2. Tutorial(1)
"Ughhh......"
"Where is this?"
"A forest?"
At the voices coming from all around, Lee Jin-hyeok slowly opened his eyes.
"What on earth is going on......"
"I, I was definitely drinking, wasn't I?"
"This is insane. A forest, out of nowhere? I was in Seoul, I know I was......"
Dozens of people, flustered and looking this way and that.
'Is this when I first came up into the Tower?'
From the look of it, this was the moment people living in South Korea had been abruptly dragged into the Tower.
Everyone here had been living in Seoul, South Korea.
One day they opened their eyes to find themselves in a forest they had never seen, with a blue membrane wrapped around them.
For an ordinary person, it would have been stranger not to panic.
'I was dragged here in the middle of my sleep too, and I panicked plenty.'
"For now, we have to stick together!"
"That's right! There's no telling what will come out!"
"Someone wake up the ones still sleeping."
Just as before the regression, a few individuals showed strong leadership and drew the people together.
It was a fine approach.
In a situation that changed this suddenly, survival odds rose only when someone led and everyone banded together.
'Before the regression, I joined that group myself without knowing any better.'
Fear, confusion, panic.
Unlike the others, who were full of every kind of negative emotion, Lee Jin-hyeok simply walked over to a nearby stream without a word.
'Since I've come back to this point, it seems it worked.'
Thick eyebrows, manly features, a high-bridged nose.
The reflection in the water looked exactly as he had before the regression.
'The face is the same.'
Swish.
'The body has clearly changed.'
Proportions that could only be called perfect, firm muscle, and a height of around two meters.
Perhaps because it was a body meant to house a Constellation, it had definitely changed.
-"Brother, you are my ideal type! Especially your looks!"
Remembering how Dang So-wol used to chase him around spouting nonsense like that, a small laugh slipped out of him.
'There were times we could still joke like that and feel hopeful.'
But he dwelled on the past only for a moment.
He turned to examining his situation from the present.
'Status window.'
{Status Window}
Name: Lee Jin-hyeok
Race: Human
Level: 1
[Strength: 15] [Vitality: 15] [Agility: 15]
[Mana: 5] [Divine Power: 0]
"......!"
Lee Jin-hyeok was stunned when he saw the stats.
For a man, a level 1 player's starting Strength, Vitality, and Agility stats fell somewhere between 8 and 10.
For a woman, between 5 and 8.
The highest figure any player in history had started with was 13.
And yet every one of Lee Jin-hyeok's stats was a full 15.
'A single level, a single point of a stat, has an enormous effect on how you move.'
When a level rose, the Strength, Vitality, and Agility stats each went up by 1.
Considering how insanely slow players in the Tower were to gain levels, starting stats this high were an enormous advantage.
'Mana is average. And the Divine Power stat is 0.'
A stat one did not possess at all was not displayed in the first place.
Divine Power being 0 meant that it definitely existed, but could not be used.
Since this was a body intended to serve as <Pure Radiance>'s vessel, it seemed the foundation for Divine Power had been laid in.
'The stats are astonishing, but by the standard of a Constellation's vessel, they're a little lacking. Still, enough to offset all of that.'
Grin.
'These skills are absurdly broken.'
{Skill}
<Indomitable Star>
Grade: Mythic
▶Immune to all 'status ailments.'
▶Immune to all 'mental-type' attacks or penalties.
▶On level up, the Strength, Vitality, and Agility stats rise by an additional 1.
'......Mythic grade.'
Every item and skill in the Tower was divided into six grades in all.
Common, Rare, Epic, Heroic, Legendary.
And Mythic.
Of these, the 'Mythic' grade was one that not even the Wailing King Lee Jin-hyeok, the first-ranked player, had ever owned.
<Indomitable Star> carried broken effects worthy of the Mythic grade.
Status ailments and mental-type attacks did not work on him, and he could even dodge penalties.
And that was not all.
Other players gained only 1 in each of Strength, Vitality, and Agility on level up, but with <Indomitable Star>, they rose by 2.
The very potential he held was on a different scale.
'Mythic grade or not, immunity to status ailments and double stat growth? Was it flat out planning to break the Tower's balance?'
Grin.
'<Pure Radiance>. That bastard isn't sane either. Then again, to endure the consciousness of a transcendent being like a Constellation, it would have to be at least this much.'
{Skill}
<Stellar Archive>
Grade: Common
▶Copies and stores a Constellation's power in the form of a 'skill.'
▶One skill may be copied and stored per 10 levels.
▶Skill duplication requires that Constellation's Sacred Relic and points.
▶Upon skill duplication, the grade of <Stellar Archive> rises and additional effects are revealed.
[Common Grade Special Effect]
▶Upon the first skill duplication, all conditions are removed.
[Currently Stored Skills]
*No skills are currently stored.
*Points required for next skill: 0
It was the lowest, Common grade, but it was by no means a skill to be dismissed.
'To be able to take a Constellation's power at will.'
