005. Second ordeal (2)
「Until the start of the 2nd floor ordeal – 1 hour 47
minutes 」
The bed is cheap, so I think my body is aching;
-Hyun Seok-jin: If you twist… you know? Buy a high quality bed from the store.
-Oh Chun-seok: If you think you’re going to buy something like that, I’ll just cook rice soup.
-Hyun Seok-jin: Oh, but talking about soup makes me hungry.
-Oh Chun-seok: I don’t even experience menstruation, so I don’t know why I’m hungry. Really.
-Kim Seung-Hun: Are crazy people able to joke in this situation? Stop talking nonsense like rice soup and buy beef jerky at the store. It’s the cheapest.
-Oh Chun-seok: Oh honey tip ㄱㅅㄱㅅ!
Dudeuk!
“It’s already been so long.”
I warmed up lightly while looking at the community.
After training while rolling on the floor in the waiting room hundreds of times, the time came to this before I knew it.
I learned a lot during that time.
It was the cheapest food sold in stores or the nature of the waiting room.
‘The thing I learned the most about was the nature of the waiting room.’
Most physiological phenomena other than hunger cannot be felt in this waiting room.
Well, roughly, I was able to find out that kind of information.
I also learned that the recovery effect of the waiting room is not all-round.
‘Actually, it’s ambiguous to say that it’s a recovery effect.’
As an experiment earlier, I cut the back of my hand with a blade, and the blood that flowed from the back of my hand returned to the wound and recovered.
Returning the shed blood back is not a normal ‘recovery’.
An effect that can be said to be closer to a restoration phenomenon rather than a recovery phenomenon.
So, if the hunger becomes extreme, you may die of starvation.
Just because hunger continues doesn’t mean that hunger will go back to the way it used to be.
‘Although I figured out that the recovery effect could be turned off or killed.’
There weren’t many features that were particularly helpful or that I actually used.
Because points are consumed.
A total of 100 points for enabling and disabling healing effects in waiting rooms.
There were only 375 points left in hand, so I had to be careful about wasting points.
Of course, I’ll test it later when I have points and decide it’s worth checking out.
After thinking like that, I opened a store and bought beef jerky.
Jilgeongjilgung.
“It’s tasteless and hard.”
Jerky without even salt was a pain to eat.
However, beef jerky is the best cost-effective food with only 10 points per piece.
There is nothing cheaper than this to eat properly.
He said that he couldn’t even chew the black bread made by mixing flour and sand, and that other cheap foods were similar.
It’s not something you can eat, but should I say it’s just for stuffing things into your stomach?
‘I won’t be able to survive while eating something like that.’
It wasn’t food, but beef jerky was better than just trying to fill the stomach.
Even if it’s not tasty, if you want to save points, you have no choice but to eat this now.
Squeezing jerky, I also bought water and medical supplies like bandages.
I didn’t know what trials would come, so I had to do what I could to prepare.
After buying this and that, the remaining points were as follows.
「Remaining points – 40」
“There are really few left.”
Perhaps this would not have been left if he had not received the additional breakthrough reward.
That was the case just by looking at what was going on in the community.
-Lee Hee-jin: I can’t buy medical supplies because I don’t have points; why magic items are expensive;
-Kim Seung-hoon: Magic is a scam in the beginning, but if magic items are cheap, will the balance be right?
-Hyun Seok-jin: But am I the only one who received an additional breakthrough reward? Thanks to you, I have a lot of points.
-Kim Seung-hoon: I received it too, but I’m not a point, but a skill? What?
-Oh Chun-seok: ? I didn’t get that what? Did you stab the manager for some money?
-Heejin Lee: Huh? I didn’t get it either?
Those who received additional breakthrough compensation are in a very small number.
Most of those who heard that it was an additional breakthrough reward in the community also tilted their heads.
‘Are you saying that you have to show outstanding performance in the tutorial to receive it?’
Everyone said they only received one of two points or skills.
however.
“Did I get both?”
Hmm…
Maybe there is a formula for the settlement of the additional breakthrough reward.
If you kill an enemy in an ordeal where survival is the theme, additional rewards increase.
