Chapter 11:- Main Menu
[Main Menu]... up until now, he had been ignoring this skill because the Status failed to provide any information as everything was covered in question marks.
That is to say, even the Status couldn't decipher the origin of this skill that Simon inherited was or how it had manifested in his dungeon window.
Just as he was wondering what this option was, he heard some mysterious voice that came from within him and beckoned him to open the [Main Menu].
Although hesitant at first, his curious nature won in the end and Simon pressed on the skill. At that instant what appeared before him made him freeze in his place.
He was so shaken that he felt as if a bolt of lightning from the heavens had struck him. The new window that appeared seemed hauntingly familiar— It was the very same screen of the game that he spent three years like a lunatic to develop.
LAPLACE— the game he had poured three years of his life and energy into developing.
The window that he couldn't be any more familiar with, appeared in this new world along with him.
Indescribable emotions flashed past his eyes. He spent countless sleepless nights, sacrificing everything, and being ostracised by his team members—all dedicated to perfecting this game. Now, somehow, it had materialized in this new world.
"It's good to see you again." He said while touching the screen.
The new screen gave a dark aura, it had dark coiling borders around the edges of the screen.
Ten options were neatly displayed on the screen.
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[Main Menu]:-
Character
Party
Inventory
Armory
Shortcuts
Settings
Shop
Gacha
Heroes Altar
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It appeared that the Menu from Laplace became one of his inherent skills.
"Let's call this one [Main Menu] and the other one [Dungeon Menu]."
Even after crossing worlds, the [Main Menu] was the same as he remembered. There were some options that were similar to the [Dungeon Menu] and at the same time different too.
For instance, the [Character] option of the [Main Mneu] was similar to the [Status] option of the [Dungeon Menu], but had a few more features like the [Promote] and [Constellation] inside it.
The [Party] option displayed all the members currently on his team.
[Inventory] was used for storing things,
[Armory] for enhancing and levelling up weapons and artefacts.
[Settings] and [Shortcuts] were the two options that were currently blurred and inaccessible. Maybe due to the transmigration into a different world, some of the functions of the [Main Menu] became unusable.
Next was the [Shop], this option similar to the [Dungeon Menu's] Shop and listed a wide variety of items that can be obtained by exchanging dungeon points. Again, due to transmigration, the currency needed to exchange items from the [Shop] has changed to dungeon points from real money.
He currently had 10,000 dungeon points, as starting balance. Was this amount low or high? Simon opened the [Shop] option and glanced at the prices of various things. Other than normal and ordinary stuff most of the things listed were above 5000 DP and were quite pricey.
GROWLL~... Simon was just exploring the [Shop] option when all of a sudden, his stomach started growling.
Now that he remembered, ever since coming to this world, he hardly had anything to eat.
"There should be a Food & Beverage section in the [Shop]. Let's buy something from there and see what happens".
Simon had created the food section in the shop to allow the players to quickly restore their stamina during the exploration, after all, foods were seen as supplements in the game. But can it satiate hunger? There was only one way to find out
He exchanged some dungeon points for a burger and a bottle of cola.
[Ding...125 DP exchanged]... immediately afterwards, the food that he bought appeared in front of him just like it used to in the game. Except for one thing...
The food, although it had the exact same taste as how a standard burger should be, there was no change to his stats. That is to say, the food did not work as a supplement in this world. Nevertheless, it did its basic job of satiating his hunger.
With that, the remaining DP ha had was 9,875 points.
.
.
Nom... Nom... While munching on the burger, he looked up at the other items listed in the [Shop]. There was one particular item that he was searching for, the Elixir of Sacred Sanctum.
While creating the Menu, Simon had listed many items in the [Shop] that a player can purchase anytime to aid them in their journey.
However, one item in particular, needed a special trigger to show up. That is to say, this item didn't normally appear in the [shop] option of the player until unless they fulfilled that hidden condition.
However, this place was not the game, it was a completely different world and since the [Main menu] had somehow transmigrated with him, would the special hidden condition still be in place?
There was only one way to know. It took him some time to gloss through all those items but in the end, Simon found it sitting inconspicuously among a list of items.
The Elixir of Sacred Sanctum, in the game [Laplace] it was supposed to be an item that broke the balance. That is why, it needed a special hidden condition to be fulfilled to even be displayed.
What made the item so special? Well, when this item is consumed, it permanently increases any one attribute of the player by +1. What's more, once it appears on your [Shop] it can be only be bought once per day.
One did not even need to think hard to understand the value of this item. Stats were parameters that defined one's strength. In the game and even in this world, as long as an individual's strength can be quantified in stats, this item would be able to break the balance.
Imagine a scenario where two players are fighting in a PVP. The first player is someone who is grinding hard to increase their levels and stats every single day, while the second player only spared the bare minimum effort and is also lower level than the opponent.
There is no need to even think, the second player would have his ass handed to him by the first player, it was the only inevitable outcome. But what if the second player unlocks the hidden condition for the item and purchases it every day?
Even if his progress was slow and his level low, with his increased stats, the second player would be able to hold his own.
Now imagine if the second player gave as much effort as the first player and was equally levelled. But due to him consuming the Elixir of Sacred Sanctum every day, his stats were far higher than the latter.
Wouldn't he be able to beat the crap out of the first player? This difference would only just increase with time.
That's how the item worked and because of this reason, the elixir was one of the prized items along with a few others listed in the Main Menu's [Shop], that Simon wanted to get his hand on no matter what.
Elixir of sacred Sanctum points needed—20,000 DP
"Double the amount..." Simon clicked his tongue, currently he had less than 10,000 points, so it was impossible for him to currently buy it and besides unless he has a stable income of DP, it would be foolish to spend it on luxury items like these.
Well, in any case, he was at least able to know that he did not need to achieve that hidden condition to unlock the item. That was a win enough for him.
The next option in the [Main Menu] was [Gacha]. As the name suggests, it randomly spawned things out of it. The rarity of spawning decent and unique items depended on chance and the user's luck.
The best for the last, [Heroes Altar]. This was Laplace's variation of summoning subordinates. When Simon was developing the game, he listed 12 powerful heroes of extreme rarity and strength for players to summon. The job of these summons was to aid the players in their journey.
Simon hurriedly opened the altar and sighed in relief, when he found all the familiar characters listed there. It was a good thing that the [Main Menu] did not get tempered much from the transmigration other than a few features.
Anyways, after going through all the Menus, Simon learned one crucial thing and that was he is severely lacking in DP.
Currently, he had a negligible amount of DP, and he must find a way to increase them.
"Now then, how do I Increase the dungeon points?"