Chapter 4: Tutorial (2)
[A fierce pain overcomes you. You have been afflicted with ‘Stun’.]
[Your trait ‘Cold-blooded’ has helped you maintain composure.]
[The status effect ‘Stun’ has been removed. You have developed resistance to pain.]
Yeon-woo was familiar with this sensation. He felt as if his arm was being torn apart and he couldn’t breathe. He gritted his teeth and held tightly onto his consciousness.
He had suffered this kind of pain many times in Africa. Back then, he had been shot and his life was in danger. This pain was nothing compared to that.
He then quickly checked on his condition.
‘The parts where the arrows are stuck are my left shoulder, forearm, and thigh. My ribs… were only grazed. The wounds look bad, but I can still move.’
As soon as he made his decision, he immediately proceeded to carry out his actions. Raising his now completely ragged backpack, he stepped back as fast as he could.
‘Apparently, the traps were activated simultaneously after I passed through a certain point.’
That meant there was a particular area where the traps were concentrated. He had to flee until reaching that place.
Even as he retreated, the steel arrows kept flying towards him. At first, it had only been one or two arrows, but past a certain point, four or five arrows started to fly out all at once. Still, he moved while refraining from exposing himself as much as possible.
A long trail of blood spread from his wound, staining the wall red. In the meantime, two more steel arrows had inserted themselves into his calf. And at some point, the steel arrows no longer poured down on him. Yeon-woo leaned his back against the wall as he threw the backpack that was now completely punctured by arrows onto the floor. His vision was spinning round and round; an unpleasant, stuffy smell lingered in his mouth.
[Your wounds are bleeding severely. You have been afflicted with ‘Stun’.]
[Your trait ‘Cold-blooded’ has helped you maintain composure.]
[The status effect ‘Stun’ has been removed. You have developed resistance to bleeding.]
Yeon-woo barely managed to hold onto his consciousness. It was almost by instinct that his body had brought him to this point. If he lost consciousness here, he would die instantly.
Yeon-woo plunged his hand into the torn backpack. The stuff that had once filled its interior had spilled out on the way and rolled around randomly, and steel arrows had taken their place instead. Fortunately, the medical kit hadn’t been lost during the action, and it was quickly caught by his hand.
Yeonwoo opened the kit and took out disinfectant, bandages, pre-connected needle and thread, oil-fed cotton and a lighter. Because he could hardly use his left arm, it took him a long time to grab all the items.
Once all his preparations were finished, without any delay, Yeon-woo moved his hand towards the steel arrow stuck in his left shoulder and pulled it out.
“Keuk!”
As expected, a fierce pain followed; he felt a tearing sensation in his arm. The hand that was holding the steel arrow was trembling and blood was gushing out from the wound. With blood-stained eyes, Yeon-woo lit the cotton on fire and pressed it against the wound.
*Tsss*
The smell of burnt flesh filled the air.
[Your skin has been set on fire. You have been afflicted with ‘Stun’.]
[Your trait ‘Cold-blooded’ has helped you maintain composure.]
[The status effect ‘Stun’ has been removed. You have developed resistance to burns.]
The wound quickly healed, leaving behind only a scar.
In the same way, Yeon-woo pulled out the steel arrow stuck in his leg and stopped the bleeding. Then he applied disinfectant on it.
He could barely catch his breath after treating all of his wounds. Thankfully, none of his bones were broken. It was the result of his instincts taking over his body.
“Ha…Ha…Ha…!”
All the strength drained out of his body. His left arm and leg felt extremely weak.
“Such a rough start from the very beginning. This is nuts.”
Yeon-woo was so dumbfounded that he wanted to curse himself. He knew it would be dangerous, but he didn’t think it would be this bad. There was such a big difference between knowing it in your head and experiencing it for real.
‘I’m glad I have this trait”
An ability to maintain rationality in any situation, ‘Cold-blooded’. Yeon-woo felt grateful for the effect of his trait.
He was already mentally strong before, but now, he felt much stronger thanks to being able to make quick judgments in a terrible situation like this. In addition, the extra “resistance”, little by little was also helping him relieve some of the pain.
Yeon-woo didn’t know whether his trait was being enhanced or his body was slowly adapting. He didn’t know how the system worked. The only thing that was clear to him was that it was helpful to him.
Yeon-woo quickly put his thoughts in order. He then cast his eyes toward the passage that was still buried in darkness. It felt like the jaws of a ferocious beast, even so, every beast had its weakness.
‘Every arrow is being shot under a specific timing. There was also an indication to it, although very subtle.’
Yeon-woo narrowed his eyes.
‘I have to figure out the timings.’
The traps loaded with steel arrows were a combination of multiple devices—sensors that captured when someone approached, cogwheels that spun to measure direction, and finally, the steel arrows that were spewed out of the muzzle.
‘Because of the darkness, it is impossible to spot the steel arrows with the naked eye. But before that, the cogwheels activate. I have to pick up the sound of the cogwheels spinning. That’s the only chance I have to find the location and direction the steel arrows come from.’
However, it took only two to three seconds for the cogwheels to spin and the steel arrows to be fired. The sound was also really quiet. During that brief moment, he had to pinpoint the origin of that minuscule sound. It might be easy to say, but it was impossible to execute without extremely fine senses and reflexes. But luckily, Yeon-woo had a new weapon with him.
‘Skills… I have Sense Strengthening.’
