'TEET!!! TEET!!!’ Cade’s alarm clock rang. Lazily, he reached his alarm clock and turned it off. Cade arrived home late yesterday after he completed the slime dungeon.

After he arrived home, he cleaned himself and went straight to sleep. He was too tired and took only a few minutes before he started snoozing.

It had been a week since he skipped class. He did not want to go at first but thinking that he had skipped classes a lot, he decided to go.

Cade prepared himself and took the bus to his college. His college was as lively as ever. Some students were studying in a grassy field, some students played sports, some playing around and many more.

While he walked into his faculty’s building, he saw from afar that a guild was recruiting freelancing explorers. Those types of recruitment were common.

There were quite a lot of explorers among the students and it was easy to know who it was by looking at their attendance.

Since explorers needed to go to many places far away from their home, they will usually be absent from class just like what had happened to Cade.

In Cade’s class alone, including him, there were 10 explorers. Some of them were much more active as explorers while some were exploring to get some pocket money for their studies and so they were usually coming to class.

However, Cade wanted to explore the dungeon by himself. He wanted to go solo and thus, all that recruitment did not interest him at all.

Cade was planning to go exploring another dungeon after he got enough rest from his last exploration.

Cade’s day in his class went without much happening. It was the same boring day he had as before. He had no friends and he had no intention of finding friends either.

After his class ended, Cade went home as usual after he stopped at a supermarket to buy some groceries. He left his home for almost a week and there was nothing he could eat at home.

Once he arrived home, he arranged his grocery properly in his refrigerator and cabinet. Once he was done with that, Cade went online to sell his equipment drop.

He got five equipment in the beginning but he had thrown away the body armor and one of the equipment was used as tax. So, he only had three more of them.

All three of the equipment was Grade E and thus, it will not fetch him a lot of money. However, that money will be enough for him to use for a few months. Cade was not a big spender, so, it will be enough for him.

There were rules for the price setting of the equipment. The rules were based on the equipment grade, level, stat, and effects.

One level was equal to 100 space credits. If a piece of equipment was level 10, it will have a value of 1000 space credits.

A piece of equipment will commonly have two different stats. One was durability while the other depended on the equipment.

If it was a weapon, it would usually have an attack stat or magic stat. If it was armor, it would have a defense stat.

For every stat available, 100 space credits will be added not counting on durability. Having more than two stats for a piece of equipment was rare but when equipment had three or more stats, rather than 100 space credits, 1000 space credits will be added for three stats and 5000 space credits for four stats.

However, that kind of equipment was super rare. Even if there were one, it will be a high grade.

Some equipment had an effect and every effect a piece of equipment had will add 1000 space credits to their value.

Lastly, after level, stats and effects were counted, the grade will determine their value. For grade E, the total value calculated earlier will be multiplied by 10.

For example, a grade E level 7 bow with attack stat will have a price of 8000 space credits. 700 space credits for its level 7 and two stats meant another 100 space credits totaled to 800 space credits. Since it was grade E, it will be multiplied by 10 which will have the price of 8000 space credits.

No matter the type of equipment, they would all use this basic calculation. However, some people managed to get more when the equipment had some aesthetic value or it was made from rare materials.

The basic calculation was done to get the minimum price of that equipment.

Cade had one level 7, level 8 and level 10 equipment. When he sold all of the equipment online, he got about 25 000 space credits. Enough for him to last for a few months.

Once Cade finished dealing with the equipment, he took out the skill book he got from the boss slime. The cover of the skill book wrote ‘Grade E Level 15 Physical Resistance’.

It was a good skill for Cade who fought close range and he decided to learn it by himself.

All skills had grade and level. The grade and level will determine how strong the skill will be. However, the skill could not grow stronger. Its effect will become stronger when the user of the skill increased in stat but that was it.

All explorers will get three free slot skills when they awakened. One was used for the random skill they got when awakened and left with only two slots.

Luckily, the slot increased every time an explorer gained five levels and explorers can also remove the skill they had learned before. So, there was no need to worry about wasting a skill slot, only wasting money because the skill book was expensive.

The skill book was that of low grade but at Cade’s current level, it was suitable for him. Cade did not hesitate and opened the skill book.

[Learn Physical Resistance?] said the system. Cade said yes and the skill book vanished from his hand. His mind was suddenly filled with information about the skill and he gained a lot of understanding about the skill.

The process went on for one hour and after an hour, the system told Cade that he had learned the skill of physical resistance.

Cade checked his physical resistance skill and upon seeing it, Cade was shocked.

Skill: Physical Resistance (Passive)

Grade: E

Level: 1

Mastery: 1% [Grade E Level 1 magic crystal]

Effects: 10% physical resistance against physical attack from grade E opponent. The effect lowered by 90% when receiving an attack from grade D opponent. Ineffective against higher grade opponents.

Cade was shocked to see that the level was reset and a new column was added mastery. Cade guessed that for him to level up his skill, he needed to increase his mastery.

Looking at it, Cade knew it was the work of his link growth skill. Looking at his skill, he sighed. It needed more magic crystal.

Magic crystal was not as expensive as equipment, skill book, and puzzle because they were common. For Cade, the magic crystal will be the most expensive to him because he had so many uses for them.

He needed magic crystal for his linked equipment, he needed them for his grade increase too and now, he needed it for his skills.

Even if the magic crystal were common, they were used for many things and their demands were extremely high. It was hard to buy them because big companies and factories usually emptied the magic crystal in the market by buying all of them.

For Cade to get more magic crystals, he needed to get it himself. It was a hassle but there was nothing he could do.

Cade checked the magic crystals he got from killing that army of slime. He currently had 80 pieces of level 9 and 50 pieces of level 10 vitality crystals. He got a lot of magic crystals from fighting hundreds of slimes at the same time.

Cade decided to use the magic crystals to increase his potential grade first. It was important because it affects the number of stat points gained from leveling up.

Cade used 56 pieces of level 9 vitality crystals and increased his grade from E to D. Now that his grade was D, Cade will get 20 stat points every time he leveled up.

Cade used the remaining 24 pieces of level 9 vitality crystals to increase the mastery of his physical resistance skill.

Cade’s physical resistance skill’s level increased to level 3. He can resist 30% physical damage from grade E opponents.

Cade used the remainder of his magic crystals on his linked equipment. He focused on increasing his cardboard round shield to the limit before he started on his other equipment.

Name: Cardboard Round Shield

Level: 9

Next Level: 0 level 1 magic crystal

Durability: 250

Defense: 200

After his cardboard round shield reached the level limit, Cade used the leftover vitality crystals to increase all of his linked equipment. Luckily, he had more than enough magic crystals and made them reach their level limit.

His other equipment had more or less the same amount of stat as his cardboard round shield. Cade loved making his equipment had the same amount of stat so that it was easier for him to keep track of them.