Ark The Legend Vol 10 Chapter 7

s.p.a.cE 7. Secret Laboratory

Kaekang!

The Halrosu screamed and collapsed. Then a small crystal golem waddled up to the corpse.

-Huhuhuhu! You lowly b.a.s.t.a.r.d!

He placed his foot on the wolf and laughed.

–You dare mess with this body. You’re 100 years too early. Blame your ancestors for not evolving beyond dogs. Indeed, you should be honoured that you died by my hands.

“Does that mean anything?”

–How rude! I am the Elim’s Divine Artefact!

“I guess little stones don’t have that much common sense, eh? I am the Elim. And you are the tool that I can use. It’s just like how a stone was used as a hammer in the stone ages.

-I’m not a stone! Crystal!

“Crystal is also a mineral you bonehead.”

Ark declared sharply as he looked at the golem. It was the Baius golem. He had gone through a lot of trouble on Rakunka and finally found the first Divine Artefact. His first impression after finding the Divine Artefact…..well, it was a scam. He had met a huge, strong golem in the pyramid. Ark had to devise an irregular attack consisting of mixing Freezing and Flame bullets! Yet the golem that Ark obtained was different. It was half of the original size. The ability had fallen by 100 times. Ark hadn’t just played one or two games. It was like the RPG games in the 80s where a strong enemy would appear as a colleague with diminished strength. Fortunately there was room for improvement. Usually these NPCs were provided with the character’s experience to gain levels. It was the same for Baius. The effort might require him to shave the flesh from his bones but that guy could grow. The golem’s growth was also connected with improved performance of the Baius s.h.i.+eld.

‘For the moment he isn’t useful when summoned but…..’

It was good to gain a level 1 pet when he was high levelled. The golem absorbed 50% of Ark’s experience. And the Halrosu on Impeltus were level 80. Ark was level 120 so the experience didn’t have a visible impact but it was a huge value for the golem. Since arriving on Impeltus, the golem lapped up the experience and reached level 12 in a few hours.

His golem’s stats had grown! When compared to level 1, it had increased by more than 2 times but……it was still shabby. The level wasn’t enough to attract the Halrosu’s attention even when the golem hit it. However there was no need to be disappointed. Ark recalled the days in New World when he was just raising a bat, a skull and a snake. They had steadily grown under Ark’s care until he became an aristocratic vampire, a skeleton knight and a dragon. The golem was just stone now but one day it would grow to the giant golem seen in the pyramid. No, he would grow into a stronger golem. And that wasn’t the end of its growth.

Item Type: Energy s.h.i.+eld Wearer Restriction: Elim’s Heir

Defense: 250 Durability:  ∞

s.h.i.+eld Quant.i.ty: 5,500/5,500

The Baius s.h.i.+eld grew along with the golem. The Baius s.h.i.+eld’s rating had ascended one step when the golem reached level 10. It changed by defense +50 and s.h.i.+eld quant.i.ty +500! The golem was still useless at level 12 but the s.h.i.+eld showed a notable performance just be improving 1 stage. Thanks to that he was satisfied but……

‘That rude personality isn’t fixed even when his level goes up.’

The golem’s personality was the problem.

–I’m a person as well! You have to treat me with courtesy!

A stone was suddenly claiming it wasn’t a stone.

–You lowly b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! I am the Elim’s Divine Artefact! Our standings are on a completely different level!

He didn’t care when it came to himself but he couldn’t easily ignore the personalities of other people.

–You aren’t a formal Elim yet. Your existence is sustaining me so I have to obey your commands. But you can only have my body. This doesn’t mean you have my heart!

He kept on insisting that his master could only have his body (?). He remembered the Elim’s Memories’ explanation for the golem’s behaviour.

–The golem takes after the Master’s personality!

The shocking declaration from the light sphere!

‘This personality resembles me? No way! How is he similar to me? He is arrogant and impertinent! He also has no manners!’

