Chapter 8 : From the Start, Luck Was on His Side (1)

Chapter 8: From the Start, Luck Was on His Side (1)

There had never been a windfall quite like this.

Obtaining a ‘skill’ in Colossus was close to plucking a star from the sky.

So even beginners—no, even after becoming intermediate—needed a tremendous amount of effort and time before obtaining a skill other than their first one.

And yet, to start with two from the very beginning…….

Dohyeong swallowed dryly and quickly examined the thirteen cards.

‘Nine actives, three passives, and one special summoning type.’

His head spun at full speed.

He had to choose the skill that would benefit him the most.

After agonizing while even biting at his nails, Dohyeong finally snatched one card.

“Yeah, this is it.”

Ding!

「Jin Dohyeong-nim’s selection is complete. Please check it now」

The card depicted a single sword wrapped in a faint aura. What Dohyeong chose was an active skill.

Of course, choosing an active skill during the starting skill draw was not a particularly good decision when considering the future.

On top of that, the skill Dohyeong selected had an extremely ambiguous position when it came to its effects.

Normally, it was a skill that would never be picked.

Even so, there was only one fundamental reason Dohyeong chose this skill—the tutorial’s ‘hidden piece.’

Among the hidden pieces Dohyeong knew, this one boasted a difficulty that was close to impossible.

So for now, he had naturally set it aside and given up on it.

‘But if there’s a developer perk…….’

Dohyeong nodded while looking at the skill [Giga Checkron–Manifestation (Unique)].

“It’s worth trying.”

A deep smile spread across his lips.

“Now then, I’m sure you all have a lot of questions about the tutorial that’s about to begin……. But once you pass this door, you’ll understand everything on your own, so don’t be too scared. Pishishit!”

Though it spoke like that, the rabbit’s meaningful smile left people with no choice but to tremble in fear.

“D-damn it……. Just what in the world is going on?”

“Hoo……, it’s fine. It’ll be fine. God will protect us.”

The convenience store siblings who had a slight connection with Dohyeong as well.

And the big guy who had been scolded by the rabbit fairy earlier.

They all moved into the tutorial zone through the iron door.

Thus, only Dohyeong, who had unintentionally ended up last, remained.

“…….”

Dohyeong took a deep breath and slowly moved his feet.

And at that moment.

Creeeak, clank!

……The iron door that had been wide open shut tightly.

“?”

With the closed door behind him, a cold voice he hadn’t heard until now rang out.

“Hey.”

The owner of that voice was the rabbit fairy who always maintained a lighthearted demeanor.

That very creature was now scanning Dohyeong with a rather strange look.

“What are you?”

At the incomprehensible question, Dohyeong couldn’t answer rashly.

When there was no response, the rabbit fairy frowned and jerked its chin.

“That spear. More precisely, the power contained within it. It’s something you can’t obtain in the current situation, so how are you holding it?”

Now that he looked closely, the rabbit’s gaze was slightly to the left.

That was, toward the crude spear Dohyeong was holding in his hand.

‘Was it talking about the Giga Snail essence?’

To an ordinary person, it was just a poorly made spear.

But inside it was a power strong enough to shake up the early Colossus ecosystem.

The rabbit fairy had noticed that.

Fortunately, the creature was only focused on the spear.

It didn’t know about the various items inside the duffel bag.

Not to mention the fact that Dohyeong was a Colossus veteran.

“Stop trying to be clever and answer honestly. The tutorial hasn’t even started—how did you get that?”

Had it realized that Dohyeong’s mind had grown complicated?

The rabbit wrinkled the bridge of its nose and growled.

In the end, Dohyeong slowly opened his mouth.

“I killed some kind of snail, and something called ‘Giga Snail essence’ dropped.”

“Essence? By snail, do you mean a Giga Snail?”

“If you’re talking about a giant snail, then yes. And then I immediately imbued this spear with attributes…….”

Dohyeong tried to continue speaking in a calm voice, but—

“Wait a second, what the hell are you talking about? So you’re saying you killed a Giga Snail?”

The rabbit fairy couldn’t contain its shock.

“Do you think that makes any sense? How could a normal person possibly?”

“There was no how or why. It kept chasing me, so I had to fight back.”

“Chased you? Until just a moment ago, all monsters were inside the barrier…….”

The rabbit, who had been tilting its head in confusion, suddenly widened its eyes.

Then, as if something had come to mind, it hurriedly moved its hands.

Wooooong!

Multiple hologram windows appeared, cluttering the surroundings.

No matter how much of a tutorial fairy it was, it couldn’t directly interfere with the system or check a participant’s information.

But it could at least check the progress of events.

Ding!

============================

[Sudden Event]

An event for the rapid progression of the game…….

.

.

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Seoul City Mapo District Seogyo-dong Mutated Monster Individual : Giga Snail (LV.6)

.

.

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Subjugation Complete

============================

The unbelievable fact left it completely speechless.

The rabbit blinked rapidly, alternating its gaze between Dohyeong and the hologram.

A sudden event.

In truth, it was called an event, but it was never something meant to be cleared.

It was merely a kind of trigger aimed at players who noticed that monsters couldn’t come out beyond the barrier.

That was why they had released a monster that early players could absolutely never kill, the ‘Giga Snail.’

“You’re saying you really killed that thing?”

Watching Dohyeong silently nod his head, the rabbit swallowed dryly.

‘This guy’s ridiculous.’

Dohyeong let out an inward sigh while the rabbit was lost in shock.

‘As expected, I should stop at saying I killed the Giga Snail.’

What kind of insane stunt he had pulled by using the Giga Snail essence.

And the fact that thanks to that, he had monopolized the ‘First Hunt Achievement Bonus’ and was even level 6—there was no need to go out of his way to reveal any of that.

