Transcendence
“Will Randolph take first place in the next main quest too?”
The top of a building in Gangnam.
At the officially inaugurated headquarters of the Hero Alliance, someone suddenly opened the conversation.
But this was a question every player was curious about.
Could Randolph, presumed to be Phantom, really take first place even in Main Quest 5?
Phantom, a legend in his prime back in his gamer days.
The knowledge he possessed might be more than that of all the players combined.
But for those who knew about “mystery,” they were skeptical of the outcome.
“It’s possible, but unlikely.”
“Mystery is basically for show in the first place.”
Something meant to look good.
The prevailing belief was that mystery itself had little practical use beyond style.
“Well… if it were a ruler-class mystery, maybe it could be possible.”
“True. The mystery held by rulers of major cities is top-tier, and it even has a possession effect.”
“Now that Randolph cleared Main Quest 4, he becomes a city’s ruler? Even transcendents find it hard to take a city.”
“If you had a faction like Master and pushed early to seize a city, it’s possible. But Phantom doesn’t have a faction, does he?”
Why they were sure Randolph wouldn’t take first place.
To obtain a top-tier mystery, you had to be a powerhouse of that caliber, or have a faction.
If you pushed with a faction to take a city and become its ruler, you could obtain the “City’s Ruler” mystery.
The mystery “City’s Ruler” was one of the most outstanding mysteries.
But Phantom had no faction.
A solo player.
He’d moved only as a lone wolf, so getting a mystery that way was impossible.
Then was Randolph truly a powerhouse on par with transcendence?
‘He’s not that strong.’
Of course not.
It couldn’t have been long since Phantom was summoned as a player.
Even if he’d taken first through Main Quest 4 with knowledge and skill, obtaining a top-tier mystery was a whole different dimension of problem.
“Even if, by some miracle, he becomes a city’s ruler…”
“Yeah. It’d still be hard to break Master’s record.”
Master had the largest faction among players.
He’d been active in the shadows since three years ago, and now was drawing global attention while running the “Interdimensional Community.”
Officially, a little over fifty players were with Master, but people said their unofficial numbers would exceed a hundred.
Gracia at least spoke of “a cause” on the surface and tried to practice it to some extent, but Master was also infamous for erasing anything that wasn’t his, anything not on his side, without a trace.
He even ran an execution squad, and for profit he wouldn’t hesitate to go through fire or water.
“Even if Master gets plenty of bad press among players, in the end he’s still the owner of ‘Rundela,’ so…”
“Come to think of it, why is the mystery of Rundela’s owner different from other city owners?”
“Because Rundela is a relic city. It’s not on the same track as ordinary cities.”
The mystery Master gained by becoming the owner of Rundela was fundamentally different from that of other city owners.
That was why Master overwhelmingly and firmly held first place in Main Quest 5.
Even now, that record was so crushing it was still worth talking about.
“A fifty-point gap from second place, so that says it all.”
Everyone nodded.
No matter how legendary Phantom was, it would be hard to take first in this quest.
“Hmm. Maybe it’d be better to just clear this quest quickly instead.”
“Still, he’s Phantom. He’ll try to at least place in the rankings.”
That was when—
“What the hell, why won’t the Golden Rule Shop open?”
One alliance member frowned and spoke.
The Golden Rule Shop wouldn’t open?
What kind of nonsense was that?
“Huh? Mine won’t open either.”
“Why isn’t it opening?”
“Wait. The Secret Auction House isn’t opening either.”
“What about the others?”
“The others too… looks like none of them are opening.”
But it wasn’t just the Golden Rule Shop.
Every shop they’d obtained through rights and privileges wouldn’t open.
Like they’d been forcibly shut down.
If it were just one person, maybe coincidence, but more than ten alliance members gathered here were all experiencing the same thing.
“Contact players in other regions.”
“I’m doing it now, but everyone says it’s dead.”
“What about players overseas?”
“Same there.”
“That’s strange. It happens once in a while, but for every shop to not open at once…”
At the same time, everyone furrowed their brows.
Something was happening.
