[Top-up successful!]
[Your current balance: 1,244,948 Beli]
Klein immediately used the materials obtained from the top-up to upgrade the Training Room. That way, he could start benefiting from the EXP bonus brought by the upgrade early on.
Wasn't that just perfect?
[Required Exclusive Stones to upgrade Training Room: 100]
Without hesitation, Klein tapped the "Upgrade" button. A hammer appeared on screen, banging away at the shabby, broken-down Training Room.
[This upgrade will take: 0 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds]
[Congratulations, Host has received a free "Forge Acceleration Card" x1. Reduces forge time by 1 hour. Use now?]
[Yes!]
With the use of the Acceleration Card, the progress bar instantly filled. The forging was complete, and a notification popped up.
[Training Room upgrade successful. Current Level: LV.2. EXP bonus: +5%.]
But Klein wasn't thrilled. He had thought the Training Room would upgrade immediately with just Upgrade Stones. He didn't expect it to take time. Just as he feared from all those shady "indie devs"...
And sure enough.
When he spent 200 Upgrade Stones to push the Training Room to LV.3, the upgrade time doubled to 2 hours.
[Would you like to buy a Forge Acceleration Card Bundle?]
[300 Beli, 680 Beli, 1280 Beli, 6480 Beli]
The four-tier "Special Offers" showed up dead center on the screen, just like always. Each bundle clearly listed how many acceleration cards were included:
1, 3, 6, and 40 respectively.
Klein felt a sinking feeling in his chest. He was all too familiar with this classic cash-grab setup from his past life.
One slow step leads to another!
Others buy it, and you don't?
Then enjoy falling to the bottom of the rankings...
"Buy it!"
"The sooner I upgrade, the sooner I benefit. Each level of the Training Room adds 5% EXP gain. No way I'm cheaping out now!"
[Top-up successful!]
[Your current balance: 1,236,288 Beli]
Spending 2 acceleration cards, he boosted the Training Room instantly to LV.3, with a 10% EXP bonus.
But the next upgrade now required 300 stones—and Klein was 100 short.
"Out of stones already..." Klein groaned. The Training Room's level directly affected his EXP gain.
"Guess I'll check the shop."
Exiting the Training Room and opening the in-game shop, he quickly found "Training Room Upgrade Stones" on the shelves. Price per stone? 100 Beli.
The glaring price tag made Klein's eye twitch. He grumbled inwardly, "They're not even pretending anymore?"
"Straight-up charging Beli..."
He'd played plenty of games before—stuff like "Immortal Stones," "Spirit Gems," "Celestial Jade," or "Diamonds." You'd top-up real money to get premium currency, then spend that on bundles or items.
But paying directly in cash?
This was a first.
And naturally, the price was even worse than the bundles. The value was obvious. But when he thought about the EXP gain from upgrading, and checked his balance...
"I'm topping up!"
He did a quick mental calculation—100 stones would cost 10,000 Beli. With over a million in his account, "I'll start with 100,000."
He immediately bought 1,000 Upgrade Stones, then rushed back into the Training Room to level up.
Burning through 700 stones and 12 acceleration cards, he pushed the Training Room to LV.5. His EXP bonus had now reached 20%.
Add in the 5% from the monthly card—that made 25% EXP bonus total.
Not bad at all!
A small spend for a huge boost. Upgrading the Training Room would benefit him forever—it was bound to happen eventually.
So why not do it early and enjoy it sooner?
At LV.5, the Training Room looked a lot more refined. No longer dilapidated, it now had new equipment.
His chibi in-game character was rhythmically punching a sandbag, earning EXP with every strike.
Even though he'd only played for a little while and already spent over 100,000 Beli, Klein didn't feel the least bit bad about it.
This money-hungry game from his past life—clearly made in China—was oddly nostalgic. It even gave him a bit of that old "training sim" satisfaction. Not quite as fun as raising lolis, maybe, but it still felt worth the Beli.
It was like reliving the joy of gaming in his previous life. A good way to kill time.
Besides…
He comforted himself: "At the Marine Academy, meals and housing are covered. I don't even have anything else to spend on. And who knows—maybe this game is the key to changing my life. Spending a little to test it out isn't that big a deal."
"I'll leave it running overnight and see how it goes. After all, I still don't know how this game will actually affect my future."
Clearing his mind,
He exited the game screen in his head—just in time to hear loud snoring from the bunk above...
"..."
"Shit, I forgot Garp snores like a wild beast." Klein didn't even need to look—he knew Garp probably had a huge snot bubble pulsing with every breath.
Resigned, Klein covered his ears and turned over, only to see Sengoku on the opposite bunk gritting his teeth, clearly suffering from Garp's thunderous snoring.
The Next Morning.
"Hey—Ponytail guy! Wake up! You're gonna be late if you don't get up!" Garp was shaking Klein's body.
Klein groggily opened his eyes, utterly exhausted. He didn't even know when he fell asleep last night—he just remembered counting sheep for what felt like forever.
"So tired... ah—" Klein yawned. His eyelids felt like lead, and his whole body was limp, like the walking dead, as he stumbled toward the showers.
But when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror—
"Holy shit!? That's me??"
His eyes were swollen into full-on panda mode.
"Panda dude, rough night?" Garp turned and looked at him.
Not far off, Sengoku's bloodshot eyes glared daggers at Garp, full of murderous intent.
Cursing in his heart: "Garp, you bastard. Sharing a room with you is hell!!"
Klein rubbed his 'panda eyes' and thought, "These dark circles are insane. Did the anime art style leak into reality or something?"
"Anyone who doesn't know better would think I'm some frail little weakling…"
Even though his physical stats were decent, those dark circles still appeared—looking like someone smeared soot on his face.
Staring into the mirror, those hideous rings actually woke him up more than any cold water could.
Suddenly reminded of the idle Pirate game he'd unlocked last night, Klein immediately dove back into his mind to check on his in-game self.
[AFK complete. This session's Training Room EXP gain: 113]
[Level up! LV.1 → LV.2]
[EXP: 13/200]
[HP: 100 → 110]
[Attack: …]
[Defense: …]
[Physique: 5 → 6]