Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Tutorial (2)
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⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ You have entered Tutorial-7 Zone! ⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ First entry! Tutorial quest granted! 📜 NEW QUEST 📜 Unquenchable Ember of the Sun
Rank: Special - Tutorial
Grade: Special - Tutorial
Description: For unknown reasons, a fragment of the sun that burns 365 days a year without end has exhausted its power and plummeted to the earth as an ember. Gather the embers!
Objective: Collect 7 or more embers (0/7)
Success: Proceed to the Abyss; rewards based on achievement
Failure: X
I confirmed the simple explanation and closed the message window in front of me.
Having already memorized all 15 tutorial strategy guides, I knew that these "embers" dropped from monsters at an extremely low probability.
"Damn it! It's so hot I'm gonna die. Goddamn it! Why the hell did we have to start in Zone 7, the one nobody picks? I didn't even get to put on sunscreen! My skin!"
Lee Ji-hyeong, who had followed me here himself, was grumbling away. I briefly considered just slashing him right then and there, but managed to suppress my killing intent with a deep breath and looked to the opposite side instead.
"Is there something here...? As the top rank, targeting the highest difficulty zone isn't a bad idea. But is there any real reason to pick this place? The other max-difficulty zones have more monsters and better rewards."
I was a little thrown off by his surprisingly sharp observation, which hit deeper than expected. Not wanting to hang around with them right now, I kicked off the ground and dashed past them toward the desert.
'Anyway, I don't plan on doing anything major today like awakening Seo Mi-na, dealing with Lee Ji-hyeong, or entering the hidden stage.'
With the examiner waiting outside the test tube, I figured I'd start those things methodically from tomorrow.
The hidden stage, named after ruins, would clearly take at least a week to clear anyway.
"Tch! You gonna hunt solo? Fine, let's make it a contest—who clears first!"
"I'm coming too!"
Lee Ji-hyeong, burning with competitive spirit and desperate to crush me somehow, ran off in a different direction from me, while Seo Mi-na, her eyes sparkling with unwanted interest, started following me.
"Yeah, let's wrap this up quick and rest."
How far did I run with my sword dangling at my side?
In the endless expanse of yellow sand, strangely bulging patches began to appear here and there.
"Found it!"
The monsters that appeared in the Tutorial-7 Zone desert terrain were three kinds.
[F-] Rank monster appearing across the entire desert: Desert Scorpion
[F-] Rank monster appearing only in the desert center: Sand Lizard
[F-] Rank monster appearing extremely rarely around oases: Bombardment Cactus
True to Zone 7's notorious reputation, all three were tricky to hunt—even knowing the strategy methods, without overwhelming power or mastery, they were tough prey.
And the monster I'd spotted now was a Desert Scorpion.
A cunning, nimble bastard that hid in the desert sands and ambushed approaching foes.
'Of course, humans won't fall for it.'
As long as you weren't dumb enough to stupidly approach those suspicious bulges out of curiosity.
Yeah, any hunter with a brain and the ability to think would obviously suspect something that shady...
"Gaaahhh!"
Before the thought finished, Lee Ji-hyeong's scream echoed from afar, making me grimace.
"What a pain in the ass."
Desert Scorpions paralyze prey sneaking up on them hidden with their tail's paralytic venom, then hunt them.
A hunter like him, with even a faint purification effect from his fire mana, wouldn't get paralyzed from just one sting.
"Die! Die! Die!"
Sure enough, furious roars of exploding flames rang out in succession.
'Idiot. The monsters here have high basic fire resistance.'
These guys lived under the sun, whose flames dwarfed Lee Ji-hyeong's pathetic fire. Some rare individuals even swallowed sun embers, granting near-immunity to lower-grade fire attacks.
Half on purpose, I still couldn't comprehend why this moron chose Zone 7 just for some petty rivalry with me and to impress Seo Mi-na.
He'd picked the tutorial with the absolute worst matchup for himself.
"Sigh. No point thinking about that fool. Let's just get this done and go."
I turned to Seo Mi-na standing behind me and explained the strategy.
"Those are Desert Scorpions. The method's simple: strike first from outside their attack range and kill them in one hit."
Of course, that was easier said than done. You needed the power and skill to one-shot them.
"Just a heads-up: fail to kill it in one go, and you'll be in real trouble."
I shook my head at the monster roars starting up again from his direction.
"If one of their kin gets attacked, they consider stealth broken and swarm for a group hunt."
Saying that, I slowly approached a slightly raised sand patch. At about 3 meters away, I hurled my sword without hesitation.
Paang! Pook!
The bullet-fast blade sank straight into something.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ A trivial bit of luck is granted due to the stirring of the deeply sleeping Fortune! 💥 CRITICAL HIT! 💥 ⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Item: Frostfire Sword's effect grants freeze! Fortune helped me too. Ice unfitting for the desert spread from my thrown sword, freezing the surroundings. The scorpion, with high fire resistance but despairingly low ice resistance, died without a single struggle.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Common-Rank [F-] LV 4 Monster - Desert Scorpion defeated Contribution: 100% Experience +10 Reward: Purple Coin x1 Messages popped up, and I felt something filling inside me.
✨ LEVEL UP! ✨ + Spare Points +1
I'd leveled up. But I wasn't happy. The real important part was what came next.
'I wonder what'll happen?'
