Invader

“It’s only been 3 days?”

Ark looked at the sign with flashing eyes. It had been 3 times since he arrived at Nephalim and was tricked by the hamster into a sponsor contract and sold to a mercenary troop.

‘At that time I had wanted to shoot a bullet in the hamster’s head……’

Now he changed his mind. He thought it was like human trafficking at first but the Silver Hand was a surprisingly excellent experience. Clem might have an intimidating experience but he is a friendly and kind NPC. The only complaint was the small salary. That was probably the reason why Clem wanted to hire a worker. However, that dissatisfaction was resolved with the incident last time.

“Hmm, it might be a Debris but you managed to defeat 2 of them by yourself. You might not have the skill of an Attacker but…..we would’ve lost all the parts we gathered in 3 days if it wasn’t for you. You fixed our mistake so I should reward that. You will be an Attacker for the next hunt. Hey, Attackers! Do you have any dissatisfaction about this youngster being an Attacker?”

“No!”

“Okay.  Then Ark will become an Attacker in the next hunt!”

“Yay yay! Yes!”

He had been promoted to an Attacker. While this was what Ark wished for, Heksu had become grumpy.  The Attackers received double the salary of the Scavengers. It was 5% of the dividend. He was able to receive 5% of the huge number of metal components gathered from the pursuit hunting. He also additionally got tremendous experience! Ark obtained even more from the Debris’ appearance.

Marksmanship was registered as a skill after the battle with the Debris.

“Plus……”

Ark sent a warm look towards his heavy bag. The Silver Hand had collected about 2,500 metal parts in three days. Original Ark worked as a Scavenger so he only received a 2% share. That was 50 pieces. But now Ark’s bag contained 550 metal parts! Ark’s achievement in killing the Debris was recognized and he received the 20% bonus metal parts. It was worth looking through the swamp for 3 days! Therefore he didn’t feel like shooting Tori anymore. Of course, that didn’t mean Ark was grateful. He was able to receive 100% results from the mercenary troops thanks to Ark’s efforts. The hamster had just happily sold him. Furthermore, Ark was deceived with his sweet talk and entered a provisional contract of 200 gold……

‘I might not want to shoot him but I can still kick his fat stomach! But I can learn the hacking skill and then terminate the contract. Until then I just have to endure it. It won’t take a long time now that I’m an Attacker.’

Ark imagined kicking the hamster as he entered Gear.

He felt an impact to his side and a red warning message appeared.

“Huk! W-what is this?”

Ark grabbed his bleeding side and turned his head with surprise. And some guys flocked out of the junkyard and pushed Ark. Ark fell down and raised his head with surprise.

“Y-you…..”

“Didn’t I tell you? I’ll make you regret it.”

“…… Mald!”

Ark glared at Mald. He was the gangster who confronted Ark at the plaza and was arrested by the androids. Mald shook his dagger as blood fell and growled.

“Bastard! Do you know how long we’ve been looking for you?”

“Ugh, you…..are you crazy? This is a city. This…..”

“City? Heh, do you think I care about my reputation anymore? It doesn’t matter if I become chaotic inside the city or outside. It won’t change.  You miscalculated if you thought I would leave you alone. It doesn’t matter if I end up in prison as long as I can kill you.”

“A visitor? Are you a visitor?”

The Tori entered the junkyard. His eyes widened as he saw Ark bleeding heavily.

“Eh? Ark? And……blood? What, what the?”

“Don’t you know him?”

Mald angrily stared at Tori. Tori looked wildly between Ark and Mald and said.

“Oh, no! I-I don’t know! I don’t know him at all!”

“Then get lost!”

“Yes! Yes! I’ll do that! So please take care of that quickly!”

Tori turned around and quickly left.

‘That damn bastard…..!’

Ark glared at the back of the hamster’s head.

“This is the ideal chance. We’ve been waiting for you in front of Nephalim’s gate. Because you’ll have no choice but to pass through the gate. And I finally found you in the vicinity of the gate a short time ago. But do you know the reason we followed you to this place? You haven’t registered with the fairy yet.”

Ark cringed at the end of Mald’s words. Ark had returned to Nephalim but he hadn’t registered with the Fairy yet. He was in the city so he thought he didn’t need to hurry.

