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Chapter 125

Such complexity and ambiguity were reflected in the ranking system of the game.

The ranking system of Space Survival was based on scores. In simple terms, the higher the ranking, the higher the player’s score. However, the factors contributing to the score were intricate and had numerous variables, making it challenging for individual players to calculate.

The player’s influence in the universe, the extent to which they accomplished unique objectives related to their race, and their personal skills all played a role in determining the score. Everything a player experienced in the game contributed to the composition of their score.

One might wonder if the ranking merely indicated the longevity of a player enjoying the game. Indeed, the top 40 rankers were akin to fossilized beings who played the game since its early days. However, a distinct world unfolded from the 20th rank onwards.

In Space Survival, the most effective way to obtain the highest score through a single action was to achieve the final goal unique to each race, leading to the race-specific ending. The difficulty just before reaching the ending was extremely challenging regardless of the race, making it not just a walk in the park to earn the highest score. To witness the ending, players inevitably had to defeat rankers from their own race or competing races multiple times and conquer formidable raid bosses with immense power.

Even for players who enjoyed the game for a long time, overcoming these challenges was by no means easy, and those who successfully reached the ending were rare.

Therefore, rankers from 1st to 20th were inevitably special – they were the ones who had seen the ending of Space Survival. While there might not be a significant difference in playtime between the 20th and 40th ranks, an insurmountable gap existed in terms of experience.

They were the ones who had witnessed the end of this world. Simultaneously, they were the living legends of Space Survival.

Of course, since Space Survival is an online game, reaching the ending doesn’t mark the end of the game. Afterward, a new goal named “Galactic Conqueror” awaits as a kind of epilogue, leading to another division in rankings.

Galactic Conqueror boasts a difficulty level crazier than the ending, and very few had achieved all of its objectives. All members of Jason’s group were players who had witnessed the ending, ranking within the top 20. One of them had even accomplished more than half of the notoriously challenging Galactic Conqueror goal.

These were truly exceptional individuals.

Jason couldn’t help but feel a headache at the fact that they were complaining about the difficulty posed by a single creature, Amorph.

“Think about it. If you leave it alone and let the 5th ranker grow stronger, can you imagine how tough it’ll be then?”

“That’s true, but it’s difficult without the inspiration.”

“I don’t know the exact evolutionary stage of that bastard, but it’s at least a pseudo-embryo. Plus, we need to consider the variable of special rewards.”

“…Yeah. Looks like we overlooked the special rewards.”

The middle-aged man’s words were true. Up until now, every player Jason had encountered in the game known as “special rewards” possessed unique abilities not found in regular games. Jason, the entities communicating with him beyond the monolith, all held powerful special rewards.

“How about we leak the information to the Outspacer’s side. They hate the 5th ranker as much as we do, right?”

The current group leader of those hostile to the Amorph belonged to the Outspacers, whose leader ranked 4th with skills comparable to the Amorph.

“I disagree. The risk is too great.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Fucking cunt! Regardless of who wins it will be us who will be at the disadvantage, the Amorph will swallow up all the collected essence and grow stronger, are you okay with that? And if the Outspacers win? They’ll just tell us to go fuck ourselves, right?”

“Well…”

At Jason’s strong reaction, a voice of displeasure echoed from the girl’s side of the monolith.

Among the final goals of the Outspacers is the conquest of the Cult. According to the setting, the Outspacers aim to gather immense psychic power and then conquer the Vortex Gate. Due to the Vortex Gate’s prohibition, preventing the entire race from obtaining psychic power, they plan to compensate by offering countless members of the Cult as sacrifices.

So, as the Outspacer ranker becomes stronger, Jason, a member of the Cult, becomes more disadvantaged.

“So, what do you suggest? I’m a busy person too. If you have nothing to say, I’ll leave.”

“Wait. I thought of one way.”

As Jason and the girl seemed ready to fight again, the middle-aged man intervened.

“…I heard recently that Mega Corp completed the Purification Weapon.”

“Huh? Damn it, didn’t I say not to send a spy!”

“You don’t know anyone who doesn’t know about it, so what’s the point of a spy? Red agen… Uh, never mind. Are you suggesting we blow up a planet?”

At Jason’s question, the middle-aged man, called Jubaka, agreed.

“Exactly. Mega Corp and the Cult both possess the planetary purification weapon, so why not use it?”

“……”

“…….”

In the face of Jubaka’s radical suggestion, the others and Jason fell silent.

The planet PH-101, where the Amorph resides, is designated as a sacred star protected by the Cult. Destroying such a place, no matter how much power they wielded, would pose significant political burdens. Even if an Amorph ranker is a formidable existence, burning a planet carries immense political consequences.

