Chapter 43: [43] Game Bully
"He did it... he actually beat the king..." One of the students muttered in disbelief as he collapsed to his knees.
"To beast such a monster solo... has he always been this strong?"
Even now, the players were unable to wrap their heads around what they had seen.
Most new players awakened with two or three skills. Only the most talented students awakened more than four, and even then, some would be lower tier...
How then did this make sense?
Ark had used far more skills than was logically possible, and a few of the players even vaguely recognized some of the skills he had used.
His strength was incredible, and even his agility was off the charts. No matter what class they tried to put him, no matter what logical conclusion they tried to come to, none of them made sense.
So most students came to one conclusion in their heads... ’He must have lied about something.’
They all turned to Soo-jin’s party for information, but from the looks on their faces, they could tell that they were just as shocked as they were.
Still, despite the gnawing curiosity that threatened to eat them up from the inside, the players were beyond exhausted.
They had not only been broken physically, their minds were also a mess. Many had seen things that they would never forget, many had gained scars that would never wash off... lost friends they knew since before they could walk...
But in that moment, all they could be was grateful that they survived, while nursing the fire of anguish that burned within their hearts.
Their bodies began to pixelate, small shiny cubes appearing on the skin as their body broke down.
They were finally returning to the real world.
Just before Soo-jin could vanish, she glanced at Ark and nodded. "See you on the other side."
And then they were gone.
But little did Soo-jin know that Ark had not heard a single thing she said. From the moment the notification of their victory appeared, his eyes had been stuck on one point.
[Evaluation: GLORIOUS]
[Participants: 206]
[Allies lost: 196]
[Survivors: 10]
He let out a cold breath and ran his only hand over his head. "What is so glorious about this?"
Ark already knew that most of his classmates would die in the tutorial. It was like Soo-jin said, the chances of their survival was slim right from the beginning.
But to have the exact numbers thrown right in front of his face.... It was cruel.
All these words served to do was remind him of his weakness. If he had just been a little stronger, a little faster... then maybe just one more person could have been saved.
For a few seconds, he stared at the screen, rereading it countless times.
It was not that he was trying to memorise the numbers, as much as he hated it, they had stuck in his head from the moment he saw them.
He did not want to look away...
Because he knew that the moment he did, he would be greeted by the dead bodies of his classmates that littered the hall.
But after a few minutes, he forced himself to look, and at that moment he was sure... that he would never forget.
[LEVEL UP]
[LEVEL UP]
[LEVEL UP]
"Three levels huh..." He chuckled dryly. To think all the hell they went through would only afford three levels.
[Congratulations, Player Ark!]
[As the MVP of the tutorial, you have received an A-Rank Mystery Box.]
[Do you wish to open it now?]
An A-Rank Mystery Box was a special reward package that guaranteed at least one A-Rank item, ranging from skills to weapons, and even traits.
But as much as Ark loved Gacha, he was in not mood for gambling.
[No.]
He would check it out later, for now there were other things he needed to do. As the MVP of the tower, he was allowed to have a few more minutes in the tower. Ark’s plan was to use his time to rest out a theory he had.
"But before that..."
Ark walked up to the body of the goblin king, and placed his hand atop what was left of it.
[Harvest successful! You have successfully received A-Rank skill, King’s Dominion!]
Ark’s eyes immediately widened. "A-Rank??" Sure it was a boss monster, but the last thing Ark was expecting was an A rank skill!
[Kings Dominion]
[Summons a wave of intimidating aura around the player. Allies exposed to this aura will receive a buff and boost in morale, while enemies will be corroded by petrifying fear.]
Ark made a gulping sound, more out of habit.
The king had not heard this skill during their fight, but what would have happened if he used it while his allies were still alive?
Ark did not want to imagine what would have happened. He smirked as he got to his feet.
"Hell mode difficulty huh..." The game really lived up to its name.
He stood up, summoned his system tab and began to scroll through it, then he stopped in a particular skill that had caught his interest, [Elemental Undead].
It was an excellent skill that he managed to get from combining Undead Summon with Elemental Summon.
With it, he could ease the burden of having to fight alone, and since the warriors could grow stronger, at some point they would be absolute beasts in their own right.
Undead summon was already great on its own, adding Elemental summon had only made it greater.
But...
"What if it could get even stronger than this?"
Yes, Ark knew he sounded unbelievably greedy, but there was something that did not sit quite well with him.
No matter how much his soldiers grew, there would always only be a knight, a mage and a tank. It made the skill seem a little restricted, like a caged bird waiting for the day it would soar.
Ark’s plan was to break that cage by merging Elemental undead with other skills, and he knew just the skills for the job, actually, calling them skills was not the right term.
He would combine his race specialization perk, [Dark Harvest] with [Elemental Summon] and [Endless Evolution]
Yes.
It was a crazy idea, one that bordered on the line of breaking the rules. After all, the race specialization was not designated as a skill, and his ability, Spell Forge, dictated that he could only merge skills.
But was there truly any difference between Dark Harvest and a regular skill?
What was a skill?
What was a trait?
What was a race specialization perk?
What was a class effect?
There were nothing but fancy words used to create a demarcation between them, to create laws to force players to play by the rules of the system.
And if there was one thing Ark enjoyed about playing games, it was finding the loopholes.
"System."
"Combine the designated skills..."
But the next set of words Ark saw were words he could never had predicted.
[ERROR! SKILL MERGER FAILED!]
[HOST MUST DESIGNATE A SKILL FOR MERGER TO BE SUCCESSFUL]
"Are you trying to say what I picked out were not skills? The description said I can merge any skills I wish, did it not?"
"It never said the ability must be labeled ’skill’ by the system. So tell me, what is a skill?"
[•••]
[Re-attempting skill merger!]
[MERGER FAILED!]
"Do it again!" Ark screamed at the system, impatiently tapping his foot on the floor.
[MERGER FAILED!]
"I’m at like 20% health, dude! Do it again, I’m tired of this place!"
[Re-attempting skill merger!]
[ERROR!]
"5, 6, and... come on what are you waiting for? Do the damn thing!" Ark waved his hand in the air like he was a minstrel organizing a band of musicians.
[SKILLS CANNOT BE MERGED! The host must select...]
"JESUS CHRIST! Again with this bull? Don’t tell me systems can be this dull?! Again!"
[Re-attempting skill merger!]
[ERRROR!]
"Why are you stopping? Do you thing you can catch a break, you fucking clanker? Keep working till I get my damn skill!"
[ERROR ERROR ERROR!]
"Again!"
[Re-attempting skill merger!]
[ANOMALOUS SYSTEM STATE DETECTED!]
[Contacting a Game Master for further guidance...]
"Now that is what I’m talking about..."