[Hidden Ending Perk!]
[The hidden class, has been unlocked.]
A dry ssage appeared on the monitor.
Ugh
I did it!
A hidden class! You did it, Kim Shin-hwa!
[Cthulhu World].
This is the ga Ive dedicated over 1,000 hours to recently.
[Cthulhu World] is a ga set in modern Korea, incorporating elents of the Cthulhu mythos like the Mountains of Madness Dagons and Nyarlathotep.
Therefore, everything in this ga existed in a way that was more grim and horrifying than reality.
The civilizations built by humanity were nothing more than sand castles, prone to collapse at any mont in the face of cosmic evil.
Humanitys feeble minds and frail bodies beca prey for surreal otherworldly beings.
Knowledge and wisdom turned into curses that spurred destruction.
Corrupted religions praised blasphemous wisdom. ,
Blind science studied forbidden knowledge.
The only weapon bestowed upon humanity was a veil called ignorance.
Even that was pitifully thin and frail to hold back beings that were indescribably enormous.
What is it like? Does it look fun?
Regardless of what others think, I find it to be fun.
Its unique settings and ambiance perfectly targeted my love for horror.
But the intrigue didnt stop there.
True to its cosmic horror the, the ga was really, truly, genuinely very difficult.
The extre difficulty, the horrifying traps, the powerful boss monsters that made you wonder if they were actually impossible to defeat, and the nad NPCs hunting down players.
Of course, to a hardcore player like , who had conquered all sorts of gas, this was rely a stimulating challenge.
This ti too, I had managed to clear an incredibly tough hidden ending and, as a reward, obtained a hidden class.
But still
Theres no one to brag about it to Its really sad
Out of curiosity, I checked the community, but all the posts from the last year were mine.
The view counts were all the sa: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
In the past, there was at least so exchange of information, but lately, the community has beco completely inactive.
Yes, that was the case.
This ga was a flop.
It was so blatantly a failure that it couldnt fool anyone.
The extre settings, dark atmosphere, and hellish difficulty level
Although these elents are divisive, they were not the cause of the gas downfall.
The reason this ga failed was due to its excessive bugs.
Getting stuck between structures or walking through walls was just the tip of the iceberg.
When the ga suddenly crashes or a well-developed character disappears, who would want to play it?
Then there were the half-baked, unfinished elents that were glaringly obvious.
A pri example was the [Lacrex Codex], one of the items that must be obtained in every playthrough.
In the Cthulhu mythos, such tos usually contain surreal wisdom or madness.
If it didnt have a special function, at the very least, it should have been connected to so event.
But the [Lacrex Codex], despite its grandiose special effects, had no content written in it. There were no connected events either.
I wondered if Lacrex was a place or a persons na, but such a word didnt exist anywhere in the [Cthulhu World].
What could it be then?
Either it was left unfinished, or the developers forgot about it halfway through!
Given these circumstances, the ga was inevitably abandoned by its players.
I might be the only person who played it this far.
No, I am definitely the only one!
If there were actually other players, there would have been at least one post posted in the community.
Did everyone just not like Cthulhu or cosmic horror?
How could you hope to save the world from such mythological beings with such weak spirit!
Anyway, if one could adapt to the initial discomfort and absurd difficulty, it was sowhat fun.
Unfortunately, I quickly adapted to the nurous bugs.
Even though it was terrible, if you just thought, Ah, its just a hidden piece, right? and got by, eventually you could even master the exploitation of bugs.
In fact, there were quite a few ridiculous bugs that actually helped with progress.
I shouldnt have gotten used to such a ga
Ah, forget it, forget it.
Why is being recognized by others so important? Protecting the world from the dreadful Cthulhu is what matters!
Speaking of which
This ti, its about unlocking a new character.
Cthulhu World has a multi-ending system with over hundreds of endings.
The joy of experiencing new developnts and stories with each route is one thing, but with each new ending viewed, small rewards were provided or hidden elents were unlocked.
If its a flop, at least make it interesting
Thanks to these varied rewards and hidden elents, I never got tired of clinging to this ga for so long.
Since Ive received it, shall I play with this one this ti? I was thinking of trying a mage next, and if its a hidden class, it must have good options, right?
Depending on what character you create, you could have a completely different experience in the ga.
The character I had been playing just recently was a martial artist with the ability to transform into a beast.
A tough body that can withstand being shot by a gun when buffed!
He possessed imnse strength, enough to hurl boulders!
Though he had no magical abilities at all, the storyline of overcoming all obstacles with sheer strength and brute force was incredibly fun.
This ti, I decided to create a character that was the exact opposite extre.
A mage with the very attractive Hidden title.
I clicked on [New Ga] on the title screen and opened the character creation window.
