The Tutorial Is Too Hard Chapter 184

< Tutorial 35th floor (3) >

One hour on the 1st floor.

Two hours on the 2nd.

I thought there was more than enough time to complete both the 1st and 2nd floors.

I’ve lost my previous stats and skills, but there were some skills I was able to recover.

And I also had the experience of clearing them before.

But it was a miscalculation.

My stats were the same as level 0 stats.

And from the skills I’ve recovered, the only thing that would be of actual help was just the Mana Circuit.

The only thing mana could do in this situation was to coat simple weapons along with my hands and feet to strengthen the hardness and sharpness.

It reinforces and matures the body by just circulating within.

It’s also possible to exert it in explosive strength.

It wasn’t much different from the inner strength described in martial arts novels.

I was proficient in controlling mana, and it was the basis for my self-confidence - the confidence that made me think I could clear the 1st and 2nd floor within the given time if I just strengthened my arms and legs.

One thing I hadn’t thought of was needing to expend more mana to protect my limbs than just strengthen them.

The first time I’d started to handle mana was during the latter half of the 6th floor.

Back then, I had a body strong enough to be called superhuman.

It was a body capable of handling internal and external combat at an adequate level.

And because of that, I was able to use my mana more offensively.

But this body right now, which was prone to break at a moment’s notice, needed more attention on my part to make sure it would survive the speed before I could made it move at a speed I would be satisfied with.

I needed to rely on inner power rather than pure hand-to-hand combat.

In addition, I needed to circulate the mana at all times in order to amass a larger amount, so I didn’t have much mana to work with.

So, I didn’t even make it to the Boss’s chambers before the hour was up, and I had only been able to make it to the middle part of the 2nd floor.

But on the 3rd floor, I finally succeeded in making it to the Boss Room.

I was becoming more used to using my mana efficiently.

Not to mention I had three hours this time.

[Round 24, Day 2. 5h 15m]

[Pond of Recovery]

Note: If you drink or apply this on a site, it will have a healing effect.

Maybe even for baldness…

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a Pond of Recovery.

Honestly, I didn’t even think I’d ever see one.

Since it’s been so long since I’ve last saw one.

The Pond of Recovery was more of a special reward before you entered the Boss Room.

The pond is slightly different from the surreal recovery effects of the waiting room. The pond has the power to heal and assist the body’s recovery.

Recently, there has been research on exactly what effects the pond water had, but when I was passing through the lower floors, I just used it to fill up my HP.

The taste was rather poor, so it was normal to just take a few sips and leave it be.

I just tossed aside my shoes and took a dip in the pond.

I needed to take my clothes off for a proper bath, but it was bothersome.

As I dipped my body, my body started to itch here and there.

It was the sensation of small injuries being healed.

I took my mouth to the source of the water spout and drank it in.

My body had been exhausted to the point where it could take it no longer in the past 5 hours.

I had managed to force it down with my mana, but my joints were starting to creak as if they were broken parts.

Once I paused before continuing to drink the water, the muscles that were trembling from exhaustion quickly recovered.

Even the broken parts from overexertion will have recovered.

According to the recent information published in the community, if you tend injuries from overworked muscles with water from the pond of recovery, it enhances the muscle-building.

Same for the mana circuit.

I soon felt full, as I was drinking the water as if it were liquor.

It was hard to drink much more because of the weird taste.

I took out some jerky from the pouch on my side and ate it.

I felt a bit better once I felt the salty sodium come in.

I took a brief break here and feasted on the jerky and pond water.

[Lee HoJae, 35th floor: I got it, thanks.]

[Lee Hyungjin, 7th floor: It’s nothing compared to what you’ve taught me. It’s a novel feeling to be teaching you something for a change.]

I asked Lee Hyungjin who had made it to the 7th floor for information on the boss at the 3rd floor.

Thanks to the overpowered Authority of Blink, I cleared the boss room on the 3rd floor the first time  without falling from the cloud bridge. I asked Lee Hyungjin, who had cleared it even though he fell from the cloud bridge for tips.

[Lee Hyungjin, 7th floor: I’ve told you before, but the important part is when you fall. When you fall, the illusions disappear, and the traps go off immediately when you hit the floor. So it all depends on how fast you cope with the situation.]

