Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Floor 1
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How long had I been running?
I finally stopped my sprinting feet, gasping for breath.
“Running away won’t solve this.”
Leaning against the cave wall, I panted heavily.
This was the limit of my stamina.
I had to face reality.
“A woman’s body is way too frail in terms of stamina…”
Of course, that was just an excuse.
Even in my original body, it wouldn’t have been much different.
A life spent all day holed up in my room, tapping away at the keyboard.
I would’ve been just as out of shape from lack of exercise.
Keruk! Kerruk!
The goblins’ repulsive noises echoed through the cave as they tightened their encirclement.
They seemed to know I was exhausted.
At this rate, I was dead.
‘No, goblins mean violation. There might be an even worse fate than death…’
Realizing that made my head cool down instead.
I raised both hands.
It took one pinky finger to make a single bullet.
I had eight fingers left.
In theory, that meant eight more bullets.
The problem was whether I could do it all at once.
Even making one required my full concentration.
Several at the same time? Could I pull it off?
‘No, I have to.’
There was no choice.
I closed my eyes and focused all my consciousness on my fingertips.
The sensation of eight fingers turning to sand simultaneously.
I envisioned the divine power within me.
The god’s form shifted into bullets.
I infused mana into each separated clump of sand, compressed it, and spun it.
My brain felt like it was going to explode.
It was like playing eight different games at once.
Drip. Blood flowed from my nose.
My head was sending danger signals. Any more focus would be risky.
“Still, it barely worked.”
My hands no longer had fingers.
Instead, eight black sand bullets hovered above my palms, slowly spinning in the air.
“Die, all of you.”
I swept my hand through the air like fanning with my fingerless hands.
At my will, the eight bullets scattered in all directions like shotgun pellets.
Shooo—!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
I didn’t bother aiming precisely.
The narrow cave was packed with goblins—no need for that.
Screams and the sound of flesh bursting shook the cave.
A short while later, a foul stench of blood filled the air, followed by silence.
Scattered before my eyes were the dismembered remains of goblins.
Only then did a blue window appear before me.
[Congratulations on clearing Floor 1 EXTREME difficulty.]
“Fuck… this was hell.”
I collapsed right there. All strength drained from my body.
As the tension eased, I finally felt the strangeness of my missing fingers.
They’d only turned to sand, so I could regenerate them.
Sure enough, as I approached a goblin and manipulated my mana, the sand bullets reformed into parts of my body.
After recovering my fingers, I sat on the floor for a long time, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Then, it hit me—the most important thing.
“Oh, right. Gotta take a proof shot.”
I needed to capture this gruesome scene. A photo of me standing amid the pile of goblin corpses, flashing a V-sign for victory.
That one pic would go straight to the top as a legend post on Hunter Gallery, not to mention every other community.
“Hmm, might get blocked as gore. Gotta think this through.”
But before I could pull out my phone, the surroundings warped again.
I blinked, and I was back in that initial place—the perfect white cube room with no seams anywhere.
A massive holographic scoreboard floated before me.
[Tutorial Clear Record]
[Challenger: Unregistered]
[Selected Difficulty: EXTREME]
[Clear Time: 16 minutes 17 seconds]
[Score Obtained: 14,729 points]
[World Ranking Updated! (Previous 1st: 4,593 points)]
[Achieved World Ranking 1st!]
[Please enter a name for the ranking.]
[Name: ]
“I’m number one?”
I rubbed my eyes in disbelief.
The shock was brief—my gallery addict instincts overrode reason.
I fumbled for my phone and snapped pics of the scoreboard like mad.
Pondering carefully which shot would pull the most aggro when I bragged on Hunter Gallery later.
“Alright, got the proof shots…”
Only after finishing the photos did I look at the name input field.
World Ranking 1st. A name that would be etched forever.
There was only one nickname worthy of this spot.
No need to agonize over it.
Nothing else qualified but the one I’d used for half my life.
‘Obviously, it’s gotta be Anon.’
I was a guy who never used fixed nicks.
I tapped the keyboard familiarly and entered ‘Anon’.
[Name registered successfully.]
[Floor 1 Ranking]
[1st: Anon 14,729 points]
[2nd: DemiGoD 4,594 points]
[3rd: Team_China08 3,123 points]
The moment I entered the name, the scoreboard vanished, replaced by a new window.
Three books floated side by side.
All in dull brown.
“Oh, these must be the skill books you get when you level up.”
I’d heard about them.
As you climb the tower and gain EXP, you level up, and at certain levels, you get skill picks.
