World of Masks

Chapter 15

Translator: Seven

Editor: Ana_Banana

Jin-suk was confused. 

According to the description window that had given him the basics of the game when he first started, the vitality of humans and similar humanoid races could not be absorbed. 

However, the Life Bead that he’d gotten from Ranphral had just absorbed vitality from humans. No, to be precise, it seemed to only absorb vitality from humans.

Jin-suk desperately tried to recall what he’d read in the description window before.

After struggling for a while, he managed to get a faint recollection of it.

[For your information it is impossible to take vitality from humans and other humanoid creatures due to the blessings of Ueron.]

He was certain that the description window at that time had said it was ‘impossible’. But then again, that could be considered as hearsay, and might not be a real confirmation.

“Don’t tell me they were messing with me.”

If he hadn’t accepted Ranphral’s quest, or if he hadn’t completed Ranphral’s quest in ‘this way’, he would have been stuck. 

He didn’t know how other people carried out the quest, but if they received this Life Bead which seemed to be a defective item, they would definitely have thrown it away or sold it. After all, if he hadn’t thrown the Life bead at Ranphral in a fit of rage, he would have also been fooled.

However, this harvest was very satisfying for Jin-suk. The premise of Jin-suk’s only complaint about the game, ‘killing humans had little to no use’, had been smashed brilliantly. 

Of course, this didn’t mean that he would have given up killing humans even if there was such a premise, but it was always better to do something that was more rewarding.

Jin-suk nodded as he got what he felt was the best idea. He decided to distribute the experience in the bead and absorb all the vitality in the rest of the bodies. 

He held the Life Bead tightly and thought. He wanted to transfer all the vitality in the Life Bead to experience. 

But after a while, Jin-suk frowned as he realised the bead had not changed at all.

“What’s the problem this time?”

This bead was really annoying. 

Jin-suk decided to check his status window because while there was no change in the bead, the experience might have been transferred.

LV : 6 EXP : 8/1,572            

Hours: 744,507: 18 : 37

(Max hour consumption/Per skill – 1hour)

Str : 31(Exp: 0/62) Dex : 26(Exp: 0/52) Int : 12(Exp: 0/24)

“What the hell is this?”

Next to his stats, he could see the required experience which he’d never seen before. 

Jin-suk looked down at the bead in his hand.

The required experience for his stats had suddenly appeared. And the vitality that he’d absorbed was not being transferred to experience. 

So he made an assumption.

Jin-suk immediately thought about transferring vitality to the experience points for strength.

LV : 6 EXP : 8/1,572            

Hours: 744,507: 18 : 11

(Max hour consumption/Per skill – 1hour)

Str : 31(Exp: 16/62) Dex : 26(Exp: 0/52) Int : 12(Exp: 0/24)

‘Bingo!’

His assumption was right.

As Jin-suk predicted, the vitality in the bead was transferred into experience points for his stats. 

After learning how to use the bead, Jin-suk diligently began extracting vitality from the corpses of the villagers. 

Unlike animals which could only give a certain amount of vitality, the vitality from every human was subtly different.

“Mr. Hans as well.”

As if to prove that his thick muscles weren’t fake, he had managed to absorb almost twice as much vitality from Hans as from a normal villager. 

Just like a giving tree, Hans had helped Jin-suk when he was now getting used to the village, and now Hans was still the biggest even after becoming a corpse. 

Jin-suk jokingly said, ‘Thank you Hans, the generous tree’, before moving on to another body.

After extracting the vitality from several bodies, including Hans, the bead quickly became full. 

Jin-suk looked inside the bead. 

The number written in the bead was 52. This showed that the maximum amount of vitality this bead could store was higher than the original.

Jin-suk looked at his status window again. Then he started to think.

“Now then. I wonder how I should distribute it.”

So far, Jin-suk had distributed the five free stat points he gained per level into his Str and Dex at a ratio of 3:2.

The reason he chose Str over Dex was because Jin-suk was more fond of crushing his enemies with overwhelming force instead of playing with them with quick body movements.

He would prefer to tear his opponent apart with a blunt cleaver using nothing but his brute strength. And he would be overjoyed watching them scream in pain.

This was the sight that Jin-suk sought after in virtual reality games. It was an impossible sight in other virtual reality games because of the law restrictions, but in this game, it was still possible.

‘Should I keep distributing it 3:2?’

At first glance, that would be the best choice. 

Jin-suk looked down at the bead again. The bead shined with a red glow like a demon that seduces people.