‘So maybe I’ll get two rewards.’
If that happens, the ordeal on the second floor and the trials that follow will require a movement that breaks the mold.
It was to climb this tower while preoccupying an advantageous position over others.
Even the difficulty I chose was the highest among the three options.
If an E-class monster appeared from the tutorial, there was a high probability that it would be worse after this.
‘It’s a relief that I’ve been training without rest.’
Thanks to that, it felt as if the sword and shield were integrated in the hand.
At this level, I thought I could win even if I met the sand golem again.
‘Unlike then, I have a shield.’
After preparing, I checked the remaining time by taking all kinds of items into my inventory.
「Until the start of the 2nd floor trial – 17 minutes and 17 seconds」
Quite a bit of time has passed, both in training and buying things at the store.
Even in the community, many people seemed to be nervous, and their words were reduced.
-Oh Chun-seok: The tutorial ordeal was so damn good, but what about the second floor…. It sounds like something, really.
-Hyun Seok-jin: I don’t need awakening, so I’d rather just send him back home.
-Kim Seung-hoon: Don’t procrastinate and get ready to fight. Because I don’t know what will happen.
-Lee Jin-woo: I don’t want to go fucking. Why did you choose the hard difficulty level… Difficulty can’t be changed?
-Hyun Seok-jin: If it were you, would you return the hogu that walked on its own?
-Oh Chun-seok: I heard and saw that. I will not let go of this young black cow and catch it.
When it was time to challenge the second floor, everyone started to get gloomy.
It was the same for me too.
‘Can I survive? I?’
Just imagining the battle made my hands tremble and my heart pound.
But if you don’t fight, you’ll just be weeded out.
At the end of the path of being eliminated, all that remains is the stigma of being a loser and death.
Everyone wants to fight because they know that.
「Until the start of the 2nd floor ordeal – 10 seconds」
10 seconds 9 seconds 8 seconds 7 seconds…
Time passed quickly and the community became as quiet as when chat was banned.
The calm before the storm.
As the inevitable disaster struck, everyone began to become solemn.
and.
「Until the start of the 2nd floor trial – 0 seconds」
「Time ends.」
The moment the remaining time is completely reduced.
“test.”
I immediately put the command for the Tower of Trials into my mouth.
「Are you willing to accept the 2nd floor trial?」
「Y/N」
I pressed ‘Y’ without any hesitation, and soon the portal I saw before appeared.
Without hesitation, I entered the portal.
If it’s not now that I’ve made up my mind, I might not be able to move forward for the rest of my life.
OK.
「Enter the 2nd floor of the Tower of Trials.」
「Difficulty – Hard」
「The subject of the ordeal is ‘Assassination’.」
「I hope that the challenger will have a satisfactory result at the end of their chosen penance.」
“Forest?”
Beyond the portal, a green forest was waiting for me.
「Start the 2nd floor ordeal.」
「Remaining time – 3 days」
「Trial breakthrough condition – kill the Orc chief within the remaining time」
「Trial failure condition – challenger dies or the remaining time ends」
「Trial breakthrough reward – Assassin’s cloak (D) Black Iron Dagger (E+)”
「Order Failure Penalty – Death」
“Assassination…”
It seems that the second floor ordeal is about assassination.
‘Do I have to assassinate now?’
I’ve never done it, and I have very little knowledge about it.
No, where is the hunter who tries to assassinate the monster in the first place?
If I just killed him, I would have killed him, but there was no attempt to assassinate him.
Of course, that’s not to say that there aren’t such cases…
but at least there weren’t any cases I know of.
But it didn’t bother me too much.
I had to do it somehow because the tutorial was the same.
“Huh, if yes, I will.”
If you just want to do something, what you have to do is the ordeal of this tower.
at that time.
“The map dedicated to trials on the 2nd floor is open.”
“The base of the Orc tribe is displayed.”
After belatedly, such a message came to my mind, and a large map appeared in the corner of my field of vision.
I thought there would be no blood or tears because it was hard, but it didn’t seem like that again.
At least, did Top also have a conscience?
After seeing where the Orc tribe was, I understood why the map was created.
A difficult place to get to as it is in the middle of a forest.
