Episode 39
Poisened Fog.
It was a unique environment encountered while following the second chapter of the Tutorial.
Although the toxicity wasn’t very strong, walking through it steadily accumulated poison, causing one to collapse in less than an hour.
‘I suffered quite a bit because of this back then.’
Before the Regression, Se-un’s party quickly retreated from the fog as soon as they recognized its toxicity.
Thanks to that, I remember two of the already small group falling into a state of poisoning.
At the time, there was no way to detoxify or avoid the poison, so they had no choice but to go around the poisonous fog.
Naturally, time was delayed considerably, and the time to reach the destination was also delayed.
However, the situation is different now.
Thanks to the magic book taken from Mammon’s treasure vault, the surrounding poisonous fog was rapidly disappearing.
With this method, they could move to their destination via the shortest route.
Of course, more than that, first.
“Lee Haneul, was it? Let’s get you treated quickly.”
“Thank you! I’ll treat everyone in order, so please wait a moment!”
Lee Haneul began to quickly treat people’s poison.
She was the only healer in this camp, treating various injuries, but her constellation was more related to diseases than injuries.
So, treating poison was her most confident area.
Starting with Park Jung-pil, whose condition was severe, people’s poison was quickly treated.
‘If we want to leave quickly, it would be good for me to help too.’
-You have opened the Vault of Greed.
[ Cure Poison ]
– The most basic detoxification magic of the White Tower, neutralizing poison that has seeped into the body.
Woo-oong-
Se-un’s circle, now at the 3rd Circle, rotates rapidly.
Contrary to the plan of mixing the mysteries of different magic towers into each circle, he had inadvertently achieved the Third Circle, so only the mysteries of the Blue Tower and the Black Tower had been applied. However, Se-un could easily purify even light toxicity, let alone extreme poison.
The condition of the people quickly improved, and the atmosphere of the clan began to stabilize.
“Se-un! You’re back!”
“Kang Han-cheol left such deep footprints that I arrived earlier than expected.”
“It was just a training method.”
“More than that, Se-un, who are those people…?”
Yu Seo-ah pointed behind Se-un.
There, ten men and women with hardened eyes, as if they had experienced all sorts of hardships, stood in a row.
Before Se-un could explain, one of the men stepped forward as a representative.
“I am Lee Il-jung. Thanks to Se-un, we were all able to save our lives.”
“Ah, hello. I’m Yu Seo-ah.”
“If you would allow us, we would like to join this clan under Se-un. Of course, we will all do our best….”
The man continued to speak at length. Perhaps knowing that they were outsiders, it seemed like he was trying to build trust.
However, Yu Seo-ah looked towards Se-un instead of listening to the man’s words.
When Se-un nodded lightly, Yu Seo-ah extended her right hand to the man who was continuing his explanation.
“Welcome.”
“…Are you really accepting all of us?”
“Of course. If Se-un recognizes you, we can trust you too.”
“Thank you! We will do our best not to be a hindrance!”
“A hindrance? Um, first of all, you should change your clothes. Areum, Da-un?”
“Yes, Unni [older sister/term of endearment for a female friend]!”
“Yes, Unni!”
“Please take care of these people’s clothes and briefly explain our situation.”
“Yes, leave it to us!”
“Everyone, come this way! We have leather clothes left over for spare use!”
The twin sisters guided the people who followed Se-un.
Yu Seo-ah, as well as the others, were welcoming them, so they couldn’t help but be bewildered.
Moreover, they had to be surprised by the size of the clan. The number of people in Se-un’s clan had hardly changed since the beginning of the tutorial.
Except for the people who had just been infected with poison, there were no injured people.
The wagon was full of all sorts of materials, sleeping bags, and food.
The faces of the people showed a ‘leisure’ that they had not felt since coming to the tutorial.
“Unexpected. Se-un bringing people along.”
“If they’ve survived this far, their will must be certain.”
“Will. It’s the most important mindset here.”
While chatting with Yu Seo-ah, Lee Haneul finished treating everyone.
As soon as the poison was purified, Park Jung-pil rushed over and spouted words of being his right arm and respect, but Se-un chased Park Jung-pil away as if he was annoyed.
And once again, the journey to the destination began, following the tutorial.
“So, that hazy stuff over there was all poisonous fog? Ugh, just thinking about how nauseous I was until recently….”
“Terrible, really.”
Se-un’s magic was still being activated at this moment.
When he was at the 2nd Circle, he felt a bit of a burden on his mana usage, but now Se-un’s level was a whopping 3rd Circle. He could use basic magic like Breeze as much as he wanted.
However, the problem was that it was difficult to use other powers.
Even though it was basic magic, he was spreading the range to cover the clan, so there was a concern that the magic would be shaken if he engaged in direct combat.
As if aiming for that.
Weeing!
“Jjijik!”
Various monsters appeared and attacked the clan.
Wasps the size of forearms, and rats that came up to the waist.
Among them, there were also slimes that wriggled and approached with black liquid.
However.
“Prepare for battle!”
“Prepare for battle!”
Under Yu Seo-ah’s command, the people successfully blocked the monsters.
Even if they were injured or infected with poison, they could fight more confidently because Lee Haneul was there.
Originally, poisonous fog was one of the biggest trials that plagued players in the second chapter of the tutorial.
Thanks to Se-un’s wind magic and Lee Haneul’s healing abilities, they were able to move forward more leisurely than during the monster wave.
And before long.
-You have successfully overcome the Poison Fog Trial.
-1,000 points are provided to all participants in the trial.
“Was the outside air this clear?”
Se-un’s clan was able to escape the poisonous fog safely.
