Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Ding! Congratulations, player [ Su Chen ] has reached level 2!”
“HP increased by 20 points, MP increased by 20 points.”
“Elemental Power increased by 10 points, defense increased by 5 points.”
“1 skill point gained.”
After killing the Heartless Bloodwolf, [ Ark ]’s system notification rang out within Su Chen’s ears.
Su Chen did not pay attention to the notification. Instead, he walked towards the items that had dropped from the corpse of the Heartless Blood Wolf.
Upon coming closer, he spotted two wolf fangs.
[ Collected: Deformed Heartless Bloodwolf Fangs x2 ]
Upon picking up the deformed wolf fangs, Su Chen received yet another system notification.
For every item that a player picked up, the system will display its value. For instance, it would list down its current floor price in the market, or it would list down which potions that could be synthesized via the item.
In Su Chen’s case, the mutated wolf fangs were worth around 4 Gold Coins each, which corresponded to 4 Blue Star Coins.
They were not very valuable.
However, Su Chen did not feel disappointed because of this.
It was to be expected. After all, if items dropped by level 1 monsters were worth their weight in gold, the economy would be in shambles!
“Assign skill point to Fireball.”
“Skill point assignment successful.”
[ Skill: Fireball, Damage: 55 , 2-second cast time, 3-second cooldown time ]
“Hmm, not bad.”
The damage of Fireball had increased from 35 to 55 after leveling up.1
The damage of Fire Mages were supposed to only be around 40 points at this level.
Upon reaching level 2, Su Chen was already 15 points ahead of his peers. This gap in power would only grow wider and wider the more he leveled up. It was a clear result of his high compatibility score.
At this moment, which was around 5 seconds after the Heartless Blood Wolf had been killed, a new one of the same level had appeared at the spawn point.
However, Su Chen had no intentions to kill it again.
This was because the casting time and the cooldown time of the fireball spell had not changed.1
Although the firepower of his Fireball had increased, since kiting the wolf would take the same amount of effort, he would rather hunt monsters that yielded higher experience points instead.
After all, Su Chen was already in the spawn zone of the [ Heartless Bloodwolf ]s.
Therefore, upon setting off to search for higher level monsters, he quickly encountered a level 2 Heartless Bloodwolf and immediately started kiting it again.
…
Back in the real world.
Magic Capital.
Within Snow Abyss Games’ office.
A pot-bellied middle-aged man was browsing through the confidential document that he had just received whilst lounging comfortably in his office chair.
The contents of the document was very simple. There was only a single line of words.
[ Ark ] will officially launch the guild system on May 15th.
“It’s finally here. The countdown for the final month has begun.”
The greasy middle-aged man was relieved. With the global presence that [ Ark ] possessed, [ Ark ]’s developers were well aware of the players’ focus on raising levels. As such, to make sure that players would not feel overwhelmed, they had chosen not to implement guilds just yet.
However, after two long months since the game’s release, news of the implementation of guilds had finally reached the middle-aged man’s ears.
At this moment.
A familiar ringtone could be heard.
The greasy middle-aged man subconsciously picked up his phone. Upon realizing who the caller was, he immediately straightened his back answered the call.
The caller ID had the words “Si Luo” written on it.
It was the name of the one of the company’s major shareholder’s son.
“Hello, Young Master Si.”
Even through the phone, the greasy middle-aged man had a flattering smile on his face.
“Hmm, have you found out anything about the person I told you track down this morning?”
Si Luo’s voice came from the other end of the phone. He was the same lean-built young man who had hunted the purple beast together with Si Weiwei in [ Ark ].
Upon hearing this, the greasy middle-aged man almost broke out in cold sweat.
He was afraid that Si Luo would bring up this matter.
Si Luo had instructed him to investigate just who exactly was the new player that had obtained a compatibility score of 90 in the rankings. However, as this new runner-up in the leaderboards was anonymous, there was in fact, no way for the greasy man to dig up anything on him.
“Uh… Young Master Si, I’ve done all I could, but I’m sure that you’re aware as well, that person is anonymous…”
“You idiot! Why would I come to you if that person isn’t anonymous? Had I known his ID, I could’ve personally look him up myself!”
Si Luo’s voice turned cold as he continued speaking.
“The fact that he is smart enough to hide his identity speaks volumes about his critical thinking abilities. Not only is this man strong, but he’s also aware of the concept of rattling a hornet’s nest.”
“He possess both the brains and the brawns to become one of the top players of [ Ark ] in the future.”
“His only downfall is that he registered an account rather late into the game’s release. However, this also presents an opportunity for us. We must dig up this individual’s true identity as well as their in-game ID.””
“You’ve probably received news about the guild system’s implementation. Plus I’m sure you’re well aware that [ Ark ] is the future of the world’s economy. Only by recruiting talented individuals like this person can we ensure our company’s growth.”
“Now that you’re aware of the gravity of the situation, you better pick up the slack. If you fail at this task again the next time I call, I’ll suspend you for half-a-year!”
Si Luo’s words of wisdom were also merciless at the same time. The greasy middle-aged man on the other end of the phone listened to his words carefully as he quivered in his seat.
“Understood, Young Master Si. I’ll get to it right away.”
“I’ve already discovered that the individual in question is a Fire Mage. Following this discovery, we plan to hire professionals to ‘visit’ [ Ark ]’s database and track down this individual’s identity.”
“I’ll report to you as soon as I find out who the person is.”
Once he was certain that the young master had finished reprimanding him, the greasy middle-aged man hurriedly proposed a new plan of action.
Two seconds later, the other end of the phone went silent for two seconds before hanging up.
“Who could this new powerhouse be?”