****
[Mage Gazing into the Abyss]
A mad mage researching the forbidden abyss of humanity.
The abyss is a living monster in itself.
He could wield evil magic capable of destroying even his own sanity.
But his soul, filled with madness and chaos, would be the perfect feast for the beings of the abyss.
Exclusive traits: [Shattered Mind], [Madness of the Abyss], [Feast Offering], [Supre Stat Adjustnt], [Abyss Magic], [Madmans Luck], [Magic Devourer], [Spell Mastery], [Spell Enhancent: Deadly Poison]
[Shattered Mind]: Randomly receives 2 ntal illnesses. If, for any reason, this ntal illness appears, you will randomly receive a new ntal illness. The delirium effects caused by this acquired ntal illness cannot be prevented.
/ You have gained a terrible ntal illness that will never be erased, as a price for looking into the abyss.
[Madness of the Abyss]: Does not lose sanity due to encounters with monsters or mythological beings, magic use, or reading mythological texts. Gains supre resistance to delirium and fear effects.
However, fear and delirium effects caused by [Shattered Mind] cannot be prevented.
/ Your mind will never collapse. Because its already insane
[Feast Offering]: Increased probability of encountering beings from the abyss
****
Would skimming through the other special abilities suffice for now?
The most important trait is the [Stat Adjustnt] trait which is often attached to hidden characters.
[Supre Stat Adjustnt: You can adjust stats without limits during character creation.]
Huh? No limits? Really? Seriously?
Characters with the [Stat Adjustnt] trait can modify their initially given stats at creation as they desire.
However, its not a free-for-all adjustnt. There are penalties and restrictions.
First, the penalty.
To increase one stat, another must be decreased.
For instance, lowering the less important intelligence to increase strength when creating a warrior character.
Then, the restrictions.
This is important: each character has a maximum and minimum stat threshold.
You cant have abilities over 20 or under 8
But you say now theres no limits?
Lets first look at the basic stats.
****
Strength: 8
Health: 10
Agility: 11
Intelligence: 18
ntal Strength: 14
Charm: 16
Remaining Stats: 0
****
The basic stats and traits were set for a typical glass cannon mage.
Although these characters have weak bodies, they can wield powerful magic unmatched by others.
As I ntioned earlier, normally you cant reduce a specific stat below 8. But this character had no such restrictions
****
Strength: 5
Health: 5
Agility: 7
Intelligence: 16
ntal Strength: 14
Charm: 16
Remaining Stats: 14
****
Alright, is this the maximum I can subtract?
I had secured 14 points in the remaining stats.
I could use this number to increase any stats I wanted.
There was only one stat I intended to boost.
That was intelligence.
Intelligence is the core of a mage and the most crucial stat directly linked to magical ability.
An intelligence of 18 points is considered genius.
20 points is transcendent.
The martial artist I played just before was a character with 20 points in strength, that is, transcendent strength.
20 in strength ant the ability to hurl boulders and bend steel bars with ease.
And the mage I created this ti was
****
Strength: 5
Health: 5
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 29
ntal Strength: 14
Charm: 16
Remaining Stats: 0
****
The intelligence score of 29 was tagged with the following descriptor:
[Intelligence 29: Surreal]
Just as I was about to click the OK button to complete the stat adjustnt, a bitter sound escaped from between my lips.
Surreal intelligence.
It sounded good.
Really good.
Hmm.
Yet, there was sothing about the number 29 that felt imperfect.
29.
Its an impressively high number, but didnt it seem lacking?
It felt like drawing a perfect circle but faltering at the very last mont.
Since I already made it this way, I found myself eager to reach 30 rather than settling for the seemingly incomplete 29 in intelligence.
An intelligence of 30 was a truly absurd number, sothing I had never even imagined while playing [Cthulhu World].
But there were no other stats I could reduce further.
It might seem like the other stats were chosen haphazardly, but each had its own reason.
Charm didnt just an a handso appearance.
It was the minimum number required to negotiate with mythical beings and win the favor of surreal entities.
Of course, a transcendent charm score would be better, but I could enhance it by about 2 points with items acquired along the way.
So, [Charm 16: handso].
This cant be reduced.
The 8 points in agility were also the minimum number considering the increase I would get from future items and buffs.
Dropping below 8 might lead to my death before I could acquire other items.
The sa went for soul and health
The tooltip displaying [Strength 5: Feeble] caught my eye.
A mage doesnt really need strength, right?
In the end, I clicked the minus button next to strength one more ti.
I offer myself to you, Lord Cthulhu, Lord Yog-Sothoth! Grant more intelligence!
****
Strength: 4
Health: 5
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 30
ntal Strength: 14
Charm: 16
****
As I set my strength to 4, its descriptor changed as well.
