NOVEL NEXT chapter 5
5 – 0th Floor, Tutorial.
The knight’s body collapsed.
She didn’t suffer any particular penetrating wound, but her life force had dropped to zero.
As she fell with a bewildered face, she asked me,
“…Were you a martial artist? I don’t feel any internal energy.”
“Martial artist? Internal energy? I don’t know about that crap.”
People joke about the saying “the first strike wins,” but experiencing it firsthand is nothing but a shitty experience.
Especially if you almost died from the first strike.
“Just get lost.”
I kicked the knight’s face with all the resentment I felt earlier.
Soccer kick.
Tzzzzzt-.
Before my foot could touch the knight, her body scattered into blue particles and disappeared.
It looked like she was being transported somewhere.
“Damn it.”
I knew this would happen.
“When they talked about the manual, I felt that they were in a different position from us.”
I am risking my life, but the opponent is not.
It felt like they were simply here as an examiner.
So they could accept my strange proposal to allow a single strike in exchange for the first attack.
“Hoo…”
I took a deep breath.
Calming my trembling heart, I turned back the way I came.
This time, the light enveloped me.
It was the white room again.
Six stone doors wide open.
Beyond them, a battle would be taking place in the darkness.
“Is it really a battle?”
Isn’t it a one-sided execution?
This was the price of misunderstanding cooperation.
I should have asked the assistant out of suspicion and curiosity.
Regret is always too late, no matter how early it comes.
[Error player. Did you really pass the trial?]
“……”
[You really passed. Amazing.]
The message from the Tower of Struggle came to mind.
[Floor 0, Prove it]
You have proven that you are qualified to challenge the seat.
First clear bonus, stats +1
Solo clear bonus, stats +3
Does passing even one mean it’s proven?
“This makes it more…”
It’s a suffocating result.
Because of one misunderstanding, several people died.
But it wasn’t particularly bitter.
Those people weren’t my friends or family anyway.
‘It’s only the first time today, and they’re just people I met a moment ago, so what.’
I realized that my emotions were colder than I thought.
The situation earlier, where I almost died, had made me calm.
Then the message changed.
[0th floor, choose]
1. [To the next floor]
2. [Continue the proof]
The tower presented me with two choices.
‘Is it worth pondering?’
I should go to the next floor immediately.
But I hesitate.
Because of that clear bonus.
‘There are six stone gates. Excluding the one I passed, there are five.’
The first clear bonus is a reward given only once.
Then the remaining bonus is the solo clear bonus.
‘It’s not just 1 point, it’s a whopping 3 points. If I get it five times….’
Isn’t it called a hope circuit?
In my mind, I’ve already passed five tests and received 15 points.
What can I do with 15 points?
If I weigh it from one to ten, it’s not a particularly great reward.
‘It’s impossible for an ordinary person to become a superhuman.’
But, it’s possible for a person who can’t even do one pull-up to succeed in one.
Maybe even more.
‘A foothold.’
In this damn tower of struggle, it will become a solid foothold that I can trust and step on.
“…Damn.”
I have to challenge.
I have to challenge and get ahead.
More than others.
If I can’t, I’ll be eliminated.
‘In the Tower of Struggle, failure means death.’
Slap! Slap!
My cheek was roughly struck.
I came to my senses.
“Huh?”
I felt something strange.
‘Is my arm okay?’
My right arm had been cut by the female knight.
It wasn’t unusable, but it wasn’t in a condition to be swung either.
But my arm was fine now.
Upon closer inspection, there was no wound at all.
“…Could it be that the wounds sustained during the trial heal when you return?”
[Are you asking me?]
This b*stard.
He must have deliberately left the misunderstanding about cooperation unaddressed.
‘Could it really be….’
I couldn’t believe it.
“Yes. I’m asking you.”
[Yes. Injuries sustained during the trial heal as soon as you pass. Even a player who seems about to die can survive if they are still breathing when the trial ends.]
I understood the structure.
‘Even if you land the first surprise attack, it won’t be fatal. And then the five of us gang up.’
The opponent’s abilities are fixed at 15.
I don’t know exactly what a score of 15 means, but it seems that five of us together can win.
‘When we clear it and come out, even the first person who was seriously injured is restored.’
Players who confirmed that they wouldn’t die on the spot cooperated with all their might to tackle the trial.
‘…The helper said it was a tutorial, right?’
Tutorial.
A process to teach new users the controls and flow of the game.
Everything makes sense.
