Chapter 9

Arc: The Legend - Chapter 9 (9/875)

"Anyway, what do you plan to do now? You've lost your dagger, which is practically all you have as a beginner, so it'll be hard to find a way to earn a living right away."

"I came to see you, Vuread, for that reason. Without my dagger, I can't hunt space bugs anymore, and I don't know anyone here to ask for help. So I came to see if you have any other jobs besides hunting space bugs."

This was the reason he had tried to mend his relationship with Vuread.

This place is the beginner area. It's a kind of tutorial where new users are taught the basics of Galaxian. Since users come in like a tide and leave just as quickly, the quests here are not very diverse, but it's not as if there's only the "Space Bug Elimination" quest.

However, according to what Arc had found out, all the quests available at the dock involved some form of combat, whether it was a lot or a little.

This was why he had been in despair just a moment ago.

But when he thought about it carefully, something seemed off.

First, there was no guarantee that no other user would break their weapon early on like Arc.

If the initial weapon had durability, it could be broken, and if there was a possibility of breaking, there must be a way to deal with it.

The key to this would naturally be held by the NPCs. Among them, Vuread, who oversees the R-14 Beginner Pioneer Training Center, was the most likely candidate.

Indeed, when he had asked about such a method right after their argument over the mileage, Vuread had dismissed it with a snort. But when Arc managed to raise his favor slightly, Vuread nodded and said:

"There are other jobs, as you say, but... this place doesn't really lack manpower. Well, as I said before, even if there are many people, the jobs that are hard and pay little are all avoided, and most of them require direct effort, like hunting space bugs. What can I do...?"

Vuread scratched his head and suddenly looked up as if he had just remembered something.

"Oh, right. Come to think of it, the facility manager of Sector 7 has been grumbling lately that things aren't progressing properly. There might be some work there, but..."

"But?"

"There, you can work all day and only get a few copper coins. But would you be okay with that?"

If he didn't find a job, he would end up homeless.

He wasn't in a position to be picky about his meals.

"I'll do it."

"Well, you don't have much of a choice, do you? Then follow the corridor over there to Sector 7. Find a man named Jackson and tell him I sent you."

"Thank you. I'll work hard to save up for a new dagger and come back soon."

"Sure. Who knows when that will be..."

Vuread muttered with a worried expression, but Arc didn't pay attention. At least for now, he was grateful just to have a job to do with his bare hands.

Arc ran to Sector 7 like the wind.

The interior of R-14 was lit, and the view outside the window was space, so there was no sense of time in Galaxian. But in reality, it was evening.

As a result, more users had gathered, and R-14 was at full capacity. However, this was only true for the central square and Sectors 1 to 5, where the "Space Bug Elimination" quest was taking place. From Sector 6, which was classified as a management facility and whose doors wouldn't even open, it became noticeably quieter.

As he followed the path into Sector 7:

"What is all this?"

Arc looked around with wide eyes.

The first thing he saw were the pipes.

In a vast space like the forest in Sector 2, countless pipes were tangled together like a spider's web. But what piqued Arc's curiosity were the black jellyfish—or rather, black octopuses—loitering around the pipes.

Human-sized octopuses were carrying buckets filled with various tools and moving around in groups.

'What are these octopuses? Are they some kind of livestock raised here?'

"What are you doing here?"

At that moment, a rough voice came from behind.

Turning his head, he saw a man in a greasy work uniform glaring at him.

He was bald and shiny, but he was still human.

"Are you Jackson?"

"Who are you?"

"My name is Arc. I came to look for work, introduced by Vuread."

"Looking for work? Did you hear what kind of work it is?"

"I didn't hear that far."

"Tch!"

Jackson frowned and clicked his tongue.

Then, after scanning Arc, he pointed to the pipes and said:

"There is work, as you say. See those pipes? They are the air circulation system for R-14. All the air in R-14 passes through this system. The job here is to clean those pipes. You'll have to crawl through the black pipes, remove impurities, clean and tighten loose connections, and oil them. That's the gist of it. Can someone like you do that?"

"If you give me the job, I'll do my best."

"Everyone says that."

Jackson snorted and grumbled.

"Before you came, a few greenhorns who had just arrived at R-14 came looking for work. They begged for a job, so I gave it to them, but they gave up after less than an hour. Damn, these days, no one has any perseverance."

"I'm different."

Arc said firmly.

That's right. Arc was different from those users.

It was obvious. The users who had come before him probably came here thinking there might be hidden quests in the beginner area. Once they got a quest, they eagerly accepted it, but after trying it out, they probably thought it wasn't worth it and gave up. But Arc's situation was different.

He didn't have the dagger that everyone else had. Moreover, even in a state of despair after losing his dagger and slumping in a corner, he was still hungry and thirsty, so he had eaten the space food and water.

If he didn't find a job, he might become the first user in Galaxian to die of hunger!

He was willing to do anything if given the chance.

Of course, until he saved enough to buy a new dagger.

"Give me a chance. I won't disappoint you."

Arc answered with a determined voice.

But Jackson only nodded, not looking very hopeful.

"Then try it out."

[R-14 Air Circulation Pipe Cleaning (Repeat)]

You have been assigned to clean and maintain the air circulation pipes of R-14. The air circulation system is a crucial facility for maintaining R-14's functions. Although it is known for having one of the worst working environments in R-14, it is a job that can give you a sense of accomplishment.

* * *

"Phew!"

Arc wiped his sweat and lifted his head.