I sent Lee Hyungjin a thank you for tips and closed the chat window.

I raised my completely immersed body and stepped out.

I felt thankful for the additional tips.

Lee Hyungjin was stuck on the 6th floor for quite some time.

I haven’t had a chance to meet him face to face, but I could see his mental breakdown from the messages we exchanged.

I understood completely, since I was extremely stressed out when I was stuck on the 6th floor myself.

But it seemed as though his mood was much brighter from making it onto the 7th floor after surpassing the wall that blocked his way for quite some time.

And he also found his self-confidence again.

It was an inference based on the chat message, but even so I felt relieved.

I hope that I’ll have a chance to meet him during a competition or a Day of Great Harmony

I should ask Park JungAh if there’s any related information on those.

[Round 24, Day 2. 5h 24m]

I had 35 minutes left until the 3rd floor stage ends and I get moved onto the 4th floor stage.

It’s time for me to have a go at the Boss Room.

I squeezed my clothes and stood in front of the stone walls of the Boss Room.

The doors opened with a heavy sound and the panoramic view of the Boss Room entered my sights.

As I walked into the room, I could hear the doors close behind me.

While they’re slow to open, they close rather quickly.

As if telling me, ‘Don’t even think about leaving’.

But how could I not think about leaving after seeing this fucked-up place.

The fuck.

I crossed this?

When I was on the 3rd floor?

What I could see were two mountain tops sitting far above the clouds in the azure sky.

The mountaintop I was standing on, and another that was at least a few hundred meters away.

The wind was screaming like a jet engine on takeoff.

Even the wind was that strong.

My weak body couldn’t stand properly, so I needed to grip onto the ground in a bent position.

It was a dangerous situation to be in even just standing on the 15m2 of space atop the mountain.

It made me think that just surviving here for 30 minutes was enough to deem it worthy of the Hell Difficulty.

But the Hell Difficulty wouldn’t be satisfied with just that.

A message appeared.

[Reach the designated destination.]

Mother fucker.

It’s fucking shitty even though it’s the 2nd time I seen it.

The destination they’re referring to is the mountain top over there, theeeeere.

A tile appeared midair.

Green.

The next moment, the green tile turned yellow, then red.

And fell.

And then a tile bridge appeared and connected the peak I was standing on with the peak far away.

The tiles were all green.

But soon, the tile closest to me turned yellow.

I sighed and stepped onto the tile.

And before the tile turned red, I walked forward.

The sight at my feet was no joke.

Fuck, how did I do this before.

Even if I had Blink, it doesn’t rid one of the psychological pressures.

I was slowly progressing, but the strong winds buffeted me left and right.

So, in the end I used the mana I was saving.

Using mana, I added suction power to the bottom of my feet and made it easy to stay on the tiles.

And once I added mana onto my leg and waist muscles, it was rather manageable.

Speeding up from the slow walking pace, I started to run.

It was dangerous because of the wind, but it’s better to just make a run for it.

Right now, the tiles fell at intervals of about 10 seconds, but later, the tiles fall every 3 seconds.

I needed to proceed as far as I could while the tiles were still falling slowly.

In the past, the wind swept me off my feet as I was running on these tiles.

I endured by just barely keeping my balance each time I was in danger of falling.

But this time, it was much more stable.

Ping!

Along with the launch sound, an arrow flew at me.

I covered the back of my hand in mana and struck it away.

I easily overcame a difficult moment and kept on running.

And then, I felt a small movement in the tile underneath me.

Ah, it’s that.

It was something I knew from having memorized information about the 3rd floor Boss Room once more.

Soon, the tile bridge will careen  up and down.

Instead of running forward, I chose to crouch down and sit on the tile.

I made my hands stick onto the tile.

Soon, the tile bridge flew up and down as if it were a rollercoaster, but since I had been prepared, I could stay on without falling.

After the swaying stopped, I looked back.

I still had a safe distance of about ten tiles.

I’ll probably be fine If I stick to this pace.

The end was near.

When I glanced back, I saw about five tiles behind me.

The tile bridge  continued to sway up and down every now and then, but as I crouched my body and waited for it to pass, it wasn’t that dangerous.

Thank god I had chosen to start running at the beginning.

Now if I can just pass the obstacle in front of my eyes, the 3rd floor boss room should be done.

