Leveling with the Gods

YuWon boasted once the Lackey appeared, “I happen to know I’m pretty amazing. Besides, isn’t it boring over there?”

The only special thing in the safe zone was the massacre that occurred every three hours. Of course, even that would be entertaining for a Lackey, but Yuwon knew that the Lackey would find him more interesting.

“> Well, you’re right about that. Thank you! You’ve made my boring job a little bit fun! But wow, you really reached Level 20 already?”

“I was lucky.”

“> Lucky you say… People who say that tend to be the scariest.”

The Lackey cackled as he spoke. Among all the Tutorial stages, the 2nd Tutorial was the most boring one for Lackeys.

“> So why did you call me?”

“The Shop.”

“> Oh! You want to buy an item?”

“No.” YuWon shook his head.

“I want to buy some skills.”

“> Skills?”

The Lackey was surprised by YuWon’s answer. It then grinned as it opened up the Shop.

“> You’re probably the first person ever to buy a skill in the 2nd Tutorial.”

Skills referred to the countless special abilitiesthat existed within the tower. And the minimum requirement to use these skills was unlocking the Arcane Power stat by reaching Level 20.

An endless catalogue appeared in front of YuWon’s eyes. There was nothing that wasn’t sold in the Shop.

To start with, there were some “useful” weapons and equipment you could purchase with 100-200 points.

Anything that you could call a real item cost over 500 points. And among them…

‘Here it is.’

After scrolling through the exceedingly long list, he finally found the skills.

The cheapest one was 1,000 points. Some even cost as much as 100,000 points.

“Is this all the skills you have? Don’t you have any others?”

“> Those are all the skills you may purchase during the tutorial. Why? Is there something specific you’re looking for?”

“No. Not really.”

Being noticed was fine. Letting the Lackey know that he knew all the items in the Tower was not.

It wasn’t good to be under the eyes of the Lackey for too long. If the Lackey found out that YuWon held information on the Tutorial and the Tower, the difficulty of the Tutorial could potentially change.

“… I’ll go with this one.”

YuWon selected a skill.

[You have spent 2000 points.]

[You have obtained the skill – Monkey’s Eyes.]

[Total Points : 1527]

YuWon’s eyes changed to a golden color.

The Lackey was confused by his decision and transformation.

“> Monkey’s Eyes? That’s not a very good skill, is it?”

“The name sounds cool.”

“> Hm…”

The Lackey’s face soured. It appeared quite disappointed.

It couldn’t be helped. Unlike what YuWon said, not only did [Monkey’s Eyes] not actually sound cool, but its effects weren’t very useful either. More than anything, the skill was too difficult for someone who hadn’t entered the Tower to utilize properly.

Yuwon quickly picked another skill.

“Also, this one.”

[You have spent 1500 points.]

[You have obtained the skill – Basic Arcane Sword.]

[Total Points : 27]

The Lackey nodded his head.

“> What a fine selection. Arcane Sword is a pretty useful skill that makes up for a lack of attack power for contestants during the early stages of the tutorial.”

The Lackey was right. That was actually the reason why he picked this skill.

‘And it’s also cheap.’

He didn’t see a reason to use his remaining points.

As YuWon walked away, the Lackey smiled.

“> Have an enjoyable time. I have great expectations of you.”

Upon hearing the Lackey say that, YuWon paused his step for a brief second.

Expectations.

Knowing what that meant, YuWon looked back in the direction of the now vanished Lackey.

Special Administrative Target.

This refers to participants that really stand out during the Tutorial. They’re marked and observed to make sure that they don’t commit any foul play.

‘Hopefully it doesn’t matter.’

It was entirely his abilities that got him to this point already in the 2nd Tutorial.

No one should be able to find any evidence of the Tower, a Ranker, or another Lackey helping YuWon cheat.

If there was one thing that worried him, it was being a Returner.

Being a Returner gave him a huge advantage. With or without the stats, it couldn’t be helped that the Tutorial felt easy when he held information and experience from the future.

