I Gain Infinite Gold Just By Waiting-Chapter 211: Episode 45_SVIP (8)

Episode 211

Chapter 45: SVIP (8)

9.

Thankfully, the pterosaur’s cry rang out again right as the 24-hour mark hit.

A supply drop.

Every one of the hypersensitive monsters snapped their gazes to the sky.

"They’re losing their minds."

Then they all bolted toward the supplies falling to the ground. At this moment, none of them seemed to care about the egg at all.

Naturally, Kim Buja was no exception.

"Let’s see what the tower is serving today."

He ran, studying the shapes of the shadows and trying to guess their contents. He didn’t know if there would be food, but one thing was certain: whatever it was, it would be useless to him. He was still fasting like the other monsters, but in his case, it was voluntary. If food dropped from the supply and the other monsters started eating, he planned to quietly buy something from the Gold Shop for himself.

Even with his overpowered items, it wasn’t a good idea to stand out too much. The fact that he had a busted item meant that some other monster out there was also holding one. Preparing for that was important.

So he made a wish.

"It would be nice if there were at least one piece of armor."

If it turned into a one shot for you, one shot for me, everyone gets a bamboo spear! situation, he would be the one at a disadvantage. From his perspective, the lives of every monster here combined weren’t worth his single life.

That was why he hoped. He wanted the thing he was running toward to be armor.

"Son of a..."

Unfortunately, he couldn’t always get what he wanted. He had tried to judge by the shadows, but in the end, his feet carried him toward the closest drop. When he arrived, he saw a single massive drumstick, perfectly roasted and sitting on a large platter. The skin was golden and glistening with fat. It looked so well-cooked that a single bite would send a crunch of crispy skin and tender meat through his mouth, flooding it with juices.

Even he swallowed unconsciously at the sight. If it affected him that way, what about the other monsters?

This time, another monster had arrived before him. Instead of immediately throwing itself at the drumstick, it cautiously glanced around. It hadn’t arrived alone.

’What if someone jumps me when I try to eat?’

Clicking his tongue at the monster’s conflicted expression, Kim Buja thought, ’You should have taken a bite first and worried later.’

While it hesitated, more monsters gathered, and a strange standoff formed around the platter. Unlike yesterday, the number of monsters surrounding a single supply had nearly doubled. About ten of them were locked in a tense standoff that could explode at any moment.

On top of that, not every supply drop was food, so more monsters would be coming in from other locations. The egg was so large that it was hard to check the supplies on the far side, but if they wandered around long enough, they would eventually find them.

"GRAAAH!"

One monster finally lunged at the one guarding the food. The first strike.

’I want a bite too!’

’No way. This is mine!’

The fight was brutal. The winner was the monster that had reached the food first.

"It must have been sure of itself."

Either way, there had to be a reason it had bared its fangs to monopolize that huge drumstick—a portion big enough for all of them to share—despite facing a dozen others. If food had been provided continuously, it wouldn’t have done something so stupid. Most of the monsters here were probably in the same situation as him.

Breaking the egg came first. That was why they had been avoiding killing other competitors if they could help it. But no one knew when the next supply drop would come. If you monopolized one, you would have the strength to last until the next. It was a decision made with monster-level intelligence.

Kim Buja acknowledged it. That was the right call. He would have made the same choice.

He just would have been more careful.

A beam from the laser gun pierced through the crowd and skewered the monster guarding the food. In the face of overwhelming attack power, the creature, which had looked fairly strong, vanished in a single shot.

The other monsters instinctively parted to open a path.

Kim Buja strolled forward and stopped in front of the supply. He picked up the drumstick, which was about four times the size of his entire body, and took a huge bite.

"Mmm."

It tasted exactly as good as it looked. There was just the right amount of smoky flavor, and the texture of the tender meat was perfect. He even felt like buying this meat and grilling it himself, if only he knew what kind of creature it came from.

’I wonder if it’s in the Gold Shop?’

He decided to look it up later, then set the drumstick back down and swept his gaze over the drooling monsters.

Now came the important part. What should he do?

As he was about to think it over, a hologram popped up, interrupting his thoughts.

[You have consumed Black Dragon Hind Leg Meat.]

[Strength increases by 200 for 120 hours.]

[Agility increases by 200 for 120 hours.]

[Health increases by 200 for 120 hours.]

[Magic Power increases by 400 for 120 hours.]

[Defense increases by 500 for 120 hours.]

He was stunned.

Even the food that dropped as a supply wasn’t just food. He hadn’t expected it to be treated as an item. He hurriedly checked the details.

[Black Dragon Hind Leg Meat]

▶ Grade: Legendary

▷ Upon consumption, you gain the effect of Black Dragon’s Essence. This effect only applies on first consumption, and the option disappears once the effect is applied.

