Chapter 17: S-rank Double EXP
[DOMINATOR TALENT TRIGGERED...]
[Lv2 Goblin (Coco) has been bound to host and subjected to permanent taxation of experience points (EXP) earned.]
[Target Talent detected... S-rank ’Double EXP’]
[Host has copied target Talent: S-rank ’Double EXP’]
Arc initially ignored the series of notifications that flashed across his vision as he made his way deeper into the village toward the village chief’s manor. However, when his eyes caught the golden special effects that came only with S-tier and above skills and Talents, he couldn’t help but look.
His steps faltered, and he stopped in his tracks. He ran his eyes through all the prompts, back down to the part where an S-rank Talent had been copied... from a Goblin.
His brows shot up in surprise, but he wasn’t new to the concept: It didn’t matter if you were a human or a slime. As long as you originated in this world—the Golden Age—on an island, you were a player. There was no such thing as an NPC in this world.
Every individual species in this world was a player. Every player began with a Talent. But not every player began on the same footing—or to be more accurate in this case—not every race began on the same footing.
Low-intelligence races were usually subjected to mediocre (F/E-rank) Talents that their feeble minds could understand. But in some rare cases, one out of a hundred awakened something truly beyond their capabilities—such as Coco.
Arc tilted his head just enough to look behind him. The goblin child was still on the floor and barely conscious, looking at his back with eyes filled with something he was all too familiar with. It was that pain and hatred directed at yourself for being weak, and directed at your foe after they took everything away from you.
Arc had possessed those same eyes when he was condemned to slavery by those he loved and trusted. But it didn’t change the fact that he had been weak. It wasn’t that resolve that gave him a second chance to be there at that moment.
Looking at those eyes now, they said it all: ’You’re a monster.’
Arc’s lips tugged up in a smirk that said it all, as well: ’I know.’
He returned his gaze to the village chief’s manor, now in view, and began heading toward it once more.
The closer he got, the thicker the air became, and the more that suffocating energy of an Authority Devil attacked his mind—telling him he was on the right path.
The manor’s crude doors stood ajar, inviting Arc into the view of a barbaric throne room.
The hall was devoid of life and strewn with the carcasses of Crimson Goblins, whose wounds revealed they had died not too long ago.
This wasn’t surprising to Arc, as he’d already speculated as much the moment the Crimson Goblin Shaman stepped forward along with the presence of an Authority Devil. It was likely a coup to usurp authority by the Authority Devil with the help of the Crimson Goblin Shaman, which had split the tribe’s forces in two.
He ran his eyes through the throne room in search of another exit that wasn’t the one he’d stepped in from. Seeing there was no other, his eyes locked onto the grand throne carved from stone. He stepped forward, walking over the bodies of the Crimson Goblins and kicking a decapitated head out of his way until he arrived before the throne.
[THRONE OF SEKOLAH THE BEAST]
The prompt hung overhead from the [Appraisal] skill.
He tilted his head to the side, noticing a vast gap between the throne and the wall behind it. He walked around the throne and paused when he saw an open trapdoor leading into the unknown, covered in shadows as thick as the night.
Arc could feel it. The suffocating pressure from the Authority Devil was dense, pooling around the trapdoor and coming from below.
’This is it...’
There was a crude ladder that led down into the darkness. Without hesitating or waiting for something to happen, Arc summoned Cerberus’ Cursed Fang and dropped directly down into the hole, disregarding the ladder entirely.
His feet hit solid ground in moments.
It was pitch black, with only a little ambient light falling from the trapdoor, and another faint glow at the end of the tunnel ahead.
’Stealth.’
Arc’s form grew hazy until he became one with the night. He began cautiously moving forward until he arrived at the first light, which came from lanterns hung on the sides of the tunnel wall. More lights led into a wide cavern. From the spot he was standing in at that moment, Arc could see a grand door at the end of the vast, lifeless cavern—empty except for a towering Crimson Goblin that sat on its knees with its head missing.
[SEKOLAH THE BEAST]
Arc got close enough after realizing there were no traps lining the tunnel or the cavern, and examined the Crimson Goblin chief’s carcass. He deduced that the battle which had ultimately led to its demise had been swift.
Sekolah the Beast had died without a struggle. Not because he was weak, but because his opponent was simply on a whole different level.
[You can choose to forfeit now. Return to your island and safely sail away.]
The alluring voice of a female suddenly spoke in his head, after watching him pace around the cavern without approaching the grand door.
Arc tensed when he heard the voice, but quickly relaxed with a frown. He wasn’t comfortable with whoever this entity was lounging in his head. But for the sake of the answers he needed regarding his regression he didn’t bring it up.
"Ever heard of an Authority card?" he calmly asked.
He felt the entity tense up at his question—or maybe it was just his imagination. But it took them a moment to reply.
[Yes, of course. But what do you know about it?]
This made his brows furrow.
The concept of Authority Cards was something no player should be aware of this early in the Golden Age, just as it was too early for an Authority Devil to show up on the beginner islands.
An Authority Card was a guaranteed drop from Authority Devils, and it could easily be said to be the most important and sought-after item in the Golden Age. It was the key to the Golden Age endgame for whoever assembled a full deck of them—the 24 Authority Cards.
Arc had lived long enough in his past life for that much to become an open secret across the Golden Age. But... if this being—the voice in his head—was truly behind his regression, then... why did they sound surprised to hear him mention it?
