Above Your Head

Vol 2. Chapter 55: Doomsday Online (5)

-All battles are finished. 655,508,765 out of 6,206,756,249 examinees have passed. The remaining people have been dealt with Death Procession.

"..." I momentarily looked at the text in an aloof manner. We were in trouble. We were really in trouble. "The initial acceptance rate has fallen to the 10 percent range..."

In fact, there had been plenty of signs since last week. I was still clearing the stage perfectly, but the time taken for a perfect clear was getting longer. There were many reasons. Like Jae-seok, some among the ordinary people had the aptitude for battle and became very interested in obtaining spiritual abilities, skills, and stats. However, the majority of people were more and more disinclined to take the test.

In the first place, wasn't the concept horror? Inside a mansion that was so dark that nothing could be clearly seen, there were ominous phrases carved on every wall, as well as the subdued cries of a woman and a child. There was also an arrow trap that popped out of nowhere and penetrated the skin, a rock trap of rolling rocks that used a tremendous force to crush the body, and a floor trap with spears facing up embedded in the ground. There was even a horrible-looking zombie monster who would scream, charge forth, and bite off the flesh upon sensing any signs of an intruder. It didn’t help, because it wandered around the mansion at all times.

It was a difficult environment to withstand, even by those with fairly bold nerves of steel, so there was no need to mention the elderly and the weak. Even if you overcame it once with a firm mind, you might highly likely get a nervous breakdown upon repeatedly clearing the stage a few times.

The modern men were existences who would scream at anything horrific even in an absolutely safe haunted house. They would also cower in fear as they play a horror game, with a keyboard and mouse, from the perspective of a complete third-party, much less the stage where my body would really be torn, pierced, and chewed on.

-Do you want to start the next battle? If you knock down the enemies in quick succession, your number of clears will cancel the corresponding number of Death Procession. At the end of the stage, the Death Procession that isn't retracted will be Confirmed and cannot be reversed.

"5,551,247,484 times… Was it?" I muttered the number of deaths and the clears that the remaining 600 million had to achieve.

In simple calculation, each person only needs to clear it 9 times.

"But that isn't a possibility." I sighed at the words of Ares who suddenly interrupted. That's right, it couldn't be done. "Most of the members who had clears are probably injured."

Not everyone could defeat an enemy without receiving a single wound like me. It was rather common to clear after a desperate life-or-death struggle, since they could disregard their lives and charge forth. That was because of the belief that they would be resurrected due to the perfect clear even if they died. The stage would never heal your stamina or injury, but at the very least, their revival would allow them to return to reality with their bodies in a normal state.

"Kuwaackkkk!!!!"

Baam! I smashed the zombie’s head and started to think. In Earth-34, there were 10 million warriors who had long trained in spiritual ability in the parallel world. Due to the distribution of the Great Wizard, they were enhanced spiritual ability users who were beyond comparison to other planets at the same civilization level. They have long repeatedly fought through life-and-death battles, and were trained in spiritual ability by going through intense processes, so a Level 3 was not that scary of an enemy.

However, if the ordinary human beings who numbered around 6 billion all gave up on the tests... In theory, the 10 million spiritual ability users would have to clear the test 600 times each. The test was one that took hours no matter how quick one was to do it…

-Do you want to start the next battle?

"Start."

- Level 3. Difficulty is set to Low.

- Eliminate the enemies within 1 hour.

- Stage will begin in 10 seconds.

- 10. 9. 8. 7….

Even though it was a one-on-one battle, the time limit given was an hour due to its Low-difficulty. It would exceed six hours if it was an Intermediate-difficulty and, if that were the case, the strength of the enemy would not be the only problem. The 10 million spiritual ability users and the latecomers who had built up their skills would all have to go through a long battle, like marathon runners, just so they could achieve a perfect clear.

"Kuwaackkkk!!!!" I crushed its head. I smashed it again, and again.

-Do you want to start the next battle?

-Do you want to start the next battle?

-Do you want to start the next battle?

And after so many battles.

-Death Procession has all been cancelled.

