WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Protagonist Doesn't Want to Leave the First Floor ◈
Chapter 28
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‘Are all three really going to be warriors?’
This was starting to look like some goddamn hopeless trio.
Still, that might not be so bad.
‘Warriors are perfect for something close to auto-hunting.’
Just taking hits and beating things down without having to think much. That was especially true for nighttime hunting. If one warrior became two, the efficiency would increase enormously.
‘Yeah. Let's keep going.’
He copied what he could from Juggernaut and Vulcan's saved Avatar settings, then changed what needed changing.
The result looked like a big youngest brother. Stone was taller and larger than Juggernaut, but looked somewhat more sluggish overall.
‘Good.’
That was all intentional.
He planned to disregard mobility and agility, specializing Stone for stationary hunting.
‘Hm?’
Then Seo Hajin realized there was another page in the Avatar Settings window.
‘Was this here before?’
When he opened it, he found settings unrelated to physical appearance, such as voice tone and volume.
‘The default is Basic.’
But next to it was the word "(Human)."
Did that mean there was no need to configure it if the Avatar was human?
‘Wait.’
What if it was not human?
He thought of Companion No. 1, who was still working in Subspace, and Black, sprawled across their usual mat nearby.
‘Don't tell me they can't talk because I never set this up for them?’
They understood what he said.
They conveyed their intentions by nodding or shaking their heads. Sometimes, they even tried to explain things by drawing on the ground.
That meant they already possessed linguistic ability. He had simply assumed they could not speak because their levels or evolution stages were too low.
‘Hmm.’
If it really was because of the settings, he would feel bad.
If they got another chance to evolve, or if he could modify their Avatar settings, he would check properly then.
[Avatar Name: Stone]
[Level: 1]
[Skill Slot: 1]
[Inventory: 20]
“Damn, that looks sturdy.”
Stone had not yet reached the size Hajin was ultimately aiming for. What he had seen in the Avatar Settings window was only the final goal.
“You can't make a finished product from the start.”
Still, he had laid down the fundamentals, such as Stone's frame and muscle density. Just as Juggernaut and Vulcan had grown thicker than they were at first, Stone would improve day by day.
“It definitely has potential. The problem is that I put everything into that, so it's even skinnier than expected.”
Even at a glance, Stone was about half a head taller than Juggernaut, with arms and legs proportionately longer.
In other words, it was tall, had a decent frame, and was thin enough to be nearly starving.
It looked bizarre at first glance, but Hajin could fatten it up from now on.
“Still, since it's only Level 1, I'll have to protect it for a while... Huh?”
Seo Hajin suddenly felt something strange.
He was startled by the new power he could feel from his multiple Avatars, even from Stone, who had just been completed and brought into the world.
“What is this...?”
Juggernaut had just broken through the Level 20 wall and reached Level 21, so it made sense for him to be stronger.
But Hajin sensed power beyond that.
Vulcan, too, was filled with more strength than he normally possessed. Hajin clenched his fist and clearly felt the difference.
‘And the one I just made feels this strong? It can't just be because I configured the Avatar well.’
He searched through the system windows, then stopped at one place.
His Status Window.
[Awakener: Seo Hajin]
[Unique Abilities]
Multiple Viewpoints
Soul Resonance
There had previously been only one Unique Ability.
The additional ability he had acquired earlier had now been added. That was the reason for his current strength.
‘I thought it only resonated with summons or tamed mobs.’
Of course, it was resonating with them too.
His Avatars were each sharing some of Companion No. 1 and Black's traits, receiving buffs to their agility, sense of smell, and hearing.
“It isn't temporary either. It said it would continue as long as the resonance target did not disappear completely.”
But resonance was occurring not only with the monsters, but among his Avatars as well.
Juggernaut, Vulcan, and the newly created Stone.
Soul Resonance was linking the power each of the three Avatars possessed, creating synergy between them.
‘I didn't even hope for this much.’
Should he consider it a bug?
Did the system have bugs?
Probably not.
‘Unique Abilities aren't something everyone has to begin with. It doesn't look like there was any balance adjustment from the start.’
He realized anew that this was an effect he could not have gained without Multiple Viewpoints.
If he had only one Avatar, there would have been no resonance like this.
At best, he would have had Companion No. 1 and Black.
Even sharing just some of their abilities would have been a substantial buff, but nothing close to this.
‘Roughly... one and a half times stronger at best?’
Was that too generous an estimate?
No.
He leaped high from where he stood and swung his usual weapon through the air.
One and a half times was actually a conservative estimate.
For once, Hajin nodded with an excited expression.
“This gives us an opening.”
The solo Tiger raid.
He thought he could move the schedule up.
* * *
Luke's poison was decent enough.
But compared to the poison Hajin had secured in the Northern Forest, personally testing and refining it with Toxic Adaptation, it was lacking.
‘Mostly Paralysis Poison. This one causes blood coagulation, this one dizziness, and this one...’
He had made quite a variety of poisons by now.
Some had more than two effects at once, though their potency was weaker as a result.
On a shelf in one corner of Subspace sat an earthenware jar nearly the size of a head.
