Chapter 25

Night had fallen again. Dragging his heavy body into the inn, Do-Jin felt like he could collapse right there on the floor. Between the relentless ant invasion and the chaos that followed, he hadn’t had a single moment to rest since the night before.

The exhaustion was unreal. Both the mental strain of playing for hours on end and the system-enforced physical fatigue of the VR environment pressed down on him like a mountain.

Leaning against the wall, he could’ve easily dozed off right then and there. But he forced his eyes open, shaking off the creeping drowsiness. There was still one very important task left to tackle: It was time to use the Random Trait Selection Point he’d earned as a quest reward.

[Random Trait Selection Point: 1]

It was a mix of both randomness and choice. When used, it would roll the dice and present five random traits players could choose from. The catch was that a good chunk of the traits in the pool were absolute garbage, the kind of stuff that would make a player uninstall the game and go touch grass. Do-Jin knew this all too well, which was why he mentally prepared himself.

All I need is one. Just one decent option. I’m not asking for much.

Please, just something I can actually use.

Muttering a quick prayer to God, Buddha, Allah, and every other deity he could think of, Do-Jin gritted his teeth and rolled the dice.

Five empty trait slots appeared before him, floating in the air. Soon, a swirling mist, like ink spilled in water, began to fill the first slot. Letters slowly took shape. When the completed text appeared before his eyes, Do-Jin’s face fell.

[Sentiment du Fer]

Right off the bat, the trait that had appeared was the kind that would make any swordsman, or anyone who could swing a blade, foam at the mouth. As players often said, it was a Tier 1 trait, the cream of the crop among those that could have appeared through random trait points.

If it had been a worthless trait, he could’ve just brushed it off. But no, it had to be an unbelievably valuable trait that he couldn’t even use, leaving Do-Jin with a bitter taste in his mouth.

If only a Tier 1 mage trait had shown up instead...

As that thought crossed his mind, the next trait rolled in.

[Lion’s Heart]

When Do-Jin saw the completed text in the second slot, his teeth clenched so tightly they nearly cracked. The grinding sound that followed was enough to let anyone know exactly how pissed he was.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

This time, it was a Tier 1 trait for physical damage dealers. What were the odds of two god-tier traits popping up back-to-back? And more importantly, what were the odds that both would be utterly useless to him?

Do-Jin felt like the universe had it out for him. Already dead tired, getting smacked around by RNG this hard was enough to make his head spin for real. In fact, he could

actually

feel the dizziness setting in.

“This is why I hate this kind of gambling,” he muttered while rubbing his temples.

It wasn’t that he hated gambling altogether. He actually enjoyed the kind where skill and effort could tip the scales, the kind that got one's adrenaline pumping when one took on bigger risks. After all, defying the odds was intoxicating.

But this? This luck-based crap where everything came down to pure, unfiltered RNG? This was the kind of bullshit he despised with every fiber of his being. Sure, it felt great when one hit the jackpot, but sitting there helplessly and praying to the RNG gods was not his style.

The third slot began to fill, and the words that appeared actually made sense for his class.

[Resilient Body]

It wasn’t bad at all, a solid trait that boosted HP, stamina, and status resistance across the board. But how the hell was he supposed to be happy with “not bad” after seeing Sentiment du Fer and Lion’s Heart? That “I’ll be happy with anything usable” mindset he’d started with was long gone now. How could anyone settle for a third-place lottery prize after watching the person next to them hit the jackpot?

[Baker’s Hands]

However, the heavens weren’t done screwing him over. Maybe it was because he only ever sought the gods when he needed something. Or maybe it was because he’d tried praying to every damn god he could think of at the same time. Either way, they were clearly ignoring him.

The real kicker was that Baker’s Hands was technically considered a jackpot if one were in a cooking-related class. Of course, Do-Jin wasn’t a baker or chef, and he had

zero

plans to ever become one.

He stared at the words floating in front of him, his eyes as dead as a zombie’s. There was one slot left. One last chance. And he had about as much faith in it as a gambler rolling the dice after losing their rent money.

Screw it. Maybe I should just pick Lion’s Heart. Who knows? Might come in handy if I ever need to throw a punch. At least the fear resistance could be useful.

As he mulled over the slim pickings, trying to prepare himself to settle for Resilient Body, the last slot finally revealed itself.

[Mana Heart]

Do-Jin froze.

“What?”

He blinked. Was he so exhausted that he’d fallen asleep mid-roll? Was this some kind of fever dream?

“So this is actually a trait you can get here...?” His murmur was barely audible.

Both the Random Trait Point and the Random Trait Selection Point were rare rewards distributed to all players only during major events. While it was rare to see them under normal circumstances, during event seasons it had practically become tradition. Players would share their results, brag or commiserate, tossing out lines like “I got screwed,” “I hit the jackpot,” or “Look at this insane trait I just pulled.”