‘Because I don’t know what kind of reaction that would bring.’

Separately, there was another reason he had brought up killing the Giga Snail.

“May I ask one question?”

The rabbit, who had been muttering to itself things like how did he kill a Giga Snail? No, is that even possible for a beginner?, looked at him with a slightly dazed expression.

“What?”

The creature had clearly declared that it would take questions after the tutorial.

But Dohyeong was currently losing tutorial time.

Surely, it could afford to be lenient with a few questions.

Perhaps that was the correct read—the rabbit fairy let out a hollow laugh and nodded its head.

With its permission, Dohyeong immediately held out his palm.

“Isn’t there anything?”

“?”

The rabbit alternated its gaze between the suddenly extended palm and Dohyeong’s face with a puzzled look.

Dohyeong calmly continued speaking toward it.

“That sudden event thing. I cleared it, didn’t I?”

“…….”

“Then there should be a reward.”

Trying to freeload, huh.

……Creeeak, clank!

The massive iron door closed.

With Dohyeong as the last, all the players who had been in the Seogyo-dong Community Center moved into the tutorial zone.

Left alone, the rabbit fairy looked at the iron door Dohyeong had entered through and let out a sigh.

“What the hell is he?”

It was an event it had thought impossible to clear, so within its discretion, it had been willing to give a reward.

Thus, the rabbit slowly listed the rewards it could give.

‘Unbelievable, just a shop access ticket.’

Out of the numerous reward options, what Dohyeong chose was a Tutorial VIP Shop Access Ticket.

The rabbit thought he had simply been tempted by the word ‘VIP.’

Because it had seen him smile like an idiot at the word VIP.

‘Was he brave because he was stupid?’

Maybe that was why he had killed the Giga Snail, the rabbit thought.

‘But in this world, dumb luck doesn’t work twice.’

The shop Dohyeong chose, true to the name VIP, displayed bizarre and extraordinary items.

But all of them required an enormous amount of achievement points, making it a chicken-and-egg shop where you couldn’t buy anything even if you wanted to.

That was why the rabbit was confident Dohyeong wouldn’t obtain a single item there.

‘Just picturing his face after seeing the price tags makes me grin.’

The rabbit snickered and shrugged its shoulders.

“Whatever. Shall we get started now?”

Until the tutorial ended, this place—the Seogyo-dong Community Center—had to be transformed into a proper safe zone.

Just as the rabbit erased its thoughts about Dohyeong and turned its body—

Clank, creeeak!

The sound of a door opening suddenly rang out.

Normally, the total time required to finish the tutorial was seven days.

Until then, the tutorial door never opened.

‘Then where is that sound coming from…….’

As it tilted its head in confusion—

“Is this the safe zone?”

A voice came from behind along with the sound of movement.

“!”

There stood Jegal Geon, his hair grown long like Jesus’s, his entire body smeared with blood, standing tall.

Seeing that shocking sight, the rabbit muttered in a daze.

“What is this now……, where did this one come in from?”

Jegal Geon looked at the rabbit with interested eyes, then soon grinned and dashed forward.

Tat-tat!

Beastlike movements and a crazed grin.

Scattered chairs and desks were no obstacle to him.

In the blink of an eye, Jegal Geon closed the distance and leaped into the air.

Pat!

He raised a machete drenched in blood and flesh high into the sky, his eyes gleaming.

Whooosh!

Watching him charge without any room for discussion, the rabbit let out a deep sigh.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Just dealing with one freak like Jin Dohyeong already made its head hurt.

And now another freak on par with him had appeared.

A dense green forest stretched endlessly.

The sky was bizarre, like paint mixed from blue and purple.

‘So this is the tutorial zone, the Strange Forest.’

Shaaaa—

The thick undergrowth swayed in the wind.

Uuuuuu……

Unknown howling echoed by his ears.

The chilling presence felt throughout the forest made his body instinctively tense.

Being left alone in the ‘Strange Forest,’ which he had only ever seen through a monitor, felt extremely unsettling.

At that moment, a new system window covered Dohyeong’s vision.

Ding!

「The tutorial will now begin」

「The objective of the tutorial is either ‘survival’ or the subjugation of the ‘field boss monster’ within a total time of 7 days in the [Strange Forest (formerly: somewhere in the Amazon)]」

「During this period, defeating monsters will grant ‘1P’ of achievement points per monster. The acquired points can later be used to access the tutorial shop」

‘Amazon? Did the place names change along with the game becoming reality? Either way……, this means it’s still Earth.’

Dohyeong stiffened his expression as an uneasy feeling crept in.

Then he shook his head hard and focused his mind.

No matter what, surviving the monsters in the forest came first.

If there was one difference from the game he had played, it was that he had to spend ‘actually’ seven days.

“Let’s forget everything else for now and focus on surviving first.”

Having resolved himself, Dohyeong lowered his gaze slightly diagonally downward.

Ding!

「Jin Dohyeong-nim is eligible to use the VIP Shop. Would you like to enter now? (YES/NO)」

「Warning : Those who have committed murder and accumulated karma points are prohibited from entering the VIP Shop」

The VIP Shop, a hidden piece of the tutorial shop, was a special space filled with rare items that would be difficult to obtain later even if you wanted to.

However, the average prices were disgustingly high.

And obtaining a VIP Shop access ticket was like plucking a star from the sky.

“To get something like this, what a windfall.”

The rabbit fairy probably thought Dohyeong wouldn’t be able to properly accumulate achievement points.

That was why it had handed over the ticket with such a dumbfounded expression.

But Dohyeong was an oldbie player who had gone beyond seasoned and into rotten.

‘Building achievements is easy as pie.’

Thinking about the future that would unfold, Dohyeong smiled with confidence.