Ch.125Maintenance (2)

Space Survival was a VR game with particularly ambiguous genre classification among those released in its time.

This was because even though survival, competition, and evolution were its mottos, the methods to accomplish these varied dramatically from player to player.

For some it became a grand strategy simulation game, while for others it was an SF horror game.

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

Space Survival’s ranking system is point-based.

Simply put, higher rankings mean higher player scores.

However, the factors that make up the score are complex, with so many variables that it’s difficult for individual players to calculate.

How much influence a player has in this universe, to what extent they’ve accomplished their race-specific unique goals, how skilled the individual player is, and so on.

Everything a player has experienced since starting the game contributes to their score.

This might raise a question.

Whether rankings simply indicate players who have enjoyed the game for a long time.

Indeed, this wasn’t entirely wrong, as the top 40 rankers were fossil-like beings who had played the game since its early days.

However, from rank 20 upward, a different dimension unfolds compared to the rankers below.

In Space Survival, the highest-scoring single action is achieving each race’s ultimate goal and seeing the race-specific ending.

The difficulty level just before the ending is extremely high regardless of race, justifying the highest score.

To see an ending, one inevitably had to defeat multiple rankers of their own or competing races multiple times, and subjugate raid bosses with tremendous power.

Even for long-time players, this challenge was never easy, and those who broke through these difficulties to see an ending were even rarer.

That’s why rankers from 1st to 20th place are special.

All of them have seen Space Survival’s ending.

While there might not be much difference in playtime between 20th and 40th place, there’s an insurmountable gap in experience.

They are the ones who have seen the conclusion of this world.

They are the living legends of Space Survival.

Of course, since Space Survival is an online game, seeing the ending doesn’t end the game.

Afterward, a new goal called “Galaxy Conqueror” awaits as a kind of epilogue, which further divides the rankings.

Galaxy Conqueror boasts an insanely difficult level beyond the ending, so almost no one has fully achieved it.

The members of Jason’s group were all players who had seen the ending, meaning they were rankers within the top 20. One of them had even achieved more than half of the difficult Galaxy Conqueror goals.

Such extraordinary transcenders.

Jason’s head ached at the fact that they were whining about being unable to handle a single AMorph.

“Think about it carefully. What if the 5th ranker grows stronger while we leave them alone? You know there’s no solution then, right?”

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

“We don’t know what evolutionary stage they’re at, but it’s at least Subadult. Plus, we need to consider the variable of Perks.”

“…Right. I forgot about Perks.”

The middle-aged man’s words were true.

Every player Jason had met so far possessed special abilities called Perks, which didn’t exist in the game.

Jason and the beings beyond the Monolith he was communicating with all possessed multiple powerful Perks.

“How about this? Leaking information to the Outspacers? They hate the 5th ranker too.”

The race of the leader of the group currently hostile to them was Outspacer.

A skilled individual ranked 4th, evaluated to have skills as outstanding as the AMorph ranker.

“I oppose that. The risk is too high.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Fucking cunt! Whichever one wins will devour all the essence the other has collected. Are you brainless? And what if the Outspacer wins? Are you telling me to get fucked?”

“Tsk.”

At Jason’s intense reaction, the sound of a girl smacking her lips came from her Monolith.

One of the Outspacer’s ultimate goals includes the fall of the Cult’s home base.

According to the setting, the Outspacer’s goal is to gather massive psychic power and then subjugate Voltex One.

Because of Voltex One’s prohibition, their entire race cannot gain psychic power, so they try to supplement this by sacrificing countless Cult members.

So the stronger the Outspacer ranker becomes, the more disadvantageous it is for Jason, who is a Cult.

“Then what do you suggest we do? I’m busy too. If you have nothing to say, I’m out.”

“Look at how indifferent he is, acting like it’s not his problem.”

“Wait. I’ve thought of one method.”

As Jason and the girl were about to fight again, the middle-aged man intervened.

“…From what I’ve heard, Megacorp recently completed a purification weapon.”

“Ah, I told you not to send spies!”

“Everyone knows about it anyway, so what spies? Commie… ahem, Jubaka. Are you suggesting we blow up the planet?”

In response to Jason’s question, the middle-aged man called Jubaka expressed agreement.

“That’s right. Megacorp and Cult possess planetary purification weapons, so how about using them?”

“……”

“……”

At Jubaka’s extreme suggestion, the other Monoliths and Jason fell silent.

The planet PH-101, where AMorph is located, is a protected planet designated as a sacred star by the Cult.

