Min-ho remained quiet for a while, contemplating what this all meant. The more he lingered, the more he found his caution giving way to enthusiasm.
If this wasn't a glitch, then this would be nothing short of a goldmine.
Having to grind for half the amount of Coins to grow to the next Tier was an opportunity that was undeniably powerful.
Wanting to temper his expectations, he decided to search for their names through the System Center.
He willed all the screens to go away, then he thought of the search bar.
It appeared, then he typed in Dok-su's name.
Just like as of recent, several Systems appeared before him.
He didn't think too much on it this time, as his curiosity was burning in his mind.
He combed through the slew of Systems till he found Dok-su's screen.
When he did, he didn't focus on anything that wasn't the Rank. He expanded it and was left astonished.
[—Rank—]
[Rank: E, Tier 3]
[Coins Until Next Tier: 0/1,000,000]
His suspicions were now confirmed. The reason for the halving of the Coins needed to level up was due to his Affinity Monarch's Will.
Apparently, there was more to his Affinity than he had initially thought.
Min-ho grinned.
There was a way to guarantee their survival after all.
Going back to his Affinity menu, he selected Dok-su's Rank, then he stared at the numbers for a second.
With a deep exhale, he thought to add Coins to it—10,000 Coins to be exact.
[—Rank—]
[Rank: E, Tier 3]
[Coins Until Next Tier: 10,000/500,000]
He then turned his sights to Dok-su's actual System menu.
[—Rank—]
[Rank: E, Tier 3]
[Coins Until Next Tier: 20,000/1,000,000]
He gasped.
'It worked,' he held his mouth in disbelief.
He then began to laugh as he fell on his bed, floating in the air like he was lying on an invisible bed.
'We're going to survive this,' Min-ho thought, his mind drifting toward his sister Su-min.
With an exhale, he snapped out of his daze then dismissed all the screens. After which, he started looking for more Systems with exorbitant Gifts coming in, so he could steal them.
As he looked, he began to think about what he would do about the strangers.
'Maybe kill them all? That would save me the headache.' He grinned. Such a thing was easier said than done. But maybe not for Sae-wee.
This thought made the hair on his skin rise for some unknown reason. He didn't like the fact that he made that joke internally. Neither did he like the fact that there could be a potential serial killer in their team.
Yet, she didn't seem like it. And everything she had done so far had been in their best interest.
'This is not important right now.' He was going off track. The trio was the problem right now.
He stopped his travels across the System Center when he found a candidate.
This Z-Streamer was receiving loads of Gifts.
He didn't hesitate switching out their Gift Cords, then he returned to the immediate matter.
He contemplated for a while, then something lit up in his mind.
[Name: Mee Min-ho, Rank: E]
[Affinities, Equipment]
[Inventory, Shop]
[Coins: 81,650]
[Affinities: Monarch's Will]
Looking at his Affinity, he took in another deep breath before expanding it.
[[Monarch's Will]]
[Affinity Type: Passive, Affinity Rank: E]
[Monarch's Will: If a subject is made through the kissing of a hand, the Monarch will be able to control the subjects to a certain degree and gain a percentage of the subject's collected Coins without affecting their own total. Percentage increases by increments of 10% for every two subjects gotten. Increments will cease to continue once the limit of 20 subjects has been reached]
[Uses Available: Unlimited, Whiplash: Death's Revenge]
[Subsidiary Affinities: Command, Enhance, Sacrifice]
[Subjects: Cho Im-hee, Han Dok-su, Han Ji-su, Ji Jang-book]
Min-ho expanded the Command option.
[——Command——]
[Affinity Type: Active, Affinity Rank: E]
[Command: If a subject is being hostile, a single word can bring them to their knees]
[Uses Available: Unlimited, Whiplash: None]
[Activation Cost: None]
He stared at the description for a while.
'This could be it,' he thought.
If he could somehow make them his Subjects, he could keep them in check if they ever tried to hurt his peers.
But…
He expanded his Whiplash.
[Death's Revenge: If a subject under the Monarch's rule dies, the death of the subject will be shared with the Monarch depending on his taxing percentage]
[Current taxing percentage: 20%]
If anyone of his peers were to meet an unruly end, there would be a twenty percent chance he would share their fate.
And if he were to add three more Subjects, that percent would increase by 10.
What would happen if he couldn't control them with the Command Subsidiary Affinity and they got killed by them?
He suddenly became weak.
There were just so many uncertainties.
He cleaned out his eyes in frustration.
'There has to be a way out of this.'
He had spent a good amount of time stealing Coins and contemplating what their options were.
By the time the Coins stopped coming in, he had accumulated a total of 122,550 Coins. Half of which had been spent on growing Dok-su, the other half he used to purchase a new dagger worth 20,000 Coins.
[[Casalis' Tooth]]
[Rank: E, Tier: 3]
[Durability: 300/300]
[Enchantments: Critical]
Description: Dagger made from the tooth of Casalis, the mighty sea snake. Through the fine craftsmanship of the Werbein blacksmiths, the dagger has retained the ability of Casalis to deal heavy damage to its enemies.
Though he would have held off on purchasing anything for now, he just couldn't resist the Enchantment the dagger boasted.
[Critical: 5% chance to deal damage equivalent to a Tier One weapon on each strike]
The chances didn't seem like much, but considering he was going to be striking almost every second, the Enchantment seemed to be worth the price.
Finally having reached his limit, Min-ho yawned then turned to all the Systems.
Perhaps there could be more out there that were getting tons of Gifts even at this very moment. But finding them would take too much time. Time he didn't have.
He needed to rest up, so he would be ready for the day.
With that settled, he reluctantly exited the System Center, then he turned in for the night.