With this skill that allowed him to freely adjust his five senses, there should be a way to get through this.
The reason why all players were given basic skills that fit them was that they were expected to use them in order to break through their challenges. The key was how well they could make use of these skills.
Yeon-woo quietly closed his eyes and focused on the sounds around him. It wasn’t too hard to concentrate, he was used to this kind of thing anyway.
[‘Sense Strengthening’ has been activated. Your auditory sense has been enhanced.]
[‘Sense Strengthening’ skill proficiency has risen. 0.8%]
Yeon-woo tried to concentrate on everything he could hear amidst the silence, but it was extremely difficult. It wasn’t easy to differentiate the sounds he needed from between dozens of small noises.
*Plop*
*Plop*
From the ceiling, he heard droplets of water dripping down somewhere.
*Rattle* *Clink*
He also heard the slight sound of steel arrows being reloaded into the traps. Other than those, he also caught a lot of miscellaneous noises throughout the passage. Still, he tried to pick out the sounds he wanted, one by one. And after a long time,
*Creak*
‘This is it!’
Something let out a squeaky noise due to its rust. It was definitely a cogwheel.
Yeon-woo opened his eyes and threw one of his daggers towards the direction of the noise.
*Puck*
*Crunch*
The dagger struck deep into one side of the ceiling, and soon after, a broken mechanical device fell to the floor, accompanied by a handful of steel arrows.
‘Yes! I can find them.’ Yeon-woo’s eyes sparkled.
Of course, there were downsides to getting rid of his other senses and only focusing on hearing, but the important thing was that he had found a way to get through the passage.
Yeon-woo forced his creaking self up. His body was still screaming in pain and he could barely move his left arm; he was also limping as he walked. Moving in such a state was a crazy thing to do, but even if his footsteps were slow, Yeon-woo managed to get to the location where the next trap was installed.
*Swish*
Steel arrows were shot once again.
‘Right shoulder!’
Yeon-woo had already heard the sound of a cogwheel and turned his body sideways, measuring the direction from where the steel arrow would fly in.
*Puck*
The steel arrow that narrowly missed his shoulder buried itself deep into the wall.
‘Yes!’ Yeon-woo clenched his fists.
[‘Sense Strengthening’ skill proficiency has increased. 1.5%]
After feeling certain that it would work, Yeon-woo did not delay any longer and moved on to the next spot.
*Swish* *Swish* *Swish* *Swish*
‘Four.’
In order from top to bottom, each one of the arrows aimed for his temple, heart, abdomen, and knee.
Yeon-woo dodged by turning his head sideways and taking a step forward. The arrow that was aiming for his thigh flew right past his leg and struck the floor. At the same time, he used the flat of his dagger to block the arrow that was coming towards his abdomen.
*Clang*
The dagger trembled, producing a pleasant sound. His hand was hurting from the impact, but the thrill of it filled him with adrenaline.
[‘Sense Strengthening’ skill proficiency has increased. 2.1%]
[Your Strength has increased by 1 point]
[Your Dexterity has increased by 1 point]
The messages notifying him of the increase in skill level and attribute points filled his retina.
‘If my Strength and Dexterity increased… Status window.’
[Player: Yeon-woo Cha]
Trait: Cold-blooded
Strength: 11 Dexterity: 16 Health: 12 Magic Power: 21
Skills: Draconic Eyes(0.0%), Sense Strengthening(2.1%), Foresight(0.0%)
‘As I thought.’ Yeon-woo had a satisfied smile.
In his world, it would take a considerable amount of time and arduous training to boost one’s abilities, but here it was different.
‘I can gain achievements as long as I exert myself. There can’t be any other place like this.’
It was all thanks to this interface system that had enabled his brother’s fast growth. Yeon-woo closed the status window and calmly judged the situation.
‘Now, it’s somewhat possible to dodge the arrows. But my reflexes are still slow.’
The movement of his dagger after spotting the arrows was still half a beat too slow. Even if he noticed them coming, it was meaningless if he was too slow to react.
Yeon-woo divided part of his consciousness that was previously solely focused on hearing into his right hand.
[‘Sense Strengthening’ has been activated. Your haptic sense has been enhanced.]
[‘Sense Strengthening’ skill proficiency has increased. 2.3%]
Yeon-woo took another step forward.
*Swish*
An arrow came, aiming at his forehead. He quickly struck the arrow aside, his speed was neither slow nor fast.
‘It’s only my hearing sense and my right arm that I have to focus on, but it’s hard to focus my senses on two parts at the same time.’
Yeon-woo’s eyes swept past the darkness.
‘Slowly, but not too much.”
Yeon-woo began to advance slowly once again.
*Swish* *Swish* *Swish*
With each step he took, steel arrows poured down on him.
Yeon-woo avoided the arrows with minimal movements or cut off their routes with his daggers if avoiding was too difficult. Next, he refined his blocking technique a little more. He deflected the arrows with the flat side of his dagger or lowered his head to avoid them.
*Puck*
There was an occasion where he missed an arrow and was struck on his back, but Yeon-woo indifferently pulled out the arrow from his body without letting out a single moan. And after stopping the blood, he went straight ahead with limp steps.
Yeon-woo kept on advancing in silence, just like a machine.
[‘Sense Strengthening’ skill proficiency has increased. 3.1%]
[Your Strength has increased by 1 point]
[Your Health has increased by 1 point]
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