After observing the cheat, he returned his attention to the shop. He bought the new Fork and Class cards.

The Fork card was particularly useful since he'd just bought Merge and Export earlier.

This meant he could fork one of his existing skills and either use Export to give it to someone, or merge it with the Fork card to create a + ranked skill that could be upgraded to the next level.

At the moment, he was thinking of going the upgrade route. Dagger Throw was a nice skill. If he could get it to C-rank - same level as his Aura - he would be almost unstoppable. Pair that with the new Class card and he'd be genuinely invincible.

He stored the cards and went to reroll the shop a second time.

He paused. Rerolling was now worth 200 points. It had doubled.

He finally understood what the Rewind voucher meant by base reroll cost. The cost for rerolling was increasing with each reroll. He wondered if it really was doubling, or if it was just increasing by the base price each time. This would be quite expensive if it was the former.

He decided to reroll a second time, clicking the button.

The reroll cost changed to three hundred.

Seeing this, Cipher sighed in relief. It was increasing, not doubling. This was much more manageable. Still not sustainable though, so it was best to only reroll twice per shop - three times at maximum.

He assumed that the price for rerolling must reset at some point, though he didn't know if it was per level up or per major level. He really hoped it was the former. Well, he would find out later.

He turned his attention to the newly rerolled cards.

The first card was the Seed card.

Finally, he thought.

Dagger Throw had a 5% chance of striking a critical hit and dealing an additional 300% damage. If he made this Rigged, then added Elemental Edition, his damage would be through the roof.

He decided to buy and use it right away. He used the Merge card, merging the Seed and Class cards before applying the merged card to the Dagger Throw skill.

For an element, it was a little hard to pick. He could choose dark, but it would just be a waste since it really seemed to be ignored when he used Demonic Qi. The other alternative would be light, making it deal additional damage against monsters - but if he used it with Demonic Qi, it would be nerfed.

After some thought, he decided to just go with fire.

[Skill: Dagger Throw (D-Rank)]

[Type: Active]

[Edition: Rigged, Elemental]

[Cost: 50 Mana]

[Description: Throw a dagger with enhanced force and precision, dealing 300% weapon damage and an additional 300% fire elemental damage to the target. Has a 100% chance to critically strike, dealing an additional 300% weapon damage.]

Now he was genuinely OP.

Activating the skill with Demonic Qi gave 1,170 base damage. Multiply by 4 from Aura and that's 4,680. Then multiply by 9 from all the Dagger Throw multipliers and you get 42,120 damage. And for the remaining 310 damage, multiply by 3 for Demonic Qi, then by 4 for Aura, and you get 3,720. Add that to the initial damage and that's 45,840 damage.

This was the highest damage output he'd gotten yet. And this was just for a single throw.

If he threw three consecutively like before? Couldn't he deal S-rank levels of damage?

The only problem with this was that it could be dodged with enough agility, so he needed to work on his own Agility more.

He then finally returned his attention to the remaining card after the second reroll.

The moment he saw it, his eyes widened in shock and his breath quickened.

"No way... this is..."

…

The following day, another meeting was called.

Cipher sat at the head of the table as the executives filed in, their expressions already grim before anyone had spoken a word.

Iris was the first to deliver her report. She stood, tablet in hand, her usual confidence replaced with visible concern. "The information about the Chairman's death has started spreading. I've tried to suppress it through our usual channels, but the situation isn't looking good."

She swiped through her tablet. "As of this morning, three of our overseas branches have cut off communication with the main branch. I believe it's intentional - they're trying to distance themselves before things get worse." She paused. "Additionally, our intelligence suggests that several major guilds are mobilizing resources and preparing for... something."

Silence fell over the room.

Orion and Draven remained still with unreadable expressions. Knox leaned back in his chair, jaw tight. Zara stared down at the table. Ember's fingers drummed once against the armrest before going still.

Cipher sighed, running a hand through his hair. Everything was falling apart. He hadn't been careful enough, and now this information was spreading freely, uncontrolled.

"We have no choice," he said finally, breaking the silence. "We need to show the world that the association is still strong. We'll hold a press conference."

Victoria looked up at him. "A press conference?"

"Yes. We address the rumors head-on, demonstrate strength, and make it clear that the association isn't going anywhere."

The executives exchanged glances. No one objected. With how the situation was deteriorating, anything was worth trying at this point.

"Agreed," Ember said.

"If that's what you think is best," Knox added with a nod.

Cipher leaned forward, fingers steepled as he thought through the logistics. A press conference was one thing, but executing it properly was another. He wasn't exactly media trained, and one wrong word could make things worse instead of better.

Apart from himself and Victoria - who would be on the board by default as senior leadership - he needed someone else. Someone who could handle the pressure and communicate clearly.

His eyes shifted to Selene, who sat quietly near the end of the table.

"That's right, Selene." He thought. She had been the chairman in the future so surely she knows a thing or two.

"Selene," he said. "Can you handle being on the panel for this?"

She met his gaze and nodded without hesitation. "I can do it."

"Good." Cipher stood. "Then let's begin preparing. I want this conference ready within two…actually, scratch that, lets do it in a day. Coordinate with the PR team, draft our key messages, and make sure security is airtight. We can't afford any disruptions."

The executives rose from their seats and began moving.

"Elaine, Iris. You two stay," Cipher said.

…

Author's Corner

Damn, everything is politics now. Me try to move on soon.

There was an error in the previous chapter 56 but me fixed it, you can check it out. Try clearing cache if you don't see the changes.

Basically, I calculated using x6 for demonic qi when throwing dagger when it should be x3 instead as dagger != sword thus doesn't get the sword 3x. I'm surprised no one noticed.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.