## Chapter 244 – 244. Tutorial Floor (16)
#244. Tutorial Floor (16)
“W-Why are you doing this?!”
Leppufu shouted, watching the Grim Reaper approach him. His subtly trembling voice and pupils betrayed his emotions.
De-e-e-ng—
A death knell rang out, signaling the end of his life.
Even Leppufu, a mid-to-high-level administrator, couldn’t resist a member of the Decagram.
“Leppufu, administrator of the Tutorial Floor…”
Escape was out of the question.
Leppufu quickly grasped his situation. This wasn’t some trial about to begin.
It was a sentence already passed.
No appeals were possible.
Death looming, Leppufu gritted his teeth. There was too much at stake to play dumb now.
The top-level administrator, the so-called hands and feet of the system, wouldn’t have come without evidence.
It was reasonable to assume they already knew everything.
‘Damn it, damn it, damn it…! Where did the information leak from?’
Mid-to-high-level administrators were allowed some overreach, such as directly sponsoring players or getting involved in power struggles within the Tower.
But even for high-level administrators, there was a line that could never be crossed.
“Accept your punishment for defying the Tower’s rules…”
The Tower was a kind of arena.
Not only were there power struggles between clans, but also conflicts between players and residents, and even proxy wars between constellations, the collective of stars.
To gain an advantage in such a battlefield, more WP and outstanding talent were needed.
“W-Wait a minute! It’s a misunderstanding! I can explain everything, so please calm down…!”
According to the Tower’s rules, only the administrator of the floor could view the status windows of player candidates.
Leppufu had been abusing his position as the Tutorial Floor’s administrator to pass information about promising player candidates to constellations allied with him.
This provided a favorable environment for clans sponsored by those constellations to scout talent.
He even went so far as to manipulate the test content to prevent certain player candidates from being eliminated.
The list of his crimes was endless.
‘Shit…! I could have become a high-level administrator in just a few decades…!!’
He couldn’t give up now.
But he couldn’t think of any way to get out of this situation.
His opponent was one of only ten top-level administrators in the Tower, not someone who could be dealt with through simple conversation. Bribes? If that worked, the Tower would have collapsed long ago.
‘…I can’t die like this.’
As the Grim Reaper’s scythe tightened around his neck, Leppufu racked his brain to the limit.
But no answer came.
A disaster he couldn’t resist.
That was death.
But wasn’t it said that those facing death had their lives flash before their eyes?
“T-There’s someone among the player candidates who violated the Tower’s rules!”
Leppufu’s mind sparked as he faced death.
It was a determination to drag a presumptuous human down with him, even if he died.
“…”
Whether his words had an effect or not, the scythe approaching him stopped.
Hiding his trembling lips, he swallowed a manic smile.
“It’s a guy named Kang Hyun-woo! He violated the Tower’s rules and colluded with a constellation to view his status window—”
“I know…”
“…Pardon?”
Leppufu raised his head slightly at the unbelievable statement.
“His existence is the will of the Tower…”
It was a short and concise answer, but Leppufu, a mid-to-high-level administrator, knew what it meant.
The will of the Tower.
In other words, it was the system, not a constellation, that had hidden Kang Hyun-woo’s status window.
The impartial system, which never favored anyone, was helping a specific player?
“What does th-“
Leppufu’s question was never answered.
The dead tell no tales.
***
A little over half a day until noon.
To organize my thoughts during that short time, I headed to a cave near the camp.
After asking the three of them to guard the cave entrance, I went to the deepest part and sat cross-legged.
This wasn’t meditation for mana recovery.
It was a struggle to not lose the faint realization I had gained last night.
‘Haa…’
Fortunately, there were herbs emitting oxygen growing inside the cave.
Fresh air filled my lungs.
With a satisfied smile at the pleasant environment, I activated Thought Acceleration to the extreme.
Alone in time where everything slowed down, I began to think.
Tting—
[Proficiency in the ‘Thought Acceleration’ skill has reached its limit.]
[Special quest, ‘First Step Towards Transcendence,’ has been given.]
[First Step Towards Transcendence
Rank: Special
Prove your growth in accelerated time.
Reward: Rank increase of the ‘Thought Acceleration’ skill]
I had no time to pay attention to the newly appeared screen.
I could only desperately reach out for the elusive clue in my sinking consciousness.
Fire, water, earth, wind, and light and darkness.
Those who handle the six elements that make up the world are called elementalists.
They handle the elements according to their talents and aptitudes, but most often, they are rooted in one element.
The reason is simple.
It’s too much.
People struggle to even write with both hands at the same time.
Handling elements of different types is out of the question.
I also handle fire and lightning, but in the end, lightning is also derived from the fire element, so it can be said that I handle one element.
Of course, it wasn’t that I hadn’t tried to handle other elements.
I had spent two hours in the water to increase my affinity with the water element, and I had even been buried alive with Noel’s help to increase my affinity with the earth element.
But each time, the results were disappointing.
