Chapter 184

< Tutorial 35th floor (3) >

One hour on the 1st floor .

Two hours on the 2nd .

I thought there was more than enough time to complete both the 1st and 2nd floors .

I’ve lost my previous stats and skills, but there were some skills I was able to recover .

And I also had the experience of clearing them before .

But it was a miscalculation .

My stats were the same as level 0 stats .

And from the skills I’ve recovered, the only thing that would be of actual help was just the Mana Circuit .

The only thing mana could do in this situation was to coat simple weapons along with my hands and feet to strengthen the hardness and sharpness .

It reinforces and matures the body by just circulating within .

It’s also possible to exert it in explosive strength .

It wasn’t much different from the inner strength described in martial arts novels .

I was proficient in controlling mana, and it was the basis for my self-confidence - the confidence that made me think I could clear the 1st and 2nd floor within the given time if I just strengthened my arms and legs .

One thing I hadn’t thought of was needing to expend more mana to protect my limbs than just strengthen them .

The first time I’d started to handle mana was during the latter half of the 6th floor .

Back then, I had a body strong enough to be called superhuman .

It was a body capable of handling internal and external combat at an adequate level .

And because of that, I was able to use my mana more offensively .

But this body right now, which was prone to break at a moment’s notice, needed more attention on my part to make sure it would survive the speed before I could made it move at a speed I would be satisfied with .

I needed to rely on inner power rather than pure hand-to-hand combat .

In addition, I needed to circulate the mana at all times in order to amass a larger amount, so I didn’t have much mana to work with .

So, I didn’t even make it to the Boss’s chambers before the hour was up, and I had only been able to make it to the middle part of the 2nd floor .

But on the 3rd floor, I finally succeeded in making it to the Boss Room .

I was becoming more used to using my mana efficiently .

Not to mention I had three hours this time .

[Round 24, Day 2 . 5h 15m]

[Pond of Recovery]

Note: If you drink or apply this on a site, it will have a healing effect .

Maybe even for baldness…

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a Pond of Recovery .

Honestly, I didn’t even think I’d ever see one .

Since it’s been so long since I’ve last saw one .

The Pond of Recovery was more of a special reward before you entered the Boss Room .

The pond is slightly different from the surreal recovery effects of the waiting room . The pond has the power to heal and assist the body’s recovery .

Recently, there has been research on exactly what effects the pond water had, but when I was passing through the lower floors, I just used it to fill up my HP .

The taste was rather poor, so it was normal to just take a few sips and leave it be .

I just tossed aside my shoes and took a dip in the pond .

I needed to take my clothes off for a proper bath, but it was bothersome .

As I dipped my body, my body started to itch here and there .

It was the sensation of small injuries being healed .

I took my mouth to the source of the water spout and drank it in .

My body had been exhausted to the point where it could take it no longer in the past 5 hours .

I had managed to force it down with my mana, but my joints were starting to creak as if they were broken parts .

Once I paused before continuing to drink the water, the muscles that were trembling from exhaustion quickly recovered .

Even the broken parts from overexertion will have recovered .

According to the recent information published in the community, if you tend injuries from overworked muscles with water from the pond of recovery, it enhances the muscle-building .

Same for the mana circuit .

I soon felt full, as I was drinking the water as if it were liquor .

It was hard to drink much more because of the weird taste .

I took out some jerky from the pouch on my side and ate it .

I felt a bit better once I felt the salty sodium come in .

I took a brief break here and feasted on the jerky and pond water .

[Lee HoJae, 35th floor: I got it, thanks . ]

[Lee Hyungjin, 7th floor: It’s nothing compared to what you’ve taught me . It’s a novel feeling to be teaching you something for a change . ]

I asked Lee Hyungjin who had made it to the 7th floor for information on the boss at the 3rd floor .

Thanks to the overpowered Authority of Blink, I cleared the boss room on the 3rd floor the first time without falling from the cloud bridge . I asked Lee Hyungjin, who had cleared it even though he fell from the cloud bridge for tips .

[Lee Hyungjin, 7th floor: I’ve told you before, but the important part is when you fall . When you fall, the illusions disappear, and the traps go off immediately when you hit the floor . So it all depends on how fast you cope with the situation . ]

I sent Lee Hyungjin a thank you for tips and closed the chat window .