Of course Ark couldn’t admit it. However Ark was unaware of something. Everybody who met Ark in New World thought of him as arrogant with no manners. Anyway, the golem’s nature annoyed Ark tremendously. But he was more difficult to handle than the pets in New World. At that time Ark had used terror to deal with them! If they did something wrong then Ark would educate them by beating them up! This simple method had the best effect. But there was a problem when using this method with the golem. The golem was chunks of stone. His nerves couldn’t feel pain at all. It was inefficient so he was forced to use words.

“How do you think you’re able to grow like this? It is all due to me. I’m giving you half my experience despite you not helping out in combat. Yet where did you learn to act smugger than everyone else? You should be laying down flat on the ground to thank me!”

-No one ever asked.

Naturally it replied with a rude answer. But Ark wasn’t in a position to say anything. Ark had once again turned into a Myutal shortly after arriving on Impeltus. It had been some time but the side effect of Mix-up still remained. And he couldn’t grasp his sword when he was a Myutal. Therefore Ark just got free experience from his team for 1 hour. He shouldn’t be talking about topics like sharing experience. The golem was just eating the free experience that Ark obtained. He couldn’t make a fuss about the golem taking his experience. Ark hated to admit it but the golem was similar to him. Maybe that’s why Ark really disliked the golem’s character. There was a saying that the same people would hate each other.

‘I need to find some way to fix his bad manners or my head might pop.’

But right now he had no time to waste on the golem.

‘By the way……’

“Messenger-nim, everything has been taken care of.”

Ark’s forehead wrinkled as he looked around. Ellain spoke from behind him. However he maintained a certain distance.

“What? Am I a contagious person?”

“I’m sorry. I thought I might strike if I inadvertently got close to Messenger-nim……”

Ellain still hadn’t adapted to the Myutal Ark. But he had somewhat adapted to the environment on Impeltus thanks to the life support equipment. The proof was that Ellain had turned 3 Halrosu attacking Ark into mincemeat.

“What? This guy, he isn’t just someone who vomits?”

“This guy is pretty strong. Where on earth did he find all these NPCs?”

Fortunately Ellain managed to reform his impression in the team members’ eyes. He was promoted from a ‘vomit man’ to someone who could be counted on.

“Hey Ark!”

“This area is also clear.”

Slayer and the others who had been on the opposite side of the valley came back.

“Yes, there wasn’t anything strange. I didn’t see anything like a cave or a machine.”

“I checked it precisely. This is just an ordinary mountain.”

“What about you guys, Hegel and Milan?”

“Nothing apparent……”

Milan and Hegel also shook their heads. This was why Ark couldn’t afford to pay regard to the golem. Right now they were exploring the area where the optical scanner sensed the energy distortion. According to Hegel’s readings, the probability of an artificial facility being hidden here was high. But they’ve been searching and fighting the Halrosu for 3 hours and couldn’t find anything.

“I couldn’t see anything facility when looking down from the Silver Star so I thought it might be hidden……”

He thought it might be easily found in a cave. However they couldn’t find any caves within this range. But it wasn’t like Charem’s stealth capabilities. Before descending, he had switched the optical scanner to detect stealth but it didn’t find anything. So they had to run around on foot to search for it but couldn’t find any clue.

‘Slayer, Leon and Sadain are high level users with lots of experience. They wouldn’t just walk past a clue. That is also true for the Royal Guards. If Milan and Hegel worked together then they should’ve found something.’

There was a reason for him to believe that. The Royal Guards were under the influence of the agent buff. The name of this buff was joint business!

This effect is applied to all NPCs bound by the same agent. When employees belonging to the same agent work together on a task, Joint Business creates a synergy between the members’ professional skills.

For example, if there is a researcher with no combat skills in the party then their intelligence will spread to the other members. These stats applied to the members could be helpful in battle. However, this effect can only be given and received by NPCs.

500 Adventure Points were originally needed to raise the rating of the agent. But if he paid more Adventure Points then he could select an agent profession skill. This was the reason why Ark paid 1,000 Adventure Points to raise the agent’s rating! Joint Business was a system created to compensate for the NPCs’ ability being slightly lower than users. It meant various occupational skills could be used more aggressively. All of his staff except for Kurakan were NPCs so it was an essential skill for Dark Eden!