Amidst the silence, the first to speak up was the girl on the other side of the monolith.

“It’s impossible from our side. We can’t easily withdraw due to the internal conflict, and isn’t that planet designated as a holy site? If I attack, won’t it lead to war with the Cult and Mega Corp?”

“That’s true. Jason? Is it also impossible on your end?”

“Sending an imperial flagship might work, but these days the atmosphere is quite…”

“Well, if big brother sends it, not only will the Reformists go crazy, but the Conservationists will also go berserk. It’s a sacred site, what the hell is this nonsense?”

Though Jason held significant power within the Cult society, he found himself in a challenging position to purify the PH-101 designated as a sacred star.

“I’ll handle that part.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll leak false information to the Conservationists. We’ll say the planet is contaminated and needs purification. Since you control the Conservationists, there shouldn’t be any worries.”

“I’ll take care of the Reformists. If we offer support with Nova Metal, would they dare to destroy their ancestors’ graves?”

“…Damn, the Cult Council is a complete mess. Fine, let’s go with using the imperial flagship.”

At this point, players had established their own factions. There were no major upheavals like past wars or certain events anymore. Instead, conflicts were limited to individual player skirmishes.

With such mechanical peace persisting for a long time, many players, including Jason, felt a sense of boredom. Some aimed for the ending to escape this, but it had already been proven through numerous failures to be nothing but a futile delusion. Some clung to impossible goals, while others indulged in misplaced pleasures.

In such a situation, the emergence of Amorph rankers sparked new excitement in Jason’s group after a long time.

“Still, it’ll take some time to mobilize the imperial flagship. Even if it passes the Council, it needs deliberation in the Elder Council. It’ll take at least three weeks, even if we’re quick.”

“I’ll send surveillance satellites first. They might slip away in the meantime.”

“Send them discreetly. If it becomes a diplomatic issue, it’ll be a headache.”

“We can cause some confusion on our end….”

The plan to subdue Amorph continued late into the night.

Arriving at Muriel’s camp, there was the Sky Mother in the sky.

She returned in her humanoid form, gathering the clothes the young wolves had worn. There were no bodies left as they had been completely absorbed by me as sacrifices.

｢……｣

Her expression wasn’t particularly expressive, as she held the head of an eagle. Instead, the emotions in her eyes were anything but small.

It was the profound sorrow felt by a mother who had lost her children.

‘Did she say she married the Father of the Earth?’

As far as I know, the Father of the Earth was a Named Wolf that appeared fixedly on the Utopia-02 continent.

Being related to the Forgotten Earth Temple and being an NPC, if time passes, another Father of Earth will surely reappear somewhere on this continent.

‘Of course, it’s uncertain whether he’s the same being as the husband she loved.’

She too must know that the one she loved may never return.

‘So, she shows such a reaction.’

Even though Muriel mocked the Sky Mother in love with an NPC during interrogation, I could understand the Sky Mother.

I also care for number 26 and Adhai. If they were to die or be seriously injured, I would undoubtedly lose my sanity.

‘It seems I need a bit more time to inquire.’

Leaving the grieving griffin behind, I searched for my weapon storage within the camp.

Muriel seemed to have visited this camp quite frequently, as makeshift structures were prevalent instead of tents. Among these buildings, the most significant and sturdy one was the weapon storage.

‘Quite a variety.’

Upon entering the storage, various types of weapons were visible. Not only long-range weapons like plasma launchers, storm guns, and purple spray guns, but also explosives like pulse grenades and compressed plasma missiles were present.

Among the numerous weapons, the most outstanding one was the ‘Brain God’ placed in the center of the storage. The Brain God was a complex machinery with a diameter of 10m, resembling a mandala. It was made of the extremely rare metal called Novametal, which changed colors entirely depending on the direction of the light, depicting a mandala. This unique feature was due to Novametal, a metal that could only be extracted in regions with highly concentrated psychic power, like a dragon’s nest.

‘Would it be like the Cult version of shape memory alloy?’

Although the Brain God appeared small for a satellite weapon, injecting psychic power would change its story. When the Brain God absorbed psychic power, it transformed into an orbital weapon with a diameter of several hundred meters or more. Additionally, it was configured to automatically return to its owner after completing a mission.

‘It was quite annoying equipment in the game.’

Despite being an orbital weapon, the Brain God had the tremendous advantage of being able to shrink its size, making it easy to conceal. I had been on the receiving end of the Brain God a couple of times.

‘I’ll take a closer look at the Brain God later.’

Near the Brain God, I picked up a plasma launcher rolling around.

‘If I devour this, I should be able to use the power of the plasma launcher, right?’