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ By one-shotting your first monster, your rank has risen! Something dormant in your origin awakens! The system unconditionally awakens one stat when you first kill an enemy and reach level 1.
Before regression, I'd awakened Stamina. Then, after endless suffering with strength-related crap, I finally unlocked Strength too.
But this time, I was curious what stat would awaken.
'No, with Infinite stat already, maybe it won't awaken anything.'
Could be. I already had the ultimate physical stat.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Your tireless efforts, hard work, and perseverance awaken Stat: Stamina (Common)! Error! You already possess a superior physical stat! Stamina stat absorbed into Infinite stat! Infinite stat +1. My face twisted briefly, then relaxed.
'Tch, figures it'd end up like this.'
Honestly, I'd expected it. Still, knowing didn't stop the regret from lingering in my mind.
Even a common stat awakening was one of the three most crucial things for a hunter.
As if responding to my feelings?
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ The dormant Fortune stirs irritably at your intense desire, opens its eyes, rises, and summons a miracle! Intense heavenly luck gathers toward you! This was the first time Fortune properly flexed since the initial awakening when it temporarily restored all suppressed luck.
No more just blocking Misfortune or granting faint luck while asleep—it was showing its true power.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ An unknown miracle intervenes, causing an error to introduce an unknown variable! Stat fusion canceled; change occurs in the awakening stat! "What the?"
Infinite stat dropped back by 1, and the "Stamina" stat flickered with static before changing.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Despite all the Misfortune testing and tormenting you, you never yielded, rose again, pressed on, and seized a miracle! Your origin receives an unknown stimulus and awakens Stat: Unyielding (不屈) (Legendary)! Stat: Unyielding interacts with Unique Ability: Supreme Soul! Finally, the Stamina stat vanished from the Status Window, replaced by the unfamiliar Unyielding.
"Check stat Unyielding."
⚔ STATUS ⚔ ✨ Stat: Unyielding (不屈) ⚡ Rank: Legendary 💨 Grade: F- (1/99) 💪 Description: An absolute will to never yield before anything. 🍀 Abilities: - Overcoming Misfortune grows Unyielding stat and grants extra spare points. - Adds bonus to all status ailment resistances. (Stacks with Supreme Soul effect.) "Holy shit!"
I barely held back the urge to jump for joy and shout.
If not for those two leeches, I probably couldn't have.
But that joy was brutally shattered by the damn thing that popped up right on cue.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Fortune, having exhausted all available power, falls into deep sleep and warns you to beware danger! Misfortune, silently watching all this, gains immense power as backlash to the overwhelming luck. Misfortune foretells great misfortune upon you! 'Goddamn it!'
Misfortune always had to sabotage moments like this to feel satisfied. I'd wondered why it stayed quiet while Fortune helped me multiple times.
'So it was gathering strength.'
Did it think petty Misfortune couldn't torment me anymore?
It had amassed power, and now that even Fortune had used massive power and slept, it started moving.
'I knew using Fortune powers up Misfortune.'
But to be this cunning!
I clenched my fists and glared at the damn Misfortune stat. Not a single point invested, yet exactly 1 higher than Fortune.
Tsking my tongue, I closed the Status Window.
'Anyway, until I resolve that curse disguised as a unique ability, it'll keep happening.'
Nothing to do but grit my teeth and overcome it this time too!
If I did, I'd gain massive stat points—not a bad deal.
With that thought, I glanced at Seo Mi-na, who'd fried a scorpion with massive lightning, then moved on.
Thus, my first post-regression tutorial came to an end.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Total 26, all returned!"
"Good work. You've splendidly earned the Abyss's recognition. But countless trials await you ahead. Be cautious—ever cautious. Dismissed!"
The examiner finished with the formal words and headed straight back to the association. The now-official rookie hunters gathered in groups and dispersed for after-parties.
"Alright, time to cough up the reward?"
I approached Seo Mi-na like I'd been waiting. She nodded as if expecting it and gestured for me to follow.
For reference, that moron fire demon brat took three scorpion paralytic venom stings and got rushed to the hospital by guildmates.
'Told you not to pick Zone 7.'
Apparently, he'd rushed ahead to beat me to a scorpion kill, got unlucky with a perfectly hidden one, and panicked against scorpions barely fazed by his magic.
Pathetic and miserable results for the guy who'd later be called Flame Demon, an A-rank demonic human.
He managed to kill one, level up, and survive... but his swollen legs didn't look normal.
"Here to escort you, miss."
"Get in."
I climbed into what was obviously an expensive car.
"The list you asked to prepare. Head to 'that place'?"
"Yeah, take me there."
"Understood."
She took a tablet PC from her driver/secretary and handed it to me.
"Pick one. Just one."
"Oho! You're well-prepared."
I smiled satisfactorily at the list.
'What to choose?'
Her list had tons of items—from ones I remembered to ones I'd never heard of.
'Tch, guess this is the limit, huh?'
Even as a third-gen chaebol, casually collecting high-rank items was tough; nothing Epic rank or above.
But even those Epic ranks were incredibly rare items.
Selling just one would net billions.
After scanning the list for a while, my eyes locked on one item, shocking me inwardly.
'It's here!'
The item that stole my gaze was pathetically shabby compared to the flashy others.
→Faded Radiance Wing (Common-F)
Just a pretty wing that Seo Ye-rin had added to her collection.
But I demanded it without hesitation.