Episode 10
Chapter 2 Promotion Test (4)
When instead of hitting a wall, he fell onto a hard stone floor.
A new mission window popped up.
HIDDEN MISSION
[Securing mana (beta test)]
Eliminate enemies. (0/32)
[compensation]
• Attribute Magic 10
• Random Box (×1)
The goal was shaken for a moment because he hit his head on the ground, but it wasn’t long before it returned to normal.
The first word that caught my eye after that was securing magical power.
The next thing I saw was numbers.
‘thirty… … ?’
Before I could even be surprised at the suddenly increased number, I heard the monster’s scream.
“Kik! Kiek! Kyaaak!”
To my horror, it was nervousness that melted into that cry. maybe it’s anxiety.
The funny thing was that I was no different.
Because it was Ethan who was left with the monster on the other side of the wall I just passed through.
He is barely conscious and has been unable to walk on his own for several minutes.
“crazy!”
I hurried to the wall.
When I put my hand on the wall, I felt a cold chill.
It was the same as the white space where the tutorial was conducted.
It was very clear that the system created this wall.
I groped around the wall, but there was no way out.
In an instant, my head was filled with anger.
“f*ck!”
As I kicked the white wall while spitting out swear words, my body stiffened.
‘also.’
These emotional changes do not adapt at all.
Every time I feel the violence stand out, my awareness rises again.
I started taking deep breaths to try to control my anger.
‘Current chaos level is 48.’
A new mission in a situation where I’m on the verge of turning 50.
Recalling the number 32 I had just seen, I immediately shoved a cleanser into my mouth.
It is dangerous to deal with monsters that exceed double digits in such an emotional state.
As the thorns that had been stuck all over his body began to come out, the Chaos level dropped to 13.
The anger that shook me was crushed.
Meanwhile, the monster on the other side of the wall fell silent. It felt like the calm before the storm.
“sh*t… … .”
Will that bastard save Ethan?
It’s quiet right now, but Ethan’s screams will soon be heard.
I turned around while grinding my teeth.
‘Let’s move while we’re at it.’
You have to start with a new mission.
Then wouldn’t it be better to get out of here and collect the corpse?
I picked up the longsword that was lying on the stone floor.
Step after step, as I moved cautiously, my side, which had been kicked by the monster earlier, throbbed.
‘It looks like it’s broken somewhere.’
There’s no cure right now, and I’m going crazy.
I held my breath and went deeper.
As expected from the outside, what was beyond the white wall was definitely a cave.
’32.’
Perhaps the number of monsters in this cave.
‘It’s dangerous if they come all at once.’
Calmly judging, the only thing I could deal with at the same time was two or three.
As I imagined them crowding around, my hands filled with cold sweat.
But for some reason, I can’t even see the shadow of the monster.
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Just then, a fork appeared.
I took the right path and before long reached a dead end.
“What is this… … .”
The sight I saw there left me speechless for a moment.
Small monsters were huddled together in front of the dead end.
“Beep, ki-ing.”
A monster that crawls without being able to stand up on its own two feet.
A little monster that wouldn’t even come to my knees if I stood up.
“under!”
It was the moment to understand the behavior of the monster that was rampaging outside the wall.
This was a monster’s nest. A nest where the offspring of monsters who have no strength to resist are gathered.
The system is telling us to catch them all and kill them to absorb their mana.
* * *
“congratulations! HIDDEN MISSION – The beta test for securing magical power was successful.”
「As a reward for success, 10 elemental mana is provided.」
“A random box (×1) will be provided as a success reward.”
There was no reluctance to kill the baby monster.
It’s because I saw a monster that couldn’t enter in front of the cave.
He must have dragged a human corpse to the entrance of the cave.
Now that it’s clear that this is a nest, isn’t the purpose obvious?
It must have been food for the babies.
In that situation, there was no need to hesitate just because these guys couldn’t grow up.
If I hadn’t come in, these little guys would have eaten the corpse.
I dutifully killed the offspring of the monster.
It was different for each individual, but the mana of those in their early 30s was absorbed.
My body changed with each breath.
Unable to control the sudden strength, the spear pole penetrated the floor and stuck to the point where it could not come off.
It was such a steep change that it was not easy to even control my body.
However, there was no opportunity to adapt slowly and leisurely while observing the changes in the body.
After killing most of the cubs, the adult monster popped out.
‘It must have come from that fork in the road.’
When the battle was over, I was bruised.
“Two.”
I couldn’t tell if what I was spitting out was saliva or blood.
Unlike the previous battle, it was a melee in which injuries were unavoidable.
Especially the torn back and the stabbed rib were especially bad.
I could feel the hot blood flowing.
Perhaps he had injured his lungs, but every breath he took was painful.
The strangulation left black bruises, and the arms and legs were not all right.
“Ugh… … .”
The flesh of the thigh was almost ripped open, so the bones were visible.
But strangely, the body was lighter.
Perhaps it was because of the mana that exceeded a thousand during the battle.