* * *
After that, the trials of the second chapter of the tutorial continued.
Moving between cliffs, passing through swamps covered in acidic solutions, and being attacked by monsters, etc.
Each one was a life-threatening trial.
For Se-un before the Regression, they were all left as terrible memories.
Back then, he tried desperately to avoid those trials.
-You have successfully passed the Swaying Bridge Trial.
-1,000 points are provided to all participants in the trial.
-You have successfully passed the Acidic Swamp Trial.
-1,500 points are provided to all participants in the trial.
-You have successfully defeated the Red Bear Horde.
-2,000 points are provided to all participants in the trial.
Now, they were able to pass all the trials in a straight line without a single casualty.
Even if there were injuries, they were not fatal, so it was not a problem thanks to the existence of the healer Lee Haneul and Se-un.
People seemed to have gained confidence, and there was no hesitation in their steps.
Of course, there was also.
“Hyung-nim [older brother/term of respect for an older male], the road is blocked ahead? I don’t think the wagon can pass.”
“Just go. We can break through it.”
“Oh, you’re really Hyung-nim!”
Park Jung-pil, who was completing his scouting mission more successfully than expected, and.
“Everyone, be careful because the road is rough! Areum, Da-un. Can you check the wagon wheels?”
“Yes, Unni!”
“Mine is sturdy, so it will never break. Hehe!”
“Mine won’t break either!”
Yu Seo-ah, who was now skillfully commanding people like flowing water.
“Is that a rock? I’ll break it.”
Kwaang!!
Warrr-
“Wow, what kind of person breaks rocks with their fist….”
“We thought we had gotten stronger too, but those three are beyond our reach. Really.”
Kang Han-cheol, who was breaking through obstacles with overwhelming power, and others.
Besides Se-un, various people were showing their skills.
And in the meantime.
-You have perfectly cleared the Hidden Dungeon, ‘Breeding Ground of Evil Insects’.
-You have achieved an amazing feat.
-As a reward, your personal contribution points increase by 4,000 points.
-You have acquired ‘Carapace of the Evil Insect’.
“Carapace. The Elder will be happy if I bring it to him.”
Se-un quietly slipped away whenever he had time and found and cleared various hidden dungeons.
Before the Regression, he knew the locations of the dungeons because he desperately wandered around avoiding trials for survival and used the ‘Journey’s Guidepost’.
Of course, at the time, he had only discovered the dungeons, but he didn’t have the power to clear them, but now he could easily clear this level of dungeon alone.
-The Gluttony Authority has designated the entire ‘Breeding Ground of Evil Insects’.
-The Gluttony Fangs are engulfing the village!
-The constellation, ‘Hungry Prince’, savors the bodily fluids of the Evil Insects, saying that this popping texture is always fantastic.
Se-un’s conquest ended by devouring all the monsters in the dungeon.
This time, quite a lot of energy was absorbed and accumulated in the dantian [energy center] and circle.
Of course, it wasn’t as dramatic as when the 3rd Circle was created, but even this was more efficient than most mental cultivation or mana training methods.
At this rate, he would be able to reach the 4th Circle much faster than planned.
“Hyung-nim, have you come out!”
“How did you know I was here?”
“I was scouting and saw traces, so I followed them! You’re the only one who can massacre monsters like that, Hyung-nim.”
He found traces.
As far as Se-un knew, Park Jung-pil didn’t have any skills related to searching. That meant that he had arrived here by simply following Se-un’s traces with his eyesight.
‘He wasn’t like this before the Regression.’
He stuck behind Kang Han-cheol and acted arrogantly, and eventually lost his life when the shield disappeared. That was the image of Park Jung-pil that Se-un had seen before the Regression.
But what about now? It was the opposite of before the Regression.
He didn’t want to admit it, but he had enough talent.
“Are you going to stop by anywhere else? There’s plenty of room for people. It’s a bit difficult for the wagon to pass, so it will take some time.”
“No, I’m going straight back.”
“Oh, what’s wrong, Hyung-nim? You’d always wander around here and there even if you had a little time?”
As he said. To the extent that he didn’t lose people, Se-un always wandered around outside and found hidden pieces.
Thanks to that, he had already cleared a total of five hidden dungeons. In addition, he was able to obtain several hidden items and a large amount of additional contribution points.
However.
“I’ve found everything worth finding now.”
“Wow, amazing! Seriously, Hyung-nim’s contribution points are surprising every time I see them?”
As a result of diligently searching for hidden pieces.
Se-un’s contribution points were.
[ 1st place: Jung Se-un 250,080 points ]
[ 2nd place: Kang Han-cheol 16,220 points ]
[ 3rd place: Yu Seo-ah 15,980 points ]
It was close to 250,000.
Another change was the ranking of Kang Han-cheol and Yu Seo-ah.
It wasn’t a big difference, but as Yu Seo-ah took charge of both combat and commanding people, the contribution points she earned as an individual decreased as a result.
‘At this rate, I should be in the rankings at least.’
To be honest, it wouldn’t be strange if he took first place in the overall ranking, but there were always extra-class players in the Tower, such as those with different species or those who received the power of a powerful constellation from the start.
So, it was difficult to be complacent with this.
Besides.
“Let’s go quickly.”
“Yes, Hyung-nim! Feel the ride of my White Wolf! As I ride it, my driving skills have improved! The sense of speed is amazing….”
[ Tutorial Second Chapter – Movement ]
-You must move along the arrow and arrive at the destination.
-Time remaining until arrival at the destination: 116 hours 22 minutes
Soon, they were about to arrive at their destination.