Ark-Volume 9 Chapter 1

ACT 1 Alive

Hwiooooo!

A snowstorm raged in a dark place. The look of snow inspires a warm feeling. But it actually felt like sharp knives were digging into the flesh like a knife. The ice debris didn’t stop and just continued piling up. Zero sight……….in the hopeless darkness the only thing visible was snow and ice. It was an extreme environment difficult for most lifeforms to exist, a landscape of snowy mountains with no name. Surprisingly, a person could be seen in the middle of these snowy mountains. Snow piled on the thick cloak wrapped around the person. The person who tried to take a step forward in the thick snow before falling was………..Ark.

‘Where on earth is this?’

Ark desperately looked around for a path. But all he could see was scattered ice.

“………Is this really the right place?’

That was the question that popped into his head. He didn’t know how many days he wandered the mountain. The snow seemed like an endless field that had him in its scary clutches. No, the snowfield seemed like the hands of a devil. Thanks to the tremendous snowstorm, he couldn’t even see beyond his nose. And since the snowstorm continued for many days, the terrain of the mountain seemed to change every hour. Even his footprints would disappear without a trace after a few minutes. After a short time he wasn’t even able to distinguish what direction he came from.

‘Can I really get out of here alive?’

Frankly, the fact that he even lived until now was a miracle. Up here, he had almost died many times because of an accident. But now he had reached the limit. The snowstorm was just a snowstorm, but the thing that annoyed Ark was the cold! The cold was so murderous that the expression ‘it was digging into the inside of his bone’ was insufficient.

‘I’m really going to freeze to death like this.’

“Ooooooh…….M-master. I-I can’t stand it anymore.”

The suffering voice of Dedric was suddenly heard. In fact, Dedric was even more desperate than Ark. Due to the nature of a warm-blooded animal whether they were big or small, Dedric lost body heat more easily. Even though some of Deimos’ joints froze and he had difficulty moving, Dedric was the one truly suffering. Although Ark put him inside his coat, Ark’s body temperature was also cold so it wasn’t useful in helping Dedric. Snake was also as stiff as a wooden log.

“Endure just a little bit more. If we avoid the snowstorm then I can boil purified water.”

“Huk, more water……..I won’t drink anymore. Drinking water makes me more hungry………”

Dedric was brought to tears just like a child. Then, he heard the wind as a piece of ice entered his collar and froze him even more. The cold winds slammed into him for a moment before a red flashing message appeared.

Dedric’s eyes started to become dim. “Eh…………Master……….Somehow it suddenly became warm………hehehe………But I’m sleepy……..”

“You idiot, wake up! If you fall asleep then you’ll die!”

“Die? Ah………..I don’t know………..I just want to sleep……..sleep……..let me sleep……..huh?”

“I said no!”

Ark yelled while striking Dedric’s face. He struck him until the frozen face swelled up. However, it caused an impression as Dedric muttered.

“Hitting is good……..please continue…….”

Clack clack clack……..Clack clack clack clack……..

All of a sudden Dedric fell onto the snowfield. Ark flinched and looked back to see that Dedric’s eyes had become blurred, causing him to fall. Even Deimos had reached his limit.

“Deimos, y-you……..no! You’re not supposed to die here!”

Ark hurriedly took out a pot and put something in there. He could raise the body temperature of his summons by making them drink boiled purified water from the snow. He honestly didn’t know how long it would last. However, Ark had frozen limbs which didn’t move the way he wanted it to.

‘God dammit…….I shouldn’t have blindly entered!’

Ark flared up as he remembered the circumstances from a few days ago. It seemed to be a scene in a documentary titled ‘History of distress in the snowy mountains.’ Ark was unexpectedly placed in this situation a few days ago. After killing huge monsters to pass the red wilderness, what welcomed Ark wasn’t the legacy of a genius alchemist………It was the great outdoors which inspired a lot of fear.

“Amazing!”

He naturally exclaimed. A short time after he stepped foot through the door drawn on the picture………. The light spread out in front of him until it became the endless snowfields. Ark never imagined that the different dimension would be a such a landscape and was stunned. However, Ark’s mind was soon taken away from the majestic scenery. The place that Ark arrived was not just the snowfield. As he approached the edge of a snowfield, a wonderful scenery unfolded. Clouds were stretching out underneath his feet. The peak of the mountain rose through the clouds. The peak was covered with snow and ice……..it felt like he was on top of the Himalayas which he saw on TV. After Ark stared blankly down, a message window popped up.

