WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Protagonist Doesn't Want to Leave the First Floor ◈
Chapter 27
──────
‘This is what auto-hunting is.’
That was what he had thought on the first night, while taking turns solo hunting.
When one Avatar slept, he felt slightly groggy and sluggish. Perhaps because of that, the hunting Avatar’s movements were not as smooth as they were during the day.
He had no choice but to keep hunting while taking a few hits, but perhaps thanks to the Stage 50 Nemesis effect, they hurt less than the fists of middle school bullies.
‘And my senses get dull when I’m looking down from above.’
In other words, he was continuing the hunt by getting hit while hitting back. Other than his clothes rapidly losing durability, there were no particular problems.
He decided there was no need to add more defense to his clothing and simply took off his shirt. The result was a battle scene that truly looked like a barbarian warrior’s.
Black guarded the sleeping Avatar.
Since he was hunting alone, there was no need for Black to bring monsters over. If Black did, too many would gather at once, making it hard to manage his health.
‘It’s nice having Subspace.’
Whenever too many enemies gathered or he took too many hits in a short time, he stepped inside for a while to catch his breath or eat something and recover health.
If the person who had sold it knew how he was using it, would they regret it?
‘Still, getting that many Points for it back then must have felt lucky.’
And honestly, they probably had intended to show off a little too. The mindset of listing something at a price no one could afford, just to say they had gotten their hands on it.
‘It was an impulse purchase, but I did well.’
His Subspace was currently being expanded past 100 Blocks.
He could have made it even larger, but since he had wrapped up Pull Hunting earlier than planned, he no longer needed to expand it massively all at once.
Instead of spending Points on that, he invested in increasing his stay time, making it even more efficient.
‘It’s currently 113 Blocks... and the maximum stay time is 82 minutes.’
Even if he openly settled in there, he could last over an hour. On top of that, the stay time gradually recovered while he was outside.
‘That recovery seems to improve the more I enhance it, too.’
There was no separate explanation, but increasing the stay time seemed to also slightly increase the amount of stay time that recovered.
It was only a feeling for now, but he was considering setting aside a day to measure it properly.
Boom!
“Oh.”
Heavy Attack struck a Wolf’s weak point.
What followed was not something breaking or being crushed, but an almost explosive impact and the resulting remains.
“Something gets hit no matter where I strike, so there’s no real need to aim for weak points.”
That weak-point hit had been an accident.
Even when he swung as if saying, “Someone get hit,” it happened fairly often.
“Night isn’t really any different either.”
He had thought Black Leopards like Black, or nocturnal monsters, might roam at night and create situations different from the daytime. But that did not seem to be the case.
From above, it looked like there were things other than Wolves around, but like Black Leopards, they seemed unlikely to attack unless something specifically provoked them.
‘That one was like that too.’
Even when their eyes met from fairly close by, it had not attacked him. At the time, he had assumed it was because it already had prey, but it had not been an Aggressive Mob to begin with.
‘Even if more are added, it won’t change anything.’
There was something he was curious about.
At the end of the Wolf Nemesis effect, it said, “Effect shared with Similar Species.” Did that mean canine animals and monsters, or all four-legged creatures?
‘It probably means dog types... but not Black Leopards, right?’
There was a way to find out.
He could hit Black.
But he was not curious enough to go that far.
‘There’s no need to hit her... no. I can just get hit.’
He had not considered it from that angle.
It was a surprisingly simple solution.
‘I’ll wake up after daylight and let her hit me.’
* * *
The conclusion was that Black Leopards did not seem to count.
At first, it did not hurt at all, so he thought it really might work. Then he realized Black had been hitting him gently.
“I need to check something. Hit me seriously.”
Only after emphasizing it several times did Black properly hit him once. Compared to Companion No. 1, who was around the same level, it definitely hurt more.
‘Still, it wasn’t unbearable.’
He could not openly hunt while getting mobbed like he had during the night hunt, but Black Leopards did not travel in packs like that anyway.
‘It’d be hard to build up a Nemesis effect against them.’
There were not many of them to begin with.
He gave up on that idea and focused on Wolves. The 50 percent experience boost was no joke.
Still, it was clear that even when he was hit by targets other than Wolves, targets without a Nemesis effect, it hurt noticeably less than before.
That was probably because his level had increased.
He already knew that his body, or more precisely, his Avatar’s body, had clearly surpassed human limits.
