Ark the Legend 1-12
Page 128
-S-20’s Ten Temporarily Dungeon Rules
“Who on earth is he?”
He had downloaded the rules that Rapid thought of onto his Nymphe. The sector was run by the administrator. Criminal related matters like chaotic users still followed the federation’s laws but all other matters were up to the administrator. So Ark had planned on creating rules for S-20 but Rapid had amazingly thought of all of them. It was to the degree that it seemed like Rapid was reading his mind! Therefore Ark didn’t need to create or change any rules. Rapid was the one who applied the rules. It was also more detailed than the ones Ark thought of. It was a game but there weren’t many people who could do something like this. And if that person met Ark then the number became even smaller.
“Looking at Rapid’s reaction, he doesn’t seem to be lying when he said he met me…..”
No one could lie with that expression on their face. To be honest, only 1 person came to Ark’s mind. No, he remembered that person as soon as he saw Rapid. There was a 70% similarity between ‘him’ and Rapid. But Ark soon shook his head.
‘He’ didn’t have a body that could play the game. ‘He’ also had an accident in New World and Ark heard that he was like a vegetable. So ‘he’ couldn’t play a virtual reality game again. And even if he had begun the game, it was impossible for him to gain Rapid’s skill.
“I wanted to talk to him a bit more.”
Dururong. Dururong.
Then he heard snoring underneath him.
“What? This? Ha, this child’s luck has increased. Shall I wake his spirit?”
Ark stabbed his lightsaber into the person sleeping.
“Ah!”
A scream burst out! Ark rose from the seat in front of him.
“Hey, your health has been restored. Wake up. I have to start again.”
“Ugh, still? Take a look at me! Yet you still want to continue?”
“What are you talking about? I haven’t even started yet. Didn’t you say your strength was your patience and tenacity? And I heard that you kept Rapid sleep deprived for the past week. Yet haven’t you only suffered for 12 hours?”
“B-but…..”
“Well, I’ll just do it comfortably then. Here I go!”
Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam!
“Ouch! Ack! Cough! Ugh!”
Kurakan screamed every time Ark hit him. Kurakan had killed Rapid and then challenged Ark to a duel. However the result was too shameful to be called a duel. Kurakan had become a rice cake and collapsed as soon as it started. But Kurakan didn’t care.
“Huhuhu, you! Kill me! You’ll soon realize what a big mistake that is. My strength is my patience and tenacity! I will go after you a 2nd and a 3rd……”
“Who is going to kill you?”
“What?”
“Actually, my strength is also my patience and tenacity. Let’s see who has more patience and tenacity.”
Ark said and began to step on the bloody Kurakan. Once again, the armour in Galaxian was so good that kicks wouldn’t reduce any health unless the person was wearing a battle suit. But that didn’t mean the user received no damage. Virtual reality games like to make the character ‘feel like it was as real as reality’ so the users could feel pain. Of course, this was just a slight jolt.
However it could cause a lot of pain if persistently hit. And Ark was persistently hitting the same vital spot. Kurakan kept on feeling an electric shock to the extent that the area became sensitive! Even his clothes became soft after a while. And it wasn’t just the shock. Ark would hit Kurakan until his health reached 5%. Then he would switch to defense and wait for Kurakan’s health to recover. And he would start hitting again as soon as the health was restored!
“Stop! I was wrong! Just kill me!”
Kurakan finally screamed. He gave up on resistance and just lay down. But that didn’t stop Ark. He merciless waited for Kurakan’s health to recover.
Then bam bam bam!
Kurakan couldn’t even break the connection. The connection couldn’t be terminated during a duel because it would be considered cheating and there would be a huge penalty. And he couldn’t commit suicide. Ark wouldn’t let him commit suicide. So back to bam bam bam!
It had lasted for 10 hours! Even if Ark stopped attacking, Kurakan had already lost his stamina so he would just doze off while waiting for Ark to lose strength. However Ark had slept for a lot during the 24 hours warp to Istana so he had stamina to spare. Furthermore, Ark had once spent 3 days without any sleep in New World so he could endure for a lot longer.
He was hitting Kurakan for 1 minute and resting for 10. He would wake him up after 10 minutes, deliver the beating, wait another 10 minutes and so on…..Kurakan had already gone insane by the time he repeated it for 10 hours. Finally Kurakan woke up from the pain and grabbed Ark’s leg while crying.
“Please stop now! I have bruises all over my body! I was wrong! Please let me sleep! I swear! I won’t come here again!”
Ark stopped the violence and looked around. The spectators flinched and avoided his gaze. It wasn’t just them. Mellin, Hegel and Tori who had been watching the scene of violence were also frozen.
‘The atmosphere is right.’
In fact, Ark had a reason for persistently stepping on Kurakan. Kurakan appeared and caused trouble when Ark was away. He had to ensure that no user tried the same thing in the future. The sector was under the jurisdiction of the federation but he couldn’t ask them for help. Guys like Kurakan could cause a lot of damage. Moreover, Ark was a well-known user. Guys like Kurakan would keep coming to challenge him. That’s why he stepped on Kurakan for 10 hours!
