And the next day.

"Carpe-nim, I apologize, but it seems you will have to handle the bug catching alone today."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yes. Based on what I observed yesterday, you are more than capable of doing it well without my presence. Being here would just be a waste of manpower."

About five minutes after logging into Larse, Syrus, who seemed to have known already, came to him and said that.

"As it is a particularly busy time, there is always a shortage of hands. The fact that the sap bugs have multiplied like this and we’ve been forced to neglect it is also because of that."

In short, he was saying that the bug task was safe in his hands, so he was going to handle other duties.

"Please, take this."

Syrus said, handing a small scroll to Carpe.

"What's this?"

"It's a return scroll. Please use it once you are done with bug catching. The coordinates are set to near the Queen’s office."

"Ah, I see. Thank you."

"No problem at all. Oh, it might be dangerous to wander too far from here, so please be as careful as possible."

"Dangerous?"

Carpe looked around at Syrus' words.

A lark chirped softly and sweetly.

Warm sunlight filtered through the leaves, embracing the forest.

Moreover, the only monster that had appeared so far, the 'sap bug', was a non-aggressive monster.

How could there be danger in a place where the word 'healing' fit so perfectly?

As Carpe looked at him with a puzzled expression, Syrus smiled slightly and replied.

"This area is safe because we've been exterminating monsters for a long time, but there are still places deep in the forest that our hands have not yet reached."

It is said that in such places, wild monsters can be found forming colonies.

"With your skills, I don't think you would be in any real danger, but it is still best to be careful. Occasionally, there are some truly dangerous monsters.”

With that last piece of advice, Syrus left.

“Hmm, dangerous monsters, huh.”

-Tsk tsk. Hearing the word dangerous, are your thrill-seeking cells bubbling up again? Planning to go look for them?

“No, if you say it like that, I sound like a pervert who goes around looking for only the dangerous stuff.”

-Oh. This is the first time I’ve realized you know yourself this well.

“Well…”

He was indeed curious.

However, with the sap bug quest still pending, it wasn't urgent enough to go searching right away.

“The relic comes first. Exploration can come later.”

-You… you’ve matured.

Cheonma was moved by the rare, reasonable statement.

-That's a great mindset. Let's take care of these bugs first.

"Before that, let’s open the skill packs I couldn't open yesterday."

He had been thinking about it so much after logging off yesterday.

“Last night, my ancestors came to me in a dream and told me which star rating my skills would get. They said 7-star.”

-Crazy. Are skill packs like a lottery? Why would your ancestors show up?

Carpe took out the two skill packs that had been dormant in his inventory.

"Heh. This game is really about the draws, isn't it?"

The moment he picked up the skill packs, his heart was pounding.

Carpe felt alive today too.

“This is a place full of natural energy, so the draw will be better too. I have that certainty!”

-You’ve finally gone insane.

Cheonma's jab went unheard by Carpe.

The chirping of the lark just sounded like a song of blessings, heralding a jackpot!

“Here we go!”

With a burst of energy, he opened the first pack, and five cards floated into the air.

"Di… Did it show up? A 7-star golden effect showed up?"

-Would it?…

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat!

He opened each card, putting all his hopes into it.

And the result.

-Oh? It’s better than I thought.

"Ah, darn. The effect should have burst.”

-Yeah. I can see your conscience burst. What is the effect? Is it like some dog's name you get every time you open a pack?

The result of the first card pack was 3-star, 3-star, 5-star, 2-star, 2-star.

It was just one shy of a 6-star silver effect.

Ding!

[5-star Skill Card - 'Castling']

-Swaps the location of the user and an ally (party, guild, faction, etc.)

-The activation distance increases as the skill level increases.

-Cannot be activated if the level difference with the target exceeds a certain amount.

Tradable

“Castling, huh. I think I’ve heard of it somewhere.”

-It's a chess term, so you wouldn't know it if you're not interested.

“Is that so? Anyway, something weird came out.”

Location swap with an ally.

For Carpe, who had many subordinates, it was a skill that he could strategically use.

"It would be fun to switch positions continuously to hit and run."

-That’s not possible. The cooldown on that is quite long, so you can't use it continuously like that.

“...What? Then it’s kind of…”

It wasn't without value, given its potential to cause unexpected situations, but he was hesitant to invest skill points in it.

“Hmm. I can't use it properly without subordinates, so it probably won't be that expensive. Is it like a dud in the 5-star skills?”

-A dud? A skill that could be considered top ten among all 5-star skills is a dud? There aren't many skills that are more expensive than that, not even among 6-star.

"Huh?"

When Carpe gave him a 'really?' look, Cheonma chuckled and replied.

-Well, like you said, it's not that suitable for hunting. Because of its long cooldown.

But where Castling truly shines is somewhere else.

-Guild wars. Especially in large-scale PvP battles like sieges, it's the best skill.

“Hmm. Certainly, if the opponent is switched in the midst of a melee, they would be flustered.”

Carpe nodded, thinking there was some truth to it, but Cheonma shook his head.

-Do you really think people would spend so much money and skill points for such a common effect? There is a real way to use it.

Although it wasn't specified in the skill description, 'Castling' had a truly powerful hidden effect.

That was.

-When you use Castling, it forces the swap regardless of whether the opponent agrees or not.

