Chapter 5: 5; red

Chapter 5

 

Izz stopped himself from wandering about the mischievous administrator behavior any further, he checked the time on his phone and like a splash of cold water it began to calm his nerves and focus himself on his goals.  There is less than a minute before the tutorial commenced, he began to climb up the stairs into the rooftop of the apartment building and savoring last few moments and the beautiful view of the city that he had been residing these last couple of years, since this would be the last ‘peaceful’ moment humanity shall ever experience from this moment onward.

 

He looks at the system screen in front of him before taking out a sword out of his dimensional backpack. Although the sword isn’t as good as the sword he usually uses before the regression, it was good enough to last him until the 10th floor. He checked out the sword status again —

 

『 Common Sword (C) 』

『 common sword left by a wandering merchant, a bit roughened up but durable enough to survive the wilderness 』 

 

He took a couple of swings with the sword while looking at the description of the weapon on the system screen, ‘ It was not bad as I thought it would be’ he thought ‘ but that left me no points in return’

 

If he recalled his memory correctly, the tutorial challenge was to survive, it was meant to show the nature of inside the tower and let the players adapt as soon as possible. Although it would be easier if it’s really that way, he found out later on 20th floor from other players of Earth01 that each continent was under a different administrator, some continent had to go through a much brutal tutorial than the others.

 

‘ The administrator was never on our side to begin with, they are doing this to satisfy their sadistic amusement’  

 

Instantly multiple ‘pings’ sounded throughout the city, a screen showed up in front of  everyone, the shocked scream from pedestrians below, the screech and crash coming from the cars as the drivers were shocked by the sudden holographic screen that blocking their view and the cries of young childrens.

 

It was the familiar chaotic scene that he has grown accustomed to, without realizing it himself, he had grown apathetic toward such situations. The loss of population will soon started snowballing like an avalanche— 

 

It was the start of ‘the weeding’, that was the other name of the tutorial, every floor plane goes through it when their world becomes part of the tower. The term was coined among the players, like the overgrown weeds in the garden, the players that were unfit for the tower lose their life trying to survive the tutorial.

 

『 End of Free Trial of Earth01 』 

『 Congratulations to all occupants of ‘Eartho1’ of becoming part of the tower and it’s player』

『 Safezone has been created in multiple locations 』

『 Survive for 8 hours 』  

 

『 100 points are given to all players 』 

『 MAY THE SYSTEM BE WITH YOU 』 

 

“Kyaaa—”

 

A women cries shook people out of his trance from the sudden appearance of the screen that pops out in front of them, soon multiple shout and cries follows

 

“Monster!”

 

“A monster—!”

 

“RUN!”

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Sung Hyun doesn’t know how to describe what is happening right now and how it all begin but soon realized the danger, the oddness of the situation, it’s odd that he is not panicking, as if he is familiar with all the craziness that is happening. He was calm. The sense of deja vu that haunts his night during his slumber finally makes sense. 

 

‘ It wasn’t a dream, it was real…—’ he thought

“It was real” he murmured to himself, tone flat as if he was reading out loud

 

He was unbothered by the shouts of his peers. He slipped out of the classroom quietly before heading to the gym storage.

 

‘ F**k!The monster will start appearing anytime now!’ he started picking up his pace before barge into storage. He scans for the useful equipment in the storage room that might come handy to beat the monster

 

His brown pupils move all over the room before stopping at the metal baseball bat lying around at the back of the room. He grabbed one the metal bat and tested his grip on the handle before taking a swing. The bat is good enough against goblins and slime but if remembers his dream correctly, there were also some orcs in this tutorial.

 

“I don’t want to jinx it, but I do have shitty luck in my dream”

 

‘ Let’s just hope I don't stumble upon one soon’ he thought before leaving the gym.

 

“Status”

 

Ping!

 

『 STATUS 』 

Player: Park Sung Hyun

Age:19 

Titles: ???

Lv:0

 

Mana:5

Int:20

Strength:19

Luck:0

 

Skills:

Stats:0

Points:0

Looking at the luck stats—“Yep…Shitty luck”

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At first a strange glob started appearing, it was the slime monster you are used to seeing inside of an RPG game. There wasn’t much panic among the population at first, what can a glob of slime can even do to you? It was a monster that usually showed up at the beginning of every RPG game that would be killed just by a swing of a wooden sword. However that soon change when people started getting suffocated by the slime that jumped into their faces

 

To join the welcoming party, goblins and orcs started to show up too. It started to fall on them that the world is really ending. Electronics devices started not to work, the government and everyone was under attack, there was no distinction or discrimination, every man for himself.

