Chapter 180: Earth Spike

The remaining items were fairly ordinary.

...

[ Physique Enhancement Potion ]

[ Grade ]: Rare

[ Description ]: Permanently increases Physique by 4 points after use. No side effects.

...

[ Skill Book • Earth Spike ]

[ Grade ]: Rare

[ Base Damage ]: 1 to 40

[ Description ]: An elemental skill. After use, you will learn the skill Earth Spike. Requires Earth Element Affinity. Each cast consumes 1 point of Mental Power and launches five earth spikes. When cast on the ground, elemental consumption is reduced by 30 percent. Increasing the amount of Mental Power consumed will raise the skill’s damage multiplier.

...

Joo Joowon had expected that a Boss might drop a skill book, but he had never expected to actually obtain one himself.

Unfortunately, the skill came with usage restrictions.

He did not even know what Element Affinity was.

From the wording alone, Joo Joowon naturally understood the general meaning.

The problem was that he had no idea whether he himself possessed Earth Element Affinity or not.

It was probably similar to the concept of spiritual roots in cultivation novels?

The only question was what would happen if someone without elemental affinity tried to use the skill.

There was only one way to find out.

Joo Joowon selected the option to use the skill.

[ Ding! ]

[ You are not a possessor of Earth Element Affinity and cannot bring out this skill’s maximum potential! ]

[ After learning it, you will only possess its base damage. Do you wish to proceed? ]

Joo Joowon fell into thought and finally understood the purpose of the "base damage" value.

Previously, he had assumed that differences in skill damage would be influenced by equipment or by the user’s techniques.

Now it seemed that the value existed specifically for players whose physiques were incompatible with certain abilities.

Viewed from this perspective, as long as players were willing, it was entirely possible to develop themselves into masters of every element.

The only limitation was that skills incompatible with one’s natural attributes could never be improved through effort and practice.

They would always remain at their base damage values.

Even so, this was still an extremely beneficial design for players.

In reality, the vast majority of people would probably not possess any special constitutions or unique talents.

Ordinary people made up the overwhelming majority.

If a player finally obtained a skill book only to discover that the skill belonged to a category they could not use, and if there were no way to exchange it, then all of the effort spent obtaining it would have been wasted.

The existence of base damage at least gave incompatible players an opportunity.

After all, there were no machines capable of testing these things.

Who could possibly know in advance which class or affinity suited them best?

Moreover, even if someone possessed absolutely no magical talent whatsoever, most people would probably not reject the idea of having one or two long range magical attacks available to them.

Looking at it this way, the future market value of skill books might not necessarily favor those specialized toward a single element or profession.

Instead, highly specialized skills might end up in situations where they had a price but no supply.

Meanwhile, universally usable skills could very well end up in extremely high demand.

Of course, this also depended on how rare universal skills actually were.

If their drop rate was not particularly low, then although they might still sell out immediately whenever they appeared on the marketplace, their prices would at least remain within a reasonable range instead of becoming so expensive that ordinary players could never afford them.

The Spider Web Launcher consumed an enormous amount of Mental Power.

Joo Joowon’s Mental Power were already fairly high, so he was still inclined to believe that he possessed some kind of magical talent.

It simply seemed likely that Earth was not the element he was naturally compatible with.

Because of that, Joo Joowon had no intention of using this skill.

Although the rare grade skill seemed to have fairly decent damage, he was not lacking in ranged attack methods at the moment.

To be honest, the attack power of Earth Spike only seemed average.

Compared to the ranged attack methods Joo Joowon currently possessed, it did not display any particularly great advantages.

Because of this, Joo Joowon planned to first ask HighlyCultured whether the system had any kind of skill slot limitation.

If such a restriction existed, then he definitely would not learn the Earth Spike skill.

If there were no restrictions, then it might at least be worth considering.

Though only considering it.

He did not know why this skill had been classified as rare grade.

Perhaps it possessed a high upper limit, but that had nothing to do with players like him who could only use the basic damage version of the skill.

As a result, at present, this skill simply did not hold much attraction for him.

It could be kept in reserve and traded away in the future instead.

...

[ Big Belly Belt ]

[ Grade ]: Rare

[ Durability ]: 4/4

[ Equipment Slot ]: Belt

[ Equipment Bonuses ]: Constitution +3, Strength +2

[ Equipment Requiremen ]t: Waist circumference not less than 90

[ Description ]: A belt specially designed for overweight individuals. Maximum supported waist circumference: 500 cm

...

Joo Joowon fell completely silent.

Huh?

He could not help carefully recalling his physical measurements.

Ever since he started working, he had not paid attention to his weight for a very long time, let alone measurements such as waist circumference.

The clothes he bought were always loose fitting styles, so there had never been any need to pay close attention to such numbers.

He had broad bones, was tall, and rarely exercised, so he had always carried a bit of a stomach.

In the past, Joo Joowon would never have worried about whether or not he could fit into this equipment.

However, as his attributes increased, his body had gradually become healthier and more standard in shape.

His proportions had improved as well.

His abdomen had become fairly firm and faint muscle lines could just barely be seen.

It was true that after the apocalypse, his body had become more balanced as his attributes increased.