Though Yuwon wasn’t too worried about that.

‘There’s no way an Administrator could know.’

The 「Clock Movement」 was an item crafted by Chronos, Mimir, and Odin.

They were beings that fought against the Outer Gods that brought destruction to the Tower. And Chronos, who was essential in crafting the item, had his existence erased as the penalty for using the 「Clock Movement.」

Not even the real Administrator, let alone its Lackey, should be able to find out about the existence of this item.

“Haaaah—” YuWon let out a deep sigh.

The Arcane Power stat and two skills.

He had achieved the minimum requirements he desired from the 2nd Tutorial.

[Monkey’s Eyes]

ᗌ Rank : F

ᗌ Proficiency : 0.00%

ᗌ Eyes that once belonged to a monkey on Mount Huaguo.*

*TL/N: It’s the mountain that Son OhGong was born in.

ᗌ When activated, it increases your vision and fortifies your five senses.

[Basic Arcane Sword]

ᗌ Rank : F

ᗌ Proficiency : 0.00%

ᗌ It envelops your sword in Arcane Power. Depending on its usage, it can become an excellent trusty sword.

The explanations for both spells were simple.

[Arcane Sword] was a skill that became more versatile depending on your Arcane Power stat and your control over it. It was a pretty useful skill to use in the tutorial and the early floors of the Tower.

On the other hand, [Monkey’s Eyes] was a skill that one wouldn’t be able to figure out its use simply from the explanation.

“They really have the audacity to sell something like this.”

Even though he had just bought it, 2,000 points made it a hard purchase to swallow for Yuwon. Despite that, he had selected it over other skills.

YuWon activated the skill. His five senses became sharper, and he could see further than he could before. The sounds, the presence, even the air touching his skin—everything felt different.

It wasn’t a bad skill.

You could never have too many skills. Therefore, there was no such thing as a bad skill.

‘But if this is it, it’s definitely overpriced.’

It couldn’t be helped. This was a skill that he had to start raising his proficiency in by using it as much as he could, starting now.

‘So this is that guy’s eyes…’

[REMAINING TIME : 00 : 29 : 58]

YuWon checked how much time remained. There was about 30 minutes remaining until the orange safe zone disappeared.

‘I have plenty of time.’

Having regained the Arcane Power he lost, his body felt lighter than a feather.

Compared to how much Arcane Power he had before, it was smaller than even a speck of dust, but there was a clear difference between having it and not.

Shhiii, shiiirik—

Crunch, CRUNCH—

Walking deeper into the subway station, he was able to find more Earthworms. It was an even larger swarm than earlier. It was overpopulated like an ant colony.

Vooom—

The machete in YuWon’s hand emitted a faint blue glow. It was the effect of the new skill, [Arcane Sword.]

“I knew you guys would be here.”

“Shhiii, shiiirik—”

“Craaa—”

Munch, munch—

There was a gigantuan bug, much larger than any other Earthworm. Her body was two meters thick and close to 15 meters in length.

She was feasting on human torsos, food brought to her by the other Earthworms.

“Mother Worm.”

The mother of the Earthworms.

She laid countless eggs, and the Earthworms that hatched from those eggs hunted food for her.

She was this dungeon and the 2nd Tutorial’s boss.

Crack, crunch—

“Kiyaaaah—!”

All the Earthworms screeched upon noticing YuWon’s presence.

YuWon estimated there to be about two or three hundred of them.

The squirming Earthworms weren’t very threatening, but there were far too many of them. They literally covered the entire ground.

‘I don’t have time to deal with all of them.’

YuWon got a running start before jumping into the air.

Leap—

Upon landing, he slayed the nearby Earthworms in a flash before dashing towards the Mother Worm.

Slash, splat—

‘I’m going to kill the Mother Worm in one go.’

The machete buffed with [Arcane Sword] cut down the Earthworms with ease. And luckily for Yuwon, the Mother Worm had strong attachments to her offspring.

“Kiyaaah—!”