‘What the? The Great Adventurer?’

Ark’s eyes widened. He never imagined the fame and experience he would receive once he stepped foot into a different dimension. However the more surprising thing was that he received a S-class title, the Great Adventurer! There were millions of users currently in New World! The bonus was only given to the first 100 people to step foot in a different dimension. Even if he knew that information in advance, he never would’ve expected to be one of them. But he didn’t just barely enter the first 100 ranking, he was eighth place! The astronomical bonus from the competition was staggering. Ark had also envied the Camping skill that the merchant Sid used earlier. But the ‘Explorer’s Knowledge’ skill which gave bonus skill points was what really caught Ark’s eyes. It wasn’t necessary to explain but in New World……..no, in all online games skills carried an absolute important. But a skill couldn’t exert any power if the rate was low, even if the skill was high ranking.

The most basic ‘Sword Mastery’ or ‘Defense’ was also like this. No matter how good the sword or armour, without the relevant skills then the performance of the item would only be at 80%. In the beginning, they wouldn’t be able to handle the armour or sword so a 20% penalty would be applied. The penalty will disappear once the skill became intermediate and when it became advanced then bonus damage would be applied. Ark’s Sword-Hand combat had reached the advanced level so he gained a bonus 40% attack damage. Without that skill, there would be an attack difference of 60%. Of course, looking at the numbers was easy. But he could really tell the effect of a 1 point difference when the sword strikes. Because of that, every user paid attention to skills. But the problem of raising the skill was not insignificant. Every time the skill increased a level, the rate would slow down until it required two times the points to reach the next level.

‘Well, even if I died while using it, the skill would still go up……..’

It applied to most simple skills. With full mana he could use Blade Storm three or four times. In addition, skill points didn’t always apply to some racial special skills. It he just blindly hit a scarecrow then his combat related skill would not continuously rise. If he used the skill many times in a life and death battle then sometimes he would obtain enlightenment.

“But giving free skill points?”

Ark quickly opened the skill information window with an excited expression.

‘I’ve really learned a lot in the meantime.’

He could clearly see the results of his efforts just by looking at the skills list.

‘Since there’s time I’ll organize my skill information window now.’

Ark needed to maintain his skills list. This is because of some information he heard from Shambala a while ago. When Ark talked about his skills and how Sword-Hand combat rose, Shambala immediately said.

“Passive skills that are assigned as a major skill will have the growth rate slowed down.”

“Major?”

Ark asked in confusion while Shambala became astounded.

“What the? Don’t tell me your registered your basic attacks as a major skill?”

“What’s that?”

“You’re either brave or ignorant……..you said your Sword-Hand combat was advanced? That is a surprise. Listen well you ignorant fellow. When the information window opens with the list of specific skills, isn’t there an option for specialized training at the top? Skills can be registered as major, minor or inactive.”

“So what’s the difference?”

“Skills registered as major will have a 120% growth applied. Minor skills will be 80% while inactive skills don’t grow at all. When you use the specialized training window then you can register all the skills.”

Shambala gave a brief description. He could register up to 5 major skills and 20 minor ones. Inactive skills were unlimited…….the number of skills that could be grown was fixed. Ark hesitated after he heard the information. Except for the racial special skill which Ark wasn’t growing, he had 27 skills. Except for 5 skills, a penalty was applied to the others which was why they didn’t grow as fast.

‘The growth rate of Sword-Hand combat and Blade Storm can easily increase, so once I collect enough points then I can make it inactive. Since the selection is so wide, I should register skills that would quickly grow as a major skill.’

Ark commonly used Sword-Hand combat, Survival Cooking, Dark Blade, Dark Dance, Sprint so he registered them as major while the rest were minor. He didn’t use a skill like riding while the special skills like tactics was registered as inactive. And he kept the newly acquired skill points for the time being. ‘M’ indicated major while ‘m’ indicated the minor skills.

‘I can’t just blindly use the skill points.’

