WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 3: Noob Slaughter

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After getting a good long sleep, I woke up to find it was already close to two in the afternoon.

There was no Mom in the Tower of Trials to wake me up and tell me to eat breakfast, so I slept without any sense of time.

The moment I opened my eyes, I pulled up the Open Community and chat channel. The (1/1) next to the Tower of Trials#2661 chat window remained unchanged.

I'd thought another Challenger might enter after a day or so, but this meant I was still alone in this Tower.

That was a good thing. It meant I could monopolize the resources for longer.

Yesterday, I'd been so hung up on having to clear all one hundred floors alone that I'd been anxious as hell. Looking back, that had been a pretty stupid thought.

Other Challengers would enter eventually anyway. All I had to do was wait until there were more of them, then clear it at my own pace.

It sucked that I couldn't ride along with Rankers, but being able to monopolize resources early on and grow like this was a huge advantage.

Even the other Challengers in the Open Community had been shocked by how I'd reached level eight in a single day.

Just becoming a low-rank Hunter would've turned my life around. At this rate, I might even become a high-rank Hunter without much trouble.

Of course, that meant I had to keep moving while I could maintain this monopoly.

-Click!

I equipped the armor set I'd bought yesterday through my inventory, then left the inn with a spring in my step.

* * *

Apparently, the field where Horned Rabbits spawned was an area people graduated from at level three, or level five at the latest.

Past that point, there wasn't much to gain from hunting Horned Rabbits.

That applied to newbies climbing other Towers that had already been drained dry. I'd reached level eight just by clearing the field-area quest.

Either way, I was done with the field area. It was finally time to enter the Labyrinth Area, a proper hunting ground.

The Labyrinth was a place Challengers had to pass through to climb the Tower of Trials, basically its main dungeon content.

It held powerful monsters you couldn't find outside, dangerous traps, and boss rooms that served as gateways to the next floor.

More importantly, treasure chests containing rare items were hidden throughout it.

Treasure chests were also limited resources, so they were supposedly hard to find in other Towers of Trials that had been conquered long ago... but that had nothing to do with me.

A Class Advancement Tome that let you advance to a rare class. A unique item, with only one appearing in each Tower.

All kinds of treasures whose value could not easily be measured were waiting for me.

[Challenger, the Tower of Trials calls you.]

After passing the NPC at the Labyrinth entrance and stepping inside, the air around me grew eerie as the entrance message appeared.

The minimap attached to my interface had gone completely black, displaying [Exploration Progress: 0%].

Only the parts of the Labyrinth Area I explored appeared on the map. It sounded like first-generation Hunters had run themselves ragged to fill up each floor's exploration progress.

Now that guides through the hundredth floor had all been neatly organized, Challengers could view maps made by other Challengers with a single click in the Open Community.

Naturally, these complete maps also listed every discovered trap and treasure location.

They didn't show the locations of treasures that had already been used up ages ago, but I could find those with a few searches too.

Starting now, I was going to loot every treasure chest in this Labyrinth.

* * *

The first treasure chest wasn't far from the entrance.

Its contents were supposedly a few kinds of potions and simple material items, but they weren't things a day-two newbie could easily get.

Potions tied directly to survival were never something you could have too many of, so I couldn't ignore them.

Besides, treasure chests near the entrance would obviously be looted quickly once other Challengers entered. I had to grab them early while no one else was around.

As I slowly advanced while checking the map, the next thing I'd been waiting for after the treasure chest suddenly popped out.

-Keruk!

A child-sized monster with pointed ears, green skin, and an enormous nose.

It was a Goblin, the most common and weakest monster in the Floor 1 Labyrinth Zone.

Treasure chests were nice, but I'd also been waiting for monsters to show up.

Why? Because I wanted to properly test the strength of a level eight against something other than Horned Rabbits.

-Shing.

I drew the [Steel Straight Sword] I'd bought from the shop. My weapon was no longer a Wooden Sword.

Honestly, it wasn't level eight's strength I wanted to test most. It was this sword. It looked so cool that I'd wanted to use it as soon as possible.

