Matthew Atkinson & Natalie Russell
Fourth Layer of the Supernatural Realm
[You have obtained all the educational and technical knowledge that James Halliday possesses.]
Matthew was so surprised he didn't know what to say.
What he had just said wasn't for convincing James Halliday to obtain the OASIS technology.
He had given up on that idea the first time Anorak had rejected it.
What he had just said was because he genuinely felt someone should thank James Halliday.
"You... Why?"
"The third reward for the third achievement," said Anorak, and suddenly transformed into James Halliday himself with a new typhoon.
"What is the third achievement?" Matthew asked.
"Achievement of saying the words I've needed to hear for a long time. Goodbye, Matthew… until we meet again. And... thank you."
Then James Halliday suddenly disappeared.
"Did he just call me by my real name? How?"
Matthew paused, not knowing what to do, then looked at the timer on the panel and saw that less than a minute remained.
"Nat, that's enough. Come here," he said. And a few seconds later, Natalie was beside him.
"What was in that orange egg?" Natalie asked.
"Didn't a notification appear on your panel?" Matthew asked.
"No."
"That egg contained OASIS technology. And more. It seems James Halliday's knowledge and ideas weren't limited to the current state of OASIS?"
"Really? This technology will probably make you the richest person in the world. But aside from money, with this virtual world technology, you can be the most influential and powerful person in the world. As a supernatural being, they would be more helpful to you."
"Hmm. We can talk about that after we get back. Right now, I really want to go to my apartment and sleep for a long time."
"Me too."
Then the Battle Royale timer expired, and when Matthew and Natalie's Artifact Hunt Recorder timer reached full 12 hours, they both disappeared from the top of the pyramid.
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When Matthew and Natalie's vision returned, they found themselves not lying on sofas on the university's training grounds, but in the white room they had been in when they first entered the fourth layer.
And when they looked at each other, they realized that the Superman and Supergirl avatars had disappeared, and they were using their first avatars. Will Turner and Elizabeth Turner.
As they both wondered why they were here, a notification on the panel gave them the answer.
[Congratulations on winning the Artifact Hunt. Please wait while your reward is calculated...]
[Note: The time you spend here will not affect your return time to the physical world.]
Apparently, if someone won the Artifact Hunt of the fourth layer, the rewards were determined and given within the layer itself, rather than after they returned.
But why hadn't any of the Professors told them this? Had they thought they didn't need to say, or had no one ever won the Artifact Hunt before?
Well... if everyone had experienced the challenges he and Natalie faced, it was normal that they hadn't won.
Even if they weren't aiming for the highest level of Artifact Hunt Achievement like Matthew and Natalie, the Supernatural Realm probably still wouldn't make things too easy for them.
"It's reassuring that coming here doesn't delay our return to the physical world. I don't want anyone to think I'm dead and calling my father," Natalie said.
"Yeah. My parents would be devastated, too," Matthew said.
"How do you plan to talk about this when we get back? Many people saw our performance. It's very unlikely we can hide things," Natalie said.
"We'll just have to tell them we got two Standard Hero Template cards and a Cataclyst. Two standard template cards cost 1500 Attribute Coins. Not far from your total Attribute Coins. And I would already have at least 1000 Attribute Coins from the previous three layers. Enough to get a Cataclyst." Matthew told her his plan.
"Yeah. We have enough Attribute Coins for those three items. And we can claim that the other items we used were collected from the dead avatars in the Battle Royale area. When asked about the skills we used, we can just say it was thanks to the Template Cards." Natelie nodded and said.
"Exactly. If someone asks about the second Cataclyst, tell them it dropped from Greedy Nolan Sorrento. He dropped a lot of weird and expensive items. It wouldn't be strange if the Cataclyst was among them. Oh, and let's leave out the Kryptonian part of the heroes." He said.
"Certainly. But can I say that you designed the Heroes and came up with the idea for the Cataclyst?" Natelie asked.
"...Sure. But why?"
"Because nobody would believe I'd take such a risk and come up with such a crazy plan," she explained.
"Touche... You're right. But it worked, didn't it?" Matthew said with a mischievous smile.
"Yeah, yeah. It worked, mister crazy."
At that moment, new text appeared on the panel, and both of them focused on the text.
[Artifact Hunt achievement reward calculation completed.]
[Artifact Hunt Recorder Duration: 12 hours.]
[You achieved a perfect score by reaching a time no one has ever achieved before. Rank SSS]
[Team Kill Count: 2,329,427 (Matthew: 2,061,763 - Natalie: 267,664)]
[You achieved a perfect score by reaching a Kill Count that no one has ever achieved before. Rank SSS]
[Team Coins: 721,849,201,201 (Matthew: 594,742,387,126 - Natalie: 127,106,814,075]
[You achieved a perfect score by reaching a coin amount that no one has ever achieved before. Rank SSS]
[Overall Rating: Triple SSS]
[Reward for Natalie Russell: Three Supernatural Items in total, one of which is a special item.]
