Rise Of The Hoarder

It has been three months since the first scenario began.

The tutorial ended, and the world was once again plunged into the unknown.

Confusion reigned among many, but not me. After all… I had been expecting this for quite some time…

The first thing I did after the announcements were made was to check out my new Titles and Skills.

I got a decent amount, and it was a big bonus to begin the serious aspect of the apocalypse with these abilities.

The [Collector] Title I received allowed me to farm Karma Points from performing the same task regardless of how many times I did it. Usually, the rewards dwindled once a person achieved something more than once… but that didn’t apply to me.

The [Overachiever] Title I received gave me a Title Bonus that ensured a 10 percent increase in Skill abilities, so that came in handy.

I received even more Titles within the three months I spent in the first scenario. The most essential of them was the Title [Demon Reaper]. It was basically a more advanced version of the [Demon Slayer] Title and it allowed me to achieve bleed effect on my targets and also gave them the debuff of Fear.

My Ultimate Job had a lot in store for me, and it took some time to figure out the mechanics. But, once I did… it turned out to be even more than I bargained for.

Not only could I steal anything from my target, with the exception of their Gifts and Job-Related Skills, I could also take their Karma Points for myself. It was amazing how convenient the abilities were for me, but with the trash items that most people had, as well as the little Karma they had gotten, it didn’t really bring much profit.

The (G) Candidate Title, one of the weirdest I had gotten so far, gave a very gave idea as to its purpose.

<Grants User Access To The (G) Essence and Assets Belonging To The Sector>_.

That was all the information given about it.

I couldn’t understand it, and there was no means for a proper explanation, so the only way out was to ignore the Title.

Another Title I received was [The One Who Desires All]. This also gave me a vague description.

<Grants User The Ability To Climb The Dimensional Ladder. Current Dimensional Restraint: 3>

This was yet another weird ability that was difficult to decipher!

In conclusion, I received a whooping sum of Karma Points, bringing my total amount to 51,000. It was so unbelievable that I nearly screeched.

By the way, a single Karma Point could earn someone a very balanced meal, decent and exquisite. The meal could also rejuvenate the one who ate it, restoring a portion of their mana and health, as well as filling them up for a whole day.

Even having a thousand was enough to secure a person’s survival for some time!

My initial goal was to rack up as close to 10,000 as I could. Who would have expected this much?

With my newfound fortune, I headed to the SHOP and began buying Skills like crazy!

Of course, it was unfortunate that one couldn’t buy Skill Slots in the SHOP, so I was restricted to how many I had.

Still, with 100 Slots in my possession, I was able to rack up a total of 90 Skills. I left the remaining ten for special circumstances since I had no idea when I could get the opportunity to obtain rare Skills.

INVENTORY was useless to me, so it simply fused with [Subspace] on its own, raising my C Ranked Gift to Level 2.

I went after specific Skills such as Ana’s, Lara’s, Charles’, Tasha, etc. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find Paul’s Gift, making me question whether he was alive or not.

But, I also couldn’t find Daniel’s Gift, which was extremely critical. Since I witnessed Daniel die before my eyes, I couldn’t suspect his survival. So, I simply had to conclude that perhaps someone beat me to the punch.

It was very surprising, though. I never expected anyone to be so sharp and quick about it. Perhaps Paul’s Gift was also taken by the person…

For Skills in the SHOP, they were basically former Gifts. Other Skills could be collected from Demon Cores, so not all of them could be found in SHOP. As a result, even hunting other Demons granted me a bunch of Skills I couldn’t pass up.

In the end, I could only save up 5 Slots, leaving 95 occupied.

My Level also rose to an unprecedented degree thanks to grinding nonstop outside the Towers. I hunted a ton of Grade 2 Demons, occasionally meeting a few Grade 3s in order to rack up as many EXPs and Level Up within the three months I spent.

As a result, my Level was now 501.

Upon being satisfied with this, I decided it was finally time to begin climbing the four Towers… and my first target was the Tower Of Death!

******

“Yes. It’s a Full Restorative Potion.” I replied to Tia.

Her bulging eyes seemed to widen more as she absorbed my words. The expression of the others seemed to intensify as well.

“It’s a Lower Grade one, though… so it’s not too impressive.” I added, opening the lid in order to feed the unconscious girl with the contents of the vial.

Potions were classified into Lower, Intermediate, and Higher Grades. While there were only three, the gap between the two could be described as the distance of heaven and earth.

While many Potions existed and could also be gotten relatively cheaply, especially the Lower Grade ones, some were so rare and ridiculously expensive that people hardly got them. One of such rare Potions was the Full Restorative Potion.

As the name implied, it restored all the Stats and qualities of a Gifted. Though the effects varied according to the Grade, it was still known to be very valuable.

For example, even if an HP Potion restored a Gifted’s Health, if their Mana was low, there was not much they could do to fight. In that sense, a Full Restorative Potion was golden… perfect in any way!

And here I was, using it for a bunch of nobody strangers!

Anyone would think I was either a very good-natured person, or a wasteful fool. Knowing my personality well, I knew it wasn’t any of those three. A third option existed… and that was…

‘Now, then…’

I poured the golden liquid into the mouth of the girl, allowing every last drop to wash down her throat. As I did this, the girl’s body began to glow bright. Her pale face became colorful; and sounds began escaping from her lips.

In essence, she was gaining consciousness.

“U-Urhh…” Sara’s voice sounded weak, but only temporarily.

She soon regained her strength.

For Gifteds in their Level, a Lower Grade Full Restorative Potion was enough to fill up all lost Stats.

I could hear the gratitude and amazed gasps of everyone around me. They thanked me profusely, but I only resorted to my staple response.

“Helping a person in need is only common sense.”

Sara recovered completely, and I also gave Lower Grade Full Recovery Potions to every one as well. Though they were reluctant to accept such lavish gifts, but after I used my ‘good natured’ quote to coax them… they accepted.

‘They’ve taken the bait!’

And so, I grinned more as they downed the contents of the bottle, filling me up with unimaginable excitement.

******

“So, what will you guys do now?” I asked the lot.

They had rested properly and gathered their thoughts together for some time. I had waited long enough.

They glanced at one another, as though trying to decide on their next course of action. They did not have a Return Stone any longer since I took all the items in their possession, plus they were probably not confident in exploring the Tower any longer.

“W-we think we’re going to retire at this point…” Tia muttered.

She went further to explain the rationale of their decision. I had initially thought Darwin would speak, but he was silent for some reason.

‘Is he still feeling guilty about the near-death experience of everyone?’

According to Tia, whom I gave my attention to, they would need to reach a Safe Zone, and then exit the Tower from there. That was their goal.

The problem, however, was that to get there they would need to go past some Spawn Rooms. Even if I had restored their Stats, most of their Skills were in Cooldown. Plus, their gears were basically ruined thanks to the Gluttonous Giant’s assault.

They had used up most of the special effects they had, and the durability was nearly depleted. There was no guarantee they would get to the Safe Area before getting wiped out.

I saw hesitation written on their faces. They probably intended to ask for my help; maybe to give them a Return Stone or guide them to the closest Safe Area.

But… I had another plan in mind!