The Tutorial Is Too Hard Chapter 189

[Round 24, Day 2. 13h 30m]

I checked the time as soon as I opened my eyes.

More time had passed than I thought.

Now that I think about it, I didn’t have Faint Resistance yet.

Because of that, I must’ve been floating on the spring water for longer than I expected.

I walked out of the blackened spring water.

A stench rose from the filthy water.

I couldn’t believe all of that black filth came from my body.

What the fuck is that.

It’s almost as if I shit through my skin.

I observed the changes from a distance.

First of all, the development of the mana circuit was a success.

It was exactly as I expected.

Rather, the body’s development was astounding.

My five senses had significantly sharpened, including sight..

My skin, bones, and physique all reached a respectable durability compared to before.

The twisted joints from living as an invalid were gone, and my muscle flexibility improved significantly.

In addition, my stamina and strength stats rose quite a bit.

Above all, my senses for feeling and perceiving mana were sharper than ever.

It really felt like an overhaul of the body, like in martial arts novels.[1]

Unlike before, when I went back and forth between raising levels and training for prolonged periods of time, I transformed my invalid body to this point in just a few hours.

It was no different from completely reconstructing it.

It was enough to warrant the pain and agony that came before I passed out.

In addition, I also gained higher levels of Pain Tolerance, as well as just one level of Faint Resistance.

You could see it as attaining a slightly better result compared to my original goal.

Most of all, my heart was calm.

Maybe it was because I had expelled all the bad elements in my body, but my heart was as light and tranquil as my body.

The troubles that harrowed my mind before passing out were still present.

But I felt as though I could deal with those troubles without much worry.

I manipulated my mana as I walked.

I finished my testing after checking the mana circuit and verifying it by encapsulating the tip of my finger with aura.

Definitely a result I was satisfied with.

It wasn’t comparable to my body before entering the 35th floor, but with this I no longer had to struggle with the body’s inadequacy.

I brushed the filth off my body and dried my wet clothes with mana.

The stench was immense, but I also blew it off with mana.

Normally, I used deodorant or changed into new clothes.

But right now I don’t have access to the inventory or any items, so I needed to dry and deodorize each item to get rid of the stench.

It was an unconventional experience.

After making sure I was in presentable condition, I left the spring and started walking.

As I walked on, I soon reached the 5th floor boss room.

Once I saw the room, I had mixed feelings.

Would it be the right choice to open this?

Or should I just bide my time and pass onto the 6th floor?

In truth, the answer was already set.

I had no intention of backing away.

If I don’t open this door, even if it was the correct choice, I’ll rue the day forever.

My hesitation was about Idy.

But the remorse after the choice had nothing to do with her.

It was my problem.

I put strength in my hand, and gave a hard push.

The enormous door opened, and an overly familiar face greeted me.

“It’s been some time since I’ve had a challenger. Keruk, Keruk.”

A message telling me to defeat the enemy in front of me didn’t appear like the last time I entered the 5th floor boss room.

There wasn’t even the wall blockading us from each other.

I ended up coming face to face with her, who was giving me a blank gaze while sitting on the floor.

“I…daltar.”

“Keruk?”

Idaltar’s[2] eyes glistened from the words that escaped my mouth without me thinking.

To be fair, Idaltar’s eyes always glistened, but even so, they glistened even more.

“You know my name. Keruk, Keruk. Did you hear it from my brethren?”

My heart beat briskly from the thought of almost accidentally having called her Idy unintentionally.

Her real name ‘Idaltar’ and the nickname ‘Idy’ was how I was distinguishing her.

“Keruk, then you probably haven’t heard good things.”

She was quite unusual in the tutorial because Idaltar was one of the few beings who was somewhat familiar with the system.

Since she was imprisoned alone in the 5th floor boss room, it was probable that she needed to have some knowledge regarding the general state of things.

Obviously, she knew that her kind were outside this boss room.

