Leveling with the Gods

People murmured after being told that this was the final Tutorial. 

“Final?”

“As in the last one?”

“So it’s finally going to be over?”

“No way. It’s called the ‘Tutorial.’”

“Can you please shut up?”

In the midst of the crowd, there were some people who didn’t like the commotion. 

The messages continued. 

[‘Barragánda Island’ is slowly sinking into the sea. There is only one condition needed to prove your worth in order to escape the island.]

[You will be given a score depending on your contribution towards defeating the boss.]

[The final reward will be decided based on your score and how long it took for the boss to fall.]

[The time limit is 30 days.]

[Once the time limit passes, the island will sink completely.]

[TIME LIMIT : 720 : 00 : 00]

“What?”

“A month?”

Maybe because of the unexpectedly long time limit, a lot of people voiced their shock. Up until now, the Tutorial was at most four days long, with some tutorials being as short as one hour. Therefore it couldn’t be helped that they were surprised by the sudden large increase in the time limit. 

However, this news didn’t bring chaos or anything. In fact, most people looked relieved by it, since it meant that they didn’t have to raise their weapons and fight the people around them. Also, having more time was better for achieving a specific goal. However…

‘Some of them must have noticed…’

YuWon saw that a few people in the crowd were tensing up rather than relaxing. 

‘… Why we were given such a long time limit.’

A month’s time. It was so much time that the duration was long enough for people to get complacent. However, they weren’t given a month for nothing. It meant that they had a month to get as strong as possible in order to achieve their objective, which was a single boss. Most of them couldn’t even fathom how strong the boss had to be. 

Maybe it was because these were people that had managed to make it to the last Tutorial, but one by one, the participants started to get moving. And inevitably… 

“You all heard that? I think it was meant for us to meet up like this. Why don’t we form a team together?”

… Things started off with people forming groups. 

“Should we?”

“That sounds good to me. Why don’t we take this opportunity to learn each other’s names…”

“I refuse.”

An authoritative voice rang through the area, capturing everyone’s attention. YuWon also shifted his sights to the source of the voice.

‘Right. He was here as well.’

It was a blonde-haired, golden-eyed man wrapped in a white cloth. His white outfit looked out of place in the chaos of the Tutorial. 

The man’s name was Hargaan.

Hargaan looked at his surroundings with an arrogant look on his face. 

“Who said you could just become my comrade? A comrade should be someone I can trust my sides and back with. That’s why I’ll pick my own comrades.”

Hargaan mocked the people whose attention he garnered. 

“By the looks of it, I don’t think you guys are worthy of being my comrades.”

“What did you just say?”

“You arrogant prick…”

When a guy standing next to Hargaan took a step towards him…

Flash—

Rumble, crash—!

“Ahhhh!”

“Kugh…!”

With a yellow electric blast, every single person around Hargaan was sent flying into the air. 

“W-What the fuck!”

“What was that?”

“Was that a skill?”

It was a very powerful electric attack, annihilating everyone within a five meter radius. 

Despite having just made enemies out of almost a hundred participants, Hargaan looked unconcerned. 

“You guys are nothing but cannon fodder.”

Crackle, crackle—

Around Hargaan, an electric field made from an immense amount of mana continued to convulse around him. 

Even in the lower floors of the Tower, it was rare to see someone with this much Arcane Power, but Hargaan was no normal Tutorial participant. 

‘The self-proclaimed successor of Olympus. A descendant of Zeus.’

He was a being of a different class compared to your average Tutorial participants. 

‘So that’s the power of a Pure-Blood.’

Pure-Bloods referred to beings that were selected to climb the Tower after being born and raised inside the Tower. 

Pure-Bloods had already experienced the Tower’s magnificence from the moment they were born, so it was only natural that they possessed far greater power compared to people who had only just been selected to participate in the Tutorial. 

‘And thus the fairness of this game ends here.’

Some might disagree, but the Tutorial had been pretty fair up to this point. The stats that each individual had might have differed, but at least they had lived through the same world under similar circumstances. However, that was no longer the case starting with the final Tutorial, and this of course applied throughout the Tower as well.