‘My Sargent jump passed three meters.’
That was when he jumped lightly without any preparation. If he got into position and jumped properly, he could reach nearly five meters.
Of course, he had no reason to jump that high, and landing badly after such a jump could twist his ankle.
‘If I’m unlucky, it could even break.’
His body had become stronger, so those parts were probably sturdier too. Still, he had no intention of getting injured by needlessly showing off.
‘Are they fighting over there again?’
Since it had become known that a boss could be solo-raided by fishing in the lake, quite a few users had gathered there.
Many were simply curious, but there also seemed to be no shortage of people seriously trying to fish.
‘There should be plenty of room.’
Based on the photos and videos he had seen, even if everyone in Rabbit Field gathered there, there was no way a lack of space would become a problem.
Yet users were clashing with one another, even fighting.
That probably meant many of them wanted something other than fishing itself.
‘There aren’t any police here, or anything like that.’
There was no sense in expecting public safety.
Posts reporting particular users by name or appearance appeared on the message board regularly.
Most were about minor scams or people taking payment and disappearing, but there were also occasional cases that counted as violent crimes.
‘Some cases make you think dying would be better.’
Sometimes, terrible things happened to vulnerable people, or to women, but the greater problem was that no one could stop it or resolve it.
Survival.
In the end, people had to handle things themselves.
The weak had to band together somehow or gain the protection of stronger people. If they could not, they had to hide deeper in places without people.
“Hmm.”
That afternoon, an incident occurred at the lake field.
During a fishing raid that had continued for over three hours, someone cut another person’s fishing line.
Boss monsters did not get caught on hooks often to begin with, yet they had wasted such a hard-won opportunity.
The problem was that both the fishing user and the user who cut the line belonged to fairly large clans of their own. Naturally, the fight could only grow.
“Why fight people when you could hunt monsters?”
Wouldn’t it be better to spend that time leveling up?
Shaking his head, he closed the community, drained the half-full shake, and resumed hunting.
That evening, Juggernaut reached Level 20.
Then, later that night, Vulcan reached Level 20.
At dawn, Companion No. 1 and Black reached Level 10 almost at the same time. It was the result of frequently adjusting the experience distribution.
‘The 50 percent experience boost was huge.’
When he had first started in this forest, would he have achieved this much if he had been frightened by the Wolves or left because another Area might be better?
‘The important thing is doing everything you can where you are.’
He would have given up if it had truly been impossible to continue, but it was not that bad. Besides, various coincidences and strokes of luck had added up.
‘It’s almost time.’
One strange thing was that Juggernaut and Vulcan were locked from leveling up again, but Companion No. 1 and Black were not.
But he soon learned why.
Unlike Avatars, monsters did not have their levels locked. Their stages were locked instead.
‘There might be further evolutions in the future, but even if there are, it probably isn’t time yet.’
There was something else he wondered.
If Juggernaut and Vulcan remained stuck at Level 20 while Companion No. 1 and Black kept leveling, what would happen if they went past 20?
‘They might stop at 20, but they might not. If they become higher level than their owner, could the control be released?’
But he soon found the answer to that too.
He found similar cases on the community board. There were people who had tamed monsters with levels higher than their own.
‘As long as the taming succeeds properly, it won’t be released afterward.’
Then there was no problem.
And even if their levels went past 20, it would be fine for the moment.
‘There aren’t many Keys, but I can unlock one of the two Avatars.’
He had bought and gathered them whenever he could, but it was no longer easy to get Keys from the marketplace.
It had already become widely known that they could unlock the Level 10 lock, and more people were beginning to reach Level 10.
A whole Key did not drop, only a fragment.
Once the Field Level increased, normal monsters as well as bosses could supposedly drop them, but the drop rate was apparently terrible.
‘I’ll level Juggernaut first.’
That had been decided from the beginning.
It was not because Juggernaut had been his first Avatar. It was simply easier to control. Juggernaut was also the system owner of Companion No. 1 and Black.
[Level Lock has been removed.]
[Level has increased.]
Juggernaut became Level 21.
Unlike when Vulcan’s Level 10 lock had been removed, this time he received Enhancement Points.
‘Not sure whether they’re only given to one main character, or to whichever Avatar reaches it first.’
Since Juggernaut would probably have its locks removed first in the future anyway, it did not matter much.
What mattered was that he had received more Points than at Level 10.
Exactly twice as many.
[Additional Enhancement Points have been awarded.]
