Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Aaaagh!"

Han Geon-woo, whose throat had been pierced, screamed as he shot upright.

He grabbed his neck and gasped for breath.

He hadn't truly died because it had happened inside Tutorial Mode.

But the pain of having a blade driven through his throat was carved deep into his bones.

"Mr. Han Geon-woo."

"You're back already."

The employees waiting nearby immediately realized something serious had happened when they saw how deathly pale he looked.

His judgment is disappointing.

Cheonha Guild Team Leader Yoo Jin-seok gave Han Geon-woo a brief evaluation.

There was no value in keeping someone who couldn't distinguish right from wrong.

If Han Geon-woo hadn't possessed the A-rank potential skill Indomitable, there would've been no need to think about it.

They would've sent him away immediately.

Proceed with the test.

The condition had been simple.

If Han Geon-woo finished the Tutorial with at least an A-rank evaluation, Cheonha would acknowledge his potential and officially accept him as a guild member.

But isn't this way too fast?

How long had it been since matchmaking even started?

He had already been eliminated?

At this rate, his clear evaluation would probably be F-rank.

"S-Someone killed me."

"Killed you?"

The employee frowned.

He hadn't been defeated by a monster.

He had lost his life to another climber?

Someone recruited by another large guild?

Han Geon-woo possessed Indomitable, which could grow as high as A-rank, and he had been fully equipped with expensive gear.

Anyone capable of killing him had to be extremely skilled.

As far as the employee knew, the person most likely to appear in the same matchmaking group was Park Seung-beom from Balhae Guild.

Rumor said he had acquired a skill capable of growing to S-rank.

"Yes... He didn't even have proper equipment. He only had a dagger..."

Han Geon-woo described the man's appearance in a trembling voice.

Naturally, he left out the part where he had started the fight.

Instead, he mixed in a lie claiming the man had suddenly attacked him and caught him off guard.

"Is that really true?"

The employee looked doubtful.

Tutorial Mode matchmaking only included people who had received invitations seventy-two hours earlier.

If that's true, then that guy doesn't belong to any guild...

Anyone strong enough to kill Han Geon-woo would've stood out.

Cheonha would've heard about him.

They should have had at least basic information, just like with Balhae's Park Seung-beom.

"Did he use a skill?"

Han Geon-woo nodded.

"Yes! It was an unbelievable skill!"

Another lie.

He had been so consumed by rage that he hadn't even properly seen whether the man used a skill.

Still, if someone had killed him in one strike despite Indomitable, then surely they had used one.

"Is that so...?"

People who obtained skills during Awakening usually approached a large guild immediately.

If Han Geon-woo's words were true, this might actually be good news.

Cheonha had no information about the man.

That probably meant the other guilds didn't either.

And because Han Geon-woo had been the first person eliminated, Cheonha had obtained this information before anyone else.

We have to recruit him into Cheonha.

The problem was identifying him.

First, the employee needed to report the situation.

He hurriedly called Team Leader Yoo Jin-seok.

[Yeah. Don't tell me it's already over.]

A displeased voice came through the phone.

"Yes."

[Haah...]

A long sigh followed the news of Han Geon-woo's early elimination.

"But we did gain something."

[Gain something?]

"Yes. Apparently he wasn't defeated by a monster. Another Awakened killed him."

[Balhae?]

"No."

[No?]

"Correct. Apparently it was a man carrying a dagger."

[...What the hell are you talking about?]

Endurance.

The moment Seong-un reached the third floor, freezing cold engulfed him.

"Phew."

The cold was powerful enough to make his joints ache.

Seong-un circulated mana through his body and began walking.

Step. Step.

His feet sank deeply into the thick snow with every step.

Cold seeped up through his legs.

There was a simple reason the third floor of the Tutorial was called Endurance.

The goal was to survive the brutal environment for as long as possible.

Most beginner climbers couldn't endure it and quickly surrendered, immediately withdrawing.

Most climbers can't even last ten minutes.

This damned cold could drive a person insane.

Awakened who received equipment and consumable items from large guilds could endure longer thanks to cold resistance.

But the perceived temperature dropped every five minutes.