The cloud bridge had a break in the tiles in the middle.

A gap of about 30 to 40 tiles were missing.

Glancing back, I check how many tiles I had for space.

I slowed down and prepared myself.

I counted to myself and ran forward as fast as I could.

I stepped down on the spot where the tiles started to disappear and leaped out.

Since I had poured mana in as if I was making an explosion, there was a big ‘kwang!’ sound from just the simple step down, and my body shot forward.

This should be enough to make me cross.

But as I soared in an  arc progressed, I couldn’t but change my mind.

It was a bit short.

Just barely.

I regretted for a second thinking I should’ve, maybe, used more mana even if it would damage my legs.

But there was nothing to be done when I was up in the air.

I extended my arms as much as I could, but I couldn’t reach the other tile by the breadth of one finger.

If it was a little, just a little further, I could’ve gripped the tile and made it up.

“Shit, Fuuuuuuck!”

My swearing was cut short from the fall.

It was a mistake to open my mouth to swear.

Because of the velocity of the fall, my pronunciation was muffled.

Regrets were regrets, but since I already fell, I needed to prepare myself for what comes next.

The fall wasn’t that bad.

It was a wide-open space, and all I could see were white clouds.

The wind licking my body was cold and fierce, but it was also refreshing.

Is this what skydiving is like?

I could understand why people pay exorbitant amounts of money to go skydiving.

My limbs, hands, feet, and head all didn’t go into a panic from the impact of the fall and were fine.

Thank god.

The next important thing is timing.

Lee Hyungjin said the traps go off as soon as the illusions dissipate.

He said the fall went on for about two minutes.

So, I still probably have quite some time…

Thuk.

Huh? Wha?

I was falling from the sky until just a moment ago, but I was lying on a pathway right now.

The illusion of mountaintops above the clouds were gone.

And a spear was flying towards me right in front of my eyes.

Hey, two minutes.

You said two minutes!

I HAVEN’T FALLEN FOR MORE THAN 20 SECONDS!

I frantically threw my body and dodged the spear.

And the spear was embedded in the spot I was lying at a moment before.

Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping.

I could hear the continuous launching sound.

Arrows this time.

Seven shots.

The exact location was all different, but all were from the front.

All of the arrows were aimed at my body.

I took the spear stuck in the ground and extended it in front of me.

[Acquired Intermediate Spear Technique Lv. 3]

I calmly hit away each arrow.

It was much faster than most arrows on the 1st and 2nd floors, but they’re still arrows.

Next, axes.

I blocked the axes falling from the ceiling with the spear.

The axes fell without a sound, but since they were right above me, I had already noticed.

I tried my best to knock the axes away, but the falling axes were much heavier than I had thought.

As soon as I blocked the axes, I made a circular swing towards my knee level.

Ting. Ting. The sounds were made as needles were flicked off.

The poisonous needles right after a flurry of noisy attacks.

It’s a typical trap pattern.

Next are arrows.

There were no sounds and were fast.

The launch location was at the 5 o’clock direction aiming for the back of my head.

And because of that, I noticed too late.

What I saw was a small palm-sized arrow.

It seems to be specialized for speed and silence.

Instead of responding by swinging my spear, I turned my head and pushed my face forward.

I clenched my teeth.

I wasn’t trying to do something absurd like grabbing the flying arrow with my teeth.

That’s just asking for it to get stuck in your throat.

I just used my teeth as a small shield and put it in the pathway of the arrow.

The teeth, protected by mana, easily blocked the arrow.

But even so, my jaw and gums were burning.

The traps stopped after the small arrow.

According to Lee Hyungjin’s words, this is one set.

He said these kinds of traps repeat themselves on my way to the end of the Boss Room.

He also said he wasn’t sure, but there wasn’t a pattern, and the types and order of weapons change every time.

Since my safety was assured for now, I looked over my condition.

And also, this situation.

I come to a conclusion.

Damn, I should’ve just fell earlier.

I needlessly toiled away in a shitty situation on top of the tiles.

It was because Hyungjin was crying away about the dangerous traps down here.

I think this is at an adequate difficulty to pass by with ease.

I’ll need to reprimand him later.

< Tutorial 35th floor (3) > End

Gandara

Chapter end