“You seem to have been hunting quite a bit while avoiding us. And you ate quite a bit of experience? Therefore if you die before registering with the Fairy then you’ll be completely turned into jelly.”

It had been three days since he had encountered Mald and his gang. No, Ark had completely forgotten about Mald until now. He had gained almost no experience while working as a Scavenger. He gained a level from defeating the Debris but it wasn’t that much experience. Dying then would’ve been okay…..

“So we waited for a good opportunity for a deserted place. If you’re here then you will die before the androids arrive.”

Mald shook his dagger and stepped closer to him. The 4 henchmen also surrounded Ark. 5 thugs were encircling him with knives! And Ark……

“Hah, you guys really are boring. It doesn’t matter if it’s inside the city or outside? You want to kill me? You seem to be using your head a little bit. If you kill me then all 5 of you will be chaotic? Isn’t that common sense? Won’t you rot in a prison cell if you become chaotic? Yet it is fine? It is huge damage no matter how you think about it.”

“Don’t be cocky. Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten? I was locked up for 2 hours and wasted 30 gold already. No, I don’t care about money. You stirred the wrong opponent. Don’t think it will end with one time. I will continue to kill you in the hunting grounds and the city until you quit the game.”

“Try it.”

Then a voice filled with laughter was heard from behind him. Mald turned around with confusion and paled.

“What, what the? These guys…..”

“This punk doesn’t have any manners. You should spend some time with adults.”

The person smoking a cigarette and speaking was Clem, the leader of Silver Hand! And 15 people aiming their rifles at Mald’s gang were standing behind Clem. They were the reason why Ark was calm. Ark was still a part of the Silver Hand. The Silver Hand had only returned to Nephalim because the contained was filled with 3 days of hunting and in order to replenish their supplies. While Clem went to visit the federation to receive the reward for hunting Nakuma, Ark had gone to Tori to learn the first part of the hacking skill. Clem then went to the junkyard to repair the broken container and procure supplies.  Mald had messed with him on the wrong day.

“He is a member of our unit. I particularly feel a strong attachment to him.”

Clem blew smoke towards the confused Mald. And he glanced at Ark.

“Hey squirt, did they attack first?”

“Yes.”

Ark laughed and shrugged. Galaxian had the same basic rules as other online games. In other words, if the opponent attacked first then he wouldn’t become chaotic if he killed them. The names of Mald and his gang had turned grey after attacking Ark. Clem laughed and nodded.

“It is self-defence.”

Cheolkeok! Cheolkeok! Cheolkeok! Cheolkeok!

At the same time, the 15 Attackers loaded their guns. It was a total of 15 guns. Despair appeared on the faces of Mald’s gang. And just as the 15 guns were about to fire!

“Wait a minute.”

Ark had been thinking for a while and he stood up while raising his hand. He approached Mald who was pale and sweating.

“To be honest I don’t really care what happens to you. But I don’t want you to bother me the whole time I’m playing Galaxian. So how about we reconcile? Of course it’s not just a reconciliation. Weren’t you eager for the toy before? Do you still want the toy?”

“That….yes.”

Ark eyes lit up at Mald’s words. However, he nodded like he was oblivious and said.

“I don’t understand why you want such a toy but I’ll give it to you at a cheap price. Will you promise to forget our bad relationship?”

“A cheap price…..how much?”

“60 gold.”

“What? 6-60 Gold? Are you making fun of me?”

“Eh? Didn’t I tell you before? The original price is 100 gold. I already discounted 10 gold and I’ll take away 30 gold because of the bail fee. Isn’t that a cheap price?”

“B-but…..”

“Did you want a better price? There is no benefit for me.”

Ark interrupted Mald’s words and retorted with an angry expression.

“This is the frontier. You can’t revive for free. Each revival will cost at least 20 gold. Five times is 100 gold. And can’t you see? You guys talked about revenge but I’m a member of the mercenary troop. Do you really think you can get revenge? In the end you will just die an embarrassing death. Isn’t 60 gold a good price to clean up the bad feelings? You will also get the toy you desire.”

“T-that….”

Mald stuttered and glared at Ark.

