S taring in disbelief, Raven looked at the Energy Storage.
ENERGY STORAGE
Storing: 2/10,000
All the energy accumulated by Sansel-Ti-Mitz had been spent to create his new arm. It was probably only due to it that he got a high-level skill as The Underside of Worlds.
Great. If it keeps up with that, I’ll fill it up in no time.
However, he knew the world of Ascension too well to seriously believe that something this good could happen without some catch.
Standing motionless as his arm absorbed more space energy, he remembered he had blocked all incoming messages for the past two weeks. He could use this break to check his inbox.
Seeing five hundred and six unread messages from his friends, sister, and many unknown IDs, he let out an astonished whistle.
Opening one, he frowned. It was a collaboration request from a furniture company offering to sponsor him in the upcoming event. They had attached a standard contract form with a note that all details could be discussed in a face-to-face meeting.
Proceeding to the next message, he frowned again. It was also from a company — as were many, many more. Everyone seemed excited about the event. It wasn’t only large corporations and retail chains that were sending their offers; even small companies pushed their luck by reaching out to TOP players.
Scrolling through the messages, he smiled at seeing several from Reporter and opened them. One message had a contract.
Writing her that he was ready to meet to discuss it, he read more messages from his friends, but none of them were urgent. They were just asking whether he was going to take part in the event.
Leah messaged him every day, telling him about her achievements, missions, and levels. She couldn’t spend as much time in the game as she’d like. In the real world, she often got bored, missing her brother who was stuck in virtual reality.
Reading that, he felt a bit ashamed and remorseful. Although he had warned Leah that he’d be busy, he still shouldn’t have blocked her. Replying that he had completed his quest and that he’d take her out to dinner today, he closed the inbox and opened the forums to check for any interesting news and see what he had missed regarding new classes, specializations, items, and skills.
Reading through articles about conflicts between clans, the conquest of new Floors, and hidden areas being discovered, he suddenly felt lonely.
He had no idea what playing and completing quests together with friends, sharing the moments of triumph and failure, and celebrating victories felt like. He had always done it alone, his experience starkly different from that of team players.
Well, the silver lining is that I never have to share my loot.
Wincing, he kept reading.
The opening of mental channels had made him more aware of his surroundings, which was good and bad at the same time as he still wasn’t used to it and would often react without cause or reason.
Many things had happened over the two weeks, but none that were really important — or so he believed until a forum discussion about a new continent being discovered on Floor Three caught his attention.
That’s interesting. How’s that going?
Opening the link, he read stories about this new strange island where no one had set their foot until now. There were videos, too.
Administrator rights? Sounds familiar.
Making a note to ask Koshie about that, he continued reading. His eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he saw the giant pillar in one of the videos.
Unlike the members of Rollin’ Dice and Fortuna, he had an idea what this construction could be.
“Is that what I think it is?” he muttered, struggling to believe his luck.
The next video was no less striking.
“What the fuck?! A space crack? There?”
While the Column of Order could wait, the crack had to be sealed immediately. He had to warn the two clans about it. Finding Koshie in his contact list, he brought him up to speed, being as brief about it as possible.
[Hold on, hold on... Let’s meet in the Arena to discuss it. It’ll be more convenient. I’ll message Kingmaker and Berserker and get back to you.]
[I’m sort of busy right now. But I think I’ll have time before the event. Will you be participating?]
[You bet. See you.]
Saying goodbye, Raven returned to the game and saw that his arm had already collected more than fifty units of energy.
Splendid. As his thoughts wandered back to the Column of Order, he shivered all over with anticipation. While convincing Hendelson that the Columns existed, he wasn’t fully sure about their existence as well... but now he was.
After three more hours of absorbing space energy, he had to accept the sad fact that it was depleting too quickly to fill up the Energy Storage. As there was less energy in the air, the absorption of every new unit began to take more time: from one minute in the beginning to over five at this point.
It’s the way it should be, he reasoned. The devs don’t like making anything easy.
Estimating the amount of energy he’d get out of sealing this crack, he suddenly felt cold in the chest area — and immediately received a message.
The Death Mark runs in your blood.
You have been detected by Abenkhriar’s servants!
A random event has been started: The Target
Description: Kill or escape your pursuers.
Attention! Your death will make the curse stronger.
“Fuck! Why now?!”