“...Huh?”

The moment he heard the word ‘forced,’ Carpe’s mind was immediately cast back to a classic RPG that had once rocked the world.

"Ah."

And he understood.

The true use of Castling was this.

"This is a skill specialized for betrayal."

-Correct. In severe cases, a single castling can end a guild war.

Although it says ‘ally’ in the skill description, can someone in the same party or guild really be considered an ally?

“I’ve seen a lot of that in those old game incident compilations. People infiltrating a guild as a spy and backstabbing them.”

-Right. During a guild war, they use Castling to drop the guild leader in front of the opposing forces, that kind of thing.

Pretending to be an ally, then at a crucial moment, throwing the guild leader or an executive to a different space.

A wicked skill that could completely disrupt a guild war if no measures were taken beforehand.

That was the identity of the top skill beyond 5 stars, ‘Castling.’

-Anyway, that’s why Castling is a 5-star skill that sells for such high prices. Even more so than that 7-star Holy Sacrifice you got.

“...Didn’t you say that was worth around 5 million won in Korean currency at the time?”

And it was even more expensive than that?

It felt as if his sense of the economy had been collapsing ever since he started Larse.

“But will I ever have to use it in a guild war?”

-Well, you never know what might happen. And if you don't need it, just sell it. Oh, but just as a heads up, guild wars aren't that active yet, so you should wait to get full value.

“Hmm, I understand. I’ll hold onto it for now.”

[You have obtained 5-star skill card - ‘Castling’]

And then, the second skill draw.

But the second pack wasn't as good as the last.

2-star, 2-star, 1-star, 4-star, 3-star.

Actually, a 4-star appearing from a beginner pack could be considered a decent win.

[4-star Skill Card - ‘Wind Cutter’]

Untradeable

“Ah, you can also get duplicates, huh.”

Unfortunately, the 4-star skill that appeared was the ‘Wind Cutter’ skill he already had.

Moreover, unlike Castling, it also had the ‘Untradeable’ restriction, so he couldn't sell it.

As Carpe clicked his tongue at his disappointment, he was about to select the 3-star skill.

-No. Pick Wind Cutter.

“Huh? But it’s a duplicate?”

-Yeah. That’s why you have to pick it.

“...What?”

He looked at Cheonma with an incomprehensible expression, but Cheonma was just muttering, 'Why is this guy so lucky?'

-Just pick it for now. Something interesting will show up.

“Right away.”

Carpe was someone who immediately reacted to the word ‘interesting.’

[You have obtained 4-star skill card – ‘Wind Cutter’]

[You have already learned this skill.]

[Would you like to proceed with skill enhancement by using the duplicate skill card?]

“...Enhancement? Is this the enhancement like when you enhance items?”

-That’s the one. It's a way to upgrade skills separately from leveling up.

There were two main ways to increase the power of a skill in Larse.

First, by investing skill points to level up a skill.

In this case, the skill's power increases by increasing the percentage or damage numbers.

And the second method is to enhance the skill with duplicate skill cards.

In this case, the skill isn't upgraded by increasing the damage, but by adding a new effect.

-With skill enhancements, the effect is so good that there is a penalty which makes it impossible to enhance skills below 3-star.

“Is that so? How good is the enhancement effect?”

-It’s better to just experience it directly rather than just describing it. Go ahead and try it.

“...Hearing the word ‘enhancement’ makes me a bit anxious. If this fails, does my skill go poof and disappear or something?”

-Larse is dirty, but it's not that much of a trash game. If it fails, only the skill card used as a material will disappear, so don't worry about that.

At least it wouldn't explode like equipment.

“And what’s the success rate?”

-In this case, it's 99%.

“Huh? A 99% in Larse, the game of terrible probability?”

-It’s not everything, though. When it's done with untradeable cards you pulled directly from skill packs, it's 99%. If you do it with skill cards obtained from other sources, it’s 1%.

According to Cheonma's explanation, it seemed to be a restriction to prevent people from sweeping skill cards from auctions and enhancing them.

“They really put a stop to any kind of rich people nonsense, huh.”

-It's not called a game that’s out to screw over rich people for nothing. Anyway, it’s 99%, so go ahead and enhance it comfortably.

“What? What are you talking about? I need to be super tense when doing this!”

-…Oh, right. You're a gacha probability game patient with a hole in your brain.

Cheonma had now grasped the mentality of gacha game patients.

-If a draw or enhancement probability is 1%?

“Oh, a generous game? It’s worth doing.”

-…If it’s 99%?

“Argh! I'm going to fail with that 1% chance! It’s a dirty trash game that plays with numbers!”

-Yeah. It’s good to see you’re consistent.

He was a consistently crazy guy.

[Would you like to proceed with skill enhancement?]

"Hoo. Here we go!"

Carpe really, genuinely, looked like he was about to have a heart attack as he swallowed and proceeded with the enhancement.

-Crazy bastard.

Cheonma was looking at him like, 'What the hell is this guy?'

Whoosh!

A blue flash briefly sparked as skill enhancement was in progress.

Ding!

[’Wind Cutter’ +1 enhancement successful.]

[+1 enhancement effect: 30% chance for the magic to be cast twice. This effect does not consume MP.]

Today too, Carpe's power was steadily growing.