With the launcher in hand, I activated the Absorption of Irregular Polyhedra, a characteristic of the looter.

Gurgle

When I activated metal absorption, there was no apparent change, but this time was different. It felt somewhat similar to when my stomach was slightly hungry.

‘It seems to be activated, so why not taste it?’

I opened my jaws wide and inserted the launcher into my mouth. As I bit and chewed, the distinctive bitter and metallic taste of the alloy filled my mouth.

‘Not tasty.’

Well, it couldn’t be helped since it was metal.

As I forced the launcher pieces down my throat, changes occurred in my body and the semi-transparent text box.

[Mark of the Formidable Foe: Plunderer’s Amorphous Polyhedron (Plasma Secretion Gland)]

Suddenly, a strong heat emanated from my chest. A warm, slightly tingling sensation, reminiscent of swallowing strong liquor, spread from my throat to my chest, stomach, and the area around my abdomen.

Furthermore, a faint green light circulated around the chest area.

‘Seems like it worked.’

Just like when you take a sip of hot soup on a winter day and exhale deeply, I wanted to expel the heat within me.

I stepped out of the warehouse, raised my head towards the sky.

‘Let’s go then.’

With my jaws wide open, concentrating on the sensation in my chest, a hot feeling surged upwards.

In succession, a green light flickered gradually from the stomach, chest, esophagus, to the throat, soon emitting intense energy from my mouth. A much thicker and vivid green pillar, compared to the launcher, pierced through the toxic mist, soaring into the blue sky. With this thickness and length, it might be visible from tens of kilometers away.

Pouring out a considerable amount of energy, I felt a rush as if the heat and energy within my body were rapidly dissipating. Confirming that there was no more energy to expend, I closed my mouth.

‘Seems like I inherited the launcher’s basic function.’

However, there were some slight differences. While the output itself was far superior to the launcher, the time it took for the energy to recharge was longer. Subjectively, I felt that I would need about 10 minutes to wait before shooting again.

‘This might be because my body doesn’t have a separate energy source.’

I speculated that it was to replace the energy dispersed throughout the entire body with plasma energy.

‘Unique abilities of top-tier equipment won’t perfectly align with my body.’

It had to be experimented to be certain, but it seemed inevitable that the application of original abilities would differ in some ways.

Of course, it wasn’t all drawbacks. My current plasma beam was much more powerful than the launcher’s. While the launcher had limitations on firepower due to overheating or other stability issues, I didn’t need to worry about that.

‘The unique abilities of top-tier equipment will likely change according to my body.’

Some aspects might become stronger, while others might become weaker.

Afterward, I experimented with other supply-type equipment.

‘You can only obtain the same ability from the same equipment.’

And those that consumed energy or ammunition had a cooldown after using the feature. The plasma launcher had a cooldown between 10 and 20 minutes, while the storm gun ranged from 30 to 40 minutes.

‘Changes in the body parts after specializing the equipment’s abilities also vary.’

When I ate the launcher, I shot heat rays directly from my mouth, and the storm gun caused a gun-shaped organ similar to the storm gun to grow on my left arm, the lowest combat arm.

By the way, all the depleted uranium rounds from the storm gun were replaced with bone fragments.

‘The experiment seems to be enough…’

I lined up the top-tier equipment obtained from the Seintopia02 continent: the Regulator, the Golden Spear, the Brain God, and the small spider-shaped Blood Reaver picked up a while ago.

‘Which one should I devour first?’

Since all of them were top-tier equipment, obtaining these items was not usually a straightforward task. Therefore, I had to carefully specialize them.

‘Let’s exclude the Golden Spear for now.’

The Priest’s Golden Spear could only be obtained exclusively at the Forgotten Earth Temple. And one of the prerequisites for entering the temple was suppressing the Earth Father.

In other words, until the Earth Father was reborn somewhere on this continent, I couldn’t obtain the Golden Spear.

‘The chance to obtain the Golden Spear is rare, but…’

The remaining weapons were a different story. The Regulator could be obtained by anyone through a quest if they were part of the cult, and both the Brain God and Blood Reaver could be crafted.

Even if the Regulator was the only one, the Brain God and Blood Reaver, these two weapons, would undoubtedly be more than one or two.

‘The production cost is astronomical, but…’

Anyway, multiple weapons that exist can be specialized through subsequent consumption.

So, it’s advisable to prioritize devouring one of the remaining weapons, excluding the Priest’s Golden Spear.

‘What should I do?’

Contemplating what to eat, I once again looked at the three weapons laid out on the floor in a row.

Seeing them arranged like this, I was sure of it.

In the first place, it was a problem with a predetermined answer.

‘There’s no need to hesitate.’

Having decided what to choose, I reached out towards the equipment.