Balancing Protocol

Proofread by Dark Pride

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"Oh, what is it?" Ace asked curiously.

"It says, the assassin spider is a species capable of evolution. It will evolve to an elite monster when it reaches level 10, and depending on which species he evolves into, it may evolve into a lord monster at level 50. Different diets and environments will make it evolve into different species. We need to control its diet to make it a powerful monster," Sofia said.

Instead of feeling happy that his son's pet could grow strong, Ace looked at the spider with a sympathetic look, 'Poor you! You have to go on a diet right after you are born.'

The spider, as if it knew Ace's sympathy, looked at Ace with sad eyes.

"So, what is his diet?" Ace asked.

"Sorry, I need to find that specific information from some books that were recommended by the system. Although, I have almost all of the information about this world. It won't pop up immediately when you need it. I need to read some books that were recommended by the system," Sofia said with a helpless expression.

'So it's like a search engine, huh? No, It's more like you have a library in your head. To get some information, you need to read some books. It is a tough job. It must be hard to have to study in the game? I hope she is fine,' Ace said in his heart.

"It must be tough, huh?" Ace said.

Then, he found her in a daze, daydreaming, "Hey, Vi… I mean Sofia! Are you alright?"

"Huh!? What? I am reading. Please don't disturb me!" She responded in annoyance.

"...," Ace was speechless for a moment.

"Alright, go on! I won't disturb you," Ace sighed.

Then, Sofia went back to reading the book provided by the system.

Ace looked at his son, but it seemed he was immersed in talking with jumpy through their mental link. Sometimes he stroked its head and was chuckling to himself. It looked like he was building a bond with it.

'Am I really the only one with nothing to do?'

*Sigh*

He then opened his inventory. There were some blue coins inside of it. As he checked them to find out what they were, he found out that it was the currency in the game. It was called dirac. He had 30 dirac currently, but he didn't know how much that was really worth.

He also saw 5 pieces of bread, a water bag, 3 red potions that could recover 100 HP, 3 blue potions that could recover 50 MP, and a deck of cards.

At the top corner that seemed separated from the whole space is the place of the deck of cards. He checked it and it was called 'beginner deck'. He then checked each of the cards. From the weakest cards that have number 2 until the most powerful that were ace cards.

The mana consumption of each card was different. The mana consumption of the number of cards was equivalent to its number. As the number cards used a formula: (0,2 x card number) x magic value for the base damage.

Jack cards had the same base damage as number six cards, but it could bind the target for 3 to 5 seconds. They consumed 15 manas each. Queen cards could heal the target. King cards could make a barrier to shield attacks. Ace cards had strong AoE damage. They had the same mana consumption as Jack cards.

There were also 2 joker cards that could copy the base damage and effect of any cards with the same mana consumption of the copied card.

Ace started to doubt the system's statement about the balance of the game. He thought his job was strong. It had versatile powers. He would call it a jack of all trades. But if what the system said was true, he had to be careful, maybe his job had a fatal weakness.

After contemplating for a while, Ace tried to open the shop menu. Then the system's warning made him feel just being cheated.

[Are you sure you want to open the shop? The balancing protocol will be implemented. Your every advantage will be calculated to be implemented when you enter the game. It will determine your starting point.]

It shocked Ace to his core. He then asked," Are the jobs we get also considered?"

"Yes," the system answered.

"Is everyone's starting point a part of the balancing?" Ace asked with a serious tone.

"Yes, Most of the players will start in a human settlement. However, the balancing will be implemented to players with a job rarity above D rank who access the shop," The system said.

*Sigh*

'So it's like that, the system never said that a rare job isn't stronger than an ordinary job. It just said it was created with balance in mind. So the items that are sold by the shop have the possibility to offset the advantages of a rare job user.

But it is still ridiculous, the wealthy ones will be the only people that have the opportunity to get benefits in the early stages.' Ace gnashed his teeth, angry over the injustice.

'But I am also part of the wealthy people that have benefited from this,' Ace shook his head.

After getting the system's warning, Ace didn't continue to access the shop. He then asked Sofia and Geo to do the tutorial. The tutorial was only a collection of introductory subjects of the desolate world.

Ace was the only one that studied them, as for Sofia, after scrolling some subjects, she said she had understood and then continued 'reading' the tower of knowledge's books. Of course, it was done in a way that Ace couldn't understand, she was just silently sitting on the bench that was provided in the tutorial's space.

As for Geo, he was 'playing' with Jumpy in the training ground. There were some scarecrows that could be used as targets for training. Ace was really satisfied with Jumpy's performance. His fighting style was really mind-boggling.

For a monster, Jumpy couldn't be called fast. He was slower than Ace, but his skill was really incredible. It could jump very far and super fast, or at least, Ace never saw any animal his size that could jump like that.

There was a moment that made Ace froze. That time Jumpy was at least 8 meters from a scarecrow. When Geo ordered him to attack it, he did not attack it immediately. It went around the scarecrow until he was at the back of it. He then without warning, leaped onto it.

It only took less than a second for him to arrive on top of the scarecrow. He then used his forelegs to lock it and then used its fangs to attack.

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After that, he jumped off of it.

It was an effective and deadly attack. A long and fast jump made the target unprepared. A body lock with his forelegs would bind the target, so it couldn't move. And then a series of strong bites would inflict a real deal of damage to the target. When the target was preparing a counter-attack, he leaped away to avoid it. Jumpy deserved his name as an 'assassin'.

After finishing his reading marathon, Ace tried to practice throwing cards.

Actually, it was not that hard. He only needed to throw the card in the direction of the target within 8 to 10 meters, and he would do it with 100% accuracy.

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His damage dealing, although unstable, was really deadly. 184 damage in two seconds was incredible. Furthermore, it used only 23 mana to do it. It seemed like it consumed a lot of mana because he only had 90 total mana, but when he leveled up, his mana pool would grow, and then it wouldn't be very much mana at all.

After his mana was drained, he took a rest. He needed around 7 minutes to refill his mana reserves completely.

Feeling it was meaningless to practice like that, he tried to throw cards while moving, then his flaws started to show themselves. When he was running around the target, his accuracy began to drop. It was about 70%, which was not that bad, but he was aiming at a still target, and an opponent isn't going to just sit still and let you attack them. When he was trying to hit a moving target, his accuracy would fall even lower.

But, Ace believed his skill would improve as he trained. He had trained for more than an hour before he heard his wife's call, "Don't you get tired running around like that?"

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