Clutching the camera Ethan was deep within the mountain crack, his heart pounding against his ribs. Silently recovering Anchor, still little, was tucked into his jacket pocket.
Now there was silence in the air outside. The dragon was now hunting instead of roaring.
"It knows we're here."
Slowly, Ethan moved to the crevice's entrance and looked out onto the wide, dark valley. The Ancient Ember Dragon was hovering silently and impossibly gracefully as it descended. It was locating the tiny concealed heat signature by using its enormous intelligence and perception.
Just fifty feet from where Ethan was hidden, the dragon halted. Massive and still, it hovered, a black silhouette against the flaming horizon.
With a fiery orange eye the size of a adult human, the creature slowly lowered its enormous head and fixed its scary, ancient aura directly on the crack.
He was struck by the enormous power of a creature that could instantly erase his character. He was motionless.
The paralyzing fear held Ethan motionless, but the system recognized the Unique content out of this situation.
[THE SYSTEMS WITNESS: ENVIRONMENTAL TRIGGER DETECTED!! UNPARALLELED EMOTIONAL APEX]
[EVENT: THE OBSERVERS TEST-SINGLE CHANCE ACQUISITION]
[Condition: Capturing must occur within the Ancient Ember Dragon's stare duration ( 15 seconds in real time).
New skill unlocked (Temporary): Cinematic mode effect: Deploy the self stabilizing camera module to acquire the dynamic video content of the event.
Single use. Action initiated: Auto capture]
The camera and Ethan's class responded right away. Finding the ideal angle, the Masterwork Lens separated. The entire terrifying fifteen seconds were being captured by the camera: the enormous, unmoving Dragon in the backdrop and the frightened frozen Ethan in the background.
The Cinematic Mode's timer reached zero. Zipping back to the camera was the Masterwork Lens.
After establishing its might, the Ancient Ember Dragon exhaled slowly and deeply.
One bright piece of material separated from the dragon's chin as it tipped its enormous head to fly away. Glowing with concentrated orange fire, it was a piece of flawless crystalline obsidian. It descended gently and landed squarely in front of Ethan on the chilly stone floor.
After turning and taking one last disinterested glance at the hidden crack, the dragon launched itself into the sky and silently flew away from the mountain.
As he watched, Ethan's terror gradually faded. His eyes were riveted on the shimmering Obsidian Scale and and when he checked on what it is he started to tremble fiercely.
[ITEM DETECTED: ANCIENT CORE SCALE (MYTHIC ARTIFACT FRAGMENT]
[EFFECT: UNKNOWN, EXTREMELY HIGH MAGICAL ENERGY, HIGHLY UNSTABLE]
Before Ethan could even comprehend the threat, Anchor took action.
The little, black ball of slime exploded from his pocket and flew across the cramped area. In an instant, it surrounded the glowing scale. The core scale disappeared within the body of the slime.
The anchor didn't blow up. Rather, the tiny ball of slime pulsed ferociously, its purple fissures changing to a bright frightening orange.
[GUARDIAN ANCHOR ABSORBED MYTHICAL ANCIENT CORE SCALE FRAGMENT]
[WARNING: CASCADING STAT MUTATION IN PROGRESS]
The systems report began, the reward for the Mythical frame were amplified by the Anchors power up stat mutation process
[SSS-RANK CINEMATIC: THE STARE DOWN:- 5,000,000 PV CONVERTED TO 5,000,000 EXP
MYTHICAL ACHIEVEMENT: STARING INTO THE EYES OF THE ANCIENT EMBER DRAGON: 10,000,000 PV CONVERTED TO 10,000,000 EXP
BONUS: TRUE CLARITY WITNESS BONUS: 5,000,000 PV CONVERTED TO 5,000,000 EXP]
[TOTAL PV: 20,000,000 PV CONVERTED TO 20,000,000 EXP]
Ethan starred at the system window , the numbers are so huge and enormous.
[YOU HAVE LEVELED UP 20x TIMES]
[YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 53]
[CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE RECEIVED 115 ATTRIBUTE POINTS]
Ethan was shaking because of the level up and his fear has been died down, but the system was not done yet.
