Endless Evolution As A Skeleton In A Game-Like World

Game Masters were the keeper of the rules, as such it was a sacred law that they could never be attacked by players.

Whenever a game master was attacked, it was up to him to decide what sort of punishment to meet out, death being the most severe.

Dathelisque would have never gone that far... but he was willing to lessen the punishment if the kid showed a little remorse.

But never did he imagine he would blatantly lie before the council.

The dwarf raised a brow as he stared at Ark in disbelief. ”What crime do you plead not guilty to?”

”All of them.” Ark replied plainly.

”Unbelievable.” The dwarf huffed as he relaxed his back on his chair. He had expected him to plead not guilty to one of the crimes. For example, there were arguments that could be made about if he did have malicious intent when he messed with the system.

But to plead not guilty to assault as well?

”Alright, your plea has been noted, Player Ark. We will ask a question, and then you will be given a few minutes to make your case.” Lord shadow spoke.

”Did you or did you not lift the head engineer, Dathelisque before our very eyes.”

”I did.”

”Exactly! So you admit your guilt?!” Dathelisque laughed.

Ark shook his head. ”No. All I said was that I lifted you, I never said I was guilty.”

Egeria seemed amused by his response. ”Then what would you consider lifting him up and walking to the edge?”

Ark smiled, although it did not reflect on his face. He had been waiting for this question.

”I was simply restraining him.”

”...”

”What?” Dathelisque looked baffled.

Ark nodded, then he pulled out his most depressed voice and placed a hand on his forehead like a child in distress.

”I just woke up in this strange place. Imagine my surprise when I was savagely attacked by someone who was meant to be a Game master?!”

Now it was Ark’s turn to accuse the dwarf. ”I can still hear an echo in my head from that blow!” He shamelessly lied.

He stumbled back and forth. ”My eyes keep blurring in and out of focus...” Ark collapsed to the floor. ”And this was just one hit! The least I could do was restrain him, if not I would surely be dead!”

Egeria giggled.

It was over the top, but Ark did not care, it was not everyday you got to troll a Game Master.

Lord shadow shook his head then sighed. ”Dathelisque, what do you have to say?”

The dwarf was practically steaming. ”What do you mean?! He is clearly lying! All I did was bash him over the noggin, and in response he almost threw me into the beyond!”

”Liar! C-can you swear that you did not attack me with intention to harm?” Ark sobbed, pointing the single hand he had at the dwarf.

Both game masters turned to face him, but Dathelisque could not utter a single word of rebuttal.

”It seems we have judged this matter wrongly... My stance is not guilty.” Lord shadow said firmly.

Dathelisque stood off his seat in a fit of rage. ”What? Are you joking?”

”Well you did attack him first.” Egeria laughed. ”Not guilty.”

”Now onto the second case.” Lord Shadow continued, ignoring the dwarfs’ tantrum.

”Player Ark, you pleaded not guilty to nine counts of attempting to brick the system with malicious intent, and gross misuse of your class effect, [Skill Forge].”

This time, it was Egeria that asked the question. ”Player Ark. Despite repeated notices from the system, you kept on repeating the same command, leading to the system status, Anomalous System State. Is that true?”

”Yes. That is true. But I did not do this with the intention of breaking the system.”

Well, maybe he did want to break the system to draw the attention of whoever was in charge, but they did not need to know that...

Court cases were about who was the better liar, and Ark had a lot of experience with lying to Game masters.

How else was he to avoid getting banned after exploiting hidden bugs to top the rankings?

”Then what was your motive behind this action?” Lord Shadow asked.

”I simply did not understand what I was doing wrong.” He scratched his head. ”I honestly thought the system was bugged.”

It was a lie, but it was the perfect cover he needed to bring up his points.

Ark then went on to explain his issue with the rule, including the reasons why he believed it was within his legal right to merge those skills.

While he spoke, he could tell that Lord Shadow had listened closely, throughout, his eyes had never left Ark, and it was a little unnerving, especially since his eyes were never in one place...

When he finished, Lord Shadow nodded.

”I understand your points. But, the skill description was written in that manner to avoid causing confusion among the players. Only ’abilities’ as you call them, classified as ’skills’ can be merged with your ability.”

”That may be the case, but like I said, it was not specified...”

”Indeed. Not guilty.”

It seems Egeria’s mind had been made up from the beginning. ”Not guilty.”

Ark could literally see the frustration on the dwarfs face. His face was so tight that his brows had clumped together.

”Fine, you win this time kid.” He let out a breath, calming himself. Then he waved his hand in his direction, summoning a pitch black portal. ”Now get out of here you rascal, I have to fix your mess.”

