Chapter 5: Tutorial (3)
At some point after walking for a long time, Yeon-woo noticed that the traps followed some kind of pattern.
‘There’s a difference in how attribute points are given depending on how I deal with the arrows.’
For example, when he struck a steel arrow, his Strength rose; when he dodged, his Dexterity rose; and when he was hit, his Health rose. His different attributes seemed to get stimulated depending on the way he handled the arrows. However, it wasn’t always accurate.
‘Arrowheads of different colors were sparsely mixed in with the rest.’
It was a minuscule detail, but various colors were painted on the tip of the arrowheads. However, the light was too dim, making him unable to tell the colors apart, and it was nearly impossible to check all the arrows when they all shot from different directions. Plus the fact that most of the arrowheads were normal ones made him think his suspicion was wrong.
However, as his vision strengthened and his ability to see dynamic objects increased, his suspicion gradually turned into certainty. With the improvement of his attributes, his sense also became keener. And before he knew it, he could already ‘see’ the arrows. The colored arrowheads were there for certain.
‘The colors I’ve seen until now… was it red, blue and yellow?’
Yeon-woo was lost in thoughts.
‘What on earth is it? Why do they have different colors?’
Then he remembered what he had seen in the diary.
Now that I think about it, nothing in the tutorial was made without a reason. Everything had a certain meaning to it, even the smallest things.
And the thing that I found the most curious was the colors painted on the arrowheads.
‘Jeong-woo didn’t discover the secret behind this either. Is this some kind of hidden piece?’
His brother had cleared Section A with the help of his teammates. On the other hand, Yeon-woo had been going at it by himself. This difference seemed to have helped him find the hidden piece that no one had found before.
Yeon-woo resumed his steps, thinking that he should give it a try.
*Swish*
Coincidentally, out of six arrows that were fired at him, there was one with a blue arrowhead.
‘The only information I have access to right now is my Attributes and Skills. If so…’
Yeon-woo then avoided all the arrows and struck only at the blue one.
*Tang*
[Your Strength has increased by 1 point.]
[‘Sense Strengthening’ skill proficiency has increased. 4.2%]
The messages informing him about the growth of his Strength stat and skill proficiency appeared.
It wasn’t ineffective, but…
‘This isn’t it.’
Yeon-woo shook his head.
‘There must be something else. A distinct difference that separates them from the other arrows.’
After a long time, another colored arrow flew in. This time it was red.
Yeon-woo turned around and dodged all the arrows except for the red one, which he then parried. He could feel a twinge in his wrist from parrying the arrow, realizing this one was heavier than the rest.
[You have blocked a red arrow.]
[Your Strength has increased by 3 points.]
‘This is it!’ Yeon-woo felt himself sobering up.
A drastic increase in Strength. It was a big difference from the usual slow growth.
‘Status window.’
[Player: Yeon-woo Cha]
Trait: Cold-blooded
Strength: 19 Dexterity: 19 Health: 14 Magic Power: 21
Skills: Draconic Eyes(0.0%), Sense Strengthening(4.3%), Foresight(0.0%)
Yeon-woo smiled faintly.
As time went by, the growth of his attributes had been slowing down little by little. Now, he had found a new way to increase them.
‘Each color must be related to a different attribute. If red was Strength, then what about the other ones?’
When he blocked the blue arrow, nothing had happened. This meant that different colors called for different actions.
As soon as Yeon-woo came to that rough understanding, his pace sped up.
*Swish*
The blue arrow was faster than the others.
This time he narrowly avoided the arrow instead of striking it.
[You have dodged a blue arrow.]
[Your Dexterity has increased by 2 points.]
The yellow arrow was sharper.
Because the striking and dodging actions were already assigned to different colors, this time, he blocked it with his arm just to see if it would work.
*Puck*
[You have been hit by a yellow arrow.]
[Your Health has increased by 2 points.]
“This is crazy.”
Yeon-woo barely managed to pull out a portion of the arrow before his expression turned into a frown due to the intense pain that made him feel as if his arm was being ripped off.
He had inhibited the nerves in charge of transmitting pain as much as possible and had only blocked the arrow with a part of his arm that wouldn’t expose his bones or joints. But still, this was clearly something a normal person wouldn’t even think of doing.
He started feeling dizzy again because of the loss of blood. He was barely holding himself together thanks to his increased Health, but without it, he would have already fallen.
And then,
*Cough*
Yeon-woo coughed a mouthful of blood. The blood dripped down from the palm he used to cover his mouth.
Inhibiting his nerves didn’t make the symptoms just go away. The pain was spreading along the nerves in his left arm and throughout his whole body.
Yeon-woo was on the verge of fainting. His body was warning him that he couldn’t endure it anymore, that it was already crazy that he had endured so far, and that if he didn’t have some rest right away, he would truly collapse.
Yeon-woo, however, gritted his teeth again.
‘This pain is nothing compared to what Jeong-woo went through.’
Even though he had not experienced it himself, he had watched the recorded images in the diary over and over. He was well aware of the pain his brother had gone through.
If he couldn’t withstand even this, in the future, he wouldn’t be able to do anything for his deceased brother.
Yeon-woo forcefully pulled the yellow arrow from his left arm. His body had already reached its limit, but in the process, he had achieved what he desired.
Red is Strength, blue is Dexterity, yellow is Health.
Therefore, all he needed to do now was to act in accordance with each color.
There was still a long way to go before reaching the end of the passage. Through his senses, he could feel that there were still lots of traps, which also meant that there were lots of attribute points to be gained.
Once again, blood gathered at the bottom of his jaw. Yeon-woo swallowed it back and moved along. His eyes blazing like flames.
