Bronze League - Gangnam Area 1 tutorial.
'It's finally the day.'
"Haa, haa…" Do Hyeok-gyu, the new Bronze player, exhaled to relax.
'It will be okay. After all, I'm lucky.'
Do Hyeok-gyu looked at his stats.
Gift: Agile A (Rank A)
- Your Agility increases by 25.
- This ability ignores the League's stat cap.
Compared to the rank, it was a simple Gift, but it was highly valued because it ignored the League's stat cap.
'My life changed after getting this.'
Do Hyeok-gyu remembered his 18th birthday vividly.
Very few players got a Gift when awakening. To think he'd get one… and an A-rank one on top of that.
'It was as if I won the lottery.'
That day, a banner was hung in his neighborhood that said, -Do Hyeok-gyu has awakened an A-rank Gift!-
The banner had been placed higher than the one about a guy who'd been accepted into Seoul National University!
Scouts from big corporations and famous guilds went to his town to offer him a contract, and he eventually joined the Twin Star Guild, which belonged to the Twin Star Group.
'It was fun.'
The guild provided him with an apartment in Gangnam, and when he wore the guild uniform when commuting, people turned to look at him.
His life went smoothly after turning 18 and receiving a Gift.
'I'll become one of the top 50, no matter how…'
All he had to do was survive the Bronze League of Gangnam Area 1. Do Hyeok-gyu tightened his grip on his sword.
'I can do it, I can do it…'
He looked around before the fight began.
There was a threatening horde of monsters and players from other guilds that had the marks of the different corporations carved into them.
'He's from LK; then there's also the guy from SG… Everyone's a tough match.'
As expected of Gangnam Area 1, they were all from major companies.
Do Hyeok-gyu began sweating as he looked over his opponents, but then a certain player was summoned next to him.
'What…?'
The man was dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt, his hair was messy as if he'd just woken up, and he was also unarmed.
Seeing that, Do Hyeok-gyu quickly realized his identity.
'He's… a player who entered Gangnam 1 by mistake!'
Most people usually didn't even consider participating in Gangnam 1, but mistakes were bound to happen, even in the well-organized Korean League scene.
People who'd just turned level 2 sometimes appeared in Gangnam Area 1 by mistake.
'The correct thing would be to wait until they give up…'
Leaving a player who'd entered by mistake alone was the correct thing to do—that was the rule and basic manner of Gangnam Area 1, but…
'I'm lucky!'
Who cared about rules and manners? He could get a kill point for free.
Hyeok-gyu's eyes shone ominously, and…
[The tutorial is starting.]
[Eliminate opponents until 50 players remain.]
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Drums announced the start of the tutorial, and his tensed body relaxed.
'Now!'
Do Hyeok-gyu quickly rushed toward the man while drawing his sword. He had to kill him before he could give up!
With his Agile A Gift on full power, Hyeok-gyu shot forward like an arrow, and just before his sword could touch the man's chest…
His sword stopped moving for some reason.
'Huh…?'
The man had caught the sword with his fingers in the blink of an eye.
* * *
'So that's how I died last time.'
JiHan looked at the young man who'd tried to kill him.
He was quite fast for a level 2, so his Gift was likely related to Agility. That's probably why he died without being able to do anything before.
"Ugh…!"
Meanwhile, Hyeok-gyu tried to pull his sword back, but it didn't move at all.
'What ridiculous Strength…!'
Hyeok-gyu's Strength was nine. It wasn't low, but his sword that the man held between two fingers wasn't moving at all.
"You should give others time to log out. You truly have no manners."
"You. You… what are you?! How could you move faster than me?! I have Agile A…!"
"Agile A? Why did you come here with such a terrible Gift?" JiHan looked at Hyeok-gyu in surprise.
Agile A was a useless gift…
'Ah, yeah. I'm in the past.'
Hyeok-gyu made a confused expression as JiHan realized his mistake.
"What? You're saying my Agile A is a bad Gift?"
"Hmm, I wouldn't say that."
A stat increase Gift was useful in the early stages, but such Gifts became useless once you hit Gold.
Such a guy was participating in Gangnam 1…
That made him realize that he'd really gone many years back in time.
JiHan loosened his grip, and Hyeok-gyu fell back.
"Ugh…!" He quickly got up, but his face was completely red.
He was planning to start well by securing a kill, but things had developed in an embarrassing direction.
"Die!"
Whoosh!
He swung his sword to get revenge, but JiHan easily dodged him, a bored expression on his face.
The opponent was definitely faster than him.
'So what? His trajectory is too simple.'
If you could see the start and the end of an attack, overcoming such a difference in speed was easy.
'It's time to end things.'