–If you challenge me then it won’t end well!
He sent a warning message to all users in the steadily growing sector. And that warning was also sent to the Royal Guards and Tori. It seemed like it was already having an effect.
“Okay. This is enough for now.”
“R-really?”
“But if you mess around here again……”
“I won’t do it anymore! I won’t even look at this place!”
“That would be a problem.”
“Huh?”
“Haven’t you interrupted work for a few hours over the last week? Thanks to that my sector is covered in an uncomfortable mentality and I’ve lost money. And didn’t you kill Rapid who helped with my work? Does it make any sense that you can just leave?”
“T-then what do you want? I don’t see…..”
“Huh?”
“Ah, no it’s fine!”
Kurakan freaked out and agreed as soon as he frowned.
“Yes! That’s right! I killed him! I was wrong! I will listen to you! What do you want me to do?”
“Spend a week volunteering around S-20 to compensate for the damage.”
“A-A week volunteering? You want me to work here for a week?”
“You don’t want to?” Then I can continue this for one week.”
“Ah, no! I will do it! I’ll dedicate myself to serving you!”
“If you try to escape…..”
Ark raised his lightsaber and threatened.
“I’ll find you and bother you for a week.”
Ark made Kurakan register his code on Ark’s Nymphe and registered his on Kurakan’s. Kurakan’s face darkened.
Space 9
Event! Event! Event!
Pioneer quest
–Why is it coming now?
He had dropped in at the Elim’s Sanctuary after dealing with Kurakan. The light sphere shouted hyster
ically like it was a wife waiting for her husband.
–Something unusual is definitely happening.
“Something unusual?”
–The negative energy. Not long ago I detected an aura of negative aura.
The light sphere trembled with anxiety.
–Only antimatter can emit negative energy. And antimatter is a substance that can’t exist in this star system. I can only remember one time that there was an influx of antimatter into this star system. It was the time of tribulation when the Karma showed up.
“Karma? This time it is related to Karma?”
–This time?
Ark explained what he experienced on Amara. This was the reason that he actually visited the sanctuary. The sphere’s name was ‘Elim’s Memory’ so it remembered the past. He thought it might know something about the magic circle. But the light sphere couldn’t give an answer about what happened in the mine.
-Uhh, it isn’t possible to build it with just that. But it can’t be overlooked now that negative energy is sensed. Someone might’ve intentionally called the negative energy. Ark, keep this in mind. You are the Elim’s Heir. And the Elim’s biggest duty is protection of the galaxy. If there is any potential threat to the galaxy then you have to stop it from happening.
The Elim’s Memory has recalled the last time negative energy was detected in the galaxy. Based on the Elim’s Memory, this might be related to the Karma who sent the galaxy into confusion. The first duty of Elim’s Heir is to defend the galaxy. You have to thoroughly investigate the event related to the negative energy.
Difficulty: B+
It was a quest for information like the pioneer quest. He felt like leaving for the space frontier straight away. However Ark still had work to do in S-20.
————————————————————
“Not yet.”
Ark turned his eyes towards the sector entrance. Rapid. He was a user with unexpected skills. After handling Kurakan and visiting the sanctuary, he decided to explore the sector some more. Rapid had maintained and manage the sector and dungeon. Ark looked at everything.
Rapid’s fighting ability wasn’t normal. Rapid probably lost against Kurakan because of his poor physical condition. It was obvious. If he fought properly than Kurakan wasn’t an opponent for him. And Rapid had disposed of Kurakan 20 times. Kurakan was level 80. Kurakan also wasn’t skilled so he was easy to handle. But the more important thing was Rapid’s attitude. Rapid seemed angry that Ark didn’t recognize him.
‘Who the hell is he?’
However he couldn’t recall someone like that when he looked through his memory. Therefore he was interested in talking to him again. But it had been two days and Rapid hadn’t returned.
‘You can resurrect immediately after a duel. If he hasn’t returned yet then he must’ve registered at a distant place or is somewhere sick. It is one of those two options.’
Either way he would be back. Mellin and Hegel told him that Rapid waited ten days to meet Ark. And their talk had been stopped by Kurakan so he would be back.
‘There is a part I’m worried about……’
It was something that Hegel said to him.
“Actually Hyung-nim, about Rapid. No, I’m not saying this is fact. There is a strange rumour. That is……about his sexual preference. Hrmm, you know? Man to man. He spent 10 days waiting here for Hyung-nim despite having to fight Kurakan……he might like to with Hyung-nim……Hyung-nim, be careful.”
Chills ran down his spine. Virtual reality games were common these days. The problem of the realism was that stalking could occur in the game. While a virtual reality game regulated pain, there was no way to regulate the victim’s mental pain. Especially if the other person was a man. He couldn’t help feeling cold at the thought that it could be true.
