[Forbidden Fruit of Eden] [Effect: Each player may use it only once. After use, increases all base stats by 50%.] [Negative effect 1: The consumer gains the original sin attribute and will be hunted by all angels.] [Negative effect 2: If killed, the consumer's stats revert to their original values.]
This seemed like something made for the fun of it.
A World Item that was both powerful and trash.
The corner of Roy's mouth twitched.
This item was extremely powerful, because a player's base stats never changed except when they leveled up.
Many players racked their brains over class builds just to obtain higher stats and better skills.
Yet using this World Item increased base stats by 50%.
It had severe drawbacks in the game. For instance, the world's top guild was the Seraphim Guild. Eating this thing was practically asking to die. But would angels hunt him down in the New World?
Roy thought he could use it together with the [Fallen Angel Wings].
Once he created the Satan class, he could feed the resulting being a Forbidden Fruit of Eden and see whether it worked.
Looking at it, Roy couldn't help marveling at the sheer variety of World Items.
Although he had seen the backend scripts on the test server, he had never actually held these items.
Now he was getting his hands on them one by one, experiencing a level of gaming enjoyment he had never known before.
He continued gathering loot.
The twenty-first item was the [Book of Forbidden Magic].
[Effect 1: Players with magic classes can learn one random forbidden spell by reading the Book of Forbidden Magic.] [Effect 2: After learning the spell, the player receives a random negative buff that cannot be removed. Its duration depends on the player's strength.] [Effect 3: If the spell obtained is far beyond the player's strength, the negative effect will be more severe.]
Forbidden magical knowledge-it was somewhat like Ainz's Dark Wisdom.
Except Ainz hadn't needed to pay a price. Simply by killing players in PvP, he had acquired 718 spells, making him an exception to the rules.
This Book of Forbidden Magic, however, had no upper limit.
Not bad.
Roy put the spellbook away, even though he had already collected the vast majority of the game's spells.
In truth, though, the game had many special spells that couldn't be obtained by creating NPCs.
With this Book of Forbidden Magic, there would be side effects, but for an Immortal, there was nothing he couldn't overcome.
So he continued collecting World Items.
Roy had planned to take a break after collecting twenty, but instead, he had awakened a gamer's instinct.
The urge to collect.
World Items entered his treasury one after another.
Even with a guidebook, the sense of reward remained immense.
After spending so much money and preparing for so many years, Roy experienced the joy of gaming for the first time and felt pure happiness.
The twenty-second item was the [Eye of Cthulhu].
[Effect 1: Offer sacrifices to an indescribable being to inflict random negative buffs on enemies. The richer the sacrifices, the stronger the buffs.] [Negative effect: You are using the Abyss, and he is using you too.]
Roy sucked in a breath.
In the game, this item wasn't actually all that powerful.
It merely inflicted negative buffs on groups of enemies. Generally, even killing the targets wouldn't remove them, and they would persist for a long time.
From a gaming perspective, it really wasn't absurdly powerful. At most, it was a tribute to Cthulhu lore.
But in the New World, this thing would be extremely dangerous and could very well cause severe contamination.
While his enemies suffered the negative effects, he would suffer mental corruption himself.
Unless he had absolutely no other choice, he had better not use it.
Roy hurriedly took out a divine item specifically designed for sealing and sealed the thing away.
The twenty-third item was the [Bottle of the Great Flood].
[Effect: Open the bottle to unleash a world-destroying flood. Its waters flow endlessly and will submerge an entire world. The flood will last for at least seven days.]
This was a world-destroying item, worthy of being counted among the top-tier Twenty.
It just didn't seem particularly useful.
Even in the game, it might do nothing more than open an enormous dungeon, without providing any benefits.
However crazy Roy might be, he wouldn't flood the entire world.
It could only serve as a rare collectible.
The twenty-fourth item was [Ryza's Cauldron of the Sage].
[Effect: The holder can use sacrifices to create the pinnacle of alchemy, the philosopher's stone.]
Players with the alchemist crafting class could use various materials to create items, and the philosopher's stone was known as a universal material.
