As soon as the light of the original material faded away, my worries that it wasn’t applied properly disappeared.
Ding!
[You have acquired a new trait.]
“Did it activate?!”
The system window popped up, confirming it was indeed used.
I was curious about what had come out, but for now, I decided to check the mark’s location first.
‘It’d be a bit troublesome if it’s in a really obvious spot.’
The marking’s position was random, so, if luck was really bad, it could end up stamped on my nose.
Of course, in the game, no matter where the mark was, it didn’t cause major issues other than messing up character customization, but in reality, the position of the mark was extremely important.
With those thoughts in mind, I cautiously looked around, and thankfully, the marked position was a success. The lower part of my left collarbone.
As long as I didn’t strip off my clothes, it wouldn’t be very noticeable to others.
But that wasn’t the important thing right now. I had to confirm what kind of mark had been engraved.
Let’s see… this shape… this color is….
[Good for the body and also delicious.]
[Are you eating a snake because you have no food?]
[The serpent’s stealth is applied.]
A snake, huh.
Oh damn, that’s really ridiculous.
I’d rather have the mark on my nose than this… wait, no. That’s not right.
If I have a wolf or a butterfly stamped on my nose that I can’t erase, that would definitely be a problem.
But still, this is just unacceptable!
“A snake?! I’m a snake?!”
The effect of this ability was just one thing.
From the moment I learned it, part of the character’s sound effects was deleted.
You know, the sounds of walking, running, and that kind of stuff?
Those would disappear.
That was it. They must know this ability is funny, as they made jokes in the trait’s name and description.
I lightly tapped my foot and indeed, there was no sound at all.
You might think that’s a good thing, but it only removes sound; it doesn’t erase presence, so if you get near, everyone immediately detects you. It was a practically useless ability.
…Wallowing in self-pity won’t change anything, right?
“Sigh. Well, nothing can be done about what’s already out there.”
In the end, I had to accept this situation.
Who knows, maybe here in reality, it could help me more than in the game, where only sound effects were erased.
Thinking more about the lottery that’s already ended would surely just stress me out, so I decided to move on.
Let’s continue the internal exploration.
With my thoughts settled, I began rummaging through the piled treasures again.
While I couldn’t bring these outside, using them here should be no problem.
It’s like trying them out in a demo version.
If I had an inventory, I could try out all kinds of things, but since I had to carry them around, I could only experiment with one or two at most. What a shame.
For sure, one was certain. There was something here I could use effectively.
As for the rest… I was about to pick something to use as a sword when I suddenly thought of my injured arm.
Just in case, maybe I should go for a shield.
I contemplated carrying more, but I stopped, fearing I might get hurt more from trying out too many things.
After all, it felt awkward to use my injured arm.
So, after hastily selecting something to try out, I finally turned my gaze away from the piled treasures.
Originally, I might have prioritized digging for treasures and just happened to cover my tracks, but now that it had become reality, treasures had to be classified as secondary.
The three doors sitting right beyond the treasure were typical types you open by turning the doorknob.
However, two of those were traps, and only one was correct.
It was a maliciously random choice, so I didn’t know which one was right.
But I did know of a gimmick to get closer to the right choice.
‘What was it again? The Monty Hall Paradox?’
Let’s say there are three doors, and one has the prize behind it.
Behind the winning door is a car, while the other doors house goats.
If a participant randomly chooses a door, the host will open one of the remaining doors that has a goat behind it.
Now, with two doors remaining, should the participant switch their choice?
The Monty Hall Paradox explains that switching gives a higher probability of winning.
In this case, it could be applied here.
So if I walk up to any door and knock…
Click!
The door I didn’t knock on locks tight.
From here on, it’s just luck.
I could enter through either of the two remaining doors.
Statistically, it should be more likely to follow the paradox.
So, switching my choice would be the rational decision, right?
But I just got a snake with a 1/3 chance!
Isn’t it more likely that I guessed right this time?
With that thought buzzing in my head, I didn’t switch and opened the door. At the same time, I heard the sound of another door locking.
There was no turning back now. All that was left was to bear the responsibility of my choice.
And the result was…
“KAOOO!”
“Ha, damn it.”
A cluster of undead gargoyles appeared, proving that probability operates independently.
What a horrible run of luck today.
I had hoped, but the serpent’s stealth offered no help whatsoever.
As soon as they spotted me, we locked eyes. What good was stealth when they saw me?
Still, I had items I brought along just for this kind of situation, so I had no worries.
I took out the pendant I had just grabbed.
[Holy Light-emitting Talisman]
[To resurrect the dead is a sin.]
