Chapter 683: Boundless Origins - Shadowheart

"Hmm…" 

A young man in a pitch-black mage robe that was styled fashionably, with a long black trench coat worn over the shoulders like a cape, stood before the Cario City's only Rank 7 Guild Hall. Underneath his robes, one could see the outline of some inner leather armor, making one wonder what exactly his class was supposed to be. 

The fellow was around the same height as Draco and co, at  5'10" with a slim, slightly athletic physique. He certainly wasn't buff, but he also wasn't in possession of flab. Calling him skinny too was a bit much, so he hovered around lean and average. 

With silky mid-length black hair that was stylishly slicked back, a simple but trimmed black mustache, and a short goatee, he looked like a suave nobleman from the modern era, rather than an archaic one. 

The surrounding players had their eyes on him, many taking pictures or pointing at him while gossiping. His facial feature resembled a certain legendary actor to the point that many believed that there had to be some relationship between the two. 

Could they have possibly stumbled upon the guy's illegitimate child?! 

"Holy shit, is that John Wick?" 

"How could that be, dumbass? John Wick was a fictional character, just one of the many roles Keanu Reeves played." 

"Hang on, that guy actually played other roles? I've only seen him in the John Wick series." 

"That's not surprising, I've heard that after they added another sequel to the original movie series that made him famous, Keanu refused to take on any 'woke' movies, since that one tanked so hard. 

"There're even rumors that he paid good money to make his old movies disappear, not that they hold a candle to his new ones... Goddamnit, now you've made me to rewatch John Wick 30!" 

"Yeah, that dog deserved it. How dare it abuse and kill that Russian young master that John Wick adopted after he lost his girlfriend?" 

Ignoring the chattering of the crowd, as he was used to such behavior, Connor Baines finally made his decision to give Umbra's infamous test a try. 

He had initially eyed joining another guild, since he enjoyed the idea of helping some underdogs rise to become behemoths, but something inside of him had told him to come here. 

Connor's grayish-blue eyes shone, the hidden fleck of brownish stars within them gleaming as he entered what was a high-tech lobby. There he found himself waiting among a group of others. 

A woman in a blouse, gray suit jacket, and pencil skirt appeared before them. She had average looks and an even more average body, so no one was feeling any heat in their pants. 

She smiled and bowed. "Hello, applicants, I'm the secretary of Umbra's Guild Hall, Seirra Jones. Previously, our tests were split into four, and succeeding each one meant that you would be accepted into that role." 

Many nodded, as Umbra's tests was already well-known, publicized to the point that many had found loopholes and ways to pass while having a lower skill level. No method was perfect after all. 

"I'm happy to inform you that the test has been amended, so I ask all of you to carefully listen to my explanation of the current test structure." 

"A total of 100 candidates will be accumulated and selected to enter a randomly generated map. There, all of you will be suppressed from whatever level you are now to Rank 1 Level 10." 

"You are to hunt down monsters in the area and accumulate points in order to clear the trial." 

"Are there any questions up to here?" Sierra asked with a smile. 

The various fellows here shared a look and then shook their heads. This testing style wasn't the best, but it probably put less burden on Umbra. After all, the number of challengers had only gone up since the beginning. 

"Good, then I shall now explain the rules." 

"#1 Teamwork between candidates is not allowed. Umbra pursues the path of elitism, so any and every monster you kill must be through your individual effort." 

"#2 Kill stealing is not allowed. Sure, it's a valid way to accumulate points, but Umbra is seeking true talents, not smartasses." 

"#3 You're free to use any items that you currently possess. Wealth is part of one's talent, so if you're poor and cannot afford potions, too bad. 

"#4 PvP is not allowed. There is no point in killing each other at this point, seriously. If you have a grudge against another player, sort that out in the arena afterward." 

"That's it for the rules. Not too complicated, right? Please pass enter the portal that will take you to the testing grounds. I wish you all good luck." 

With the explanation out of the way, a black portal formed beside her, many of the waiting candidates rose to their feet. However, Sierra seemed to remember something at the last moment. 

"Apologies, I've nearly forgotten, since it's not really a rule, per se, but more of a recommendation. If you have any… 'special'… abilities from the real world, make sure to display them. If you don't understand, that's fine as well." 

