WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 28: Gambling

──────

I tore off my blood-soaked clothes, tossed them aside, and poured recovery potion over myself.

“Ugh.”

The potion seeped directly into my wounds, stinging like hell. It felt less like potion and more like someone was pouring lava on me.

Still, what else was I supposed to do? If I stayed still like this, I'd bleed to death.

At my feet lay the corpse of the High-Rank Warrior Lizardman I'd just finished off. These guys were especially slow to disappear after dying.

Maybe it was because they were elite or named monsters, or maybe it varied by monster level. I had no idea.

Either way, I really had almost died this time.

I must've gotten cocky because I was so excited about how much stronger I'd gotten. Taking on four High-Rank Warrior Lizardmen in junk equipment? I had to be out of my mind.

Lizardmen were powerful monsters that normally had to be fought in parties, one at a time.

High-Rank Warrior Lizardmen were exceptionally powerful even among them. Not only were their stats much higher, their combat proficiency was too.

Two used spears, one used a shield and axe, and the last wore heavy armor and wielded dual swords.

They all handled their weapons more freely than their own bodies. Then those bastards came at me in perfect coordination.

After exchanging just a few blows, I immediately got the feeling that I was completely fucked, so I had no choice but to switch back to my usual equipment halfway through.

They didn't even give me enough breathing room to change everything, so I could only replace a few pieces.

“Still, I won, so I guess it's fine.”

There were several moments when I truly thought I was going to die, but I ultimately won and survived.

And since I'd overcome such a huge crisis, the reward was pretty damn sweet.

“Status Window.”

Seo Jinhyeok Lv.50 (Warrior)

HP: 750/750

MP: 360/360

Strength: 74 (60+14)

Agility: 60 (56+4)

Durability: 61 (55+6)

Intelligence: 52 (50+2)

I'd defeated so many Lizardmen that my level had risen quite a bit too.

Honestly, I'd expected it to go up a little more, but maybe I'd hit a section where the required experience rose sharply. It stopped right at level 50.

Still, thanks to the [Hardy Warrior] achievement I earned by defeating a High-Rank Warrior Lizardman, my stats had increased significantly.

My Agility and Durability, which had been somewhat low compared to my Strength, each rose by five, and my HP jumped all the way to 750.

Even without equipment, my stats were now on par with a level 55 player.

“But why did Agility go up more?”

The stats raised by the achievement had definitely increased by five each, yet my Agility was strangely one point higher.

Could stats rise too when certain conditions were met, like skills?

So much had changed that it was hard to guess the exact reason.

“Well, I'm stronger, so that's good...”

I closed the Status Window and opened my skill window. At some point, my skill list had gotten pretty long.

[Battle Awakening Lv.9]

[Battle Persistence Lv.9]

For starters, the two skills I'd gotten on the second floor had both reached level 9 in no time. They were the highest-level skills I had.

[Bleeding Resistance Lv.5]

[Stun Resistance Lv.3]

[Combat Healing Lv.3]

[Paralysis Resistance Lv.3]

[Poison Resistance Lv.3]

The resistance lineup was incredible too. I had only gained Paralysis Resistance and Poison Resistance this time, yet they were already level 3.

I felt proud, but it also made me wonder what kind of insane poison that Non-Player Character bastard had used.

Thank fuck I had plenty of recovery potions. An ordinary Challenger would've just died without antidote potions.

Then again, an ordinary Challenger wouldn't have had any reason to get stabbed in the back by those Non-Player Characters.

Other than that, there were Sword Mastery and Earth Spirit's Blessing, which hadn't changed much, along with [Indomitable] and [Intuition], both of which had reached level 4.

There were also two new skills I had acquired aside from the resistances.

[Novice Swordsmanship Lv.2]

[Novice Unarmed Combat Lv.1]

They were both simple passive skills that the Warrior class could acquire by clearing certain quests. There was no explanation, so their exact effects were unknown.

Still, the Open Community had verified that the higher your Swordsmanship and Unarmed Combat levels, the better your actual fighting ability.

Did getting these mean my swordsmanship had finally reached a novice level?

“That's... impressive, right?”

Even if it was only novice-level, I'd gained skills that could actually be called swordsmanship after starting from absolute zero.

Maybe these two skills were the greatest achievement I'd earned this time.

* * *

After fully recovering from my injuries, I returned to the village to get things in order.

Almost every Non-Player Character in the village belonged to the expedition team, but none of them asked after the expedition leader who had left with me.

In the end, Non-Player Characters were just Non-Player Characters. It was probably a good thing, since I'd be in trouble too if this somehow made them hostile toward me.

