Chapter 27
District 1 was made up of Americans who started from the northern outskirts of the Dark Forest. They had joined forces with people from District 2, who were from Senegal, to travel through the forest as a massive party of roughly eighty people. Due to the Radanmos, they had no choice but to split up into eight teams of ten after arriving in the third zone. A few teams had already reached the fourth zone.
“Boss Brandon, the Radanmos have stopped appearing.”
“Is it time for the next Chaos to appear?”
Brandon was a man in his mid-thirties with short red hair and a red beard. He was a cowboy from Texas and was the leader of their party of eighty before they split up.
“Huuu, we can regroup with the others if the Radanmos are gone.”
“That’s not necessarily a good thing, Tommy,” Brandon replied.
The Radanmos that appeared became unbelievably stronger as more people gathered. Hunting them was out of the question, so the party ran away without hesitation. Brandon wondered if it was part of a system or a divine being that programmed it this way, as if not allowing people to stay in large groups.
It was only ten days ago when we traveled as an eighty-man party.
Leaders likely emerged from each team as they traversed through the Radanmo zone. Now that they had the sweet taste of authority, it may be difficult to meld into one large party again.
We promised to reunite once we get past the Radanmo zone, but I should throw away the idea that they’re the same people from ten days ago.
No one could be trusted in this world; one could tell just from the fact that killing fellow humans awarded the killer with Karma.
There’s no such thing as trust here. Is that what they want? Are we supposed to get into teams of ten and have a death match against one another, or what?
Brandon was sure there was a reason that their large party was forced to be split by the Radanmos.
Is it because ten is the ideal number of people required to acquire a Teleport Rock? Or could the number of Teleport Rocks be limited? But one thing worries me above all else.
As he and his team advanced through the Dark Forest, Brandon discovered a cave in a rocky area. He cautiously entered and saw dozens of corpses sprawled everywhere. They were people from the northeastern district whom he and his team had encountered before. His teammates with weak stomachs ran out of the cave, covered in tears and snot, but Brandon thoroughly examined each corpse.
They were killed by a knife roughly fifty centimeters long. There are also scorched corpses and those killed by arrows.
The traces of battle suggested several attackers, but the bodies were laid out as if they had surrounded someone. Hence, one could also assume that there was only one enemy.
If just one person killed everyone here, I’d rather not meet them.
However, thanks to the mysterious attacker, Brandon and his teammates could enhance their combat power by collecting the F-rank items around the cave. Although they weren’t in the best of conditions, it was more than good enough to take the upper hand against other teams.
“Ahhh! Boss!”
Brandon, deep in thought, quickly turned to the source of the screaming in the rear.
“W-what the hell is that?!”
“H-help m—”
A black entity roughly a meter tall was flying with wings like those of a dragonfly. It looked like a fairy at a glance, but upon closer inspection, it had hooks for hands, liquefied skin, and only a giant mouth and razor-sharp teeth for a face. It easily lifted the large black man, Henderson, and bit off his neck.
“Kurgh!”
“HENDERSON!”
Brandon summoned his D Weapon, a lasso, as he stared at the slowly dying Henderson. He rapidly spun his lasso and threw it at the monster to capture it.
Kikik!
However, the monster easily dodged the lasso, Henderson still in its grasp, with its incredible dexterity. It opened its wide mouth, spanning its entire face, and bit Henderson’s skull like a piece of candy with its razor-sharp teeth. Henderson’s head exploded, his brain pouring out like syrup inside a candy. Henderson would be an even more grotesque monster if he survived that kind of injury.
“Urgh!” Brandon grunted, getting chills from Henderson’s death.
He had positioned Henderson at the rear because he had a detection ability, but Henderson was dragged up into the air, unable to detect the monster. Not only was it stealthy and dextrous, but it was also strong. Most of all, flying enemies were difficult to deal with.
Kikikik!
It played with Henderson’s skull as if it were a toy.
[Pirupiko of the race Chaos, discovered.]
***
Seong-Hwi charged at a Flesh Radanmo.
[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]
[Ace of Swords]
A light blue sword was summoned into his hand as he ran. A faint amount of air lingered around its edges.
Kreeeh!
The Radanmo twisted its body and used its tail to try and prevent Seong-Hwi from getting closer.
[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]
[Ace of Pentacles]
A golden shield with a pentacle engraving appeared before Seong-Hwi. The Radanmo’s tail strike was heavy, but the Ace of Pentacles, with the properties of both enhancement and manipulation, did not budge.
After its attack failed, the Radanmo had tons of openings. Seong-Hwi jumped into the air and easily aimed for its spine, where its os was.
[Activating Trait: Chaos Hunter.]
[Boosting attack by 20%.]
[Duration: 00:00:29]
[Duration: 00:00:28]
...