I raised my completely immersed body and stepped out .

I felt thankful for the additional tips .

Lee Hyungjin was stuck on the 6th floor for quite some time .

I haven’t had a chance to meet him face to face, but I could see his mental breakdown from the messages we exchanged .

I understood completely, since I was extremely stressed out when I was stuck on the 6th floor myself .

But it seemed as though his mood was much brighter from making it onto the 7th floor after surpassing the wall that blocked his way for quite some time .

And he also found his self-confidence again .

It was an inference based on the chat message, but even so I felt relieved .

I hope that I’ll have a chance to meet him during a competition or a Day of Great Harmony

I should ask Park JungAh if there’s any related information on those .

[Round 24, Day 2 . 5h 24m]

I had 35 minutes left until the 3rd floor stage ends and I get moved onto the 4th floor stage .

It’s time for me to have a go at the Boss Room .

I squeezed my clothes and stood in front of the stone walls of the Boss Room .

The doors opened with a heavy sound and the panoramic view of the Boss Room entered my sights .

As I walked into the room, I could hear the doors close behind me .

While they’re slow to open, they close rather quickly .

As if telling me, ‘Don’t even think about leaving’ .

But how could I not think about leaving after seeing this fucked-up place .

The fuck .

I crossed this?

When I was on the 3rd floor?

What I could see were two mountain tops sitting far above the clouds in the azure sky .

The mountaintop I was standing on, and another that was at least a few hundred meters away .

The wind was screaming like a jet engine on takeoff .

Even the wind was that strong .

My weak body couldn’t stand properly, so I needed to grip onto the ground in a bent position .

It was a dangerous situation to be in even just standing on the 15m2 of space atop the mountain .

It made me think that just surviving here for 30 minutes was enough to deem it worthy of the Hell Difficulty .

But the Hell Difficulty wouldn’t be satisfied with just that .

A message appeared .

[Reach the designated destination . ]

Mother fucker .

It’s fucking shitty even though it’s the 2nd time I seen it .

The destination they’re referring to is the mountain top over there, theeeeere .

A tile appeared midair .

Green .

The next moment, the green tile turned yellow, then red .

And fell .

And then a tile bridge appeared and connected the peak I was standing on with the peak far away .

The tiles were all green .

But soon, the tile closest to me turned yellow .

I sighed and stepped onto the tile .

And before the tile turned red, I walked forward .

The sight at my feet was no joke .

Fuck, how did I do this before .

Even if I had Blink, it doesn’t rid one of the psychological pressures .

I was slowly progressing, but the strong winds buffeted me left and right .

So, in the end I used the mana I was saving .

Using mana, I added suction power to the bottom of my feet and made it easy to stay on the tiles .

And once I added mana onto my leg and waist muscles, it was rather manageable .

Speeding up from the slow walking pace, I started to run .

It was dangerous because of the wind, but it’s better to just make a run for it .

Right now, the tiles fell at intervals of about 10 seconds, but later, the tiles fall every 3 seconds .

I needed to proceed as far as I could while the tiles were still falling slowly .

In the past, the wind swept me off my feet as I was running on these tiles .

I endured by just barely keeping my balance each time I was in danger of falling .

But this time, it was much more stable .

Ping!

Along with the launch sound, an arrow flew at me .

I covered the back of my hand in mana and struck it away .

I easily overcame a difficult moment and kept on running .

And then, I felt a small movement in the tile underneath me .

Ah, it’s that .

It was something I knew from having memorized information about the 3rd floor Boss Room once more .

Soon, the tile bridge will careen up and down .

Instead of running forward, I chose to crouch down and sit on the tile .

I made my hands stick onto the tile .

Soon, the tile bridge flew up and down as if it were a rollercoaster, but since I had been prepared, I could stay on without falling .

After the swaying stopped, I looked back .

I still had a safe distance of about ten tiles .

I’ll probably be fine If I stick to this pace .

The end was near .

When I glanced back, I saw about five tiles behind me .

The tile bridge continued to sway up and down every now and then, but as I crouched my body and waited for it to pass, it wasn’t that dangerous .

Thank god I had chosen to start running at the beginning .

Now if I can just pass the obstacle in front of my eyes, the 3rd floor boss room should be done .