[Tower of Trials#2661 (1/1)]

I checked the Tower of Trials chat window for the first time in a while. I didn't care much anymore, but there still wasn't a single newbie.

First, I repaired my damaged equipment, then immediately went to find the Non-Player Character who served as the general goods merchant.

[Low-Grade Antidote Potion]

When used, cures low-level poisoning.

Its effectiveness varies depending on the type of poison.

After getting thoroughly fucked over by poison, I spent a ton of Gold to buy antidote potions in bulk.

I had more Gold than I knew what to do with anyway, since I had a monopoly on the Tower's resources.

Lastly, I went to another Non-Player Character I hadn't paid much attention to before and bought some special items.

[Poison-Coated Steel Arrow (Paralysis)]

Has a chance to inflict a status ailment on a struck enemy.

The effect varies according to the hit location and the target's resistance.

They were poison arrows intended for Archers, but supposedly nobody actually used them because their cost efficiency was terrible.

I spent some of my overflowing Gold and bought a few of each type.

Obviously, since I wasn't an Archer, I didn't have any particular use for them.

Ah, I could probably stab monsters with the arrows at close range to poison them.

But in most cases, it'd be much better to just stab them with my sword instead. Honestly, even punching them would probably hit harder.

I hadn't bought these to use on monsters.

I'd learned a lot while fighting the Lizardmen desperately with poison running through my body.

To survive while my body was slowly dying, I had to move that much more efficiently, and my survival instinct had made it happen.

Fighting in an extreme situation where even the slightest waste was unacceptable had led to dramatic growth.

Honestly, I'd gained far more from this than from the dozens of fights I'd had while trying to improve my combat ability.

Just as I had snapped out of it after my mother's death, dramatic change needed an equally powerful stimulus.

Of course, I didn't think the effort I'd put in until now had been wrong. This was simply a matter of efficiency.

And then there were the new resistance skills I'd gained this time.

By forcing myself to endure the poison while drinking health potions like water, I had gained level 3 resistance in one go.

Then couldn't I make my resistance skills grow further by artificially recreating the same situation?

[Poison-Coated Steel Arrow (Paralysis)]

[Poison-Coated Steel Arrow (Bleeding)]

[Poison-Coated Steel Arrow (Decay)]

[Poison-Coated Steel Arrow (Poisoning)]

What if I stabbed myself directly with these different poisons, then forced myself to overcome them by using a ton of recovery potions?

Maybe this was a growth method that only someone like me, with enormous amounts of Gold and potions, could use.

And I could put myself in even more extreme situations by fighting Lizardmen while poisoned.

Of course, I might die if things went wrong. But if I overcame it, I could grow just as dramatically.

“Gambling, huh.”

If I failed, I died. If I succeeded, I got stronger. It was gambling with a clear risk and reward.

It was kind of funny to say it myself, but I'd been a shut-in loser and dopamine addict from the start.

I'd come out of my room now, but I didn't think that part of me had gone anywhere.

So wasn't it obvious?

That I'd get addicted to gambling.

“Alright, let's go.”

Smiling, I drove a poison arrow into my thigh.

-Shnk!

* * *

-Welcome to the Tower of Trials Open Community!

[Author: Kim Jeonghyeon#1921]

[Title: Why Haven't We Seen Jinhyeok Lately]

(Photo)

Didn't this guy ask about Spirit Affinity or something last time?

Why hasn't he posted anything since then? Don't tell me he died?

Anyone here in contact with Jinhyeok?

- Yeah, what has Jinhyeok been up to lately?

- That bastard quit the community, didn't he? Isn't that why?

- Who the fuck is Jinhyeok, you nerd? Stop talking about someone only you know.

  - You're on the community and you don't know Jinhyeok?

  - You don't know Jinhyeok, the Open Community's number one favorite regular?

  - You don't know Jinhyeok, the 2661 luck-flexing bastard?

- Clearing the first floor solo was already a miracle. He might really be dead.

- I sent him a message before, but he never replied.

[Author: Lee Jihun#1554]

[Title: 2661 Seems Dead]

(Photo)

I've sent over a hundred messages, but no reply.

Maybe he quit the community to focus on clearing, but this is getting weird.

Feels like something happened while he was trying to clear the boss solo.

- Still no newbies in 2661? Is that Tower bugged or something?

  - If even one person had entered, they definitely would've posted on the community.

- Another Challenger dies like this. Fuck, this Tower sucks.

- What server is 2661?

  - There's a weird server with only one Challenger named Seo Jinhyeok.

[Author: Seo Jinhyeok#2661]

[Title: I'm Not Dead, You Fuckers]

Stop sending me messages, assholes.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried