Matthew Attkinson & Natalie Russell
Fourth Layer of the Supernatural Realm
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[The Cataclyst: A bomb that zeros out any avatar on a planet, possibly including the user.
Price: 800 Attribute Coins
Note: Players with rare and high-level special skills and artifacts have a chance of surviving this bomb.]
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This was the item Matthew planned to use the moment he saw it.
Matthew knew exactly what the Cataclyst was.
In the Ready Player One movie, Nolan Sorrento had used the Cataclyst to prevent Parzival from winning the final key, killing all the avatars on Planet Doom in Sector 14, including himself.
But Parzival was lucky; thanks to winning a bet with the Curator, he obtained an Extra Life Quarter, which allowed him to return to life and complete the third key challenge.
Matthew wanted to use the Cataclyst to kill nearly a million players and NPCs in Battle Royale, raising his Kill Count to an unmatched level and guaranteeing their SSS-grade.
Because in this Battle Royale, even if someone died, the Kill Count didn't reset, and even if someone died, the deaths he caused were still credited to his Kill Count.
Like a player throwing a grenade but dying before it exploded. The number of avatars killed in the grenade explosion would still be credited to the player who threw the grenade.
Matthew simply had planned to use a Cataclyst instead of a grenade.
He had actually accepted the possibility of himself and Natalie dying in the explosion, wasting an Extra Life Coin each.
But after obtaining two Kryptonian Templates with 100% power from Hero Template Cards, a new scenario formed in his mind.
Could he and Natalie survive the Cataclyst explosion?
If this were the Ready Player One world from the original book, Matthew would definitely say no.
Because in the world based on the book, The Cataclyst was a magic-based bomb.
And it not only zeroed out the avatars on the planet it was in, but also destroyed everything in the sector, including planets, NPCs, buildings, and objects.
Nothing was left behind until midnight, when the sector reset and renewed itself.
But in this Ready Player One world, based on the movie, Cataclyst's power was significantly reduced.
In the movie, Parzival describes the Cataclyst to Aech as a bomb that zeros out all avatars on the planet, even the user.
And in the item description Matthew read, it stated that some players with high-level skills and rare artifacts could survive the explosion.
Did Parzival not know this in the movie, or had the Supernatural Realm modified the item?
Matthew didn't know, but it gave him an opportunity to devise a new plan.
Because even though the Kill Count remained fixed when a player died, their Currency Coins were reset to zero. This meant that if Matthew and Natalie died after using the Cataclyst, they wouldn't be able to collect the other players' and NPCs' Coins.
Matthew wanted to collect the Coins of nearly a million players, if possible.
And during the preparation phase, when they tested the Cataclyst with Natalie, they realized that despite the heavy pressure, they survived the explosion.
And frankly, it wasn't that surprising.
Because DC's Superman character could withstand a supernova explosion without a scratch, thanks to his Bio-Electric Field.
[A Bomb Has Been Planted]
[Cataclyst Explosion in 10 Seconds... 9... 8...]
Then Matthew could see many NPCs cursing and running towards the exit portals.
Unfortunately, no Player or NPC was positioned that close to the exit portals. OASIS wouldn't make a mistake that would allow anyone to "Kill Steal" and then use the portals to escape.
Meanwhile, nearly 50,000 Players were trying to understand what was happening.
Matthew knew that many freshmen had skipped over the Cataclyst item's description after seeing its price of 800 Attribute Coins.
With nearly 950,000 NPCs in panic and 50,000 Players in confusion, the 10-second timer finally ran out, and the Cataclyst in Matthew's hand exploded.
Then a large, plasmatic, gray mist began to expand, first engulfing Matthew and Natalie and then spreading across the entire planet.
As it spread, every avatar, whether Player or NPC, it touched vanished, leaving only their items and weapons behind.
Meanwhile, Matthew's Level, Kill Count, and Coins were rapidly increasing.
Level 2... Level 10... Level 50... Level 75...
10,000 Kills... 100,000 Kills... 200,000 Kills... 500,000 Kills...
Approximately 30 seconds later, silence had returned to Planet Doom, but this time all the avatars and portal gates had disappeared.
Except for Matthew and Natalie.
At this point, Matthew's Kill Count had reached 999,998, and his level had reached Level 100.
As for his coins... the number of coins on his Panel currently showed 26,551,198,153.
Matthew struggled to comprehend the number for a moment, but then realized he actually had over 26 billion coins.
Approximately one billion of these came from the 1,000-coin reward for each avatar kill. The rest were supposed to be coins in the accounts of 950,000 NPCs.
All Matthew could say was that the NPCs had truly contributed to him.
After the explosion subsided, Matthew turned to Natalie and said, "Go."
Then they both began moving in opposite directions at super speed. They both flew close to the ground, collecting the high-level weapons left behind by the avatars.
The Supernatural Realm automatically collected the coins for them, but other items belonging to the avatars fell where they died.
And as Matthew and Natalie made their plans, they decided not to leave these weapons for the revived Players and new NPCs. At least not the high-level weapons and items.
Players had to wait at least 15 minutes to use their Extra Life Coins, and even to be a spectator, they had to wait at least 5 minutes.
The destroyed Portal Gates would reappear after about 10 minutes.
This meant that new NPCs could arrive on Planet Doom after 10 minutes and join the Battle Royale.
The situation was a little different for the players.
Matthew suspected that not many had purchased Extra Life Coins. And those who did would most likely want to observe the situation as spectators first and understand what was happening.