-Congratulations! The stage has been cleared! Rewards are given based on contribution.

- Your ranking is 8,891.

I completed the test again. Suddenly I felt like I could define this game. "Ahh, come to think of it. Isn't it just a game of physical labor with a doable difficulty level?"

The problem was the structure of this stage itself. It was too easy for some, and it was too difficult for others. Since the difficulty of the stage was standardized and participation was compulsory, there were people who gave up on the play and had the top-ranking players making up for it.

'But the number of times they have to make up for it is too over the top. I'd rather have a hard mission than this pure hard labour.' As I grumbled inwardly, I sank down into my seat. My right arm was tingling. "How many hours did I fight?" I muttered to myself, but it naturally wasn't a monologue.

786 minutes including break time. It's about 13 hours.

"I'm hungry. I'm thirsty... Damn it, it's at the point where I'm going to lose all my muscle," I complained. To tell the truth, it was to the extent that my whole body turned thin and my skin was cracking apart. As soon as I started, I avoided the attack of the enemy and struck its head with the ultra-vibrating club that was imbued with the power of vibrations. Even though I had chosen a combat method that could literally only be regarded as an optimized one, it was still to this extent.

'But even so, I couldn't help but to use the five-minute break.' Even those who ran for hours in a marathon would be exhausted if they got on the ring to run a single round. I optimized my movements and ensured to strike the enemies only, but it was not as easy as flicking my wrist, so I definitely needed time to recover my stamina.

Food is ready.

"I know that too," I answered in the Unique World. As Genie said, there was a sumptuous feast set up in front of me. However, the one who was hungry was me at the stage, and not me in the Unique World. The swapping that I usually favored using was dysfunctional as soon as I was at the stage, so I couldn't use it. "If that was possible, I would have unlimited stamina."

-You earned 4,720 points as a clear reward.

-Point is a means of transaction and you can purchase Awakening Potion, Experience Potion, Equipment, Tools, and Materials.

"Level 3 Low-difficulty is about 25 points per round. It's a good thing that it finishes quickly, but the amount of points awarded is only around the amount that can be obtained from a Level 2 Intermediate-difficulty," I grumbled and walked towards the gacha machine that showed up.

Do you finally intend to purchase skills?

"I didn't want to use it because the composition itself was uncomfortable, but I don't have a choice. With the current structure... I'll fail to achieve a perfect clear in the Intermediate-difficulty test."

The deaths that would occur in the case where a perfect clear failed to be achieved was not the only problem. The real problem was that if death tolls started to surface, then those who cleared the stage with their lives on the line would turn passive. Currently, they could commit suicide to heal their wounds. However, if a perfect clear was impossible, then the people would naturally start to shrink back. Then, it would become more difficult to achieve a perfect clear, and when it becomes impossible to achieve a perfect clear, then they would cower more and more. It was literally a vicious circle.

For starters, I bought a moderate amount of ores from the materials and then bought an Awakening Potion. The skill I chose was the Energy of Luck, which seemed to have the lowest benefit in return among the skills.

Skill List. 1/2

1. Energy of Luck (Introductory): Double the number of supplies found. The enemy would be able to sense the Energy of Luck.

The penalty stated that the enemy would be able to sense the Energy of Luck and it indicated that the enemy would always be able to detect the user. It meant that enemies would react even if I hid or approached carefully. However, considering my play style, where I rush straight in and crush the enemy's head, it was not such a huge disadvantage.

"The rest of it is useless..." I muttered to myself. Even now, my body was all shriveled up, so I couldn't choose Fast Metabolism that increased my hunger level. My combat style emphasized on speed itself, so I also couldn't choose Herculean Strength that slowed down my speed. It also didn't make sense to choose Gunman when I only used blunt weapons. The Suppressor, which judged one clear as two clears, was also quite tempting, but the stat reduction was too large compared to the benefits obtained.