Swish.
There was originally only one way for a player to use a Constellation's power.
To form a contract with a Constellation and serve them.
But <Stellar Archive> was different.
There were many conditions attached, but it could take the power of several Constellations, not just one.
'On top of that, I don't have to contract with a Constellation. Which means I don't have to pander to those bastards.'
Indomitable Star.
Stellar Archive.
'Unbreaking. Absolute willpower and the power of a Constellation, is it.'
Two skills with tremendous effects.
Considering that ordinary players began with no skills and no experience whatsoever, he had been handed an enormous weapon from the very start.
'I'm getting a sense of how I should grow stronger.'
While Lee Jin-hyeok was roughly laying out his plans for what came next.
"Ughhh......"
"Where is......?"
Every person who had fallen into this place came to their senses.
"What is that membrane?"
"We can't get out of here?"
"A forest? Why am I in a forest?"
The exact moment when 'every one' of the roughly five hundred humans gathered there had come to.
[Welcome, prospective players!]
[Take part in the glorious ascent. The Tower awaits you.]
Hologram windows began to form in midair.
"Huh?"
"What is this?"
"Augmented reality? Or virtual reality?"
"What the......"
The people fell into confusion in an instant.
Lee Jin-hyeok's eyes, by contrast, were shining with resolve and purpose.
'I've regressed to the moment I first entered the Tower.'
Before he stole the Constellation's body and regressed, Lee Jin-hyeok had been the first-ranked player, driving his way up toward the Tower's highest floors.
Even he had regrets left over from his first run.
All the hidden pieces and rewards he had passed by because he did not know, or was too afraid, or had no experience.
And the things he had only noticed once it was already too late.
Climbing again, he could sweep up every last one of them.
He was walking a road he had walked once before, so he was confident he could do far better this time.
No, more than confident. He was certain.
'I've been given a chance. Thanks to them.'
Dang So-wol, Russell Mighty, Cheon Hyang-un.
And the other comrades who had helped steal the Constellation's vessel with him.
After a moment of silent mourning for the versions of them from his first run, Lee Jin-hyeok raised his head.
'Now it's my turn.'
<Pure Radiance>, who had toyed with players, killed them, and in the end destroyed the Tower itself.
He had to build the strength to stand against that thing.
***
[You have acquired the Main Quest <Goblin Hunt>.]
<Goblin Hunt>
Grade: Tutorial
▶Objective: Slay 10 goblins.
▶Reward: All of the following are granted.
1) 1,000 points.
2) Choice of 1 Adept's weapon.
▶Additional Reward: ???
[A weapon for beginners is issued.]
[You have acquired the item <Beginner's Sword>.]
CRACKLE—!
Swords appeared on their own in the hands of the people.
<Beginner's Sword>
Grade: Common
Category: Sword
[Attack Power: 5]
'Pathetic.'
It was a wretched sword, only barely better than nothing.
"What is this? A sword?"
"We're supposed to kill goblins?"
"W, wait a second."
Before the others could even grasp the situation, another hologram window formed.
[The tutorial has begun, so the <Safe Zone> is released.]
[Good luck.]
The blue membrane that had surrounded them vanished.
SCREEEEECH—!
"W, what the hell!"
"What is this?!"
Had they read the confusion and fear in the people?
Beyond where the membrane had been, the monsters that had been waiting for fresh meat began to close in, roaring.
"Th, they're coming!"
"Stop them! Stop them!"
"Everyone get back for now......"
"We're surrounded, where is back?!"
"Group up!"
Drool running freely, bloodshot eyes, worn weapons and teeth, an aggression plain at a glance.
"SCREEEECH—!"
"GRAAAAGH!"
"Die! Just die!"
In an instant, the place turned into chaos.
The goblins were smaller than humans.
Even measured by their current stats, each person gathered here was slightly stronger.
But the humans gathered here had a fatal weakness.
That all of them had come from South Korea, a peaceful country.
That most of them had never swung a blade or seen a large-scale war, let alone been in a single fight in their lives.
The goblins here, meanwhile, were monsters that had fought and hunted all their lives.
"SCREEEECH—!"
So the people could only panic.
Against the goblins charging at them, they merely flailed with their swords, incapable of any proper response.
"Ughhh......!"
No matter how much they screamed, the goblins did not stop.
Like a starving pack of dogs, they only cut, tore, and bit at the humans.
"I, I'm hurt!"
"Save me!"
Monsters, creatures they had only ever seen in their imaginations, had come into reality, and everyone was busy running to survive.
Fear spread like a plague, paralyzing reason and leaving bodies helpless.
"M, monsters......"
"How are we supposed to beat something like that......"
"Run! Run for it!"
People died, one after another.
There were even those who were wounded and wetting themselves.
Someone wailed. Someone fainted.
And in the middle of it, one man alone stepped forward, unshaken.
"Wh, what was that?"
"Did something go past?"
"Don't tell me there are monsters behind us too?"
