Leveling with the Gods

Chapter 21

[You have consumed the ‘Lifeblood of Giants and Demons.’]

[Giant’s Blood has started penetrating your body.]

[Demon’s Blood has started penetrating your body.]

[A fight between human, Giant, and Demon blood has started within your body.]

* * *

It was hot. So hot that YuWon thought he was going to go mad.

The 「Pyromancy Robe」 that YuWon was wearing had no effect. If it weren’t for the fire resistance from [Cinder Eyes,] it might have felt like his internal organs were melting.

“Fuuuu—”

While squirming on the ground, YuWon exhaled a breath of hot air. He rolled around the floor, back and forth, flailing all around. His body was burning hot. His bones and muscles felt like they were churning, and his blood felt like it was flowing backwards.

It went on for who knows how many hours.

[Cinder Eyes is resisting Flames of the Giants.]

[Cinder Eyes failed to resist Flames of the Giants.]

As YuWon had expected, [Cinder Eyes] alone wasn’t enough. This damned blood was excruciatingly hot. Had YuWon not been in good condition, he might have already lost his mind and fainted. Unfortunately, there was no way to make this pain go away. The only option was to endure it with mental fortitude.

“Giant’s blood is something you normally cover yourself in, not something you eat.”

It was a warning he had received from Hercules, the Slayer of Giants.

“Eating that during the Tutorial is basically suicide, so no matter what, you need to first obtain Cinder Eyes. If you somehow fail to get the Cinder Eyes, give up on the heart.”

Fortunately, YuWon had managed to obtain [Cinder Eyes.] However, the pain was still agonizing. It just wasn’t to a degree that would kill him.

“You will only get one chance.”

That’s right. YuWon only had this one chance. That’s why he had to endure it.

‘Take in as much power as you can.’

If he wanted to ease the pain, he could always expel the power that was entering his body with mana. It was a pretty difficult and tedious thing to do, but that much control over mana would have been a piece of cake for YuWon. However, he chose not to do that.

[Your Strength increased by 1.]

[Your Constitution increased by 1.]

[Your Strength increased…]

His stats continued to rise. Though it was mostly Strength and Constitution that increased, Arcane Power also increased by a little bit.

Giant’s blood and Demon’s blood both thoroughly seeped into YuWon’s body.

Crack, kk-crack—

His body started reforming as his musculoskeletal structure shifted.

Even more time passed.

[Your Strength increased by 1.]

[Your Constitution increased…]

YuWon’s stats increased slowly and steadily. YuWon wondered how much he might have gained in stats. Normally, level-up messages were very much welcomed, but YuWon wasn’t all that pleased.

‘It should be coming along any moment now…’

What YuWon wanted wasn’t a few measly stats. What he was after was a skill that was worth dozens of stats. That was the hidden piece YuWon was after.

[Cinder Eyes and Flames of the Giants are clashing.]

[You are able to control Flames of the Giants through Cinder Eyes.]

[You have fulfilled the conditions for the hidden piece.]

[You have obtained Colossal Fire.]

This was an unexpected situation. YuWon didn’t know if he should be happy or not.

“What… even is… Colossal Fire…?”

Despite the pain, YuWon was so baffled he couldn’t help but let out an empty laugh.

The skill he wanted didn’t appear, and instead he became able to control fire through [Cinder Eyes.] It was definitely a plus, but this would have all been for naught if he wasn’t able to obtain the skill he was after.

[Time limit : 707 : 54 : 29]

Half a day had already passed by.

YuWon had gained quite a bit in stats, but these weren’t the results he had in mind.

‘Were we wrong?’

It wasn’t really a surprise. In order to obtain this skill normally, you needed to kill and get drenched in the blood of ten thousand Giants.

YuWon did obtain the 「Giant’s Heart」 within the Tutorial, but it was still a pretty unlikely theory to try.

