Ark the Legend 1-12

by Yoo Seong

  ‘Anyway, I have to be careful not to be exploited by this hamster.’

  So Ark always brought Heksu when disposing of metal parts. It wasn’t easy since Heksu was an NPC but Ark had saved his life. Furthermore, Heksu was still actively trying to get Ark to become his successor.

  “How is it? You can acquire abundant knowledge if you become a Scavenger.”

  He tried to incite Ark with that but…..

  Ark showed concentration equivalent for students preparing for the law bar exam if it came to money!

  ‘I can receive Heksu’s help while I’m a part of the Silver Hand but that has its limitations. Metal is a basic component of Galaxian. Other merchant NPCs might try to trick me like Tori so I should learn metal classification.’

  Therefore Ark carefully watched the way Heksu classified the metals. If he did that then he would learn the knowledge. First it was possible to roughly classify the metal through colour and texture. Aside from colour and texture, there was also sound. Some metals made a ringing sound when tapped by a hammer. Ark absorbed that information into his head. The last time he was in the store, he tried to classify the metal by himself. He got roughly 70% correct. He then repeated it until the accuracy reached 100%!

  -A new skill (Common Occupation ☆☆) has been learnt.

  Metallurgy (User, Passive): You can deeply observe the appearance of metal and determine what type it is. If you find a new lode containing metal then this skill will be very important. In addition, the probability of getting a better metal when defeating mechanical life forms will increase. If your knowledge deepens then it is possible to investigate the composition of metals and produce new alloys.

 

  An unexpected skill was learnt.

  ‘That…..it isn’t a bad skill to avoid scams.’

  He would’ve never been able to learn the skill if it wasn’t for Tori. Of course, the idea of thanking the hamster never entered his mind. Anyway, the Metallurgy skill allowed him to classify metal composition. He was soon able to classify the metal parts dropped by the Nakuma.

  “Scary talent! Genius, a genius. A Scavenger……”

  Heksu once again regretted Ark’s talent. However, Heksu was forced to give up on making Ark his successor. The reason was……

  Tang-! Tang-! Tang-!

  The revolver shots rang across the swamp! The final resisting Nakuma collapsed. Clem clicked his tongue and turned towards Ark.

  “…… Now it is the end. The chick who had difficulty is now gone.”

  “Yes, you had some hard times.”

  The other Attackers said with a glum expression. Ark put away his dagger and revolver and bowed.

  “Yes, thank you for everything. I was able to grow up thanks to Captain-nim, Heksu-nim and the Silver Hand.”

  “This child, you’re making me cry.”

  Clem nudged Ark’s shoulder and said. The Silver Hand was a hired mercenary troop to hunt the Nakuma multiplying on Istana. They had been hunting the Nakuma round Nephalim for a fortnight now. They couldn’t hunt the Nakuma using the amplifier much longer. It was time to leave for another city.

  “I had wanted to continue with you but……”

  Ark also found it valuable. He was able to obtain a lot of experience from hunting with the Silver Hand. And he received quite a bit of income. However, how was different from other users. No matter how much experience and loot, he couldn’t just hunt the Nakuma. No, even if it wanted to Ark had a contract with Tori not the Silver Hand. He was presently a ‘hired staff.’

  “It can’t be helped. You will do well wherever you go. But come find us at any time if you want work. You are already part of our family. If you have some difficulties then we will help you.”

  Clem manipulated the Nymphe and an information window appeared.

  -The GPS has been given the tracking information of the mercenary troop Silver Hand.

  If you enter this GPS data then you will be able to determine the location of the Silver Hand’s truck.

  “Thank you. I’ll definitely visit you sometime.”

  Ark finally parted from the Silver Hand after hunting together for a fortnight. He confirmed that the Silver Hand truck moved to another city before returning to the junkyard. Ark still had work to do despite parting from the Silver Hand. He could finally learn the hacking skill after two weeks.