 

Amidst all of this, Izz started to kill every monster he got his sight on, he was dead set on grinding and racking up as many points as much as he could during the tutorial to get the first place, from slimes to goblins and orcs. With a swing of his sword the slime that was jumping towards him was killed at the drop of hat.

 

Splack

 

『 + 10 points 』 

 

Kwakkk! 

 

『 + 20 points 』 

 

The smells of blood from the dead monsters around him soon attract another group of goblins, it was the perfect aggro. He didn’t need to make any bait to attract the attention of the monsters, he’s going to gobble them all up.

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Kwakkk—!

 

『 + 20 points 』

『 + 20 points 』

『 Leveled Up 』

『 + 20 points 』

『 + 20 points 』

『 Leveled Up 』 

 

He looks around him one last time, looks like that was the last one. It was a weird scene of him standing there alone with no monster in sight, the overwhelming scent of monster blood soon stopped attracting the monster and instead intimidate them from getting any closer.

 

Ping!

 

『 New Achievement Unlocked! 』 

『 Gained the title ‘ Goblin Slayer ‘ (Passive) (C+)』 

『 Effect : the power to intimidate goblins, and left them stunned for 5 seconds 』 

 

It was a useful title, helping him hunt more efficiently than before. Since there were no more monsters around him, He started to head towards the center of the city where most safe zone was located. Since there is a certain limit of the amount of people within the safezone, and with each hour the amounts of points deducted get higher and higher. There is bound to be a spectacle since everyone is just hiding inside the safety of safezone, they will soon run out of points and get kicked out of it automatically and killed by the monsters before the tutorial ends.

 

Of course, that is if they didn’t end up killing each other first inside or outside the safezone, there will be people who will do everything to step inside the safezone, some blood is bound to be shed and they will discover that the easiest way to get points is not by killing monsters but humans.

 

‘It’s f*cked up but this is just the beginning’ 

 

When he started to get closer to the safe zone, he changed his mind and decided to get to one of the nearby building rooftops.

 

‘ It’s easier to see from here’ 

 

Nothing changed from the last regression, infighting started to happen inside the safe zone while some people who missed out their chance of entering it are just waiting for the right time to strike and enter the safezone, preying on the people inside like a pack of jackals. The fight soon start getting physical shouts, swearing and cries sounded and suddenly they went silence, shocked that someone was killed until—

 

Ping!

 

『 + 50 points 』 

You are reading story Solo Rewind at novel35.com

 

The man who received the notification looks at the dead body of a college student who he was fighting with earlier before a realization came upon him.

 

‘50 points!’

‘ I could stay here longer’

 

A cruel glint shines on his eyes and the rest of the people inside.

Unbeknownst to them with people getting killed, the available spots to enter started to rise and their whole interactions and discovery has been watched by the jackals outside. It was the right time for the jackals to hunt. An endless cycle repeated just like that, the safezone has become sort of a colosseum, killing fields for each other; women, children weren’t an exception and died for mere 50 points .

 

“Please–! I can pay you! My family is rich. I owned multiple buildings around here!”

 

There are also some people who haven’t got it yet that this world has been forsaken, and their wealth is nothing but useless heaps of paper. The only currency that matters is points now, and the sooner they realize that reality, the better. Neither seniority nor status matter in the tower, it’s only power. 

 

He has rested enough, it was time to grind his level

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『 Leveled Up 』

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『 Leveled Up 』

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『 Congratulations! 』

『 Congratulations for passing the tutorials, final rewards shall be given after calculating contributions and ranking during the tutorials 』

『 Players will be moved to the first floor after calculation』 

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『 STATUS 』 

Player: Izz Putera/ Kim Hyun Ki

Age:19 (28+)

Titles: Regressor,Apicem Hominis (EX+)

Lv:25

 

Mana:15 (+2)

Int:27

Strength:30 (+6)

Luck:15

 

Skills:Polyglot(Passive)(SS)

Stats:0

Points:7,460

 

Izz scans his stats one last time, before looking at the sword that has become worn and dull. It looks as if it would break if he swung it a couple more times. But it was worth it, since he was able to level up multiple times and rack up some points, enough to buy a new one.