That was because it could improve the quality of all kinds of weapons. A legendary item refined with a philosopher's stone could potentially become a divine item.
Good stuff.
Though, with so few living beings in the New World, whether he could refine even one philosopher's stone remained unknown.
Still, it was clearly the ultimate treasure for an alchemist.
Roy was very satisfied with it and continued gathering loot.
As long as something was a World Item, it generally had a specific use.
World Items appeared one after another.
[Ma Liang's Quill], [Jiang Ziya's Fishing Rod], [Food God's Golden Cauldron], [Saint George's Dragon-Slaying Spear], [Plow of Abundance], [Nidhogg's Dragon Blood Vial], [All-Seeing Eye]...
Not every World Item possessed tremendous combat power.
But they certainly offered a rich variety.
If Roy successfully brought them into reality, these riches alone would be enough for him to live happily in any world.
By the time he collected the final World Item, only five days had passed.
The hundredth item was [Laplace's Demon].
[Effect: It gathers the information you want to know throughout the entire world.]
Laplace's Demon represented omniscience and omnipotence.
Of course, it wasn't that absurdly powerful in the game. It could only eavesdrop on sounds and conversations in public areas.
Its actual function in the game was equivalent to letting him plant listening devices wherever he wanted in the game world's public spaces.
Private spaces were off-limits, or players would sue the developers for violating their privacy.
Thus, it was a relatively weak World Item, without any overwhelmingly powerful abilities.
But Roy knew that if he successfully brought it into reality in the New World, it would become an unrivaled tool for stealing information.
That was enough.
Over these past few days, no other player had managed to obtain a single one.
Including the World Crown, Roy had pocketed a total of one hundred World Items.
In a sense, he could publicly proclaim that all the treasures in this world belonged to the King of the World.
Wonderful.
He couldn't bear to put down a single World Item.
Roy admired his hard-earned spoils in the treasury, momentarily forgetting even his final task.
"Roy is still in the game?"
His eldest brother, Arthur, wasn't a patient man.
Even though they had agreed to make a decision after a month, he still studied Roy's movements every day.
His subordinate reported:
"Yes, young master!"
"Young Master Roy logs into Yggdrasil for more than sixteen hours every day."
Arthur asked in bewilderment:
"Nothing else out of the ordinary?"
"Nothing."
"Young Master Roy hasn't even spoken to the maids or the butler."
"He hasn't done anything besides play the game."
"Although we couldn't obtain video footage, Nanorobot Lie-Detection Technology indicates that he wasn't lying."
"Through insiders at Yggdrasil, we also confirmed that Young Master Roy logs in on schedule every day and is thoroughly enjoying himself."
After reading all the information, Arthur looked bewildered.
What exactly was his eighth brother doing?
Arthur's butler couldn't help saying cautiously:
"According to our investigation, the game will shut down in another two days."
"Perhaps Young Master Roy intends to wait until the servers shut down before handling his other affairs."
Arthur said through gritted teeth:
"He's certainly living without a care. What a bastard!"
Sometimes Arthur envied Roy, even though Roy's wealth couldn't compare to his at all.
He already controlled a portion of the Higuma Family's shares, and the social resources at his disposal far exceeded Roy's.
To put it bluntly, Arthur could shoot someone dead in the street and still have the matter covered up.
Roy couldn't act with that same complete disregard for the law.
Yet Roy was happy.
All he did was indulge in entertainment meant for the lower classes. Was losing himself in a game really that enjoyable?
Arthur couldn't understand it at all, and he was deeply jealous.
They fought one another tooth and nail every day, while their eighth brother lived in comfort.
Seeing Arthur like this, the butler couldn't help asking in puzzlement:
"Young Master Arthur, Young Master Roy poses no threat whatsoever. Why worry so much about him?"
"The master merely dotes on him."
This butler had served Arthur for many years, so naturally, he dared to speak a few honest words.
Arthur's expression changed, and he said earnestly:
"That's what you don't understand."
Before you continue