Matthew Atkinson
Oxford, United Kingdom
"Although you'll encounter a total of 950,000 NPC players in the Battle Royale taking place in Platen Doom, the ones you need to watch out for the most are Gunters and Sixers."
"A Gunter, a contraction of Egg Hunter, is an OASIS NPC player who searches for Halliday's Easter Egg. They look for the secret Haliday Easter Egg in an Egg Hunt."
"After his death, James Halliday released a video announcing that he had left an Easter Egg for players within OASIS. Whoever found Halliday's Easter Egg would also inherit his legacy."
"Players needed to find three different keys to reach the Easter Egg. Only one of these three keys has been located so far, and the challenge for that key will be your task on the eighth layer. But that's not the topic of today."
It was another morning.
Professor Holland stood on the podium, explaining in detail to the students the relevant information about the fourth layer of the supernatural realm.
The professor still didn't seem to have any intention of sharing detailed information about the other layers, but that didn't matter to Matthew anymore.
After returning from the Sunlight Bathing Center yesterday, Matthew met with Natalie and explained the situation.
Natalie agreed, thinking it would be beneficial to have access to information about these interconnected layers beforehand.
Natalie then spoke with her professor and, as Matthew had predicted, easily obtained the information.
This was likely because the information was widely known, and they could easily learn it if the professor didn't share it.
As Matthew expected, their task in the eighth layer within OASIS was to participate in the race for the first key.
A Death Race. Because everyone in the eight-layer had one life. Nobody could possess Extra Life Coins.
Of course, someone who didn't participate in the race could have guaranteed a safe return. But then they would have received a low grade.
According to the mission description, their grades were calculated based on the level of the vehicle they built and the distance they covered in the race.
But if they didn't participate in the race, none of that mattered.
The Currency Coins they would obtain in the fourth layer were therefore important. They could use them to build a high-level vehicle.
But what caught Matthew's attention was that no one had yet managed to complete the race in the eighth layer. And the best result achieved so far was a B-grade.
Matthew understood this because he knew exactly what it took to truly finish that race.
And since no one had obtained the key in the eighth layer, they didn't have the right to participate in the missions in the eighteenth and twenty-eighth layers.
Everyone who entered these layers, because they didn't have the key or the clue, had to wander around OASIS until the mission time ran out, then return.
And consequently, everyone in these layers received the lowest grade results and the lowest reward of 10 attribute points.
Professor Holland continued speaking, and his voice awakened Matthew from his thoughts.
"The most well-known Gunters, as I mentioned in the previous lesson, are the NPCs named Daito, Sho, and Aech. There are also powerful Gunters named Parzival and Art3mis, but these two Gunters won't be among the crowd when you arrive on Planet Doom. They can only join the Artifact Hunt later, under certain conditions."
"Daito fights in a samurai style, and Sho in a ninja style. You could consider them masters of close combat, but that doesn't mean they don't have ranged attacks."
"Aech is a cyborg. Generally, uses many different types of weapons, and also has many tools he uses in close combat."
"These three Gunters are quite high-level, so the defense provided by their protective shields is powerful. Therefore, they are very difficult to kill."
"There are other powerful Gunters and NPC players, though not as powerful as these three. You can check out the other NPCs in the NPC and Equipment lists I sent you after class yesterday," said the professor, pausing to take a sip of water to moisten his parched mouth.
Matthew had already reviewed the file the professor had sent, but his primary focus was on the equipment they could purchase once they entered the fourth layer.
While knowing the NPCs' abilities was helpful, there was nothing he could do about them at the moment.
But the equipment issue was a whole different matter.
All their planning for the fourth layer would revolve around which equipment to acquire, and as the freshman with the most attribute points, Matthew had more options than anyone else.
And frankly, some of the equipment he'd seen had sparked some crazy plans in Matthew's head, while he couldn't quite understand what some of the equipment was.
He planned to ask the professor about them today.
"Besides the Gunters, another group to watch out for is the Sixers. They are employees of a company called IOI, Innovative Online Industries, and are pursuing Halliday's Easter Egg on its behalf. Each of them has a six-digit employee number on their armor. The name Sixer comes from this."
