Legacy descendants were terrifying, and that was not an exaggeration.
They were the children of Grandmaster ranked players or even higher beings, people who had already conquered the game long before most players even logged in for the first time. Power ran in their blood, and skill was drilled into them from the moment they could hold a weapon. Reever had just witnessed one in action, and the result was frighteningly simple. To that person, killing a boss was no different from breathing.
If that legacy descendant wanted to, Reever was sure he could have wiped out the entire field alone and still had time to complain about how boring it was.
Reever stepped closer to the Cockrupine King and tapped the muzzle of his gun against its massive head.
No movement.
No reaction.
No tricks.
"Yep. Dead dead," he muttered.
His eyes drifted to the underside of the corpse, where he clearly remembered seeing the legacy descendant hide the four power cores.
For a moment, he hesitated.
"Should I take them and finish the mission," he thought. "Or did that guy plan something ridiculous, like coming back later just to mess with whoever touched his loot."
The hesitation lasted only a second.
"Nah. The great Reever doesn't back down from challenges," he told himself. "So what if he's a legacy kid. I'm a legacy too. Someone from the golden era of the game."
That alone made him superior. At least in his own head.
He flipped the massive body over and retrieved the four glowing power cores without ceremony.
The system responded immediately, generating a larger bag to accommodate them. He placed the cores inside carefully, making sure none of them clashed or overloaded each other, then secured the bag on his back.
With that done, he started jogging toward the mission center.
This time, luck decided not to be annoying.
No saboteurs.
No ambushes.
No idiots trying to test their luck against him.
The walk was almost peaceful, which made him suspicious, but minutes later he arrived without incident. He opened the door carefully, already prepared for something stupid to happen.
Instead, he saw the Master ranked NPC seated comfortably, watching something on a television that definitely had not been there before. The gaming tablet from earlier was plugged in and charging beside him.
"What a weird person," Reever thought.
He walked over to the trash can where the collected power cores were stored and looked inside.
He blinked.
Then counted again.
Six cores.
"So they actually worked," he muttered.
The four he carried were enough to complete the mission.
He placed them into the gray can and waited for the system notification to confirm mission completion.
It never came.
Instead, the NPC stood up.
With a simple snap of his fingers, the remaining four players materialized inside the room.
"Scary."
"What a flex."
"Such power."
"Cool."
The reactions came one after another. Reever was almost certain that if the kill bot could speak, it would have cursed out loud. Kill bots were prideful creatures. He learned that the hard way after being killed by Bot 097 in a training match he had before the time travelling issues.
"Congratulations, players, on completing the mission," Harun said.
"I did not expect you to finish it in less than forty minutes. I am impressed."
He walked toward them, shaking each player's hand as if this had been a casual meetup instead of a near death experience.
"I needed a power source to start my bike. These power cores will do nicely. Thank you."
Several players rolled their eyes.
"Who sends people into hell just to fuel a bike," Reever thought, wisely keeping his mouth shut.
"I will not keep you here for long. Your rewards will be based on your individual contributions."
Harun clapped his hands.
Clap. Clap.
A system notification appeared.
[Congratulations Bot 067 for completing the mission.
You collected 5 power cores.
Generating rewards.]
Reever expected this.
Two players had done absolutely nothing.
The kill bot had collected four cores, which placed it second.
The final core belonged to a player who was probably just lucky enough to trip over it.
Everyone turned to look at Reever.
Five cores. Alone.
Greed flashed in some eyes. The kill bot stared at him with clear disdain. Harun, on the other hand, smiled in a way that made Reever uneasy.
"Looks like I'll need to be careful when I leave," Reever thought as he waved awkwardly.
[Rewards generated.
One hundred smoke bombs, uncommon rank.
One hundred concussion bombs, uncommon rank.
One hundred fire based bombs, uncommon rank.
One hundred fire based bombs, uncommon rank.
One hundred acid based bombs, uncommon rank.
One hundred flash bombs, uncommon rank.
Ten unknown special bombs, courtesy of Doctor Harun, rare rank.]
The system made sure the notification was loud enough for everyone to hear.
The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly. The players were envious, apart from the bot which ignored Reever as if he weren't there.
Harun winked at Reever.
"You may leave me in peace now. I still have an anime to finish."
He clapped his hands.
The players vanished.
Reever materialized back in the room where he had first appeared at the start of the match.
"Time for mission two," he thought as he followed the red arrow toward his next destination.