125

Ep. 125

–

Space Survival was a game whose genre classification was particularly ambiguous among VR games released at the time.

Even though survival, competition and evolution were the motto, the methods for carrying it out were extremely different for each player.

For some, it was a grand strategy simulation game, and for others, it was a science fiction horror game.

This complexity and ambiguity was also reflected in the ranking system.

Space Survival's ranking system is a points system.

Simply put, the higher the ranking, the higher the player's score.

However, the factors that make up the score were complex and had so many variables that it was not easy for individual players to calculate it.

How much influence the player has in the universe, how well he or she has accomplished unique goals related to his or her race, how much of the player's individual skills are, and so on.

Everything the player has experienced since starting the game acts as a factor in the score.

If so, this question may arise.

The ranking simply refers to the ranking of players who have enjoyed the game for a long time.

In fact, the rankers up to 40th place were like fossils who had played the game from the beginning, so this statement was not entirely wrong.

However, starting from 20th place, a completely different world unfolds compared to the rankers below.

The way to obtain the highest score with a single action in Space Survival is to achieve the final goal for each race and see the race's unique ending.

The level of difficulty right before the ending is so difficult that it is not given the highest score for no reason, regardless of race.

In order to see the ending, you must inevitably defeat rankers of your own race or a rival race several times and defeat raid bosses with enormous power.

Even for players who have enjoyed the game for a long time, it was never easy to take on the challenge, and even rarer were those who overcame the difficulties to see the ending.

Therefore, the rankers from 1st to 20th place are bound to be special.

Because all of these people have seen the ending of Space Survival.

There may not be much of a difference between 20th and 40th place in terms of play time, but there is an unbridgeable gap in terms of experience.

They are the ones who came to see the end of this world.

At the same time, he is a living legend of space survival.

Of course, since Space Survival is an online game, the game does not end once you see the ending.

Afterwards, as a kind of afterthought, a new goal awaits, called 'Conqueror of the Galaxy', and here the rankings become different again.

Galactic Conqueror boasts an insane level of difficulty beyond the ending, so there were very few people who achieved it all.

The members of Jason's group were all players who had reached the ending, that is, ranked in the top 20. One of them even achieved more than half of his difficult goal of becoming a galaxy conqueror.

Such great transcendents.

The fact that Jason was whining that he was going to die because of Amorph alone gave Jason a headache.

"Think about it carefully. What if we leave it like this and 5th place grows? "You know there's no real answer at that time, right?"

"That's true, but it's difficult without you."

"I don't know what stage of evolution it is in, but it should be at least a semi-adult. Moreover, the variable of special privileges must also be taken into consideration."

"… That's right. "You forgot the perk."

What the middle-aged man said was true.

All of the players Jason has met so far have special abilities that do not exist in the game, called perks.

Both Jason and the beings beyond the monument that communicated with him had several powerful perks.

"How about this? Leaking information to the outspacer side. They also really hate the 5th place."

The leader of the group currently opposing them is Outspacer.

He ranked 4th in the rankings and was considered to have skills as good as that of Amov Ranker.

"I am against it. The risk is too big."

"Huh? Why? ｣

"Fucking cunt! No matter which of the two wins, they will eat up all of the essence that the other person has collected. Do they have no choice? And what if the outspacer wins? "Are you telling me to fuck you?"

"Tsk."

At Jason's violent reaction, a sound of smacking could be heard from the girl's headstone.

Among Outspacer's ultimate goals is the capture of the cult's capital.

According to the setting, Outspacer's goal is to gather enormous psychic power and then defeat Vortex One.

Since the entire race cannot obtain psychic power due to the Vortex One ban, they try to make up for it by sacrificing countless cult members instead.

Therefore, the stronger the Outspacer Ranker becomes, the more disadvantaged Jason the Cultist becomes.

"Then what are we going to do? I'm also busy. "If you don't have anything to say, I'm going to fall out."

"Look at how you're making a fuss about this."

"wait. "I thought of a way."

When Jason and the girl tried to fight again, the middle-aged man stopped them.

"…I heard that Megacorp recently completed a purification weapon."

"Huh? Mr. Ai, I told you not to send a spy!"

"No one knows anyway, so what's a spy? Red… ugh Zubaka. "You mean blow up the planet?"

A middle-aged man called Jubaka agreed to Jason's question.

"Yes. Megacorp and the cult have a planet purification weapon, so how about using it?" "

…."

"…."

The other tombstones and Jason remained silent at Zubaka's radical opinion.

PH-101, the planet where Aimorph is located, is a protected planet designated as a sacred star by the cult.

The act of wiping out such a place is not an easy task, no matter how omnipotent they are. No matter how scary Aimorph Ranker is, burning a planet creates an enormous political burden.

