abcnovels
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 – Damn Goblins (2)
[Welcome to Kang Hyeon’s tutorial entrance]
[An error occurred during the second stage. Moving immediately]
[May your courage save the Earth]
“Save the Earth my ass. What bullshit.”
As Kang Hyeon cursed, his eyes took in the now familiar scenery.
A gloomy cave. Weapons scattered about.
After briefly looking around, Kang Hyeon boldly picked up a sword.
Name: Scrapy Longsword
Grade: F
Durability: 11 / 13
Description: A shoddy longsword that looks like it was made by a blacksmith who usually makes farm tools in the countryside.
Somehow it feels like the description is even worse than the mace he had before.
After pondering for a moment, Kang Hyeon decided not to worry about it.
“Everything here is probably trash anyway.”
You shouldn’t expect too much from a tutorial.
-Boo, boom!
Swinging the sword, it was definitely lighter than the mace.
Still a bit heavy for someone with his weak strength to wield one-handed.
But he planned to hold a shield in his other hand, so there was no choice.
“Strength..? Right!”
As he thought about lacking strength, something crossed Kang Hyeon’s mind.
“If I lack strength, I just need to increase it!”
Kang Hyeon immediately opened his status window.
?Name: Kang Hyeon
?Title: –
?Level: 1
?Detailed Stats:
Strength 8
Agility 9
Stamina 7
Magic Power 14
Additional Stat Points: 1
?Unique Ability: Resurrection
?Abilities: –
?Skills: –
Additional stat point: 1.
Using that stat point would make his strength a bit stronger.
[Do you want to use 1 additional stat point on Strength?]
“Yeah.”
With a cheerful ding, his strength increased to 9.
Swinging the sword again, it felt a bit easier.
“The difference isn’t as big as I thought, but it’s better than nothing.”
After checking his stats, Kang Hyeon picked up a crossbow and practiced shooting for a while.
“This should be enough.”
A little while later.
Kang Hyeon, now prepared, gathered various weapons including the longsword, wooden shield, and crossbow.
He felt reassured as the weight on his body increased.
-Creeeak
Despite opening the door carefully, a squeaking sound assaulted his ears.
‘Damn… I’m still nervous.’
He entered confidently, but fear ingrained to the bone doesn’t disappear in a day or two.
Kang Hyeon put strength into his trembling legs and moved along the familiar route.
After walking a bit, he saw two familiar goblins.
‘Aim steadily, then hold your breath and…’
Kang Hyeon carefully aimed at a goblin.
‘Now!’
The fired crossbow bolt stuck into the goblin’s shoulder.
“Kieeek!”
The goblin with the bolt in its shoulder screamed.
Its companion, startled by its injured comrade, soon spotted Kang Hyeon and charged.
Ignoring his pounding heart, Kang Hyeon also charged forward.
‘The first attack is a big downward slash.’
After encountering them a few times, he could remember some of their patterns.
Kang Hyeon raised his shield to block the incoming sword.
-Clang!
The impact was stronger than expected, making his left arm tingle.
“Now it’s my turn!”
-Slash!
Kang Hyeon swung his longsword horizontally with all his might.
The deeply cut goblin collapsed, spilling blood from its abdomen.
“Kieeek!”
“Die!”
Kang Hyeon quickly tried to finish off the fallen goblin.
But the one hit by the bolt had regained its senses and was now swinging its sword at Kang Hyeon.
Startled, Kang Hyeon hurriedly raised his shield.
-Clang!
Once again, the clashing sword made his arm vibrate.
Almost losing his grip on the shield from the impact, Kang Hyeon quickly retreated.
“Kirrr…”
“Huff, huff…”
Despite not moving much, his chest was heaving as if about to burst.
It seemed his breathing had quickened due to excessive tension.
But the goblins were also injured and not in good shape.
‘I can do this…!’
Hope was finally starting to show.
“Come at me, you bastards! Are you scared?! Huh?!”
As Kang Hyeon shouted desperately, the goblins hesitated and stepped back.
“I said come! If you don’t, I’m coming for you!”
At that moment.
“Kieek!”
The goblins suddenly turned and started to flee.
“What? Where are you going?!”
***
Ippotranslation
***
Opening his eyes, he saw his familiar room.
“These bastards ganged up on me!?”
The two fleeing goblins quickly became five and returned.
In the end, Kang Hyeon died without being able to do anything, stabbed from all directions.
“Did I die again…?”
