The True Trial

The True Trial tournament had come to an end. Since we had finished relatively quickly, the viewers drained away like the tide going out. They must have gone to watch whatever spectacle remained. ‘They were spamming the chat like crazy, though…’ I didn’t bother going to watch the other matches. In any case, if I waited just a little while, all sorts of edited highlight videos under the name Mad Movie would flood the community. Even if I only watched the ones with the highest views and recommendations, an entire day would fly by.

“By the way, I had no idea the golem was literally a brain in a vat.”

I was about to ask why she hadn’t told me, but I quickly realized it was a meaningless question. The Cat was also a member of ‘Death.’ It would be a matter of fairness if an involved party leaked information that could influence the outcome. And if I thought about it, wasn’t I a beneficiary as well? Thanks to the sponsors staying silent, Baengnae’s necromancer performance had been able to work.

“Anyway, shall we go collect ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the reward now? Or is there some other process I still need to go through?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

And just like always, something materialized in the air and dropped with a soft thud. On the outside, it looked like an ordinary ring. Its bumpy surface made it seem like it would hurt to wear.

“A ring? I thought I was supposed to get a Soul Engraving?”

‘I told you to give me an engraving…’ But I didn’t bother saying it out loud. Analyzing the Cat’s words, it felt like this ring was more valuable than a lowest-grade Soul Engraving. Above all, since I was the one in charge of providing the Cat’s snacks, she wouldn’t deliberately weaken me.

I pushed the stray thoughts aside and checked the ring’s information.

Five green bars glowed beside the ring. That must be the energy. Without hesitation, I activated the item.

Kugoo— crunch—

The nearby dirt and gravel floated up and began clumping together in one spot. It was a similar ability to what Kim Pok-ryeong’s golems had used. The rocks bonded together strongly and gradually took the shape of the gauntlet I had envisioned.

“Oh…?”

I slipped both hands into the gauntlets. Then I spent additional energy to adjust their size to perfectly fit my body. A pleasant pressure tightened around them, improving the fit. ‘This… is better than I expected?’

When I moved my fingers, the motion felt so smooth it was as if thick leather had been layered over my skin. I could probably manage chopsticks with this. I clenched my fist and punched the wall of the building.

Bang—

Cracks spiderwebbed across the wall as fragments rained down. The gauntlet itself looked slightly damaged, but when I reactivated the item, it repaired itself instantly.

“So that used one bar of energy.”

I had manipulated enough ore to completely cover both arms and even repaired it, yet only twenty percent of the energy was consumed. If I used it all at once, I could probably create armor that covered my entire upper body. Both durability and convenience were excellent. “It was worth the hard work… This is amazing!”

Whoosh— whoosh—

While listening to the Cat’s explanation, I tested the ring several more times. There were endless ways to use it. Most of all, I was happiest that I had finally obtained a weapon I could properly use in real combat.

With those meaningful words, the Cat disappeared. She was probably going back to sleep again.

‘Hmm…?’

Thinking back on it, the Cat’s words had been strange. Through this tournament, I had gained benefits that could only be described as excessive. Just the gauntlets in my hands were clearly far beyond the level of Stage 3. On top of that, Baengnae and the zombies had consumed various high-tier entities and grown stronger. Through numerous supplements, I had secured not only physical training but also the fundamental growth method for zombies in an overbalanced way.

I couldn’t picture any scenario where I would lose the boss fight. ‘Call her when I reach Stage 4? But the only thing left now is the Stage 3 boss. Is there something I don’t know…?’

Since Stage 3 was the newbie stage, the boss round was also well known. It was a franchise concept. When the round began, six branches and one headquarters would appear at random locations. The concept was to travel between them and destroy them all. The strategy was also quite famous. Every time a branch was eliminated, the headquarters grew slightly weaker, so the standard tactic was to circle the city and chip away at them. There had been users who attacked the headquarters blindly without information and suffered for it, but if you searched the community even a little, it was flooded with all kinds of tips.

Of course, I had set the difficulty to the highest. But the difference between me when I had just entered Stage 2 and me now was beyond comparison. I couldn’t understand the Cat’s worry.

‘What… am I missing?’

I had no idea. If there was any difference, it was that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we had participated in the tournament, but that had only given us even greater growth… Ah. I realized it.

‘So that’s what it was…’

The users who had lost their rewards had their difficulty lowered by the exact amount they had lost. It was the organizer’s consideration. But that wasn’t consideration at all.

“Haha… So this is it…”

Just as light and darkness coexist. Just as a coin has two sides. Users who lost their rewards had their difficulty decreased. Then, conversely—

Users who gained rewards had their difficulty increased.

