Chapter 851: Nevermore: The All-Stars of the Challenge Dungeons
Jake had never wanted to leave a dungeon faster as he promptly exited the Endless Journey before the Forsaken Dragonkin could properly understand what Jake had just said. He kind of snickered to himself as the chamber got replaced with a white void similar to the ones he had seen before fully leaving other Challenge Dungeons.
Speaking of the Challenge Dungeon Jake had done pretty well, hadnt he? While he was doing the Endless Journey, Jake honestly had a hard time getting a feeling for where his level of performance was at, but considering he got a Mythical Medallion and even did this without losing a single one of his three lives, he had to have done pretty damn well. He wouldnt say it was at the impossible tier, though which was why he was honestly a bit surprised when he read the Grand Achievement.ViiSiit novelbi/n(.)c/(o)m for latest novels
Grand Achievement earned: Successfully completed the Endless Journey while proving yourself a truly Mythical Courier. With minimal errors during Courier Jobs, a persistently near-perfect performance, and fast deliveries, your performance as a normal Courier was unquestionable. During Special Courier Jobs, you showed great skill to get yourself out of perilous situations and using your far overqualified stealth abilities, managed to operate near-unimpeded during all your jobs. Your Journey may not have been Endless, but seemingly, your talent is. 100.509 Nevermore Points earned. Due to completing a Grand Achievement, you will receive a 25% multiplier of all Nevermore Points at the final calculation.
Jake smiled a bit as he read the description and for some bloody reason, it finally only clicked for him now why the Endless Journey had seemed to be off and easier than it probably should have been. It mentioned his stealth skills were far overqualified, and while his Unseen Hunter was a great skill, he wouldnt say it made him overqualified but Shroud of the Primordial sure did.
It explained a lot. The only times Jake ever got attacked was when he went straight into an ambush or approached enemies by himself. No one ever tracked him down and attacked despite several Courier Jobs saying he would be hunted. So, it seemed like the skill had been far more of a cheat than Jake already knew, and coupled with the cheats Jake used knowingly, he could see how he had gotten the 25% bonus. It was just on the margins, though, if this theory that you needed at least 100,000 Nevermore Points was true.
Jake wasnt going to feel bad about cheating, though. Everyone who was talented was a bit of a cheat in their own right. Just looking at his party should make that clear, with it having another Bloodline, a Transcendent, a weird borderline-never-seen-before hawk-elemental hybrid, and finally, a Unique Lifeform, who were literally born cheaters.
What especially didnt make him feel bad about cheating was the reward he got from it because Jake had succeeded. He felt it in his body he had succeeded even before he saw all his system notifications and, more importantly, that his little theory had been right.
Back when Jake cleared his first Nevermore Challenge Dungeon, and gained the 25% multiplier, it had come with a title reward. It was the only title he had gained from any of the Challenge Dungeons, as the title specified one could only have one at a time. The title itself had been good but not overly exciting.
Colosseum of Mortals: True Grand Champion You have proven yourself the one true Grand Champion of the Colosseum of Mortals, defeating beings that stand at the apex of the multiverse and exited the Colosseum of Mortals with more than 10,000,000 Colosseum Points. Even a Primordial was slain on your path, making you truly worthy of the title. Only one Nevermore Challenge Dungeon title can be held at a time. +200 to all stats.
Jake had theorized that there was more to it, though. He believed that if one did reallywell, there would be some kind of meta-achievement for doing extremely well in all Challenge Dungeons. And, as always, his intuition that was the case proved true as he saw the notification.
Reward gained: Nevermore All-Star Challenger Title.
Being right felt awesome, especially when being right also meant you got an even more awesome title.
Nevermore All-Star Challenger Prove yourself a being standing at the apex in not one but multiple different disciplines. Achieve at least a 100% Nevermore Points multiplier through Grand Achievements from the five Challenge Dungeons available in the C-grade version of Nevermore. This must be done while actively competing on the Nevermore Leaderboards. Only one Nevermore Challenge Dungeon title can be held at a time. +300 to all stats. +5% to all stats.
Comparing this title to the one just giving +200 to all stats wasnt even fair. It now being +300 to all stats was nice for sure, and for someone like Jake, it was a few full levels worth of stats, but the 5% was where the real meat was at. Percentage titles werent easy to get and were considered pretty rare even if Jake had his fair share already. Their impact throughout ones entire Path simply made them so meaningful, as they would give massive benefits even when one reached S-grade potentially even in godhood.
One also had to remember one more thing Jake was kind of double-dipping with this title. He had gained a title for getting a big multiplier that could likely help him get yet another title once Nevermore was over. At least he expected there to be another title, as that only made sense the big question just was if there was potentially more than one. Oh well, he would find out eventually.