The grime that had been blackened just moments ago was now polished to a shine. Looking at the clean pipe made him feel... not refreshed at all.

The clean pipe was where Arc had passed through, but ahead was a pipe caked with grime and emitting a foul odor. The thought of having to crawl back into such a place and clean it made him feel anything but refreshed.

"How many days has this been? I'm about to go crazy."

There is no high or low in jobs.

Arc thought so, but there was a difference in pay.

The [R-14 Air Circulation Pipe Cleaning] quest given by Jackson was completed by cleaning a certain section, about 200 meters of pipe, and the time it took to crawl through the narrow pipe and clean it was about 30 minutes.

It wasn't a long quest, but the problem was the pay!

"To earn 40 copper coins for 30 minutes of work, not even straightening my back... "

Even in the future setting of Galaxian, the currency used was gold, silver, and copper coins.

Surprisingly, there was a reason for this.

Since the background was a future world where humans had built space colonies, it was natural that not only humans existed in Galaxian.

There were alien races, and even robotic life forms.

To them, paper money used by humans was just a piece of paper. Therefore, the universal currency in space was rare underground resources: gold, silver, and copper, or gold, silver, and copper coins.

Well, that didn't matter much.

Whether the currency was dollars, euros, or yen, what was important was that the copper coins paid as a reward were the lowest value currency.

100 copper coins equaled 1 silver coin, and 100 silver coins equaled 1 gold coin. In other words, 1 gold coin was 10,000 copper coins. If we use the exchange rate of a previous virtual reality game where 1 gold coin was 10,000 won, 40 copper coins would be 40 won...

Of course, that was the real-world exchange value. To the NPCs in Galaxian, 40 copper coins wouldn't be worth 40 won.

That's why Arc didn't lose hope.

'For 30 minutes of crawling through pipes, cleaning, tightening, and oiling, I get 40 copper coins. Galaxian must have a much higher monetary value than New World. It must be. It can't be that 40 copper coins are really worth 40 won, can it?'

When he completed the quest 10 times and held the "huge" sum of 4 silver coins in his hand! Arc ran to the weapon shop in the central square with such expectations. But that one thread of hope crumbled the moment he saw the daggers displayed on the shelves.

Improved Alloy Dagger

Item Type: Dagger

Wear Restriction: None

Attack Power: 4~5

Durability: 25/25

This is the most commonly used dagger in the space exploration era.

It has a can opener on the back, making it useful for outdoor use. In R-14, it is sold at a discount to encourage beginners under the federal government's pioneering policy.

Special Discount Price for Beginners: 1 gold 50 silver

A slightly better and cheapest dagger than the basic one, and it costs 1 gold 50 silver! ...and that's the special discount price.

In New World, Arc could move tens of thousands of gold coins with a single gesture, but now 1 gold 50 silver was an astronomical amount.

1 gold 50 silver! 15,000 copper coins!

He would have to crawl through and clean the black pipes 375 times, or clean 75 kilometers of pipes, to earn that much.

"Unbelievable! This isn't work; it's exploitation!"

It was no wonder the users who came out of curiosity gave up right away. Who in their right mind would clean 200 meters of pipe for 20 won?

But Arc had no choice.

If he didn't have this job, he wouldn't even be able to afford the 10 copper coin space food and would starve to death. And there was a reason he couldn't report Jackson to the labor welfare department (or something like that) despite being subjected to such exploitative heavy labor.

'Damn octopuses...!'

Arc glared at the nearby octopuses as if he wanted to chew them up.

They were the octopuses he had seen when he first entered Sector 7.

These octopus-like beings, or rather, 100% octopuses in appearance, were actually the alien race called the Zaren.

What he had heard from Jackson about them was this:

"Originally, this job didn't pay so little. When I first started, it was decent. But a few years ago, when the Zaren refugees started flowing into the Galactic Federation, things changed. The Zaren are stupid and slow, so they can't do much. The Galactic Federation accepted them as refugees out of humanitarian concern, but since there was nothing else to do, they were all assigned to clean the pipes. The Zaren know their situation, so they work without complaint as long as they are fed. Even if more human workers were needed, there was no budget. So, whether Zaren or not, the pay had to be cut."

In other words, the influx of foreign workers had lowered the wages of local workers. A 21st-century social issue was being replayed in the 24th-century space.

"Still, I had some hope..."

In fact, when he first started the [R-14 Air Circulation Pipe Cleaning] quest, he had a slight hope.

It was a quest that other users hadn't properly explored yet, and he thought there might be something hidden. The absurdly low pay had made him even more hopeful.

But that hope had long since disappeared.

Two days into the quest, he had completed it 70 times but only received 14 silver coins as payment. Nothing had changed. Well, not exactly nothing.

"Gurgle, gurgle."

Sometimes, when he took a break, an octopus would approach.

It would make a strange sound, and words would appear on the Nymph.

- Hey, young man. Are you done?

The all-purpose device Nymph was translating the Zaren language.

"Yes, I'm done."

- I'm done too. How about we rest a bit before moving on?

An old—probably—Zaren slithered over and sat next to Arc. It took out a crumpled, soggy cigarette from somewhere and muttered.

- Phew, I miss the old days. Our home, Zaren, was a beautiful place with vast tidal flats. I was happiest when I ran around those tidal flats. If it weren't for the damn Kakar invasion, we would still be living happily. But now it's all in the past. Zaren, devastated by the Kakar invasion, is no longer a habitable planet. We should be grateful that we can survive here.

- You have listened to