Level Up with the Gods
Chapter 4

***

The cries of the zombies resonated throughout the area.

The sight of zombies clutching themselves in obvious pain was a very unusual spectacle. Until then, they hadn’t reacted no matter how often they were stabbed, even if one of their limbs was cut off.

[You leveled up.]

[You leveled up.]

[You leveled...]

Yuwon heard the same message get repeated over and over. “This is the last one,” he murmured, taking out the next bag of salt.

The number of zombies was highest in the last ten minutes of the tutorial. Yuwon had gone as high as he could with the bags of salt he had prepared in his backpack.

Yuwon spilled the salt over the zombies while jumping from building to building.

The last bag of salt scattered in the air, and the particles spread far away, raining down on the heads of the zombies.

The zombies’ heads and bodies melted on contact.

Level up messages poured out.

Yuwon smiled pleasantly yet again. “Nice.”

Yuwon had completely lost track of how many zombies he had killed.

It was probably somewhere in the thousands.

His idle curiosity was satisfied quickly, however.

[Tutorial no.1 has ended.]

[Survivors: 4,077]

[Rewards will be given depending on the number of killed zombies.]

[Zombies killed: 1,427]

[You killed the highest number of Zombies.]

[You obtained 500 points.]

[You reached an unbelievable achievement in a tutorial.]

[You obtained 1,000 points.]

[You obtained 1,427 points.]

[You obtained additional random stat points.]

[Your strength increased by 1.]

[Your HP increased by 2.]

[You obtained 1 random stat point.]

[Tutorial no.2 will begin in 10 minutes.]

So many died.

Yuwon was surprised at the number of survivors.

The initial population in the Hongdae area was around twelve thousand, which meant roughly eight thousand people had died.

Well, four thousand survivors might be better than average.

During tutorial no.1, more than eighty percent of people died on average. In crowded areas like Hongdae, some would have zero survivors.

Considering that, four thousand survivors was a lot.

...And I also killed many.

Yuwon had killed 1,427 zombies.

It would’ve been impossible to kill so many in thirty minutes with just a simple knife.

One hundred points for killing the first zombie, five hundred for killing the most, a thousand for an unbelievable achievement, and one point for each zombie.

It was over three thousand points, an impossible total to achieve in tutorial no.1.

Most tutorial participants only received anywhere from one to ten points from their individual kills.

I think I’d started with just seven points before.

Yuwon played sports and had good endurance, so he had managed to kill a few zombies the first time.

But compared to his first attempt, this was an unbelievable starting point.

[Name: Yuwon Kim]

[Level: 16]

[Strength: 23]

[Agility: 20]

[HP: 24]

[Perception: 21]

[Points: 3,027]

[Bonus Stat Points: 4]

Level 16.

And his total stats were 88.

When combined with his bonus stat points, it came out to be 92.

It’s a lot to earn in tutorial no.1.

Zombies weren’t worth many experience points (EXP). No matter how many you killed, the highest level one could expect to run into in tutorial no.1 was a four.

Yuwon started to gather himself, wondering what the next tutorial would be. Before he could fully compose himself, a voice rang out.

“Hello, everyone!”

He froze immediately at the words delivered in a voice that was far too joyful for the situation.

The remaining people who had survived froze as well.

“Wh-who is it?”

“Wait, you heard that too?”

“I also heard it.”

“Where is he?”

The voice wasn’t loud, but everyone could hear it clearly.

It was different from the system message from earlier. Rather than that same cold, emotionless inflection, the voice had resembled that of a human.

Yuwon looked up when he recognized the owner of the voice.

This voice belonged to the messenger of the tutorial manager.

Although it was technically only a messenger of one of the managers that oversaw tens of thousands of others, the messenger was quite a transcendent being at this point.

He normally wouldn’t even come out in tutorial no.2.

Originally, a messenger would first appear only at the beginning of tutorial no.3. That was probably why the messenger couldn’t be seen now.

“Congratulations on surviving, everyone! There are so many of you that I’m almost confused.”

Tutorial no.1 served two functions.

The first was to eliminate people who didn’t qualify to move on to the next tutorial, and the second was to verify their qualifications.

But a much higher number survived than what the manager had initially expected in Hongdae.

Because of me, Yuwon thought.

He’d brought out the mob psychology by killing zombies and making an example.

Everyone has different coping mechanisms in a crisis. But when someone who didn’t give in to fear came along, people began fighting.

And that was all before he had even annihilated the zombies with salt.

There will be more survivors in the areas where I used the salt.

Perhaps that was why?

The messenger’s voice sounded strangely excited, like he’d found something interesting to watch.

“I have an announcement for the survivors. Normally, I’d share this after tutorial no.2... But this time calls for an exception. There’s someone who reached the limit way too quickly.”

People seemed to be getting hopeful.

