NoveLight ™
The knight's body collapsed.
She didn't take a fatal blow, but her life force had reached zero.
With a look of surprise on her face, the knight asked me,
“…Are you a martial artist? I don’t sense any internal energy.”
“A martial artist? Internal energy? I don’t know anything about that.”
It’s easy to say that the first strike is a guaranteed victory, but when you actually experience it, there’s nothing more frustrating.
If I had nearly died from that first blow, it would have been even worse.
“Just get lost.”
I kicked the knight's face with all the anger I felt earlier.
A soccer kick.
Before my foot reached the knight, her body disintegrated into blue particles and vanished.
It looked as if she was being transported somewhere.
“Damn it.”
I knew this would happen.
‘When they mentioned the manual, I felt they were in a different position from us.’
I was risking my life, but the knight was not.
She was simply here as a test subject.
That’s why she could accept my strange proposal to allow a strike in return for the first blow I landed.
“Phew…”
I took a deep breath.
Calming my trembling heart, I returned to the direction I came from.
This time, light enveloped me.
I was back in the white room.
The six stone doors were wide open.
Behind them, a battle was likely taking place in the darkness.
‘Is it really a battle?’
More like an execution, isn’t it?
This was the price of misunderstanding cooperation.
I should have asked the assistant out of suspicion, just in case.
Regret comes too late, no matter how quickly it strikes.
[Error player. Did you just pass a trial?]
“……”
[You really passed. Impressive.]
A message from the Tower of Struggle appeared.
[0th floor, prove it.]
You have proven that you are qualified to challenge the throne.
First clear bonus: +1 to stats.
Solo clear bonus: +3 to stats.
So, if I clear even one, I’ve proven myself at least?
‘This is so…’
The result was suffocating.
One misunderstanding led to several deaths.
But I didn’t feel too bitter about it.
Those people weren’t my friends or family.
‘They were just people I met today, just moments ago.’
I realized my emotions were more composed than I thought.
The situation where I almost died had made me calm.
Just then, the message changed.
[0th floor, choose.]
The tower presented me with two choices.
‘Is it worth pondering?’
I should go up to the next floor right away.
But I hesitated.
Because of that clear bonus.
‘There are six stone doors. Excluding the one I passed through, there are five left.’
The first clear bonus would only be given once.
Then the remaining bonuses would be from solo clears.
‘One point isn’t much, but three points is significant. If I get that five times…’
They say hope is a dangerous thing, don’t they?
In my mind, I had already cleared five trials and gained 15 points.
What could I achieve with 15 points?
If I dissect everything from one to ten, it’s not a great reward.
‘It’s impossible for an ordinary person to become a superhuman.’
However, a person who couldn’t even do a pull-up might succeed in one.
Maybe even more than that.
‘A stepping stone.’
In this damned Tower of Struggle, it would serve as a firm base I could rely on.
“…Damn it.”
I must challenge it.
I have to advance.
More than others.
If I can’t, I will be eliminated.
‘Being eliminated in the Tower of Struggle means death.’
Clap! Slap!
I harshly slapped my cheek.
I gathered my thoughts.
“Uh?”
At that moment, I felt something strange.
‘My arm is fine?’
I had been slashed by the knight.
It wasn’t incapacitated, but it also wasn’t in a usable condition.
Yet my arm felt fine now.
Upon closer inspection, there was no sign of injury at all.
“…Could it be that wounds received during trials heal upon passing?”
[Are you asking me?]
You damned bastard.
You must have intentionally left us in the dark about cooperation.
‘Could it really be…’
I hoped so.
“Yeah. I’m asking you.”
[Yes. Injuries sustained during trials are healed immediately upon passing. As long as a player remains alive at the end of the trial, they can survive.]
I understood the structure.
‘While the first strike is ambushed, you won’t die from it. Then it’s a group attack.’
The opponent's stats are fixed at 15.
