Chapter 123
[You have defeated the Alpha Mind.]
[You have achieved the achievement ‘Repelling the Otherworld Invasion’.]
[All stats have increased by 123.]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
The moment I finished off the Alpha Mind, weakened by the Storm of Decay, a sweet level-up notification popped up twice, along with the achievement completion notification.
Smirk.
I smiled as I looked at the notifications.
Soon after, other notifications popped up in front of me, one after another.
[You have reached level 380.]
[You have achieved the achievement ‘Now We’re Talking!’.]
[All stats have increased by 100.]
Level 380!
I grinned as I saw the notification window telling me I had finally reached the level known as the max level.
Of course, it wasn’t the true max level, and I could continue to level up after level 380, but the experience required was so murderously high that most users considered level 380 to be the ‘max level’.
[Legacy Skill ‘Iron Body’ has been unlocked.]
[Iron Body]
[Grade: Legend]
[Legacy Level: Beginner Level 1]
[A defensive and survival skill known to have been frequently used by Steel Monarch Drakan since his early days as a novice adventurer. This technique allows the user to surround their body with aura, gaining the protective power of steel. With Iron Body activated, Drakan was a terror on the battlefield, repelling any attack.]
Soon after, a notification popped up, saying that a Legacy skill had been unlocked.
Iron Body!
My survival skill, which even blocked the Undead King’s ultimate skill, Storm of Decay, in the failed Undead King raid back in the day, had finally been unlocked.
With this, all the skills I had in the previous game were unlocked.
Well, normally, when I hit the max level, the ultimate skill should also be unlocked, but I had already unlocked my ultimate skill through the ‘Rune of Regression’, so there was no additional unlock.
Except for one, the Overlord’s Sword.
‘Is the Overlord’s Sword not yet available?’
The Overlord’s Sword!
The final reward of the Overlord Quest and the only Mythical grade skill I possessed!
That skill was the only one that had not yet been unlocked.
If I could only regain the Overlord’s Sword, I could even aim for EX Rank, the realm said to be allowed only to Eugene, but it was a bit of a shame that I didn’t have it.
‘The Overlord’s Sword might be the reward for the Legacy Quest.’
I pushed the thought of the Overlord’s Sword to the back of my mind, thinking about the Legacy Quest.
Anyway, there was only one important thing right now.
‘I’ve finally reached the starting line.’
Ard Saga Second is a game that starts at max level!
This was the most common game review you could find on the Ard forums, and the actual gameplay was similar.
So, according to that saying, I had finally started the game properly.
[Do you want to register your character information in the Combat Information Archive?]
Another notification popped up in front of me.
Combat Information Archive!
This system replaces the ‘ranking’ system from the previous game, comprehensively evaluating all information about a character, including their level, items, skills, fame, and class, to assign a comprehensive grade!
I looked at the notification window and answered without hesitation.
“Register.”
[Synchronizing user ‘Drakan’s information with the Combat Information Archive.]
[Combat Information Archive is analyzing user ‘Drakan’s information.]
[Analysis of user ‘Drakan’s information is complete.]
[Calculating the comprehensive grade for user ‘Drakan’.]
Endless notification windows popped up as soon as I finished speaking.
I waited for the results, and finally, the notification window spat out the results.
[Calculation of user ‘Drakan’s comprehensive grade is complete.]
[User ‘Drakan’s comprehensive grade is SSS Rank.]
Comprehensive grade SSS!
I smiled as I looked at the result, which was only natural.
SSS Rank in the Combat Information Archive meant only one thing.
Over-Ranker!
I had finally ascended to the ranks of the Over-Rankers, which had dwindled to eighteen after the Black King Karun and Spear King Rio disappeared.
Honestly, it was an expected result.
Even back when I obtained the ultimate skill through the Rune of Regression, I possessed power comparable to that of Rankers.
But I couldn’t be satisfied with just being a Ranker, and since then, I’ve continued to solve the Divine Quests given by the Dark God, joined forces with my enemy, and even went to another world, all to accumulate stats and learn Contract Skills.
And finally, as expected, as soon as I hit the max level, I was able to ascend to the ranks of the Over-Rankers.
‘The b*oody effort I’ve put in has finally borne fruit. This is a glorious moment.’
I closed and opened my eyes.
It was an expected result, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t happy.
Over-Ranker!
I had reached the position where I could breathe the air of another heaven, reigning over the Rankers, a heaven to ordinary users. This meant I had achieved one of my mid-term goals.
To compare my current feelings, it was like the joy of receiving a Christmas present I had been looking forward to.
If I were an ordinary user, I would have been satisfied with just becoming an Over-Ranker and rested on my laurels, but I couldn’t stop here.
EX Rank!
I had to climb to the realm of the top Rankers, a realm allowed only to Eugene.
And to do that, clearing the Legacy Quest was absolutely necessary.
Overlord’s Sword!
If I could only regain the Mythical grade skill, EX Rank wouldn’t be just a dream.
The Overlord’s Sword was a skill worthy of that dream.
