Leveling with the Gods

“Ahhhhh—!”

“Sa-Save me—!”

The cries from afar made YuWon hasten his pace. 

‘So it’s started.’

The 2nd Tutorial was an event that gave out 100 points every three hours. 

Being given points while you do nothing. At first, it sounds like a pretty great mission, but the Tutorial was a trial to sort out people to enter the Tower. There was no way it would be that easy. 

Stab—

“Krrrr, kishishi—”

A bizarre, deflated cry came from the ground. It was the result of YuWon throwing his sashimi knife down. 

[You have obtained 300 points.]

[Distributing 2 random stat points.]

[Strength increased by 1.]

[Dexterity increased by 1.]

YuWon felt good seeing the messages pop up.

The Tutorial was meant to set the standard for who can enter the Tower, and for that, it gave out generous rewards to help people grow to meet that standard. 

After checking the messages, YuWon looked down at the bugs that shot up from the ground. 

‘Earthworms.’

It was a creature with a large mouth and sharp teeth. At first glance, it simply looked like a large worm. 

‘If you leave the safe zone, you become their target.’

That was the meaning of the safe zone. A zone that was safe from the Earthworms. 

And YuWon was outside of that zone. 

Step, step—

YuWon walked down the stairs. He went on high alert and closed his eyes.

‘I can’t see them anyways.’

Earthworms hunted their prey by digging up through the ground. Therefore, walking with your eyes open was meaningless. 

When you close your eyes, your senses grow sharper, no longer relying on your vision. 

He had to rely on his sense of hearing, his sense of touch, and his instincts that surpassed his five senses. 

Squirm—

YuWon raised his foot.

“Gugugugu—”

“Kyah—”

Crack—

The Earthworm that burrowed up from the ground got its head crushed by YuWon stomping on it with perfect timing. 

YuWon swung the sashimi knife in his hand. 

Slice—

[You leveled up.]

[Strength increased by 1.]

[Dexterity increased by 1.]

[Perception increased by 1.]

The Earthworm died. Its head was chopped off. 

YuWon leveled up, even though he only killed two of them. He must have been pretty close to leveling up. 

Of course, the Earthworms still gave good amounts of experience points. That was only natural. To begin with, Earthworms weren’t creatures that were designed to be subjugated in the 2nd Tutorial.

However, unlike zombies, Earthworms were relatively easier to kill. They were only dangerous in the sense that you couldn’t see where they were coming from. 

Step—

YuWon kept descending down the stairs. They went pretty far down. 

‘Earthworms live underground. They create a cave and build their nest inside it.’

YuWon opened his eyes and read the sign near him. 

[Hongdae Station]

The subway station was the largest underground area in YuWon’s Tutorial sector. 

‘Earthworms can’t breathe underground. They’re just able to hold their breath for a long time.’

That’s why a large nest was essential for them. 

‘That’s why…’

YuWon slowly opened his eyes.  

Sssk— Sss—

Crunch, crunch—

“They should be grouped up in the largest underground space.”

There was no longer a need for him to keep his eyes closed. He could see nothing but Earthworms in front of him. 

He no longer had to pay attention to the ground, so he focused on what was in front of him.

[You have discovered the hidden dungeon – ‘Hongdae Station.’]

[You have obtained 100 points.]

“Bingo.”

This was no longer the Hongdae Station YuWon once knew. It was now the home of the Earthworms whose mission was to eat the people who didn’t make it into the safe zone. 

In other words, it had become a dungeon.

“Shiiii—”

Crunch—

“Grrrr—”

The Earthworms discovered YuWon, squirming towards him. 

It was a sight to behold. Desperate to consume the prey in front of them, they must have forgotten that they were creatures that hunt from below. 

Stab—! Slice, slash—

YuWon swung his knife and machete at the Earthworms that approached him.

It was an experience jackpot.

“How lucky for me.”

YuWon wasn’t certain that the hidden dungeon would exist.

Earthworms couldn’t even be called monsters in the Tower. They were really nothing more than bugs. But even they were dangerous monsters in the Tutorial, and their ability to hide in the ground made them a great threat to those who still didn’t possess proper skills or stats. 

‘What a great source of experience.’

Slash—

YuWon cut down another Earthworm that got close to him.

The Earthworms in front of him were no longer threatening monsters—they were simply large bugs with teeth. 

‘Now that I’ve found their nest, hunting them is going to be a piece of cake.’

Right at that moment… 

Plop—

Roll, roll, roll—

A marble fell out of the mouth of the Earthworm YuWon just defeated.

“Huh?”

YuWon picked up the rolling marble. 

“What’s this?”

YuWon smiled at the unexpected surprise. 

‘This was something you could obtain in the 2nd Tutorial?” 

It was an interesting new find. This was undiscovered information because as far as YuWon knew, no one had managed to hunt an Earthworm before during the 2nd Tutorial. 

YuWon slid the marble into his pocket. He now had a reason to try even harder. 

‘I’m currently Level 17.’

YuWon thought about his original goal for the 2nd Tutorial and contemplated the minimum requirements to achieve his goal.

‘First, let’s get to Level 20.’

He started walking towards the lovely bags of experience that were laid out in front of him.

* * *

Time crawled by slowly.

There was nothing to do. The people inside the safe zone had their heads turned away from the wall, keeping their eyes closed.

Outside the safe zone was hell on earth. 

Pieces of human flesh littered the scene, and there were countless bugs snacking on corpses.

“I can’t even kill a single cockroach…”

“Rather than getting mauled by one of those things, I’d rather bite my tongue and kill myself.”

“They—They can’t get in here, right?”

“N-No way… They said this place was safe.”

Even though there were 2,000 people present, there was little talking going on. They feared that if they were even just a little too loud, the Earthworms might pop out from beneath them.