Though I didn’t know what that meant exactly, it seemed like five people could overcome this together.
‘As long as I don’t die on-site, it seems the first person to die could return to full health.’
Players who confirmed that they wouldn’t die if they remained alive would unite and tackle the trials.
‘The assistant did say it was a tutorial, right?’
A tutorial.
It’s a process to teach new users how to operate the game and guide them through the flow.
Everything made sense.
‘Except for the assistant.’
Why was that bastard hiding information?
‘Why are they acting against the very design of the tutorial?’
Questions piled on top of each other.
‘Thinking back, there’s no real need for that. They could have just killed someone who knew nothing…’
There was something strangely gentle about the tutorial setup.
And the assistant’s behavior felt fierce.
[Are you thinking of challenging again? Or not going up?]
“……”
At an unexpected moment, the assistant sent me a message.
“I’ll challenge.”
I looked around the room.
Six stone doors, three of which glowed red.
‘I entered the blue door.’
The remaining two were just like before, not glowing at all.
‘The woman who entered must still be the same….’
If a player dies after entering, does that trial return to its original state?
‘Is the first strike supposed to be an ambush?’
I preferred that structure.
I headed toward the stone door that no one had entered.
The door where Jin Cheol-hwan had tried to mess with Park Ji-hoon and me.
‘How ironic.’
Here I was, intentionally going to get messed with.
“Ah. Right.”
Before entering, I allocated the points I received as a clear reward.
‘All in agility.’
From the knight, I learned that my attack power was sufficient.
What I needed was speed.
I needed the speed to evade enemy attacks while landing my own.
Agility was just right for that.
‘It feels like my body has become lighter.’
My agility stat had risen to 14.
It wasn’t a huge difference, but I could respond to the opponent's movements.
I took a deep breath and entrusted my body to the darkness beyond the stone door.
A vast cavern.
The same place where the knight had been.
“…A monster?”
─ With such narrow-minded insights, you easily spit out disrespectful words. Since you’re a new player, I’ll let it slide this time.
It looked more like a golem than a monster.
The opponent stood at least five meters tall, towering over me.
“How did I defeat something like that?”
─ Are you alone?
Boom!
A similar reaction to the knight.
It was clear that it was unusual to challenge alone.
─ There’s no helping it.
The opponent approached.
Just as I expected, it seemed it would strike first.
“First, the player should strike upon entry. Is that written in the manual?”
─ …How should I do that?
Though it sounded surprised, the golem didn’t stop moving.
It charged straight toward me, extending its fist.
A massive stone fist, larger than my body, flew toward me.
‘It appears solid on the outside, but the golem’s stats are fixed at 15.’
All of its stats were the same as the knight's.
Plus, even if I allowed the first strike, I wouldn’t die.
‘It would hurt like hell, though.’
I gritted my teeth.
I prepared for the impact that would come soon.
‘Surely increasing my agility helps.’
If I hadn’t invested in agility, I wouldn’t have been able to target the golem's stone fist.
“Haah!”
I activated Strong Strike and collided with the golem’s stone fist.
[Strong Strike][F]
[Deliver a powerful strike to the enemy, inflicting 『1,521%』 physical damage.]
It didn’t matter if it hit my face or torso.
Whether I slashed the torso or the arm, it would incur the same damage.
Boom!
The golem's stone fist clashed with my Strong Strike.
“Ugh!”
My vision flipped upside down.
I felt a sense of weightlessness.
But I didn’t die.
Normally, I should have, but I survived because it was a tutorial.
Boom!
My body crashed into the corner of the cavern.
The pain coursed through me, starting from my back.
“Cough, cough!”
I spat out blood.
For the first time in my life, I vomited blood.
─ What is this…!
I heard the golem expressing its disbelief.
It was astonished as if it couldn’t believe what it saw.
I struggled to raise my head.
My vision turned red.
Was it from burst blood vessels?
No.