‘Of course, just having equivalent individual power wouldn’t mean I could gain an advantage over Eugene.’
I thought of Eugene.
It was true that the EX Rank power possessed by Eugene played a significant role in maintaining his hegemony.
The weight of the name ‘Top Ranker’ was never light.
But the fundamental power that maintained Eugene’s hegemony was the massive force known as the Five Eyes and the grassroots public opinion of ordinary users who supported him.
And I didn’t have either of those to an extent that could surpass Eugene.
While I had gained some public opinion by becoming the leader of the Dark Alliance, there were still many users who genuinely supported Eugene, and the population of the Alliance was relatively inferior to that of the Coalition.
And compared to the formidable personal forces represented by the Five Eyes, my personal forces, JDG, were admittedly lacking.
Of course, I had the leaders of the various races that made up the Dark Alliance, the NPC powerhouses, but Eugene could also mobilize the NPC powerhouses of the Holy Alliance, such as those in the Empire and the Holy Kingdom, so it was meaningless.
Things might be a little different if the Undead King’s seal was broken, but the Undead King was still bound to the Skeletal Throne, so such assumptions were meaningless now.
So, in the current situation, even if I assumed I had reached EX Rank, fighting Eugene would be a guaranteed defeat.
Moreover, if I was only on par with him, not overwhelming him, it was clear that I wouldn’t have a significant advantage even in a one-on-one fight.
And I wasn’t a gambler who would bet everything on something with uncertain odds.
‘Divide the enemy and expand the power of the allies.’
I reviewed the basics of all the strategies I had established.
Divide Eugene’s Lightwing Guild and the Five Eyes, and expand the power of my allies, the Dark Alliance.
This was the foundation of all my strategies, and I had been carrying them out faithfully based on this foundation.
And as my plans gradually materialized, the moment the balance of power between Eugene and me finally tipped in my favor!
That would be the perfect opportunity for me to hold the blade of revenge to Eugene’s throat.
Just as I was reviewing the basics of my strategy……
[A Legacy Quest has arrived.]
The key known as the Legacy Quest arrived before me.
[The Last Loyal Subject]
[Grade: Legend]
-A thousand years ago, Steel Monarch Drakan plunged the entire Ard World into terror with his war of conquest!
Drakan was once a tyrant who ruled the entire Ard World with an iron fist through steel and blood, but he was eventually overthrown thanks to the mythical efforts of the righteous army, organized by countless nameless commoners led by Hero Eugene.
After the World Revolution, the name of Steel Monarch Drakan was erased from history, his legacy was thoroughly destroyed, and his subordinates scattered throughout Ard World, disappearing without a trace.
But not all of your accomplishments have vanished.
An ancient legend passed down in the southern part of Ard World claims that the witch who resides deep within the Great Forest is actually the last loyal subject of the Steel Monarch, awaiting the return of Drakan.
Go to the Forest of Monsters and verify the truth of this legend!
[The quest cannot be refused.]
[You have accepted the quest.]
As expected, the Legacy Quest could not be refused, but I had no intention of refusing it anyway, so it didn’t matter to me.
‘The Last Loyal Subject?’
More important than that was the quest title, ‘The Last Loyal Subject’, and the keyword ‘witch’ that appeared in the quest details.
‘It can’t be a user appearing in the quest, so it must be referring to an NPC!’
NPC!
The natives of Ard World, a significant number of them had been part of my Iron Blood Alliance.
Although they were NPCs equipped with perfect artificial intelligence, indistinguishable from humans, unlike users who held modern values, NPCs had values that aligned with the fantasy world setting of Ard World. This often led them to offer blind loyalty, unburdened by real-world concerns.
Moreover, there was an objective stat called Loyalty, so for me back then, NPCs were a useful force to utilize, despite the drawback of having only one life, a risk worth taking.
That’s why I appointed a considerable number of NPCs with high Loyalty to important positions, and some of them even held high-ranking positions in the Alliance.
‘If it’s a witch, is it referring to Circe?’
I recalled the name of the NPC that matched the keyword ‘witch’.
Circe!
She was the NPC who led the 1st Magic Corps of the Iron Blood Alliance. A witch herself, she was a quest helper NPC who cooperated with me by leading the underworld forces of the royal capital when I was carrying out the Rebellion Quest to swallow up the Kingdom of Sachsen.
Among the NPCs belonging to the Iron Blood Alliance, who generally had high Loyalty towards me, Circe was a particularly striking presence.
Six years ago, in the previous game, the loyalty Circe showed me was less loyalty and more something akin to madness.
Well, anyway, the possibilities held within Ard World were endless, so ‘The Last Loyal Subject’ could be an NPC other than Circe, but I predicted that it was highly likely to be Circe.
Thinking that far, I smiled.
Whoever the last loyal subject was, I had to meet them first to proceed with the next quest.
With that in mind, I logged out after finishing the Colony Siege.
As always, it was time to discuss countermeasures for the Legacy Quest and future strategies.