Destroying such a place is not easy, even for those with absolute power. Burning a planet creates enormous political burden.

No matter how frightening the AMorph ranker might be, it wasn’t an easy decision.

During the silence, the girl spoke first.

“Not possible on my end. I can’t pull out easily because of the civil war, and isn’t that planet designated as a holy site? If I fire, wouldn’t war break out between Cult and Megacorp?”

“That’s true. Jason? Is it not possible on your end?”

“I could dispatch an Imperial Mothership, but the atmosphere these days is…”

“True, if brother sends it, not only the Innovatives but also the old Providence factions would cause an uproar. They’d ask what the hell we’re doing with a holy site.”

Jason held powerful authority as a high-ranking Cult in Cult society, but for that very reason, it wasn’t easy for him to purify PH-101, which was designated as a sacred star.

“I’ll handle that part.”

“What are you planning?”

“I’ll leak false information to the Moderates. That the planet is contaminated and needs purification. You’ve got the Providence faction under control, so there’s no need to worry.”

“I’ll take care of the Innovatives. If I offer to support Novametal, they’d even dig up their ancestors’ graves.”

“…Fuck, the Cult council is completely messed up. Well, fine. Let’s go with using the Imperial Mothership.”

At this point, players had established their own forces. There were no longer large-scale tectonic shifts like past wars or certain incidents.

Instead, conflicts were limited to fights between individual players.

After such mechanical peace continued for a long period, Jason and many other players felt boredom.

Some aimed for endings to escape this, but countless failures had already proven this to be a futile fantasy.

Some became obsessed with impossible goals, while others settled in their positions and indulged in distorted pleasures.

In this situation, when the AMorph ranker appeared as a new stimulus, Jason’s group showed vigor for the first time in a long while.

“Still, it will take some time to mobilize the Imperial Mothership. Even after passing through the council, the elder council needs to review it. It will take at least three weeks at the fastest.”

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

“Send them discreetly. It becomes a headache if there are diplomatic issues.”

“If we double the disruption from our side for that part…”

The AMorph subjugation plan continued late into the night.

–

When I arrived at Muriel’s campsite, the Sky Mother was there.

She had returned to her humanoid form and was gathering clothes worn by the young Volfs. There were no remains of the bodies as I had absorbed them all through human sacrifice.

“……”

Since she had an eagle’s head, her expressions weren’t abundant. Instead, the emotions in her eyes were by no means small.

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

‘She said she was married to Father Land?’

As far as I know, Father Land is a named Volf that appears permanently on the Saintopia02 continent.

Since he’s an NPC related to the Temple of the Forgotten Land, another Father Land will appear somewhere on this continent as time passes.

‘Of course, whether that will be the same being as the husband she loved is uncertain.’

She must know that the one she loved will never return.

‘That’s why she’s showing such a reaction.’

Even during the interrogation, Muriel spoke as if mocking the Sky Mother who had fallen in love with an NPC, but I could understand the Sky Mother.

After all, I also care for No. 26 and Adhigh Orr. If those two died or were seriously injured, I’m not sure if I could maintain my sanity either.

‘It seems like more time is needed to ask her.’

I left the grieving griffon alone and searched for the weapon storage in the campsite.

This campsite had many temporary structures instead of tents, suggesting Muriel visited quite frequently.

Among these buildings, the weapon storage was built with the largest and most durable materials.

‘Why are there so many?’

Entering the storage, I saw various types of weapons. Not only ranged weapons like plasma launchers, storm guns, and purple spray guns, but also explosives like pulse grenades and compressed plasma grenades – nothing was missing.

Among the numerous weapons, the most prominent was the “Lightning God” placed in the center of the storage.

The Lightning God is a mechanical device with a diameter of 10m, shaped like a complex mandala. Like depicting a mandala, it changes to completely different colors depending on the direction of light, because it’s made of Novametal, an extremely rare metal.

Novametal can only be harvested in areas with highly concentrated psychic power, like a dragon’s nest. When psychic power is injected into equipment made of this metal, it transforms into the form designated by the equipment maker.

‘It’s like the Cult version of shape memory alloy.’

The Lightning God visible right now is extremely small for a satellite weapon, but that changes when psychic power is injected. When the Lightning God absorbs psychic power, it transforms into an orbital weapon with a diameter of hundreds of meters.

It’s also set to automatically return to its owner, so it comes back on its own after completing its mission.

‘It was a very annoying equipment in the game.’

The Lightning God has the tremendous advantage of being able to reduce its size despite being an orbital weapon, making it easy to conceal. I’ve had my fair share of experiences being properly defeated by the Lightning God.