[Current Additional Enhancement Points: 20]
‘Should I enhance a Unique Ability again this time?’
He had not received Enhancement Points when Vulcan’s lock was removed, but his Unique Ability had still been enhanced. Wouldn’t it be fine to skip that this time?
‘But the other options are more ambiguous.’
It felt wasteful to use them to add inventory slots. As for Skill Slots, they already shared 14 slots, seven each, so they actually had slots left over.
‘I don’t want to equip Skills I won’t use.’
Enhancing a Unique Ability cost 10 Points per stage.
After looking at that for a moment, Seo Hajin shook his head and reviewed the other available enhancements.
Then he noticed something.
[Mana Awakening: 5 Points]
‘This is here.’
Mana.
Here, it was common knowledge that mana was necessary to use magic-type Skills.
Even if he acquired a magic-type Skill as a level-up reward or by some other means, he could not use it without mana.
“I don’t think I saw this last time. Did I just skim through it too casually?”
If it had been there at Level 10, even people without a mana-related Unique Ability could use this to cast magic.
‘You could say it’s like unlocking a Unique Ability for five Points.’
Thinking of it that way, it was cheap.
But he was reluctant to spend it immediately. Just as he had discovered this now, he felt like there might be something else left unseen.
‘If I really did skim through it before, there might be something better. Maybe something that costs 20 Points.’
If he awakened mana now, he might later find something he could not buy because he lacked Points.
For now, he simply kept Mana Awakening in mind and carefully reviewed the enhancement list again.
‘Carrying Capacity Enhancement? There’s something like this too. Is it related to Strength Enhancement?’
If it only increased the weight he could carry, it felt ambiguous.
He continued past similar options, then stopped again.
[Soul Resonance]
‘What is this?’
The strange name caught his attention first, but the description was quite interesting.
‘Resonate the soul with the original body and summoned beasts, or tamed subordinates... hmm.’
The explanation was a little difficult, but he understood it.
It connected his Avatars and tamed monsters through the system, allowing them to share some special abilities and physical traits such as strength and agility.
‘Sharing doesn’t reduce either side.’
Simply connecting them would create overall synergy. If that was right, then the more tamed monsters he had, the more he stood to gain.
‘I benefit, and the monsters benefit too.’
It looked quite good.
No, far better than quite good.
But then he saw the enhancement cost.
Ten Points.
That was enough to upgrade a Unique Ability by one stage.
‘Let’s look through the rest first.’
Honestly, unlocking Soul Resonance seemed better than awakening mana. But if there was nothing else worth taking, he could get both.
‘Still, if possible, I do want to raise my Unique Ability by one more stage.’
Perhaps it was fortunate.
Even after looking through the rest, there was nothing that particularly appealed to him. Still, he did notice something.
Mana Awakening did not seem to be an option he had missed by skimming the list last time.
‘There were definitely things that didn’t seem to be there last time. Some things I saw last time weren’t here either. This was random too.’
Just as he had been offered five Skills to choose from upon leveling up, the options on this list were randomly presented each time.
‘If I miss this chance, I might not see it next time.’
After considering it for a moment, he eventually chose Soul Resonance.
He did not choose Mana Awakening.
‘I might choose it if I get another chance, but I don’t really feel drawn to magic right now.’
Of course, it would be nice to have, but if he had dreamed of becoming a mage, he would not have started out in a barbarian warrior style.
[You have acquired the Unique Ability, Soul Resonance.]
‘Ah. This is called a Unique Ability too.’
What surprised him even more was what followed when his existing Unique Ability was enhanced.
[The Unique Ability, Multiple Viewpoints, has been enhanced.]
[Your field of vision expands, and mental energy consumption decreases.]
[A sufficient reserve of mental energy has been secured.]
[One Viewpoint Slot has been added.]
[In addition to Avatars, you can add one third-person viewpoint.]
The expanded vision and reduced mental energy consumption were what he had expected.
But not the messages below them.
‘It really increases again?’
He could add another Avatar.
That would change a great many things.
‘That’s not all.’
Apart from an Avatar, he could also add another third-person viewpoint. In other words, another viewpoint for his original self, which normally looked down from high above.
However, it added that using that viewpoint would reduce the range of his existing vision.
‘This could be improved later too, but for now, I should only use it when I really need it.’
In any case, what mattered now was setting up the new Avatar.
He looked at the system window already floating to one side.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