This time there were four enemies coming at him: three Winged Servants and one wingless.
Fuck these fuckers.
Despite his combat experience, he was overwhelmed with anger for several seconds because of which he almost failed to dodge an attack. Barely escaping the jet of fire squirted by the wingless monster, he rolled over, quickly equipped his gear, and retrieved two daggers from his inventory.
“Finally! Two daggers!”
Clutching the blade in his new hand, he smiled broadly and glanced at his new opponent.
Name: Abenkhriar’s Underground Pet
Level: 142
HP: 146,000
Resembling a six-foot-long sea urchin with sturdy flippers equipped for digging, the monster had the same immunities as the Winged Servants and, on top of those, good fire and electricity resistance, while being vulnerable to physical damage.
Running over its thick skin and crimson needles were flashes of energy that hinted at its magic nature.
Summoning Hade and Kharses, Raven unleashed them at the Underground Pet and focused on the winged attackers.
Being able to use both hands again was so delightful that he even stopped cursing the mobs for their untimely visit. Thanks to the hand’s passive skills, he now moved faster, and his attacks were stronger.
Double Jump. Wings. Leap.
His daggers danced in the air, knocking down dozens of feathery darts. He then cast Soul Cry, affecting all enemies within the skill’s range. Being at the Master level, it now did an insane amount of damage: the ghostly teeth that sank into the mobs’ meaty flesh detracted four-digit amounts of HP.
SOUL CRY
Rank: Unique
Active skill: Master (4.3%)
Description: Creates an attacking wave that penetrates any armor.
Damage: 1,400-2,350
Range: 45 feet
Inflicts enemies with Confusion and paralyzes them.
Duration: 40 seconds
Cost: 650 energy
The power of unique skills was multiplied by each upgrade, but the cost grew with it as well. At the Apprentice level, Soul Cry only required two hundred and fifty energy to use; now this amount had nearly tripled.
Just like the last time, the mobs’ high levels reduced the Confusion effect, limiting it to four seconds. More than enough in Raven’s opinion.
Activating one skill after another, Raven cackled like a lunatic, his laughter drowning out the squealing and growling of his dying enemies.
Within ten minutes, the last Winged Servant dropped dead. Checking his XP bar, Raven sighed.
Name: White Raven
Level: 127 (67.03% XP to the next level)
Class: Rogue
Specialization: Demon-Releasing Shadow
HP: 4,200
Strength: 391
Agility: 450
Energy: 144
Intelligence: 125
Luck: 50
There was no way that he could level up before the event. Even his “cheaty” Sacrifice was useless as he had no essence of XP-devouring mobs.
So he focused on the task at hand. Having collected the loot, he put it into his inventory and removed his gear and weapons once again. Staying only in his starting gear that couldn’t be destroyed, he proceeded toward the crack.
The journey took him five more hours but it compensated for it by giving him some energy.
Stored: 214/10,000
The reward was meager at best, reminding him of his teenage years when he busted his ass working part-time just to be paid less than minimum wage. The jobs required so much and paid so little that he had to clench his teeth and swallow swears so that he wouldn’t lose even that.
After approaching the crack, he spent another hour trying to collect more energy. It turned out to be a waste of time as it took him ten minutes to absorb a single unit.
“Time to finish this.”
Gathering his strength, he activated the Heavenly King’s Seal and outstretched his prosthetic arm toward the crack.
BOOM!
His body began to shake like he got electrocuted. The golden aura bursting out of the crack began to eat away at his flesh, baring his bones.
“AAAAH! Fuck!”
He heard messages pop up, but he was in too much pain to give a fuck about them. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t move his hand away. The crack blocked all his attempts. His HP was plummeting and he couldn’t even drink a potion to slow down his inevitable death.
He was getting ready to kiss his progress goodbye when the pain began to subside. In a few minutes, it was gone. The crack closed without any spectacular effects, slowly disappearing into the air, exposing what had been hidden behind it, and returning things to their proper place. It was like watching a disaster video, only backward.
Raven collapsed to the ground.
Old piece of shit, he cursed, remembering Zakhel. Next time I’ll ask about the cons of the skills I get and kill you.
Opening his inventory, he checked just how much he was compensated for this agonizing effort.
Stored: 1,214/10,000
“Okay, old man.” He smiled feebly. “I won’t kill you just yet. It was totally worth it.”