Endless Evolution As A Skeleton In A Game-Like World

[Key of the abyss]

Allows the user to return back to the tutorial...

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”Return back to the tutorial?”

In the space of a few seconds, tons of memories flashed through Ark’s mind, dampening his mood.

The tutorial was done and dusted, why the hell would he want to ever return to that place?

”It looks like something tower archaeologists would be interested in...” he said thoughtfully, only for his voice to trail off in the end.

”Tower...” Ark’s blue eyes flickered with realisation.

”Wait, is this— How did I not think of this?”

No two tutorials were the same. Although they could share a lot of similarities, there was a fundamental difference between them.

The floors.

Dungeons only had a single floor, but towers needed to have at least two floors to even be considered a tower.

The system had clearly called ’The King’s Court’ a tower, but back then, they were too focused on the impossible task that had been set before them.

Many of their classmates had died, and death was swiftly approaching, but now that Ark thought about it, it made no sense that it would only have one floor.

If he was to return using the key, didn’t that mean he would be able to explore the higher floors?

Now, the key felt far more valuable than it had just a few minutes ago.

This was a hidden tower, and one thing that was well known was that hidden towers often had far more rewards than regular towers did...

Still, this did not change one glaring fact, the tower was Hell level. Their class’ elite were almost completely wiped out on the first floor, just how difficult would the upper floors be?

Worst of all, unlike last time, Ark would have to go alone.

He sat there for a few seconds, contemplating. ”I will need to grow stronger before attempting it...”

The tutorial tower was an asset he could not ignore for too long, especially if he wanted to progress as a player. But he would need time.

Next, Ark picked up the golden box and placed it on his lap.

”Open.” This time it was a bright, golden light that erupted from the cube, making it as though the sun had risen within it. And then a string of text appeared in front of him.

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The ruler of time once made a bet with the prince of the skies, placing his authority on the line. After his loss, he was cast from the heavens and made to live the life of a mere mortal.

A thousand years went by, and he faded in both spirit, soul and body. By the time his torment was over, all that was left was a golden eye.

[You have received S-Rank Item, Eye Of Eternity]

[Eye Of Eternity]

An artifact fashioned out of the remains of a fallen deity. The Eye Of Eternity has the following effects:

— Unwind: Can instantly teleport the player to any position in time on the material plane he had been in the last one minute.

— Hand Of Forá: The Eye Of Eternity can reverse the level of synchronization of a player back to any position it had ever existed in.

— Blessing Of Time: The player is immune to time-altering and observation-type spells.

— Time Reversal: The host can reverse the time of anything he makes contact with up to five seconds into the past, and accelerate their distance or velocity during the set duration.

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”Four different enchantments from one simple artifact...” Ark stared at the baseball-sized golden orb in disbelief.

Every single enchantment was worthy of being A rank at the very least, while some were undoubtedly S.

The first one, ’Unwind,’ basically allowed him to teleport. Of course, he would be limited to the area around him and it would drain a shit ton of mana, but teleportation was many times worth the stress that accompanied it!

The second enchantment concerned a phenomenon that affected players in Eden.

Once a player hit one hundred percent synchronization with their race, they became more of whatever their race was than human.

Some players had been heard of leaving the cities and living in seclusion, some became fully beast, while some developed a maddening hunger for flesh.

Everything depended on the race. An elf may not have many problems, but a water spirit? A dragon? A werewolf...

The effects of one-hundred-percent synchronization could be disastrous for them.

Although there was no one to use it on, it was definitely a good thing to have. But among all the traits, what had to be the most broken of them all was Time Reversal.

The ability to reverse time on its own, even if just a fraction of it, was unreal.

With an ability as broken as this, it didn’t matter what sort of world-destroying move was used on him.

Even if it took all his mana to reverse a high-grade spell, he would reverse it and manipulate its velocity to send it flying back!

And if he was even close enough to the player, he could make the spell cease to exist...

Ark relaxed his back on the chair and chuckled softly.

’Why is my luck so good today?’ He secretly hoped that he had not burned five years of luck on this single artifact alone...

’Actually.’

Ark suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

’Did I?’

Most people would call him superstitious, but he had pulled three SSR characters in a game once, only to fail to get the characters he wanted for five consecutive years, up until he quit the game...

”No.” Ark shook his head. ”That was a game, this is reality. My luck can’t be screwed up, right?”

’I hope...’

”Anyways.” Ark held the orb between his fingers.

[Initiating Harvest...]

[Harvest Failed!]

”I guess it’s a little more difficult for higher-grade items.”

Ark tried three more times, only to fail each time. He clicked his tongue and placed it back in his inventory.

’I guess it won’t be that easy...’

It was a god’s eye, and unlike living things that he could just beat up, or kill to boost his chances, there was no way to boost his chance of extracting the artifact.

’Maybe they will become easier to extract when I get stronger?’ Ark wondered.

The system mentioned that the extraction was based on a number of factors, but since it was not specified, he could only speculate.

”Thankfully I don’t need to extract it...” As long as the artifact was in his inventory, he would still be able to use it to the fullest.

Now that he was finally done, Ark set his respawn point on Olivia’s couch, and it was at that very moment that she got out of the bathroom, causing hot steam to stream out of the space.

The air smelled of flowers, likely from the shampoo. This must have been what caused Ark to immediately glance at her, only to freeze.

Her orange hair was dark with moisture. It was packed up in a bun, but a few strands managed to escape, clinging to her freckled face.

Her skin was tinged red from the heat, and she wore nothing save for the white towel wrapped around her chest, hanging just above her mid-thigh...