Milan (Treasure Hunter): The party’s probability of finding hidden clues increased by 20%

Hegel (Scavenger): The probability of any monster that the party hunts dropping items has increased by 15%

Ellain (Rapid Sword): Party’s attack speed increased by 5%

Berad (Power Type): Party’s damage increased by 5%

Kalliben (Sniper): Party’s. .h.i.t Rate increased by 10%

Cupa (Rifle): Party’s ranged damage increased by 5%

Hedro (Rifle): Party’s ranged damage increased by 5%

These were the current buffs shared by the Royal Guards. Most of the NPCs in Dark Eden received a body coating so they had the basic tendencies but they didn’t have a professional career. But Milan and Hegel had professional jobs. So their shared effects had more of an effect compared to the other staff. Hegel was a Scavenger so he increased the probability that monsters would drop items by 15%. Ark could already see the effect. They had been hunting for the same time but they obtained much more loot than Slayer’s group. Well it was just j.a.ptem but…..

Anyway, Milan’s Joint Business effect increased the probability of finding hidden clues by 20%! That’s why Ark had Milan accompany them. He increased the odds of finding something hidden. There was no other skill more appropriate for an investigation mission. Nevertheless! Slayer’s group and the Royal Guards hadn’t found any clues.

‘If only this was a gentle ridge but the mountains here are dense and sharp like awls. Moreover, the range determined by the optical scanner is 5 kilometres. If won’t be any use even if Milan and I use dowsing. It would take a few days to explore and there is no guarantee we can find anything. The range needs to be narrower in order to use dowsing.’

Ark scratched his head with the Myutal’s sharp legs. Sadain opened up with a pensive expression.

“Isn’t it in a cave?”

“But we didn’t see anything that looked like a cave.”

“No, to be exact we didn’t find the entrance. If the cave is underground then there is no guarantee the entrance would be here. The entrance to the cave might be somewhere else.”

This was something Ark hadn’t considered.

“Yes, that is a likely possibility. But that means the search scope has increased indefinitely. There is a time limit so searching the surrounding area is impossible.”

“Then should we look through this area again?”

“That’s the only way but……”

Kurung! Kurung! Ku kwa kwa kwa!

While Ark was muttering with a distracted expression. Lightning bolts struck over and over again from the purple clouds. The lightning had fallen from the purple clouds like a boiling cauldron while they were searching but he still hadn’t adjusted to it. Slayer spoke with an uncomfortable expression.

“This planet is really weird.”

“It keeps on making my body cower.”

“Isn’t it dangerous? Don’t you remember the scene where the Silver Star was. .h.i.t by the lightning a while ago? The s.h.i.+p wobbled so what would happen if a person was. .h.i.t by that? We might be struck by lightning.”

“It’s lucky that lightning is only falling in one place.”

Melina said as she stroked her chest to calm down. Ark felt like he had been hit by a lightning bolt.

“What was that Melina-nim? What did you say just now?”

“Well, I didn’t say anything specific. Just that it’s lucky the lightning only falls in one place…..”

“Only one place? Is that true?”

“Yes, I am very scared of lightning. My head naturally turns every time the lightning strikes.  But the lightning only strikes near the area where we first descended.”

“The place on the mountain where we descended?”

Ark turned his head at Melina’s answer. He felt a heavy pain in the back of his head the moment she confirmed his mental calculations.

“Oh my G.o.d! Why didn’t I notice until now?”

“What does that mean?”

“That…..no, I need to check it first! Everybody follow me!”

Ark who was a Myutal ran across the ground with sharp legs. After a few moments, Ark’s team arrived at the place where they first landed on Impeltus. Ark rushed to the spot he calculated and shouted.

“Shovel!”

The shovel sprang out of his backpack.

Ark grabbed the shovel from his bag and….tak! Tak! Grab…..tak! Tak! The Myutal Ark couldn’t grasp the shovel!

“Dammit! Royal Guards, dig!”

“Yes! Shovel!”

The Royal Guards cried out in unison and grabbed their shovels.

“Dig through the mountain!”

“Waaaaahhhhh!”