[CONGRATULATIONS!! MYTHIC MILESTONE REACHED AWARDING ETHAN THE SYSTEM WITNESS]
[NEW PERMANENT LEVEL AWARD: MYTHIC 1 (M1)]
[M1 STATUS EFFECT: You have broken the standard leveling cap. All future attribute gains are 10% more. You gain True sight (Passive), allowing you to see hidden effects and system effects and exploit the flaws in monster defenses. This will allow you to get hidden quests and maximum PV opportunities.]
[NEW!! SKILL UNLOCKED: EX TIER SKILL : LOGIC BUBBLE]
[EFFECT: Temporarily creates a bubble where only logical and calculated actions can be performed removing all the Psychological de-buffs (Fear, Panic, Confusion, Illusion)]
Ethan was shocked to see this , this is going beyond , but the system was still not done yet
[GUARDIAN ANCHOR MUTATION AND EVOLUTION COMPLETE]
[GRAND CHAOS SLIME LVL 45 -> CHAOS CORE GUARDIAN LVL 50]
The shift happened right away. The little slime grew slightly and pulsed, its surface acquiring a dark, hard gloss reminiscent to cooling lava.
[ CHAOS CORE GUARDIAN LVL 50
HP: 15,000
MP: 7000
STRENGTH: 250
AGILITY: 100
INTELLIGENCE: 500 ]
The stat boosts were enormous. Along with gaining 15,000 HP, 7000 MP, and significant increases in strength, Agility and intelligence, Anchor had healed and become more tanky and powerful.
[NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: EMBER SHELL ( PASSIVE / ACTIVE )]
[EFFECT: (PASSIVE): Anchors body is coated in shell of hardened fire resistant magma providing 50% resistant to all fire damage.
(ACTIVE): EMBER DASH: Anchor can temporarily channel the consumed core energy to increase the agility dramatically for 3 seconds, turning into the rolling damaging fireball]
"You consumed a portion of a dragon. You took care of yourself. And you can withstand fire now," Ethan said. "You are the best partner and the good thief I've ever met, Chaos Core Guardian haha"
Level 53 (M1) was his level. In addition to having the money, he had a partner who was incredibly clever, fireproof, and capable of turning into a rolling flame. He had avoided the whole mid-game grind.
With haste, Ethan opened his financial summary. The system gave an expected conversion for the 40,000,000 PV, but the PV was still converting.
Previous Debt: $1,540,210.44
$1,000,000.00 is the estimated payout (plasma breath plus stare-down).
After accounting for the Obsidian Wolf side income, Ethan's total profits from his brief stay in the Crags came to more than $1,000,000
$540,210.44 is the remaining debt.
In one day, he had paid off most of his debt.
He glanced first at the glowing slime in his palms and then at the pitch-black tunnel surrounding him. He was winning even though he was stuck.
"That video will be seen by everyone the wealthy players, the System, and the guilds. They will discover that a Level 13 (now Level 53) is capturing SSS-Rank pictures of Level 60 stuff. We are currently Aethelgard's most sought-after players.
He needed a strategy to get out of the Crags without being pursued by the Dragon or, worse, the official game administrators who would discover that someone was taking ridiculous advantage of the Witness Class after seeing the Mythic Content Cascade.
The dragon continued to circle. He had just taken the dragon's might and was still in fear. The Dragon could come back.
Closing his eyes and taking a mental breath, Ethan used his new ability.
"Focused logic bubble Turn on".
The stench of sulfur, the dreadful cold, and the panic driven by adrenaline all disappeared in an instant. His thinking was filled with clear, cold rationality. He had entirely switched off his emotions. He was just a processing machine.
[ANALYSIS:
Problem: The dragon is still hunting
Solution A : Immediately run and escape.
Solution B : Teleport to nearest city
Solution C: Confront the Dragon using Arcane binding and defeat it
ACTION: Use arcane binding and ember dash and the temporal effect to trap the dragon and utilize the mountain features.
Final goal: Either defeat the dragon or escape]
Ethan's eyes opened. There was no longer any fear. The plan made sense, but it was terrifying. In order to defeat the dragon one last time or escape, he had to guide it into a small area and use his newly acquired ability.
"All right, Anchor no more Running".