For a moment they thought it was a goblin and curled up, terrified.
SLASH—!
But the sword of the man who shot out from behind them did not kill anyone.
It was saving them instead.
GAAAAAHK!
By cutting the arm off the goblin at the very front.
"......!"
An attack so concise, so efficient.
Above all, at the sight of that complete lack of hesitation, some of them thought.
'Even so, to cut down a living creature in one stroke like that......?'
'What on earth is that man?'
Whether the others thought that or not, Lee Jin-hyeok simply pressed forward, swinging his sword.
"Don't panic too much. Deal with them one step at a time."
SLASH—!
"It's written in the quest, isn't it? All you have to do is kill ten goblins."
Even while saying that, Lee Jin-hyeok kept swinging his sword.
One goblin per strike.
Every time the sword came down, another goblin was left badly wounded and rolling on the ground.
"If you truly can't manage, then finish off the ones on the ground."
He twisted his body and easily avoided the goblins' bites and blades.
His feet moved quickly across the ground, and his body bent smoothly even in the middle of a swing.
Beyond the Strength, Vitality, and Agility shown on the status window, his flexibility, muscle quality, and combat ability were all performing at the very highest level.
SLASH—!
"GAAAAAHK!"
With a roar, a goblin's arm dropped away limply.
Seeing that it was cut exactly as far as he had aimed, he ducked his head.
CRUNCH!
Three goblin blades crossed at once in the space where his head had been.
He simply rolled along the ground to avoid them, then swung his sword again.
SLICE.
Another goblin's leg was cut away and fell.
This body was flexible, smooth, and controlled exactly as he wished, almost to a worrying degree.
Of course, it was not as strong a body as the one he had held as the first-ranked Ranker.
But what he was comparing it to now was the body 'Lee Jin-hyeok' had possessed when he first climbed the Tower.
Against that body, its performance was overwhelmingly better.
'When I first climbed the Tower.'
Grin.
'I was shaking so badly I couldn't even swing a sword properly.'
Before entering the Tower, Lee Jin-hyeok had been nothing more than an ordinary citizen of twenty-first century South Korea.
As for exercise, a few new year's resolution trips to the gym were the whole of it.
So during his first tutorial, the sight of a living, moving goblin had frozen him in fear.
'It's different now.'
SLICE.
Now, having been through more than his share of everything, he cut them down without a trace of hesitation.
After a few swings and a few dodges, he had fully adapted to his new body.
Every motion became as natural as if it had always been his own.
"That's right! Let's at least finish them off! He's out there working that hard by himself......!"
"Yes! L, let's go, us too!"
CRUNCH!
Emboldened by Lee Jin-hyeok's display, the people regained the ability to think rationally.
They had no face to just stand there, and it was now clear to them that those monsters called goblins were not invincible.
Only then did the people begin to move.
"Die! Just die!"
"Hrgh......!"
Of course, the others could not slice the goblins apart the way Lee Jin-hyeok did.
Killing or cutting a goblin left them wounded too, and blood sprayed over them.
A crow-tit could not turn into a stork in a single step.
But by joining their strength, killing ten goblins was something they could manage without great difficulty.
[Player <Kim So-hyeon> has completed the tutorial. Moving to a safe location.]
[Player <Park Si-hyeok> has completed the tutorial. Moving to a safe location.]
"Uh, uhh......?"
FLASH—!
The instant they killed ten goblins, pillars of white light began to wrap around the players' bodies.
"We can do this!"
"Let's go!"
"If you really can't do it, just finish off the wounded goblins!"
RAAAAAH—!
People who had overcome their fear to some degree began charging at the goblins one after another.
One by one they killed goblins and cleared the tutorial.
Watching the people and the goblins tangled together in the fighting, Lee Jin-hyeok looked ahead.
'At this rate, they'll clear the tutorial on their own.'
Goblins, and humans.
The balance of power between the two groups was roughly even.
"GAAAAHK......"
"SCREEEECH...... SCREEEECH......!"
Lee Jin-hyeok cut down goblins and kept pushing forward, onward and onward.
But there was one thing.
Something strange.
Not a single one of the goblins Lee Jin-hyeok encountered had died.
They were merely crawling along the ground with their arms and legs cut away.
Though they were finished off soon enough by the players following behind him.
'Filling my ten with things this weak would be a loss.'
Lee Jin-hyeok had more than enough ability to kill them, but this was as far as he went.
He did not finish them off.
▶Objective: Slay 10 goblins.
'The tutorial's additional reward. To get that, I need the one standing behind these things.'
Swish.
'I have to kill the Goblin Chieftain.'
While the other players were preoccupied with goblins one at a time, Lee Jin-hyeok was looking at a slightly larger picture.
The individual controlling this vast number of goblins from behind them.
That was Lee Jin-hyeok's target.
[*Warning! A unique entity has been detected nearby.]
[This target is not suited to a tutorial player. Avoiding it is recommended.]