Kang A-Hyun, who had been in the room for some time, looked at Kang Hyeon worriedly.
“No. I almost won. Just a little more and I would have killed them all… heh.”
As he spoke, a strange madness gradually filled Kang Hyeon’s eyes.
***
Ippotranslation
***
[Welcome to Kang Hyeon’s tutorial entrance….]
Kang Hyeon frowned and waved his hand.
“Forget the welcome, just send me in quickly.”
[May your courage save the Earth]
With this message, Kang Hyeon returned to the cave once again.
“Kang Hyeon, think long-term. Long-term!”
Kang Hyeon slapped his cheeks and opened his eyes wide.
“This won’t do.”
If he tried again now, he might be able to take down the first two goblins that appear.
However, the three that came after were absolutely impossible.
He needed a different strategy.
“Training… I need to train.”
Picking up the longsword, Kang Hyeon swung it hard, recalling sword-wielding methods he had seen on the internet.
-Whoosh, whoosh!
It felt awkward at first, but the more he swung, the more familiar it became.
However, his arms were already starting to ache after just a few swings.
‘Forget about clearing it today. Practice as much as possible and clear it in one go.’
So Kang Hyeon continued swinging the sword.
When his arms hurt too much to hold the sword, he practiced with the crossbow.
He briefly considered the bow, but it seemed too difficult to use compared to the crossbow due to its steep learning curve.
After training for over 5 hours without eating or resting, Kang Hyeon finally collapsed on the floor.
“Usually in these situations, you get stat increases and stuff. No mercy here, damn…”
He had hoped for it, but no stats were given.
“No… Maybe I just haven’t tried hard enough.”
Catching his breath and composing himself, Kang Hyeon stood up and swung the sword again.
He was getting hungry, and his whole body felt heavy as if soaked in water, but there was no other way.
He just kept swinging the sword.
“Huff, huff…”
3 hours later.
Now it wasn’t Kang Hyeon swinging the sword, but the sword swinging Kang Hyeon.
His arms wouldn’t lift, making his movements look like a ridiculous dance.
Suddenly, as Kang Hyeon was swinging the longsword, his legs gave out and he collapsed.
“I can’t do it any more…”
-Ding!
Then, a welcome alert sounded.
[Your efforts beyond your limits have increased your Stamina by 1]
“Why Stamina and not Strength….”
As Kang Hyeon mumbled this, he passed out.
***
Ippotranslation
***
When Kang Hyeon woke up, he was still in the cave, not at home.
And he was terribly hungry.
-Grumble
“I get it. I’m going. Going.”
Trying to soothe his hungry stomach, Kang Hyun opened the door again.
-Creeak
‘Even this sound is annoying now that I’ve heard it so much.’
Irritated from fatigue and hunger, Kang Hyeon kicked the door in frustration.
“Whew, let’s aim to kill just one this time.”
With muscle pain, he could barely swing the sword properly.
He didn’t even expect to win.
Just killing one to vent his frustration would be enough.
‘Slowly, calm your breathing…’
Finally spotting a goblin, Kang Hyeon carefully aimed his crossbow.
But his arms, shaking from muscle pain, refused to steady.
-Whoosh!
The bolt cleanly cut through the air.
“Kieeek!”
“Damn it…”
***
Ippotranslation
***
“Aaaagh!!!”
In the end, Kang Hyeon woke up without killing a single goblin.
“You bastards!”
Moreover, this time Kang Hyeon was thoroughly toyed with in the fight.
Realizing he was exhausted, they slowly pressured him.
After being attacked by goblins for over 10 minutes, Kang Hyeon finally collapsed from blood loss.
Then, with a gurgling laugh, his head was cut off.
“Just wait until tonight.”
Kang Hyeon said, gritting his teeth.
A savage sound of teeth grinding echoed.
Kang Hyeon now looked half-mad.
Kang A-Hyun, who was nearby, watched worriedly but could do nothing.
“Haah…”
Kang A-Hyun sighed deeply and quietly prepared for work.
***
Ippotranslation
***
-Ding!
[Your efforts beyond your limits have increased your Strength by 1]
“Aaaagh!”
As the desired alert sounded, Kang Hyeon collapsed with a shout.
A precious stat gained after over 10 hours of weight training.
For Kang Hyeon, who had a below-average body, it was literally a human victory.
“Status window!”
?Name: Kang Hyeon
?Title: –
?Level: 1
?Detailed Stats:
Strength 9 ? 10 new!