‘I didn’t get that feeling when I saw him…..’
Ark made a promise to himself. If he met Rapid again then he would determine it. There was no need to worry about it in advance. He had a lot of work to do so he didn’t have time for this.
“Sector Management Window!”
*Sector Management Information Window*
Sector Code: S-20 Sector Rating: Lv. 1
Sector Range: 1 kilometres around the entrance of Mt. Fargo.
Sector Manager: Ark (Agent: Dark Eden)
Number of Stores: 12 (7 Duty-free shops, 55% tax of the income)
Population: 2,380
Sector Assets: 460 gold
* The current population of the sector has exceeded 2,000 people. If you keep this population for a week then the sector manager can request the installation of major public facilities from the galactic federation. If you bring in 2 or more public facilities then you can raise the level of the sector.
This was the reason Ark focused on increasing the population. The sector’s growth was proportional to the growth in population. It led to more people using the stores, earnings increased and the tax collected increased. In addition, a certain population number had to be maintained to install public facilities. It was similar to not making a bus stop if there were only a few people in the village. Having main facilities makes it possible to gather more pioneers. Thus his profit would increase and he could build even more facilities to attract more people. Then the population would increase again…..if he raised the sector in such a way then the last step was promotion to a city.
‘Well that is still an issue for the distant future.
Thanks to Rapid, there was a steady increase in population and it reached 2,380 people! If he maintained this for 4 more days then he could gain the qualification to request he public facilities. Of course this wasn’t for free.
-
Extension (5,000 G): Extend the range of the sector by 1 square kilometres.
Fairy (3,000 G): A Fairy can be installed for pioneers to resurrect at.
Exclusive Route (2,000 G): The sector can be added to the transport route that the federation operates.
Relay Antenna (1,000 G): A large volume relay antenna can be installed in the sector. When the antenna is installed, it is possible to make contact with other cities on Istana and users can receive mail from other colleagues.
These were the facilities available. The critical ones for S-20 were the Fairy and exclusive route. There was no need to explain how important the Fairy was on Galaxian. It was the same for the exclusive route. Only 20% of user possessed private ships so an exclusive route was needed in order for the sector’s population to grow.
‘The total is 5,000 gold……’
A sigh naturally emerged when considering the price. Ark presently had less than 100 gold. That’s because the 1,000 gold reward from the
Yet Ark still hadn’t changed the metal into cash. Merchants bought metal because it could be used to repair various equipment. Then there was no reason to sell the metal at stores. He could earn 2~3 times more by using the metal to directly repair equipment. And right now Dark Eden had a staff capable of repairing equipment up to the rare grade and airships!
-Equipment and airship repair.
Contact: Tori
A new signpost was added next to the office. The professional repair shops in S-20 had their taxes lowered as a compromise but they were still unhappy. The parts that were meant to repair the airship weren’t needed anymore because of the Silver Star so he could change the mechanical pieces into cash. He also didn’t need to pay the employees. Excep
t for Mellin and Hegel, the remaining Royal Guards had steadily opened the dungeon and had moved to the bottom layer. It had taken 25 days and the Royal Guards had beaten more than 1,000 Thanatos to reach there. Therefore they gained a significant amount of gallstones. That wasn’t all. Ark had a separate production thousands of kilometres away. Right now the octopuses were still producing fish paste bars at Charem.
‘The factory has been operating for more than a month already. 4 gold would be deducted from the daily earnings for my fee. That is a minimum of 120 gold.’
The repair store, sector’s earnings, gallstones and fish paste bars all contributed to his revenue.
‘It won’t reach 5,000 gold yet but I should be able to collect funds to install the Fairy. But there is no need to blindly rush. Right now it is the starting phase. The sector will be my base so I have to manage all business efficiently.’
“Hegel, call the members of the Royal Guards.”
Ark summoned the Royal Guards for a meeting.
“Ohhh! S-sunshine!”
“I didn’t know that Istana’s air felt this good.”
“Eh? The sector has changed from what it was before.”
“There are plenty of shops and even a fence. There are also a lot of pioneers.”
It had been 25 days since they left the dungeon so the sector’s transformation was amazing to the Royal Guards. Ark nodded and said.
“You went to a lot of effort.”
“Hyung-nim!”
“As you can see, S-20 has started to look like a sector. You guys have been quietly completing your work despite not even being able to see the sun. But I won’t say thank you. S-20 is a sector that belongs to all of us. It might be hard work but the results will return to you.”
“Ugh, those words……!”
“I feel like all my struggles disappeared from Hyung-nim’s warm words.”
The members were thrilled. Ark moved them to the Silver Star.
“S-ship! Aren’t we looking at a ship?”
“Wahhhh! Incredible! This is our ship! On Beltana we were dying of hunger and now we can go anywhere in the galaxy!”
“Meeting Hyung-nim really is a blessing of a lifetime!”