It looked like a honey pot, but it held poison instead of honey.
“Both are sticky.”
Beside it were several bows.
There were ordinary wooden bows, but recently, the number of crossbows had begun to increase.
He had made them by dismantling and studying Luke's Personal Effects. They were much larger, however, making them almost impossible to carry around.
‘They're not siege ballistae, but I couldn't carry these without Subspace.’
Naturally, he had made them so large to hunt boss monsters.
A stronger frame and string would deliver faster, more powerful strikes.
‘And I can coat them with more poison.’
Subspace offered another advantage.
He could leave the crossbows loaded for a long time without ruining them.
That meant he could keep Poison Arrows loaded and ready, then pull them out and fire immediately when necessary. That was why he had made several, and why he was still making more.
“Even aside from Poison Arrows, special arrowheads should be useful too.”
Everyone knew that the effect of a strike changed depending on the arrowhead's shape.
Alongside ordinary arrows and bolts, he was also increasing his stock of drill-shaped arrows designed for greater piercing power.
‘This almost feels like overpreparing, but in this case, having too much is far better than having too little.’
The saying that too much is as bad as too little did not apply here.
He could use whatever was left next time.
‘Time to move.’
Three days had passed since Stone was born.
Hajin had funneled experience into Stone and kept it hunting around the clock. Stone had reached Level 10 and become locked.
He lacked the keys to unlock it, but Stone was already capable enough to do its part. Hajin decided to challenge the Tiger now.
“The next crossbow should be finished by the time we get there.”
After preparing, he tidied up the waterfall cliff dwelling and left.
He was now used to controlling all three Avatars at once, so there was no awkwardness even when they took different strides, moved at different speeds, and made different motions.
As expected, Wolves greeted them when they descended the cliff.
But unlike before, not one rushed them immediately.
The Wolves recognized Hajin's Avatars, fled far away, then returned with stronger Wolves.
But by the time they came back, Hajin and his Avatars had already moved on, so the Wolves often lost their targets and dispersed.
‘We're getting close to its territory.’
He had conducted field surveys whenever he had the chance.
He had checked the Tiger's traces and learned where it usually traveled.
It did not repeat a fixed route like a monster in a game, but it had major paths it used while moving through its territory.
At one of them, a trail deep in the forest, Hajin stopped.
There was dung on the ground.
The fur mixed into it showed that the Tiger had eaten something.
‘Doesn't look like Wolf fur. A rabbit?’
The Tiger could crush a rabbit in one bite.
Remembering the Tiger he had seen before, Hajin lightly warmed up with each Avatar, releasing some of his tension.
‘The traces look a little old... so it'll probably come this way before long.’
Warriors were good, but he needed to be a hunter now.
If he wandered around openly like an idiot, he would end up being hunted instead.
Whoosh.
He sent each Avatar up a suitable tree.
They needed to get off the ground because their presence on the ground would draw the Wolves' aggro.
‘Luring it with the smell of blood wouldn't be bad, but if it turns into a chaotic melee, there'll be too many variables.’
How long had it been?
He ate and rested in the trees like a detective on stakeout, until he fixed his aerial view on one spot.
‘Is that it?’
Something was moving on one side of the forest.
When the Tiger moved, all the smaller creatures around it reacted as well. From above, he could spot the disturbance in one area.
It was not coming directly toward him. It seemed to be casually wandering through its territory, as though taking a stroll or making rounds.
‘Still, it will definitely come this way.’
He checked his preparations again.
Now that the moment had come, he felt a little anxious.
That was different from physical pain, so dulling his senses did not lessen it much.
But it was interesting.
Since a certain point, he had never felt this kind of tension.
Not just rarely. Never.
‘It feels like I'm alive.’
His heart was beating.
In three different places, each in its own way.
He wanted to run away immediately.
He wanted to charge in immediately.
‘Only now does it feel like I'm alive.’
As similar smiles formed at the corners of the Avatars' mouths, his aerial view fixed on one place again.
‘It's coming.’
The gently swaying forest stopped.
It was quiet.
Neither birds nor insects made a sound any longer.
Rustle.
The brush parted, and a heavy forepaw emerged.
A massive body followed, with clear stripes across its hide.
The master of this forest.
Yellowish, reddish eyes slowly swept across the forest, dim even in broad daylight.
Grrr.
A low breath.
As Seo Hajin silently watched, his heart instead settled and his blood ran cold.
‘I've been waiting for this.’
Everything he had gone through until now was for this moment.
Well, perhaps that was overstating it. But he knew further growth would not come easily unless he passed through this stage.
“...”
Juggernaut, Vulcan, and Stone.
Each of the three Avatars was perched in a separate tree, tightly gripping a large crossbow taken from Subspace.
‘Three directions.’
He had not decided whether to fire in sequence or all at once.
He planned to decide based on the situation, but looking at the Tiger now, a volley seemed right.
‘It'll be nimbler than it looks.’
If they fired in sequence, all three bolts might miss one after another.
It was better to risk wasting one or two shots for a greater chance of landing a hit.
Click.
It was a tiny sound.
Even so, the Tiger's ears perked up.