[Triggers a supreme purification on the nearest undead (Cooldown 30 seconds)]
If the system had displayed an explanation for this item, this is what might have appeared.
That’s right. This is the “Holy Light-emitting Talisman” specifically made for dealing with undead monsters, as I knew they were all undead types here… or for short, let’s call it “Shinbital.”
Since it can perform a supreme purification each time the cooldown runs out, without any conditions or consumption, just having this one item means I can take care of anything, assuming the opponent is undead.
You might think, ‘What kind of cheating item is this?’ but don’t forget this is an experienced players’ playground.
It’s a place where those who have finished the game are given toys, so a lot of things have been thrown out of balance.
But even with that imbalance, the usefulness was also knocked down.
In the first place, undead mobs rarely appear, and when they do, mainly low-level ones swarm you.
So there’s no chance to use a purification on a single target.
In my opinion, it seemed the developers threw it together because they were too lazy to make it properly.
While I’m grateful to have received it in light of my current situation…
“KAOO!”
“KAOOO!”
“KAO! KAO!”
It so happened that a group of them appeared, which might take some time to take down one at a time… but it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
Shing!
“KYAAAAAAAA!”
If I just keep attacking indiscriminately, I’ll eventually take them all out. Grinding is a basic quality for a gamer, right?
Ducking and dodging the gargoyle’s attacks, I stalled for time until the Shinbital’s cooldown was over, then took them down one by one.
When I used it, the light faded away, and when 30 seconds passed, I could use it again, and it emitted light again, so I didn’t even need to keep track of the timing directly.
In the meantime, I casually checked to see if the “Revenger of the Hidden Witch”… that name is a bit long. Let’s just call it ‘Hidden Savings.’
I checked if the curses were stacking nicely, and I noticed that even if I dodged and avoided the attack, I could vaguely sense something inside me was taking a hit, showing I was still technically getting attacked.
But it was so vaguely measured that I wondered how much time it would take to fill it all the way up; the thought made me dizzy.
It didn’t seem practical for use in actual combat.
Well… I had carried it just in case of unexpected situations, so I had no particular reason to be disappointed.
After a long stretch of repetitive tasks, there were no longer any undead remaining.
The shield I had brought was never put to use. I just took it along just in case, and as a disposable item, it turned out to be quite agreeable.
By the way, quite some time had passed. Should I head back now?
The night is long, but it wouldn’t make sense to stay here until morning.
For now, it’s time to go home and get some sleep.
Thinking this, I retraced my steps and tossed the Shinbital and shield back into the treasure pile before leaving the area.
And then I ran into her.
“Where did you just come from?”
Seria was sitting squarely in the center of the room, looking very eager to ask me a lot of questions.
I hadn’t at all expected to bump into her so I was feeling awkward, and then I suddenly noticed her gaze fixated on my left arm.
Oh no, I hastily tried to cover it, but that only made me look more suspicious.
“…What happened to your arm?”
“It’s nothing much.”
“Show me.”
Having missed the chance to hide it, showing my arm at this point felt like a necessity lest something bad happened.
Seria cautiously untied the piece of cloth I had wrapped around it, and a sudden sting accompanied by my wound being exposed.
The bleeding seemed to have stopped, but the tear was still there, so it didn’t look very good.
Seria’s expression quickly turned serious.
“…What happened?”
“Things happened.”
“I’ll change the question. Where did you just go?”
With her imposing attitude, it didn’t seem possible to stutter my way out.
Still, just to check, I diverted the conversation.
“Speaking of which, why are you here?”
I was genuinely curious about this.
Didn’t she come here to return the book she’d borrowed?
I thought she’d go back right away and sleep since it was late, so why was she waiting for me to show up here?
That question came out, and she boldly answered with quite a revelation.
“Well, the tracking magic I placed on Rudion suddenly disappeared, so I thought I’d come to see what happened.”
“…What?”
“…Oops.”
Tracking… what? It sounded like I’d just walked in on something I shouldn’t have.
“P-please act like you didn’t hear that!”
“I didn’t hear anything at all.”
“Liar! Don’t lie!”
What the hell am I supposed to do now? I didn’t know what kind of beats I was supposed to dance to, but one thing was for certain.
“Seria… you’ve finally dipped your toes into crime. Your family is going to be so disappointed.”
“No… that’s not it…”
She had become a stalking criminal.
Are you watching, everyone in the Royal Palace?
The Seria you adored has turned into a fearsome stalker.
“That’s not what it is!”
Whack! Whack!
She even started slapping me in a fit, but thanks to her weak strength, it didn’t hurt much.
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