Thud—

The ginormous Mother Worm started moving. Funnily enough, her fury crushed her own babies. YuWon let out a small laugh at the sight.

“You really lack brains, huh.”

The speed at which the Mother Worm approached him was no joke. When she got in range, the Mother Worm swallowed up YuWon in a single bite.

Crunch—!

The teeth collided into each other, making an ominous sound.

“Guurugh—?”

Nothing was caught between her teeth. As the Mother Worm let out a confused cry…

Crack—!

“Giyaaaaagh—!”

The Mother Worm howled.

It was due to the pain she felt on her head.

“Thank you for coming to me.”

Splat— Stab—

STAB, STAB, STAB—

YuWon repeatedly dug his axe and machete into her head. As if he was mountain climbing, Yuwon quickly got on top of the Mother Worm’s body.

“Gyaaaah—!”

The Mother Worm started to seriously thrash around. Realizing that YuWon got on top of her, she immediately rolled over.

Boom—

She exposed her belly.

At that moment, YuWon’s machete pierced her stomach.

Splash—!

From the Mother Worm’s wound, a fountain of blood erupted.

Wooom—

The blue light around the axe and machete shone brightly.

While her belly was exposed, it was his chance.

YuWon mercilessly swung his weapon.

Slice, splat—

Swoosh—!

The Mother Worm’s belly got torn and shredded.

“Kyaaaaaaagh—!”

A cry of pain.

While squirming in pain, the Mother Worm bared her teeth at YuWon again.

“Kyaaah—!”

Slash—!

YuWon wrapped his axe in Arcane Power and split the Mother Worm’s head in half.

Boom—

* * *

[REMAINING TIME : 00 : 01 : 12]

There wasn’t a lot of time left.

MyungHoon could see the old man he sent outside.

‘Fuck, I didn’t have a choice.’

As a human being, he at least had an ounce of guilt. There was no way he could feel nothing while watching the old man that was exiled because of him.

“P-Please save me…”

“This isn’t right! How can you all do this, knowing that we’ll die…!

As the time approached, the pleas of the people pushed outside grew louder.

Kim MyungHoon bit his lip before shouting, “Shut up!”

The people who tried to force themselves back in flinched because of his shout and glare.

While pointing with the knife he bought from the Shop for 100 points, he spoke, “Let’s not do that. Didn’t we make a promise? And we all agreed to it.”

“When did we agree to it? When?!”

“That’s right! We…”

“The majority! Everyone except you guys!” MyungHoon said.

He held his knife even closer to them. The man trying to come back into the yellow area flinched and backed off.

“So if you come back in, we’ll kill you ourselves. Understood?”

Everyone in the yellow area nodded in agreement. They had the numbers advantage.

The people in orange only had two options. Either die to the people here after crossing the yellow line or die to the monsters by staying in the orange.

[00 : 00 : 30]

The old man closed his eyes.

In 30 seconds, the monsters would shoot up from the ground and tear him apart.

[00 : 00 : 17]

Crunch, crunch—

Earthworms appeared right outside the orange safe zone.

These bastards knew it too. In just a few seconds, the safe zone would shrink, and they’d have fresh meat to feast on.

“Uaaaaah!”

“Bu-Bugs!”

“G-Go away!”

The people on the edge of the safe zone screamed.

And time passed.

[00 : 00 : 05]

[00 : 00 : 04]

[00 : 00 : 03]

[…]

[00 : 00 : 03]

The time had…

“Huh?”

“The time…”

Everyone that had closed their eyes in fear opened their eyes again.

The timer had stopped counting down.

The ground that was orange didn’t lose its color like earlier.

The people inside the yellow safe zone also checked the time.

Kim MyungHoon was confused by the sudden change in the system.

“What exactly is…?”

It was then that the entire safe zone changed to a purple color.

[You have passed the 2nd Tutorial.]

[The safe zone will no longer shrink.]

[You have obtained 600 points.]

[There are 15 hours left until the end of the 2nd Tutorial.]