Many showed strange expressions, yet Connor's expression changed for a brief moment. He entered the portal with a contemplative expression, finding himself placed in a large forest-like biome that stretched as far as the eye could see. 

He noticed his Rank 3 stats were torn down to Rank 1 Level 10, and were exactly what he had allocated to earn his Omnimage class. It was a Hidden Class that allowed him to use all basic elements and some advanced elements, making it one of the best mage classes. 

Right then, a monster appeared before him. 

｢Name: Direboar – Private Rank monster 

Level: 18 

HP: 900/900｣ 

It was a strong one right off the bat, having the level advantage over him as well as a bit more HP than other monsters at this level. The monster's red eyes locked onto Connor, yet he glared back coldly. 

Just as it began to charge, Connor used his auto-attack to fire a multicolored ball of light which dealt a mixture of various elemental damage, yet as spectacular as it might look, the damage number showed a measly 10 points. 

However, like a machine gun, Connor rapidly executed various trash-tier rank spells that were sold for pennies in most libraries. Most players would not even look at them due their shitty damage performance, since even auto-attacks were considered superior. 

Spells like; 

｢Embers – Active Skill 

Effect: Releasing a wave of scorching hot embers upon a target within 5 meters. This deals 2% fire damage. 

Cooldown: 0.5 seconds｣ 

｢Breeze – Active Skill 

Effect: Move the wind strongly towards a target within 5 meters. This spell deals 1% wind damage. 

Cooldown: 0.2 seconds｣   

And so on. 

They were low-damage, low cooldown DPS spells, yet they were exactly what Connor preferred. His fighting style was a mixture of Sublime's cruel endless bombardment and Jada's rapid-fire shots. 

The boar was struck by these low-class spells, yet they couldn't even stun or stagger it, so it easily charged forth. Connor sneered and dodged to the side with ease, predicting its movement using his own skill. 

He then switched to mostly low-level Darkness element DPS spells like Drain, Spikes, and Bite, which happened to be his preferred element. 

Soon, the boar was beaten to death by an endless amount of spells that even the most seasoned professional would scoff at. Its fate was to be laughed at by its buddies in monster heaven for dying in such a way. One could see a lonely tear drop down its eye as it fell to the side. 

No loot dropped, obviously, and about 12 minutes had passed since the start of the battle. It wasn't because Connor dealt high damage in a short time with few spells, but because his endless bombardment which dealt little drops of water came to form a mighty ocean. 

To put it into perspective, a person with 100,000 HP would not fear being surrounded by 10 ants that dealt 1 damage with each bite. However, if they were bitten by 100,000 ants, then they would naturally die, despite each ant being so weak to them. 

This strategy was quite clever in the early stages, from Rank 1 up until Rank 4. After that, it wouldn't work as well, and by Rank 7, it would flounder as most of those at that level had HP bars bigger than the hopes and dreams of your average NEET. 

Connor moved on to his next target while restoring his mana. As effective as it might be, his method had a high drain on mana, which was why he had allocated most of his stats into Spirit. Of course, in this state, he had to accept whatever breadcrumbs the system gave him after being suppressed down. 

In the process of his actions, he stopped. He deftly climbed a nearby tree and made sure there was nothing around before sitting down cross-legged on a branch. 

Connor closed his eyes, feeling darkness spread around him. When he opened his eyes, he noted that he was seated on a patch of darkness that gleamed like a mirror. 

Above him was a sky that had no stars, yet the place was mysteriously lit. (Author's Note: No, it is not similar to the bloodline realm of Draco and Eva. That one is more advanced.) 

In the center of the sky, a giant blackish-grey serpent was coiled in a circle, biting its tail while it spun in a clockwise motion endlessly. 

"Ouroboros. You haven't bothered me for a long time. What's the issue now?" Connor Baines asked coldly as he gazed at the serpent. 

It didn't stop its eternal rotation, but Connor could hear its voice in his head. 

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"...Inheritor. You have come far on your own. The help I provide you is inadequate compared to my compatriots." Ouroboros spoke in a wizened and aged voice filled with wisdom. 

Connor scowled. "Nonsense. To me, you are the strongest of all the God Serpents." 

