I Gain Infinite Gold Just By Waiting-Chapter 261: Episode 52_Point Maker (2)
2.
How many points did you need to buy a 9-star Legendary item?
He had found the answer to that question when he bought the Heavenly Earrings.
Roughly four million points.
He had gotten them for two million with a 50% discount, which meant he had received a benefit on par with, or even greater than, the one-time favor he had given the old man.
Of course, that wasn’t the end.
That was just the beginning. For Kim Buja, who would be earning and spending far more points in the future, that 50% discount was an insane cheat code no one else had.
Because of that, it hadn’t seemed like it would be too hard to gear up with proper armor.
At least, not until he saw the price.
“Ten million?”
“Heh. I practically brought it in at cost. A good deal for both of us.”
“That’s not ten million after the discount, is it?”
“That’s right.”
The old man calmly informed him that even with the same grade and level, prices could vary wildly from piece to piece.
Ten million points.
Which meant the original price was twenty million.
Who could have imagined it? That there would be someone buying gear at that price? No, did those items even exist at that level?
Kim Buja certainly hadn’t.
“How much did you cram into this thing? You didn’t just throw in every option you could think of because you weren’t the one paying, did you?”
“Heh. Your requested specifications were extremely detailed. I simply did my best to meet them.”
It was, of course, an item he had requested.
The old man had commissioned it to be crafted to Buja’s specifications, and this was the result.
Complaining about the cost when he was the one who had asked for it would have been hypocritical.
“That’s the price for the whole set, right?” he asked carefully.
He should have been happy that the options had turned out so well, but the higher-than-expected cost raised the question of whether he could actually afford it.
For the first time, they were having a normal business conversation, and the old man, clearly pleased, shook his head.
“That’s for the chest piece. Then there’s the leggings, and two other pieces.”
“...You’ve got to be kidding me.”
It was a ridiculous price.
All together, it came to a staggering forty million points.
At full price, that was close to eighty million.
His vision swam.
’What the hell have I done? What did I ask them to make that brought this trial down on me?’
“It’s finished, so take it with you. You can pay me back slowly.”
“...Interest-free?”
“Heh. We keep our dealings clean!”
Buja was too stunned to speak.
He had never even handled eighty million gold before.
Yet overnight, he had somehow ended up eighty million points in debt, and his mind went blank for a moment.
Then he let out a sigh as he watched the old man casually hand over the mannequin wearing armor shrouded in pitch-black darkness.
“I can’t just take this and run, can I?”
“Try it if you’re curious.”
One way or another, it was a very good deal.
He had requested the item he wanted, and the old man had not only fulfilled that request perfectly but had even handed over the goods before receiving full payment.
It showed how much the old man trusted Kim Buja.
At the same time, it showed just how valuable Buja had become to the old man’s enterprise.
From the very beginning, this was the kind of relationship the two of them had.
Compared to now, it was an amount so small it was almost laughable, but back then, ‘Gnawing Soul’ had been an outrageously expensive item he couldn’t even dream of touching. The old man had handed it over, no strings attached.
This time was no different.
He claimed he was selling it at cost, but there was no way he had actually acquired it for that price.
One way or another, the old man was making a profit. Even if it wasn’t in points, he was gaining something more valuable, which was why he was willing to hand over the item upfront.
Kim Buja didn’t refuse.
It was an item he had to buy sooner or later anyway.
’Better to be a slave to debt than to miss out on buying it entirely.’
“Wow, it really does look cool. But why black, of all colors?”
He decided to set aside thoughts of points for the moment. Dwelling on the money he owed would only give him heartburn.
Instead, he examined the item.
For armor stacked with all the options he wanted, a theme of light would have been more fitting than darkness. Yet from the chest plate and leggings down to the gloves and boots, the entire set was pure, absolute black.
It was a darkness that seemed to swallow darkness itself.
The old man offered a simple explanation.
“The craftsman who made it likes black.”
Kim Buja was at a loss for words.
’Was there not some hidden backstory?’
His expectations crashed in an instant. He’d been secretly hoping for a bonus ability like ‘Darkness That Devours Darkness,’ which only made his disappointment sting more.
“That’s it?”
“Do you need another reason?”
“No. I mean... sure.”
The color wasn’t that important, but who was going to compensate him for this wave of emptiness washing over him?
With a sigh, he reached out and touched the armor.
Clack!
The pieces of armor detached from the mannequin and automatically fitted themselves to his body.
“Oh!”
It was magnificent. The sleek, light-reflecting blackness dramatically elevated his presence the instant he put it on, making him forget he had been grumbling about the color just a moment before.
“It suits you well,” the old man added, a fitting compliment.
“Thank you. I’ll make sure to repay this debt as long as I live.”
“You can pay it back even after you die, so don’t worry too much.”
One way or another, he had equipped his new armor. The ‘Cursed Desert’ set he had been wearing was by no means something to scoff at, but this new set was so good he could feel the stat increase the moment he put it on, even before checking the options.
“Then I’ll be going.”
