Damn System

Episode 12

Chapter 3 System (2)

‘Purification is an alpha-only attribute.’

I can see why Alpha is the highest rated.

‘I don’t need a cleanser.’

A necessary purification agent to kill monsters and absorb mana.

Alpha is a grade that can purify tainted magic itself without the purification agent.

From this information, it was also possible to infer the lower class limits.

In the lower grades, there is a high possibility that you will need to obtain a separate purification agent.

‘There is a shop function, so I think I can get it there… … .’

There will definitely be a price to pay.

After I had sorted my thoughts out there, I stopped paying attention.

It doesn’t matter to me how the lower class obtains the purification agent.

I was promoted to Alpha. The part I need to focus on is figuring out how to use the Purification attribute.

“purification.”

I tried talking aloud, but the system didn’t respond.

“Characteristics, Purification.”

I tried changing my words several times, but all I got back was the silence of the system.

I remember when the first tutorial was over.

Even then, I did something meaningless to try to use magic.

But unlike back then, I wasn’t angry.

Because I was a little generous because of the reward of 10 million won.

So instead of getting angry, I was able to move on.

‘It’s not once or twice that the system has been unfriendly.’

It would be better to find a way to get angry.

I closed my eyes and focused on my magic.

Right after that, I unknowingly flinched and shivered.

It was several times easier to move magic than before.

Even before the promotion test, I was able to use magic, but something was different now.

To put it bluntly, in the past, it was the feeling of mana forcibly grabbing the collar and making it move.

But now, should I say that magic comes with a single gesture of my hand?

In terms of experience, there was such a difference.

I saw that the value of mana management had risen to 10%, and it must be because of that.

‘This means that the skill level has increased.’

Mana control became easier.

He did a good job of holding on without giving away his mana.

Thanks to this, most of the mana was not taken away, and most of it was preserved, and even the proficiency increased significantly.

‘Originally, you have to take care of your own rice bowl.’

Satisfied, I nodded my head and focused on my magic again.

As magic power circulated throughout my body, I could vividly feel the thorns stuck in my body.

As soon as I could focus my senses on that side, the gently flowing mana suddenly stopped moving.

Then each of them settled down and began to cling to the thorns.

It was a realization close to instinct.

These thorns are filth that came along with magic.

And these thorns are polluting my mind as they are stuck in my body.

The system expressed it as polluted magic power.

So if you pluck this thorn out of me.

‘Only the magic absorbed into the body remains, and the filth disappears.’

Now that I know what to do, all I have to do is run.

“Hug, hook.”

Of course, as always, it wasn’t easy.

It was dozens of times more difficult to move magic near the thorns.

It felt like an invisible force was moving in the opposite direction to my mana.

Purifying was like moving a muscle I had never used in my life.

More precisely, the feeling of using muscles I didn’t even know I had.

A crunching, grinding sound flowed from the teeth that had been bitten tightly.

Procrastinate at the same time.

The thorns in my body were slowly pushed out like caterpillars moving.

「Attribute Purification is activated.」

“Huh.”

At the same time as he took a deep breath, the magic operation was cut off, and the characteristics were also deactivated.

When I checked the system message, joy and anger coexisted.

I was glad that I had finally figured out how to purify it.

But that method is hard enough to be cursed at.

I tried my best, but I could only pull one out.

Considering the amount absorbed immediately after killing the monster, the hardships ahead were clearly visible.

‘Anyway, nothing in this guy’s game is easy.’

After muttering a low curse, I focused on purifying again.

Whatever you started, you have to see the end.

It took 2 hours to reduce the 5% Chaos level to 0 that day.

It’s a really messed up game.

* * *

I went through the discharge procedure right away in the evening.

My wounds have healed noticeably, and my younger siblings will worry if I leave for too long.

Jaehyuk insisted on driving the car, so I decided to ride.

way back home like that.

I had a lot of thoughts while organizing the excuses I had to make to my younger siblings.

Before leaving the hospital, I had a conversation with Jong-hoon.

‘He was injured by falling on the stairs, and he did a thorough examination just in case.’

Fortunately, Jonghun didn’t tell me how much I was hurt.

Thanks to that, there was still room for some evasiveness.

‘There’s no need to worry.’

Right now, next week is the entrance ceremony.

I didn’t want to disturb you for nothing.

It was when I was sitting still, brooding over the lies I would tell my younger siblings.

“Are you really okay?”

Jaehyuk, who was at the wheel, asked.

“You saw it before.”

He watched my wounds heal in real time for half a day.

The pain was still there, but there was no difficulty in moving.

I was shocked, but I decided to think of it as a good thing.

‘Because the possibility of dying has decreased.’

As I sat still, staring straight ahead, I felt a glancing gaze.

“… … What do you think?”

Jaehyuk’s voice became more cautious.

It was obvious that he was worried about me.

I replied, burying myself in the passenger seat.

“Why did this happen to me?”

Jaehyuk didn’t answer.

I muttered a low voice over him.

“community.”

“what?”

“soliloquy.”

While answering Jaehyuk’s question, his eyes moved busily.

It was to confirm what came to mind when it was time to leave the hospital.

Like the shop, community features that were not available during the tutorial.

The window opened normally, perhaps thanks to the message that the community was active.

Five or six posts had already been posted, and there were far more comments than that.

But what I was seeing wasn’t posts made by other players.

“Player 98.”

Looking at the number written at the top of the community makes my teeth clench.

It was a number with only 2 missing from 100.

It is the same as the number of names crossed out in the promotion test mission.

‘The player selection message said 100.’

Two of them are dead.

The corpse I saw shimmers before my eyes again.

I forced myself to swallow the vomit and strained my eyes.

’98… … .’

There was something strange about looking at the numbers.

‘Even the tutorial wasn’t easy.’

Only two out of 100 died.

As I thought about it, there was one thing that bothered me.

‘Protected area.’

The white space where the tutorial was conducted.

And the forest where the monster appeared.

The difference between the two places was whether or not they were protected areas.

‘Did you not die even if you failed in the tutorial?’

My guess was correct.

“Title: All clear.”

There was a lot of information related to him in the post with a short title.

「Content: Those who have cleared all are not human. How did you catch the lion? I was busy tearing limbs. If it hadn’t happened, I would have died unconditionally.”

– I think killing a polar bear is more amazing than a lion.

⌎That’s right, I was hit and passed out. When I woke up, there was a failure notification.

⌎ The bear has a spear. You can catch it if you induce it to be stabbed with its weight. The lion is greater. There were 3 of them.

⌎ So did you catch the bear? he’s a funny guy

– I’m curious about how you cleared stages 2 and 3, but I’m more curious about what you’re doing now.

⌎ What did you get from the mission? I think I would have given you something good. The system has always been obsessed with grades.

⌎ That’s something I don’t know.

⌎ You’ll get special benefits. The system didn’t count grades for nothing. When I caught him, I was in 5th place. Additional rewards are given to top performers. Among all classes that completed additional missions, the top ranks, they would have received one more thing.

⌎ I am envious.

– Are bold comments the author?

⌎ Yes, this is me.

– I think I’m glad I didn’t come. The number of players has decreased. All the rest would have waited in the sanctuary, but there is no reason for the numbers to decrease. Two of them must have died during the whole class.

⌎I can’t believe it, didn’t you recover from your injuries after the mission?

⌎It was a tutorial. The word “protected area” came up.

⌎Are you saying they won’t treat you after the tutorial?

⌎ In normal games, too. Characters are not damaged during tuto.

– Coca-Cola motherf*ckers.

⌎ It must have been beaten up by a polar bear. Ha ha ha ha ha.

You don’t die if you fail the tutorial. Because it’s a protected area.

I didn’t know because I didn’t fail, but the players who failed already knew.

Very briefly, I was angry because I remembered the hard work I did during the tutorial.

It was long past the time to get angry.

With a feeling of almost liberation, I sighed and read each and every one of the comments.

‘Looks like it’s automatically translated in the community.’

It seems that there is an automatic translation function for players of different nationalities.

There were awkward contexts here and there, but there was no difficulty in understanding the contents.

The problem is that there is no useful information in the comments.

Eventually I went back to the main page to see other posts.

“huh?”

However, I couldn’t click the other text and flinched.

Because there was a new article that didn’t exist until just before.

“Title: K, I have something to say.”

All posts in the community were anonymous.

Neither the posts nor the comments show who the author is.

In such places, words related to me were mentioned.

‘Keirani… … .’

Isn’t it the same as my code name?

If that really means my codename, it means I looked at the assignment table.

In conclusion, except for me, the six who did the promotion test mission together, no, two died, so it’s one of the four.

Some of them are looking for me.

‘why?’

After seeing the title, I hesitated, so I decided to check the contents of the post.

Seeing that didn’t mean it was a big deal.

“There is something I really want to tell you. Would you understand if I said that I want to pay for my life? If you are K, please leave a secret comment. It will help.”

Looking at the contents, I got a sense of who wrote this article.

‘Looking at the value of life, I think it’s Ethan.’

While I was thinking about it with the window open, comments quickly began to come in.

While watching them, I entered a short sentence in the comment box.

As Ethan said, comments had a secret function.

It’s a good thing. There is no need to disclose the contents of the conversation to others.

-(Secret comment) Are you Ethan?

As if they were waiting for my comment, the reply came right away.

⌎ (secret comment) Do you remember where I first got hurt?

⌎ (secret comment) Why don’t you clarify your identity first?

⌎ (secret comment) I hate you unless you know who you are.

to be strict.

I clicked my tongue briefly and continued to comment.

⌎ (secret comment) I think I got bruises on my neck and tongue from sleepiness.

⌎ (secret comment) It really is you. I’m sorry for being sensitive. I thought it might be someone else because my real name was listed in the code name. At the end of the mission, I was unconscious, so I couldn’t even say hello… … Thank you so much, I would be dead if it wasn’t for you.

⌎ (secret comment) Aren’t you supposed to prove that Ethan is right?

⌎ (secret comment) Can you tell me your body features? Brown hair, blue eyes, over 6.2 feet tall. Just that you were Asian… … Ah, because I was hurt, you kept carrying me.

‘If 6.2 feet… … A little over 190 cm?’

According to the unit conversion standard I know, it was similar to Ethan’s height.

It was the moment when Ethan’s face, which was sobbing with a large body, came to mind.

‘If you look at what was just mentioned, Ethan is right.’

There was no doubt when he said that he had been carried on his back.

Because when I was carrying him, I had never run into any other players.

When it is confirmed that the author is Ethan, questions arise.