Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Damn Goblins (2)

[Welcome to Kang Hyeon’s tutorial entrance]

[An error occurred during the second stage. Moving immediately]

[May your courage save the Earth]

“Save the Earth my ass. What bullshit.”

As Kang Hyeon cursed, his eyes took in the now familiar scenery.

A gloomy cave. Weapons scattered about.

After briefly looking around, Kang Hyeon boldly picked up a sword.

Name: Scrapy Longsword

Grade: F

Durability: 11 / 13

Description: A shoddy longsword that looks like it was made by a blacksmith who usually makes farm tools in the countryside.

Somehow it feels like the description is even worse than the mace he had before.

After pondering for a moment, Kang Hyeon decided not to worry about it.

“Everything here is probably trash anyway.”

You shouldn’t expect too much from a tutorial.

-Boo, boom!

Swinging the sword, it was definitely lighter than the mace.

Still a bit heavy for someone with his weak strength to wield one-handed.

But he planned to hold a shield in his other hand, so there was no choice.

“Strength..? Right!”

As he thought about lacking strength, something crossed Kang Hyeon’s mind.

“If I lack strength, I just need to increase it!”

Kang Hyeon immediately opened his status window.

▫Name: Kang Hyeon

▫Title: –

▫Level: 1

▫Detailed Stats:

Strength 8

Agility 9

Stamina 7

Magic Power 14

Additional Stat Points: 1

▫Unique Ability: Resurrection

▫Abilities: –

▫Skills: –

Additional stat point: 1.

Using that stat point would make his strength a bit stronger.

[Do you want to use 1 additional stat point on Strength?]

“Yeah.”

With a cheerful ding, his strength increased to 9.

Swinging the sword again, it felt a bit easier.

“The difference isn’t as big as I thought, but it’s better than nothing.”

After checking his stats, Kang Hyeon picked up a crossbow and practiced shooting for a while.

“This should be enough.”

A little while later.

Kang Hyeon, now prepared, gathered various weapons including the longsword, wooden shield, and crossbow.

He felt reassured as the weight on his body increased.

-Creeeak

Despite opening the door carefully, a squeaking sound assaulted his ears.

‘Damn... I’m still nervous.’

He entered confidently, but fear ingrained to the bone doesn’t disappear in a day or two.

Kang Hyeon put strength into his trembling legs and moved along the familiar route.

After walking a bit, he saw two familiar goblins.

‘Aim steadily, then hold your breath and...’

Kang Hyeon carefully aimed at a goblin.

‘Now!’

The fired crossbow bolt stuck into the goblin’s shoulder.

“Kieeek!”

The goblin with the bolt in its shoulder screamed.

Its companion, startled by its injured comrade, soon spotted Kang Hyeon and charged.

Ignoring his pounding heart, Kang Hyeon also charged forward.

‘The first attack is a big downward slash.’

After encountering them a few times, he could remember some of their patterns.

Kang Hyeon raised his shield to block the incoming sword.

-Clang!

The impact was stronger than expected, making his left arm tingle.

“Now it’s my turn!”

-Slash!

Kang Hyeon swung his longsword horizontally with all his might.

The deeply cut goblin collapsed, spilling blood from its abdomen.

“Kieeek!”

“Die!”

Kang Hyeon quickly tried to finish off the fallen goblin.

But the one hit by the bolt had regained its senses and was now swinging its sword at Kang Hyeon.

Startled, Kang Hyeon hurriedly raised his shield.

-Clang!

Once again, the clashing sword made his arm vibrate.

Almost losing his grip on the shield from the impact, Kang Hyeon quickly retreated.

“Kirrr...”

“Huff, huff...”

Despite not moving much, his chest was heaving as if about to burst.

It seemed his breathing had quickened due to excessive tension.

But the goblins were also injured and not in good shape.

‘I can do this...!’

Hope was finally starting to show.

“Come at me, you bastards! Are you scared?! Huh?!”

As Kang Hyeon shouted desperately, the goblins hesitated and stepped back.

“I said come! If you don’t, I’m coming for you!”

At that moment.

“Kieek!”

The goblins suddenly turned and started to flee.

“What? Where are you going?!”

***

Ippotranslation

As the desired alert sounded, Kang Hyeon collapsed with a shout.

A precious stat gained after over 10 hours of weight training.

For Kang Hyeon, who had a below-average body, it was literally a human victory.

“Status window!”

