Chapter 10

Ark: The Legend - Chapter 10 (10/875)

While crawling through pipes, one occasionally gets injured.

Pipe cleaning is a repeatable quest that can be accumulated as mileage.

Considering the bonus that comes with accumulating mileage, it was more beneficial to do so. However, occasionally, unexpected injuries like this would occur, and Ark, who had lost 5 hours of experience and mileage due to carelessness, had been receiving compensation at such times.

However, things changed after befriending the octopuses.

- Oh, you weren't careful...

A Jaren approached and placed one of its octopus legs on Ark's bleeding hand. As the suckers began to suck on the wound, the injury disappeared, and tetanus was cured.

Despite being an octopus, it had healing abilities.

That wasn't all. Octopuses can fit through holes much smaller than their bodies, and the Jaren, who resembled octopuses, also had the ability to move freely through narrow pipes.

They could heal tetanus and move freely through narrow pipes.

No matter how you look at it, the Jaren were a species perfectly suited for pipe cleaning. The Galactic Federation didn't just place them here for no reason.

To put it bluntly... they were indeed pitiful octopuses.

‘But this isn't the time to worry about the octopuses.’

Ark sighed and looked at the endless pipes. In two days, he had completed 70 quests. He still needed to complete over 300 more to buy a dagger.

This meant he would have to crawl through pipes for at least another two weeks.

When he first received this quest from Vuread, he thought it was a consideration for users like Ark who had broken their daggers.

But now, as he looked at the endless pipes, he felt as if he could hear the developer's malicious laughter: ‘Hehehe. Stupid kid, try this on for size.’

‘Lucifer, who was called by the government to join Galactician, is steadily leveling up, while I, who want to stop him, have to crawl through pipes and clean for the next two weeks...’

It was truly a situation where even a laugh couldn't escape.

Thinking back, when he first started New World, he had made a mistake early on and had to give up leveling for over two weeks, only to kill rats. But at least then, he learned some combat skills. Now, he was only getting better at cleaning.

‘Should I just spend real money on this?’

Sometimes, such thoughts would surface.

Although Galactician had only been open for two days, the auction site already showed gold being traded, proving its popularity. And Ark was not in a poor state like when he first started New World. In fact, he was rich!

Even if the price was ridiculously high, he could afford 1 gold 50 silver.

However, Ark shook his head.

‘No, I can't do that!’

A game is a place to earn money, not spend it.

This was Ark's absolute gaming philosophy.

Buying gold with real money would be a betrayal of his values, something his pride wouldn't allow.

But it wasn't just about pride.

Ark wasn't the kind of person who would stubbornly stick to his pride in a game he started at the government's request. He locked his wallet to maintain his mental state, not just to preserve his pride.

Ark's rise to the top in New World wasn't due to being better than others or having good luck.

It was due to his desperation.

He could spend nearly two weeks killing rats because of that desperation. But now, Ark lacked that desperation.

With a full stomach and a warm bed, desperation wouldn't come.

‘Buying gold to escape this place isn't difficult. But I can't regain that desperation that way. All the money I have is from Galactician. If I don't earn it, I'll starve. I must be reborn as Ark in Galactician. This isn't just about earning money; it's about being reborn as a hungry Ark in Galactician, not a well-fed one!’

In virtual reality games, the player's mindset is the most important.

This was the insight Ark gained in his journey to become the strongest in New World. If this was a process to reinforce that insight, then two weeks wasn't too long.

‘Putting your best effort into even small tasks is the true spirit of hunger!’

This change in mindset was immediately reflected in his actions.

In fact, while the Jaren had the perfect body for pipe cleaning, the areas they were assigned always felt half-cleaned. Of course, they just carried rags and wandered around.

No wonder they weren't treated like people, or even aliens.

‘Well, it's almost unpaid labor, so it's natural they lack motivation...’

But Ark was different.

The 40 copper coins in pay were no longer important to him.

For Ark, pipe cleaning was now a form of self-cultivation.

And the pipes were the perfect environment for self-cultivation.

If he had seen other players leveling up outside, even Ark might have felt impatient.

But in the pipes, there were only Ark and the unmotivated octopuses. He could focus on his mental state without being swayed by the outside world.

Therefore, Ark didn't tolerate a single stain or a single loose screw. He polished, tightened, oiled, and scrubbed!

Polish, tighten, oil, and scrub!