While everyone was silent, it was the girl who spoke first.

"This is not possible. Not only can we not remove it without permission because of the civil war, but isn't it a planet designated as a sacred place? If I shot him, would there be a war between the cult and Megacorp?"

"That's right." Jason? "I guess it would be okay

to send an imperial carrier, but the atmosphere these days is so…" "

Well, if you sent it, not only the innovative faction but also the old school providential faction would make an uproar. "It's a sacred place, so what the hell?"

Jason was a high-ranking cult member with great power within the cult society, but as such, he was in a difficult position to purify PH-101, which was designated as a sacred star.

"I'll have to do some work on that part."

"What are you going to do?"

"We will spread false information to the moderates. The planet is polluted and needs to be cleaned up. "Providence faction, you are in control, so there is nothing to worry about."

"I will take charge of the innovation faction." "If you say you'll support Nova Metal, you'll destroy their ancestors' tombs, right?"

"…Fuck, the cult council is complete bullshit. What do you like? "Then let's go use the imperial frame."

At this point, players had established their own factions. There were no longer any large-scale tectonic changes such as wars or other incidents in the past.

Instead, it just ended up being a fight between individual players.

As such mechanical peace continued for a long time, many players, including Jason, were feeling bored.

There are those who aim for the ending to escape this, but numerous failures have already proven that this is nothing more than a vain delusion.

Some people were obsessed with impossible goals, while others sat in their seats and focused on wrong pleasures.

In that situation, when a new stimulus called Aimov Ranker appeared, Jason's group became more energetic for the first time in a long time.

"Still, it will take some time to mobilize the imperial carrier. Even if it passes the National Assembly, it must be reviewed by the Council of Elders. "It takes three weeks at the earliest."

"I'll send a surveillance satellite first. "Because it might escape in the meantime."

"Hide it properly and send it away. "If it becomes a diplomatic problem, it will be a headache."

"If we double-disturbed that part from here…"

The plan to subdue Aimov continued until late at night.

–

When we arrived at Muriel's camp, the Heavenly Mother was there.

She returned to her prisoner form and was collecting clothes worn by young Wolff. There was nothing left of the body as I absorbed it all through human sacrifice.

｢….｣

Because she had the head of an eagle, her expression was not very expressive. Instead, the emotions in those eyes were by no means small.

That was the deep sorrow felt by a mother who lost her child.

'Did you say you married the Earthfather?'

As far as I know, the father of the earth was the Named Wolf, who regularly appears on the continent of Saintopia 02.

Since he is an NPC related to the Forgotten Earth Temple, as time passes, another Earth Father will appear again somewhere on this continent.

'Of course, it may be the same person as the husband she loved.'

She will know that the one she loves will never come back.

'That's probably why you're reacting like that.'

Even during the interrogation, Muriel made a mockery of Heaven's Mother falling in love with an NPC, but I was able to understand Heaven's Mother.

Because I also cherish No. 26 and Aadhai. If those two die or get seriously injured, they will definitely lose their temper.

'I think I need more time to ask.'

I left the grieving griffon alone and went to the weapons warehouse in the camp.

Muriel must have visited this camp quite often, so there were many kiosks instead of tents.

The largest and most durable of these buildings was the weapons warehouse.

'There are a lot.'

When I entered the warehouse, I saw various types of weapons. There was everything from long-range weapons such as plasma launchers, storm guns, and purple spray guns to explosives such as pulse grenades and compressed plasma grenades.

The weapon that stands out among the numerous weapons is the 'Rain God' located in the center of the warehouse.

Raishin is a mechanical device with a diameter of 10 meters and a complex mandala shape. As if depicting a mandala, it changes into completely different colors depending on the direction in which the light shines. This is because it is made of Novametal, an extremely rare metal.

Nova Metal is a metal that can only be mined in areas with highly concentrated psychic power, such as the Dragon's Nest. When psychic power is injected into equipment made of this metal, it changes into the form specified by the equipment maker.

'I would say it's a cult version of shape memory alloy.'

The immediately visible Thunder God is extremely small for a satellite weapon, but the story changes when psychic power is injected into it. This is because when Raijin absorbs psychic power, it is transformed into an orbital weapon with a diameter of hundreds of meters or more.

It is also set to automatically return to its owner, so it will return on its own when its mission is completed.

'It was a very annoying piece of equipment in the game.'

Although Raishin is an orbital weapon, it has the great advantage of being able to reduce its size, making it easy to conceal. I, too, have had the experience of being properly attacked by the Thunder God more than once.

'I decided to take a look at the Thunder God again later.'

After getting the Raijin's attention, I grabbed the plasma launcher rolling nearby.

