustration.
[Notice!]
"Huh?" He blinked, stunned. The system's voice interrupted his thoughts, marking clear evidence of its awareness.
[Administrator Ly has considered your request.]
"Adminis what now?!" He frowned. "The admin is listening to me?!"
[Incorporating new talent in correspondence to the User's race...]
"A new talent... because of my complaint?" he murmured, now thoroughly suspicious.
Call it instinct, call it cynicism, but he'd never trusted games that handed out rewards so easily. Especially not games as obscure and cryptic as this one.
[New Talent Created]
[Talent: ???]
[Talent Type: Growth Type]
[Talent Cost: 900,000 Karma Points]
"What the hell is this?" His voice sharpened. "Another rip-off?!"
He clenched his fists. Of course it was 900,000. Exactly the amount he had left.
And to add insult to injury, no name, no rank, no clear description, just a vague "Growth Type" label and three question marks. How was he supposed to trust something so deliberately mysterious?
"Who in their right mind pays for a blank check?" he snarled. "This is a scam. A whole damn scam."
He paced in digital space, seething, but also... hesitating. Despite everything, something in him urged him to say yes. Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe it was desperation.
"Forget it. I'm overthinking."
He knew, deep down, he wasn't here to stick around anyway. This game was supposed to be a quick distraction, a temporary escape from reality not a lifelong commitment.
"Buy it. Just freaking buy it already."
[Talent Purchased: ???]
[Talent Cost: 900,000 Karma Points]
[Remaining Talent Points: 0]
"Damn... that actually hurts."
The number zero glared back at him, cold and final. From ten million to zero in the span of a few minutes. That kind of nosedive wasn't just financial, it was spiritual.
"It's fine," he sighed, trying to sound indifferent. "It's not like I knew where the points came from anyway."
He guessed the karma points were some kind of launch bonus or tutorial allowance. At the very least, they served their purpose, he'd gotten the custom race he wanted, even if the rest of the build felt half-baked.
But he was wrong.
Unbeknownst to him, karma points weren't just some character-creation currency. They were something else entirely, a reflection of real-world value. The tally of a person's actual deeds. Their impact. Their worth.
And among the 625 players who had entered this game before him, not one had ever started with more than two million karma points.
He had started with ten million.
The highest ever recorded.
"So how do I start the game now?" he asked aloud, attempting to shift his mind back on track.
[Notice! You have made an achievement]
"Oh. An achievement already?" he muttered. "Guess that says a lot about how dead this game is."
[Achievement: Loudest Spender]
"What kind of achievement is that"
[Loudest Spender]:
Not only are you the first user with the highest registered karma point, you are also the first user to spend all your karma points during character creation.
"Wow," he said flatly. "I guess I should feel... proud?"
[Distributing Achievement Reward...]
[The administrator has gifted you a reward...]
"So they're not entirely stingy after all." A small grin formed. "At least they know how to treat their players."
His opinion of the mysterious administrator improved just a little. But then again... if they were this generous in the starting phase, why wasn't this VRMMORPG more popular?
Why hadn't he heard a single whisper of it before today?
[Notice! You have spent an insurmountable amount of karma points...]
[An extra reward has been given.]
"Extra reward?!" His eyes widened.
Were they... trying to break the game now?
He loved free stuff as much as the next guy, but even he knew a game's balance was sacred. Break that, and everything else crumbles. No one wants to play a game where they'll never catch up.
Then again...
"This time, it's in my favor. Who am I to complain?"
He smirked, defiant.
"Fine. Give it to me. Give it all."
It wasn't like he planned on staying long anyway.
A test drive, he reminded himself.
Just a test drive.
[Congratulations, Player 626, for successful character creation.]
[Beginning login to Reincarnated Online...]
That was the final message he saw before his vision blacked out, his mind collapsing under the strain.
Meanwhile, player 626 from Earth was declared dead from brain overload.
And so began his journey not into a game, but into another world entirely.