Some entered the Tower having already experienced the magical nature of the Tower as a Pure-Blood, while others entered the Tower possessing magical abilities that were impossible for a normal human to have. And among those people, Hargaan was someone that was set to inherit the power of Olympus. That’s why it was only natural that he was powerful, even for a Pure-Blood. 

‘To already be this strong at the start of the 5th Tutorial…’

YuWon nodded his head,

‘No wonder he got the Tower’s attention.’

Hargaan was a participant that had received the Tower’s attention during YuWon’s first time through the Tutorial. Not only was he an Olympus Pure-Blood, he was a descendant of Zeus, becoming known as the participant that had inherited the power of thunder. That’s why when the Tutorial ended, many different guilds inside the Tower paid close attention to see how fast he’d become a Ranker.

‘He was also the one who made the biggest contribution in defeating the boss during my previous life.’

YuWon quickly finished reminiscing about the past and decided to stop paying attention to Hargaan. YuWon had no intention of getting too involved with him. 

“Huh?” Hargaan remarked. In the midst of exuding electricity to threaten those around him, he spotted YuWon. While everyone else was standing still, paying close attention to him, YuWon was walking away somewhere.

“Hey, you!” shouted Hargaan, looking at YuWon.

YuWon stopped in his tracks and turned his head. In an instant, Hargaan had walked over to YuWon and now stood right in front of him. 

“Are you talking to me?” YuWon said. 

“What are you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Isn’t that a Pyromancy Robe?”

Having resided in the Tower for a long time, Hargaan seemed to know about the 「Pyromancy Robe.」 Although, that wasn’t very surprising. Olympus was a group full of Rankers, so Hargaan had probably seen the robe during his time in Olympus. 

YuWon answered, “You’re right,” while thinking about how things might have been about to get annoying. 

“How did you get this? This item shouldn’t be something you can obtain in the tutorial.” 

“I bought it. With points.”

“You bought it…?” 

YuWon’s short answer as if it was an easy and obvious thing put a confused look on Hargaan’s face. It was a face that was saying, ‘How did you buy such an expensive item with points?’

On the other hand, Hargaan was also equipped with items far better than what the average participant could ever have.

‘Though they’re nothing compared to the Pyromancy Robe,’ thought YuWon. 

Hargaan showed a sudden interest in YuWon, realizing that the man who was wearing the 「Pyromancy Robe」 was different from the other participants.

“What’s your level?” asked Hargaan.

“Don’t you know that it’s impolite to ask someone their level?”

“Uh… You’re not wrong… But is that already a common practice in the Tutorial?” Hargaan asked while scratching his head. He then nodded his head, saying, “Okay. I understand. I won’t ask about your level again. Instead, would you like to form a team with me?”

The 「Pyromancy Robe」 must have seriously piqued Hargaan’s interest. His face looked like he was waiting for YuWon to say yes. Hargaan must have thought that YuWon would definitely accept his offer since YuWon should have seen his display of might.

A Pure-Blood that knew who Hargaan was would have probably accepted his offer. Even though he didn’t have ‘the System’s Blessing’ until recently, as he had yet to climb the Tower, Hargaan was a Pure-Blood from Olympus, of all places. That meant that his nature of potential was of a different caliber.

However…

“Not particularly. See ya.”

… YuWon didn’t find much merit in Hargaan’s offer. 

“…?”

Hargaan blinked in silence as if he had become mute. Never could he have imagined having his offer turned down after showing off his skills. 

YuWon walked straight past Hargaan after giving him his answer. 

‘Is this because he doesn’t know who I am?’ Hargaan thought while turning his head to look at YuWon. 

“Wait. I’m…”

But YuWon was already far off in the distance.

“What the…?”

With his pride damaged from being ignored, Hargaan frowned as he tensed up his calves.

Krshhh—

Hargaan imbued the power of thunder into his legs before running after YuWon in a fury.

Rrrumble—!

“Stop right there—!”

* * *

Hargaan chased after YuWon for a while. 

He wondered how long he’d been running for. 

Every once in a while, a monster would attack him, but Hargaan was able to blow it up in an instant before continuing to chase after YuWon. 