  ‘So far I’ve done it 19 times so this is the last one!’

  Tori couldn’t believe it but he kept his promise. He showed Ark hacking techniques every time he bought specific amounts of gold. There were two important processes in learning hacking. One was to extract the OS of the machine parts that the Nakuma dropped to create a hacking program. Ark would then combine the sources to produce a hacking program. During the past fortnight, Ark had extracted 19 different OS sources. He had finally obtained 200 gold worth of metal parts and was going to complete the 20th time. However, it wasn’t that easy.

  “Phew! Looking at this for a while will give me nausea. But now it is almost finished!”

  Ark glared at the monitor after returning to the junkyard.

  -akqlkd# dlakdi# doqmalkdc-33458# do-342kdkcnq#…….

  Wild characters were listed on the monitor. This was the OS source derived from the mechanical parts that the Nakuma dropped. In fact, Ark had felt his spirit fly away the first time he saw this screen. Making an OS program in the game didn’t require professional knowledge. The complicated technology would proceed automatically. Ark thought like that. However, he was 50% correct and 50% wrong. This game certainly didn’t require specialized knowledge. Instead Galaxian asked for a patient heart! The monitor had complex characters but they had no meaning. Some paragraphs just consisted of the letters A, B, C, D. The problem was that it wasn’t it order. So it would be D, A, C, B. In order to produce a hacking program, he had to change the jumbled order to the right one.

  ‘It didn’t seem like a big deal at first……’

  When Tori first taught him, he only had to fix 3 paragraphs. He only had to change the order a few times and the right answer would appear. However, every time it repeated then the number wold increase until the last attempt had 30 paragraphs. He had to change the order of 30 paragraphs and test it! It was the first time he had gone through such work. But Ark was patient!

  -Error!

  -Error…..

  It took him 10 hours! The message seemed to continue forever.

  -The program operation was a success!

  20 different OS have been successfully combined with the source program and uploaded to the system.

  -The hacking program ‘Invader Ver 1.0’ has been uploaded to the Nymph.

  -Special data has been uploaded to the Nymph and a new skill (Common Occupation ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆) has been learnt.

  Hacking (User, Active): You have received the guidance of the hacker Tori and created your own hacking program. It will be able to connect to various electronic devices in Galaxian and unlock them. However, if you excessively use the hacking program then you might be caught by the federation and arrested for illegal hacking.

 

  Mental power consumption: 50>

  ‘A 4 star rated skill!’

  Ark’s mouth gaped open. The stars indicted the degree of difficulty in learning the skill. Things like Dagger Mastery and Close Marksmanship only had 1 star while skills like Metallurgy had 2 stars

  3 stars indicated a special technique learned from an NPC so more stars meant it was a more difficult skill to learn. 4 stars was almost the best rating! He had collected scrap iron for half a month and this was the result. His suffering was rewarded with the hacking skill…..

  ‘I can examine it immediately!’

  Ark took out the memory chip. It was the memory chip he found in the toy received from the baby octopuses. He had gone throu
gh all this trouble to unlock the data. Ark looked half anxious and half expectant as he connected the toy to the Nymphe. The automatic lock message appeared like before.

  -This memory chip is protected with a security device.

  Enter the security code or use Invaders to hack and release the lock.

  Attempt to hack? Y/N

  “Okay, start!”

  TO BE CONTINUED

  Ark

  The Legend

  (아크 더 레전드)

  Volume 02

  Yoo Seong

  (유성)

  Space 1

  Ruins Exploration

  “This is…..”

  Ark muttered with a lost expression. Ark had arrived at Nephalim, sold to the Silver Hand and hunted the mechanical Nakuma for a fortnight because of one goal. That was the hack the memory chip of the toy airplane to determine the data. It was the reason he rolled around in the mud and was covered in oil. He finally completed the hacking program ‘Invader’ and was ready to access the data on the toy.

