BLINK!
Are my eyes working right? He stared, too shocked to utter a word.
But knowing his situation, he quickly broke out of his shock and reached into the slot to grab it.
[Ding! You have acquired an Elite Shard]
⎡ -Elite Shard- ⎤
│ Color: Red │
│ Summon: 4-Star Player│
│ Rarity: Elite │
⎣ ⎦
Must be a bug for sure, His eyes darted around cautiously like a thief guarding stolen treasure.
It had to be a malfunction. After all, his luck had never worked properly.
His outset here had only been faulty.
But had it not all been unfavorable for him?
So how come he possessed an Elite shard, while everyone else possessed a Greater shard?
No matter how he looked at it, this malfunction was a blessing.
A 4-star player right off the bat…. there might indeed be a god who took a liking to me.
"Now, simply say 'summon' to call forth your player from the shard."
When the Chosen spoke the command, a blinding light burst from their shards.
And upon fading, figures materialized in front of everyone.
Gasps of awe echoed through the crowd as the Chosens' eyes opened wide in wonder.
These mysterious figures all stood like statues. Their heads were dipped and eyes shut like inactivated robots.
They varied in height, build, gender, and appearance.
And they were clad in ancient clothings of various kinds.
Yuin also summoned out his player and before him stood an average height young man.
He looked about the same age as Yuin.
Unlike most players that the other chosen summoned whose characteristics varied from elf ears to tails, scales and so on, the player in front of Yuin was human.
But he wasn't the only one with a human player.
"Standing before you is your very own player," the celestial called back their attention.
"In a general sense, you're also players for participating in this. But since you are already revered as 'The Chosen', the title
'Player' will belong to them."
"The use of a player is to aid you. They are like servants existing only to serve you. They vary in types and characteristics, and they are of various classes. The ones in front of you are attack type players."
The chosen's eyes swept back to their players in surveillance.
Some were elves, some dwarfs, some lizards, while some, human players, and so on.
"You can have as many players as you want as long as you acquire Shards. The Greater Shard summons a 2-Star Player as you saw. It all stacks up to 6 stars. And the Mythical Shard is the greatest there is. It summons a 6-Star player."
"Players can level up and ascend ranks just like you. They can be equipped with artifacts the same way you can as the round progresses. Also, keep in mind that their acquired experiences will not be shared with you, so don't think you can sit back and let your player do all the work."
She continued.
"To summon your player status, you can say 'Player Status Window' or extend your palm toward them and say 'Status Window."
Without waiting for the celestial to tell them, the Chosen, including Yuin, summoned their player's status window.
And like the celestial indeed said, everyone's Player was an attack type.
Everyone else's except Yuin's.
His countenance fell, and his happy face was overtaken by an exasperated, deadpan stare.
I knew there was just no way a malfunction would favor me.
His eyes peered intensely at his Player's status window. Precisely the position that showed the player's type.
Now, I know I'm not the brightest out there when it comes to reading, but that word doesn't spell like 'attack.'
____________
༄ PLAYER'S STATUS WINDOW ༄
Name: Korain Rank: ★ ★ ★ ★
Type: Utility Level: -1/999+
Clan: The Sustainers Rarity: Elite
Class: Alchemist Soul: 25%
Master: NamelessUser
________________
༄TITLE (S)༄
>>>Grand Alchemist - [Level 1] → Arch Alchemist [Upgradeable] [Locked]
———————
༄SKILL (S)༄
•Ward [Max]
•Arcane Tempering [Max]
•Healer's Bind [Max]
+…..
_______________
༄ABILITY༄
•Crafting
•Eyes of the Beyond
+…..
————————
༄TALENT (S)༄
•Absolute Correction
•Perfect Refinement
+….
————————
༄WEAPON (S)༄
Alchemist Toolkit
________________
༄POSSESSION (S)༄
Eternal Elixir Flasks
Celestial Crucible
Omniscient Grimoire
+…..
______________
༄ARTIFACTS༄
None…
______________
༄STATS༄
HP: 100/100 ATK: 4
INTL: 80 DEF: 20
SPD: 17 DMG: 70
RESIST: 88 ACC: 75
STAT POINTS:
________________
And what's with his level being a minus 1? Don't levels start from just 1?
Is he broken? No, like, damaged… literally.
Exasperated, Yuin's eyes ran over the screen again. Then it landed on the player's soul, bringing him to a stop.
25%?
His expression turned blank.
Why?
The celestial wasn't talking about it so Yuin swept it aside for now even though he was curious.
"Now, to activate your player, just say 'Awaken'."
