Level Up With the Gods
Chapter 5

***

“Aaargh!”

“H-help...!”

Yuwon broke into a run after hearing the distant screams.

It begins.

You could get 100 points in a single hour during tutorial no.2.

The fact that you got points even if you did nothing in the safety zone made it sound like a pretty good mission.

But since the tutorial selected who could enter the tower, it wasn’t that easy.

Yuwon stabbed his sashimi knife into the ground and was rewarded with a bizarre sound similar to a cry.

[You killed an Earth Worm for the first time.]

[You obtained 300 points.]

[You obtained 2 bonus stat points.]

[Your strength increased by 1.]

[Your agility increased by 1.]

Pleasant messages.

The generous rewards were granted because the tutorials selected who would enter the tower and assisted in their growth.

After reviewing the messages, Yuwon looked at the worm that emerged from the ground.

At a glance, it looked like a normal worm, except for its massive size and huge mouth full of sharp teeth.

When you leave the safety zone, you become their target.

And Yuwon was right in the danger zone.

Yuwon went down the stairs.

He put his guard up and closed his eyes.

Eearth worms came from the ground below when they hunted. Trying to see them was pointless. But when you close your eyes, your other senses become sharper.

He had to rely on his instincts and other senses, such as hearing and touch.

Yuwon lifted his foot.

He stomped the head of the earth worm that emerged from the ground as soon as it started to open its mouth.

He had been waiting for the perfect time to do it.

Yuwon swung the sashimi knife.

[You leveled up.]

[Your strength increased by 1.]

[Your agility increased by 1.]

[Your perception increased by 1.]

He sliced off the next earth worm’s head.

Even though he only killed two, he leveled up, which indicated that he didn’t need many experience points to reach the next level.

It made some amount of sense. The earth worms in tutorial no.2 weren’t meant to be killed to begin with.

Unlike Zombies, earth worms were easier to kill. The only reason they were dangerous was because they hunted from below.

I can obtain both experience points and points in this tutorial if I play my cards right.

Yuwon continued down the long staircase.

Earth worms reside in basements. They build their own caves and settle inside.

He looked over and read the sign next to him.

[Hongik University Station]

He was in the subway station.

That was the largest basement in the tutorial area.

Earth worms can’t breathe underground. They’re only able to hold their breath for a long time.

A large basement area was a requirement, not an option.

So...

“They must be gathered in the biggest basement area.”

He no longer needed to keep his eyes closed. As he rounded the corner, he saw earth worms everywhere.

It was time to worry about what was above ground.

[You discovered a hidden dungeon - Hongik University Station.]

[You obtained 100 points.]

“Bingo.”

This was no longer the same Hongik University Station that Yuwon was familiar with.

It had become a habitat for the earth worms, which waited there to eat anyone caught outside the safety zone.

It had become a dungeon.

The earth worms squirmed toward Yuwon.

They looked funny, like they had forgotten their identity when they stopped hunting from below the ground.

They looked eager at the sight of food in front of them.

As they approached Yuwon baring their teeth, he beheaded them and stabbed their bodies with a pocket knife.

He was accumulating quite a lot of experience points.

“I’m lucky.”

The existence of the hidden dungeon had met Yuwon’s expectations. Earth worms weren’t proper monsters—they were relegated to the status of being a “bug” by tower standards.

But they could still be quite scary in the tutorial. Especially when considering the fact they remained hidden from sight, they could be very dangerous for people who didn’t have any proper skills or stats yet.

I’m getting a good amount of experience points.

Yuwon killed another one that had gotten close to him.

The earth worms rushing towards him were no longer threatening.

They were only big bugs with teeth.

Hunting them won’t be too difficult now that I’ve found their habitat.

Yuwon sliced through another worm, and a marble fell from its mouth.

“Hm?”

Yuwon picked it up before it could roll too far.

“What’s this?”

The unexpected reward made Yuwon smile.

In the past, no one had hunted the earth worms during tutorial no.2, so there had been no way to know in advance.

Yuwon put the marble in his pocket.

It was just more incentive to work.

I’m currently at level 17.

Yuwon had a goal for tutorial no.2.

There were minimum conditions that had to be met first, though.

Let’s get to level 20.

Yuwon walked toward the lovely lumps of experience points laid out in front of him.

***

Hours passed.

There was nothing they could do from inside the safety zone except close their eyes and turn away.

Outside, it looked like hell.

People’s flesh was scattered across the ground, and worms were chewing through the leftovers.

“I can’t even kill a single cockroach...”

“I’d rather bite my tongue off than be eaten by those things.”

“Th-they wouldn’t suddenly come in here, would they?”

“H-hope not... They said this place was safe.”

Despite there being two thousand people, they didn’t make much noise.

Everyone was too scared that the worms would come up from the ground if they made too much noise.