Somewhere they didn’t know, in a situation they didn’t know.
“…What the hell is going on right now?”
***
<All Constellations of the Pantheon are focusing on you.>
Right now, I was being watched.
By the Constellations of the Pantheon.
Sure, they were the ones who raised the reward grade of quests, so attracting their attention wasn’t a bad thing, but no matter how I looked at it, it felt like they were enjoying my suffering.
All of the Pantheon Constellations, every last one.
“Damn it, caw! Emptiness type, caw!”
I was being chased right now.
By ten thousand skeleton soldiers.
It looked no different from the first trial, but there was one huge difference.
Every skeleton soldier carried the attribute of “emptiness.”
That hidden trait that granted a counter-attribute.
Sssshiiiii!
Chwarrrrk!
Have you ever seen Light Arrows raining down from the sky?
Tens of thousands of arrows were falling like rain, solely to kill me.
Skeleton soldiers, of all things, were using a Light attribute skill.
<The level of ‘Skeleton Soldier’ matches the challenger’s level.>
<‘Skeleton Soldier’ gains a counter-attribute due to ‘emptiness.’>
Additional information as I advanced to the next stage.
It meant that ten thousand skeleton soldiers now held the attribute of emptiness.
At a glance it might not seem like much, but it was a “not much” I couldn’t ignore.
Emptiness grants a counter-attribute, in other words, it removes weaknesses.
Separate from that, corpse crows were a curse attribute. I also had the hidden trait of emptiness, but my skills didn’t share that characteristic.
The corpse crows I summoned were slaughtered in an instant by the Light Arrows.
‘Wait. Why am I running?’
As I ran, a doubt suddenly surfaced.
Thinking about it, didn’t I have Giant’s Magic Resistance?
Even if I took it head-on, shouldn’t I be able to nullify the skill’s damage?
No matter how many tens of thousands of arrows, they were only low-grade “Light Arrow” skills.
Just level 4 skeleton soldiers firing attacks without any real Mana behind them.
‘…Giant’s Magic Resistance blocks what’s made of Mana, it doesn’t block physical phenomena formed by Mana.’
My mind snapped awake.
If I took those tens of thousands of arrows head-on, my body would be shattered.
Not because of the Light Arrows themselves, but because of the physical force.
Using a skill meant adding physical force to Mana.
Giant’s Magic Resistance erased impacts caused by Mana, but it didn’t erase the physical phenomenon produced when tens of thousands of Light Arrows tore through the air.
So if I stayed still and took it, my flesh would be ripped to pieces.
Then how do I break this situation?
‘Skeleton soldiers are simple. They’re pouring everything into killing me.’
Even with Intelligence, skeleton soldiers weren’t that smart.
They were pouring Light Arrows at me like maniacs.
I’d actually been hit by a few, but those alone weren’t serious damage.
So then.
‘Just make them burn all their Mana.’
No matter if they had the attribute of emptiness, their Mana wouldn’t be infinite.
‘They’re only level 4.’
They were only level 4 skeleton soldiers, how much Mana could they possibly have?
Even assuming their Mana points maxed at 40 for their level, twenty Light Arrows would probably be their limit.
‘Two hundred thousand Light Arrows.’
If I could make them spend two hundred thousand Light Arrows, then every one of them would be no different from an ordinary skeleton soldier.
But if I only kept running like this, I’d never make them spend two hundred thousand.
I’d die first.
‘All skeleton soldiers have me recognized. Within 10.45 meters they don’t fire skills, but once the distance exceeds that, they start shooting Light Arrows.’
Aggro was already pulled.
As I ran, I calculated their exact recognition range.
10 meters 45 centimeters.
If I opened even that much distance, they began firing Light Arrows.
On the other hand, if the distance exceeded 50 meters, they didn’t use the skill.
Because the arrows’ effective range was just under that.
To make ten thousand skeletons fire Light Arrows at once, I had to keep a 10.45-meter gap while drawing them all within 50 meters.
But there was no terrain that could satisfy those conditions.
‘They’re simple.’