Ouroboros was silent for a while. "It heartens me to hear you say that. However, I sense that we are about to stumble upon something extraordinary." 

Connor frowned. "Is that so? I feel the same way. It's why I bothered signing up for this guild's recruitment test as opposed to my other options." 

"Mmm… also, this digital world is surprisingly complete, almost like a complete world of its own. I can sense the potential for eternity here. We should investigate the creator of this realm, for they and us could benefit from a partnership." Ouroboros stated with interest. 

"How so?" 

"Hahaha, as long as we provide some of our Essence of Infinitum/Eternity, it will help stabilize this world's existence, making it more than digital while we could claim its functions for ourselves." Ouroboros answered with greed flashing in his eyes. 

Connor snorted and shook his head. "… Crazy talk. Whatever, I have work to do." 

With that, he cut the connection with Ouroboros and resumed his solo hunt. Either this realm was far larger than he thought or he was on his own here, for Connor did not encounter other contestants. 

Fortunately, there was no problem with the number of monsters though, as there were an infinite amount for a candidate to try to take down. At this point, Connor was kiting about 20 at a time, easily decimating them slowly with his quick spells. 

But how? Such an act was fine if it was one monster, but doing so for 20 of them required great physical skill, a fuckload of MP, and a sizable amount of stamina too, in fact. 

Well, this was where being Ouroboros' inheritor was useful. As seen through Draco, Ouroboros was the God Serpent of Eternity and was everlasting, and ever-present, never to deteriorate or weaken. 

In fact, its eternal spinning by biting its tail represented the fundamentals of energy generation. As most of us knew, two things usually resulted in the generation of energy; boiling water or spinning something in a circle. 

So unlike Orochi who had 8 different unique power as well as 4 special abilities, Jormungandr who had one super OP ability, and Leviathan who owned all conceivable water-based abilities, Ouroboros acted more as a passive provider to his host. 

AS Ouroboros' Inheritor, Connor Baines would struggle to die. He was like Local Lord, but slightly weaker in terms of regeneration. However, Ouroboros did not stop at just physical regeneration. 

He also provided all types of energy to his host. That's right, you heard it correctly, ALL TYPES. 

That is why Connor told Ouroboros not to belittle himself, because his power was honestly OP as hell. The only limitation was the same thing that the Inheritor of all the other God Serpents suffered from, including Draco and Eva. 

Bloodline Energy. 

No matter what you did with your bloodline, it cost energy to use it. Some parts were passive and could work without consuming energy, like Connor Lord's ability to breathe underwater or Nightwalker's enhanced physical ability. 

So what was happening right now? Connor Baines was burning Bloodline Energy to generate MP and Stamina, something he could totally do with ease. The conversion rate was very high too, so he wasn't losing much and could maintain this for a long period of time. 

However, if he tried to generate Aetheric Energy and the like, it would not be possible, and he would empty the tank before going 10% of the way. 

Tsk, tsk, seeing how useful the God Serpents were, one couldn't help but want to smash Draco's head with a log from an aged oak tree that was struck by lightning. 

Such potential wasted because a villain protagonist had too many powers and didn't know what to focus on! 

Sometimes, being too OP was not a good thing! 

Whatever the case, Connor brutally decimated monsters until he reached the end of the trial's time limit. He was then teleported out of the realm, surrounded by the same folks who went in with him. 

The others expressions varied between neutral, cold, angry, and as on, related to how they had perceived their own performance during the test. 

Truthfully, it wasn't too hard. The monsters were around one's level and if one played smart and had enough skill, they could solo a Private monster with ease for sure. 

What made this test hard was the number you needed to kill to even qualify. The test lasted merely 2 hours, yet they needed to kill a minimum of 150 monsters to qualify for the basic membership. 

Time for some basic math! 

Assuming that the candidate in question has enough skill to never get hit by the monster or pressured, and that they could maintain a steady DPS, and that each monster had the same amount of HP, then… 

1,000 HP for each monster with a DPS of 20 meant that it would take 50 seconds to kill 1 monster. 2 hours was 7200 seconds, and divided by 50, that was 144 times. 

So using the above example, one would fall short by 6 monsters. 