Most couldn't last longer than an hour.

I can't protect myself from the cold.

Most climbers relied on cold-resistance items because they believed they simply had to endure as long as possible.

But according to the memoir, properly clearing this floor meant wearing no items and using no consumables.

You had to endure purely through willpower.

Whooooosh...

Every time the wind struck his exposed skin, the trembling across his body worsened.

The bitter cold tortured every part of him.

Still, Seong-un circulated mana continuously and fought to keep himself conscious.

She endured twenty minutes here... Rosalein really was an incredible woman.

Rosalein had lasted twenty minutes.

As Seong-un remembered it, she had confronted the freezing cold without a single item or skill.

Once she endured twenty minutes, bonus points were calculated and she took first place.

But that wasn't enough for EX-rank.

The Mark.

He needed to find the Mark hidden somewhere on this floor.

The third floor wasn't merely about enduring the cold.

There was a single Mark hidden somewhere in this huge area.

Finding it was the true objective of Floor 3.

I remember hearing that a cave was discovered.

A cave that even Rosalein, who had received SSS-rank, failed to discover.

There had been another man.

Although his final Tutorial result had only been SS-rank and was overshadowed by Rosalein's fame, he was responsible for updating the strategy guide for Floor 3.

Spear Saint Lee Seong-hwan.

He entered the Tower two years before Seong-un and eventually reached as high as the 61st Floor.

He died near the beginning of the 62nd Floor.

Still, he was a spear master whom even Seong-un acknowledged.

Then I'll borrow some help from you.

Unlike Rosalein, Lee Seong-hwan had possessed both cold-resistance equipment and an environmental resistance skill.

That was why he had been able to discover the cave.

If he'd found the Mark without any of those advantages, just like Rosalein...

Wouldn't he have received SSS-rank instead of SS?

Seong-un forced his numb, freezing legs to keep moving.

[Calculating Floor 2 results.]

[2nd Place - 32 minutes 12.83 seconds]

Park Seung-beom reached the destination after the monster who had cleared the maze in ten minutes.

His record was thirty-two minutes.

Second place.

It wasn't bad.

He had cleared the maze within one hour.

Looking only at Floor 2, it was good enough to hope for an S+ evaluation.

Yet Park Seung-beom's expression was dark.

Floor 1.

Floor 2.

He had been completely overwhelmed in both.

"Who the hell is that monster?"

Park Seung-beom was convinced the person who ranked first on both floors was the same man.

No one else on the first floor had displayed anything close to that level.

"Let's go up."

More than twenty minutes had already passed since first place advanced to the third floor.

The gap was enormous.

He needed to hurry and narrow it as much as possible.

"Phew."

Park Seung-beom pulled out an item shaped like a hand warmer.

Holding it helped maintain body temperature even in extreme cold.

The robe he wore also had excellent cold resistance.

With both, he should be able to endure at least thirty minutes.

"Maybe he's already been eliminated."

Unlike Park Seung-beom, who had prepared carefully for the cold, that man had entered with almost no equipment.

No matter how talented he was, surviving extreme cold should still be difficult.

Park Seung-beom was confident he wouldn't lose on Floor 3.

At least thirty minutes.

If he endured longer than that, he could even aim for an overall S-rank evaluation.

[A portal to the final floor has been created.]

[Only 1st place may enter. Climbers outside the ranking will be automatically removed.]

A message suddenly appeared before Park Seung-beom.

"Huh...?"

A portal to the final floor had already been created?

How?

Before he could even question it further, Park Seung-beom's vision turned black.

Seong-un couldn't feel his body.

Even after circulating mana desperately, sensation showed no sign of returning.

I did push myself too hard.

The cave had been farther away than expected.

It had taken nearly twenty minutes of walking to reach it.

During that journey, there had been countless moments when the extreme cold nearly made him lose consciousness.

But through sheer willpower, he reached the cave and obtained the Mark.

The Mark was shaped like a ring.

The moment he picked it up, a portal appeared in front of him.

[Calculating results from all floors.]

[You have ranked 1st.]

[You have been granted the qualification to challenge the final floor, Floor 4.]

Success.