Ark completed the arrangement and closed the information window with a satisfied look. Adventurer’s knowledge, camping ……..he got better than expected skills. Furthermore, he gained an addition 50,000 experience and rose one level. He was now level 190! It was now possible to use Gwisal’s sword. As soon as he entered a new dimension, the atmosphere really seemed relaxing. Ark wasn’t the only one having fun.

“Hahaha, this is great! Master, look at this!”

Clack clack clack, clack clack clack!

Dedric and Deimos jumped crazily around the snowfield like a dog. Snake was the same as well. It poked its tail into the snow and quickly withdrew it at the strange feeling. But after a brief moment it got used to it and Snake joined the others summons rolling around in the snow. Ark watched with pleasure as his pets had a little fun.

‘When was the last time it snowed………’

In the present, global warming had been accelerated by severe air pollution. So there weren’t much chances for snow in Seoul. Even since he was born, this was the first time that Ark had seen snow. Ark didn’t feel the need to rush as he enjoyed the beautiful scenery. He was wearing a heart-warming smile when he was suddenly smacked on the back of the head by a snowball. Dedric who was in the form of a small boy made a stupid face and gathered more snowballs.

“Huhuhu, Master. Bring it on!”

“What’s this? You really want to try me?”

Before he finished his words another snowball had already hit the back of his head. Deimos was behind him throwing snowballs as well.

“Ha, you guys…….you really want to do this?”

Ark laughed as he raised his eyes before gathering some snow. Then a fierce snow battle unfolded between Ark and his two pets.

“How dare you challenge me…….I’ll turn you into snowmen, Dark Dance!”

“Eh? You’re using a skill in a snowball fight?”

“There’s no rules against using skills!”

Ark made some light movements and threw snowballs like an evening shower.

“Fufufu………cold! He dared use such a method? Deimos, A-3 plan!”

Clack clack, clack clack clack!

As expected from the pets who received Ark’s spartan training. Dedric immediately changed into a bat and bombarded him from the sky. And Deimos used his shield to deflect the snowballs. They used the things their Master taught them to turn him into a snowman.

“These children are so despicable……..”

“Hehehe, whose summons are we? I learnt everything from Master. Die!”

“Fools. I won’t go easy on you anymore!”

Ark started throwing snowballs that was as hard as a stone. While this battle originally called for a cannon, sometimes a missile should be used. Dedric rose slightly making it hit the ground behind him before throwing another barrage. So Ark and his summons enjoyed an hour of a bloody snowball battle.

“Keuak-!”

After being hit by the stone (?), Dedric fell onto the snowfield. Ark grasped the chance and ran up to him.

“Huhuhu, be prepared. Take this bat boy!”

“Ugh, it can’t possibly be over! Deimos cover……..eh? Master, look.”

Dedric looked to the side with surprised eyes.

“Look at what? Do you think I would fall for something so shallow?”

“It’s different. Take a look.”

“What? There is nothing.”

“That’s the problem. The door we came through disappeared.”

“Eh? Come to think of it……..”

Ark stopped his actions and looked around. Dedric’s words were right. While he was distracted by the snowball fight, the dimensional door had disappeared. He immediately had a sinking feeling.

“The door isn’t maintained once open?”

He didn’t know anything about this place. There might be monsters here. He also didn’t know if there was a village in the area. He also didn’t know if there were any other gates back to middle earth. In such a situation there was no way to go back so anymore would be worried. However, Ark finally shook his head.

‘No. I don’t have to worry too much.’

If the gate from the cabin that connected to another dimension was a one-way passage, then clearly another gate would exist. And there have been 7 people who arrived here before Ark. Including Ark, that was 8 users on the continent. Didn’t that mean he could monopolize a lot of quests and items? In addition, the genius alchemist’s secret laboratory with a huge reward was hidden somewhere here. Even if he knew in advance that the gate would disappear, he wouldn’t have gone back. His one worry was that his bag had become full after travelling through the red wilderness.

‘But even if I returned, I still would’ve appeared in that small cabin.’

A considerable amount of time would be needed to reach a village from the red wilderness. Even if he organized his bag and crossed the red wilderness again, the situation would still be the same. Then wouldn’t it be quicker to look for a town here?