The greasy middle-aged man sank back into his office chair and muttered to himself.
…
Two days later in [ Ark ] time.
Back in Wasteland City.
Su Chen, who had been grinding for two whole days in the [ Heartless Blood Wolf ]’s spawn area, had finally reached level 7.
Despite reaching level 5 in the first day, Su Chen had only managed to gain two more levels in his second day.
There were only two hours left before the deadline of [ Ark ]’s level sprint reward.
However, Su Chen was still three levels away from level 10.
Time was running out.
Su Chen had already replaced the Beginner’s Staff that came by default with a brand new White rank staff with a +10 Elemental Power stat bonus.
At this moment, he was facing a group of level-5 Heartless Blood Wolves.
The group of Heartless Blood Wolves pounced at Su Chen one after another, and it had greatly increased his kiting difficulty. As a result of this increased difficulty, Su Chen found himself taking damage constantly.
Each attack that landed on him would take out a large chunk of his health.
Fortunately, his Fireball had also received major upgrades since he first started.
Every Fireball that managed to land onto the Bloodwolves would instantly annihilate them, and those in its vicinity would also take huge collateral damage.
Fireball was a starter skill, as such, it was set to hit a single target by default. However, as all elemental spells had AOE1 damage, and thus, it was possible for Su Chen to hit the other two Bloodwolves in the crossfire as well.
Finally, right as his robe’s durability was about to hit its limit…
Su Chen used one final Fireball to take down the remaining Heartless Bloodwolves.
“Ding! Congratulations, player [ Su Chen ] has reached level 8!”
“Two skill points have been awarded!”
The system notification rang in his ears again.
Su Chen let out a deep sigh of relief.
He had finally used the group of level 5 monsters to push his level up to level 8.
It was a fortunate turn of events, as he would not be able to reach level 10 in the remaining two hours otherwise.
The reason this was considered to be a stroke of luck to Su Chen was due to the 2 skill points he had received.
Once a player reached level 5, the system would reward players with 2 or more skill points whenever they level up. The reason behind this was due to players having unlocked their third skill at that level.
Had [ Ark ] not increased the number of skill points gained per level, most players would find it hard pressed to advance any further.
In Su Chen’s case however, it had presented a great opportunity.
As Su Chen had only one skill, [Fireball], he had already used all his skill points to bring the ability to level 9.
The reward for unlocking a level 10 Fireball was within his reach.
The power of his Fireball would be doubled and his compatibility score will be pushed to 100!
With this increase in power, Su Chen would stand a chance in defeating the Wolf Lord of this spawn zone!
As soon as possible, he would rush to level 10 and unlock his own level reward.
“Allocate all skill points to Fireball.”
Su Chen instructed.
As soon as he finished speaking, the system immediately got to work and allocated the points.
At the same time, the familiar notification of the transmigration’s system rang out.
“Ding, the host’s [ Fireball ] has reached level 11. Level 10 milestone has been unlocked, distributing rewards now.”
“Ding, the host’s [ Mage ] class compatibility score has reached 100!”
“The host is now the only player within [ Ark ] to reach the maximum compatibility score!”
“Ding, host’s [ Fireball ] has doubled in power!”
The voice of the transmigration system constantly chimed in Su Chen’s ears.
Once the voice disappeared, Su Chen immediately opened his attribute panel and browsed through it.
[ Player: Su Chen ]
[ Level: Level 8]
[ Class: Mage (Peerless) ]
[ HP: 450 ]
[ MP: 400 ]
[ Elemental Power : 410 ]
[ Defense: 67 (+2) ]
[ Speed: 18 ]
[ Equipment: White Ranked Staff + 10 Elemental Power; Beginner’s Robe + 5 Defense ]
[ Skills: Level 11 Fireball, consumes 30 mana each cast, Cast time: 2 seconds, Cooldown: 3 seconds; Level 20 reward: Reduces cast time by half and obtain the Melt enhancement! ]
Ridiculous!
Simply ludicrous!
Had Su Chen posted a screenshot of his attribute panel on the Internet, it would definitely cause a huge uproar!
He had never seen one’s Elemental Power being higher than one’s MP before!
Normally, for the first 5 levels, mages will only gain a 15 point increase in Elemental Power whenever they leveled up. As such, their Elemental Power would only be enhanced by around 60 points.
As for the gain in Elemental Power points when going from level 6 to 10, the increase would be 30 points per level.
As such, it stands to reason that, even with the enhancement from the Beginner’s Staff, an ordinary player who started at 25 points would only have 165 points of Elemental Power at level 8.
However, Su Chen had already obtained 410 points at level 8!
Had Su Chen been an ordinary player, his Elemental Power should be around 175 points. However, as a result of his transmigration system, he had managed to obtain 350 points via base stats alone!
Meanwhile, the Peerless title that had been granted via his maximum compatibility score with the [ Mage ] class had also risen his Elemental Power by another 50 points! This, in addition with the new staff he obtained, had brought him to 410 Elemental Power points.
“Nice.”
“Alright, I’ll spend these next two hours to fight the level 10 Heartless Bloodwolf Lord!”
“I’ll snag the level grind reward in one go!”
Ecstatic with his power spike, Su Chen grinned brilliantly. Coupled with his handsome looks, any ladies who had walked by would likely have been smitten with him.
At the same time.
In the real world.
The forums of [ Ark ] were also in an uproar, and the discourse was only becoming more heated!
Countless posts flooded the forum like mad, and it was all because of a single person!
It was regarding the anonymous user who had obtain the maximum compatibility score,
For the first time since [ Ark ]’s launch, there was now a player with a maximum compatibility score with their class!
Who exactly was this anonymous powerhouse!?