The Tutorial Is Too Hard Chapter 10:
[1st attempt, Day 1 . 8:20]
[Please enter the stage . Time left: 19 hours 12 minutes]
The waiting room of the Tutorial is like the healing well of an AOS genre game . Like a homebase, it is a place that completely restores one's health .
Moreover, you have a limited time you can stay within the area .
I shouldn’t waste this precious time .
[Enter the stage?]
"Yes"
[Welcome to Tutorial stage, Hell difficulty 1st floor]
This makes it my third time here .
A dark straight corridor .
At first, I felt an unknown excitement and nervousness . It enthralled me . The second time was not very different but now . . .
Now I feel a slight horror in this place .
Mmmm . . .
No signs of blood stains but I'm sure I lost a large amount of blood when I crawled back here . Not to mention, I was a **** idiot for trying to pull out the arrow which made me lose even more blood .
However, the walls and floor were spotless . Not a single drop of red .
It was as if the whole stage reset when I went to the waiting room and back .
I took in everyhing and with it came a dreadful conclusion .
What if the arrow trap got reset as well?
Ahh, **** . I'm gonna get hit again for sure .
But should I do? I coudln’t just stay here and idle at the Tutorial’s entrance .
I don’t know what penalty awaits me if I don’t clear this area in time . Let’s go . I must move .
I wasn't entirely sure, but I vaguely remembered the general target of the arrows that were to be shot .
I didn't know what awaited me before, yet I still managed to stay alive . I should at least try to clear this cleanly now .
Now, positive thinking . They say optimism could change the world .
Let’s go!
Aaaaaahhhhhhh……
I think it’s hereeeeee
I think roughly the trap was hereeee… . .
Every step forward got heavier than the last .
Was it because I got so **** up from the first time?
I was scared to the bone .
However, I couldn’t stop here .
I slowly took deep controlled breaths .
I covered my eyes and quietly calmed myself down .
I could do this!
One step forward .
Remember . Two above the shield . One straight ahead .
Lastly, one to the ankle .
Ahh, But what if the pattern changed too?
Ahhh… . . I was getting paranoid .
I stumbled backwards .
What if the pattern had really changed?
I pondered for a while .
Final conclusion .
So what if the pattern changed? Was there really anything I could do about that?
No .
It was just like before, I didn't know when or where the arrow would come .
At that moment I thought, 'Let's just avoid instant death' . Yeah, I thought like that .
I should protect my heart and torso in general with my shield and with the sword in my right hand I should protect my neck and head .
In the end, I was back to square one .
After some deep thought, I raised my shield and slowly, very slowly moved forward .
It felt like I was scraping away my life every step at a time .
I've never played it before but, If I were to play Russian Roulette, I felt like it would feel like this .
I took a step .
Then another step .
My heart skipped a beat every time I took a step forward .
Again another step .
Tick!
An arrow!
Another!
Tick!
I shielded myself from the second arrow too!
Third one to the head!
The third one will come to the head!
I instantly crouched .
Nice, I dodged it! I did it!
But then, a silver projectile flashed before my eyes .
It was an arrow .
Pook-
I stopped the arrow that flew towards me out of the blue with my right arm .
With my unstable crouched position and the excruciating pain I felt in my right arm . In shock, I fell before I knew it .
And again,
Pook-
The last arrow pierced my ankle .
"Ooooooooofffffffff…"
The pain I felt in my arm and ankle felt like it was travelling up my nerves to burn my brain to ash .
At that moment,
[Level up]
[Dexterity increased by 2 . Endurance increased by 1 . Pain tolerance increased by 1 . ]
Huh?
As the level up message appeared, the pain subsided .
"What the…"
The arrows pierced through my arm and ankle had both disappeared . My wounds were all healed too, just as if I was in the waiting room .
Well, just my luck .
So, there was such a thing as levelling up .
It appeared that your HP is restored to full when you level up .
"Status bar . "
[Lee Ho Jae (Human)]
Lv . 1
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 15
Endurance: 12
Intelligence: 21
Skills: Battle concentration Lv . 2, Will Lv . 2, Awakening Lv . 1, Pain tolerance Lv . 4, Haemorrhage tolerance Lv . 2, Fainting tolerance Lv . 1
I found some slight changes when I viewed my status bar .