Therefore, even if the 15-minute time limit was up, Matthew didn't think the players would immediately join the Battle Royale.
Matthew and Natalie planned to make the most of this free time.
They had about 10 minutes before the Portal Gates were repaired and new NPCs joined the Battle Royale, and they planned to spend 9 minutes collecting high-level and rare items and weapons, then meet at the top of the largest pyramid in the last minute.
That was where the Artifact flag was located, and the Artifact Zone would appear thirty minutes after the Battle Royale began.
Matthew and Natalie planned to capture it early, defend it for 12 hours after the zone appeared, and win the best artifact available at the end of the layer.
Moreover, according to the rules, it was even possible to win more than one Artifact.
And the Supernatural Realm would consider their Kill Count and Coins, along with the time they spent defending the Zone, when evaluating their Artifact Value.
In both aspects, Matthew and Natalie had already reached a level that no other player could reach.
Matthew and Natalie did as planned, collecting every high-level and rare item they could find during their 9-minute exploration.
As their agreed-upon time was about to run out, they both turned towards the top of the biggest pyramid, and a few seconds later, they were both standing next to the flag on top of the pyramid.
Before saying anything, Matthew opened his panel and transferred 50,000 coins to Natalie's panel with a flick of his two fingers.
Then, even though they were standing side-by-side, he used the team chat function on his Panel to say to Natalie, "Nat, first, add another 50% to your Ultimate Magical Energy Shield and bring its absolute protection to 100%."
Since Matthew was the one who detonated the Cataclysm, he had reached Level 100 as a result of killing so many avatars.
Indirectly, the absolute protection of his Ultimate Magical Energy Shield automatically increased to 100%. Therefore, he no longer needed to worry about magical attacks.
And because his Level was 100, all his powers had increased by 100% as a Level Buff. This meant he had the power of two Supermans now.
But Natalie's Level was still zero, so she couldn't yet obtain the Level Buff.
Also, although the Ultimate Magical Energy Shield provided 50% absolute protection, it added an additional 1% protection for each level after Level 50.
Therefore, Natalie only had 50% armor protection against magical attacks at the moment. She had to bear 50% of the power of each magical attack herself.
Luckily, the additional armor percentages for the Ultimate Magical Energy Shield could be purchased with coins.
Even though most original OASIS players wouldn't be able to accumulate 50,000 coins in their entire lives, and even those who did wouldn't dare spend that many coins for a 24-hour buff, that amount of coins wouldn't even count as pocket money for Matthew and Natalie at the moment.
As for why Matthew spoke to Natalie via Panel rather than in person, it was something they had planned.
Physical conversations could be heard by other Players and NPCs, and Observer Players could also listen.
But all conversations via Panel were completely private, allowing them to discuss anything freely.
As soon as the coins arrived on her Panel, Natalie increased her shield's protection rate to 100%, as Matthew had said.
Then they both waited.
Soon, the Portal Gates would begin to reappear. They didn't know if the new NPCs would immediately join the battle, but they were both prepared.
Meanwhile, Natalie asked Matthew via Panel, "Matthew, what happened to the Extraordinary Treasure Chest you won as a reward for the third layer? Why haven't you claimed it?"
"Oh, I received a notification saying I couldn't claim it at this layer and that I could only receive it after this layer was finished and I returned to the physical world." He said.
"I see. That makes sense. On this level, we all have non-real bodies. Only our consciousnesses are here, so it's impossible to bring physical objects here."
After Natalie finished speaking, they both noticed the Portal Gates beginning to regenerate, and within seconds, all of them were usable again.
And, unexpectedly for Matthew, new NPCs quickly began to pour into Planet Doom's Battle Royale area through the Portal Gates.
"It's highly likely that the Supernatural Realm increased the number of new NPCs to balance the now-empty Battle Royale area," Natalie said.
"Yes. Most likely," Matthew agreed.
Then they both waited, observing the newly arriving NPCs.
They didn't even need to see with their own eyes to be aware of everything happening in the entire Battle Royale area.
Thanks to their Super Sense abilities, they were aware of everything going on Planet Doom.
The distance between the portals and the pyramid where they were located was quite long.
Therefore, it took more than 10 minutes for the NPCs to reach them.
However, the number of NPCs attacking them wasn't high. This was probably because the Artifact Zone hadn't appeared yet.
Instead of killing the NPCs approaching them, Matthew chose to aim his Heat Rays at their weapons or legs.
He left the killing to Natalie so she could quickly level up and gain the Level Buff.
Not long after the NPCs started attacking, the 30-minute timer that appeared after the Battle Royale started to expire, and the flag next to them began to glow, creating a zone circle around them.
At the same time, Matthew and Natalie's Artifact Hunt Recorder timer started running. As long as either of them was inside this zone and they didn't let any other strangers into the zone, this Recorder would continue to run for 12 hours.
With the appearance of the zone, the number of NPCs around them suddenly increased, and their attacks intensified.
But what really caught Matthew and Natalie's attention was the message that appeared on their panels.
[You killed Daito, Sho, and Aech, who are among the famous Gunters. Your hands are stained with the blood of one of their friends.]
[Parzival will join the Battle Royale to get revenge in three hours. Get ready!]
[03:00:00... 02:59:59... 02:59:58...]
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.123: Mini Bosses
Ch.124: Planet Doom Frenzy
Ch.125: Second Cataclyst