‘My choice won’t change even if the gate disappeared.’

Ark gave up on the gate.

“Anyway, this is not the time to be playing. Let’s go down the mountain and find a village before it is too late.”

“Understood. Master.”

So Ark began to lead them down the snowy mountains.

…………At that point, Ark never imagined the situation that would occur.

The first thing that confused Ark was the terrain. It seemed quite simple when looking down from the top but once he actually wandered down it was like a maze. The flat terrain with the steep slope would appear ordinary until a sharp crevasse would suddenly appear and block the way.

“Damn, this way is also blocked?”

Thanks to this he would often have to climb the mountain again. And since the mountain was covered in snow no matter where he looked, Ark began to lose his sense of distance. In a place like this the map didn’t help at all. Since he came to a new dimension the map was updated. Since Ark only wandered the snowy mountains, the map just showed the approximate shape. The only thing he discovered from the map was the name of the mountains, which was called ‘East Moon.’

“This is not good. Dedric, look at the terrain from above.”

“U-understood.”

Dedric trembled as he flew towards the sky. But this time Dedric’s scouting didn’t help. He couldn’t determine the topography while flying over the snowy mountains. In addition the cold winds meant that Dedric couldn’t stay in the sky for a long time.

“Waaaaah, my wings are frozen. I can’t fly anymore.”

‘This might be a very dangerous situation……….’

Now anxiety showed on Ark’s face. Food was also a problem. In the red wilderness the monsters were so strong that Ark was forced to eat food every time a battle finished. Of course, there were a rich amount of ingredients scattered around but since his bag space was scarce he didn’t keep them.

‘I can get ingredients in the new dimension so japtem is more important.’

Since he could always make food, Ark didn’t worry about it that much. But the mountain was only covered in snow and ice. The common rabbit or deer wasn’t seen at all. Since he had to fight the cold and climb the mountain, his weariness quickly grew while his satiety decreased.

‘Damn, I never thought I would be worried about my meals. I can’t find any monsters or wild beasts, let alone weeds to make food.’

Naturally his summons also ate live creatures. Because the ingredients were very limited, Ark sent Dedric and Deimos back to the Netherworld. No, he tried to send them back.

‘What, what the?

It was a completely unexpected message. In fact, Ark hadn’t worried about the lack in ingredients because he could just return Dedric and Deimos. With two less mouths, he could eat sparingly and survive for a few more days. But now this suddenly happened?

‘Cancelling my summons is impossible? Furthermore, their stats will be decreased by 10% if they die?’

In the end, if they died they’ll all died together while if they live then they’ll all live together. In the worst case scenario, his satiety will fall below 50% and his stats would decrease until he eventually died. Ark who had used survival cooking to reach level 190 was now in the ridiculous situation of worrying about starvation. If he died then how many equipped items would drop? It was unlikely that he would find the items in the snowy mountains once it dropped. It was also evident that he wouldn’t be able to sleep properly for a few days.

‘We can last one day with the food left. If we reach a place where wild animals live before the food runs out then we’ll be able to survive somehow.’

Ark hurriedly made his way down the mountain. However Ark still didn’t know the real fear of the snowy mountains. The terrible situation occurred a few hours later.

Hwiiiing…….!

All of a sudden a snow storm occurred. The intense wind scattered a huge amount of snow. The terrain of the snowy mountains began to change every few minutes. To make matters worse, the foot of the mountain and any edges was covered in complete darkness.

One mountaineer said. The mountain has a different face during the day and night……..

It was like he said. Although the snowy mountains was covered in ice, he could endure it during the day. However, when it was covered in darkness the mountains literally turned into a mountain of death. The temperature suddenly dropped and everything froze. Thanks to the soaring gas costs, Ark didn’t even turn on a boiler during winter in December. Thanks to that, he unintentionally developed a strong resistance to cold. But the temperature of Seoul in December couldn’t even compare to that of a snowstorm on the snowy mountains. Rather than simply feeling cold, he also felt pain. In addition, the coldness of New World directly connect to his brain causing him to feel a chill.

“W-what’s this nonsense……..”

It was the first time since he was born that he felt such an extreme cold.

“Waaaaaah, f-freezing…….M-Master, I, I’m dying…….!”