‘Except for the helper.’
Why is that b*stard hiding information?
‘Why is he acting completely opposite to the tutorial design?’
Questions keep piling up.
‘Come to think of it, there’s no need to go that far. Suddenly killing someone who knows nothing…’
A strangely kind tutorial setting.
A helper’s response that feels somewhat fierce.
[Are you thinking of challenging again? Not going up?]
“……”
At an unexpected timing, the helper sent a message.
“I have to challenge.”
I looked around the room.
Six stone gates, three of which were glowing red.
‘The stone gate I entered was glowing blue.’
The other two were in the same state as before entering, not glowing at all.
‘The place where the lady entered is also the same…’
If the player who entered dies, does the test return to its initial state?
‘Should I strike the first blow as a surprise attack?’
For me, such a structure was rather better.
I headed towards the stone gate that no one had entered.
The stone gate that Jin Cheol-hwan tried to ditch Park Ji-hoon and me.
‘How ironic.’
This situation of going to get ditched myself, truly.
“Ah. Right.”
Before entering.
I distributed the points I received as a clear reward earlier.
‘All in agility.’
I learned through the knight that my attack power was sufficient.
What I needed was speed.
The speed to dodge the opponent’s attacks and land my own.
That’s why agility was just right.
‘It feels like my body has become lighter.’
My agility stat has reached 14.
With just a difference of 1, I should be able to respond to the opponent’s movements.
Taking a deep breath again.
I entrusted my body to the darkness beyond the stone gate.
A vast cavern.
The same place where the knight was.
“…A monster?”
─ You easily utter rude words with your narrow perspective. Since you’re a new player, I’ll let it slide this once.
It had an appearance closer to a golem than a monster.
How on earth am I supposed to defeat an opponent that looks at least 5 meters tall?
─ Did you come alone?
Thud-.
A reaction similar to the knight.
It became clear that challenging alone was not normal.
─ It can’t be helped.
The opponent approaches.
As I expected, it seemed like it was going to start with a strike.
“Is it written in the manual to attack first when a player enters?”
─ …How did you know that?
Though surprised, the golem did not stop moving.
It ran straight towards me and extended its fist.
A stone fist larger than my body flew towards me.
‘It looks solid on the outside, but that golem’s stats are fixed at 15.’
All its stats are the same as the knight’s.
Moreover, even if it lands a hit, it won’t be fatal.
‘It will hurt like hell, though.’
I gritted my teeth.
Bracing myself for the imminent impact.
‘Raising my agility definitely helped.’
If I hadn’t put all my points into agility, I wouldn’t have been able to target the golem’s stone fist.
“Haah!”
I activated the heavy strike and collided with the golem’s stone fist.
[Heavy Strike][F]
[Strikes the enemy with all your might, dealing 『1,521%』 physical damage.]
Whether it hits the face or the body, it doesn’t matter.
Just like how it doesn’t matter if I cut the torso or the forearm, the damage is the same.
Boom-!
My heavy strike clashed with the golem’s stone fist.
“Ugh!”
For a moment, my vision flipped.
And then, a feeling of weightlessness.
But I didn’t die.
Normally, I would have died, but since this is a tutorial, I survived.
Thud!
My body was thrown into the corner of the cave.
A sharp pain started from my back and swept through my entire body.
“Cough, cough!”
I spat blood.
For the first time in my life, I coughed up blood.
─ What is this…!
I heard the golem muttering something.
A gasp of disbelief, almost like a sigh.
I struggled to get up.
And then I checked the golem’s condition.
The damage the golem had to endure was physical damage equivalent to 1,521% of my attack power.
It couldn’t withstand it with just 15 points of stats.
“Okay.”
The golem turned into particles and disappeared.
Dragging my aching body, I returned to the room.
The blood-soaked body had recovered.
With a joyful heart, I went to claim my reward.
“What are you doing here, ma’am?”
I encountered someone I should never have met.
The middle-aged woman, Im Sujin, was alive and well.
“How are you alive?”
“Well, you see, actually….”
As it turned out, Im Sujin had never even attempted the trial.
She hadn’t entered at all.
In my haste to enter with Jin Cheolhwan, I hadn’t checked properly.
‘This is actually good.’
[Floor 0, Prove Yourself]
You have proven that you are qualified to challenge the seat.
Solo clear bonus, stats +3
“You cleared two of them, right? Since it’s come to this, could you clear the remaining four as well…?”
“Yes, I’ll do it.”
So get lost.