They shouted at Ark’s command and lowered their heads. The Royal Guards had spent one month digging in S-20! Thanks to that, all the members had Dig Lv. 2 while Milan and Ark had Dig Lv. 4! They had reached the stage of mastery. The standard of the member’s digging was like a large excavator! There was no difference between rocks and soil when digging.

Pa pa pa pa! Pa pa pa pa!

“W-what are they doing? This is?”

“It is outrageous. Even my autobots that had been modified with excavators isn’t as fast as that!”

“What the h.e.l.l were they fed?”

Slayer’s group were shocked at the Royal Guards’ digging skills. Meanwhile they just continued shovelling. And!

Jjang!

Suddenly there was the sound of iron!

“We’re being blocked! There is a metal wall in front of us!”

“Metal wall?”

“It’s over here as well!”

Slayer’s eyes concentrated on Ark.

“What? Did you know there would be a metal wall here?”

“Of course. Did you think they were just shovelling crazily?”

“No, that digging….they are digging because…..eh? Why are they digging?”

Slayer tilted his head with a stupid expression. Park was locked in thought for a moment before nodding.

“Aha! So it was like that.”

“What? You know something?’

“It is a simple matter. Originally lightning strikes the highest place. But the surrounding mountains are almost the same height. Ark’s subordinates had just dug a hole in a place that is lower than the surrounding mountains. Yet lightning keeps on striking here. Then there is only one answer. Lightning is attracted to metal. That’s why the Silver Star was. .h.i.t by lightning. It was lower than the mountains but it contained metal. The element attracted lightning. But lightning continued falling here even when the Silver Star disappeared. In other words, that means there is metal here. No, if there is a metal wall then it must be the facility we’re looking for……”

“A lightning rod.”

Ark mentioned.

“If there are electronic equipment in the facility then lightning is a risk factor. It can influence electronic equipment even when the lightning doesn’t hit directly. Therefore a lightning rod needs to be installed in the facility. It will absorb all the lightning that falls near here. That’s why the lightning only falls in this spot. This entire place is probably acting like a lightning rod.”

“Ohh! Indeed!”

The Royal Guards interjected. Then Slayer looked at them with incredulous eyes.

“What? You guys didn’t know that? You didn’t know yet you were shovelling like crazy?”

“That’s……Hyung-nim commanded us……isn’t that right?”

“That’s right.”

The rest of the members nodded at Berad’s answer. Slayer was even more astounded by their answer!

“Okay. Now let’s dig around the walls. The entrance should be somewhere here.”

Pa pa pa pa! Pa pa pa pa! Pa pa pa pa!

The digging continued for a long time at Ark’s command. They finally found the entrance of the facility buried in dirt and rocks. The entrance was blocked with a round metal plate like a bomb shelter! A message flashed once they pressed the lever type handle.

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

Attempt to hack? Y/N

Ohu!’

Ark’s eyes shone brightly. This message meant that hacking was possible at his level!

“Milan, remove the connector from my Nymphe and link it to the lock.”

Ark had changed into a Myutal so he couldn’t even remove the connector. But there was no problem for releasing the lock.

The DJ located in the bottom is your hacking program ‘Invaders.’ The locking mechanism is the device with the voice signal.

Invaders has to succeed in extracting the voice signal from the lock. The locking mechanism will be released when the speech signal is combined. The targets falling from above are the voice signals. You have to achieve a GOOD rating when matching the timing of the voice signals.

Now put your soul into it!

This mini game was a rhythm action! Unfortunately Ark turned into a Myutal so he couldn’t use his fingers. However there were 4 b.u.t.tons to press and Ark had 7 legs.

Kok kok kok! Kok kok kok! Kok kok kok!

His 7 legs moved like lightning on the Nymphe’s screen! Well, he had to strike a pose lying down in order to fully mobilize his 7 legs! He might look like a spider but it wasn’t a disadvantage at the moment!

You have perfectly combined the voice signals and released the lock!

Unlocking!

Ark quickly turned his body over again. He pressed the lever down and the door slowly rotated open. A pa.s.sage appeared on the other side and an information window flashed.