Clack clack clack clack!

Ssak ssak ssak ssak!

Dedric, Deimos and Snake also trembled as they stuck close to Ark. At the same time, a warning message repeatedly appeared in front of Ark.

‘Oh my God!’

His eyes really became gloomy once he read the message.

“Oh…….M-Master…….n-now what?”

Dedric shoved his nose into Ark’s mantle and looked at him with resentful eyes.

“Even with the cloak…….my body is freezing…….that’s right……..you should’ve bought a coat when you went to the village…….I told you!”

Winter had just recently came back to New World after 3 years. Thanks to that, in every village general store their thick coats sold like hotcakes. However, Ark didn’t want to waste money buying a coat that only gave cold resistance and no stats. He could withstand quite a bit of cold. And he would warm up when hunting. Ark’s stingy nature had strangled him this time.

‘It is impossible to wander the mountain like this.’

Ark gave up on climbing down the mountain for the moment and looked for a place with protection from the wind. A steady area was needed to make a campsite. But he didn’t have a tent or fuel to set up the campsite. The most Ark could do was share his mantle with his pets to share body warmth. A message window popped up after 1 hour.

‘This damn ……..we’ve been shaking like a dog for hours yet cold resistance only increase by 0.1%? Affection? Is this a joke?’

He cursed after seeing the message window.

‘Hold on! Just hold on until it becomes daytime.’

However, he couldn’t see even when it became daytime thanks to the snow.

‘It’s still better than night time. I have to find a way before it’s too late.’

Ark made a very hot soup and began to wander the mountains again. When the snowstorm became strong again, he repeated his actions and hid again to avoid the cold. So 16 hours passed like that, which was two days in game time. Normally it would’ve taken four days to run out of food, but he used his ingredients making food every 30 minutes to maintain his body temperature.

‘Now I can’t even make any food. I have to maintain a minimum temperature……..’

Ark sighed while watching the blizzard which showed no signs of dying down.

‘Wait? What if I don’t need cook food to increase body temperature?’

Ark scraped the surrounding snow and put it into the pot. So far Ark hadn’t used water in survival cooking. What would happen if he added water to boiling water? Once he thought about it he became excited that hot water could also be useful for this situation. He quickly tried using survival cooking with boiling water.

‘As expected!’

Once he drank the purified water his body temperature increased by 20%. It was also survival cooking!

‘The situation is still urgent since this is only a temporary solution.’

When eating food it wasn’t possible to eat the same food every 30 minutes. But now his body temperature fell by 20% every 30 minutes. It would be difficult to endure as more time passed.

‘And purified water does not increase satiety at all. I have to somehow find food to survive.’

In the darkness the cold fell even more and now he couldn’t afford to avoid the cold by hiding in crevices. The remaining ingredients would only feed Ark and his pets once. If he didn’t starve to death, he would freeze to death first.

‘I’m not ready to die here!’

Ark set out to find food in a blizzard.

‘There must be something even if it is a snowy mountain. If I can’t use my eyes to search…….yes, that’s it!’

“Magic Detection!”

Ark’s pupils shone with a blue light. When he used Magic Detection, light started shining in several places in the snow. The light was so small that it wouldn’t normally be seen in the daytime. But in the daytime it looked clear.

‘Something is there!’

“Damn, what is this?’

Ark frowned. Normally he would be able to find magic ingredients which meant money, but this was a life or death situation. A 1 copper food ingredient was more important that a 1 gold magic ingredient.

‘But I’ll collect it for the moment.’

Ark was still Ark. Even in these circumstances, he couldn’t give up items that would make him money. Ark fought against the cold and scraped all the ingredients he could find within seconds. When he was rummaging around in the snow, his body temperature quickly lowered to the minimum amount. In this dangerous situation he was forced to use his remaining ingredients to make food. It was indeed the Last Supper.

“That’s the last of our food. Do you understand? If we can’t find any more food before our satiety falls then we’re screwed.”

Ark once again sighed and raised his body.

“You can’t sleep! Pull it together!”

So after a few hours the situation became like this. It was a long time enduring the cold and hunger! Ark and his summons changed. Ark and Deimos still had their boy temperature maintained at 60% but Dedric was more sensitive to the cold and only had 50% left. His health started to decrease and he began to rattle delirious words.