▫Name: Kang Hyeon

▫Title: –

▫Level: 1

▫Detailed Stats:

Strength 9 → 10 new!

Agility 9

Stamina 8

Magic Power 14

Additional Stat Points: –

▫Unique Ability: Resurrection

▫Abilities: –

▫Skills: –

“Finally, I’ve surpassed a total of 40!”

In fact, the total of stats didn’t have any special meaning.

However, Kang Hyeon had felt bad thinking he was below average.

But now that he’d surpassed a total of 40, he thought he must be at least above average.

“Let’s go!”

Excited, Kang Hyeon immediately tried to draw and swing the longsword.

But as he tried to stand up, his legs gave out and he collapsed.

“It’s okay. If I keep doing this, I’ll be able to kill them all soon!”

As he lay on the floor, trying to maintain positive thoughts, something suddenly occurred to him.

“What if I could level up?”

He had definitely killed one goblin on the first day.

If he used a similar method, he might be able to kill one.

Rather than recklessly fighting goblins in his current state, killing one for sure might give him experience.

“If I level up that way, it’d be awesome.”

Although dying while being hacked to pieces wasn’t exactly an awesome situation.

At least, not by normal standards.

After resting, Kang Hyeon picked up the mace and stood up.

“Let’s go. Hehe.”

***

Ippotranslation

***

“Why? Why am I not leveling up?!”

As soon as he opened his eyes, Kang Hyeon went on a rampage.

Like on the first day, Kang Hyeon managed to kill one goblin by striking its head from behind.

But the expected level up didn’t come.

He just had his throat slit instantly by another enraged goblin.

“Tonight, I’m smashing that bastard’s head first.”

Grinding his teeth, Kang Hyeon checked the internet.

It was now the 7th day since the tutorial started. In other words, he had gone through 6 tutorials.

If he had progressed normally, one stage a day, he should have been finishing the 6th stage and preparing for the 7th today.

However, Kang Hyeon was still stuck on the 2nd stage.

“People aren’t much either.”

Browsing the internet, he couldn’t find many who had cleared beyond the 4th stage.

There were quite a few reviews up to the 3rd stage, but from the 4th stage on, it seemed really hard to clear.

“I guess I have to clear up to the 8th stage to get out?”

For a moment he felt dizzy, but Kang Hyeon slapped his cheeks hard with both hands.

-Slap!

“I can do it!”

After psyching himself up, he searched for more information but found nothing special.

People still couldn’t use abilities in reality, and there were no posts about monsters appearing in the real world.

Finally, ending his web surfing, Kang Hyeon turned on sword training videos again.

***

Ippotranslation

***

[Kang Hyeon....]

“Skip! Skip!”

[May your courage save the Earth]

Back in the tutorial, Kang Hyeon immediately started exercising.

“I can definitely feel my strength and stamina have improved. Even if I can’t level up, I can get strong enough.”

So Kang Hyeon swung the sword again until he collapsed.

[Your efforts beyond your limits have increased your Stamina by 1]

“Aaaagh!”

Kang Hyeon cried out as he slumped to the floor!

-Ding

[Ability Lowest-grade Swordsmanship (F) has been created.

“Huh?”

Lowest-grade Swordsmanship (F)

Ability: When swinging a sword, it helps correct posture and distribute power, allowing for more effective swings.

Description: It’s swordsmanship that even local thugs might use, but it seems better than nothing.

“This, this is...”

Reading the message, tears unexpectedly welled up in Kang Hyeon’s eyes.

“Thank you... sniff.. Thank you! Waaah!”

Along with stats, he gained swordsmanship he never expected.

Kang Hyeon couldn’t help but shed tears of joy, feeling like all his efforts were being recognized.

“This is a human victory-!”

As the status window showed, Kang Hyeon was an extremely weak person with below-average stamina.

Yet for days, he swung the sword until he collapsed.

It was so hard that he cried out in pain sometimes.

But he never stopped.

Imagining the goblins’ faces, the results of his efforts finally showed.

Although the description was shoddy, Kang Hyeon was satisfied.

“If I keep working hard, the grade will surely rise too!”

Standing up, Kang Hyeon swung the sword again with strength from who knows where.

“I can feel it... I can feel it!”

Was it just his imagination?

His sword-swinging posture became strangely comfortable, and power flowed into the sword.

Kang Hyeon clenched his fist.

“Wait for me, you devilish bastards. You’re all dead.”

With renewed spirit, Kang Hyeon kicked open the huge door and went out of the cave.