I Gain Infinite Gold Just By Waiting-Chapter 262: Episode 52_Point Maker (3)

3.

There is one reason games with heavy monetization models appeal only to a small group of hardcore fans.

They don’t have the kind of walls you see in other games.

Or rather, the walls exist, but they are glass ceilings that can be shattered purely with cash.

In normal games, the majority of players are the target audience, so even if the developers try to encourage spending, they don’t structure the entire game around it. Even if players complain, at worst the game sells some enhancement materials for real money.

That’s why the games most people call “pay-to-win” actually lean even harder into that concept. They’re a challenge to the rich: who will win, the player or the pretty graphics? In return, they promise to deliver as much vicarious satisfaction and thrill as you’re willing to pay for.

Naturally, people who have grown sick of cash-grab content—from the PC game generation, through countless web games, all the way to mobile games—don’t open their wallets easily. Some still throw money at it first and think later, but once full-dive VR games arrived, even those types didn’t stick around in such games for long.

Gameplay absolutely mattered.

And just as important as gameplay was the size of the player base.

What was the point of investing hundreds of millions, even billions, to make your character strong? If the only "people" in the game were NPCs spouting pre-scripted lines, it would be far more efficient to just buy a single-player game with cheat codes for a fraction of the price.

People spend money to be seen.

For that, you need gameplay, and you also need elements that make the game appealing enough for people who don’t spend money. Those two elements are almost impossible to mix, but if you manage to blend them properly, you can capture both the ultra-whales and the casual players who keep the game alive.

It’s not something you see often.

But if you ask nine out of ten people, there is one game they all name in unison.

—Dungeon Online. I want to quit, but I just can’t.

—This trash game lets you climb as long as you have money, but you can’t buy a Class with cash, so I can’t quit.

—Even the richest person in the world gets stuck around level 50 if they only have a Normal Class. It’s insane.

—Still, that’s something. Even if you can’t reach the top, you can at least run dungeons with people you’d never even be able to make eye contact with in real life.

A real-world dungeon game.

The haves can climb endlessly, but the game has so much charm that the have-nots can’t bring themselves to quit just out of spite. The wall between top-tier players is so thick it feels like you could grind your whole life and never break through, but that doesn’t mean they harm lower-tier players.

The gap can be overwhelmingly demoralizing during certain events, but the devs don’t only release content that high-level, well-geared players can monopolize. In a way, you could say the game is run very well.

So people often say:

—At least this game has a lot of built-in restrictions, which is a relief. When you see that even someone like Fly hasn’t reached the end yet, you can still look forward to the endgame content.

—As long as Fly doesn’t suddenly start a war or something, this is a god-tier game. Even if he hogs almost all the content, it’s not like it hurts me.

—If anything, there are a lot of items whose prices are stable thanks to Fly.

—Keep wrecking all the price-fixing bastards for us.

Kim Buja was no different.

“Seeing that even Fly, with gear like that, is still only at that level... If this were just a game, it really would be something you could play for a lifetime.”

That was what he had thought, and after awakening as a player, he became even more certain. He had felt the wall as he chased after the top, experienced the pain of growth, and when he finally thought he had caught up, he saw Fly’s true power and realized this game demanded even more effort.

But after seeing the Armor of the Demon God, a different line came out of his mouth.

“This game is absolute garbage.”

His opinion hadn’t actually changed. He was simply expressing his awe at the absurd results that points—and a lot of them—could produce.

“This is insane.”

Of course, it wasn’t something just anyone could do. The very act of gathering other people’s points was only possible because he was a Gold Maker, and it was his own effort that had turned those specks of dust into a mountain.

But looking only at the end result, it was undeniably overpowered.

He could put it simply and clearly.

“I’ve surpassed Fly.”

Even though the item’s options were completely broken, there were no penalties attached. And while it required three separate conditions to equip, he had grown enough to meet all of them, allowing him to enjoy the pure upside.

Level 71.

That hard-earned level, achieved by clearing the Tower of Trials and completing this Gold Mission, was now official proof that he was no longer beneath Fly.

From Fly’s perspective, it would be infuriating. He had the power, authority, and money to buy practically any item he wanted, yet he couldn’t even dream of touching something on the level of what Kim Buja had just purchased.

That was the difference, and it had flipped their positions in an instant.

How could he possibly lose now?

▷ When all fragments of the Demon God are collected, a hidden effect is activated.

2-SET: All Stats +35%

3-SET: Damage Dealt of All Attributes +22%

4-SET: Attack Power +31% / Defense Penetration +42%

5-SET: Advent of the Demon God usable

“If I can’t kill the Demon King while wearing this absolutely busted, broken, scam-level set, then I deserve to die.”

Fly was no longer the problem.

At this point, he didn’t even feel like he could lose to the Demon King.

* * *

Kim Buja’s next video went up not long after.