'If I feast on this, I can use the power of the plasma launcher, right?'

While holding the launcher, I activated the Marauder's irregular polyhedron trait.

"Grrr"

When I activated metal absorption, I didn't feel any difference, but not now. It felt similar to when I was a little hungry.

'It looks like it's active, so let's try it.'

I opened both my jaws and put the launcher into my mouth. As soon as I put it in my mouth and chewed it, I felt the bitter, fishy taste that is unique to alloy.

'It doesn't taste good.'

It can't be helped because it's metal.

The moment I forced the launcher pieces down my throat, a change occurred in my body and the translucent text box.

｢Together of a Strong Enemy*: Marauder's Irregular Polyhedron (Plasma Gland)｣

Suddenly, I felt strong heat in my chest. As if I had swallowed strong alcohol, I felt a slight tingling sensation from my throat to my esophagus, chest, and stomach.

Additionally, there was a soft green glow on the outer layer near the ribcage.

'I think it worked?'

I wanted to let out the heat inside my body, like when I take a deep breath after taking a sip of hot soup in the middle of winter.

I came out of the warehouse and raised my head high toward the sky.

'Then let's go.'

As I opened my jaw wide and focused my senses on my chest, something hot came up.

Green light flashed step by step in the following order: stomach, chest, esophagus, and throat, and soon an intense energy emanated from my mouth.

A much thicker and brighter green pillar than the launcher tore through the toxic fog and soared into the blue sky. If it is this thick and long, it may be visible from tens of kilometers away.

As I poured out all my energy like that, I felt like all the heat and energy inside my body was draining out. After confirming that I didn't have the energy to go any further, I kept my mouth shut.

'It seems like the launcher's basic functions have been inherited.'

However, there were some differences.

The output itself is far superior to the launcher, but the energy recharge time is longer. My feeling is that after shooting once, you will have to wait about 10 minutes to shoot again.

'I think this is because my body has no other energy source.'

I wondered if it was to replace the energy spread throughout the body with plasma energy.

'It is impossible to receive the unique abilities of even first-class equipment.'

You'll have to try it to find out, but it seems inevitable that it will be applied in a different way from the original ability.

Of course, there are not only drawbacks.

The plasma heat ray I used now has much more firepower than the launcher's. In the case of launchers, their firepower is limited due to overheating issues and other stability issues, but I don't need that.

'The unique abilities of the first-class equipment will also be different from the original to suit my body.'

Some parts become stronger and some parts become weaker.

Afterwards, I experimented with other low-end equipment.

'You can only obtain the same abilities from the same equipment.'

And things that consume energy or bullets have a cooldown once the characteristic is used. The plasma launcher lasted between 10 and 20 minutes, and the storm gun lasted between 30 and 40 minutes.

'The body parts that change after the equipment's abilities are specialized are also different.'

When it consumed a launcher, it unconditionally fired a heat ray with its mouth, and a gun barrel similar to a storm gun sprouted on its left arm, located at the bottom of its combat arms.

For reference, all of the depleted uranium bullets in the storm gun have been replaced with bone fragments.

'This is the extent of the experiment…'

I lined up the unique equipment obtained on the Saintopia 02 continent.

The Adjuster, the Golden Spear, Raijin, and even the small spider-shaped Blood River that I picked up outside a little while ago.

'What to eat first.'

Since it is all one-of-a-kind equipment, it is usually not difficult to obtain this equipment. Therefore, it must be characterized carefully.

'The Golden Spear is excluded for now.'

The Priest's Golden Spear can only be obtained at the Temple of the Forgotten Earth. And one of the prerequisites for entering the temple is to subdue the Earth Father.

In other words, the Golden Spear cannot be obtained until the Earthfather is reborn somewhere on this continent.

'The chance of obtaining the Golden Spear is slim, but…'

The rest of the weapons are a different story.

The Coordinator is equipment that can be obtained through quests from any cult, and Thunder God and Blood Reaver can be crafted.

Even if the coordinator is like that, the Raijin and Blood Reaver are probably not the same two weapons.

'I'm not sure because the production cost is astronomical, but…'

In any case, multiple weapons can be specialized through predation again in the future.

So, except for the priest's golden spear, it is better to take one of the weapons first.

'how will we do it.'

While thinking about what to eat, I looked again at the three weapons lying in a row on the floor.

After listing it like this, I can clearly understand it.

It was a problem with a fixed answer from the beginning.

'There's nothing to worry about.'

After deciding what to choose, I reached for the equipment.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

Support the Translation! 🌐✨

20 Advanced Chapters are currently available in Patreon, make sure to visit and support our team.

patreon.com/Immortal_author

https://ko-fi.com/immortalauthor

https://discord.gg/KscfBegBPT