‘I guess I should be happy with this…’

YuWon couldn’t endure it anymore. Slowly, his vision went dark, and his mind fell into a deep sleep.

YuWon wondered how long he was unconscious for.

When he opened his eyes, he felt that truly anything could happen in the Tutorial.

[You have fully absorbed the ‘Lifeblood of Giants and Demons.’]

[You perfectly consumed the 「Giant’s Heart」 within the Tutorial.]

[You have fulfilled the conditions for the hidden piece.]

[You obtained Gigantification.]

YuWon’s eyes widened. The message he was waiting for finally appeared.

“I… did it…”

YuWon finally unclenched his teeth.

First after the fight with Suruhtra and a second time just now. YuWon had fainted a total of two times already.

‘What’s the time…?’

[Time limit : 696 : 18 : 48]

Looking at the time, YuWon guessed that he had blacked out for about half a day.

Almost a day had already passed since the 5th Tutorial started.

‘Quite a bit of time has passed.’

A time limit of 30 days. Most people viewed it as plenty of time, but that didn’t apply to YuWon.

‘I need to finish this as fast as I can.’

As far as YuWon knew, the fastest clear record for the final Tutorial was one week. It was a record established by Odin.

Odin was part of the 1st Generation that recorded the start of the Tower. He led the Giant faction of Asgard, and he was the greatest magic fighter that YuWon knew.

‘I won’t lose to him.’

Everyone was a competitor in the 5th Tutorial. Every single action you do gets converted into contribution points. From hunting, to the hidden piece, as well as special quests. You are scored on all these different factors and ranked accordingly.

However, YuWon didn’t consider any of them his competitors because YuWon’s mind was preoccupied by beings that were far higher. His true competitors were the Rankers of this tall Tower that absolutely dominated the rankings in their respective Tutorials.

[Rankings]

[1st – Hargaan : 1036cp]

[2nd – Yolche : 689cp]

[3rd – Paladinte : 637cp]

[4th – Lee SungYoon : 514cp]

[5th – Elador : 451cp]

[……]

There was already a big divide within the rankings. The biggest share of contribution points would be awarded from defeating the boss, but within the 5th Tutorial, you could also gain CP from normal hunting.

First place was, of course, Hargaan. He had created a dominating lead over second place.

While looking over the rankings, YuWon noticed some familiar names.

‘Elador and Paladinte are both Pantemium-affiliated Rankers. They probably participated in the Tutorial from worlds that are at least two tiers higher… And Yolche. Is he a Pure-Blood? I’ve never heard of him.’

YuWon actually didn’t know every participant in the Tutorial. During his first time around, he was a part of a 10-man group, and Hargaan ended up defeating the boss while he was still hunting.

‘As for Lee SungYoon…’

Despite being born in the same world as YuWon, he had managed to rank between two Pure-Blood participants from worlds full of magic and swordsmanship.

‘I never heard of him either.’

No matter how much he racked his brain, YuWon couldn’t remember anyone named Lee SungYoon. It’s not like he knew the name of every single Ranker, but there was no way he wouldn’t know a Ranker from the same world as him, and especially one that participated in the same Tutorial.

‘Maybe he died here.’

YuWon scratched his head while checking the rankings. He realized nothing would come from thinking too hard. Unless he was going to actually team up with some of them, it didn’t matter to him what rank people were.

‘I wasted too much time.’

YuWon checked his condition one last time.

[Name : Kim YuWon]

[Level : 57]

[Strength : 72]

[Dexterity : 51]

[Constitution : 65]

[Perception : 47]

[Arcane Power : 60]

[Total Points : 5400]

[Unallocated Stat Points : 0]

[Skills Possessed]

[Basic Arcane Sword, Mana Blast, Cinder Eyes, Colossal Fire, Gigantification] – Details

TL/N: Uhm, I’m not sure why the raws are excluding Master of Mana and Heaven-Slaying Star.