It felt like every cell in my body was awake.
Unfortunately, in the current situation, it was difficult to say that it was good unconditionally.
All of my senses became sharper as if they were piercing me, and it all felt like pain.
Even the air touching my skin, I could feel it separately, one by one.
The sound of footsteps pierces your ears and pierces your brain.
Drip-drip, dripping blood seemed to scratch the skin.
I hurriedly let go of my strength instead of pressing my hand on the punctured chest.
Apparently, he had just pressed with normal force as before, but he almost broke his ribs.
It’s definitely my body, but it didn’t feel like mine. It has changed so much.
Whoa, I exhaled and pressed the bleeding part as carefully as I could.
I’m tired, but I have to be careful while paying attention to these things.
‘I want to rest.’
I don’t think it was like this even when I worked part-time for two nights.
I just wanted to lie down and rest.
However, even in a situation where I felt like I was going to die of exhaustion, I moved forward, dragging my feet.
It wasn’t long before we went back the way we came and arrived at the entrance.
The white walls had already disappeared.
In the open entrance, the corpse of a furry animal and the corpse of a strange white man were left untouched, and a window fell beside them.
“ha… … .”
He must have purified his contaminated magic power before coming out.
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Just in case, I left one purifying agent, and now my chaos level is only 5%.
Even so, when he saw the corpse, something hot boiled inside.
The peculiar smell of the dead filled my head through my sense of smell.
It was so vivid and disgusting that it made me feel sick.
I gritted my teeth and headed out of the cave.
With the intention of checking Edan’s corpse.
The time I stayed in the cave was about 10 minutes.
It wasn’t that long.
But I didn’t think Ethan was alive.
However, the sight I saw outside the cave was different from what I expected.
I thought I heard something rustling, so I checked and saw a black man standing next to Ethan holding a spear.
It’s like trying to put it down right now.
Seeing that, action took precedence over thought.
“hey!”
I screamed and took out my dagger and threw it at the stranger.
As I moved, dripping blood soaked the ground.
Kwajik.
The dagger flew off with an eerie sound and got stuck in a tree next to an unknown player.
I threw it as hard as I could, but it was a destructive force that surprised even me.
The guy withdrew in surprise and looked back at me.
“What are you doing now?”
Black blood trickled down from the tilted head just in time.
It was the blood she took when fighting adult monsters.
Picking up the spear and limping toward it, the black man backed away.
Even so, I could see him fixing the window far away.
I took my eyes off him and looked down.
Ethan’s chest, which was lying on the ground, was moving slowly.
And beside him lay a monster with a broken arm and a pierced abdomen.
It was clear who I was dealing with.
A longsword was stuck in the monster’s chest.
“under.”
Apparently, I ignored Ethan too much.
This monster was not killed by a new black man.
If that person had caught the monster, Ethan wouldn’t be alive until now.
‘I must have died at the hands of a monster.’
So after Ethan killed the monster, that player arrived and found him unconscious.
‘Since there’s a half-corpse lying there, he must have tried to kill him and absorb his mana.’
The system has consistently instilled the relationship between killing and magic into the player from the tutorial.
If you kill something, you can absorb mana.
That must be why the black man tried to kill Ethan himself.
“Huh… … .”
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Just in time, a faint moan flowed from Edan.
I looked at him and looked up.
The black man who met my eyes started screaming and screaming.
“———, ——!”
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Crumpled, I grabbed the spear and swung it.
The spearhead accurately hit the black man’s head.
It looks like he was trying to stop it, but the movement was so slow that it broke his stomach.
The man, easily bounced off like a piece of paper, fell to the floor.
Once on the window sill and once on the floor.
After receiving a series of shocks to his head, he stumbled on the floor.
I looked at him with cold eyes.
‘I feel dirty.’
I admit that mana is important to the player since the beginning of this game.
Because of that, I also gathered mana by picking up plants.
Of course, I have no intention of killing or even hunting animals.
But I have no intention of applying the same standard to others.
If another player wants to collect mana even by killing people, it’s up to that player to decide.
You should be responsible for the guilt and social problems that follow.
Even so, the reason for interfering with the killing of Ethan was simple.
‘Because I’m the one who saved the most.’
I didn’t carry it around to become a foundation for a guy whose name I didn’t even know.
At least on this mission today, I didn’t want to see Ethan die.
“go away.”
I kicked the unknown new player and blew him away.
Afterwards, he pulled out the dagger stuck in the tree, clicked his tongue, and squatted down next to Ethan.
There were new scars on his stomach and shoulders that I didn’t know existed.
It looks like it was created in the process of killing a monster.
I glanced at the dead monster.
‘I wasn’t sick at all.’
He broke one of his arms and pierced his stomach, but if he died because he couldn’t catch it, it wouldn’t be strange if he treated him like an idiot.
However, Edan is also a player who has cleared all tutorials.
It seems to be enough to protect oneself in a situation where one’s life is at stake.
“hey.”
Tuk-tuk, I slapped him on the cheek, but Ethan couldn’t open his eyes.