"The Sixers aren't as strong or skilled as many Gunters, but they have standard equipment, are quite numerous, and usually come in groups."
"You can think of them like a swarm of ants. They aren't strong individually, but when they gather, they can pose a threat."
"Also, in some cases, Nolan Sorrento, the head of Innovative Online Industries, may participate in the Artifact Hunt. If you hear that he's involved in the fight, it's best to stay away from his vicinity."
"While this NPC isn't individually powerful, he possesses many high-level war machines and can launch attacks that affect large areas."
The students were listening very attentively.
Professor Holland then continued.
"Now let's talk a bit about the weapons, equipment, and skills you can buy once you reach the fourth tier."
After saying this, the Professor began discussing the items they could purchase.-
Matthew knew some from the movie, while others were equipment he had only seen in the document the Professor had sent.
But what really caught Matthew's attention was that the items the Professor was focusing on were cheap yet effective.
Then Matthew understood why.
Not everyone had high attribute points and innate skills that could multiply them like his.
The average attribute points for Class A were probably between 500 and 600. Those at the top of the class probably had attribute points between 700 and 800.
These numbers were even lower for Class B.
Otherwise, they would be in Class A instead of Class B.
Therefore, the Professor needed to discuss within the budget of the students.
Having nothing else to do, Matthew continued listening to the Professor until the end of the lecture.
After the Professor had generally finished his explanation, he raised his hand and asked.
"Professor, in the equipment list you gave us, there's an item called the Hero Template Card. It has Standard, Epic, and Legend classifications. Could you give us some information about these items?"
"Ah... those cards. Frankly, I'd advise you to stay away from them."
"First of all, they are quite expensive. Standard level Hero Template Cards require 750 attribute coins, while Epic ones require 1500, and Legendary ones require 3000 attribute coins."
"Therefore, Epic and Legendary ones are already beyond your budget."
"As for what they do, after purchasing these Template Cards, you can create a hero with your imagination using these cards. Then you can merge with this card to obtain that hero's powers. In this respect, they are similar to the Bloodline Cards distributed by Holy Land." The professor said.
"Huh? So, Professor, can't we just imagine our own powers with these template cards and acquire them on this layer?" one of the students asked.
"It's not that easy. First of all, while Legend-level cards give 100% of the imagined hero's power, Epic-level cards give 50% and Standard-level cards only give 25%."
"And those percentages are only maximum levels. There's no guarantee you'll reach those levels. There have been people who bought Standard-level Hero Template cards before, but the highest gained power percentage recorded so far is only 7%."
"It is thought that the person who obtained it received this percentage because she imagined a hero with her own powers. Apart from this, the highest recorded percentage is 4%."
"The message those who bought these cards received after imagining a hero was always these two: [Database doesn't have such a hero.] or [Your level of knowledge and understanding of the hero you imagine is very low.]."
"In Battle Royale, you'll see costumed NPCs with powers like Spiderman Bloodline, Wolverine Mutant Gene, or Super Soldier Serum. We believe they obtain these powers using Hero Template Cards."
"While these NPCs are generally powerful, we don't know which level of Template Card they used. And they likely possess detailed knowledge of the Heroes they envision in their own world."
"Therefore, I advise you to stay away from this item."
All the students lost interest in the Hero Template Card after learning this information. But Matthew's opinion was completely different.
People in this world might know about the powers they obtained from the Holy Land, but they didn't truly know the Heroes who were the real owners of these powers and their stories.
As they climbed the layers of the Supernatural Realm, they might have met some of these Heroes and gained superficial knowledge about them.
Still, they knew nothing about these Heroes' real-life stories, ideas, characters, emotions, and thoughts.
But this wasn't the case for Matthew.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of movies, novels, manga, anime, and comics about Heroes swirled in his head.
Upon receiving this information from the Professor, Matthew's plans for the fourth layer began to shift in a completely different direction, and a mischievous smile spread across his face.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.118: Entering the 4th Layer
Ch.119: Avatar Creation
Ch.120: Superman Hero Template Card