Without the map, it might have taken a week to find the orc tribe.
At least this tower doesn’t seem to set a goal for something that can’t be accomplished.
“Anyway, the need to search the whole forest is gone.”
That alone can be said to be a great harvest.
The inventory contains food and water for several days, so there is nothing to worry about.
I also prepared potions to use when I need to, and there are many things prepared.
So there is nothing more to prepare, just move.
“Shall we go?”
He walked slowly with his sword and shield firmly held in his hand.
To the inside of the forest where the orc colony is located.
***
Halfway through the vast forest, I dropped my body to the ground.
It can’t be said to be the basic skill of a Hunter, but it’s the result of thinking.
‘If there are scouts or sentries among the Orcs, they may be discovered.’
If this Tower of Trials had perfectly implemented a ‘dungeon’-like structure.
There was a good chance of that.
Unless you had a special skill or item, it would be difficult to avoid the eyes of the reconnaissance.
Of course, if you are a proper hunter, it would be
strange that there is no such thing.
‘I have to be careful from now on at least not to get caught.’
It was a car that crawled between bushes while maintaining its crawling state.
“Chwiyi yiyiyi.”
My body stiffened in an instant at the sound I heard from somewhere.
Orcs could hear the clear breathing of an E-class monster.
“…”
I thought about how to deal with it for a while, but it was obvious what to do.
Advance and reduce the presence as much as possible.
Moving to a bush a little farther away, a scene that was not visible was revealed.
I see a sharpened wooden fence and two monsters guarding the entrance to such a wooden fence.
‘Is it an Orc sentry?’
Clearly, the breathing he just heard must have belonged to an Orc sentry.
“Chwii profit.”
The leather armor worn over the body and the greatsword held in the hand are seemingly strong.
‘I want to observe more…’
Now that I’ve finished checking, it’s time to step back.
If they are discovered by the Orc sentry, the battle will begin forcibly from then on.
Then the chances of me surviving would be gone.
I slowly moved away from the orc settlement without being noticed, and immediately got up and started to search the surroundings.
Now that we know the existence of the orcs, we need a way to observe them without getting caught.
‘If it’s in a place with quite a bit of moisture and high magic power enough for monsters to live…’
「Heavenly Mud」
「Grade: F」
「Special mud that is created in areas with high humidity and
contains magic power.」 It becomes less likely to be affected by the monsters’ sense of smell and vision.”
“However, it is an effect that activates only during the 12 hours that it is applied, and during that time, the body emits a bad odor.”
… Yes.
‘This is also here.’
I smiled as I looked at the magical mud that usually comes out when you enter a dungeon.
As expected, towers are different from dungeons, but they are similar.
‘I can use my existing knowledge.’
With that thought in mind, I scooped up the mud that was pooling near the puddle and applied it all over my body.
After getting it right, a disgusting smell like rotten meat came up, but it didn’t matter.
Even if other monsters don’t know, Orcs will be able to fool their senses of sight and smell with this mud.
‘This mud is enough for goblin orcs and gnolls.’
After all, they are all those who die from this ‘heavenly mud’.
‘Well then, what should I do now?’
In normal dungeons, if there is a scout in an orc tribe, it means that there are ‘hunters’ and ‘workers’.
Sentinels, Hunters, Workers, and Chieftains.
Orcs simply divide their roles and carry out their respective tasks.
‘It’s an ordeal at the level of an E-class dungeon for Orcs who know how to do group work.’
At least at my level, I can’t easily clear it.
Rather, it is a situation where you may or may not be able to wake up even if you risk your life.
As long as there are orc hunters, I can never overwhelm the orcs by force.
‘At least E-class hunters must form a party to kill hunters, but I can’t kill them alone.’
Looking at it objectively, I’m not that strong, so a head-to-head match is impossible.
If there’s one variable, it’s its unique characteristic, necromancy.
Even that has an activation condition that requires killing something to absorb the spirit.
‘How can I kill the chieftain inside?’
At that moment, a crazy idea popped into my head.
No, there is no way at all.
As long as the target to be killed is not limited to the ‘chief’…
“…there is a way to kill all orcs.”