 

『 would you like to calculate your rank and rewards? 』 

 

“..Yes”

 

『 Congratulations! 』 

『 Server: 137040

Rank: 1

Rewards: May choose one option below

Points

Skill

Random Stats Points 』 

The first reward is useless since points can be easily gained in an earlier stage of the tower, and it’s not like he needs it for the time being since he already packs everything he can ever think of in the trusty backpack he is currently wearing right now. The third and second option is more tempting, the system did not specify what skill will be given but since his luck stats is not that bad he might get a useful skill out of it considering he placed first in the tutorial. Same goes with the third option, he looked at the ‘random’ that was displayed on the screen, it was a hit or miss. It would be good if his mana stats was raised but if it goes too strength which can be raised through his own training, it would be a waste since only the first few level of the tower can be defeated by only physical attack which is why more players started forming parties or join a guild in the later stage. 

 

“Second option” he replied after a long consideration.

 

『 Congratulations! 』 

『 The gambler (R) (Active)』 

『 Based on the user luck stats, effect may differ. Previously known as Probability Manipulation however due to several instances of the skill user becoming gambling addict the name was changed by the administration 

 

Skill interval: 8 hours after 2 usage』 

 

“Wow it’s a cheat key”, for the first time since the tutorial started, Izz face finally adorned other expression from his usual cold and expressionless face that was etched before and during the tutorial.

 

He can see why people become a gambler especially if they are swept by Administrator’s Wheel frenzy that happened on the 20th floor. 

After his mind wandered to a certain golden retriever-like best friend he had, "though it would be useless to him," he burst out laughing after remembering Sung Hyun's stats in the earlier stage. There was time he was reconsidering his decision to avoid Sung Hyun but he reminded himself that his intervention would probably halt his friend's growth and the same thing would repeat again. 

 

“Can I access the system shop now?”

 

He need to replace the sword  that could pass off as a scrap of metal in his hand before entering the tower since level one to nine challenge is slaying monsters like orcs and goblins like in the tutorial except with each level the monster get harder as they evolved more stronger and some have unique attributes.

 

『 Player need to pass 10th floor gain access 』 

 

“Technically… I mean, technically, I've already passed the 10th floor, right? I have sufficient information clearance to have access to it. If you like, I can pay for a membership."

 

『...╮(︶︿︶)╭ 』 

 

“I will pay for bronze membership”

 

『... 』 

 

“Fine… the silver one” 

 

『 ┐(￣～￣)┌ 』 

 

‘Damn, look at how cheeky it is..If I didn’t know any better I would have thought it was X’

 

“...Gold”, after releasing an exasperated sigh he finally conceded.

 

『 5000 points have been deducted』 

 

『Purchased! 』 

 

『 Player can now gain access to system store and gain benefit from gold membership privilege 』

『 player is gifted with 1 spin of Administrator’s Wheel (Gold) and 1 vial of mermaid tears 』 

 

He stuff the vial inside his backpack before continue to scroll the store, before his eyes landed on one sword. He would take the free spin later, when the time called for it.

 

『 Viscount Grahm's Sword 』 

『the swords that was used to slay Viscount Grahm's own kin to his road of succession of Grahm Household, was able to debuff enemy strength when come in contact 』 

 

『 Price: 2000 points 』 

 

“ Perfect”

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He is now on the 9th floor facing a group of red orc tribes, it was getting repetitive probably because the challenge and monster species stayed the same except the monster evolved  and the attack pattern changed slightly. The players around him were getting more confident and bolder with their actions. Of course, it was also a calculative decision on the administrator’s part because this is what they want, for the players to get more confident, more comfortable, thinking that they were adapting better and lowering their guards for the 10th floor.

 

‘That’s where the real hell begin’

 

Looking back at the cheerful players around him, Izz decided to hunt for more monsters elsewhere before the time ran out.

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“ Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the 10th floor! The most glorious stage of all of the tower! Designed by the one and only ‘Idia’!”

 

Instead of the familiar view of a jungle or monsters, what greeted the players on the 10th floor was a luxurious ballroom you usually see in rococo paintings in the museum. Multiple chandeliers hang above their heads, and everything seems well coordinated with the theme except the floor. It was checkered black and white like a chess board.

 

‘Time like this I wish I didn’t have the ‘Apicem Hominis’ title’

 

Izz would certainly love to forget his first encounter with an administrator before his regression. With the sound of a trumpet, a woman wearing a vibrant red low cut neckline dress, with frills and lace decorating the skirt and the bodice, and both of her hands holding a similarly red parasol above her head, walked down the stairs towards the rest of them. 

 

‘Devil don’t wear Pr*ada, they wear red dress’

 

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