The wizard who revolved the magic power to create a circle had 100 points in magic power. Similarly, if it was over 200 points, they would be 2nd-Class. If it was 300 points, they would be able to reach 3rd-Class (if other stats were too low, the class will naturally not be achieved). 100 points in the main stats was actually a gap of one level; it was not 5 or 10 times, but the effect of only clearing two times.

Why is there a Gunman skill when there’s no gun in the weapon category?

"There's probably a way to acquire it in combat. Like, maybe the appearance of an enemy who wields a gun? Or maybe it can be produced just like how I am currently doing it." I left my body, which was next to the gacha machine on standby for a while, and moved my consciousness to the Unique World to discuss my opinions with Genie. However, there wasn't a skill that attracted my interest. There were quite a lot of interesting effects, but the compensation was too great.

I bought Perfect Slumber as a test. I haven't slept at the stage yet, but as the level increased, the play time was getting longer. "Hmm?" However, I continued to purchase skills.

What's wrong?

"I keep purchasing skills. I have 2 slots for the number of skills, but there doesn’t seem to be a limit to buying,” I commented. Instead, the price continued to rise whenever I bought it. The skill prices, which were 10 points at first, were becoming increasingly expensive at 20, 30, and 40 points. "Well, even if the price goes up.." I bought 10 skills that I felt slightly inclined to do so. Even so, it was about 550 points.

"I wish I could solve the issues with hunger," I muttered. There were a few skills that were related to hunger. Mouth that Eats Twice gave twice the effect when eating food. Meal of Madness increased the effect tenfold when eating part of the user's own body. Hidden Snack could store external food in the stomach. In particular, Meal of Madness was one of the no-penalty skills that existed.

"No penalty my ass. Eating my body itself is a penalty." I scoffed at the really revolting skill. The problem was the fact that the mere existence of these skills was a factor that gave me an idea on the direction that the stage was heading, just like the Gunman skill.

"It means that there will come a situation where I will need this skill." I squinted my eyes and tried changing my skills.

-You have already tried changing your skills once!

-You can change it again during the re-challenge or the next stage challenge.

"Oh, it is not possible to just change it whenever.” After that discovery, I ultimately entered the Tools section while equipped with Energy of Luck and Mouth that Eats Twice. Finally, I finished purchasing the necessary items and ended the stage.

-The stage has ended. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

I returned to reality and Jae-seok, who had a full-body armor stuck to his body, was in front of me. I asked upon looking at his appearance, which was completely fine, "Oooh? What's going on? You don't have any wounds."

Usually covered in blood every time the test was over, Jae-seok smiled bitterly. "I died. I was too greedy. I should have stopped when I reached my limit even if the stage was not over."

In fact, if one was confident that the stage would be perfectly cleared, it would be a gain to clear the stage even if they eventually died. If they received an injury and came out, the injury would remain upon exiting the stage. However, if they died and were revived upon a perfect clear, they would be able to come out in the same condition as when they entered. However, that was only in theory, since it was not easy to actually do so. Anyone would be afraid of death, and on the off chance that a perfect clear was not achieved, they would actually die for real.

"How did you die?"

"I don't know. If you die, you lose the memory of the last stage."

"There's such a thing?"

Jae-seok was dumbfounded by my surprised expression. "Hey, do you not even use the Internet? No, you don't even need the Internet. No matter what channel you turn on nowadays, it always talks about the stage."

"I don't usually look at the battle strategy and I prefer to just do it by myself."

"What are you saying? Your life's on the line..."

I glanced at the baffled Jae-seok for a while and soon took out the items I bought at the Tool section. "Well, I'm going to start paying a little attention now."

-Camcorder: Press the button to record the video. It is equipped with a function that can take bright videos that minimize noise even in dark places.

I started to think while holding a camcorder, which was a pretty expensive Tool. This situation was not a problem that could be solved by repeatedly breaking the stage by myself. Although it may not be immediate, once it exceeded Level 4, Level 5, and Level 6, there was bound to be a failure. Ultimately, there was only one conclusion. Maybe it wasn't just me, but a lot of other people also knew.

"There might come a day where I will need to refer to it," I said. Ultimately, we would have to build up the capabilities of mankind as a whole.

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