Jin-suk soon came to a decision.

‘Let’s go all in on strength.’

It was no exaggeration to say that these were just bonus stats anyway. So it wouldn’t be a problem for him to dump them all into one stat. 

Instead, he decided to change the Str to Dex ratio to 2:3 from now on.

After coming to a decision, Jin-suk diligently pulled the vitality out of the bead and began to increase his stats.

LV : 6 EXP : 8/1,572            

Hours: 744,507: 16 : 57

(Max hour consumption/Per skill – 1hour)

Str : 37(Exp: 25/74) Dex : 26(Exp: 0/52) Int : 12(Exp: 0/24)

He transferred all the vitality in the bead to his Str, causing the stat to raise by six. This number was similar to if he’d placed all the stat points he gained after levelling up into one stat.

‘The required experience twice as much as the stat.’

The required experience was exactly doubled every time the stat increased. 

Jin-suk, who had done everything he wanted, smiled happily. Everything seemed to be working out really well for him these past few days.

He was able to enjoy his hobby in the truest sense, and he was even able to make money by doing quests. 

In addition, he was able to break the rule that you couldn’t get experience by killing other humans. 

It allowed him to gain bonus experience that directly increased his stats…

‘If I keep increasing my strength like this, there will hardly be anyone on the same level who could take my attack.’

Just that thought made him ecstatic. 

The opponent would struggle to somehow block his attack. But his attack would still break through his opponent’s defenses and hit them. 

And if that happened…

With a ‘pak’ sound like a watermelon breaking, his opponent’s blood would splash in every direction, creating a red rainbow. 

The blood would cover his body before falling to the ground like scattered rose petals.

He felt that it was hard to hold in his laughter as he imagined this scene.

‘It would be better to get a heavy weapon.’

It should be blunt as well. 

With a huge grin on his face, Jin-suk walked to the entrance of the village. He didn’t have to stay in this place any longer.

This beginner village had already provided him with everything he needed. He’d taken everything he could, literally.

Jin-suk passed through the village entrance and trudged along the road happily.

What kind of adventure awaited him in the future?

Could he find even more interesting prey?

Could he recreate a more interesting method of murder?

Was there anything more interesting for him to destroy?

Like a child waiting for a present on their birthday, like a young man waiting to meet his partner for a date, Jin-suk walked with light steps although his heart beat excitedly.

However, no matter how excited he was, he could never let his guard down. This game was famous all over the world for eating people.

‘I am a hunter, not prey.’

And to stay that way, he had to become stronger. Carefully, but steadily. 

The means was in his hands.

‘Come to think of it, I have to look for information about that guy.’

It had the ability to absorb humans, but it was still a low level bead. In order to increase his stats at a satisfactory rate in the future, he had to find a higher grade bead.

‘I wonder if something like that exists.’

Still, it would be better than playing the game without any purpose.

Jin-suk, who had been thinking about this and that as he walked, stopped. That was because in front of him was a huge cliff that he couldn’t see the top of even after raising his head.

The road Jin-suk had taken had led to this cliff. And at the point where the road ended, blue light swirled in the place which should have been blocked by the cliff.

Perhaps that was the passageway.

Jin-suk stepped into the light without hesitation, and his body soon disappeared as though he had been sucked in.

After Jin-suk disappeared, the world began shaking violently as though there was an earthquake.

The ground collapsed, the sky collapsed, and everything in the world was ground to powder. 

The huge world of the beginner’s village gradually collapsed into darkness at the loss of the player, its reason for existing.

After the brief feeling of being sucked into the light, Jin-suk found himself standing on a quiet road. 

When Jin-suk snorted, saying that it wasn’t a surprise, a window appeared in front of him.

[Welcome, Traveler. To the True World of Masks.]

The corners of Jin-suk’s lips curled upwards.

(TL: Hey guys, it’s been a while(186 days according to a diligent reader in our discord). I originally stopped translating this because I didn’t have the time since I had two main projects, but I finished one of them, so here I am again. ‘

At least ¼ of the reason I picked this novel back up again is because there was a reader who was counting the days since the last upload so I feel like I should give him a shoutout. 

HungryRice, you’re gonna have to start from 1 again buddy…

Kidding kidding, I will be posting one or two chapters a week(for now at least) with the occasional bonus chapter if I get more time.

I genuinely like this novel so I really do want to keep translating it more frequently. Maybe if you guys recommend it to your friends and our reader base increases, we might be able to push this up to a main project.)