Simple, almost no different from a game.
I had to use that.
‘Their center.’
The surest place to satisfy the conditions was the center of that legion.
If I jumped into that death zone where tens of thousands of arrows rained down, I could force them to spend every arrow.
Something no ordinary strong heart could do.
But it was fine.
I wasn’t planning to walk in.
“Lift me up, caw!”
The seven newly summoned corpse crows gripped my whole body with their talons and flapped their wings.
My main body rose into the air.
Now all that was left was to use the distance I’d calculated while fleeing.
“Stop there, caw!”
I flew boldly through the skeleton soldiers and stopped at a point about 49.8 meters above.
Then the skeleton soldiers aimed at me in the sky.
Shik!
Shishishishishishik!
“Higher, caw!”
I went up beyond 50 meters, the range limit of the Light Arrows.
The arrows the skeleton soldiers fired lost their force right before reaching me and simply evaporated.
This was it.
This distance.
I kept repeating the delicate tug-of-war of distance with the skeleton soldiers.
And one by one, more skeleton soldiers began to blank out after exhausting their Mana.
‘If their level were higher, this would be a method I could never dream of.’
A higher level meant more Mana and higher skill levels.
They might be able to fire Light Arrows infinitely, with ranges of hundreds or thousands of meters.
They might even use skills far above Light Arrow.
‘No matter how I think about it, this trial wasn’t made to be cleared.’
To break through the crown of mythical mystery, two conditions were needed.
One, like me, you had to have all talents maxed, making required experience ridiculously high, so that no matter how many same-level monsters you killed, you couldn’t level up.
The other, you had to be absurdly strong for your level.
Besides that, you needed unwavering courage, fast judgment, a deep understanding of games, and more, but how many could possibly have all of that combined?
‘The only one who can clear this is me.’
No matter how I thought about it, only me.
Even I would have found it impossible if I’d challenged the crown at level 7 or 8.
Should I call this luck from heaven?
“Round two begins, caw!”
Looking at the ones standing around blankly after burning all their Mana, I dove straight into the center of the skeleton soldiers.
***
Caw!
Caw!
The corpse crows ravaged the skeleton soldiers.
Linking more, merging more, growing even larger, they overwhelmed the skeleton soldiers.
And I deliberately fought the skeleton soldiers at a relaxed pace.
Because now I was sure.
‘I need to raise my skill levels first.’
Before going to the next stage, I had to max all skill levels.
<The ‘Corpse Arts’ skill has reached its maximum (Lv 10).>
<The ‘Corpse Arts’ skill transcends into ‘Grandmaster of Corpse Arts (Lv 1).’>
<The level of ‘Corpse Crow Summoning’ has reached its maximum (Lv 10).>
<The ‘Corpse Crow Summoning’ skill transcends into ‘upper-grade Corpse Crow Summoning (1Lv).’>
Skill transcendence!
Skills that weren’t mere proficiency sometimes transcended when they reached level 10.
If I were an ordinary corpse crow, this wouldn’t happen, but I was the king of corpse crows.
So of course there would be more linked, transcending skills.
《You have cleared the ‘Wall of Species (2)’ trial.》
《As a reward, you may obtain the ultimate mythical-grade mystery ‘Peak of emptiness.’》
《Will you obtain it?》
《If you do not obtain it, you will proceed to a higher trial.》
Maybe because I’d waged war against ten thousand emptiness attribute skeleton soldiers,
A mystery called Peak of emptiness appeared, following Overload.
And it was ultimate mythical-grade. First time I’d seen a grade like that.
One thing was certain, it had to be a mystery above Overload.
But it was too early to be satisfied here.
《You have refused to obtain the mystery ‘Peak of emptiness.’》
Because I’d gotten a decent feel for this trial.
《The challenger attempts a higher trial.》
《The entire hall of mystery begins to shake and tremble.》
《You have achieved the accomplishment ‘Indomitable Challenger Attempting the Completion of Myth.’》
《The Constellations of the Pantheon cannot take their eyes off you.》
…Alright then, let’s see how far this goes.