But there was one thing that bothered me.

When I first entered the room, Idy said that I was the only challenger in quite some time.

“Was there another visitor in this room before me?”

I wanted to ask if she remembered others before me.

“Keruk, Keruk.”

Idy keruk’d and swayed her head to say no.

“Then why.”

“That makes it seem more legitimate. Keruk, Keruk.”

Idy was…

No, Idaltar laughed, keruk-ing as if she found something funny.

The Idaltar in front of me seemed to overlap with the dying Idy in the Temple of Dinosaurs.

Her freedom was limited by the Constraints; she had little choice in what to think and say.

Her memories were tampered with, and she couldn’t even attempt to try and remember her past.

And she knew these facts.

But she laughed as if it was unavoidable; my memories of her overlapped with the reality in front of my eyes.

Rage and sadness leapt up inside me chaotically.

I suppressed the emotions as best as I could.

It wasn’t something the Idaltar in front of me would want either.

Above all, I couldn’t accomplish anything when being swept away by these emotions.

What I wanted was to resolve the root cause for this rage and sadness, not to run rampant after being swallowed whole by these emotions.

“Keruk, you don’t have to pity me. I don’t know why you’re so concerned with my situation. Keruk, Keruk, the challenger this time is rather kind.”

Her words telling me I didn’t need to be so concerned pulled me deeper into my pit of emotions.

I cleared my throat and said.

“Khem, hm, it’s not nice to strike at the core of someone else’s thoughts.”

It was something she had said to me in the past.

“But I’m good at reading others’ emotions. Keruk, I was ostracized ever since I was young by my own kind. I had to get used to deciphering their reactions. After I became a Great Warrior and received power from a god, I became able to read other people’s emotions almost perfectly.”

I didn’t ask which god gave her the power.

I knew she wouldn’t be able to answer.

“Keruk, I don’t know why you’re feeling pity for me, but I hope today’s encounter goes well. Even if it’s something that I won’t be able to remember after this time is over, isn’t it better to enjoy the present?”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

She was right.

There was no need to complicate things.

“So, about that. Keruk, Keruk.”

Idaltar gave a long speech but soon became bashful.

I could predict her words from my past experience.

“Would you mate with…”

“Nope.”

“Keruk.”

That again.

Is that why she was going on about having a good time and stuff?

Once I realized her notion of a ‘good time’ and mine was different, I realized what she said could be heard differently.

“Keruk.”

Good time my ass. Idaltar made a face as if the world was falling apart and looked like she was about to cry.

“Why are you so down? Am I in the wrong here? Is it really my fault? Even if you make a sad face, I’m still not going to do it.”

At my words, Idaltar scratched her head and straightened her face.

“Keruk, didn’t think that my compassion-inducement strategy wouldn’t work. Such a shame.”

I had one thing I wanted to ask Idaltar.

Female lizardmen… lizardwomen had been lunging at me ferociously.

And from what I know, for the lizardmen race the strongest and most triumphant have priority in every situation.

When I met Idaltar for the first time, she was the stronger one and boldly requested that I mate with her.

Of course, I declined, and Idaltar was upset and dumbfounded.

That’s how the lizardmen race was.

The strong deserve respect, and most willingly and even gladly accommodate to their requests.

Therefore, the strong can comfortably demand what they want from the other.

On the flip side, the weak make frantic efforts to claim victories.

To gain the right to request what their desires through victory.

Or even if they don’t win, to appeal to the other by fighting fiercely.

If you just listen to the explanation, you’ll be wondering what kind of crazy talk is this.

To be fair, the lizardmen race has a few screws loose to begin with.

Idaltar was on the calm and sensible side of the spectrum.

Anyway, to get back to my original point, I wasn’t able to distinguish the males and females of the lizardmen race.

But now that I can definitely distinguish them, I wondered why female lizardmen were particularly ferocious towards me.

“You just like the way I look?”