For the first time, he had achieved something he'd failed to accomplish in his previous life.

He had ranked first and earned the right to challenge the final floor.

[All of the climber's stamina will be restored.]

His condition immediately recovered to one hundred percent.

The numbness vanished.

His senses returned.

The final floor is random, right?

There were many different Floor 4 strategy guides.

That was because every climber received a different challenge.

It could be hunting.

It could be escaping like the maze.

It could be surviving a harsh environment like the third floor.

"Whatever appears, I'll clear it with the highest possible score."

If it was hunting, he would do it perfectly.

If it was escape, he would do it quickly.

If it was endurance, he would endure as long as possible.

Whatever appeared, Seong-un was confident.

[Defeat Wolf Fang.]

The challenge given to Seong-un was to defeat a Wolf Fang.

A boss monster roughly two stages above a goblin.

A Wolf Fang in the Tutorial...?

Seong-un frowned.

Wolf Fang was a boss monster that normally appeared after reaching at least the 5th Floor.

It still counted as a low-floor monster.

However, its defense was high enough that ordinary attacks had difficulty piercing its hide without skills.

For someone with no Tower-climbing experience, it would be an extremely troublesome enemy.

This is strange. The strongest monsters that should appear in Tutorial Mode are Hobgoblins or Goblin Shamans.

Seong-un had read an enormous number of strategy guides.

None had ever mentioned a Wolf Fang appearing.

Is this because I've been clearing everything according to EX conditions?

Seong-un tightened his grip on the dagger and slowly approached the Wolf Fang.

"Grrrr."

Once Seong-un entered its attack range, Wolf Fang bared its teeth.

Its golden eyes glared at him murderously.

Seong-un met its gaze with a calm expression.

To someone who had reached the 80th Floor in his previous life, Wolf Fang looked almost cute.

Dash!

When its intimidation failed, Wolf Fang kicked off the ground.

It moved fast enough that an instant of carelessness would've caused most people to lose sight of it.

Seong-un lowered his waist as much as possible and held both daggers in reverse grip.

Snap!

The beast opened its mouth wide and thrust its head forward.

Now.

When it lunged with its head, the creature's upper body shifted forward.

Seong-un used that moment.

He rotated his body, avoided the head, and slashed upward across Wolf Fang's neck with the mana-coated blade.

Scrrrape.

The dagger only scratched its skin.

It caused almost no damage.

The same blade had cut through goblin flesh without difficulty.

But Seong-un had expected this.

He showed no surprise.

He avoided the creature's swinging foreleg and stepped back slightly.

"Grrrr."

Wolf Fang snorted as though mocking him.

Then it opened its mouth again and tried to bite him.

Just like before, Seong-un avoided the attack.

Then he struck the exact spot he had already scratched.

There wasn't even a hair's breadth of deviation.

Scrrrape.

The wound deepened slightly.

"Woof!"

Apparently furious that it had been hit by the same attack again, Wolf Fang began rampaging even more violently.

Thanks to Super Sense, Seong-un avoided every single attack while repeatedly targeting its neck.

Slash.

Eventually, the blade succeeded in cutting through its skin.

"Whine!"

For the first time, Wolf Fang cried out from the sharp pain.

The blade had gone in fairly deep.

Seong-un didn't hesitate.

He drove the dagger straight into the open wound.

"Whiiiiine!"

The creature screamed again and trembled violently.

A short while later, its body went limp.

It was dead.

Seong-un pulled out the embedded dagger and shook off the blood.

[You have defeated Wolf Fang.]

[You have successfully cleared the final floor of the Tutorial!]

[Clear evaluation is being calculated.]

[Clear Score: EX]

[You are the first climber to complete the Tutorial with an EX-rank result. An 'extremely special' reward will be granted to the climber who achieved this astonishing result.]

[You have received 'Title Exchange Token [SS-rank].']

[420 Gold has been awarded.]

[Your level has increased by 3.]

[Additional resources cannot be obtained.]

[The Player may now climb the Tower.]

[The Community has been unlocked. You may receive Gold sponsorships from other climbers.]

Title Exchange?

Seong-un tilted his head as he looked at the special reward.