Taking stock of his Nevermore Point multiplier by now, Jake smiled. He had gained two times 5% - once from the Dark Witch, and another time during the climb along with the 25% from Minagas Labyrinth. Adding on top of the now 105% from the Challenge Dungeons, Jake was sitting on a comfortable 140% Nevermore Point multiplier. And it wasnt as if he didnt have a lot of those.
Nevermore Points: 1,242,425
With the multiplier, Jake had just shy of three million. For now, that is. There was still time to clear some more floors, and who knows, maybe he could even reach above four million total points if things went well.
However, some other teams did match Jake and companys speed. Whats more, as these people finished up the Challenge Dungeons, they didnt do so quietly. Instead, their results were announced and spread throughout the city floors and quickly picked up by the different factions. Davion from Valhal did all five, ending with a multiplier of 70%, with his best performance in the Colosseum of Mortals and House of the Architect, proving himself a diverse fighter. 70% was around the number where it was worth bragging about, and it was impressive, especially for someone like Davion, who was a very focused fighter to get it.
With time, more scores were shared. Dozens more came out with a 70% score, including people from the Court of Shadows, Holy Church, Altmar Empire, Pantheon of Life, Dao Sect, and pretty much every other faction. Soon, those who had gotten even better than that also reared their heads as a few 75% scores were shared.
Not soon after, the Holy Church made a big deal out of a member of theirs, gaining an 80% multiplier. It was a member of Jacobs party, but naturally not Jacob himself. Much praise was levied, but it was short-lived.
He was soon overtaken when Azal the Ghost King exited the five Challenge Dungeons with an overall multiplier of 85%. This was the kind of score that proved he truly was a multi-faceted genius, and his existing popularity skyrocketed.
Of course, there were also many who didnt share any details about their performances but kept it all a secret. Many were simply disciples of powerful individuals and saw no reason to publicize anything, while others didnt want to draw unwanted attention. They would showcase their true talent on the final Leaderboards instead. A great example of someone who just didnt care about attention was Arnold. He had ended with a total multiplier of 75%, but he didnt tell anyone and he wasnt even the one with the highest score on his team.
Some also performed below expectations. There had been much hype about the new Chosen from the Lifesoul Daolord Eron but his score was never publicized. In part because he only ended with a 50% multiplier total. He was simply too lopsided. He got a 25% score in House of the Architect and 15% in Minagas Endless Labyrinth, but those were his only two good performances, with the only other Challenge Dungeon he got percentages in being the Test of Character.
Time passed, as soon an announcement made waves. A dragonkin from the Regalflight the golden dragons had achieved a multiplier of 90%. She was the daughter of one of the Grand Elders within the dragonflights, and they proudly flaunted their achievement.
Not too long after, a previously unknown figure matched this performance. A Demon Prince from one of the hells that few had their eyes on made this shocking announcement, as the often-forgotten demon faction also got some buzz.
More scores were published for a while, as all the big factions had big performers, but very few reached their mythical 90% multiplier. It had to be noted that these multipliers mattered for more than simply the clout. If one reached 70% after doing all five, there would be a title that improved at 80% and 90%, too. At 90%, it would even give 5% to ones three highest stats, making it incredibly impactful and one many people aimed for and failed to hit.
As the era was long, someone would definitely get more than that at some point but none of them had expected it to have already happened a while ago, as the announcement had merely been delayed. Definitely intentionally so to make it at a good time to generate the most attention.
It was naturally made by someone who cared a lot about his reputation and one of the people most had their eyes on the Chosen of Yip of Yore: EllHakan. His score sent a new shockwave through Nevermore as he didnt just announce the final score but what he got in each Challenge Dungeon.
20% Colosseum of Mortals, succeeding in gaining the recognition of Valdemar with his final life. Proving his ability to fight, even without all his skills.
25% Test of Character, never once taking control, but exploiting the situation by never having to, and instead controlling the person he was inhabiting to always choose the outcome he wanted. This proved his strong character and unshakeable will in the eyes of many.
10% Minagas Endless Labyrinth. The first true stumble on his journey, but still a very respectable score.
20% House of the Architect, showing his ingenious creative mind. Nobody needed to know he had exploited much within this Challenge Dungeon.
20% Endless Journey, proving that even if he was a Chosen, he could also show humility and adapt assuming that is what he had actually done, and not merely made use of his Bloodline to sway things in the directions he wanted, exploiting the prone-to-be-exploited natives of the dungeon.
With a score of 95%, it was difficult to imagine anyone could beat him. While it was true getting a 100% multiplier was possible, it was simply so rare and often didnt happen more than a dozen or so times in every era. At least, that was how many openly stated they had gotten the score, though there may have been more who kept it hidden. In either case, it was simply that hard to find someone talented in so many different areas at once. As for getting above 100%... that sounded like a pipedream to most.
As for Jake publicizing his score well, he was frankly too busy doing alchemy to decide if he wanted to rain on everyones parade.