Chapter 3: Tower of Trials (3)

「 Activating innate ability ‘Necromancy(F)’ 」

「 Would you like to absorb the spirit of the sand golem? 」

「 Y/N 」

“…?”

I was initially stumped by the series of messages, but I started to get the gist of it.

An ability I never had but others used naturally, as if it was an extension of their body.

The realization of my innate ability.

I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with emotion when I realized that my innate ability was unlocked after 7 years.

Calm down… Calm down…

I shouldn’t lose my composure just because I unlocked the ability.

‘It’s too early for celebrations.’

I needed to stay level-headed.

More than the excruciating pain all over my body, I was mentally exhausted.

I just needed to comprehend the basics and move on to the waiting area.

‘So is this black fog my innate ability?’

Swoosh swoosh.

I tried waving my hands over it but nothing happened.

Makes sense.

If this really was from my innate ability, it wouldn’t disappear with just a wave of a hand.

I had to make sure then.

「 Han Sungyeun 」

「 Strength – 9 」 「 Stamina – 9 」

「 Agility – 8 」 「 Mana – 8 」

「 Innate ability – ‘Necromancy(F) 」

「 Skill – Accelerated Regeneration(E+) 」

The status window that I hadn’t opened in a while looked almost unrecognizable.

A brand new section appeared to display my innate ability.

The skill list also displayed ‘Accelerated Regeneration(E+)’ instead of being empty.

Of course, the stats hadn’t changed yet, but the most important part was unlocking the ‘innate ability.’

I clicked on the ability to display further details.

「 Innate ability – ‘Necromancy(F) 」

「 Proficiency – 0% 」

「 Basic effect – Able to absorb the souls of the dead and control them at will. 」

「 Extra effect(1) – Able to permanently increase stats depending on the nature and rank of the soul. 」

「 Extra effect(2) – Able to store souls for later use. Soul storage capacity depends on the ability’s rank. 」

“Holy shit……!”

The reward I risked my life for had proved to be worth it.

And the effect that mentioned a ‘permanent increase’ in my stats…

I couldn’t help but curse when I saw that.

My stats were something that wouldn’t go up no matter how much I trained.

But…

‘I can finally increase my stats.’

This must be what it feels like to win a lottery.

I moved on and clicked into ‘Accelerated Regeneration.’

「 Skill – Accelerated Regeneration(E+) 」

「 Proficiency – 0% 」

「 Effect – Able to recover quickly from non-life-threatening injuries. 」

My first skill ever was also not a regular skill.

All regeneration-type skills were very rare.

Skills that could heal mid-battle tended to have impossible acquisition conditions.

I heard only hunters who’d been in countless life-or-death battles could acquire it.

But I got it in one fight.

If this is the level of reward from the first floor, how much better is it going to get on the higher floors?

And…

‘How dangerous is this going to get?’

I have no way of proving this but… the tower probably isn’t providing these skills out of the kindness of its heart.

The only reason I got these to begin with was that I won my fight against the sand golem.

The risk I carried for earning these skills was simple.

Death.

This was stated clearly from the very start in the holographic messages.

My innate ability was the reward for passing this trial. The alternative was death.

High risk, high reward.

This was the system perpetrated by the Tower of Trials.

The higher I get…

The riskier these trials would get.

“Damn it…”

No matter how good the reward was, failing could result in instant death.

And unlike a dungeon, you couldn’t escape after clearing a floor.

“Pretty inhospitable for a host.”

It was a crazy risk that no sane person would take.

I wanted to become a hunter because I was sick of being powerless and wanted to avenge my parents.

‘But all that becomes useless if I die.’

I didn’t want to continue fighting carrying this risk.

Because I also unlocked my innate ability, there was even less reason for me to carry on with this risk.

I could become a hunter if I got back with this skill.

But…

“I’ll only get to make that choice if I survive.”

That means I’ll need to learn how to use all the resources I’ve been given.

I stood up and agreed to the message about absorbing the soul.

「 You have absorbed the soul of the sand golem. 」

「 Number of souls in possession – 1/5 」

「 Proficiency increased by 7% 」

At the same time, the black fog flew into my body.

Shhhhhh…!

It was a strange sensation.

‘I somehow know exactly how to use my innate ability.’

I knew that I could enhance my stats just by wishing for it at any time.

This is probably how all the other hunters felt when they unlocked their innate abilities.

I was just a little behind.

「 Permanently increasing your stats using the souls in captivity. 」

「 Strength increased by 3. 」

「 Stamina increased by 2. 」

「 Number of souls in possession – 0/5 」

A weight lifted from my shoulders and my entire body felt more energized.

An unknown sense of enhancement overtook my body but…

‘No need to try it out now.’

I was still covered in injuries, so I didn’t want to test it right away.

Then I continued to the portal where the golem once used to stand.

The moment I reached the portal.

「 Moving to the waiting room. 」

My surroundings changed again.

***

Voom!

The first thing I saw was a rectangular, stone room.

「 You have entered the 2nd-floor waiting room. 」

「 Healing all injuries and status ailments. 」

「 The healing effect is constantly applied in the waiting room. 」

The messages appeared in the air, and my injuries started disappearing.

‘It’s not even that surprising anymore.’

I guess I was starting to get used to this.

When my pain faded completely, I checked up on my body.

As the message said, all of my injuries were gone.

It was almost as if my battle with the sand golem was nothing but a dream.

‘No way it was though.’

Just one look at my clothes could show that it wasn’t.

As if the tower wanted to do the bare minimum, it left my clothes in tatters while healing me.

