Chapter 8 - Growth (1) (2/2)

「 A dagger emitting dark mana, forged from black steel. 」

「 It is approximately 60cm long and does not dull easily. 」

It’s not as good as the cloak, but it’s still something.

It says it’s a dagger, but it’s long enough to be a one-handed sword.

No complaints there though.

It’s the perfect weapon to be used in a variety of ways.

I swung the blade a couple of times as practice.

It was reminiscent of the night sky.

Whoosh!

“ … “

I could hear the sharpness of the blade.

Incomparable to the sword that I had received from the tutorial.

The decision was an easy one.

It was time to replace the tutorial sword.

The tutorial sword didn’t have a grade attached when I first got it, but the E+ Obsidian Dagger was clearly the higher-ranked weapon.

The sword was also pretty rusted and dulled from all the blood.

I’ll just keep it in the inventory for now.

‘That should be it for all the equipment…’

It’s time to check the skills now.

「 Skill – Heat Resistance (F) 」

「 Proficiency – 5% 」

「 Effect – All damage taken from flame attacks are reduced by 7% 」

A heat resistance skill that I got from an achievement.

「 Skill – Pain Resistance (D) 」

「 Proficiency – 4% 」

「 Effect – Upon a strong enough impact, temporarily reduces all pain felt by 15% 」

And the pain resistance I got as a bonus reward.

They weren’t bad but a little disappointing.

“I would have preferred a weapon or offensive skill but…”

I’m using the little weapons knowledge I can scrape together, but there’s a big difference between a weapons skill and whatever I’m doing.

It’s a bit underwhelming for something I risked my life for.

‘At least I got the cloak and the dagger.’

Resistance skills aren’t very cost efficient in the beginning.

People say that they’re basically useless until you raise the rank to D+.

Of course, it might be different from person to person.

‘They don’t rank up easily unless I hurt myself, so it’s not very compatible with me.’

I can only train it in a life-threatening situation.

The only thing usable was the ‘Pain Resistance.’

Maybe it’s because it was a bonus reward, but it’s a D-rank skill.

After a while, I started wondering.

“Did the others also pass?”

There were hunters in the mix so I shouldn’t be too worried…

I had had a thought in the midst of the 2nd trial.

The goal of my trial was assassination.

The trial would be cleared after killing the old orc chief.

I might have thought it was easy if I didn’t think about it too hard.

But—

‘The seemingly feeble chief turned out to be a magician.’

What if I had entered his room without knowing?

Magicians generally fortify their workshops.

Assuming that his room was his workshop, he definitely had some sort of anti-intruder measures.

That would have definitely ended badly for me.

‘It would have been more dangerous if I attacked in the middle of the night.’

The orc hunters would have piled on and made the trial impossible.

I only survived because I didn’t attempt an assassination, but there was no guarantee that the others followed suit.

I opened up the community to see how it went for others.

「 You have entered the community. 」

「 Difficulty – Hard 」

「 Floor 3 Community (1977/2531) 」

Kim Seunghoon: Fuck, did they even make these possible?

Hyun Sukjin: …Did everyone really die? Seriously?

Im Jinwook: Nah, there’s a bunch of people still on the 2nd floor.

Kim SeungHoon: What the fuck? Why was there a C-rank Monster on the second floor!

Kang Sunwoo: I barely survived using my innate ability. God damnnn. Good thing my arm grew back.

Kim Sihoon: The total number of people almost halved. A good chunk of us died.

As predicted, the number of people in the community had halved.

But the most important part came after.

Hyun Sukjin: Wait yall had C-rank monsters? I only saw tons of goblins.

Kim Seunghoon: I had a lich summon a crazy amount of skeletons. What goblins?

Kim Sihoon: Huh? I just had to survive for 3 days from this orc tribe.

Kang Sunwoo: I had to fight a bunch of orcs 1 on 1 in some colosseum.

Lee Hayeon: Did everyone face a different trial?

I guess everyone went through their own individual trials.

But they all seemed to think it was unreasonably difficult.

Well, I wasn’t surprised to find any of these out.

Kim Seunghoon: What was so great about me that they wanted me here…

Kang Sunwoo: I like how fast we’re growing lol, but I was stronger irl though.

Hyun Sukjin: idk man. I was a normal dude before this. I just wanna get back.

Kim Seunghoon: It’s gonna take sooo long for me to get back where I was before.

Lee Changsuk: Sigh, is there even going to be a way for us to get back to Earth?

Everyone in the community spiraled into discussing how to get back to earth.

Of course, there’s a way to find out.

‘You just have to ask the administrator.’

I just didn’t want to waste a question.

But these people didn’t seem to care anymore.

Kang Sunwoo: Isn’t it about time we use our questions?

Kim Seunghoon: I think so. We should ask about returning to Earth and getting our powers back.

Hyun Sukjin: Let’s all share all the information we find here. I’ll ask about returning to Earth.

Kang Sunjin: Good idea. I’ll ask about restoring our powers.

Lee Changsuk: I’ll ask about how the rewards are calculated within trials.

I thought about joining in but I decided against it.

‘I’ll just stay put.’

Most people seemed to agree with me and took more of a bystander approach.

It’s a smart decision.

You have more to lose from stepping up than gaining anything valuable.

Hyun Sukjin: …the administrator answered.

Lee Changsuk: Really? What happened?

Kim Seunghoon: Do we have to climb to the top of this tower?

Kang Sunwoo: Sir, please. Share the news with us, good sir.

The community was flooded with messages.

Hyun Sukjin: There’s a way to go back.

And—

Hyun Sukjin: Here’s how.

A method to return to Earth started to appear in the community.

____