JiHan decided to start completing the quest.
Whish!
Hyeok-gyu clenched his teeth and targeted his opponent again.
'Yes!'
He thought he was going to succeed when…
Tap!
JiHan's hands quickly grabbed his sword.
"Huh…?" He was definitely holding the sword more tightly, but the opponent still managed to snatch it from him at some point.
Hyeok-gyu's eyes widened in surprise.
Stab!
JiHan sliced through Hyeok-gyu's throat in one go.
"Thanks for lending me your sword."
Hyeok-gyu tried to say something, but his body began shining, and he soon disappeared—he was deemed eliminated after receiving critical damage.
JiHan watched him disappear.
'What a great world. You don't even die.'
The same went for the sword Hyeok-gyu was using.
Was it because they were in a 'game' inside the Battle Net? Although he'd taken Do Hyeok-gyu's sword, he couldn't fully obtain ownership of it.
'I'll have to use weapons I take from others,' he thought when a system message popped up.
[You've achieved the 1st kill in the tutorial.]
[You've earned 100 achievement points.]
"Ooh.'
Maybe it was because he had the Achievement Shop, but unlike in the past, it showed why he'd obtained the achievement points, but that was all.
JiHan's gaze turned toward the monsters in the Colosseum.
[Annihilation of the Urk Horde.]
- The 30-strong horde of urks is the most powerful monster group in the Colosseum. Subdue them and show them the difference in strength.
[Reward: 500 achievement points]
A quest window related to the achievements popped up above the monster horde.
'Good.'
Usually, killing monsters in the Colosseum was considered inefficient. After all, monsters counted as 0.1 kills each.
Catching one or two monsters was one thing, but a small army of urks was so powerful that most normal players avoided confronting them.
The key words were 'normal players'.
'Those urk bastards. I have to get revenge for humanity.'
They gave achievement points for killing the urks that had ended up demoting humanity?
Ah, he couldn't resist that.
Sung JiHan rushed toward the urks.
"Kurr?"
"A crazy human!"
"Kill the human!"
They weren't expecting him to rush in with his bare hands.
The well-equipped urk horde snorted.
"Save your arrows!"
"Kurr. Understood!"
Three of the five urks at the front threw their axes at JiHan.
Did they think that would be enough to kill him? There was no sign of tension in their eyes, but…
"Tsk."
Paf!
JiHan easily caught the axes flying toward him.
"Kurr…?"
The urks were confused by the unexpected development.
"This is how you're supposed to throw an axe."
He threw the axes, and they took whirlwind trajectories.
"A… Ack…!"
The axes lodged themselves into urk throats.
Surprisingly, the ones that got hit were the ones who'd thrown them.
"Crazy human! He isn't normal!"
"Prepare yourselves!"
Seeing the fallen urks, the rest got ready for battle, but…
"Too late."
JiHan had already closed the distance.
Stab!
Every time his hands moved, another urk head fell to the ground.
"K… Kiik…!"
"I… I can't see!"
It was a surprisingly clean technique.
Would a wolf rushing into a flock of sheep look like that?
The urks, the strongest monster group in the Colosseum, were caught off guard.
Slash-!
Another urk's head was severed.
Just then, the handle of the axe that had beheaded ten of them broke.
"It broke. It broke!"
"Kill him now! Kill him!"
The remaining urks rushed toward JiHan, thinking it was their opportunity, but…
"You guys should carry better weapons."
As if he'd been anticipating as much, JiHan stomped the ground, and the urks floated into the air.
JiHan picked up a fallen spear of appropriate length and pierced their necks one by one.
"…"
"Who's next?"
* * *
"H-he's a monster!"
"Run, run!"
It didn't take long for the remaining urks to lose their fighting spirit.
Their losing their will to fight after seeing half of their comrades cut down in an instant was understandable, but their fear went deeper than that.
JiHan smiled.
They shouldn't have started running from him.
JiHan scooped up a few weapons and began to chase.
The urks tried to scatter in all directions, but JiHan was experienced in pursuits like that—he quickly figured out the number of enemies running in each direction.
'There are fewer enemies over there.'
He threw a few weapons to suppress the less crowded group.
Whoosh!
An axe and a spear drew parabolas and each implanted themselves in an urk's head.
"AGH!"
"Kek… Kek…" JiHan began chasing the remaining enemies without confirming if they'd died, and the one-sided slaughter continued.
"M… monster…" The 30th urk muttered its last words.
[You've cleared the quest 'Annihilation of the Urk Horde'.]
[You've earned 500 achievement points.]
He received achievement points as the quest was cleared, and with that…
[Your level has increased.]
A level-up message popped up in front of him.