Chapter 4 (1/2)

Numerically speaking, the skeletons were superior to them. Although one of the skeletons fell, the two goblins were already broken into pieces.

<You have earned ten gold by hunting the goblin.>

<You have earned ten gold by hunting the goblin.>

“Whew! Good job…”

Sungwoo shouted hooray in spite of himself. Then there was a message that possibly signaled the start of a real game.

<You have leveled up. (LV.2)>

“Level?”

When the word ‘level’ was mentioned, it meant that he should now be ready for the real game.

It was the moment Sungwoo confirmed the validity of his prediction that the more he fought, the stronger he would become. He recited it to himself quietly as if he could not believe it.

“… Status bar?”

When he said that, a holographic window appeared before his eyes.

Name: Sungwoo Yu

Level: 2

Occupation: Necromancer

Capability: Muscle power (5), Agility (5), Physical strength (5)

Earned Gold: 50

But there was nothing like stats in the game. Didn’t players receive stats when their level went up? But his question was answered when a system window popped up.

<Select your Level Up card.>

Stats (random)

Skill (random)

Item (random)

Other (random)

Muscle power increase (confirmed)

A total of five cards appeared before my eyes. Except for 5), they were all on the backside, so he found out that by using this, he could reinforce my stats, learn skills, or obtain items.

“Ah, random…”

But most of them were random. The last one, namely number 5, was the confirmed stats, but it suggested that luck played a big role from the start.

After agonizing for some time, Sungwoo chose ‘skills,’ the No. 2 item. Skill was one of the most important elements in most games, so he chose it because he was not sure what would come out of it.

<The maximum number of subordinates will increase by one.>

Then the skeletons began to rise from a heap of bodies. This time there was a total of five with the addition of one more.

Rattle—

<You are almost out of mana.>

“…Mana?”

It seemed that he needed mana when he had to use skills to summon skeletons. So, when Sungwoo recalled mana, he saw a certain gauge before his eyes.

<Mana (3/30)>

The mana then increased to 4. It seemed like he didn’t need a lot of mana to summon just one skeleton.

“Hey, you guys are not playing hard to get, are you?”

When he said that, four goblins looked up at him all at once.

“Dang it, you really suck! I’m sorry to say this, but can you all just look down instead?”

They again looked down at his request.

“Good job.”

***

After a tough battle with the goblins, Sungwoo was left alone. Precisely speaking, he was left with four skeletons.

He put his head against the cold iron gate, then took it off. He did it to cool down his head, but it didn’t help. As he had been staying alert, he felt heartburn as if acid from his stomach was forced up the gullet.

“Okay, I should stay alert to survive. If I’m clumsy here, I can make a mistake. I don’t know what’s going on, but so far, so good, right?” Sungwoo reassured himself like that.

As someone who was discharged from the army recently, he was well aware that those who adapted themselves quickly to a strange environment could survive better than those who didn’t.

When he was in the army, there were two groups of recruits thrown into a strange environment, namely those who could easily adapt and earn their commanders’ trust, and those who ended up as outcasts by failing to adapt.

“…Above all, let me survive. I have to think of that only.”

Hearing the strange screaming echoing down the hallway, he patted his cheeks lightly, then took three deep breaths.

“Phew! Let me buck up and get out of here.”