Matthew Atkinson
Oxford, United Kingdom
"Professor, are there any other missions besides these three?"
"There's one more mission: Artifact Hunt. The artifacts mentioned here are actually supernatural items. After teleporting to the Battle Royale Planet, you'll see a flag in the artifact area. Half an hour later, a 5-meter radius defending zone will appear around this flag."
"While you remain within this zone, the Supernatural Realm will record your time, but no one else except your teammates should be in this zone. Otherwise, your time record will stop increasing. At the end of the event, if you have more than an hour of time record and are still in the zone, you will earn an artifact, a supernatural item."
"Leaving the zone doesn't reset your time record; it only stops it, but you lose your time record if you die. And the higher your time record, the more valuable a supernatural item you will obtain at the end of the event. Your Kill Count and Currency Coins will also be taken into account in this assessment. Depending on the situation, it's even possible to obtain more than one supernatural item."
After Professor Holland explained the situation, Matthew could see greed in many of his classmates' eyes.
But the professor's following words shattered everyone's hopes.
"My advice is to stay away from the defending zone where the Artifact Banner is located. First of all, you'll be using powers completely unfamiliar to you in this layer. And some of the NPCs are incredibly powerful. It's impossible to withstand the attacks of everyone in that crowd for at least an hour. And at the end of the event, you need to be the only team left in the zone. The NPCs won't allow that."
"Professor, do we know exactly how many people are participating in this Battle Royale?"
"Yes. After arriving at the Battle Royale Planet, you can see the number of players and NPCs on the game panel."
"The Supernatural Realm creates multiple Battle Royale Planets at this layer, and 50,000 supernatural individuals are sent to each planet as players. The number of NPCs on the planet is… 950,000."
Many in the class turned pale when they learned that they would face 950,000 NPCs.
Taking on a million people wasn't something everyone could do.
But the professor continued speaking. "Although NPCs don't revive when they die, their access to the planet isn't restricted. During the twelve-and-a-half-hour event, you'll see many new NPCs arriving on the planet and participating in Battle Royale for the artifact. Therefore, I wouldn't recommend chasing the artifact. It would be more sensible to try to increase your grade result by increasing your Kill Count whenever possible."
The students all kept this in mind.
At this point, another student asked, "Will our teams still be four-person teams?"
"Yes."
Professor Holland said, "You'll meet in the waiting and preparation area. Also, after purchasing items, you can give them to each other. But some items need to be purchased by the individual, like Extra Life Coins. You'll be teleported together to the Battle Royale area, but you might get separated during the battle. But don't worry, teammates can sense each other in this layer. This ability will help you find your teammates in the battle area."
"My personal advice is that once you enter the Supernatural Realm, when choosing your skills and weapons, create a balanced team structure. Some of you can focus on defense, some on offense, some on detection, and some on healing. Otherwise, you won't be able to survive in a chaotic environment where one million players and NPCs have different skills and weapons."
"Moreover, your grades for the fourth layer of the Supernatural Realm are not calculated by adding up your individual scores, but by taking the highest score among your teammates as the reference."
"Therefore, having a few people on your team focus on defense or healing will do more good than harm. It would be more logical to stick together and help one person increase their score, provided you can protect that person."
The students nodded in agreement.
"There are two more points. First, when you enter the waiting and preparation area, Supernatural Realm will say that your 'Battle Power' is being calculated when your Attribute Coins are being calculated."
"This is because when calculating your Attribute Coins, it's not the number of attributes but the effect of your attributes that is taken into account. However, there's a 99.9% chance you'll receive Attribute Coins equal to the attribute points you've earned so far."
"There have been instances in the past where some people received more Attribute Coins than their total attribute points. For example, a Strong-Strong Fruit user, when entering this layer previously, was able to increase his Strength attribute by 25% because of his ability. Therefore, when his Attribute Coins were calculated, he received 25% more Attribute Coins for his Strength attribute points."
"But this only applies if you have innate skills that increase the effect of your attributes. External skills have no effect. And none of you has such an innate skill. So, it's not something you need to dwell on. Just don't be surprised when you see how it's calculated."
But this information opened Matthew's eyes.
Innate skills that increased the effect of his attributes?
Matthew possessed it. Two of them, in fact.
And each one tripled the effect of one of his attributes.
It seemed this layer would be much easier to pass than he had anticipated.
Meanwhile, Professor Holland continued his speech. "Another point you should consider is this: In Battle Royale, killing other players and NPCs increases your player level. And these levels grant you buffs. As your level increases, your defense, strength, spells, and weapon effectiveness all improve. So, you should try to increase your level while also being wary of high-level players and NPCs."
At this moment, the bell rang, signaling the end of class.
Professor Holland then said, "That's all for today. Remember to write down what I just said. Tomorrow, I will talk about the background of the fourth layer of the Supernatural Realm. Remember to come on time."
Professor Holland said and left the classroom.
But Matthew's mind was elsewhere.
At first, it hadn't caught his attention, but as Professor Holland spoke, many things began to seem familiar to him: Battle Royale Planet, magic and weapons, artifacts, coins, kill count, levels, extra life coins...
'Could it be that world?' Matthew wondered.
But he didn't need to dwell on it too much.
Professor Holland had said he would talk about the background of the fourth layer tomorrow. Everything would become clear then.
...
Natalie Russell
Oxford, United Kingdom
On the other side, in Class A, Professor Isabel Grant was also giving a lesson to her students.
As soon as the bell rang, Professor Grant immediately took Natalie Russell to her office.
"Natalie, I called you here because the fourth layer of the Supernatural Realm is not very friendly to you."
In the office, Professor Isabel Grant said, "Originally, your Flame-Flame Fruit ability was much stronger than other people's abilities. Now that the Supernatural Realm restricts your ability, it's like you will only have a few more Attribute Coins than others, so your advantage isn't that great."
She paused for a moment, then added, "Everything else is fine, but I'm worried that those people who are aiming for bounties will target you in the fourth Supernatural Realm. For them, the fourth layer of the Supernatural Realm is definitely a rare opportunity."
"I'm sure that once they spot you on the Battle Royale Planet, they'll come after you. So, this Supernatural Realm is extremely dangerous for you. And no matter how much you want to, there's nowhere to run and hide in Battle Royale Planet. If you don't prepare well for this layer, you might be eliminated early and have to be a spectator for the rest of the time."
As the conversation progressed, even Professor Isabel Grant herself knew it was impossible.
She spent so much time with this student.
So, Professor Isabel Grant knew Natalie Russell's personality. She was a very strong-willed person.
Could she make this girl back down?
That was impossible.
After listening to what Professor Grant said, Natalie frowned slightly and fell into thought.
Indeed, the fourth layer of the Supernatural Realm restricted their original abilities, so everyone's strength was much closer together.
The same applied also to Matthew.
It would be very dangerous for them if greedy bounty-hunting students surrounded them.
And she had no idea how many attribute points Matthew had.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.116: Ready Player One
Ch.117: Hero Template Cards
Ch.118: Entering the 4th Layer