As a result, Do-Jin had a rough idea of the possible traits that could appear in the Random Trait Selection Point table. However, as far as he knew, no one had ever reported pulling Mana Heart in the fifteen years since LOST had launched.

Of course, not everyone shared their results or traits, so it was possible that some undisclosed options existed. Still, the odds of this happening were so astronomically low that it was impossible to wrap his head around.

“Here I am, the main character of some crazy ‘I Woke Up and It Was the Past’ scenario, complaining about probabilities. How ridiculous is that?”

Ridiculous or not, it didn’t change the fact that he had just shattered astronomical odds. This was no time to dwell on the how or why. Sentiment du Fer, Lion’s Heart, and the rest of the Tier 1 traits he had rolled could go out the window. They all paled in comparison to Mana Heart.

This trait wasn’t just powerful; it was notorious for its insane acquisition process. One had to transplant a heart made entirely of mana, and the surgery had less than a 10% success rate. Every failure cost time, money, and one’s life, which meant losing a chunk of experience points.

Yet here it was, laid out in front of him, risk-free, as if the gods themselves had prepared a feast for him. All he had to do was choose.

“Turns out living a good life really does pay off...”

People always said good deeds bring rewards, and maybe they were right. If nothing else, his efforts to help rebuild a devastated village and comfort its despairing people, even when he wanted nothing more than to rest, had finally paid off.

Do-Jin took a deep breath. To avoid any mistakes, he triple-checked his selection before finally confirming Mana Heart.

“

Urgh..

.”

At that exact moment, an indescribable sensation flared up in his chest, a mix of icy cold and burning heat that was impossible to put into words. It was the feeling of his heart being replaced with a new one.

“

Guh

!”

Do-Jin’s body collapsed to the ground. Even in virtual reality, having one's heart disassembled and reconstructed was anything but pleasant. The sensation was akin to someone squeezing and twisting his heart, reshaping it at will. That agonizing feeling lasted for several minutes.

[The trait Mana Heart has been created.]

With the notification confirming the creation of the trait, the pain in Do-Jin’s chest faded away. But that didn’t mean the changes were over. Now equipped with a heart capable of storing a massive amount of mana, his body eagerly absorbed the surplus energy around him.

The Mana Heart, designed to purify and distill mana into its purest form, pumped blood infused with pristine mana throughout his veins. His Magic Circuits responded in kind, adapting to the flow of refined mana. They became tougher, faster, and more efficient, like a machine upgraded with top-of-the-line parts.

[Intelligence stat has increased by 5 points.]

[Stamina stat has increased by 3 points.]

The transformation quickly translated into visible improvements. Seeing the brief messages summarizing the monumental changes happening within him, Do-Jin couldn’t help but smile.

Finally... I can actually catch a break.

This time, he didn’t bother fighting the fatigue. Letting the heaviness take over, he slipped into a deep sleep as his vision faded to black. Both the Do-Jin in LOST and the Do-Jin in reality passed out cold.

***

When he finally woke up, the sky was still dark, and a light drizzle fell over the quiet morning. The last time he’d seen the outside world had also been a rainy dawn, and it stirred a weird sense of déjà vu.

Although... this feels even stranger.

He clenched and unclenched his right hand, the one marked with the Magic Circuits. There was a subtle but undeniable shift. Testing it out, he summoned a flicker of flame at his fingertips.

The mana gathered with ease, faster than ever before, and the spell formed instantly. When he focused, he could feel mana coursing through his entire body, carried by his blood with each heartbeat. The sensation sent a thrill through him, leaving him energized.

“Damn, that feels good,” he muttered, letting a satisfied grin tug at his lips.

Do-Jin spent a few quiet moments soaking in the stillness of the early dawn, relishing the rain as it pattered against the ground. Then he got to work.

“Analyze.”

[Initiating analysis.]

The Grimoire of Truth responded immediately, beginning to decode every spell recorded in its pages. With his strengthened abilities as a mage, the analysis rate shot through the roof.

The Tier 1 spells he used most often now sat at around 20% completion. Testing them out, he found they could be fully cast in less than a second.

Tier 2 spells, which he had learned more recently and used less frequently, hovered between 8 and 9%. As for Tier 3 spells, the highest-level ones he could currently handle, they remained stuck at the base rate of 5%.

Figures. The better I get, the faster the low-tier stuff catches up.

Satisfied with the results, Do-Jin finished his analysis session. Outside, the pale blue light of dawn had shifted to a brighter glow, the sun finally peeking over the horizon. In the distance, raindrops on the grass refracted the morning light into a faint rainbow.

Do-Jin stood, cracking his neck and stretching out his stiff muscles. It was time to hit the road and move on to the next adventure.