”Actually, we are not done here. We still have one unresolved problem.” Ark said.

Dathelisque suddenly felt a bad premonition. He could practically feel the greed oozing out of the boy’s bones.

”Which is?” He asked skeptically.

Ark would have licked his lips if he had one. Who wouldn’t have, given this golden opportunity?

”First of all, the issue of my skill merger has not been resolved. Since I have been acquainted of all guilt. It means my points were indeed right.”

”And?” The dwarf’s face had grown sour.

”I want the council to approve my skill merger.”

”Are you mad! Do you know how much work that will take?” Dathelisque growled. He looked like he was seconds away from giving Ark another bonk on the head.

Ark protectively covered his head with his hand. The first hit was more painful than he would like to admit...

’Hmmm~’ Egeria chuckled internally as she watched them. ’It seems Dathelisque has fallen for the boys’ schemes.’

Technically, the council declaring him not guilty meant that they agreed with his points to some extent.

Because of this, it would be shameful for them to turn back on their words and deny his claims concerning what defined a skill.

”The rules were meant to preserve order. Despite the ambiguity around them, allowing you to merge a skill with an ability given by your race specialization is simply unprecedented. It is disorderly.” Lord shadow replied calmly.

”Why not? He is within his rights.” Egeria cut in. She began kicking her feet in the air, clearly enjoying herself.

How did someone like her even get to be a Game master?

”Denying his claim would be denying the rules. That in and of itself is disorderly.” She practically laughed at the end of it, knowing that Lord Shadow would be pissed.

”...”

There was a long pause as everyone waited for his next words.

It was clear what the dwarf’s stance would be, and Egeria had made her decision a long time ago. Lord Shadow was the tie breaker.

”You are...” his shadowy body spasmed with irritation ”Correct. But you will only be allowed to make use of this technicality once!” He managed to spit out, as though the words were poison.

”Damn it!” The dwarf cursed as he angrily plopped down on his chair.

But Ark’s next words had him reaching for his throat.

”Umm... as for my second request. I was accused wrongly, and because of the bugged system I have wasted so much time here.”

”I require compensation for my time!”

This time Egeria burst out into full on laughter, slapping her armrest with one hand and hugging her stomach with the other.

”This guy! Where did they find someone like him?! Hahahahaha!”

Lord shadow was quiet, but Dathelisque...

He teleported right to Ark and grabbed him by the neck.

”You greedy kid! I can’t let someone like you live in this world!!!” Within seconds, he picked him up and the chains snapped, as he tossed him right into the portal.

After his meeting with the council, Ark found himself back in the depressing hall, but there were two screens flashing in front of his face.

[Skill merger successful! New skill, Endless Soul Reaper (EX-Rank), is now available!]

[Description: The Player can summon the souls of slayed foes as part of his army. Upon summoning, these undead will attain the Endless Evolution trait, allowing them to infinitely grow stronger, as well as an Elemental Attribute.]

[Note: Endless Soul Reaper is only available for a few choice candidates.]

In that dark hall, embraced by thick darkness, Ark let out a resounding laugh that filled the space.

He glanced around the room to see if there were any potential targets, and sure enough, he saw one... the best possible candidate there could be.

The goblin king.

Hanging above the head of the boss was an indicator arrow, informing him of a potential target.

Ark walked over to where he lay and stared down at his corpse, his eyes glowing fiercely.

”What are you waiting for? Awaken.”

VWOOOOSH!

A wave of bone chilling mana suddenly rose from the corpse, and then a figure rose from within it.

His skin was inky black with no signs of life, it had a sheen, as though it was made of obsidian, and when he opened his eyes, glowing purple orbs stared back.

The goblin king stared at him for a long second, and for a moment Ark thought it might just slap him across the mouth.

But he did not, instead he went down to a knee and bowed his head.

[You have obtained a summon!]

[Name??]

[Race: High Goblin (King)]

[Class: Warrior]

[Level: 1]

[Attribute: Fire]

King Summus looked a lot like he did in his past life, well... in black form. He even had his axe strapped to his back.

The only major difference was that instead of a crown, he had a fearsome mask shrouding his face.

Ark liked it, it was a nice aesthetic choice.

”From this day onwards, your name will be Sumo...”

As for the second screen:

[You have received an S-Rank Mystery box.]

Now that was a proper compensation...

[You will be automatically ejected from the tower in ten seconds...]

At last, it was time to face the real world...

.

.

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[End Of Volume 1]

[Battle Before The Throne]