Its eyes turned precisely toward the source, but by then, a thick, long bolt had already been fired with a heavy sound.
Large bolts sliced through the air.
The Tiger leaped lightly to the side without even snorting.
But while it twisted through the air to evade, its other ear perked up as if it had realized something was wrong.
It was right.
Bolts fired at nearly the same time from different directions had almost perfectly blocked its blind spots.
Even so, it twisted its body and was only grazed by one bolt, which showed how formidable it was.
Unfortunately for it, the attack did not end there.
Clack. Thwump!
Thunk!
Thwump!
The three Avatars immediately tossed their fired crossbows into Subspace, took out more preloaded crossbows, and fired in rapid succession.
In less than a minute, nearly twenty bolts poured down.
Even the Tiger, which had evaded them with ease, could not help taking several hits.
Rrraow!
It was a snarl closer to rage than pain.
As if it would no longer allow them to fire bolts, it rushed toward the nearest tree and began striking the trunk with its body and forepaws.
The base gouged out as though struck with a large axe, and the giant tree began to shake.
But the Tiger did not know that the human above had already vanished.
By the time it realized, that human had joined someone atop another tree.
The firing resumed.
There were fewer shots than before, but the Tiger was also evading less often.
“It slowed down.”
One of the humans spoke.
The Tiger did not understand the words, but answered by growing even angrier.
“We need to fire a little more. It's still questionable.”
From the tree, Juggernaut muttered as he looked at Companion No. 1 and Black, who were busily loading crossbows inside the open Subspace.
Early in Black's evolution, Black would not have possessed the strength to load one easily.
Now, Black could contribute well enough.
Still, loading was inevitably slow. Once they used up every preloaded crossbow, their rate of fire would have to slow.
“Shall we go?”
They would have to finish it themselves.
Hajin had never thought they could kill it with bows alone.
Perhaps the Paralysis Poison had built up, because the Tiger's movements had grown noticeably sluggish. Its eyes were bloodshot, and it staggered.
Juggernaut and the other two Avatars leaped down from the trees, surrounding the Tiger from three directions as they had with the bolts.
They did not divide themselves into concepts like tanks and damage dealers.
They were all warriors, and their fighting style did not involve one person taking all the hits alone.
Rrraow!
Thud.
“Ugh.”
Vulcan was struck by a forepaw and sent flying sideways, crashing through a giant tree.
But Juggernaut took advantage of the opening and landed a solid blow near the Tiger's tailbone, dealing considerable damage.
Juggernaut was soon sent flying in a similar fashion.
But Stone did not miss that moment, and Vulcan used the opening Stone created.
It was a somewhat clumsy rotation.
Large openings appeared at times, but Companion No. 1 and Black stepped in to fill the gaps.
Companion No. 1 pressured the Tiger from a distance with arrows.
Companion No. 1 showed no particular emotional change even upon seeing the Tiger, but Black was different.
Black approached without a sound, raked the Tiger's flank, and withdrew. There was considerable hostility in Black's eyes, not the usual laziness or boredom.
Hajin knew why.
When he explained to Companion No. 1 and Black that they would be hunting the Tiger, Black had drawn something on the ground to convey their thoughts.
‘It seemed like the Tiger had stolen a huge amount of Black's food.’
That was probably not all.
It had not merely stolen food. It had likely nearly taken Black's life as well.
Every species living in the forest had probably suffered the same.
The Tiger was a vicious ruler.
The chance to kill it had come, and Black welcomed that chance.
After all, Black was now in a state where death did not mean death.
Of course, strong motivation did not increase fighting power.
Black seemed to know their own limits exactly.
Black did not overextend, moving only within the bounds of thoroughly assisting their master.
‘It looks like the poison is starting to wear off.’
He had used every kind of poison.
Paralysis, bleeding, blood coagulation, and more.
Bleeding and coagulation were not a compatible combination, but they worked well enough when they affected different areas.
Swish.
Juggernaut signaled with his fingers, and Companion No. 1, standing far back, changed arrows.
Companion No. 1 had been using ordinary arrowheads with enhanced piercing power, but switched back to mostly Poison Arrows.
The poisoning persisted without quite breaking.
And each attack from the humans coming from three directions inflicted substantial damage.
For the first time, the Tiger began to feel fear alongside its rage.
The humans should have been sent flying with broken bones after a single blow, yet even after the Tiger had struck them dozens of times and devastated the surrounding trees, they remained relatively intact.
They would be covered in blood, then disappear from sight briefly and return clean.
Rrraaaaow!
The Tiger roared violently.
The sound was enough to make even the Wolves whose aggro had been drawn to the humans recoil in surprise, flee in all directions, and put distance between themselves and the battle.
But the humans welcomed it instead and charged in together.
The Tiger twisted, swung its tail, slashed with raised claws, and tried to bite them with its teeth.
It made no difference.
Amazingly, its claws could not tear through the humans' skin. They left only minor scratches and a few drops of blood.
Its teeth did pierce their skin, but that only left its jaw caught by a human.
“This hurts a little.”
Stone frowned slightly, turned the stone mortar held in both hands upright, then swung it down with all its strength onto the head of the Tiger biting its leg.
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