Therefore, the safety zone was largely silent. Eventually, there was a new message.

[Three hours have passed.]

[You obtained 100 points.]

The points came as promised.

“Oh, points.”

“So this is like money?”

“Is 100 points a lot?”

Myeonghoon and his friends couldn’t help but be interested.

They could buy an item from the store with points.

They only had 2 or 3 points from the Zombies, but they would be able to purchase something if they got 100 points.

Before they could get further, there was another message.

[The red zone will deactivate.]

[Headcount limit: 1,867 / 1,500]

[Once the headcount limit is exceeded, you will be kicked out of the safety zone.]

Immediately, some people began to move as an invisible force dragged at them.

“Huh? Huuuh?”

“N-no!”

The red ring at the very edge of the safety zone vanished, indicating it was no longer safe.

Worms began to emerge from the ground immediately.

“Aaagh!”

People who had been shoved outside and those standing at the edge began to fall under attack.

There was nowhere to run.

No matter how far they ran, they only got swallowed by the worms surging from the ground.

“F-fuck...”

“Th-this thing shrinks?”

“I only suspected...”

Some had speculated that the colors on the ground meant something.

Among them, there were those who had even thought that the safety zone would shrink over time. Myeonghoon had suspected as much.

Then how much will it shrink?

The innermost area was purple, and the edge was red.

And how many people can stay in the purple area?

Myeonghoon checked the remaining time.

[Time Remaining: 02 : 57 : 11]

When that time ran out…

“M-move out of the way!”

“I-I’m going inside!”

“You wanna die? Wanna die by my hands first?”

“Stop blocking the way!”

The safety zone quickly fell into chaos.

Myeonghoon thought hard before he stood and raised his voice to a shout. “Everyone quiet!”

For a very short moment, silence had come.

He rushed to speak as he tried to calm his racing heart.

“From now on...” Myeonghoon continued, staring at the line dividing the orange and yellow. “We’re gonna decide who will die.”

It was cruel, but there was no choice.

We can’t all stay inside.

Trying to keep everyone in would just lead to more people randomly being pushed out the same way they had just seen.

“I choose...” Myeonghoon pointed at a very elderly man, the kind that wasn’t normally seen on the streets of Hongdae, who happened to be standing nearby. “I choose this old man to die.”

Someone had to die in order for him to live.

That was the core idea of tutorial no.2.

***

The axe struck home in the earth worm’s head as it rushed toward Yuwon. Its head split open before it collapsed to the ground.

Yuwon turned around, swinging his pocket knife in his other hand.

The two earth worms that were trying to get him from behind lost their heads in unison.

[You leveled up.]

[Your agility increased by 1.]

[Your HP increased by 1.]

[Your perception increased by 1.]

[You reached level 20.]

[New stat - MP is unlocked.]

As soon as he leveled up, Yuwon heard the message he had been waiting for.

“It’s done.”

Yuwon panted heavily. Even though his health points increased, he was tired from nearly three hours of nonstop exertion.

But since his health points increased as he leveled up and the new stat was unlocked, his body felt much lighter than just a little while ago.

Another marble fell on the floor.

Yuwon picked it up and put it in his backpack. It was getting heavy from the weight of so many.

[Name: Yuwon Kim]

[Level: 20]

[Strength: 28]

[Agility: 26]

[HP: 27]

[Perception: 24]

[MP: 13]

[Points Available: 3,527]

[Bonus Stat Points: 5]

His stats had changed a lot. Most of his stats reached the mid-twenties, and he still had the bonus stat points he received as a reward.

Combined with the newly unlocked stat, Yuwon’s stats had already surpassed what could normally be reached during tutorial no.2.

I got three random stat points and one bonus stat point for hunting earth worms.

It was a pretty decent reward, but it was slightly less than what he had anticipated.

I won’t be able to expect a bigger reward until I kill that one.

Yuwon put all the bonus stat points he had saved into mana power.

[Bonus stat points will be distributed.]

[Your MP increased by 5.]

It would take other people a lot of effort to figure out what this stat was, but Yuwon already knew.

Among the five stats, there was no stat more important than mana points.

[MP: 18]

“Not too bad.”

Sensing the mana flowing inside his body, Yuwon nodded with his eyes closed.

His mana points had started at thirteen.

He hadn’t known it in the past, but thirteen mana points was an unprecedentedly high amount.

Normally, talentless people started with around five or six, talented ones with nine to eleven, and a select few were granted twelve—those people were considered to be blessed by the tower.

And Yuwon had just raised his from thirteen to eighteen.

“Hey.” Yuwon looked around the station, which was crowded with worm corpses. “I know you’re watching,” he said, addressing the air.

A moment passed.

“How did you know?”

The manager’s messenger, a finger-sized clown, appeared in front of Yuwon.