“An announcement?”

“What is it?”

“C-can we go home now?”

Understandably, people hoped for one thing: they wanted to go home.

No one sane wanted to have to run, fight to survive, and watch others fall to zombies.

“I have only one announcement. I will tell you how to use points! Please, clap!”

Nobody shared in the excitement the voice seemed to be feeling.

It wasn’t a way to go home. That single fact disappointed people more than anyone could imagine.

There were some people who were paying attention to its words.

Normally, those individuals would survive.

They were the kind of people who could adapt quickly.

“There are two ways to use your points. First, at stores! This is really cool. They have things you probably can’t imagine.”

A store didn’t sound that impressive. But stores still played a very important role in this world.

They say you can become a god with points for a reason.

Levels and points.

It all came down to those two things.

“And second, they can be exchanged! Everyone loves money, right? Anyone can exchange points through handshakes.”

Beyond using points as currency in a store, you could be rewarded for cooperation by giving those points to others.

Points meant power as well as authority.

“It’s almost time. The break was sweet, wasn’t it? That’s it for the announcement. Now…”

[Tutorial no.2 will begin.]

“It’s time to fight again.”

Those were the last words from the messenger before it began.

***

[A safety zone will be created in the center of the zone.]

[Get inside the safety zone.]

[One hundred points will be given out every three hours.]

“Safety zone?”

“Is that it?”

People gathered at the circle that had appeared on the ground.

The long oval-shaped safety zone was divided into different colors. The center was purple, and the very outside was red.

“Dude, let’s go.”

“Seriously... What kind of bullshit is this?”

“Where’s Changho?”

“No idea. He probably died.”

Myeonghoon and his friends began heading to the safety zone.

Luckily, the safety zone was nearby. They must have already been close to the center of this area.

Myeonghoon looked around.

“What? Are you looking for something?”

“No, nothing.”

“Come to think of it, I don’t see Yuwon.”

Considering the fact that there were thousands of survivors beginning to gather in the safety zone, it wasn’t odd that they couldn’t see him.

“He probably isn’t dead...”

“What? You think he’ll die?”

“You’re right. He was fighting like a beast earlier.”

“Is wielding a knife his specialty?”

Yuwon’s ability was undoubtedly outstanding.

Knowing that, Myeonghoon and his friends looked for Yuwon.

Maybe they would be safe if they stayed with him.

“Huh?” Myeonghoon's eyes caught Yuwon walking through the crowd from afar.

After a brief debate with himself, he waved at him.

“Yo, yo! Yuwon Kim!”

Yuwon stopped walking and looked back at him.

“Myeonghoon Kim?”

“Where are you going? Didn’t you hear it saying go inside the circle?” Myeonghoon asked in a much kinder voice than he had before.

He had determined that no good would come from being on bad terms with Yuwon right now.

I don’t wanna admit it, but staying with him is the safest option right now.

Fortunately, Yuwon didn’t seem to be so displeased.

He must also think it’s not good to argue with me in this situation.

Surely Yuwon would also like to team up.

Two would be better than one, and three would be even better for their chances of survival.

Only, if I reach out my hand first like this...

“I heard,” Yunwon said, interrupting his thoughts.

“Huh?”

“I gotta go somewhere.”

Yuwon clapped a hand on Myeonghoon’s shoulder. “If you want to survive so badly, stop trying to depend on someone else and lie low in the safety zone.”

“What?! You bastard…!”

Yuwon kept walking, seemingly uninterested in Myeonghoon's words.

He was walking away from the safety zone.

Myeonghoon contemplated whether he should just let Yuwon go.

I feel like staying with him would be the safest...

Myeonghoon, his moment of contemplation over, turned around and walked towards the safety zone.

Forget it! The safety zone is probably safer than staying with him anyway.

Myeonghoon Kim crossed the line into the safety zone.

As soon as he did, the man behind him seemed to hit something. “Ack!”

The man that had been following behind Myeonghoon stepped back.

“Wh-what?”

“It’s blocked!”

“But it said to go in here!”

The people who couldn’t enter the safety zone all banged the invisible wall.

Soon, letters appeared on the invisible wall surrounding the safety zone.

[Headcount limit: 2,038 / 2,038]

Myeonghoon, one of the last to enter the safety zone with the other survivors, began to wonder while looking out.

The safety zone had emerged as tutorial no.2 began, and it had a limit on the number of participants it could accommodate.

That meant...

“L-look!”

“M-monsters!”

It meant that being outside the safety zone was dangerous.

“Aaargh!”

“Wh-what’s thi–? Aaagh!”

Myeonghoon began to shake as he watched the chaos unfold outside. Numerous worms with huge mouths were emerging from the ground and snapping up the screaming people.

The sounds of bones breaking and flesh tearing weren’t blocked by the invisible barrier of the safety zone.