MMORPG: Surviving a Death Game with a Glitched System

’The spoils just don’t stop coming.’

Considering how shitty his luck had been throughout the instance, he most certainly deserved this change of pace. Not that Ash truly believed in something as superficial as fortune.

With time to spare, Ash leisurely bent down and picked up the drops.

[You have acquired Rare item: [Tome of Precision: Rancor]]

[You have acquired Uncommon item: [Tome of Precision: Hunter’s Hymn]]

[You have acquired Rare item: [Evercrestian Recurve Bow]]

Standing back up, he adjusted the glasses on his face, then dismissed [Sealed Fate] and summoned the [Evercrestian Recurve Bow].

Strange gray ink steadily dripped from his palm, each drop stopping in midair. Within seconds, the drops multiplied until they formed a steady stream. The floating liquid quickly took the shape of a bow with curved tips before solidifying into ashen wood. Finally, thin black strings sprang from both ends and met seamlessly in the middle.

The moment it finished forming in his hand, he sensed its innate abilities.

’This is...’

’Screw Fletching! I didn’t need it anyway!’

Apparently, the hunter’s glowing arrows hadn’t come from one of its own abilities, but from the bow itself.

[Evercrestian Recurve Bow] - [Upon a hill of fallen banners stood a proud archer of Evercrest, gazing down at the armies felled by their bow. Their arrows had claimed countless throats. Yet when the sky itself fell, what could a mere bowman do but die with bow in hand?]

ABILITIES:

[Limitless] - [Drawing the bowstring creates an arrow of light. The farther the string is drawn, the longer and more powerful the arrow becomes.]

[Empower] - [Channeling mana into the bow while drawing its string empowers any arrow created by [Limitless].]

Simply drawing the string caused an arrow of black light to form at the cost of some mana, provided nothing physical obstructed it. Even better, he could channel additional mana into the arrow to increase its power, though the base arrows seemed weaker than ordinary ones.

Still, he could fire a normal arrow if he wished as well.

As for the description...

’I guess the bow’s owner died to the falling seal.’

That much seemed obvious. However...

’What is dying?’

Did one truly die when they are killed?

Is true death the destruction of the spirit or the destruction of the body? Or both?

Ash thought back to the other Soulless Wanderer — the Guardian of the Seal — and what Vera had said to it before their fight.

’She said she’d grant it restitution.’

Ash couldn’t help but conclude that both Soulless Wanderers had somehow been created through something involving Vera. Perhaps her ability, or Cross’s, had destroyed their spirits while leaving their bodies behind.

"So then... was the hunter a former archer of Evercrest whose spirit had been shattered?"

The fact that it had dropped the bow despite the weapon being destroyed suggested that the bow wasn’t something it had simply picked up, but something tied to its very existence.

That conclusion wasn’t arbitrary. Every other drop Ash had received directly related to the creature that had dropped it.

No random legendary sword was popping out of a Snow Crawler or Seal Scrawler titled [Sword of Evercrest] or something.

Ash didn’t exactly know everything that had happened during the seal’s fall. But...

’That seems... plausible.’

Did it matter?

Maybe.

After all, there might be more — perhaps hundreds of Soulless Wanderers, depending on what had happened after the seal collapsed. Given Spring’s healing abilities, it didn’t seem impossible that the newly formed spirit had gone above and beyond to save the people from destruction, healing even the bodies whose souls had already been lost.

’I guess I’ll simply have to ask.’

Sadly, he couldn’t reach any definitive conclusions until he learned what had truly happened in the past, and whether what he had witnessed was true.

With only one arm, Ash couldn’t even use the bow yet. Thankfully, [Danger Sense] remained fairly quiet, so he seemingly didn’t have to worry about a sudden fight.

[You have unequipped [Evercrestian Recurve Bow]]

[You have equipped [Tome of Precision: Hunter’s Hymn]]

This tome...

He could tell what it did before even summoning it.

It contained the ability the hunter had used when they first met: the eerie humming. It was an ability that seemed equal parts useful and useless.

It allowed Ash to hum a calming hymn. The hymn caused auditory distortion, making it seem as though the sound came from every direction at once.

It was a good way to cause psychological distress to an opponent, especially when Ash went unseen and undetected. The sheer paranoia this ability could cause made it quite dreadful.

The problem was that that was all it did.

It distorted only the hymn, not every sound around the target.

Still...

It was a good ability for now. He could remove it later if needed... if he ever learned how to.

[[Tome of Precision: Hunter’s Hymn] has been consumed]

[You have learned Archer skill: [Hunter’s Hymn]!]

Upon learning the skill, he was able to see its description and understand the exact effects.

[Hunter’s Hymn] - [The whispers of death carry upon the wind close in from every direction until the only escape is to join their song.]

[Hunter’s Hymn] - [Sing a hymn that causes confusion and paranoia.]

’It has no cooldown and consumes a fixed amount of mana every ten seconds.’

That fixed cost currently equaled about 0.05% of his maximum mana. So, barely anything.

Overall, it was worth occupying one of his six total slots.

Finally...

[You have equipped [Tome of Precision: Rancor]]

He wasn’t sure exactly what this was at first, but his eyes widened in realization as he gripped it in his hands.

Applying the same reversible logic as before, he learned the ability.

[[Tome of Precision: Rancor] has been consumed]

[You have learned Archer skill: [Rancor]!]

[Rancor] - [Every second that passes while your [Nemesis] still breathes, your hatred grows. You must kill them no matter the cost, even if that cost be your sanity.]

ABILITIES:

[Nemesis] - [Mark your [Nemesis] with an arrow through the heart, dedicating it your loathing. That target must be slain at any cost. The longer it lives, the deeper your madness. They will never escape your pursuit until one of you is dead.]

[Hatred] - [A hatred knowing no bounds burns within you.] - (0/--)

[Mark of the Dead] - [If a [Nemesis] is slain after fifty stacks of Hatred have been surpassed, receive a stack of [Mark of the Dead]. Each [Mark of the Dead] stack empowers the strength granted by [Hatred].] - (100 stacks will cause [Rancor] to evolve).

’What a convoluted ability...’

Ash had finally discovered what had driven the hunter mad. Furthermore, he now understood the red arrow that had somehow passed through the tree to strike him.

He could summon the Arrow of [Nemesis] — a long, glowing red arrow.

Once fired, the arrow would seek the intended target’s heart regardless of what stood in its path, marking them for death.

Upon marking someone as a [Nemesis], Ash would be able to track their location perfectly and start generating stacks of [Hatred]. Each stack would increase his strength at the cost of his Intelligence.

Not just the stat, but his actual rationality and wit.

Ash, who relied heavily on such things, didn’t take too kindly to the ability. Worse, [Nemesis] could not be reversed. The target had to die for the madness to be cleansed.

However, having faced the massive stat boost it had granted the Soulless Wanderer, he found the ability quite tempting.

Especially if he could find a way to counter its negative effects.

Plus...

There was one more thing he needed to test: whether it canceled the glitch or not.

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