But Ark knew. Mald had no choice but to accept. That guy obviously knew that there was something hidden in the toy. If there was a chance to obtain it then he would accept. Besides, if he rejected then the death penalty would be 100 gold. He had no other choice.

“O-okay. That should be sufficient.”

Mald finally nodded after struggling. He gave 60 gold for the toy and ran out of the junkyard. However, Mald was unaware of one thing. Ark had already removed the memory chip from the toy. In the future he might come after Ark again…..

“Those stupid bastards.”

Ark laughed as he held the 60 gold.

—————————————————————————————————————-
‘Ark……!’

A blond young man looked at the electric bulletin board with a complicated expression. The same message was still floating on R-14’s electric bulletin board.

It was the message that caused chaos among the users of R-14. The name Ark had already become a legend among gamers. So they speculated that the registered person was the same Ark. But they came to the conclusion that it was a different user. Ark was the stronger person who reigned over New World and he was also the advisor so there was no way he would play a competitor’s game.

However, the blonde youth knew. He didn’t understand the reason but the legendary gamer Ark had come to Galaxian. And……

‘That is clearly Ark.’

The blond youth was sure about it. Ark had just started and his name was being announced in Galaxian. It might be a famous name but the user wouldn’t possess that ability.

‘He…..Ark…..I must meet.’

That was the reason why the young man started Galaxian. And his heart started beating fast when he found Ark’s name on the bulletin board.

‘But…….’

He stared at his body with a gloomy look. In reality his body was lying down disabled in the unit. However, a character in a virtual reality game moved according to brain waves. A disability in reality wouldn’t be a problem. That was what he thought. However, he spent a year disabled so even his mind was affected. He had lived for more than 20 years but it felt like he was moving his arms and legs for the first time. It had only been 1 year. In the 1 year, he lost his natural movements. It took him a few hours just to raise his body. It took him a couple of tries to walk properly. He was a tycoon’s son, had a handsome appearance and an excellent education so he was used to receiving eyes of envy and longing. Yet the users frowned after seeing him barely able to talk on step. And he was engulfed in despair.

“What? You can’t even use a knife?”

“Why are you standing like that?”

“Ah, really! What is that? At least speak when someone is talking to you.”

“Ah, it can’t be helped. Hey, get rid of this guy.”

There were still a lot of users on R-14 so the farm areas were full. He had to wait several hours just to join a party. But his body couldn’t move properly and he still had trouble talking. Thus he was always kicked out of the party.
He was still level 1 despite several days passing.
‘As expected…..’
The blond youth sighed and shook his head.
‘No! I can’t give up yet!’

He tried to raise his body again. All of a sudden, a small alien approached him. The octopus ran a sucker down his should and said with a deliberately calm expression.

–Young man, do you want to raise your level?

He was the main character of the rumour secretly spread among the users of R-14! The president of the paid hunting ground, Burum.
—————————————————————————————————————-
“Captain-nim, there is another one at your 3 o’clock.”

“The numbers?”

“Around 10 of them.”

“That is only enough for a snack.”

Clem put out his cigar and shouted while lifting his rifle.

“Okay.  Now it is time to finish it. Everybody! Let’s take care of these guys!”

The Attackers turned their body towards the direction that Clem indicated. After a few minutes, several red lights appeared on the other side of the swamp. Around 10 mechanical life forms were approaching. Various machine parts to form a new creature! The SOS signal that the Nakuma broadcasted had been amplified many times by the Silver Hand. Thus the Nakuma approached from dozens of metres away!

“Murdock, now!”

Tung! Tung! Tung! Pajijiji!

A sphere buried in the mud emitted intense electromagnetic waves. Ark might have a handgun but the Silver Hand were experienced warriors with rifles. It was natural that they could deal damage to the Nakuma while hunting. However, they had difficulty with the Nakuma’s shield. So the Silver Hand used an electromagnetic mine!

An electromagnetic field that neutralized shields for 5 minutes! When the electromagnetic mine was activated, holes appeared in the Nakuma’s shield and melted.

“Now, let’s finish this!”

Tung-! Tung-! Tatatata! Tatatata!

The rifles and machine guns fired. The Nakuma responded but they had already by caught by the Attackers initiative. The bullets fired everywhere and 2 Nakuma started collapsing. The shootout continued for a few minutes.