Now you could understand how tough it was. This was also why Connor had to kite monsters, because if aimed higher than basic membership, fighting monsters one at a time was madness. 

Basic members = 250 minimum. 

Advanced members = 400 minimum. 

Expert members = 650 minimum. 

Core members = 1000 minimum. 

At this point, it was clear that unless you were a bloodline holder or a superhuman with some unique power, it was impossible to become a core member. This was why the secretary had emphasized showing off any hidden powers, because one could get an instant pass without having to meet the test requirements. 

After all, with Umbra being rich enough to pay for Class Ups, anyone with special traits would have access to amazing classes with great uses, which was better than allowing weaklings to use it. 

In this group, only 50 candidates passed, 45 as Basic members, 3 Advanced, and 1 Expert. Connor, though, had managed to kill around 1500 monsters, and so he was instantly accepted as the newest core member. 

The others gazed at him with awe and shock, something the newest core member ignored without a second thought. He had been outstanding most of his life and was used to such things anyway. 

Right now, his only interests were to join this guild and scratch the itch that was bothering him, as well as explore the depths of this game's magic system. 

Soon, he was led upstairs to the Common Room, where he saw members of Umbra lounging about comfortably while chatting. When they saw the newcomers, those of the same rank called them over and greeted them, chatting amiably. 

The only core members currently present were Akainu and AP_Berzerker who were smoking expansive cigars that were specially crafted within Boundless and cost 1 UP each. 

When they saw Connor, they smiled and called him over. Connor immediately noticed that the two exuded special auras, Akainu radiating his Tier 2 Void of Perfection which suppressed all others, while AP_Berzerker's fierce aura made Connor envision a mangy wolf that had blood dripping from its canines. 

"Welcome… Shadowheart, is it? Congratulations to becoming our newest core member." Akainu greeted gently. 

Shadowheart was Connor's in-game name as he preferred Darkness element spells, not to mention it was relevant to him in reality as a certain event occurred in his past that cast a dark shadow over his heart. 

"Nice to meet you, Akainu and AP_Berzerker." Connor greeted the two neutrally. 

AP_Berzerker simply looked Connor up and down, then snorted, looking away with boredom. Well, he didn't earn the nickname 'King of Assholes' for nothing. 

Connor was not bothered by this much and gazed at Akainu who was still talking to him. 

"I'm an old member of Umbra, and handle the guilds assets in reality, while Sublime Notion handles the stuff in the game. If and when you are comfortable, I'll ask you to share your personal details with me. 

"The Purgatory Group will hire you as one of our employees, which will give you a great salary, premium game facilities, and even Central Country citizenship." 

Akainu offered this while lighting his next cigar and releasing a cloud of smoke. 

Connor smiled and shook his head. "I'm certainly interested in your offer, but I would prefer to discuss it in private with you at a later date." 

Akainu nodded with understanding. "So, I just gotta ask this, but what's your damage?" 

Connor frowned visibly. "My damage…?" 

"All of us core members have some special histories and events that occurred in the post that made us who we are. You can give us a quick summary of yours, and we'll share ours." Akainu explained as he gestured to the Common Room. 

Connor paused and hesitated, before answering slowly. "I lost my family in an explosion a few years ago, thanks to a nasty breakup with a crazy and abusive ex-girlfriend who was older than me. She went crazy and tried to kill us all, but I survived thanks to my… special nature." 

Akainu raised an eyebrow while AP_Berzerker whistled in dismay. 

"So, what's your goal, then? To find her and get revenge? I can help you with that, as I have connections both in the light and the dark. Now that you are one of us, I consider you my brother." Akainu stated, his eyes revealing that he wasn't speaking those words lightly. 

"Revenge… maybe. However, I definitely want her to feel the same way I felt, having everything she loves taken from her." Connor stated coldly, clenching his fists tightly. 

Akainu took a puff of his cigar and nodded. "Tell me the name, and she will be either dragged before you, or you'll have her information provided to you ASAP." 

Connor hesitated before shocking Akainu silly. 

"Her name… I don't know her full name, but I know what she is affiliated with and her first name.. Her name is Maria, though she's more commonly known as the 'Queen of the Cartel'." 

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