One step at a time. Yeon-woo rushed with tottering steps.
* * *
“Ohyohyohyo. He truly is an amazing participant. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a character.”
Thousands of screens were floating, divided into several rows, in front of the guardian Yvlke. All the different players currently participating in the tutorial were shown on those screens. However, Yvlke’s eyes were fixed only on one screen located in a corner of his view. In there was Yeon-woo, who was trudging down a passage as if he were about to collapse any moment soon.
‘Originally, he shouldn’t be such an eye-catching individual.’
In fact, this tutorial round had a lot to offer. Not only the siblings from the Cheonglam family—the most anticipated ones among the One-horned tribe, but also a Marcusian swordsman and the dumbass duo who were aiming to become Rankers.
All of them were strong enough that even if they were to start climbing The Tower straight away, they wouldn’t fall behind. They had already entered Section E early on and had been carrying out missions. Some of them were already in Section F even. It was still unknown who would be the one to achieve the highest score in this tutorial round.
However, Yvlke’s eyes were strangely fixed on Yeonwoo, who had been stranded in Section A for days, rather than on those in Section E.
When he hard first shown up, Yvlke had thought that Yeon-woo would be one to die after a few steps and that the little fucker without any ability would get above himself and get fucked.
But Yeon-woo completely exceeded his expectations. Others would struggle to pass through—or even be annihilated in Section A, even if they formed parties. But Yeon-woo, all by himself, was gradually making progress and had even found the hidden piece masked in the arrowheads. And with an iron will, he was steadily raising his stats by taking advantage of the hidden piece, even though his body was clearly in a state where it wouldn’t be strange for him to fall at any minute.
‘This guy… He’s the real deal.’
After having been a guardian for so long, he could feel it intuitively. The frontrunners were also great, but this was the guy who would turn the whole tutorial on its head.
“There are still a lot of dangers waiting ahead even if he manages to break through this section, but if he can pass the other sections as wisely as he is doing right now…” Yvlke adjusted his monocle.
Yeon-woo was already reaching the last part of Section A.
“I think this round of the tutorial will be a lot of fun. Ohyohyohyo.”
* * *
[Player: Yeon-woo Cha]
Trait: Cold-blooded
Strength: 29 Dexterity: 33 Health: 30 Magic Power: 21
Skills: Draconic Eyes(0.0%), Sense Strengthening(8.3%), Foresight(0.0%)
While he was walking down the passage, Yeon-woo checked his status window and clenched his fists.
‘All my attributes except for Magic Power have risen sharply.’
Compared to when he first arrived, he had earned a total sum of 55 attribute points.
‘For someone to raise their attribute points, they have to train regularly or push themselves over their limits. Even though I’ve been tackling the tutorial as a solo player, the number of achievements I’ve made so far in one day should still count as decent.’
No, actually, it was not just decent; it was a great accomplishment. None of the other players had been able to improve their attribute points by this much in such a short time.
‘It’s not just this. My muscle strength, mobility, endurance, explosiveness, and power have all increased.’
It might have been physically and mentally exhausting, but the result made him feel satisfied. Though he was a bit disappointed that he couldn’t raise his Magic Power, he erased the idea from his head because he didn’t feel the need for it right now.
*Grin*
Yeon-woo pushed the iron gate in front of him with a slight smile over his lips.
*Creak*
[You have arrived at the arrival point.]
[Your wounds will be healed.]
It was the moment when he reached the iron gate that what previously seemed like an endless passage ended.
Yeon-woo was already as exhausted as he could be. His body was riddled with traces of blood, and there were a couple of arrows that hadn’t been pulled out yet. His head was burning from continuously overworking his senses.
He didn’t know what other traps were waiting beyond this iron gate, however, Yeon-woo still opened it and stepped past. Then, what appeared in front of him was a room with a size of around 10 pyeong[1].
And at the same time,
*Whoosh*
A bundle of white lights rose, wrapping his wounds where bloody pus was forming.
The wounds started to slowly heal and the pus subsided. His worn-out body was also being filled with energy.
The arrival point was a place designed to allow players who were hurt and tired from passing through Section A to recuperate.
Yeon-woo, who had grown to this point and now had a chance to catch his breath, felt both relieved and satisfied.
*Sreuk*
And he fell asleep without even realizing it.
* * *
‘Did I fall asleep?’
Yeon-woo’s body felt stiff.
Just like he had seen in the diary, it was possible to recover one’s physical condition at the arrival point.
Once he noticed that his wounds were healing, he felt a sense of relief and the sudden urge to take a nap for a while. But he slept more than he had intended, and when he opened his eyes to check the time.
“Peekaboo?”
Suddenly, a man whose face was covered under a robe waved his hand at Yeon-woo.
Yeon-woo was so surprised that he quickly stood up and jumped back, creating some distance for himself. He then quickly brought his hand to his waist. Cold sweat ran down his back.
‘This man, what is he?’
How come he didn’t notice someone right next to him? His Sense Strengthening was clearly active. The skill was scanning the entire room, but this guy had managed to avoid it as if he was isolated from the world.
At that moment, a passage from the diary appeared in his mind.
Occasionally, a merchant would pop up at the arrival point, selling items that the players needed for a price. Ranging from ordinary food to potions, skill books, and all kinds of different artifacts. The merchant sold everything.
“The mysterious merchant?”
“Hoho!”
The robed merchant let out a chuckle and clapped both his hands.
*Clap*
Then, the space behind the man started to distort, revealing shelves stocked with miscellaneous items.
“I’m glad you know who I am. Salutations, my gullible—I mean, lovable customer! I am A, a passing merchant.”
[1] 10 Pyeong(평) = 33m2
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