Level 57. He had achieved it after leveling up five times from killing the Skulls and Suruhtra. And with his total stats being almost 300, he was actually very powerful for his level.

‘My Strength and Constitution are too high.’

YuWon didn’t like his stats being too lopsided. The combat style he aimed for was an all-rounder. Because unless you were aiming to push ahead with just pure strength like Hercules, it was better to have a nice balance among all your stats.

‘As for Colossal Fire…’

YuWon took a close look at the mysterious new skill he obtained.

[Colossal Fire]

ᗌ Rank : B-

ᗌ Proficiency : 0.00%

ᗌ Fire kin are born with fire within them. The small fire within them will not extinguish even after death, remaining for a long time, and gets passed onto future generations.

ᗌ The power of the skill will increase with proficiency and Arcane Power.

A B minus-rank skill.

It wasn’t all that bad. In fact, it was pretty good. [Colossal Fire] was a skill that made up for YuWon’s lack of an AOE* attack.

*PR/N : Area of Effect. AOE abilities cause an effect/damage within a certain area.

‘This should be usable.’

Other participants might have flipped out over [Colossal Fire,] but YuWon wasn’t particularly impressed. It was simply usable, and that was about it. A skill of this caliber wasn’t enough for YuWon, who had been fighting against Outer Gods.

Step—

YuWon stepped out of the cave for the first time in 24 hours. The sun was right above him. YuWon was blinded from being in the dark for so long.

‘Now, let’s see…’

Fwoosh—

YuWon activated [Cinder Eyes] and started looking around the forest. His range of vision expanded, and he was able to see things he previously couldn’t. [Cinder Eyes] was able to make what couldn’t be seen visible according to YuWon’s will.

Dash—

YuWon warmed up his feet and started getting a move on.

YuWon followed the first track he spotted as soon as he came out. And that led him to…

“Tchwik, tchwee—”

“Tchweek*—!”

*PR/N: Pig sfx in Korean

A horde of monsters with gruesome cries.

With the head of a pig and green skin, they were monsters called Orcs.

“An Orc tribe…”

It was a huge hunting ground with hundreds of Orcs. This was adequate to be YuWon’s first hunting ground.

“Won’t be a bad place to test out my skill.”

The stage of the final Tutorial, Barragánda, was absolutely massive. The size of the island was big enough to be a small nation.

And on this island, there were plenty of hunting grounds. There was even a spot YuWon already had in mind. The Orc tribe was simply a pit stop along the way.

“Tchweek, tchwik?”

“Human-tchwik. It’s a human-tchwik!”

“Prey-tchwik!”

The Orcs spotted YuWon.

Orcs were one of the rare monsters in the lower floors that actually possessed intelligence. That’s why they were able to form tribes, and it made them tricky to hunt for the amount of EXP they gave.

Of course, that last part didn’t really apply to YuWon.

Fwoosh—

Fwoooosh—

Fire spread to all sides.

The armed and drooling Orcs that had approached YuWon had fallen into chaos.

“Tchweek! F-Fire!”

“It’s hot!”

“The human, tchweek! Did it!”

Blazing flames circled around the tribe in an instant, making it so that the Orcs couldn’t run away.

A few of them had already fallen, roasted to a nice pink color.

‘Six days left.’

The plan was simple.

‘I will finish this Tutorial faster than Odin.’

Fwoosh—!

YuWon jumped into the fire he had created, starting the hunt on the Orc tribe.

[15104th – Kim YuWon : 67cp]

YuWon would finally raise his rankings significantly.

And a day passed just like that.

[4th – Kim YuWon : 1288cp]

YuWon, who had started late, was able to raise his ranking in an instant, joining the forefront of the Tutorial. And after four days had passed in the Tutorial…

[1st – Hargaan : 5479cp]

[2nd – Kim YuWon : 5266cp]

[……]

Only

Hargaan and the other participants were able to witness a record they couldn’t believe.

____