  -You have attempted a hack.

  The hacking process will change depending on the lock. The lock and degree of difficulty will depend on the rating of the hacking skill. If you penetrate all the security measures around the lock then it will be released.

  “Eh?”

  Ark had though the rest would proceed automatically after making the hacking program. Yet the information window said that some technique was necessary to release the lock. Of course, Ark panicked because he didn’t know any techniques…..

  -The current lock accessed is ‘High Runner: Level 2.’

  The character is located on the left end of your hacking program ‘Invader.’

  You need to break through numerous obstacles and the guardian protecting the data to reach the destination. If you touch any obstacles or the guardian then the hacking will fail.

  Now, display your newly learned hacking capabilities and try to invade the data!

  The Nymphe’s screen ended up changing. A person holding a big key appeared on the lower left and started running. And numerous rocks, traps and robots appeared on the right side. Then Ark’s character hit a rock.

  -GAME OVER!

  The hacking has failed. If you fail 3 times in a row then you can’t connect to 24 hours.

  “Game over? What? So this…..”

  Ark was able to 100% understand how to hack after trying it once. Once he understood then it wasn’t a problem completing it. While killing time riding the train or us, he would often play games like ‘Wind Runner’ and ‘Dragon Flight’ on his smartphone.In the end, his hacking would succeed if he moved his character holding the key through the obstacles to the final destination. Well, it was easy enough to understand…..

  “…… This is hacking?”

  Ark felt relieved at the thought. It was inevitable that Galaxian followed the rules of the game but to have Wind Runner……Anyway, this style of hacking wasn’t bad for Ark. In this generation of smartphones, Ark was familiar with these types of casual games. Thanks to his exception concentration and reflexes, he had placed 1st in quite a few games. He was already an expert in this field!

  Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

  Jump with perfect timing! Jump! Jump! After the first failure, Ark used amazing concentration to jump over numerous obstacles. Ark’s alter ego finally reached the gates and plugged in the key. The gates parted and a message appeared.

  -You have broken through all the firewalls protecting the data and released the lock!

  The data from the memory chip has been downloaded to the Nymphe.

  “It’s a success!”

  Ark cheered with joy. Although he had panicked at the disconcerting sight of the 80’s game, he had succeeded in surpassing all obstacles and obtained the data. It took a fortnight to get here! The result of all his troubles could now be confirmed.

  ‘What will be on here? A hidden dungeon? Or a skill?’

  Was there a time where I’ve ever been so thrilled playing the game? The thought of the hidden heart made his heart pound. He impatiently waited for the data to download. 10%, 20%, 30%…..it finally reached 100%.

  “Ohhh! Now!”

  Ark clenched his fist and shouted.

  -A system error has occurred!

  The unverified damage has dealt fatal damage to your Nymphe’s OS……

  !!#$&#@##$!caeQdDf1!qolq!#$%!#$#$%! alq290481-4901#@#$%!!!!

  “Huk! W-what is this?”

  His cheer turned into a scream. The screen of his Nymphe turned blue once the download was complete. The screen filled with unknown characters and symbols!

  “T-this is……?”

  Cold sweat appeared down Ark’s back.Ark had seen such a blue screen before. But it was in reality not Galaxian. That’s right. Anybody would understand what it was. It was the typical screen that appeared when something was wrong with the computer’s OS. It was the blue screen that sent any user into panic!

  “This is ridiculous! Why is this window appearing on the Nymphe? A blue screen?”

  Ark screamed like crazy as he touched the Nymphe. However, the Nymphe……

  The screen sometimes changed but the characters and symbols were still there. All his functions on the Nymphe like the character information window, item window and system explanations were jammed! Ark’s head also become stuck.

  “W-why all of a sudden…..?”

  Ark shouted before suddenly closing his mouth. Ark was reminded of something. The blue screen had appeared just after he downloaded the data from the airplane toy. That was the only answer that appeared in his mind.