Agility 9
Stamina 8
Magic Power 14
Additional Stat Points: –
?Unique Ability: Resurrection
?Abilities: –
?Skills: –
“Finally, I’ve surpassed a total of 40!”
In fact, the total of stats didn’t have any special meaning.
However, Kang Hyeon had felt bad thinking he was below average.
But now that he’d surpassed a total of 40, he thought he must be at least above average.
“Let’s go!”
Excited, Kang Hyeon immediately tried to draw and swing the longsword.
But as he tried to stand up, his legs gave out and he collapsed.
“It’s okay. If I keep doing this, I’ll be able to kill them all soon!”
As he lay on the floor, trying to maintain positive thoughts, something suddenly occurred to him.
“What if I could level up?”
He had definitely killed one goblin on the first day.
If he used a similar method, he might be able to kill one.
Rather than recklessly fighting goblins in his current state, killing one for sure might give him experience.
“If I level up that way, it’d be awesome.”
Although dying while being hacked to pieces wasn’t exactly an awesome situation.
At least, not by normal standards.
After resting, Kang Hyeon picked up the mace and stood up.
“Let’s go. Hehe.”
***
Ippotranslation
***
“Why? Why am I not leveling up?!”
As soon as he opened his eyes, Kang Hyeon went on a rampage.
Like on the first day, Kang Hyeon managed to kill one goblin by striking its head from behind.
But the expected level up didn’t come.
He just had his throat slit instantly by another enraged goblin.
“Tonight, I’m smashing that bastard’s head first.”
Grinding his teeth, Kang Hyeon checked the internet.
It was now the 7th day since the tutorial started. In other words, he had gone through 6 tutorials.
If he had progressed normally, one stage a day, he should have been finishing the 6th stage and preparing for the 7th today.
However, Kang Hyeon was still stuck on the 2nd stage.
“People aren’t much either.”
Browsing the internet, he couldn’t find many who had cleared beyond the 4th stage.
There were quite a few reviews up to the 3rd stage, but from the 4th stage on, it seemed really hard to clear.
“I guess I have to clear up to the 8th stage to get out?”
For a moment he felt dizzy, but Kang Hyeon slapped his cheeks hard with both hands.
-Slap!
“I can do it!”
After psyching himself up, he searched for more information but found nothing special.
People still couldn’t use abilities in reality, and there were no posts about monsters appearing in the real world.
Finally, ending his web surfing, Kang Hyeon turned on sword training videos again.
***
Ippotranslation
***
[Kang Hyeon….]
“Skip! Skip!”
[May your courage save the Earth]
Back in the tutorial, Kang Hyeon immediately started exercising.
“I can definitely feel my strength and stamina have improved. Even if I can’t level up, I can get strong enough.”
So Kang Hyeon swung the sword again until he collapsed.
[Your efforts beyond your limits have increased your Stamina by 1]
“Aaaagh!”
Kang Hyeon cried out as he slumped to the floor!
-Ding
[Ability Lowest-grade Swordsmanship (F) has been created.
“Huh?”
Lowest-grade Swordsmanship (F)
Ability: When swinging a sword, it helps correct posture and distribute power, allowing for more effective swings.
Description: It’s swordsmanship that even local thugs might use, but it seems better than nothing.
“This, this is…”
Reading the message, tears unexpectedly welled up in Kang Hyeon’s eyes.
“Thank you… sniff.. Thank you! Waaah!”
Along with stats, he gained swordsmanship he never expected.
Kang Hyeon couldn’t help but shed tears of joy, feeling like all his efforts were being recognized.
“This is a human victory-!”
As the status window showed, Kang Hyeon was an extremely weak person with below-average stamina.
Yet for days, he swung the sword until he collapsed.
It was so hard that he cried out in pain sometimes.
But he never stopped.
Imagining the goblins’ faces, the results of his efforts finally showed.
Although the description was shoddy, Kang Hyeon was satisfied.
“If I keep working hard, the grade will surely rise too!”
Standing up, Kang Hyeon swung the sword again with strength from who knows where.
“I can feel it… I can feel it!”
Was it just his imagination?
His sword-swinging posture became strangely comfortable, and power flowed into the sword.
Kang Hyeon clenched his fist.
“Wait for me, you devilish bastards. You’re all dead.”
With renewed spirit, Kang Hyeon kicked open the huge door and went out of the cave.