I shook off the sand stuck to my clothes.

I guess some sand got in my mouth because my throat felt scratchy.

‘At least they heal your body after a trial ends.’

One less problem to worry about.

When I calmed down enough, I started noticing more things in my surroundings.

‘This is really spacious, but it feels so empty.’

Even if this was supposed to be a waiting area, the only word to describe this place was desolate.

They did have a bed in the corner though.

‘It doesn’t even seem like a good one.’

I should be thankful that they even had a bed.

Plop.

My head filled with thoughts as I stared into the ceiling.

‘What should I do now? Can I even escape from here?’

My future seemed bleak.

Hm…

‘For what purpose was I called here?’

But…

‘I don’t get it.’

All my questions were answered by ‘I don’t know.’ or ‘nothing I can do about it.’

I didn’t even know what was going to happen on this floor, let alone if I could return to Earth…

Anything was possible.

While I was laying down and letting my thoughts wander—

「 All tutorial trials of every difficulty have been completed. 」

「 Activating the ‘Tower of Trials’ system. 」

A row of text emerged as the message appeared.

「 You are now able to use these commands. 」

「 Information, marketplace, community, inventory, trial. 」

「 Commands will execute as you say them orally. 」

The messages stopped after that.

That finally broke my train of thought.

“…Yeah, I have to get a hold of myself now.”

There wasn’t anything I could change about my situation right now.

I just needed to find out more about this tower and how I could keep on surviving.

I pondered my next steps in bed when I finally opened my mouth.

“Trial.”

「 Floor 2 trial starting in – 23hrs 21min 」

「 Trial cannot be selected at this time. Please wait. 」

As I thought, the trials would continue.

I moved on to test the more intuitive commands.

“Inventory.”

As the name suggested, it seemed like a storage unit.

A game-like inventory window appeared where items could be stored.

‘I can’t store a large number of items but it’s pretty useful,’

I had no idea how it worked but it was another useful tool in my arsenal.

“Marketplace.”

This was also an intuitive command that triggered an Amazon-like website shopping window to appear.

I couldn’t sell anything, but it looked like I could buy something at any time.

From small, useless items to weapons and even furniture.

Thousands of items were being sold in the marketplace tab.

I didn’t want to use the marketplace before trying out the other commands, so I decided to move on.

Only 2 more left.

Information and community.

“Information.”

Something I needed the most right now.

When I said the command an unexpected window came up.

「 Please ask a question. 」

「 The administrator will answer the submitted question. 」

「 Currently available questions – 1 」

It was just a window to submit questions to the administrator.

An administrator.

So even if this Tower of Trials is a natural phenomenon, it still has an administrator?

I wasn’t sure, but there was nothing I could do about that now.

I was wondering what to ask when I saw the fine print.

「 You are able to ask 1 question when entering a new floor. 」

「 Questions can be accumulated. 」

‘Hm, I’ll hold off for now.’

I’d have to be cautious with my question since I only have one.

It said it could be accumulated, so there was no rush to ask one right now.

I could decide after taking a look at the community.

「 You have entered the community. 」

「 Difficulty – Hard 」

「 Floor 2 Community (3971/4321) 」

Lee Seungjin: Can anyone explain what’s going on?

Park Jinwoo: Fuck, is this the second Great Calamity?

Lee Heejin: All my stats and skills reset. What should I do?

Park Chansuk: What the fuck. Give me my stats back.

Kim Seunghoon: Stfu. You think you’re the only one this happened to?

Hyuk Sukjin: I’m not even a hunter. Why did I get sucked into this?

Park Chansuk: You’re not even a player? How did you get here then?

Hyuk Sukjin: Why the fuck are you asking me? And they just awakened me at the start of the tutorial.

I stared at the onslaught of messages and blinked.

‘Community is like an actual communication network?’

Most people were posting messages stemming from pure confusion.

Chaos.

The only word fit to describe what was happening.

But there were still things to be learned from them.

“I wasn’t the only one who got dragged in here.”

More than an insignificant portion of the people were also dragged in here without context.

There were also some hunters.

They were busy crying about the loss of their stats and skills.

My hope that they would be able to save us quickly died.

They wouldn’t be able to help anyone being in the same boat.

“Wait a minute…”

A lot of people mentioned not having their skills and stats anymore.

‘I guess it didn’t apply to me because my stats never changed.’

But to hunters, it was the end of their world.

A couple of people claimed that they weren’t even hunters when they got dragged here.

It couldn’t be a lie because dozens of people were claiming the same thing.

‘Maybe this really is the second Great Calamity.’

Otherwise, how would this all make sense?

‘Not like I could do anything even if it was the second coming.’

There was a variety of information to be found from the chat.

But that didn’t last long.

Even after some time had passed, the chatting room was still in a state of chaos.

‘There’s still a lot of people who don’t understand what’s going on.’

The chatting room is just filled with random messages about the Great Calamity and curses.

Or it was just hunters complaining about the loss of their abilities.

Although understandable, it was unrelated to me.

I had nothing to lose anyway.

It helped me keep my composure compared to the others.

“There’s not much to gain from this anymore.”

As I was about to test the other commands—

「 Administrator 囗囗囗 has entered the chat. 」

A huge notification arose on top of the community tab.

The stream of messages broke and the chatting stopped.

「 Chatting is forbidden now. 」

‘The administrator entering and the chat closing……’

You never get a lot of time to react to an anomaly.

囗囗囗: There is an announcement for all the challengers who passed the tutorial.

Messages started to show up on the frozen chatroom.

____