‘I’ll examine the Lightning God again later.’

Turning my attention away from the Lightning God, I picked up a plasma launcher lying nearby.

‘If I consume this, can I use the power of the plasma launcher?’

Holding the launcher, I activated the Predator’s Amorphous Polyhedron trait.

“Grrrr”

When I activated metal absorption, there wasn’t much of a difference in feeling, but now there was. It felt similar to being slightly hungry.

‘Since it seems activated, let’s try eating it.’

I opened both jaws and put the launcher in my mouth. As soon as I bit and chewed it, I tasted the bitter and fishy flavor characteristic of alloys.

‘Tastes bad.’

Can’t be helped since it’s metal.

The moment I forcibly swallowed the launcher pieces down my throat, changes occurred in my body and the translucent text box.

“Mark of the Mighty*: Predator’s Amorphous Polyhedron (Plasma Secretion Gland)”

Suddenly, I felt intense heat in my chest. A warm and slightly stinging sensation rose from my throat to my esophagus, chest, and stomach area, like when swallowing strong alcohol.

Also, a subtle green light surrounded the outer skin near my thorax.

‘Seems like it worked?’

Like exhaling deeply after taking a sip of hot soup in the middle of winter, I wanted to expel the heat inside this body.

I went outside the storage and raised my head high toward the sky.

‘Here goes.’

With my jaw wide open, I concentrated on the sensation in my chest, and something hot rose up.

Green light flashed sequentially from my stomach, chest, esophagus, and throat, and soon intense energy radiated from my mouth.

A green column, much thicker and more vivid than the launcher’s, tore through the toxic fog and shot up into the blue sky. With this thickness and length, it might be visible from tens of kilometers away.

After pouring out energy like that, I felt the heat and energy inside my body drain away. Confirming there was no more energy to expel, I closed my mouth.

‘Seems like I’ve inherited the basic function of the launcher.’

However, there were some differences.

The output itself is far superior to the launcher, but in exchange, the energy recharge time is longer. By feel, it seems like I’d need to wait about 10 minutes after firing once before I could fire again.

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

I thought it might be because the energy spread throughout my body needs to be replaced with plasma energy.

‘Even unique equipment can’t perfectly inherit the original abilities.’

I’ll have to eat to find out, but it seems inevitable that abilities will be applied differently from the original.

Of course, there aren’t only disadvantages.

The plasma heat ray I just used has much stronger firepower than the launcher’s. In the case of the launcher, firepower is limited due to overheating issues and other stability problems, but I don’t need to worry about that.

‘The unique abilities of unique equipment will also differ from the original, adapting to my body.’

Some aspects become stronger, while others become weaker.

Afterward, I experimented with other standard equipment.

‘I can only gain the same ability from the same equipment.’

And equipment that consumes energy or ammunition has a cooldown after using the trait once. The plasma launcher was between 10 and 20 minutes, while the storm gun was between 30 and 40 minutes.

‘The body parts that change after specializing in equipment abilities also differ.’

When I ate the launcher, I always shot heat rays from my mouth, and with the storm gun, a gun barrel similar to the storm gun sprouted from my leftmost combat arm.

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

‘That’s enough experimenting…’

I laid out in a row the unique equipment obtained from the Saintopia02 continent.

The Tuner, the Golden Spear, the Lightning God, and the small spider-shaped Blood River I had just picked up outside.

‘Which one should I eat first?’

Since they’re all unique equipment, obtaining them is no easy task. So I need to specialize them carefully.

‘The Golden Spear is excluded for now.’

The Golden Spear of Shaman can only be obtained in the Temple of the Forgotten Land. And one of the prerequisites for entering the temple is subduing Father Land.

In other words, I can’t obtain the Golden Spear until Father Land is reborn somewhere on this continent.

‘While the Golden Spear has slim chances of being obtained…’

The other weapons are a different story.

The Tuner is equipment that any Cult can obtain through quests, and the Lightning God and Blood River can be crafted.

While that’s the case for the Tuner, the Lightning God and Blood River, these two weapons surely exist in more than one or two copies.

‘Although I’m not certain because the production costs are astronomical…’

Anyway, weapons that exist in multiple copies can be specialized again through predation in the future.

So it’s good to prioritize eating one of the remaining weapons excluding the Golden Spear of Shaman.

‘What should I do?’

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

Seeing them arranged like this, I was certain.

It was a question with a predetermined answer from the beginning.

‘No need to worry about it.’

Having decided what to choose, I reached out toward that equipment.