[Strength 4: Frail]
But that was okay.
Look at this intelligence!
Intelligence 30!
Its 30!
Look everyone! Ive created a character with an intelligence of 30!
Ah, damn it. The community is still empty.
anwhile, a never-before-seen sentence was displayed in the tooltip window showing a detailed explanation of intelligence.
[Intelligence 30: Mythical. You have knowledge beyond human reach and a wisdom that borders on madness.]
Huh? Whats this? Ive never seen a ssage like this before. Could it be? A hidden trigger?
The thought that I might have activated another hidden trigger made my heart race with excitent.
Yeah, this level of madness is required to be considered a truly insane mage.
In fact, its generally better for survival to create a character with a well-balanced set of stats rather than one with such a lopsided distribution.
But this ti, its all about the extre madness concept!
If it doesnt work out, I can just delete it and start over
Next were the traits.
As a [Mage Gazing into the Abyss], I had more traits than other characters, but like my stats, I could add other traits by choosing detrintal penalty traits.
Having already sacrificed my strength, extre penalty traits were added.
[Weakened Stamina]
[Weakened Strength]
[Weakened Health]
[Weakened Close Combat]
[Increased Damage]
[Weakness: Disease]
[Inability to Use: Heavy Weapons]
[Increased Injury Probability]
[Weakness: Poison]
Hmm Should I add [Decreased Stamina]? But can I handle not being able to walk for long?
Is it okay to add [Reduced Healing]?
And then
And also
In exchange for shouldering such penalties, I was able to incorporate a plethora of useful traits necessary for magic.
Now, what were so good traits for a mage
It had been a while since I created a mage character
Wow! The [Spell Mastery] ca free for the [Mage Gazing into the Abyss].
It was an excellent class.
Unlocking [Spell Mastery] requires a very large cost.
The prerequisite conditions were incredibly complex.
This trait allowed the use of basic spells from the available hierarchy without any separate learning process. Without it, many who created mages couldnt cast spells simply because they didnt know them.
The fact that this top-tier trait was provided for free made the [Mage Gazing into the Abyss] an exceptionally good character.
Then, I added [Secret Lore Understanding] and [Spell Enhancent: Maximization].
[Spell Enhancent: Power Boost]
[Spell Enhancent: Range Extension]
[Quick Casting]
[Double Chanting]
[Cast Skipping]
[Catalyst Compensation]
[Spell Stealing]
And although these were not a mage specialty, the always useful [Precise Aiming] and [Vigilance].
Huh, do I have traits left over?
Then lets upgrade [Vigilance] to [Enhanced Vigilance],
And then
And again
As a result of adding a whopping 11 penalty traits, I added an equal number of useful traits.
Ultimately, I created the most powerful mage ever, steeped in the Cthulhu mythos dark shadows, surpassing all the characters I had made before.
Of course, this ca at the cost of virtually sacrificing my own body and life.
But this, in its own way, fitted the concept and pleased .
Okay, thats the setup done. Magic power! Thats all Im counting on!
The mont I clicked the [Ga Start] button, the mouse cursor vanished, and the monitor screen went dark.
The computer showed no response.
Damn, another bug!
The dark screen of the monitor began to flicker strangely.
A character-specific opening video?
That seed unlikely.
The liquid crystals of the monitor itself started to flow strangely.
The center of the monitor split apart horizontally with a loud crack. It opened like the jaws of a beast, no longer resembling any object from the reality I knew.
It was a dreadful darkness, seething like a dark swamp. It was a horrible filth, filled with disgusting sewage. It was rotting chaos, a grotesquely distorted remnant of a broken reality, and fragnts of a nightmare that should never be rembered.
And it was a pit of ravenous abyss.
From that hideous pit, ominous black sli began to pour out, writhing like a living fragnt of a monstrous creature.
I couldnt move my body. My tongue and lips were motionless.
I had a mouth, but I couldnt scream. I had arms and legs, but I couldnt move. A terrible malice was approaching
But I couldnt escape.
The cold, horrific sli started to envelop , moving in ways inexplicable and bizarre in human terms.
I couldnt escape.
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to scream!
I couldnt scream!
I wanted to scream so badly!
In just a fleeting mont,
I
Like I said, I!
The freedom to close my eyes or turn my gaze away had been stripped from .
I had no choice but to watch that terrible monster eroding my flesh. I couldnt breathe. My consciousness was fading. Death was approaching. No, in this bizarre abyss, even death itself seed destined to die.
At the edge of my fading consciousness, I heard a voice.
A bizarre voice that seed to pour out not from one mouth but from hundreds or thousands of maws at once.
The voice struck not my ears but my brain.
No, it felt like it was imbued with such force that it directly struck my soul.
The feast offering is now prepared.
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