He wanted to check the stats as soon as possible. He could have done it right here, but his anticipation and excitement were too great for that. He needed a quiet place, ample time, and the leisure to savor every last detail.
As he was practically buzzing with excitement, the old man added one last thing.
“As I mentioned, I threw in the binding option as a free service. However, since you might regret it, I’ll give you the binding scroll separately. You can decide what to do with it yourself.”
“Thank you.”
He turned to leave for real this time, but the old man stopped him once more.
“Why...?”
“Even if you pay off the balance slowly, you should at least make a down payment, don’t you think?”
“I... don’t really have any money right now...”
“I’ve heard from my customers. They say you’re the player earning the most points on Earth right now.”
’How the hell did this old man know that?’
Kim Buja frowned, then nodded in resignation.
“I need this money to buy supplies here to kill the Demon King. Can’t I just pay you back later?”
“No.”
At the old man’s firm refusal, Buja let out a long sigh and paid up.
“I’ll pay fifteen million up front.”
His once-bulging wallet suddenly felt light. The old man, now holding the down payment, beamed and handed him several item binding scrolls.
* * *
“Whew. Binding scrolls worth fifteen million points, huh.”
They were items he could have bought from the Gold Shop, and getting them for free felt good, but the expense itself was bitter as hell.
Of course, he wasn’t particularly heartbroken. He had uploaded the video specifically to buy armor, and this was the revenue from it. It was just a shame to see it all vanish at once, but he had no regrets about using the money exactly as planned.
If anything, he was glad to have gotten the armor sooner and with less hassle than expected.
It had been about ten days since he uploaded the video. The revenue, which had peaked, was still holding steady. At this rate, points would continue to roll in for a while, so paying off the full amount seemed manageable. He didn’t need to promote it any further or give it any more attention.
The real question was whether he could earn even more on top of that to buy other necessities for the fight against the Demon King.
“I should be able to make another twenty-five million or so in the remaining eighty days.”
On paper, it was more than doable, but you never knew. Trends could burn white-hot one day and be dead the next. Given the price, there were bound to be plenty of people who wanted to buy the video but simply couldn’t afford it.
He often found himself wondering if he might have made more profit if he had just knocked off a zero.
But every time, he shook his head.
’No, a video of this caliber has to be priced this high.’
He hadn’t set the price purely for the money.
Out of billions of people, there was only one. It was a video only he could make.
Another world.
It was footage of another world that everyone longed for. Even the tiny, instanced worlds called dungeons drew cheers and wonder from countless people. So how could you possibly put a number on the value of a video that captured a world as large as Earth itself, filled with people living and breathing there? 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
At the very least, he didn’t want it to be treated lightly. A high price didn’t automatically raise its value, but when people talked about it and looked back on it someday, he wanted them to feel a sliver of pride for having invested something precious to purchase it.
’And if I do this now, I can sell the next one for even more.’
Finally, if he came back alive, he could sell the final episode for a price so ridiculous he could live out the rest of his life in comfort.
He let out a faint chuckle and sank into the bath for the first time in a while. Feeling his body slowly heal, he picked up the pieces of pitch-black armor floating around him one by one.
It was finally time to check them.
[Armor of the Demon God]
▶ Grade: Legendary
▶ Level: ★★★★★★★★★
▶ Equip Requirements: Point Dungeon VVIP / Legendary Class / Level 70
▶ All Stats +200
▶ Defense +500
▶ Demonic Energy (Magi) +500
▶ Dark Attribute Resistance +55%
▶ Dark Attribute Additional Damage +14%
▶ (★★★★★) Curse Immunity
▶ When fused with Holy Power, triggers the Eradicate Magi effect.
▷ This is the armor once worn by the Demon God. It can never be destroyed.
He was stunned into silence.
The moment he read the description, he realized something. The old man’s "secret" about the armor’s color had just been a joke.
“Holy shit.”
The reason it was pitch-black was simply because the materials used to make it were saturated with demonic energy so dense it was impossible to measure.
“How the hell did he even make an item like this?”
He let out a choked gasp. It was a monstrous item that was the complete opposite of what he’d expected, yet it still perfectly met every one of his requirements.
Overwhelming raw stats.
Defense high enough to withstand the Demon King’s attacks.
Attribute resistance that wouldn’t waver against the Demon King’s demonic energy.
And damage options specifically tailored to hurt the Demon King.
It was such a shameless lineup of premium options that he almost felt guilty just listing them, and on top of that, the old man had added several more.
On top of that, the special option Eradicate Magi was a passive effect that dealt an additional 10% damage to any being that possessed demonic energy. All he had to do was infuse it with Holy Power to make it a permanent, penalty-free effect.
His gratitude toward the old man suddenly skyrocketed.
And this was just from looking at the chest piece alone.
“What about the leggings...?”
He still had several more pieces to check. He drew in a shaky breath, trying to calm himself, but it wasn’t easy.
“...What about the set bonus?”
Eighty million points. How was he supposed to stay calm when faced with a string of numbers representing that kind of value?
Without hesitation, the other luxury pieces stepped forward to flaunt their own magnificent stats.
* * *