  “No way……the data downloaded from the toy place…..was a computer virus……”

  There were also computer viruses in a game? Who would’ve imagined such a thing? But there was no other possible reason.

  “Oh my god! What do I…..?”

  Ark grabbed his head as he collapsed to the ground. He suffered for a fortnight just for his Nymphe to obtain a virus? Ark felt despair as he saw the blue screen of the Nymphe. The Nymphe contained all the systems in Galaxian. Aside from the character screen, what point was there in playing the game when he couldn’t even confirm items or quests?

  ‘.….. That’s right!’

  Some light returned to Ark’s hopeless eyes.

  ‘Yes, if the Nymphe is gone then I can’t even confirm items, skills and my character. It won’t be a game at all. This is a serious bug so Galaxian must have a way to recover from it. They wouldn’t want to make the users quit the game so there must be a way!’

  It was natural when he thought about it logically. Ark then ran around the commercial district looking for information about how to restore the Nymphe. But he couldn’t find any information even after running around for a few hours. Hacking was a 4 star rated skill. The game service for Galaxian had just started so not that many users had learnt hacking. And how many people would be unlucky in their attempts of hacking like Ark? But there had to be a way. There was no doubt about it. However, there was no guarantee that he could find it. Ark grabbed his broken Nymphe and whined.

  ‘Dammit, why do I keep having such bad luck?’

  Ark let out a heavy sigh.

  “Rululu! Rululu!”

  A humming sound was heard from near him. The hamster carrying a large bag was entering the junkyard. It was Ark’s employer Tori. Then an ‘!’ popped into Ark’s head.

  ‘Stupid! Did my head disappear as well as my Nymphe? Why have I been searching in the wrong place? There is an expert right next to me. That’s right. The hamster told me that the hacking skill he taught me was child’s play. That guy must’ve seen other people suffering from the same situation.’

  The only thing he was worried about was that it was the hamster Tori. Ark knew that he was a guy who would extort money no matter what. Ark was extremely worried about that point but he had no choice. No, he would pay whatever it took if Tori solved his problem.

  “That…….”

  Ark delib
erately looked hopeless as he approached Tori. The humming Tori stared at him with wide eyes and asked.

  “Eh? What are you doing here? You still haven’t made the hacking program?”

  “No, I created the hacking program……”

  “That is good.”

  Tori put down his baggage and pulled out a bunch of papers.

  “You’ve created the hacking program so you have nothing to do right? Then scatter some of these.”

  “What is it?”

  “Isn’t that obvious? Flyers, an advertising poster.”

  Tori waved the flyer in front of Ark’s face as he replied.

  -Limited time sale for Tori’s store ‘Gear!’

  「Ignition Bullet」, 「Superconducting Electromagnet」and a large number of useful item will be sold at 20% of the normal price. This is a great chance to purchase useful items for a cheap price!

  Look for Tori’s Gear shop in D-23 of the commercial district.

  Those contents were written on the flyer. Ark looked at the flyer and asked absentmindedly.

  “Eh? Ignition Bullet? Superconducting electromagnet? You sold such items in your store?”

  “They’re all here.”

  Tori hit his bag and smiled.

  “I’ve managed to obtain these for 50% of the fixed price a short time ago.”

  “Eh? 50% of the fixed price? Where?”

  “Hihihihi. Actually I lent some money to a store suffering from financial difficulties. But I knew. Their store would perish soon.”

  “You lent them money knowing their store would perish?”

  “Of course. Then it will turn into money for me.”

  Tori the hamster smiled evilly.

  “This store has quite a bit of technology. The store also has a patent on the Ignition Bullet and Superconducting electromagnets. Well, they expanded their business by force and suffered financial difficulties…..Anyway, I knew their store was already in an unrecoverable state and lent them money. After I heard that the store had applied for bankruptcy, I quickly collected these items as collateral.”