But it’s definitely alive.
‘I think about 4.50 minutes have passed… … .’
In terms of experience, about an hour has passed since the mission started.
‘Can you normally live this long?’
I applied pressure, but the bleeding continued.
Are you still alive in that situation?
It was an unusual vitality.
Once the game started, I felt like I was getting further and further away from normal.
“Whoa.”
I let out a long sigh and reached out to pick up Ethan and tie him up.
I’m still holding on, but I don’t think it’s good to drag the time.
The counter for the mission is 12/13.
‘There is still one left.’
If you want to save Ethan, you have to move quickly.
The moment I made up my mind and was about to find the last monster.
“MISSION – The conditions for completing the promotion test beta test are met.”
“Grades are counted.”
It looks like the last monster has been captured.
“Grade counting is complete.”
“A quota is charged for closing the hall. Please specify a code name.”
I laid Ethan back and frowned.
‘Code name?’
I wondered what the system was trying to do again this time.
‘Close the hall… … .’
Come to think of it, when I first fell into this forest, the system mentioned the same word.
that entered the hall.
I don’t know what the heck a hall is, but it looks like they’re closing it down this time.
‘What else is an assignment?’
The poor provision of information is very consistent from beginning to end.
I clicked my tongue and wrote an English initial.
‘K.’
There was no particular reason. Just because I am Kang.
I was thinking of writing down all the letters, but all of them were annoying, so I just wrote one.
After about a minute, a new window popped up.
[closed assignment]
– K(36) : 201
– Human (4) : 45
– Zone (2) : 22
– Lily (2) : 22
– Ethan Lembron (1) : 10
– Maxim Mihalich (0) : 0
– Shota Hisaku (0) : 0
Two crossed out names.
One of them reminded me of Japan.
Realizing what that meant, I clenched my fists.
I vaguely guessed. What’s more, I even actually saw a corpse lying in front of the cave.
Still, when I remembered that someone had died here, the shock was bigger than I thought.
But I survived, and I had no intention of dying in the future.
So I focused my attention on the number attached to my code name, not an unfamiliar name.
36 and 201.
It was easy to see what 36 meant.
Because it exactly matched the number of monsters I killed.
The problem is the number 201 at the back.
‘Assignment… … .’
I had to come up with some information that is represented by numbers in the system.
Then, a feeling of uneasiness crept up from his feet.
no way.
“Hup.”
As soon as he thought, he caught the person.
“I collect magic power.”
Magical power began to drain from his body.
Allocation was magic.
In an instant, my mind turned white, and it burned hot right after.
How much trouble did I have to put together!
“Big!”
The moment I gnashed my teeth and crouched down, the magic power that escaped from my body stopped moving.
From then on, the tug-of-war began.
“I collect magic power.”
The system pulls.
“I collect magic power.”
I caught on.
It felt like I was holding on to a very thin thread as hard as I could.
I can’t pull it because I don’t know when it will break.
It’s a situation you can’t let go of.
All I can do is hold on.
All the senses of the body were concentrated there.
I couldn’t let the system take away my magical power like this.
This, this mana, was the product of my hard work and hard work.
Wasn’t it because of the question mark that I was able to enter the Hidden Mission?
That was the result of rolling around with a dog in the first tutorial.
However, the system is now trying to rob my efforts in the name of allocation.
“Do you think I will give it to you?!”
This magical power is mine!
It was the moment when I let out an angry rage.
The mana suddenly heated up and hid deep inside my body.
“The mastery of mana management has risen!”
「The effect of assimilating characteristics is applied!」
「The effect of Attribute Tenacity is applied!」
「The mastery of mana management has increased by 10.52%!」
As soon as the monotonous sentence came to mind, the power to pull magic disappeared.
「The system subsidizes the quota.」
「The barrier is deactivated.」
“The hall is closed.”
“congratulations! MISSION – The promotion test (beta test) was successful.”
「As a reward for success, 10 elemental magic is provided.」
“You will be promoted to Alpha depending on your grades. Alpha-only attribute Purification (Growth) will be created.」
「A property stone (advanced) will be provided according to your grades.」
「Goods (10,000,000) are provided according to the grades.」
“The tutorial (beta test) is over.”
「Community is activated.」
「The main server (Earth) stabilization begins.」
「Main Server (Earth) Stabilization 0.001%」
After that, countless messages came to mind.
“Huh.”
When I let out a tired breath and opened my eyes again, I saw a familiar wallpaper and a red afterimage.
Blood was dripping from the plastic bag spread over the bed.
“Ugh… … .”
shoulders, ribs, legs, and neck,
The pain remained all over the body.
The meaning of the pain was clear.
Even after finishing the mission and returning to the room, the wound did not heal.
I was anxious when I saw that it was not a protected area.
Apparently, the only thing that heals injuries is the tutorial.
Although I was still angry that I almost lost my magic power.
It was a waste of time to even get angry right now.
The hand to pick up the cell phone left on the bed became urgent.