If I kept investing time in that, I wouldn’t have enough time to train my martial arts, which was more important.
Inevitably, I focused on fire and lightning and worked hard to train my martial arts.
But the more I thought about it, the more questionable points there were.
I already had experience handling light (divine power) and darkness (magi). I even added black flames, a combination of three elements, to existing magic.
Why couldn’t I handle other elements?
Amid endless questions and hypotheses, I came to one conclusion.
Maybe I had been thinking too hard all along.
The six elements are the foundation of the world.
Fire and water, and light and darkness, are the most representative opposites, but in reality, they are just elements that make up the world in perfect harmony.
I realized it while handling black flames.
Handling different elements wasn’t a difficult task, but a perfectly natural one.
All things in the universe do not insist on living with only one element.
Fish breathe in water, and fire needs oxygen to burn. Even the rough earth holds water and sprouts life.
Only then did I realize.
Elements ultimately exist to achieve harmony.
—!
A massive amount of mana moves along the mana circuits towards the mana circle. Like a raging river where a dam has collapsed.
Regardless of my own will, the natural mana absorbed through my skin began to exceed the limit.
The mana circulating throughout my body couldn’t find a way out and swirled back towards the mana circle, the starting point.
The mana circle expands with the momentum of a storm.
Extreme pain followed, but even so, I silently observed and adjusted the process in my deep consciousness.
How much time had passed?
The mana circle, which had expanded to its limit, began to absorb mana beyond its limit.
It was a kind of struggle to adapt to the forcibly imposed environment. The mana circle’s will was hoping for survival, not destruction.
And that soon meant an expansion of capacity.
The mana that had been raging like a huge storm regained its calm and stayed in one place, forming a new ring.
It was a faint realization.
A small, insignificant realization.
But the ultra-breakthrough achieved by building on the foundation I had built more firmly than anyone else became another opportunity and created a miracle.
Tting—
[Successfully cleared the special quest, ‘First Step Towards Transcendence.’]
[The Thought Acceleration skill evolves.]
[Thought Transcendence
Rank: Epic (Growth Type)
Thoughts accelerate in the flow of time compressed to the limit. Can move limitedly.]
The mana, which had increased more than twice as much as before, raced along the strengthened mana circuits.
Like a sports car running on an open road.
Above all, I could feel the five rings surrounding the mana circle.
Tting—
[The conditions for the 2nd job advancement have been met.]
[The job, Magician, has been advanced to Archmage.]
[Kang Hyun-woo
Age: 21
Title: Virgin Killer
Race: Human
Affiliation: Earth
Job: Archmage – New!
Sub-Job: Martial Artist
Skills: Thought Transcendence – New!, Weakness Detection, Sex Expert, Berserk…
Coins Held: 6,700 Coins]
“…I bought it with expensive money, but now I don’t need it anymore.”
Etherwing Boots, I bought these new shoes for 2,000 coins because they said they had 5-circle magic Levitation magic built in.
It was good to reach the 5th circle, but somehow it tasted bitter.
‘I should sell it later.’
It would be nice to give it to Choi Hye-na as a gift.
Anyway, the changes through realization didn’t stop there.
Saaa—
The darkness in the cave approached me in a friendly way, as if greeting me. Like a spirit.
But unfortunately, I didn’t have the talent for spiritism.
This was an element. The element of darkness, which very few people handled.
Perhaps it was because of the magi accumulated in my dantian and the black flames I had handled so much last night, but it felt familiar.
“…Is this roughly what it feels like?”
A black magic circle bloomed on the palm of my hand.
The element of darkness, drawn by the magic circle, was condensed into a sphere and concentrated in one place. At the moment it was condensed to its limit, the sphere flew in a straight line towards its target.
[Dark Ray]
Kwaaaang!!
Dust swirled everywhere with a brutal force.
“…Ah.”
The cave shook violently, and a stalactite fell from above my head.
It was magic created based on instinct, but its power was better than I thought. I wouldn’t have to worry about a lack of things to study for a while.
Tting—
[Job advancement rewards have been given.]
[Multiple Thinking
Rank: Epic (Growth Type)
The replication and division of thoughts becomes possible.]
“Multiple Thinking…”
I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
I had a feeling that I would be busy with training and research after this matching was over.
The process wouldn’t be easy, but it would take me to a higher level.
“By the way, how long have I been doing this?”
I roughly brushed off the dust and got up from my seat.
I didn’t know the exact time because I used Thought Acceleration, but it wasn’t noon at least.
If it was, the others would have come to get me a long time ago.
As I lightly stretched my body and tried to head out of the cave, a new screen appeared in front of me at just the right time.
Bleep, bleep, bleep—
「The seventh sun has risen to the middle of the sky.」
「We are announcing the end of the tutorial.」
「We are announcing again. The tutorial has ended.」
「Player candidates who do not have 500 WP will be automatically eliminated.」
「You will be moved to the Starting Floor shortly.」
It was an announcement of the end of the long, long tutorial.