Moments later, the players started rising from the command. They lifted their heads, and fluttered open their eyes.
Even with varying features and characteristics, they didn't seem any less human.
The chosen surveyed them with every stare. And some in response, averted their gazes. Either from shyness, awkwardness or annoyance.
"Just because they're players doesn't mean they do not function as you all. They might just be players to you here, but they very much have a life somewhere. They also have wills and minds of their own. Let's just say, they function as you all do."
The celestial went on.
"The symbols on their forehead is a mark to distinguish them from you and the humans in your world."
The chosen's eyes darted to their player's forehead to note the symbol. It was the same across them all, just like with the Chosen's.
A tiny symbol like a flipped capital letter L with an arrow head at the top, inked in black.
"Should anyone, for any reason, use any means to inscribe the symbol onto themselves to pretend the role of a player, they shall be severely punished."
"Like we care," a Chosen snarled.
It was the same chosen who had interrupted the celestial a while ago. The Fearless Rebel.
The celestial didn't spare him a glance.
It might seem on the surface that the celestial was being merciful, but the real reason she kept ignoring the chosen was that they weren't allowed to kill a chosen inside the Path.
Aside from the anomalies, the celestials could not exert their powers on a Chosen already counted among the round. Unless, the chosen commits a heavy crime worthy of death.
A heavy crime judged to be worthy of death by the higher ups not the celestials themselves.
"Look over there," the celestial said.
She pointed toward the far front. When the chosen followed her hand, they saw multiple racks of weapons.
Various kinds of weapons were arranged neatly all over it.
"And there, there, there….."
She pointed to other directions where several other racks stood.
"Your players don't need any weapons since they already have one."
The chosen who hadn't really noticed, glanced back at their players and noted the weapons in their grips.
Some held swords, daggers, arrows, spears, whips and various more.
Yuin's eyes also came back to his player and scrutinized him thoroughly. But no matter how much he looked, he couldn't find any weapon in his possession.
Yuin went through three grieving expressions.
First, blankness. Then, exasperation. And finally, disappointment.
He sighed, already aware that his player was a damaged product.
The player broke out in cold sweat from Yuin's scrutiny. His face sweated badly and he started awkwardly darting his eyes here and there.
This only made Yuin's disappointment deepen, slapping him in the face.
I do not have any eye defects. I really don't.
He thought he might be the one missing it. Or he just wasn't looking well enough. But on a second proper scrutinization, he still didn't find a weapon on him.
Only a neat brown bag hung diagonally across his body. A large pouch of sorts.
Yuin didn't have time to sulk over this as the celestial's voice drew back his attention.
"Move toward the weapon racks and grab a weapon of your choice. Be fast with it."
In an instant, the once coordinated space turned into chaos. Chosen from all directions rushed forward toward the racks.
They pushed, shoved, and even stepped on one another just to get there.
No one wanted to be left behind. No one wanted to end up with a useless weapon. So they fought to get there first.
Yuin also rushed forward, and joined in. But he was too far back. And struggling to maneuver his way through them felt next to impossible.
He paused, snapping his gaze between the different racks.
He didn't know which one to face. Every one of them was crowded. Since there were thousands there, it wasn't an easy feat.
Still, he couldn't bear to end up with no weapon. His player was already baggage, so he couldn't afford to botch his chance.
Yuin dived into the crowd. He pushed just as they did, shoved, and fought to clear his path.
But when the struggle dissolved and he finally got to see a rack before him, it was empty.
All the racks were now empty.
He ceased on his spot, fear mounting him.
His eyes raked the crowd of chosen and noted their greed.
Several of them were with more than one weapon. Although he wasn't the only one who didn't get to grab one, he felt infuriated.
"Hey! Why do you have three? Spare me one!" A Chosen yelled at another.
"Ahn?! Do you think I took three because I have no use for them? I'm a double wielder so I need two weapons from the get go. And I got a third one in case any of these two end up breaking."
Some of the chosen attempted to provoke a fight to coerce the ones with multiple weapons to hand some over. But they refused.
In fact, they were ready to get down rather than hand some weapons over.
The celestial watched them calmly from above as they disputed.
Meanwhile, Yuin's eyes had turned colorless from watching them. He was hopeless.
I don't think I'm escaping death, his subconscious pricked. My luck might just be shitty.
His forehead wrinkled in displeasure.
No, scratch that! My luck is indeed shitty.
He thought if his luck wasn't shitty then he wouldn't be a 19-year-old catering for three siblings when they were things called parents.
As he stood there staring, one could see his life essence slowly drifting away.
In this dammed realm… every road leads to my end.