The narrow pipes made it hard to breathe, and the thought of other players leveling up made him anxious, but once he made up his mind, Ark shook off his doubts and repeated the process tirelessly.

As if he was born to do this!

By the fourth day of this obsessive cleaning, something happened.

Scrub, scrub... shine!

The moment the pipe shone from his all-out effort!

Suddenly, an unexpected information window appeared in Nymph.

- You have learned a new skill (Common to all classes☆).

Facility Maintenance (User, Passive): You have honed your facility maintenance skills through prolonged concentration, surpassing anyone else. While this type of labor skill doesn't help in combat, it can be useful in certain quests.

Your cleaning now perfectly removes all types of dirt, and you are familiar with tightening screws and nuts, increasing your facility maintenance speed by 30%.

《Your facility maintenance speed has increased by 30%. You can now maintain more complex facilities. Additionally, the time it takes for a maintained area to become dirty again has increased, reducing the need for frequent re-maintenance.》

“Skill?”

Ark looked at the information window with wide eyes.

“So, in Galactician, focusing on one task can create related skills!”

While the skill ‘Facility Maintenance’ was different from the combat skill ‘Space Combat Sense’ he had learned, it had a different meaning. ‘Space Combat Sense’ was a skill anyone could get from combat, but ‘Facility Maintenance’ was a skill gained from long-term work.

This meant that Galactician, like New World, had a system where completely new skills could be created based on the player's actions and mindset.

This was not mentioned in the manual!

Discovering this alone made the five days spent in the pipes worthwhile. But the rewards of his efforts didn't end there.

With the skill, his cleaning speed increased, shortening the quest completion time. As a result, he could complete 40 quests a day, up from the previous limit of 30.

“Hmm, not bad. I thought you'd only last a few days, but you've lasted five. Moreover, you don't work lazily like those useless octopuses; your work speed is twice as fast. You could be a foreman.”

When Ark reported his 200th quest, Jackson looked at him with approval and said.

At the same time, an information window appeared in Nymph.

- You have received the title 《Foreman》 from Jackson.

Your cleaning skills have been recognized by the 7th Sector Manager, Jackson, and you have become a foreman. You will now manage and supervise the Jaren working in the air circulation pipes of R-14. Your pay has also increased, and the reward for related quests has been adjusted to 60 copper coins.

《Title Effect: Foreman (Agility +3)》

‘Title!’

Ark's eyes widened.

He had received a title that increased his agility by 3 at level 1.

‘And the pay has increased from 40 copper coins to 60 copper coins!’

The 50% pay increase made Ark clench his fists and tremble.

60 copper coins... 60 cents.

Five days of self-cultivation in the pipes!

During this time, Ark was becoming even more meticulous.

* SPACE 4. The Dream of the Octopus (1)

“Definitely somewhere around here...”

Ark scanned the complex network of pipes.

It had been a day since he was appointed as a foreman. Thanks to the pay increase, his motivation to work had soared, and he even slept in the pipes. However, something began to bother him. Occasionally, an unidentified noise would resonate through the pipes.

“Ah, that? Don't worry about it. R-14 is a facility floating in space, so there's a significant temperature difference between the inside and outside. This can cause the pipes between the inner and outer walls to twist, creating that noise.”

This was Jackson's explanation when Ark first brought up the issue.

So he had ignored it, but after spending more time in the pipes, he realized the noise wasn't always the same.

Sometimes it sounded like metal twisting, and other times it sounded like someone pounding on the pipes.

‘No matter how I think about it, it doesn't sound like the pipes twisting.’

The more he tried to ignore it, the more it bothered him.

Finally, unable to contain his curiosity, Ark took some time to investigate.

Finding the source of the noise by the sound alone was not easy. The pipes were like veins, winding throughout R-14, often taking unexpected turns.

Finding the source in such a complex network was like finding Mr. Kim in Seoul. But this only fueled Ark's determination.

‘I thought I'd just check it out before going to bed...’

Now, he couldn't just give up out of stubbornness.

It was definitely not an easy task, but Ark had been living here for over a week. By following the intermittent sounds, he could feel himself getting closer.

The distant noise was now much louder, as if it was right in front of him.

‘I'm almost there. It's definitely nearby!’

“Huh? What's that...?”

As Ark crawled through the pipes, he tilted his head.

He saw something moving in the opposite pipe, illuminated by his lantern.

It was only showing its head at a bend in the pipe, but Ark immediately recognized it