“I don’t like……..sleepy…….”

“If you go to sleep you’ll die! If you die the stats you raised with so much difficulty with decrease! Is that a good thing? Think about it. The days where you struggled to raise your stats and the memories we’ve accumulated so far!”

“Memories……..memories of Master………”

Dedric recalled the past with hazy eyes.

The first meeting? As a hatred-bearing bat, he ignored Ark. When did he begin to talk? The awful food that was jammed into his mouth until he swallowed it. What about when he evolved? He was beaten to a pulp while claiming human rights. The vampire skills he learned? He was hit until he learned to control his vampirism. Looking back at the memories, a strange feeling rose in his chest.

“……….I’d rather die.”

Dedric muttered and turned his head angrily.

“Eh? What the, you! What’s with that expression?”

“I don’t know, I just realized once again how pitiful it is to be your pet.”

“What the? This child, even though I was so worried about you……”

“Are you done?”

“I’m done. Did it help?”

He was starving and freezing because of his master. Dedric knew he would die anyway so he couldn’t resist attacking Ark before he died.

“Dammit, yes. It is Master’s fault I became like this. Okay, this is it. But I have to stop myself starving. There must be some wild animal that will give meat…….that fellow looks delicious. That thick body……I wonder how delicious its blood will be? Eh, food?”

Dedric who had been looking around the snow suddenly gave an astonished expression. When he turned around, Ark’s eyes also widened. A small object could be seen in the distance.

Dodododo. Running through the snowfield was a small animals whose nose twitched……to his surprise it was a mouse who lived in the snow.

“Master!”

Ark and Dedric looked at each other. Then they looked at the mouse before shouting in unison.

“Meat!”

Ark, Dedric and Deimos dived towards the mouse. The surprised mouse tried to flee. Because the snow reached up to his thighs, he couldn’t catch up with the nimble mouse. However, who was Ark? He was the veteran of catching mice, a hero with the title of Cat Knight!

“Don’t miss! Spirit of the Cat!”

Nyahhhh-!

Ssik-!

At that moment, the shape of a cat appeared like a lion around Ark’s head. And when his eyes flashed golden, the mouse immediately stiffened.

“Uhahaha, it was caught, it was caught!”

“Oh, Master it was wonderful. It was the most wonderful scene so far!”

When Ark caught the mouse Dedric immediately shouted while drooling.

“Hahaha, how is it? I’m Ark!”

A level 190 user caught a small mouse using a large roar. Such an unseemly thing was considered his best moment? Ark pulled out his sword and immediately struck the mouse. The mouse immediately had its leather and meat peeled off. Then he created a mouse soup that would restore 20% of his satiety. Even with the purified water raising the effects, Dedric, Deimos and Snake would only have 6~7% restored. It wasn’t that much but Ark was grateful for now.

“Huhuhu, Master quickly…….boil it quickly.”

“Okay men. Wait a minute.”

Ark laughed as he took out the pot. Just as he was adding the purified water and mouse meat.

Woodeuk, woodeudeuk!

Suddenly he heard a cracking sound underneath his foot. Ark jumped before his face suddenly paled.

‘Oh om god, t-this…….this design…….?”

A scene from a movie he saw a while ago suddenly popped into his head. It was a movie about the hardships of the people who wanted to conquer the Himalayas. One of the most memorable things was the design. The crevasses at the glacier. The design had snow accumulating over the crevasses until it looked like a flat plain of hardened ice. At first glance it looked just like a field of snow, but once stepped on then the person would find themselves falling through. Many people were tricked by this design and died in the snowy mountains because of these crevasses.

‘Fortunately it hasn’t completely crumbled. If I move a little bit then I can escape……..’

Ark breathed carefully as he tried not to slip while moving one step. At that time, Deimos who had his joints frozen approached.

Ark shouted with fright.

“N-no! Deimos……..please stop!”

Clack clack clack?

Deimos tilted his heard and stopped after taking a step. However, Deimos had already stepped on the design.

Wadeudeuk, Jjajjang!

‘Hell…….we’re screwed!’

Ark heard the sound of destruction in his ear. At the same time his foot slipped and he fell down the crevasse.