“Keruk, Keruk. Ideal type. Handsome.”

Motherfucker.

Idaltar just said that my face is an ideal appearance for lizardwomen.

What kind of face is the face that’s popular among lizardmen. What on earth…

“Exactly your face. Keruk.”

Turns out my face is celebrity-level for lizardmen.

Should I be pleased or not?

All of a sudden, I remembered the time when I met her for the first time.

I thought I had gained her favor because I acknowledged and complimented her skills.

But according to what she was telling me now, that was all a delusion.

It was highly probable that she would’ve lunged at me no matter what I said.

“To continue with that, Keruk.”

Idaltar gripped the spear she had over her shoulder.

“Won’t you do it?”

I got goosebumps from her serious voice.

“Don’t leave out the object of the sentence!”

“It was an ambiguous meaning. Keruk. We’re going to do it anyway if I win, right?”

“NO!”

“Keruk, Keruk, Keruk.”

Idaltar laughed and keruk-ed as if it was funny.

“You won’t shy away from the duel right?”

“Of course I won’t.”

It wasn’t easy to find a dueling partner like her.

Proficient spearmanship in strong strikes and cunning judgement.

In addition, she also has an Authority from an unknown god.

While there were stronger foes than her in the higher floors, it was hard to find a dueling partner as constructive as her.

Above all, she relishes duking it out in a rough brawl over talking as much as I do.

The lizardmen are warriors from birth.

Even if it doesn’t have to do anything with mating, they love battles.

“Keruk, you don’t seem to have a weapon.”

“Unfortunately.”

Instead, I pulled out long blades of aura just above the top of my hands.

The mana consumption of the blades wasn’t as bad as I thought.

Forming mana on weapons constantly consumes mana.

But it doesn’t take much mana to maintain the form of perfectly refined aura like this.

I checked the length, width, and sharpness of the claws I extended from the top of both my hands.

It was basically a zealot.[3]

“Keruk, what an incredible challenger.”

Idaltar said as if delighted.

“Keruk, but I hope you won’t be careless. I feel like I’ll finally be able to use the power I’m normally unable to. Just don’t die on me.”

“Power you were unable to use?”

“Keruk, Keruk.”

She didn’t seem to be able to say more.

Was there power that I wasn’t aware of?

To be fair, she did have unusual abilities.

She is able to temporarily boost her body’s ability, as well and temporarily become invulnerable by turning her body into smoke.

In addition to that, she can brandish her cursed-level strength through her weapons.[4]

An ability I didn’t know in addition to that?

Was she really an ex-Apostle of a god?

“Ok, let’s go at it.”

< Tutorial 35th floor (8) > End

Gandara

[1] (환골탈태 換骨奪胎) It is describing phenomena in martial arts novels where a character achieves a newfound body perfect for learning martial arts, including but not limited to attaining a new but perfect body physique, suitable for learning a higher class of special class martial arts, perfect for accumulating inner strength/chakra/ki and other absurdly OP attributes.

[2] The previous translator put her formal name as “Idaltaru,” but we’re just going to go with Idaltar.

[3] Hojae is making a reference to the zealot unit in Starcraft, which possesses energy blades protruding from the arms of the person. It is similar to Dota 2’s Templar Assassin’s psionic blade art.

[4] What we are trying to say here is that thanks to the power from the god, Idaltar can cast call forth something that exponentially increases her strength at little to no consequence. Usually, such a specialized “buff” would have a consequence, hence its description as “curselike” (e.g. a severe spike in strength in exchange for diminished degree of self-control, etc.). On the other hand, miraclerifle (from WuxiaWorld) interpreted it as talking about a weapon enhanced by a power that is like a curse. Should the readers or anyone else figure out a way to better phrase this sentence, please comment below or contact Basil or Pyrenose. The original Korean text is “거기에, 저주에 가까운 힘을 무기에 둘러 공격할 수 있다.”

Chapter end