Chapter 5 - The Second Trial (2) (1/2)

Chapter 5: The Second Trial (2)

「 Floor 2 trial starting in – 1hrs 47min 」

Kang Sunwoo: Ayy. I just woke up from the best nap.

Oh Choonsuk: Wtf, my body aches from sleeping on this cheap ass bed.

Hyuk Sukjin: I mean… You can just buy a nice one from the marketplace.

Oh Choonsuk: I’d rather get a nice ass bowl of soup and rice with that kind of money.

Hyuk Sukjin: Damn, you’re making me hungry.

Oh Choonsuk: Legit. We don’t have any other urges. Why am I still hungry?

Kang Sunwoo: Y’all really talking about food at this time. Just go buy some jerky from the marketplace. It’s the cheapest thing you can get.

Oh Choonsuk: Tyty. Good advice.

Snap!

“It’s already time.”

I stretched while looking at the Community.

20 hours had already passed while I’d been rolling around the waiting area training.

I learned a lot during that time.

The cheapest food in the marketplace, and how the waiting area works.

‘I learned the most about the waiting area.’

You cannot feel most biological urges besides hunger in this area.

I also learned that the healing in the area isn’t omnipotent.

‘You can barely call it healing.’

As an experiment, I cut my hand a while ago and the spilled blood went back into my wound before closing.

Spilled blood going back to where it came from isn’t normally ‘healing.’

It’s closer to restoration.

However, it does not restore you to a point in time when you were not hungry anymore.

That means it’s probably possible to starve to death.

‘I also learned how to switch the healing on and off.’

There wasn’t anything else particularly useful.

I have yet to try them out because they cost points.

Turning the healing on and off cost 100 points total.

Seeing that I only have 373 points, I have to limit my spending.

Although when I do gain enough points, I’ll have to try them out.

I finished my train of thought and bought a jerky.

Chomp chomp.

“It’s hard and tasteless.”

I toiled through the jerky that didn’t even have salt on it.

But at 10 points per piece, it was the most efficient use of your points.

Anything cheaper could barely be consumed by humans.

They said that you couldn’t even chew through the black bread, made from flour and sand, as well as other cheaper foods.

It wasn’t really edible. Just something to fill your stomach with.

‘I wouldn’t be able to survive on that.”

So the jerky was the best choice at the moment.

Still chewing on it, I bought some water and first aid items.

I had to be ready for anything.

「 Points remaining – 40 」

“I barely have any left.”

I wouldn’t have had any left if I didn’t get the bonus award.

I could tell that was the case from looking at the Community.

Lee Heejin: I can’t buy any medical supplies because I don’t have any points; Why are magic items so expensive;

Kim Seunghoon: Magic is op in the beginning. Of course it’s expensive.

Hyuk Sukjin: Am I the only one who got a bonus reward? I have a decent amount of points from that.

Kim Seunghoon: I got one but mine was a skill and not points. What?

Oh Choonsuk: I didn’t get anything like that. What? Did you give the admin money or something?

Lee Heejin: Huh? I didn’t get it either.

Only a small minority received the bonus award.

Most people in the Community seem to be hearing about the bonus award for the first time.

‘Does it depend on how well you did in the tutorial?’

Everyone who got a bonus award said they only received either points or a skill.

But…

“I got both?”

Hm…

Maybe there were special requirements to unlock the bonus rewards.

Like if you killed the enemy when the goal of the trial was to survive.

‘Maybe that’s why I got two bonus rewards.’

That means I had to figure out what those requirements were in the upcoming trials.

I needed to figure it out if I wanted any advantage over the other people climbing the tower.

The difficulty I chose was also the highest of the three.

If an E-rank monster appeared in the tutorial, the chances are, it was only going to get worse.

‘Good thing I trained nonstop.’

I felt like the sword and shield were a part of my body.

At this point, even a sand golem shouldn’t be too much of a problem for me.

‘I have a shield now too.’

Storing all the equipment into my inventory, I checked the time.

「 Floor 2 trial starting in – 17min 17secs 」

Quite a bit of time passed while I was training and looking through the marketplace.

The messages in the Community slowed down as well.

Oh Choonsuk: The tutorial was hard as fuck… How hard is the 2nd floor gonna be?

Hyuk Sukjin: I don’t need to awaken or anything. I just wanna go home.

Kim Seunghoon: Stop pissing in your pants and get ready to fight.

Lee Jinwoo: Fuck, I really don’t wanna go. Why did I pick the hardest difficulty… Can’t I change it?

Hyuk Sukjin: Would you let a fish go after it took the bait?

Oh Choonsuk: You’re right. I wouldn’t let that dumbass go.

The Community seemed grim as the timer counted down.

I wasn’t an exception.

‘Will I be able to survive? Me?’

My hand shook and my heart beat fast at just the thought of the upcoming battle.

If I didn’t fight, the only thing left for me would be natural selection.

At the end of that path, all that was left was a nameless, honorless death.

That’s why everyone was fighting to survive.

「 Floor 2 trial starting in – 10secs 」

10, 9, 8, 7…

As the clock counted down, the community was completely silent.

It was calm before the storm.

And…

「 Floor 2 trial starting in – 0secs 」

「 Time up. 」

When the time ran out…

“Trial.”

I immediately uttered the command.

「 Do you accept the 2nd-floor trial? 」

「 Y/N 」

I selected ‘Y’ without hesitation, and the same portal from yesterday appeared.

I stepped in without thinking, and the portal enveloped my body.