Endless Evolution As A Skeleton In A Game-Like World

From the moment Olivia offered him accommodation, Ark suspected that her place would be large...

Respawn points were often associated with rooms, so for more than one person to set a room as their respawn point, the room needed to be large enough or specially made for that purpose.

But standing in the room, Ark was more than blown away.

It was as though he had stepped into wealth. Nearly everything had a touch of gold and white, the furniture design and placements were tasteful, and the room was so high up that he could see the entire city from it.

”The Transcontinental Hotel...”

It was a line of hotels that existed in most continents. They were known to not only be the most luxurious, but also one of the most expensive among all.

And as if that wasn’t enough, a screen appeared in front of Ark.

[Room enchantment active! Mana and Health will continually be increased over time. Fatigue will also be depleted over time]

[Resistance against mind attacks has been increased]

[Resistance against sound attacks has been increased]

[Spell power of invited guests is now increased by 1.5x]

[Abilities of uninvited guests will be subjected to a 30% debuff]

’The room has enchantments??’

Enchanting a weapon was already expensive, how much would it cost to enchant an entire room?

Ark glanced at Olivia. ”How much do you pay per night?”

She looked genuinely confused. ”Per night? Oh, you mean the hotel fees?”

He nodded.

”I don’t pay hotel fees.” She smiled smugly. ”I own the place.”

”...”

”I see...”

To think he was excited over a 15,000-credit check...

”Feel at home, I’m going to take a shower.” Olivia waved at him before disappearing behind the bathroom door.

Ark walked over to the couch and sat down, feeling the cushion swallow him whole.

’This is... Strange.’ At first glance, everything seemed great. Anyone who visited this place would think Olivia was having a good life, but that was until you considered what family she was from.

Olivia Harrow.

To bear that surname, she was definitely part of the main family in some way or the other, which was why nothing was making sense.

First of all, no one had come to pick her up from the tutorial. Ark had considered it odd back then, but he had brushed it off as nothing.

But everything that happened today only solidified his suspicions.

Why was Olivia attempting the newbie mission?

The newbie mission had no penalties, so it was an easy skip. Most members of the top families were currently locked up in their guild EXP farms, grinding day and night to surpass their peers.

That was why Soo-jin told him that they would likely not meet for a little while. But while other family heirs were making use of their families’ resources, Olivia was here, trying to grind EXP the regular way.

Even the house felt like a way of keeping her at arm’s length...

Harrow was a guild for the undead, so the natural conclusion would be that she was put aside because she had awakened as a Harpy.

But Harrow had quite a number of players who weren’t undead, and a large population of them at that.

Ark shrugged as he stared at the bathroom door. It was not like there was anything he could do about it, and asking her was probably a bad idea...

”Alright, it’s about time I got back to business.”

Ark raised his hand, and suddenly, two boxes appeared on both of them.

The first box was an obsidian-black box with purple highlights that pulsed with light, while the second box was pure gold with black highlights.

Both boxes had a soft reverberation that caused them to vibrate gently in his hands, almost as though they were on the verge of erupting.

The first was the A-rank mystery box that he had gotten from being the MVP at the newbie tower, while the second was the compensation he got from the game masters.

Ark smirked as he softly placed them on the table in front of him.

”Alright, I’ll start with the A-rank box.” He rubbed his fingers together.

”Open.”

The room was completely drowned in a bright purple light, and then...

[You have received A-Rank Item, Mind Splitter Axe]

[You have received Ex-Rank Item, Abyssal Key]

Ark let out an excited chuckle. ”Two items??”

A-Rank boxes almost always have a single item. It was only on extremely rare occasions that they gave two.

Ark summoned the first item from his inventory. It was a long battle axe similar to what King Summus had used in the tutorial.

The weapon had a crimson handle, and an ornate golden head whose edge waved, before tapering at a sharp tip.

[Mind Splitter Axe]

An axe forged from the marrow of a fragmented star. When an enemy takes damage from this weapon, the weapon deals physical damage, as well as one instance of mental damage, disrupting their mind.

After a cooldown period of twenty seconds, the player can once again deal another instance of mental damage.

This way, once the player has dealt three instances of mental damage, they can cast ’mental retardation,’ disrupting the opponent’s attack patterns for the space of one minute.

Note: The time of disruption can vary based on the level difference between the player and the foe, as well as their skill and mental fortitude.

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’This is pretty good.’ Ark mused as he read through it. With an attack like that, he would be able to easily give himself breathing room during battles.

There was only one problem... Ark was a weapons master, so he was more than capable of using an axe. But that didn’t mean he liked it very much, it was in fact one of his least favourite weapons...

”I’ll figure that out later.” Perhaps he would sell it and use the profits to buy a more fitting weapon.

But before that...

Ark placed his hand on the blade of the weapon—

[Harvest successful! You have successfully received B-Rank skill, Disrupt!]

’Hehe, this never gets old.’

Now even if he sold the axe, he wouldn’t be missing out on much.

Next, he summoned the second item which was by far stranger.

”Key of the abyss...” What was he supposed to do with a key?

The description of the item was also one of the shortest ones Ark had ever seen, and yet they bore far more weight than the others he had seen.

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[Key of the abyss]

Allows the user to return back to the tutorial...

”Wait, is this—!”