Chapter 1: Hidden Ending Perk

Chapter 1: Hidden Ending Perk

[Hidden Ending Perk!]

[The hidden class, <Mage Gazing into the Abyss> has been unlocked.]

A dry message appeared on the monitor.

Ugh

I did it!

A hidden class! You did it, Kim Shin-hwa!

[Cthulhu World].

This is the game Ive dedicated over 1,000 hours to recently.

[Cthulhu World] is a game set in modern Korea, incorporating elements of the Cthulhu mythos like the Mountains of Madness Dagons and Nyarlathotep.

Therefore, everything in this game 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 moment in the face of cosmic evil.

Humanitys feeble minds and frail bodies became 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 theme, the game was really, truly, genuinely very difficult.

The extreme difficulty, the horrifying traps, the powerful boss monsters that made you wonder if they were actually impossible to defeat, and the named NPCs hunting down players.

Of course, to a hardcore player like me, who had conquered all sorts of games, this was merely a stimulating challenge.

This time 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 same: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

In the past, there was at least some exchange of information, but lately, the community has become completely inactive.

Yes, that was the case.

This game was a flop.

It was so blatantly a failure that it couldnt fool anyone.

The extreme settings, dark atmosphere, and hellish difficulty level

Although these elements are divisive, they were not the cause of the games downfall.

The reason this game failed was due to its excessive bugs.

Getting stuck between structures or walking through walls was just the tip of the iceberg.

When the game suddenly crashes or a well-developed character disappears, who would want to play it?

Then there were the half-baked, unfinished elements that were glaringly obvious.

A prime example was the [Lacrex Codex], one of the items that must be obtained in every playthrough.

In the Cthulhu mythos, such tomes usually contain surreal wisdom or madness.

If it didnt have a special function, at the very least, it should have been connected to some 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 name, 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 game 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 somewhat fun.

Unfortunately, I quickly adapted to the numerous 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 game

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 time, its about unlocking a new character.

Cthulhu World has a multi-ending system with over hundreds of endings.

The joy of experiencing new developments and stories with each route is one thing, but with each new ending viewed, small rewards were provided or hidden elements were unlocked.

If its a flop, at least make it interesting

Thanks to these varied rewards and hidden elements, I never got tired of clinging to this game for so long.

Since Ive received it, shall I play with this one this time? 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 game.

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!This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

He possessed immense 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 time, I decided to create a character that was the exact opposite extreme.

A mage with the very attractive Hidden title.

I clicked on [New Game] 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], [Supreme Stat Adjustment], [Abyss Magic], [Madmans Luck], [Magic Devourer], [Spell Mastery], [Spell Enhancement: Deadly Poison]

[Shattered Mind]: Randomly receives 2 mental illnesses. If, for any reason, this mental illness appears, you will randomly receive a new mental illness. The delirium effects caused by this acquired mental illness cannot be prevented.

/ You have gained a terrible mental 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 supreme 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?

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.

Meanwhile, 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 message like this before. Could it be? A hidden trigger?

The thought that I might have activated another hidden trigger made my heart race with excitement.

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 time, its all about the extreme 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 detrimental penalty traits.

Having already sacrificed my strength, extreme 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 some good traits for a mage

It had been a while since I created a mage character

Wow! The [Spell Mastery] came 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 Enhancement: Maximization].

[Spell Enhancement: Power Boost]

[Spell Enhancement: 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 came at the cost of virtually sacrificing my own body and life.

But this, in its own way, fitted the concept and pleased me.

Okay, thats the setup done. Magic power! Thats all Im counting on!

The moment I clicked the [Game 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 seemed 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 fragments of a nightmare that should never be remembered.

And it was a pit of ravenous abyss.

From that hideous pit, ominous black slime began to pour out, writhing like a living fragment 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 me

But I couldnt escape.

The cold, horrific slime started to envelop me, 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 moment,

I

Like I said, I!

The freedom to close my eyes or turn my gaze away had been stripped from me.

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 seemed destined to die.

At the edge of my fading consciousness, I heard a voice.

A bizarre voice that seemed 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.