The cloud bridge had a break in the tiles in the middle .

A gap of about 30 to 40 tiles were missing .

Glancing back, I check how many tiles I had for space .

I slowed down and prepared myself .

I counted to myself and ran forward as fast as I could .

I stepped down on the spot where the tiles started to disappear and leaped out .

Since I had poured mana in as if I was making an explosion, there was a big ‘kwang!’ sound from just the simple step down, and my body shot forward .

This should be enough to make me cross .

But as I soared in an arc progressed, I couldn’t but change my mind .

It was a bit short .

Just barely .

I regretted for a second thinking I should’ve, maybe, used more mana even if it would damage my legs .

But there was nothing to be done when I was up in the air .

I extended my arms as much as I could, but I couldn’t reach the other tile by the breadth of one finger .

If it was a little, just a little further, I could’ve gripped the tile and made it up .

“Shit, Fuuuuuuck!”

My swearing was cut short from the fall .

It was a mistake to open my mouth to swear .

Because of the velocity of the fall, my pronunciation was muffled .

Regrets were regrets, but since I already fell, I needed to prepare myself for what comes next .

The fall wasn’t that bad .

It was a wide-open space, and all I could see were white clouds .

The wind licking my body was cold and fierce, but it was also refreshing .

Is this what skydiving is like?

I could understand why people pay exorbitant amounts of money to go skydiving .

My limbs, hands, feet, and head all didn’t go into a panic from the impact of the fall and were fine .

Thank god .

The next important thing is timing .

Lee Hyungjin said the traps go off as soon as the illusions dissipate .

He said the fall went on for about two minutes .

So, I still probably have quite some time…

Thuk .

Huh? Wha?

I was falling from the sky until just a moment ago, but I was lying on a pathway right now .

The illusion of mountaintops above the clouds were gone .

And a spear was flying towards me right in front of my eyes .

Hey, two minutes .

You said two minutes!

I HAVEN’T FALLEN FOR MORE THAN 20 SECONDS!

I frantically threw my body and dodged the spear .

And the spear was embedded in the spot I was lying at a moment before .

Ping . Ping . Ping . Ping . Ping . Ping . Ping .

I could hear the continuous launching sound .

Arrows this time .

Seven shots .

The exact location was all different, but all were from the front .

All of the arrows were aimed at my body .

I took the spear stuck in the ground and extended it in front of me .

[Acquired Intermediate Spear Technique Lv . 3]

I calmly hit away each arrow .

It was much faster than most arrows on the 1st and 2nd floors, but they’re still arrows .

Next, axes .

I blocked the axes falling from the ceiling with the spear .

The axes fell without a sound, but since they were right above me, I had already noticed .

I tried my best to knock the axes away, but the falling axes were much heavier than I had thought .

As soon as I blocked the axes, I made a circular swing towards my knee level .

Ting . Ting . The sounds were made as needles were flicked off .

The poisonous needles right after a flurry of noisy attacks .

It’s a typical trap pattern .

Next are arrows .

There were no sounds and were fast .

The launch location was at the 5 o’clock direction aiming for the back of my head .

And because of that, I noticed too late .

What I saw was a small palm-sized arrow .

It seems to be specialized for speed and silence .

Instead of responding by swinging my spear, I turned my head and pushed my face forward .

I clenched my teeth .

I wasn’t trying to do something absurd like grabbing the flying arrow with my teeth .

That’s just asking for it to get stuck in your throat .

I just used my teeth as a small shield and put it in the pathway of the arrow .

The teeth, protected by mana, easily blocked the arrow .

But even so, my jaw and gums were burning .

The traps stopped after the small arrow .

According to Lee Hyungjin’s words, this is one set .

He said these kinds of traps repeat themselves on my way to the end of the Boss Room .

He also said he wasn’t sure, but there wasn’t a pattern, and the types and order of weapons change every time .

Since my safety was assured for now, I looked over my condition .

And also, this situation .

I come to a conclusion .

Damn, I should’ve just fell earlier .

I needlessly toiled away in a shitty situation on top of the tiles .

It was because Hyungjin was crying away about the dangerous traps down here .

I think this is at an adequate difficulty to pass by with ease .

I’ll need to reprimand him later .

< Tutorial 35th floor (3) > End

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