Chapter 3
“Thank you for accepting despite my sudden contact . ”
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Yeongchan led Hyeonu into the house without saying anything . He stopped in front of a room . Once the door was opened, a huge tetragonal capsule could be seen . It was one of the devices that connected to Arena—the Cube .
Yeongchan told him, “Come and live in my house . It will be hard for a month or two at the start . You have to save money . ”
“Hah . . . ” Hyeonu looked at the floor silently . He thought that he would shed tears if he raised his head now . Although he felt sorry to Yeongchan, he still agreed to Yeongchan’s suggestion . He felt somewhat ashamed, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that .
‘I’ll pay them back . . . Jung Hanbaek and Yeongchan . Additionally, my parents . ’
Hyeonu clenched his fists tightly .
After several hours of repetitive and tedious monitoring, Arena’s GM Park Cheolhyeong rubbed his eyes and felt his sleepiness disappear when he saw the message on his monitor .
[Gang Hyeonu character creation (past character name: meleegod) . Security rating: 1]
“G-Group Leader-nim!” Park Cheolhyeong, Arena’s GM, shouted in an urgent voice . “It is serious!!!”
“ . . . What is it?” The team leader of Arena’s operations was overwhelmed by the continuous monitoring and responded while massaging his eyes .
“m-meleegod is back . ”
“Who? Migang? Who is Migang?”
“meleegod . Perfectionist meleegod!”
“What?! meleegod is back!! . . . is what you thought I would say . Hey Cheolhyeong, are you not doing your job? If you have time to look at something like that, you should work harder you bastard!” The operations team leader said . Then he pointed to his eyes and shouted, “Can’t you see my eyes are red right now? I don’t even remember the last time I went to sleep! Shit . ”
Wasting time in useless places when there was a lot of work to do . . .
The leader of the operations team had a headache . He couldn’t believe this guy . Come to think of it, there was a rumor that there was such a person under the leader of the planning team . He felt compelled to eat with the head of the planning team again after such a long time .
“Go and think about how to handle the guild kids! Do it before I kill you . If you don’t, I really won’t let you go . ”
Park Cheolhyeong returned to his seat under the stern criticism of the leader of the operations team and removed meleegod’s screen . He went back to monitoring the large guilds as the team leader ordered .
Some time later, the shoulders of a female operator whose job was to monitor the low-level zones suddenly trembled .
“Does this mean meleegod has returned?”
It was because the leader of the planning team suddenly shouted at the leader of the operations team . The leader of the planning team soon felt the attention of others in the cafeteria and lowered his voice .
Cough cough .
“Still, what does he want to do going back now? It is useless even if he is meleegod . ”
“That’s true . The level of the current pros is different from when meleegod played in the past . ”
“Don’t pay attention to unnecessary things . It is hard to touch the fortress of the professionals . They consume content so quickly . . . ”
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“That’s why we’ve been troubled lately . They play the game too well . ”
The leaders of the planning team and the operations team ignored Hyeonu’s return . Their assessment of Hyeonu was that he was a legacy from an outdated past .
A sweet voice rang out in the dark space, -Do you want to create a character?
Hyeonu felt his heart beating . He heard a voice he thought he would never hear again . Some people might laugh at this version of Hyeonu . However, reality was disastrous, and Hyeonu had returned to Arena . That was it .
“I’m not going to customize my character, so I don’t need to listen to the explanation . ”
Hyeonu completed the character creation like it was a waste of time .
-Then let’s move onto the tutorial as you wish .
Along with these words, Hyeonu disappeared from the dark space .
The space where Hyeonu appeared was a huge Colosseum . There was a man waiting for Hyeonu . His name was Al . It was the NPC who conducted the tutorial .
-Hello, Gang Hyeonu . I am Al, and I’m responsible for the progress of the tutorial .
“Finish it as quickly as possible,” Hyeonu urged Al like every second was a waste of time . Still, Al didn’t panic as he had seen many such players before .
-Then I will proceed directly with the tutorial . There are two tutorials . I’ll go through the details of the magic power test and the combat test before proceeding .
The moment Al’s words finished, a magical force sprung up under Hyeonu’s feet .
-This magic circle is responsible for gathering magic power . It will check your sensitivity to magic power .
Hyeonu nodded like he already knew .
-From here, the magic circle will start . You might feel a strange sensation . You have to be honest about what you feel without any falsehoods .
The magic circle was activated, and a large amount of magic power rushed toward Hyeonu . This was a familiar feeling to Hyeonu . It felt like the magic power he used two years ago . Yet for Hyeonu, it felt like he had used it just yesterday, not two years ago .
Hyeonu subconsciously raised a hand toward Al . ‘Familiar . . . ’
Flames made of magic power burned at Hyeonu’s hands .
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‘Monster!’ Al didn’t know anything about Hyeonu and was astonished . It was a result no one had ever shown . Al decided to finish the magic power adaptation since going any further was meaningless .
-There is no need to ask . Let’s move onto the next test . The combat test summons one monster . You have to deal with the summoned monster . If the player is fatally wounded, the test will stop automatically . The difficulty goes from stage 1 to stage 10 . Once you pass through one stage, you can move onto the next stage . The rewards paid will be different depending on the stages you pass .
A table of weapons appeared in front of Hyeonu as Al’s words continued . Hyeonu was no longer listening to Al’s words though . He was busy looking at the weapons on the table . Starting with a sword, there were things like a bow and a spear .
Hyeonu’s choice was a weapon he used in the past—a longsword . The width of the longsword was around four centimeters, and the length of the blade was 130 centimeters .
Hyeonu picked up the weapon and gestured to Al to start . “Start . ”
A magic circle was created 10 meters away from Hyeonu . A monster was summoned with a powerful wave of magic .
‘What is going to come out…? A wolf? Or perhaps a goblin . ’
GM Jung Dahui was busy as she monitored the low-level zones . Jung Dahui couldn’t hide her anticipation as she watched Hyeonu on the monitor . Despite returning after a long time, Hyeonu clearly burned with magic power during the tutorial . It was worthy of the name meleegod .
‘This is the real meleegod . Then let’s see if his fighting skills are the same . ’
Jung Dahui’s fingers moved so quickly that they couldn’t be seen . It was because she was reaching out to the settings of the tutorial .
‘The difficulty isn’t set? Then shall I make it stage 10?’
Jung Dahui’s hand stopped, and Hyeonu and a dark elf were confronting each other on the screen . The dark elf wasn’t a monster that a level 1 character could handle easily, even if the person was Hyeonu . Nevertheless, Jung Dahui wasn’t worried . Hyeonu would surely catch the dark elf, although the process might be tough .
“Please, I hope you catch it . . . Be as splendid as before . . . ”
The stopped hands started to move quickly again .
The monster that appeared was a dark elf warrior!
‘What? A dark elf? Why is it now . . . ’
Hyeonu was nervous . The dark elves were monsters that should never be seen in the tutorial . In Arena, dark elf warriors weren’t challenging monsters . The dark elf warrior was strong in offense and was a monster that would die under the concentrated attacks of the party members if the party members held out for one attack . On the other hand, they were a nightmare for those who couldn’t withstand one attack . It was why a dark elf warrior appearing in the tutorial was nothing more than telling the player to just die .
‘Take a deep breath . