NOVEL NEXT chapter 12
12 – 1st Floor, Battle for the Course Ticket.
Pretending to be a black dragon was a success.
But a problem arose.
‘No way, am I getting ostracized like this?’
I thought players would approach me to team up.
Like in school days.
‘If you’re moderately good at sports and moderately good-looking, friends come to you at some point.’
It wasn’t.
The Tower of Struggle was a battlefield where lives were at stake.
A dragon, uncontrollable by individual force, was not to be accepted as a team member.
“Damn it!”
Desperately, I searched for a way.
That was changing clothes.
I borrowed the clothes of a dead martial artist nearby.
‘We’re both Asians. They won’t be able to tell the difference.’
I changed clothes and looked for the player.
I saw martial artists in the midst of a fierce battle.
From then on, everything went smoothly.
“I’m Eun Seoryeong of the Jeomchang Sect. Young hero.”
A woman with an aura like a kind older sister, Eun Seoryeong, greeted me.
It was fascinating, like a scene from a Chinese movie, where she clasped her fist with her palm and bowed her head.
‘She has a smiling face.’
I followed suit and clasped my fist.
It felt a bit awkward.
“I’m Oryuin.”
“Thanks to your help, I survived. Thank you.”
She introduced herself as Baeksong of the Hwasan Sect.
‘Eun Seoryeong. Baeksong.’
Right after the introductions, I got to the point.
I suggested forming a team.
They didn’t particularly refuse.
So, we arrived here.
The waiting room.
“Nice to meet you! Players!”
Enduring the gaze of the manager from afar for dozens of minutes.
Finally, the team formation was complete.
“I’ve given you enough time! Players who haven’t formed a team yet must not be planning to complete the mission, right?”
“…….”
The screen reflected the final moments of the players left in the field.
─ What, what’s happening! Suddenly!
─ It’s fire! It’s fire!
The flames swept across the entire field.
They burned the players whole.
There was no escaping.
For even the vast-looking field had its end.
After the execution ceremony.
[Floor 1, Form a Team]
There are no eternal alliances.
Remember that.
Everyone fighting to claim a seat is your competitor.
I glanced at Eun Seoryeong and Baeksong.
The two seemed unfazed even after seeing the message.
“Such is life. Good friends and bad friends, nothing is eternal.”
“Good friends?”
I understood what a bad friend meant, but I didn’t know what a good friend was.
‘It must be roughly the opposite of a bad friend.’
Does it mean that both good friends and shitty ones don’t have eternal ties?
I nodded in agreement.
‘What a fascinating woman.’
She looked like she was in her twenties.
But her way of speaking felt mature beyond her years.
‘Is this how all martial artists are?’
I recalled the martial artists I had seen die in my hands.
They were all just shitty b*stards who disregarded Earthlings and charged in, leaving no good memories behind.
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
“The crew making is one of the gateways on Floor 1. Just because you formed a team doesn’t mean you can immediately ascend to Floor 2.”
The administrator continued.
“You all have just cleared the tutorial and come up as newbies. If you go up to the second floor like this, you’ll just become prey for the vicious players waiting for newbies. So, we plan to give you a very simple education.”
As the administrator gestured, the screen displayed a new video.
A video of an unfamiliar field.
“Oh….”
“It’s amazing even when I see it again.”
Exclamations burst out from here and there.
Some people from different dimensions seemed to be seeing this kind of technology for the first time.
Their reactions, like those of primitive people, were quite amusing.
Even if they had similar experiences in the tutorial, it was still amazing.
“Before you receive the education, there’s something you need to do! It’s the battle for the course tickets!”
A wide field.
It was different from the plains.
Mountains and basins.
“Course tickets? What are those? Are they something to eat? You might wonder. Listen carefully.”
The administrator explained why they had to participate in the battle for the course tickets.
‘In summary, even if we want to give you bonuses, we can’t just give them to you.’
Above the administrator, there is the owner of the floor, and a process that can be shown to the owner is necessary.
“There might be someone here! Is there anyone who received a bonus in the tutorial? Not the first clear.”
Silence.
No one raised their hand.
“An error player?”
“…….”
[‘Block Lv.1’ is broken by ‘Dragon Eye (SS)’.]
The administrator pointed at me.
“…An error?”
“Who is that?”
There was a murmur around.
While the players were looking for the error, my face was displayed prominently on the screen.
“The error player received a solo clear bonus in the tutorial.”
“That, that guy…!”
“That’s it.”
“Crazy dragon!”
The hatchling’s breath was very effective.
Rumors about me had spread well.
“…Did you kill all the other players in the tutorial and come up?”
“I knew it. Even in the field earlier, you were completely bloodthirsty, weren’t you?”
Is this what it feels like to be socially buried?
I felt pride and shame at the same time.
“…Um, people are calling you a dragon?”
Eun Seoryeong looked at me with a face full of questions.
I didn’t answer the question and endured the spotlight with the most solemn face I could muster.
“The important thing here is the process of clearing the tutorial solo.”
“…So, that’s why…!”
Someone shouted urgently.
I felt the numerous gazes that were focused on me shift over there.
‘He’s an Earthling.’
You could tell just by looking at his clothes.
That man is an Earthling.
‘…Is he being controlled?’
There was a woman who looked about the same age behind him.
She was either his girlfriend or someone he was flirting with.
The woman whispered something in his ear.
Was she telling him what to say?
The man hurriedly opened his mouth and shouted.
“…Are you telling me to participate in that scramble? In a war where we kill each other?”
“Oh! I didn’t say that!”
The administrator gently accepted his outcry.
I was surprised because it was different from my imagination.
‘I thought they would kill like the tutorial helpers.’
The helper I met was not the real administrator.
Maybe, such a response was only natural.
“You don’t have to participate unconditionally. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”
“…Then I won’t be able to attend that training. I have no choice but to participate…”
The administrator shook their head.
“You can all take the basic training! Simply put, think of it as an extension of the tutorial!”
It seemed like they were giving each player a choice.
But not at all.
“If you don’t participate, you’ll be left behind.”
The administrator wouldn’t kill you directly.
“Instead, they won’t give you anything.”
You don’t have to participate.
But if you fall behind others, it’s not my problem?
The administrator’s mindset.
From the player’s perspective, it was practically a death sentence.
“There is a reason they used me as an example.”
Because I cleared it solo, I could receive the solo clear bonus.
If you get the training ticket?
Whatever it is, you will gain an advantage.
The Tower of Struggle.
Those who felt its structure on their skin easily understood the administrator’s words.
I was the same.
Because I had risked my life to receive the solo clear bonus myself, I could accept the administrator’s words.
“Earthlings are at a disadvantage no matter what.”
Physically and mentally, they are far behind other players.
Even people from the same dimension found them pathetic, so how much worse would it be for people from other dimensions?
“It’s not mandatory. Players can choose. Only those who want the training ticket should participate in the competition.”
“……”
“Players who win the training ticket can receive training from the administrators in front of you! They are all ascenders who have reached above the 50th floor!”
The administrator pointed to the people lined up beside them.
Each wore distinct outfits, as if representing their home dimensions.
My eyes landed on a woman.
Jeans and a denim jacket.
She was wearing clothes that only an Earthling would wear.
‘Did she really climb above the 50th floor with Earthling specs?’
I couldn’t believe it.
Having gone through the tutorial and crew-making, I had seen unbelievable monsters, so it was even harder to believe.
“……”
Our eyes met.
[The Ancient Tome detects the activation of ‘Sage’s Eye (A)’.]
[‘Block Lv.1’ is activated.]
[20 seconds until it is broken through.]
It was absurd.
‘Do all the top administrators have skills to peek at stats as a basic feature?’
I’m being ogled through the status window again.
Just as I sighed and prepared to accept it.
[The Ancient Tome grows.]
[‘Block Lv.1’ rises to ‘Block Lv.2’.]
“……!”
The woman widened her eyes.
As if she couldn’t believe it, she alternated between looking at the air and me with wide eyes.
“Is this your first time seeing a senior player from another dimension? I understand the excitement, but isn’t the staring contest a bit too much? I’m lonely!”
The administrator whined.
‘Using Dragon Eyes means that the lump inside the shell is like that Red Dragon.’
I got goosebumps.
The majestic dragon was pretending to be cute in the form of a child.
‘Do you go mad like that when you climb the tower?’
The administrator said.
“I’ll continue explaining the battle for the course ticket! The method is simple! You just need to find and combine the course ticket torn into three pieces!”
The content roughly appeared on the screen.
‘…It’s a survival game.’
Each player is randomly given a torn course ticket.
Alpha, Beta, Omega.
If you collect the torn course tickets in three different forms, you can create a complete course ticket.
“How many people are in your team?”
“……”
“That’s right. Three people.”
The manager smirks.
“How many tickets do you need?”
“……”
“That’s right. Three tickets.”
What if you choose to participate and fail to collect three tickets?
You are eliminated.
You die.
“Don’t worry too much! There are course tickets all over the field! You don’t necessarily have to take them from other players!”
I barely swallowed the words telling him to stop talking nonsense.