Usually, you needed to clear around Floor 3 for the first one.
Makes sense—I’d killed ten goblins, so my EXP was probably several times what others got.
“But damn, my luck sucks.”
I scowled. All poop-brown, Bronze grade.
Gallery posts said you usually get at least one silver, Silver grade.
Guess the lucky ones succeed no matter what, and the unlucky fail no matter what.
That’s when it happened.
[You are the first to clear EXTREME difficulty!]
[First Clear Bonus Applied!]
With a flash of light, the middle skill book turned silver.
“Oh…?”
An exclamation slipped out.
But the surprise didn’t end there.
[Ranking 1st Bonus Applied!]
The system window flashed again.
“Who’d have thought I’d get to say this line…”
This time, the silver skill book radiated dazzling gold.
Laughter burst out involuntarily.
“Luck’s on my side.”
Without hesitation, I reached for the glowing golden skill book.
The instant my fingers touched it, the book dissolved into light particles and absorbed into me.
At the same time, the white space swirled and collapsed.
When I came to, I was standing at the tower’s entrance.
I hurried home before facing the crowds.
***
Meanwhile, at that very moment, the northernmost point of South Korea, near the 38th parallel.
A tense atmosphere hung over a certain location ahead of an operation.
At the center of a building flashing with dozens of monitors sat one man.
Short sports haircut, tracksuit—a man who didn’t fit in with the surrounding soldiers at all.
He sat in a chair, staring at his phone.
His name was Kim Suho.
South Korea’s sole S-Rank Hunter, the Storm Mage.
Even A-Rank Hunters rarely stirred for anything major.
They were busy power-struggling with the government.
But S-Rank Hunter Kim Suho was the exception.
He was the only high-rank hunter who diligently responded to government requests.
Today, however, his mind was elsewhere.
“Why hasn’t he come back…?”
He was waiting for the mage newbie he’d met on the gallery a few days ago.
That naive weirdo who’d awakened by copying his comments verbatim.
He’d hyped the guy as having talent to chew through Hard difficulty and pushed him, but with no news, anxiety crept in.
Wheeeeeen—!
Suddenly, a blaring alarm echoed through the entire bunker.
“Large-scale mana beast detected! Approaching from the north sky!”
“Size: 12 meters! Code Red!”
The commander’s urgent shout rocked the bunker.
Mana beasts over 10 meters were disasters in themselves.
Conventional weapons couldn’t even scratch them, and even top A-Rank Hunters had to risk their lives.
Yet no one there showed fear of death.
Because Kim Suho was with them.
“Mr. Kim Suho! Please!”
All eyes turned to him.
He let out a deep sigh, stood, turned off his phone screen, and pocketed it.
Something was bothering him, but no choice.
‘This is my job.’
He was the only one in South Korea who could stop it.
Kim Suho stepped out of the bunker.
A massive shadow already loomed.
A wyvern—infamous for its flight, high intelligence, and sheer difficulty to take down.
But Kim Suho merely raised his hand lightly.
“Skybreaker.”
Invisible wind blades blanketed the sky in an instant.
Kwadududuk—!
The wyvern didn’t even scream.
Its huge body shredded like fruit in a blender, dispersing into a bloody mist.
Normally, blood rain would follow.
Kim Suho manipulated the wind to blow even the blood scent out to sea.
The whole thing took less than 10 seconds.
The commander rushed out, ready to heap on flattery and praise, but Kim Suho ignored him and returned to the bunker.
“Mr. Kim Suho seems really off today, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, he usually takes jokes well… Something up?”
People whispered.
They had to care.
The always relaxed and kind Kim Suho seemed unusually irritated today.
And an S-Rank’s mood was their top priority.
Whatever, once alone, Kim Suho sat back down and turned on his phone.
Habitually logging into Hunter Gallery, he painstakingly posted dozens of comments starting with “Magic is open to everyone.”
Then he entered his real playground, Mage Gallery.
Sure enough, the other mages were waiting for that newbie just like him.
[Title: That guy dead?]
Author: pKkatchu
No way it takes this long. If he died in the tutorial, that’d be hilarious.
ㄴ Fridge: Don’t jinx it.
ㄴ MagicIsFirepower: No way a mage dies to goblins.
ㄴ pKkatchu: Still, this late is weird. That’s the only explanation.
Bickering worry posts kept coming.
Kim Suho was about to post a comment when—
A new post alert popped up.
At the top of the gallery list, a freshly uploaded post appeared.
The newbie was back.
[Title: Proof) Cleared Extreme Difficulty.]
With news no one had anticipated.