"Wow."

He got chills for a moment, but not because of the stats themselves. If food was also treated as an item, its specs were a bit lower than the laser gun or the pickaxe, but the numbers were reasonable considering the duration.

The problem was, what if the monster that arrived first had just taken a bite on instinct? He would have fired the laser gun right away, of course, but by then, a bite would have already gone into the monster’s stomach.

In that case, the Black Dragon’s Essence effect would have been absorbed by the monster and disappeared forever upon its death. Today’s supply drop would have been completely wasted.

"Whew."

He let out a sigh of relief. In any case, things had turned out well. He had tasted the Black Dragon’s hind leg meat, which was delicious enough that he wanted another bite, and he had secured the supply.

"Hey, you."

All that was left was to plan his next move. He pointed at one of the monsters that was staring and drooling. When he crooked his finger, it approached nervously.

"Take a bite."

There was no way it could understand his words, but body language worked on monsters too. The creature cautiously edged closer, watching him, then took a bite.

"GRAWR!" 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

It roared at the taste and the feeling of fullness. Sure, Buja was human, but for the other monsters, eating the flesh of a top predator must have felt like an indescribable conquest.

"Hmm. Nothing special."

It didn’t show any strange behavior, so it seemed the special effect had indeed disappeared after he ate it. He didn’t bother checking further.

“Hey, you guys come eat too.”

He generously offered the food. There was no way he could finish that much by himself, and he had no intention of hoarding it until it spoiled. Besides, hoarding limited food in a place like this was a stupid move that would only create unnecessary enemies.

He didn’t know what would happen with the other supplies, but for this run, Kim Buja had decided to lean more toward cooperation than competition.

“We need to break this thing as fast as possible.”

In the end, no matter who got the supplies, the important thing was breaking the egg.

Once mealtime ended and more monsters trickled in, the second supply drop came to a close.

And then it was back to mining.

* * *

On the third day, no supply drop came.

The number of monsters had grown to over two hundred, and the atmosphere had slipped out of control. He could now hear them fighting among themselves fairly often. The egg, meanwhile, finally had a few tiny cracks, making it look like it might actually be breaking.

“If I had about ten more pickaxes, I think we could do it.”

At first, he had been optimistic. ’With busted items like these, we’ll crack it in no time.’ But the pickaxe had broken after two days, and he was only holding onto the laser gun to protect himself. Compared to the total number of monsters, the supply drops were woefully insufficient.

At least he could use the Gold Ring to make more pickaxes and keep hammering the same spot, but the other monsters probably hadn’t contributed much to the overall progress. The bigger problem was that this place might turn into a complete shitshow before they even received any contribution-based rewards.

So he made a decision.

“Hey! Time to eat!”

Buying just food didn’t put much of a dent in his gold. In the Gold Shop, the price of food was mostly determined by whether it had stat bonuses, not by how tasty it was. Besides, they were all monsters; as long as there was a lot of meat, they would be fine.

Sure enough, when he pulled out huge chunks of meat, they all dug in happily. The problem was the number of mouths to feed. Feeding nearly two hundred of them cost him around 100 gold. For someone like Kim Buja, who had amassed 1.5 million gold, that wasn’t exactly a burden.

But he knew better.

He sighed. ’Damn it. If this doesn’t end soon, I’m screwed.’

Most importantly, he hadn’t come here to spend gold; he had come to gather materials to get promoted to SVIP as quickly as possible. If his spent gold in the process, that would just extend the time he needed to recoup it.

“100 gold a day. In 100 days, that’s 10,000 gold...”

And that was assuming the number stayed the same. Every time a supply drop came, the number of monsters nearly doubled. It might not stop at just tens of thousands of gold.

Watching the well-fed monsters behave themselves, he felt like this was the right move, but at the same time, he wondered if he could really keep this up once or even twice a day.

Still, what choice did he have?

“You freeloading bastards! If you ate my food, then get to work!”

No one wanted this more than him. If it weren’t for the egg, he would have already slaughtered them all, monopolized the supplies, and smashed it to pieces himself. If his rough estimate had told him that was possible, he would have done it. But after a few days of trying, he knew it wasn’t.

“None of you fight. Just break the egg. Keep hitting it until it breaks. If any of you who ate my Gold start fighting each other, I won’t let it slide.”

Kim Buja’s monster ranch was born.

Fortunately, even though instinct ruled them, the monsters still had enough rationality to follow orders. Without a word of complaint, they lined up and began pounding the egg, just as he had instructed.

Of course, not all of them listened. For those who didn’t, he gave a special demonstration.

“You must be new here. Have a taste of the laser.”

Order and control. The elements needed for cooperation were falling into place.