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"This… It wasn't in the Beta."
"You could only choose Standard… But the options have greatly increased…"
"The standard is fine, and I don't plan to tour around the place, while HardCore is…"
Dale thought for a long while and said:
"HardCore players will have close to 3 times more stats by the time they arrive at Level 100, this means a lot…"
'It's quite significant but in my opinion, that may not be enough… It's a trap… While players can learn from their deaths, Harcore players can't.'
"These reworks and that message at the start… It must be saying that now things are truly like reality, this means I can bleed to death and get sick right? I can't interpret this any other way."
"While players would only get a debuff, here it's intense if I bleed I feel pain and even anemic… However, the same applies to monsters I engage in, if I cut a monster's neck, it may just die, but for the players, if they hit it only numbers will appear before a bit of its health is drained."
'This is the problem of being the first, I have to test everything on my own, players that start one to two days later will have the advantage of being able to choose something already tested.'
"Apart from this, the extra stats may look good but you'll lose the system's help, this is very important since people are… Bad at using weapons."
"They miss their arrows, swing their swords clumsy, trip on their own movements… It's normal, we are city people in the 21st century, not medieval knights."
"It takes years to become proficient enough to fight with one… That is why the Ai's help is necessary, else these games get boring."
"I knew about this feature since it existed in their previous games and even many others, and I always tried to play with a low help, but there was always a bit there…"
'That was one of the reasons why I trained so much in the past year… Since I prefer to play without the AI system… But not to this degree.'
"However, it is true that I didn't train in Virtual reality with such help for the past year in order to raise my Status and Skills…"
'Ever since I learned I could raise my skills by practicing in VR, I started to experiment and I found out I grew faster without it… Just for that reason did I turn it off.'
Dale had made his choice.
"I'm all in… I'll bet on the fact the green box is connected to this game and choose the choice with the most potential… It's risky but…"
"Since I would likely play without the AI's help, that doesn't matter, the rest… I can get used to it. Ha… I just don't need to die..."
Dale selected HardCore!
[You have selected, HardCore, are you sure of your choice?]
"Yes."
[It's HARDCORE MODE, are you really SURE?]
"... Yes…"
[Last chance!]
"YES I FUCKING AM MY SPECIAL TIME IS RUNNING OUT! GET IT OVER WITH!"
[Character has been built]
[Would you like to proceed to the tutorial?]
"Hum? What about the Class?"
[Class selection shall be done after the Tutorial]
"I see…"
Still a bit angry, Dale just said yes.
And his body was sucked into the stars at high speed towards the horizon…
…
"Did it start?"
Dale slowly raised his head as he squinted his eyes.
He was currently wearing a pair of bland brown shorts and a tattered white shirt, it was the standard basic gear.
He was currently inside a large hall made of stone, the only entrance was a large pair of metallic doors in the distance.
[Time till Tutorial opens, 27 Minutes]
"I knew it, it's just like in the Beta."
'The game servers will open at 14:30, allowing the players to enter into the tutorial lobbies and fill them up.'
'Each Lobby has a max player count of 1000, once 30 minutes pass, all lobbies will open at the same time and the tutorial will start, but my case is different since the clock has already started.'
"By the time other players enter, my time will be down to 20 minutes while theirs will be at 30… Or so it should be."
Dale looked at the ceiling, it was 8m tall, and the walls were almost fully smooth, it was impossible to climb unless people got on top of each other.
"I had this idea once, but it was thanks to Jelly's joke… I should send him a message later once the game starts."
/Crack!/
Dale cracked his neck and knuckles, he looked at the hole in the wall where sunlight was coming through and smiled.
"Oh yeah, first… Start recording… Yes, I want my identity secret… And change my hairstyle and color as well since people aren't retarded… Good."
His muscles tightened and he started to run!
/Fwoosh!/
Dale jumped with power unlike that of a Human, while in the air he used one of his feet to kick the wall and push himself higher…
"Huff!"
'HAHAHA!'
As the wind blew on his rundown shirt, he smiled as he looked at the sun shining over the city.
[Disclaimer]
[An interesting discovery. You found a secret route!]
[The Tutorial has yet to start, all of its mechanics are deactivated until the designated time]
[Time until Tutorial initiation, -36 Minutes, 35 seconds]
[As a reward, all stats +5 during the remainder of the tutorial]
[You were the first to step foot into the Tutorial area! Would you like to leave your name in the Hall of Fame?]
"Use my proxy name."
'But stats huh, I didn't try it yet…'
"Open Status."
{Opening}
[Player: DareDevil (Dale Houston) Attainments: None
Level:0 (0%)
Class: None
Character Status:
Strength: 50(55); Constitution: 50(55); Dexterity: 50(55); Mental Power: 25(30); Reflexes: 25(30); Mana: 0(5)
Skills:
Slot 1-> Spear Technique 1.5-Star (Neutral)
Slot 2-> Close quarters Combat 0.5-Star (Neutral)
Slot 3-> Stable Emotions 0.5-Star (Passive)
Slot 4-> Spatial Awareness 0-Star (Passive)
Slot 5-> Fighting Spirit 0-Star (Active)
Current Effects:
+5 All Stats
Inventory(+)
]
Dale was surprised, but not that much.
"It's as I thought… Possibility number 1, that my body would affect the in-game stats…"
"Not only that, some of my Skills were transferred and adapted to the classification system of this game… It doesn't matter much anyway since I don't have the AI's help."
"Now that I think about it, I only have 10 Skills, and that is the same quantity of slots you have access to in this game…"
'Although some things changed, such as the HardCore mode, I can still proceed with the plan, since I never planned to die from the beginning.'
'There is one thing to test, but that will have to wait until I log out…'
"I'll have to change the plan a bit, especially due to the stat boost and the fact the tutorials mechanics are disabled… I can't believe it's truly what I am thinking, but there is the possibility it is."
Dale looked around the place; he was currently inside a broken stone tower similar to a skyscraper.
This was the place where the tutorial took place. From the hall down there, people could choose to either compete for the rewards on the highest floor or proceed down to continue with the tutorial.
"But since the mechanics are disabled, I can simply jump everything and get the rewards… Or at least that is what I understood from this…"
'Only one way to find out!'
Dale turned to the side and started running, he looked for a staircase and went directly to the 9th floor where the first big treasure chest was located.
"It's really there… And as I thought… There is no gatekeeper."
In a large room similar to a church, a brown chest could be seen on top of the pedestal.
/THUD!/
Dale walked carefully and picked a stone before he threw it on the chest to see if any traps would be released.
"I have one life and I have to treat my characters as my own body…"
Dale approached the chest and opened it carefully.
[DING]
[You've passed the first Trial flawlessly without taking a single hit!]
[Rewards are maximized]
[You've acquired, Lost Wanderer Cloak]
[You've acquired the Broken inscribed dagger]
[120% Experience points]
[You have Leveled Up!]
[All Stats +2]
"Well well well! That was easy… But I can't guarantee other mechanisms will be disabled… So…"
'Time to speedrun the Tutorial!'
Dale started to run.
There are 21 floors in the Tower, however, there are only 3 challenges that reward the players.
On the 9th, 15th, and 21st floors.
Not only that, there are a few treasure chests scattered around the tower, there was no need to get all of them so Dale just grabbed what he could as he continued to run faster and faster.
After Dale confirmed for sure that all traps had been disarmed he just continued to get faster and faster as the memories of his Beta playing time resurfaced in his mind…
No, that is wrong, the traps weren't even rendered yet… That would be a better word.
And like that, he finally arrived on the last floor… But he wasn't alone this time.
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Notes