With a badass longsword in hand, I charged at the Goblin that was going keruk.

"Hyah!"

-Thud!

I didn't know how to use a sword, and I hadn't learned any skills yet, so it felt closer to chopping down with an axe than slashing.

The sword I swung with all my strength split the Goblin's collarbone and sank deep into it with a red effect. It landed more brutally than I'd expected, which caught me off guard.

-Keeek...

Maybe because the deeply embedded blow had been fatal, the Goblin couldn't do anything and collapsed, turning into light.

That red effect earlier had probably been a critical hit. A system where hitting a weak point dealt additional damage.

Even so, one-shotting it with a critical hit was crazy. Levels and items really were powerful.

"Ah... that's the stuff."

How should I put it? The feeling of it was no joke. Honestly, I'd been worried I might not fight well.

The thrill of taking down a disgusting monster in one blow was more exhilarating than I'd expected. Adrenaline? Endorphins? It felt like that stuff was pumping through me.

In some comic I'd read before, someone said overwhelming strength was boring or whatever. How could this possibly be boring?

"All right, time to power-level."

I pushed onward, claimed the treasure chest I'd been after, then hunted the three Goblins I encountered right away.

I had to face all three at once, but their club attacks were stopped by my armor and barely chipped away at my HP.

One or two damage at most. With the system's protection function applied, it felt like being hit by cotton balls.

"Hyah!"

It was a complete noob slaughter. Feeling the thrill of overwhelming strength, I spent the whole day roaming the Labyrinth.

* * *

My first Labyrinth expedition ended successfully.

I'd gotten six Medium Treasure Chests all by myself, the kind other Challengers considered a jackpot if they got even one.

I'd killed a fair number of Goblins along the way, so my level shot up, and selling the loot at the shop left me with a ridiculous amount of gold.

I'd already earned enough gold on my first day to equal what other newbies would have to grind for ten days to get, but today was on an entirely different scale.

On top of that, I'd obtained an absurd amount of equipment-enhancement materials. Hunting and quests would normally take nearly two weeks to get this much.

The community addicts in the Open Community would explain just how amazing that was better than I could.

[Author: Seo Jinhyeok#2661]

[Title: Tower of Trials Day 2 Newbie Earnings, How Are They?]

(Photo)

Title says it all.

- Day two my ass. More like month two.

- This is the same bastard who was baiting people yesterday by saying he was a day-one newbie.

- What the fuck, on day two? Lol, did you use hacks?

- No, dumbass. You think this is an actual game...?

- Fucking humblebragging. You got support through connections and call that earnings? Earnings are money you made yourself.

- But the poster's server is 2661. Who could've supported him?

- What country's server is 2661? It's not Korea.

The community addicts reacted passionately to my obvious bait post, and I couldn't help grinning.

Seeing my #2661 server tag, they seemed to think I was a Korean living overseas. When would they realize the truth?

This monopoly wouldn't last that long, but I planned to enjoy it to the fullest until then.

"Heh, nice."

I rented another room at the inn I'd used yesterday, threw myself onto the spacious bed, and kept browsing the community.

Unlike yesterday, I wasn't just killing time. There was something I needed to look into.

[I'll Organize the Tower of Trials' Class Types]

I opened a post by some Ranker who said they were staying in the Tower to aim for high-rank Hunter status.

Tower of Trials Challengers could choose a class, advance to it, and learn skills starting at level ten.

The usual RPG stuff, like warriors, archers, and rogues. The way you fought changed drastically depending on which class you chose.

- Seo Jinhyeok Lv.14 (Unemployed)

Having reached level fourteen today, I'd already met every requirement for a Normal Class.

That didn't mean I could just blindly choose any class, though. I'd have to form a party with Challengers who entered later.

There was also the option of remaining unemployed while aiming for a Unique or Epic class instead.

"Mm... I don't know."

I thought and thought, but even late into the night, the answer didn't come easily.

In the end, I decided to postpone changing classes until another Challenger entered or my progress got blocked, then fell asleep late.

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

And even the next day, no other Challenger entered.

Footnotes:

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