A Black Market LitRPG

Kyle noticed that there weren’t any skills for this race. As expected. However, the stats increment he would gain would be nothing to scoff at. As of now, with each level up, he was gaining a total of 3 for each main stat, with MP being 2. With the boost from the Type-5 Galactic Human race, the total stat points for the strength he would get per level up would be seven, overwhelmingly most of what the current titles provided.

Let’s keep going first. If I don’t see any races that I really like, then this is the most general baseline.

Only one skill? Kyle was intrigued by the skill but not too surprised. Dimensional defences were not unique in the Galactic Era – starships got around by entering the fourth dimension; otherwise, humanity would have never been able to enter the galactic stage.

It looked extremely useful, but it seemed that it would not be able to dodge chemical attacks like Agent Black or any skill that had a lingering effect in an area. If each attack counted for a shift, he would run out of shifts in the first three bullets of a repeater. Of course, he could bulk it up with a point defence engraving, but then the skill becomes less critical to use.

I’m not really into this. If I could use it for teleportation, then yes. But as it is, it’s teleportation on the spot, with no sign of there being an upgrade path. Kyle has not heard of any human variants that could teleport, not considering some transcendents. As such, he had little hope that the human variant Tharapon would be able to reach there someday.

How many races can I choose from? Let’s see the next three. So far, the variants have been ranging from good to mediocre… I need one that can help me well.

Last three? Kyle counted the races presented so far, totalling six. He recalled that the subclass had also shown a fair amount of choices, allowing him to pick one clearly. If anything, I might be looking for something that could manipulate arcia better. Are there even any human variants that work with this exotic?

Kyle was flabbergasted at the sheer number of stats. +5 for every level on top of the base +3, with a +10 for INT?! The Enhancement Passive was even more jaw-dropping, with hints that the per-level increment of stats could reach more than what was shown here.

What was even more alluring was that the Genetic Package 229-A-X was what he knew very well – he himself was born as a designer baby with the 229-D-X variant, targeted for D-class states. He owed it for his meteoric rise through society and eventual position as a Crime Lord, though he did upgrade to 229-B-X thanks to a hijacking of the same company that sold him the genetic package. He never did get his hands on the 229-A-X package, it being highly guarded and protected.

The cost of the A-class genetic package could buy out an entire planet in a D-class state. Maybe even the capital of a D-class state.

Before Kyle got far too emotionally invested in chasing what he failed to obtain in his previous life, he quickly looked at the next two races.

Huh. With this, I could actually just leave the planet myself. Kyle considered the race carefully. This would give him the best survivability not just in space but also on the ground, with him being able to absorb starlight directly, such as UV radiation and so on.

But the second skill was completely useless, save for the fact that it could irradiate and overwhelm electronic components. However, most Galactic Era technology were already hardened for radiation on a general basis. In order to overwhelm the significant radiation shielding, he would have to generate more particles than a sunspot, all concentrated onto a centimetre square. That’s not going to work.

Kyle highly doubted his body would be able to fire harder than a particle cannon, which was effectively the same concept albeit they melted through the surface of whatever material they were touching. There was no way he could accelerate the particle that fast – the energy pulse seemed to be more of a solar sail effect rather than a rocket engine or a true particle ion thruster, with the general acceleration being low but continuous.

The first skill was still worthy of consideration. Being able to space walk without an exosuit was a critical one. But it still did not prevent one from getting shot at or blown up by a missile. Kyle internally fumed as he recalled how he died. Having such a skill would not have saved him in that scenario at all.

Last one.

While there are no stat increments, This has got to be the best race yet. Kyle examined carefully, reading the fine print of each of the skills. Remnants of a fallen alien race… does that mean that there were native inhabitants of this planet that he was currently residing on?

Who was he kidding – humanity had purged countless alien races in the Galactic Era in the name of expansion and colonisation. Of course, humans were not native: it had even been postulated that humans themselves were not native to Ancient Earth.

Either way, the skills were too good to give, except for one caveat. Performance reduced in non-arcia infused environment… That means space. Also means that if I ever get on a starship, I would have to bring along arcite ore.

The supply of arcite ore was not an issue any longer. With his mechanical regenerators and light regenerators, he could revitalise arcite ore continuously, albeit at a low conversion rate of 15% and 22%, respectively. Better than nothing, but if I go down this route, I would need to find out how arcite ore was actually originally formed.

Kyle summarised all of the racial options that he had now.

The first three were Arimorph, Slovesa-Human Hybrid, and Vicronoth. Out of the three, he felt that none of them really matched the goals that he intended for. The Arimorph was effectively a spy-orientated race, with everything geared around shapeshifting. Boneshifting sounded intriguing, but it had implications that were too specific. Kyle wasn’t planning on using bones as weapons.

The Slovesa-Human hybrid was a clear no-go, with Kyle feeling like it had the worst of both worlds, while the Vicronoth simply did not align with how he fought currently. The Infection Vector skill would cause him to have to work alone or fight alone, which was good and all, but might inadvertently affect his subordinates in the heat of the battle.

It felt that with the miraculous properties of arcia, he could easily imitate their skills with a few engravings and maybe the creation of his own exosuit. Or even better, find a working Galactic Era genetics centre.

The next three were the Orisian, Type-5 Galactic Human and Tharapon. The concept of telekinesis was interesting, but he had yet to find any hints nor mention of such a psonic exotic existing on the current planet, making it hard for him to lean towards the Orisian race. Type-5 Galactic Human was the most basic race with obvious minimal changes but all across-the-board boosts, except that it was far overshadowed by the Genetic Package 229-A-X.

The Tharapon race had an interesting skill, but the dimensional shift was far too unwieldy to put it to good use. Perhaps Kyle could see a use for it when he was fighting someone far beyond his capabilities, but he would be easily hurt by any lingering skills or environmental damage that was continuous.

Lastly, the final three were Genetic Package 229-A-X , Voidwalker and Arcian. Kyle had the most lingering sentimental attachment to the Genetic Package 229-A-X, but he noted that having increased base stats would not help him overcome some of the more unique effects of arctech engravings.

For the Voidwalker, it would be immensely beneficial had he been stuck on an asteroid or a moon. But for now, planetary domination was his biggest concern – and with the ‘Wardens’ now aware of him, he needed every combat advantage he could get. Sure, the first skill would allow him to survive in hostile combat situations and maybe even ignore chemical agents like Agent Black.

However, Arcian still had the most immediate and long-term benefit, increasing his affinity with arcia energy here and now.

Furthermore, the negation field would not inherently suddenly wipe out all of the benefits that he has derived from the race. The cooldown reduction wouldn’t matter now if I used the negation field – but in the future? Kyle could already envision himself becoming a true powerhouse, albeit limited to arcia energy.

Kyle wasn’t too fazed about the limitation – he could still eventually wear an exosuit and cover all of the deficiencies necessary in the future.

Arcian it is. Kyle mentally selected the race, preparing himself for the eventual pain.