“Thanks to the support and help of so many of you, I’ve finished preparing my gear for the showdown with the Demon King. All that’s left is to raise my level and gather gold to boost my stats as much as possible. Before that, I want to take on a challenge for the subscribers who trusted me and bought the video. The two 9-star dungeon runs I promised Fly before. I’ll be doing one of them live, three days from now.”

The announcement was such a huge deal that it instantly snuffed out all the controversy surrounding his Gold Mission video. People who hated him tried to latch onto anything they could, but there was no comparison to be made in the first place.

How could you possibly talk about a video of another world—practically a drama in its own right—on the same level as the final dungeon of reality?

—Holy crap. 9-star?

—He’s going already?

—I thought he’d kill the Demon King first.

—Wait, is that even possible?

Above all, it was a dungeon that was still considered an untouchable realm.

Even if Fly had broken through the level 70 wall.

Even if an update had opened access to dungeons two tiers higher.

The difficulty was on a whole other level than simply meeting the entry requirements. The reason for the skepticism was simple: the difficulty spike from 7-star to 8-star had been massive, and everyone expected the jump to 9-star to be even worse.

In that situation, Kim Buja made his declaration.

Boldly.

“I picked a simple Unique dungeon for the run.”

—Is he out of his mind?

—If you want to die, die alone. Don’t drag Fly with you.

The reaction was explosive. Everyone voiced their worries and concerns, but his decision didn’t change.

“I’ve already discussed it with Fly, and there will be no changes. Ah! And if it turns out to be too easy, I’ll do a bonus solo run of a Special dungeon and upload that as well.”

Everyone knew he wasn’t the type of player to spout baseless bravado. So instead of thinking he was just trying to stir up hype, they assumed he had a reason.

It wasn’t hard to guess what that reason was.

—Just how good is the new gear he got?

—Isn’t that what he’s wearing right now?

—The visuals are on point, at least.

—Let’s see it already!

—Yeah, it must be crazy good.

—He must’ve raked it in with that last video.

As the conversation shifted in that direction, Kim Buja subtly averted his gaze.

“Then I’ll see you all in the dungeon run video.”

He had never really hidden things before. No matter what item he got, he would show it off in a video before anyone even asked, and that openness had made people feel both interested in and comfortable with him.

But this time, he didn’t.

—Why’s he hiding it?

—Come on, the reason’s obvious.

—It’s too good to show off, isn’t it?

It wasn’t just Kim Buja; this was true for every player.

The reason you hid your gear. The reason you kept your good items wrapped up tight instead of bragging about them.

Because nothing good came from letting people know.

He knew that if people saw it, their first reaction wouldn’t be admiration, but a toxic cocktail of envy, jealousy, and resentment.

Which only made people more curious.

—He’ll show it eventually, right?

—Even if he doesn’t, that’s probably why he’s doing it live.

—Let’s just wait and see.

How much had he changed?

A 9-star Unique dungeon.

What would the final dungeon, revealed to the world for the first time, actually look like?

Time flew by.

4.

Another dungeon run.

The sight of the two legends gathered in one place was becoming familiar. Even so, the atmosphere was quite different from the last time they tackled the 8-star Legendary dungeon. The reason was obvious: the gear Buja was wearing had changed.

The higher you climbed in level, the less a ranker’s gear changed. The top-tier armor that a ranker had worn one or two years ago would still look exactly the same today. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to change out of items they had grown used to. Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t replace good gear unless something even better came along. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Gear better than the items they had poured their hearts into acquiring.

It sounded nice in theory, but if upgrading were that easy, life would be much simpler.

Even Fly was still wearing the same armor he had equipped when he first hit level 70.

That was why people’s attention was drawn even more to Kim Buja.

That glossy, jet-black sheen.

Sword in hand, he entered the dungeon alongside Fly.

The stream went live a moment later.

—A 9-star dungeon raid with rank 1 and rank 2.

—I never thought I’d see the day Fly’s first place got broken.

—Wait, when did that even happen? One day I looked and suddenly Kim Buja was number one.

—No idea. After that continent video dropped, he was just... first.

With a palpable sense of excitement, the inside of the 9-star Unique dungeon unfolded before them.

There was nothing particularly special. Just a background that matched the dungeon’s concept and monsters that looked strong at a glance.

And a hologram that proved this was indeed a 9-star Unique dungeon.

—Wow, nine clear conditions. How do you even clear all that?

—LMAO, nine? You’d have to live in the dungeon for a month.

For regular players, it was pure shock. It took a while just to read through all the clear conditions. Sorting them out and planning a route to clear the dungeon would be an even bigger headache.

But there was something even worse waiting for them.

—Damn...

A 9-star dungeon. Possibly the final stage of all dungeons. Everyone had expected it to be on a completely different level from anything before, and they weren’t wrong.

—It’s Unique, but there are six penalties?

—Weren’t Legendaries capped at five?

A reality that defied all common sense greeted the players the moment they set foot inside.

* * *