“Captain-nim, 2 Nakuma are approaching from behind.”

“Sheesh, how annoying.”

When the Silver Hand amplified the SOS signal, the Nakuma didn’t always come from a certain direction. The Nakuma normally communicated with 10~20 others through the radio waves but sometimes the Nakuma would approach from a different direction.

“Hey, squirt.”

Clem changed the magazine of his gun and turned.

“It is your turn. 2 of them….can you handle it?”

“Of course.”

The man with black hair who smiled was Ark! This was Ark’s job after becoming an Attacker.
Ark couldn’t do long-distance shooting. He couldn’t even hit an empty can 10 metres in front of him. That’s why Ark took over the special duty. The Nakuma approached from a different area so they weren’t hit by the electromagnetic mine.  So Ark was in charge of taking care of them with close combat.

“I’ll leave the back to you.”

“I’ll take care of it quickly.”

At the same time, Ark used Swamp Walking to cross the area. He moved dozens of metres with Swamp Walking and 2 Nakuma entered his eyesight. He identified with the Infrared Scope that the Nakuma was level 25 and level 30. It was an opponent he wouldn’t have been able to fight when he first entered Silver Hand. But it was a fortnight later and things had changed.

“Shield!”

Ark stopped the bullets with his shield and approached the Nakuma. And attacked with his dagger! Sparks flew every time the dagger hit and the Nakuma’s shield was broken. Then the Nakuma’s Gatling gun folded back and the blade appeared. Ark used his dagger to do an uppercut to the jaw and pressed his revolver there.

Tang-! Tang-! Tang-!

The continuous shooting! Constant headshots! He had learnt Close Marksmanship after the incident with the Debris. Ark had been steadily practicing his marksmanship since entering the Attackers. And he had wasted hundreds of bullets.

‘I don’t have any talent in shooting!’

It was a waste of time to train in something he had no talent in. Of course, if he didn’t have talent then he needed to find another way or else he was bound to die. Marksmanship was an indispensable skill in Galaxian. And Ark had discovered another method. Close Marksmanship!

‘This is the only way for me to compete with mechanical life forms!’

At first that was his only use for marksmanship. But he changed his mind. Unlike regular marksmanship, close marksmanship could be used in close combat. And close combat was Ark’s style of fighting. Once he got the knack for it, he started to show power beyond his expectations.

‘This realization alone is worth joining the Silver Hand!’

In the last fortnight, Ark had practiced and was now an expert at this fighting style. And he hadn’t just polished his fighting skills. During the last fortnight, Ark had flown around more eagerly than anyone else and used his dagger and revolver. Thanks to that……

The smell of blood during the last fortnight…..no, it was the result of a battle with an oil smell. Thanks to the amplifier, the Silver Hand could hunt Nakuma for 1~2 hours without any breaks. Moreover, the Nakuma had a minimum level of 25. The level 16 Ark gained experience every time the Attackers fought so he quickly reached level 27. That was 12 levels in a fortnight. In addition, he was able to obtain some general leather equipment. Therefore Ark could easily fight against 2 level 30 Nakuma.

Tong-! Tang-! Tang-! Bam! Chwajijijiji!

“I have good eyes. I knew you would be a useful fellow.”

Clem looked at Ark fighting the Nakuma with warm eyes. The Attackers around him also nodded and said.

“That’s right. At first he didn’t understand Captain-nim and was just a newborn chick. Who would’ve expected that the newborn chick would gain such power over a fortnight?”

“It is because he was diligent.”

“Doesn’t he also clean our equipment when the battle ends and help the Scavengers as well? We’ve been hiring soldiers for many years but it is the first time I’ve seen someone so diligent.”

Just like the Attackers’ words, Ark didn’t rest at all after the battles. When the battle ended, he would use Facilities Maintenance to clean the Attackers’ equipment and he also went back to the rear to collect loot with the Scavengers. There was no one who would dislike a sincere person like that.
Therefore Ark had huge popularity in the Silver Hand. It was the inevitable result of not resting and doing the chores. However, Ark wasn’t popular just because he was sincere. The reason Ark was working for the Silver Hand was to learn the hacking skill! So it was essential that he earned 200 gold worth of metal parts. Of course, he obtained 5% of the metal parts but it was still difficult to gain 200 gold. That’s why Ark behaved diligently.