‘Why didn’t I realize something so simple?’

The true purpose of the tournament. It wasn’t out of anger toward the scammers, nor was it for a brief moment of amusement. It was a colossal solitude meant to bloom only under extreme heat and pressure, a massive crucible designed solely to separate the real gems from the fakes.

The community users had been furious, asking why the tournament was split into two hundred leagues with no ultimate winner. A finals match? That sort of thing had never been necessary from the beginning. Because the True Trial would naturally find them all.

After experiencing the Stage 3 tournament, various changes swept through the community. The biggest was a shift in perception. Previously, the prevailing opinion had been that anyone below Stage 3 was unquestionably a dropout. But after the matches, videos of the Top 200 flooded the community and opinions changed. They had shown power that surpassed the average Stage 4 user despite being in Stage 3. Some even threatened Stage 5.

And this became the catalyst for the high-rankers living beyond Stage 6 to begin actively moving. The top-tier users. They were usually not the type to show their faces often in the community. They were too busy focusing on their own growth. But even for them, the next wall was high. Beyond Stage 6, an open world was created where countless users had to cooperate. And with the difficulty raised that much, the previous methods no longer offered any solutions. It was a stage where individual power no longer worked.

After suffering bitter failure after bitter failure, they turned their eyes toward those below Stage ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠6. And right on cue, the tournament opened. The community grew lively, and users who had been hiding their power until now began uploading videos. Once numerous combat-related videos spread, people no longer felt burdened about revealing their summons.

That atmosphere spread across all stages. And the high-rankers, who desperately needed promising talents, began working to pull those talents into their own servers. The war for promising prospects had begun.

The Top 200 received countless love calls. The part that worried the high-rankers the most was the appearance of troublemakers. Each user was the king of the kingdom they had built. If the server’s atmosphere didn’t match them, conflict would arise with one hundred percent certainty. That was why their eyes turned to the tournament winners rather than simply strong users from Stages 5 or 6. Because those winners had already had their character verified once through the tournament.

In that way, quite a few of the Top 200 received various promises of support and scheduled their server selection beyond Stage 6—unaware that most of them would never even escape Stage 3 and would end up as cold corpses.

The long-awaited boss battle was finally approaching. I didn’t know what lay beyond, but there was no way I could just sit around in Stage 3 forever, was there?

I lined up my zombies, who had bulked up impressively. One hundred dwarf zombies. These weren’t just any dwarf zombies. They were the elite troops I had created by mercilessly running an intense schedule for the past several weeks with no gaps. Warriors who had overcome the pain of torn muscles. Their forearms were twice as thick as before, and a sharp gleam shone in their eyes… Well, zombies’ eyes don’t normally have a sharp gleam. But it was clear these zombies had gained enough combat power to defeat three of their past selves from two weeks ago at the same time.

Clack— clack— clack—

I handed them weapons I had made by tying together kitchen utensils and various materials. The zombies accepted them like well-trained soldiers. The groaning? Ignore it. It’s just like how living people make breathing sounds; zombies just make zombie sounds.

“Shinnip!”

Thud— thud—

When I called him, Shinnip began pounding his own chest with his fists. I quickly stopped him. If I didn’t, he would keep hitting himself until he got injured. Even after eating the brain in a vat, this guy’s intelligence hadn’t increased at all. Maybe it was because he only drank the broth. But one thing was certain: among all the zombies, he had benefited the most from training. The pure muscle-head training method. He was a monster who never stopped a set.

‘Excellent!’

On the other hand, the ones who had benefited the least from training were the zombie dogs. Just as there had been benefits and limits to the humanoid form in the beginning, the four-legged beasts had now reached their limit. Four-legged creatures that couldn’t use tools couldn’t fully enjoy the blessings of the gym. Still, their combat power remained top-tier. They would continue to serve as the core of my forces for a while longer.

I stroked the dogs’ heads.

Hek— hek— hek— hek—

And then there was Baengnae. The troublemaker had, of course, achieved the greatest growth. She had been forced to train consistently, and all the high-grade food had gone straight into her stomach. Most of the items had gone to her as well. Should I confiscate that whistle? Anyway. She was the strongest, but for some reason she made me worry like a child left by the water’s edge.

“Baengnae. Be careful this time.”

“Baengnae is Baekddi-eo.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

When I gave the signal, Shinnip relayed the command. A chorus-like sound rang out.

“Everyone! Drink!”

It was a rare beverage I had prepared for today that granted an all-stats buff. I also took out a bottle and gulped it down. Vitality surged through my entire body.

‘Ready.’

I placed my hand on the [Start Battle] button.

“Let’s go.”