Seong-Hwi used the Chaos Hunter trait on top of his symbols. His six stats rose by twenty percent, making him feel like he was living in another world. He could move slightly faster, could see slightly clearer, and the world seemed slightly more beautiful. The power of air around the Ace of Swords also grew stronger, allowing Seong-Hwi to slice the Radanmo’s spine like butter and reach its os.
Kreeeh.
The Radanmo collapsed soon after.
“Huuu,” Seong-Hwi caught his breath and stared at the bombardment of Akasha Messages.
[31 Karma obtained.]
[Progress: 100 / 100]
[Trait Quest: Pursuer of Chaos III, complete.]
[1,000 Karma obtained.]
[Converting Trait Chaos Hunter to Chaos Slaughterer.]
[Commencing Trait Quest: Pursuer of Chaos IV.]
...
[Chaos Slaughterer (Trait)
Rank: F(0)
Description: The tenacity of a slaughterer who resents the Chaos more than anyone. 30% boost in attack for a set duration against the race Chaos.
Duration: 30 seconds
Cooldown: 24 hours]
...
[Pursuer of Chaos IV (Trait Quest)
Rank: F+++
Description: Hunt 100 Pirupikos of the race Chaos in the Dark Forest.
Progress: 0 / 100]
...
“I knew it,” Seong-Hwi mumbled as he checked the converted trait and the new quest.
He fully expected there to be another linked quest based on the development until now.
“Was this seriously made for newbies to clear?”
He couldn’t believe the quest’s rank. Three plus signs were the maximum amount for a given letter rank, which meant the quest was almost E-rank in difficulty. It was realistically impossible for a newbie to clear it in only thirty days—they wouldn’t have even been able to kill a hundred Radanmos. It had been possible only because it was Seong-Hwi.
Seong-Hwi walked around the third zone with Shin Jun’s team as bait, pretending to guide them through the forest. Although he was using them as bait, he did not feel sorry in the slightest because he was rewarding them for their troubles accordingly, excessively as a matter of fact.
Since a complete understanding of every stat and the ability to use them to their fullest was required to face the Pirupikos in the fourth zone, Jun and the others should advance much faster than the others.
A hundred Pirupikos, huh?
The Pirupiko was an Invasive Chaos of the fairies. Although the other stats were important, having good control over one’s Magic stat was crucial to defeating them. One might assume the Pirupiko had low defense since they looked like small fairies, but they were sturdy enough that it would be difficult to even scratch them without highly refined mana.
The newbies probably use the automatic flow of mana whenever they activate a skill.
However, letting the skill automatically move one’s mana reduced the skill’s output. Only after realizing the pattern of the mana flow and its connection to the skill activation could the skill’s efficiency increase. This was commonly known as skill mastery.
The mana flow following a skill was like driving an automatic car. Putting the gear shift to drive allowed the car to go forward, and shifting it to reverse allowed it to go backward. It was convenient, and it could be done without knowing how the shifting of gears worked.
However, manipulating one’s mana to activate a skill was like driving a manual car. It was more complex to control, but its fuel efficiency was better than automatic, its RPM could be freely controlled, and speed could be adjusted in a more detailed manner based on the sound of the engine and the gear it was set to.
I taught them the basic principles. Some understand it quickly, and others take longer.
Seong-Hwi glanced behind at Jun and his teammates, checking out the Radanmo he had killed.
I’ll leave the team after one last explanation.
Acting alone was far better now that he had killed all the Radanmos he needed to. Casualties might arise from Jun’s team due to his departure, but there was nothing he could do about that.
I only want people who can survive even once they arrive at the Mirror World. If they die here, that's all they amount to.
Seong-Hwi recalled what Melody Mulder always used to say.
“Become a weed over a flower. If you have no choice but to become a flower, then grow thorns coated in poison.”
The people carrying out the mandatory quests likely thought this hell would end once they reached the Mirror World, but they were sorely mistaken. All that awaited them was another hell. One couldn’t get used to receiving assistance if they wanted to survive in the Mirror World. They needed an attitude that allowed them to overcome everything on their own.
The same goes for me.
Seong-Hwi could guess what the final quest of the Pursuer of Chaos chain was.
I might have to use up all the Karma I accumulated.
There were nine days left in the mandatory quest, whether anyone liked it or not. More than two-thirds of the quest duration had passed.
***
“As I’d mentioned, don’t treat what I’m about to explain as an established theory. It’s just one of many hypotheses,” Seong-Hwi said.
He was about to reward Jun’s team for allowing him to clear the third quest of the chain by being bait. The reward was information about the basic stats—it would act as the stepping stone for them to grow even stronger.