‘There is a 20% bonus!’

Once again, there was a part of the budget set aside for bonuses. Ark didn’t rest and continuously gained 1% of the bonus. As a result, Ark managed to gain an average of 15% bonus. Including his basic salary, that was 20% of the total metal parts! So his bag became full with metal parts.

‘If it wasn’t for Heksu then my target would still be distant. Damn that hamster bastard, daring to scam me into a sponsor contract and selling me off.’

Thinking about it made him angry again. 12 days ago, Ark had gone to find Tori to settle the first amount of metal parts he gathered. At that time Ark’s bag was full of the metal parts from the bonus of defeated the Debris. Moreover, Ark had been promoted to an Attacker so he was cheerful.

‘If this continues then I will get 200 gold quickly!’ was what he thought…..

“This is 60 kg? It is 2 silver per kilogram so that is 7 gold in total.”

Tori muttered as he measured the metal parts on a scale.

“Eh? 7 gold?”

Was this the sound of bricks breaking his back? The metal parts he scavenged from the Nakuma for 3 days were only worth 7 gold? That meant he made 2 gold and 30 silver every day. Then wasn’t the bonus just 23 silver?

“N-no way! The parts I went through all that trouble to gather……”

“What? Do you think I’m cheating you?”

Tori said as he turned his head.

“Then look for yourself! This is the present price for scrap metal calculated by the federal government. Look! Look at it! Do you see? It is recorded that the price is 2 silver per kilogram! Ah really! What are you thinking? Do you think I’m trying to cheat you of the price?”

Tori held out a document stamped with the federation’s official mark that had different quotes on it. Like Tori said, the market price was 2 silver per kilogram.

‘If that is the market price then I can’t say anything…..’

Ark wasn’t gathering scrap metal in order to earn pocket money. Tori would only teach Ark the hacking skill if he gathered scrap metal worth 10 gold at least 20 times. It meant he needed to gather 200 gold worth of scrap metal to learn hacking. If he only gathered 7 gold in 3 days then it would take more than a month to earn 200 gold. It wouldn’t be possible if he earnt the bonus every time. If he only received the base salary of the Attackers then it would take 4 months.

‘This is ridiculous!’

Ark was filled with adrenaline when he calculated the result. But he couldn’t do anything since it was the formal market price. The moment Ark was going to give up!

“Wait a minute!”

The man appeared like the wind…..

“Hey Tori, I’ve been watching and you really are terrible!”

The guy who ran forward was the Scavenger Heksu. Tori flinched and shouted angrily as he saw Heksu.

“What, what the? What do you mean? Why are you interrupting my business deal?”

“Business? You’re playing around. Isn’t this a scam? I can’t allow you to do that to Ark. Ark saved my life. I can’t just let my saviour be cheated in front of me!”

“S-scam?”

“Yes, Ark. You’re still inexperienced so you don’t know but not all the metal obtained from the Nakuma is the same. Some are plain metal and some are special. The price will vary depending on the type of metal. It is natural. Is gold and copper the same price? The Silver Hand settles the spoils depending on the price. Your bag is limited so you were given some of the expensive metal. Yet the hamster indicated that it was just plain scrap metal.”

Heksu raised his arm and classified the metal parts Ark took out.

“Now, look here. This is a silver alloy worth 20 silver per kilogram. And this one is 50 silver per kilogram. This is a rare metal alloy and is 1 gold per kilogram.”

Heksu calculated again and the price ended up as 25 gold!

‘That cheating hamster bastard!’

Ark glared at Tori. Then Tori pouted as he looked into the distance and said.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that? Do you think I deceived you on purpose? I didn’t know either. How could it be? I’m getting old and forgetful that I even forget to eat some days.”

Tori pretended ignorance. Ark realized why Tori asked him to pay in metal parts instead of money. When he first signed the contract, he thought 200 gold wouldn’t be that much because it was paid in instalments. Yet the hamster was trying to cheat him to get more money.  He forgot for a while but this was the hamster he wanted to drive a bullet into. But that was for after he learnt the hacking skill.

‘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%!

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.

“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!

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

‘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 through 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.

“Okay, start!”

TO BE CONTINUED