As the message said, My dexterity and endurance had increased a little and my pain tolerance level had increased by one .
And lastly .
Lv . 1
Was I Lv . 0 before? Did I even have a level?
Since there was nothing about levels in the status bar before, I thought there wasn’t a levelling system .
I was so, so lucky that I had levelled up in that exact moment in time .
Otherwise, I would have had to crawl back to the waiting room again with an arrow stuck in my ankle AND my arm .
Or maybe, I could’ve died too .
Phew . .
Now . Let’s clear up this information .
I had to think about how could use this new information to my advantage .
Firstly, there's the traps .
The pattern of the trap was exactly the same as it was in my first encounter .
One arrow to my left arm .
One to my heart .
One towards my forehead .
One towards my ankle .
Before my second encounter, I had thought of something .
How could a trap aim directly for those critical areas?
A person’s physique could vary, or a person could just stick themselves to a wall and follow it .
But not this trap, the trap knew exactly where my critical areas were and shot arrows precisely towards them .
The trap wasn’t set so it would follow a set path . It was set to aim for areas on my body and then fired .
That’s why even though I crouched after I had blocked the first two arrows, the third arrow was fired directly towards my forehead instead of missing and flying above me .
If I hadn’t quickly blocked the arrow with my right arm, I could’ve really just died there .
I couldn't simply memorize the pattern and dodge pre-emptively .
I had to dodge the arrow after it had been fired or alternatively, raise my shield to block it .
But still, if I knew the pattern, I would still be able to react much faster thanks to this precious information .
What I learned next was the level up .
After levelling up, my body was completely healed . Not only did it heal my wounds, it also cleared the fatigue that I was starting to feel .
I came to a realization, there were 2 ways to heal myself .
The waiting room and levelling up .
The waiting room provided me with the option to heal whenever I want, with the downfall that I must backtrack my steps to get there .
Levelling up allowed me to be healed instantly at that time, but I couldn’t tell when I would level up .
In light of this information, my chances of survival had definitely increased .
The third thing I learned was the conditions to level up .
I guess it’s like exp?
I definitely levelled up after being hit by the last arrow .
I could think of two conditions to level up in this situation .
Firstly, I had cleared the trap .
I cleared the trap twice .
And let’s think about the times I got hit by an arrow or had blocked an arrow .
I had blocked 5 arrows and got hit by 3 .
If I were to gain exp by blocking arrows or to get shot by one, to keep levelling up and progress, I had to attempt as many traps as I could .
Although I had already experienced two instances of near death, it could be even harder from here .
The messages kept reminding me that this was the 1st floor of the Tutorial .
There will be a 2nd floor, and there will be a 3rd floor . I think if difficulties can rise, they will rise . But I don’t think things will ever get easier .
The last piece of information I gathered form this experience was that, I levelled up during my second attempt and not my first .
I gained experience points from a trap that had been reset due to my actions of going in and coming back from the waiting room .
With all this information summed up, my final conclusion was simple .
I had to venture on .
I must attempt and challenge more and more to gain exp and grow .
Whether I dodge arrows or not, I still gain exp .
So, it was just like from the beginning, I just had to avoid instant death .
I could still rely on levelling up and heading back to the waiting room to heal any non-fatal wounds .
No matter how painful and unberable it was . I must grow and level up as much as it possible to in the 1st floor .
This wasn't the time to be scared of injury . This was the time for me to move forward .
I couldn't let fear rule me and inhibit my growth .
[1st attempt, Day 1 . 9:05]
I don’t know how long I am allowed to stay in the first floor .
Who knows, there could be a time limit .
I couldn't waste any more time .
I had to change my playstyle .
With full determination I walked forward .
Instead of walking at a pace where I’d be yawning of boredom, I walked with faster strides . However, I took these steps cauciously and didn’t keep my guard down .
[You have learned Will Lv . 2]
[The God of Adventure shows interest in you . ]
[Endurance increased by 1 . ]