[Matthew Atkinson, having the most Attribute Coins, is entitled to the MVP award and received an additional Supernatural Item.]
[Reward for Matthew Atkinson: Four Supernatural Items in total, one of which is a special item.]
"Seven Supernatural Items in total? That's more than I expected," Matthew said.
"Yeah. It seems we made the right decision by not accepting Anorak's offer," Natalie added.
Then a new message appeared on their Panels.
[Your Supernatural Items have been added to your Panel Inventory. You can examine and use them here or collect them when you return to the physical world.]
[You can press the Log Out button on the Panel to leave. If you don't leave within half an hour, you will automatically return to the physical world.]
As soon as Matthew saw the message, he checked whether the Log Out button on the panel was present and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it.
Thanks to Akihiko Kayaba, many people who dreamed of playing VR games suffered deep trauma because of him.
Then Matthew found his Supernatural Items on his Panels and began examining them, but the first item he saw almost took his breath away.
[Special Supernatural Item: Ageless Trait Potion]
[When this potion is consumed, the person gains the Ageless Trait. This trait allows the owner to have a body that does not die naturally or from diseases. The person's growth stops at the most appropriate age. If the person has reached this age, they will gain their youth.]
[Note: This potion can also improve the user's appearance in time.]
[Note: Children of two people carrying this trait will also acquire this trait.]
[Note: This item can only be used by Matthew Atkinson. For others, it acts as a deadly poison.]
Matthew immediately understood what this meant. In short, this potion would make them have a body like that of Elves and similar races, a race that doesn't die naturally.
However, they wouldn't be invincible, and a deadly attack still could kill them. That's why it was called the Ageless Trait, not Immortal.
Matthew turned and looked at Natalie, seeing that she was looking at him too.
"Did you also get the Ageless Trait Potion?" Matthew asked.
"Yes. It looks like you did too," Natalie said.
"Yes."
"Are we going to use it?" Natalie asked.
"Why don't we use it? Or don't you want to spend an eternal life with me, Nat?" Matthew asked with a mischievous smile.
"Not like that... I'd want a life like that too... But... What about our families? Our other loved ones... The people we've met and have become friends with... Will we leave them all behind?" Natalie asked in a slightly sad tone.
"First of all, this makes us Ageless, not Immortal. There's no guarantee we'll die after our loved ones and acquaintances. And you realize this is the fourth layer, right, Nat?"
"So?"
"So, the solution is simple, right? Earning such a reward at the fourth layer means we can obtain many more similar rewards in the future. And we can share them with our loved ones. But if we don't seize the opportunities that come our way, it won't be possible. Besides, you must understand that this Supernatural Item shouldn't go to the physical world. This item could trigger the next world war."
After saying this, Matthew quickly selected to use the item from the Panel. And then another notification appeared, saying, "[You used the Ageless Trait Potion a Special Supernatural Item.]"
It was somewhat anticlimactic, but that was probably due to their physical bodies not being here.
Then Matthew turned to Natalie and said, "It's your turn, Nat."
Natalie hesitated for a moment, but then she also chose to use the item.
Matthew was right about this. If she couldn't seize the opportunities that came her way, how far could she progress on the Supernatural Path?
If she wanted to help her loved ones, she had to do it with her own power. That was the method of Supernatural Individuals.
Seeing Natalie choose to use it, Matthew smiled and then looked at the other Supernatural Items.
Observation Haki Skill, Conqueror's Haki Skill, and Skill Combination Card.
He could understand what the first two skills were from their names, so he immediately examined the Skill Combination Card.
[Supernatural Item: Skill Combination Card]
[This card allows the combination of skills of the same type.]
[Note: The level of the skill resulting from combining skills is equal to the highest level skill among the combined skills. The upgrade cost of the resulting skill will be the same as the skill with the lowest upgrade cost.]
All three Supernatural Items were quite useful for Matthew, so he chose to use them all immediately.
But, as before, he only received notification that he had used them on the Panel. Furthermore, since he wasn't in his real body, he couldn't even check the combined Haki Skills.
It seemed he would have to wait until he could go back.
"My other rewards are the Armament Haki Skill and the Devil Fruit Weakness Removal Card. What about you, Matthew?" Natalie asked.
"Observation Haki Skill, Conqueror's Haki Skill, and Skill Combination Card. It seems the Supernatural Realm has distributed the rewards considering our needs. Perhaps that's why the calculation took so long. The Devil Fruit Weakness Removal Card... is it what I think it is?"
"Yeah. It removes the Devil Fruit User's weakness to Seawater and Seastone."
"Good. That's something I've been worried about for a while. It's good that your weakness is gone. Did you use them? If so, how about going back?"
"Give me a second," Natalie said, and then chose to use the other items from the Panel. "Okay. We can go back now."
Then they both pressed the Log Out button and disappeared from the white room.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.127: Another SSS-Grade Results
Ch.128: A Strengthened Extraordinary Treasure Chest
Ch.129: Bizarre Fifth Layer