The safe zone was quite quiet. It couldn’t be helped, since everyone was cautious when speaking even a single word. 

Even more time passed.

[3 hours have passed.]

[You have obtained 100 points.]

“Wow, points.” 

“So this is like money?”

“Is 100 points a lot?”

Kim MyungHoon and his gang also became interested in points. 

One was able to buy items from the shop with points. Up until now, they only had two or three points, but now they could afford some items from the shop.

That’s when it occurred.

[THE RED REGION WILL BE DEACTIVATED.]

[CAPACITY : 1867 / 1500]

[When the max capacity is surpassed, people will be randomly expelled from the safe zone.]

Along with the message, a few people started moving. 

Zzzt—

“Whoa, what the—?”

“No, please don’t!”

Zzzzzt—

An invisible force dragged people outside the zone.

The ground of the safe zone that was red returned to its original color. Those places were no longer safe, and the Earthworms once again reared their heads. 

Crunch—

Snap—

“Ahhhh!”

The people that were dragged outside and the people that were sitting on the outer edge of the zone were attacked. 

There was nowhere to run.

No matter how far you ran, it would only be a matter of time before you got swallowed up by the bugs. 

“Fucking hell…”

“This thing shrank?”

“I had my suspicions, but…”

Everyone thought that the colors on the ground probably meant something. And among those people, a few of them had considered the possibility that the safe zone might shrink over time. Kim MyungHoon was one of them. 

‘So how small is this thing going to shrink?’

The inner center was purple. And the outer parts of the zone had become orange. 

‘And how many people can actually fit in the center?’

MyungHook checked how much time he had left.

[REMAINING TIME : 02 : 57 : 11]

2 hours and 57 minutes.

So when time runs out…

“Mo-Move!”

“Tha-That’s my spot!”

“Fuck off! Do you want to die that much? I’ll kill you if that’s what you want!”

“Get out of the way! Why are you blocking my way?!”

In an instant, the entire place erupted into chaos.

MyungHoon quickly came up with a plan on the spot. 

“Everyone, quiet!” he got up from his spot and shouted. 

For a short second, silence returned. MyungHoon calmed his fast-beating heart and opened his mouth. 

“Starting now, we…”

There was a line dividing orange and yellow. MyungHoon continued his speech while staring at that line. 

“Need to decide who to kill in order to live…”

Gulp—

It was a cruel thing to say. But it couldn’t be helped.

‘We can’t all be in the center.’ 

If that happened, some people would be randomly tossed outside. 

That meant… 

“I will…” 

MyungHoon pointed at the very old man closest to him, a rare sight in Hongdae.

“… Kill this old man.”

… That in order to live, you had to kill someone else. That was the central conflict of the 2nd Tutorial. 

* * *

Crack—!

The axe split apart the Earthworm’s head. The charging Earthworm flopped dead once its skull was cracked. 

Splat—

Woosh—

YuWon spun around full force, swinging the machete that was in his other hand. In one swing, the two Earthworms that were attacking from behind got their heads chopped off. 

[You have leveled up.]

[Strength increased by 1.]

[Constitution increased by 1.]

[Perception increased by 1.]

[You have achieved Level 20.]

[A new stat : Arcane Power has been unlocked.]

With the level up, the message that YuWon was waiting for could be heard. 

“… Finally.”

YuWon was breathing heavily. Even though his Constitution stat had increased greatly, he couldn’t help being exhausted after moving around for three hours. 

Fortunately, with the level up, his Constitution increased again, along with unlocking a new stat. This made his body feel lighter than before. 

Plop—

Roll, roll, roll—

Another marble fell on the ground. YuWon put this one away as well. His bag had become heavy, filled to the brim with marbles. 

[Name : Kim YuWon]

[Level : 20]

[Strength : 28]

[Dexterity : 26]

[Constitution : 27]

[Perception : 24]

[Arcane Power : 13]

[Total Points : 3527]

[Unallocated Stat Points : 5]

His stats had improved a lot. Most of his stats were in the mid-20s, and he still had the unallocated stat points he had obtained as a reward. On top of that, he unlocked a new stat by reaching Level 20.

YuWon’s stats already far exceeded what should have been possible in the 2nd Tutorial.

‘Three random stat points and one unallocated stat point from hunting Earthworms…’

It wasn’t a bad haul. However, it fell slightly short of his expectations.

‘Well, until I defeat that guy, I shouldn’t expect a better reward.’

YuWon used the unallocated points he had been saving up.

[Applying unallocated stat points.]

[Arcane Power increased by 5.]

He invested all the unallocated stat points he had been saving up in Arcane Power. 

Other people would have to work pretty hard to figure out what the Arcane Power stat was. YuWon, on the other hand, already knew the answer. 

Among the five stats, none of them were as important as Arcane Power.

[Arcane Power : 18]

“Not bad.”

YuWon closed his eyes for a second and nodded his head, feeling the Arcane Power flow inside him. 

YuWon had started with 13 Arcane Power. It was something he only discovered later, but 13 was unprecedentedly high. 

Someone who was untalented usually started with 5-6. Talented people generally had 9-11 as their starting stat. 

And a very small minority started with 12 stat points. They were described as having received the Tower’s blessing. 

And here was YuWon. He started with 13 points and had now achieved 18 Arcane Power. 

“Hey.”

YuWon looked around, standing on top of all the Earthworm corpses. 

“You’re watching right?” he shouted into thin air.

A moment later.

“> How did you know?”

A finger-sized pierrot.* The Administrator’s Lackey appeared in front of YuWon’s eyes. 

*PR/N: Pierrots are a type of clown recognizable by the tear(s) painted on their faces.