He did not create this hypothesis; it was hypothesized by his clanswoman, Lina Ahn, a Korean American from Los Angeles who was a prominent figure in the study of ethology. Her insight was so exceptional that not only did Seong-Hwi respect her opinions, but he also consulted her for many things.
“First, the two most basic stats, Health and Strength. I’m sure you all know the importance of these two stats, so I’ll skip that part.”
Jun and the others nodded. If stats were compared to a building, Health was the pillar, and Strength was the walls that blocked the wind. A high Health stat reduced fatigue and the draining feeling when using skills, and increased recovery speed, durability, and endurance. The Strength stat simply amplified power output and the destructive power of skills.
“Does anyone here know about fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscle fibers?” Seong-Hwi asked.
Seong-Tae said boastfully, “I do. I learned about them as I got hooked on working out.”
Ho-Geun laughed and said, “Aren’t those just for show? My muscles trained from working at construction sites are the real deal.”
“What’d you say? You wouldn’t have been able to say that if I got a sledgehammer as my D Weapon.”
“Heh. Do you think strength is all it takes to use a sledgehammer? It’s all skill, you brat.”
“Brat? Come on, I’ve long since been a tax-paying member of society.”
Seong-Hwi ignored Seong-Tae and Ho-Geun’s bickering and continued, “To put it simply, fast-twitch muscle fibers allow for short but explosive strength, while slow-twitch muscle fibers allow for continuous and consistent strength.”
“Fast-twitch muscle fibers are also referred to as external muscles because they’re closer to the body surface, and the slow-twitch muscle fibers are like the internal muscles that support the fast-twitch fibers so they don’t tire out quickly,” Min-Jae added.
He was well aware of this topic since he was an athlete. Weightlifters with more fast-twitch muscle fibers and marathon runners with more slow-twitch muscle fibers had an advantage over those with less.
Seong-Hwi nodded and continued, “Let’s take animals, for example. Cats have more fast-twitch muscle fibers, and dogs have more slow-twitch muscle fibers. Cats have higher explosive speeds but tire quickly, and dogs have evolved to chase their prey relentlessly.”
It was the same analogy that Lina used.
Seong-Hwi added, “Therefore, Strength is like fast-twitch muscle fibers and Health is like slow-twitch muscle fibers.”
“Strength allows for explosive power and Health acts to support it,” mumbled the high schooler Ye-Ji, nodding as if she were in a lecture.
The middle schooler Ha Rin stared at Seong-Hwi as she played with her dog Chocho’s hind paws, and the primary schooler Do-Hyun didn’t seem to understand.
“There is a massive difference in efficiency between those who use Strength and Health while knowing this principle and those who don’t know. Try feeling the difference in sensation of your muscles whenever you have time or when you raise the stats.”
Jun and the others nodded. They were curious about how they became stronger whenever they added points to those two stats. Comparing it to the development of muscles made it easier to understand.
“Simply put, the Dexterity stat increases flexibility, reaction speed, balance, and the like. You can think of it as the refined control of your muscles to allow for harmonious coordination.”
“Coordination, huh?” Seung-Jun muttered as he frowned.
Something came to mind just from hearing the explanation. He had focused on raising his Dexterity stat, and thanks to that, he could maintain his balance even when he was on top of the thrashing Radanmo’s back.
“If your Dexterity is high enough, you’ll feel like your perception of time is completely different from your enemies. Speed is crucial in battle, so it’s also important to invest in.”
If Health was the pillar and Strength was the walls, then Dexterity was the design that set the pillars and walls in the ideal areas for perfect weight distribution. Following the analogy, the Sense stat would be like the windows.
“Sense is easy to understand—the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. You could also add proprioception to that. However, you’d be mistaken to interpret the Sense stat as simply the physical senses.”
“What else is there?”
“You’ve heard of the sixth sense, haven’t you? Extrasensory perception, or ESP. Senses that are impossible to explain logically are also part of the Sense stat.”
“Oh!” Min-Jae expressed and nodded.
He had focused on raising his Sense stat, but it had been mainly to see his targets better and improve his accuracy. He then began to feel odd senses—he could instinctively tell whether his arrows would hit their targets. Hence, he immediately prepared to fire another arrow when he felt that the arrow would miss the target. The feeling became more vivid the more he invested in his Sense stat.
So that’s what that feeling was, Min-Jae thought.
Now that he understood how it worked, he felt polishing that sense would allow it to become a weapon in its own right.
Seong-Hwi continued, “Health, Strength, Dexterity, and Sense are present even on Earth. Abilities that are a first for us are what’s truly important.”
Jun and the others paid even more attention, instinctively realizing he was about to explain something crucial. Seong-Hwi smirked, feeling like a teacher who told his students this would be on the test.
He said, “Magic, skills, and your D Weapon. You’ve only come across these things after coming here, but they’re crucial to your survival.”