“Huff, huff—”

But Hargaan eventually gave up on chasing YuWon, deciding to rest and catch his breath. The distance between the two had widened to a point where Hargaan could no longer see YuWon.

‘How is he so fast?’

Hargaan was absolutely bamboozled. How was he unable to catch up, even though he had run with everything he had? Hargaan didn’t think YuWon was using some sort of special skill that raised his movement speed. Because if that was the case, there was no way he would have failed to detect the flow of mana. 

That could only mean one thing.

‘How high are his stats…?’

It meant that YuWon had been running solely using the power of his stats. 

Hargaan was speechless. 

‘Is that guy also a Pure-Blood?’

But to be faster than him, who was an Olympus Pure-Blood… 

‘Let’s see. Who were some fast groups? Maybe he’s from Elforado. Or maybe he’s an expert from the martial realm? Or could he maybe be a descendant of Hermes?’

After thinking for a minute, Hargaan decided to just let it go, since he’d get nowhere by just thinking about it alone. But there was one thing Hargaan was sure of… 

“And here I was, thinking that this was going to be boring…”

Krshhh—

Hargaan grinned widely and let a bit of electric current flow out of him. His golden eyes stared out in the direction that YuWon disappeared to. 

“This is going to be interesting.”

* * *

‘Did I lose him?’ thought YuWon.

Seeing that Hargaan was no longer following him, YuWon finally stopped running. 

It had taken five minutes for YuWon to lose him. It was no wonder that Hargaan went around claiming to be Zeus’s successor. 

‘He really is fast.’

The electric attack he showed off was quite a threat, but his running speed was really something. His physical abilities were astounding for someone who had only just finished the 4th Tutorial. And from what YuWon remembered, his specialty wasn’t speed, but extreme brute force which utilized his electric powers. 

Hargaan was strong even for a Pure-Blood, possessing enough power to completely ruin the ecosystem of the Tutorial. 

YuWon had a flashback of something the Administrator had said.

“▷ The balance of this Tutorial is completely fucked.”

YuWon realized that maybe the Administrator wasn’t just talking about him. 

Hargaan, an Olympus Pure-Blood, was already enough to bring chaos to the Tutorial’s ecosystem, but the Administrator also had YuWon running around and doing whatever he pleased. 

‘Not that that’s any of my problem.’

YuWon found a cave inside the forest. And inside the cave there were dozens of Gnolls inhabiting it. Gnolls were monsters with the heads of wolves. 

YuWon slayed all of them and took the cave for himself. 

[You have defeated a Gnoll.]

[Heaven-Slaying Star’s completion rate increased by 0.001%.]

[You have defeated a Gnoll.]

[Heaven-Slaying Star’s completion rate…]

[You have obtained 3cp.*]

*TL/N: CP = contribution points

After killing a few Gnolls, the completion rate for [Heaven-Slaying Star] increased by a little bit. It was a really little bit. After killing dozens of Gnolls, the completion rate wasn’t even 0.01%. 

‘I’ll have to kill the creatures in higher locations if I want to properly raise the completion rate.’

However, YuWon’s objective for finding this cave wasn’t to hunt monsters. 

YuWon sprinkled the 「Scentless Powder」 he had purchased earlier at the entrance and deep inside the cave. He did this to prevent other monsters from detecting his scent and coming inside. 

‘I think that should do it.’

He had consumed the 「Lesser Scarlet Medicine Ball」 and recovered his body more than sufficiently. On top of that, the icy aura from the 「Arctic Steel Sword」 and 「Ice Crystals」 was all gone now. YuWon had finished preparing as much as he could.

YuWon inserted his hand inside his inventory and pulled out a bright red crystal. 

[Giant’s Heart]

Along with the [Heaven-Slaying Star,] it was one of the prizes YuWon gained from defeating Suruhtra. 

In fact, the 「Giant’s Heart」 was the most valuable elixir that was possible to obtain in the Tutorial.

“Listen closely, Kim YuWon.”

YuWon took a deep breath and opened his mouth wide. 

Finally…

“The Giant’s Heart has to—”

Crunch—

YuWon chewed and ate the crimson gem. 

“—be consumed before the Tutorial is over.”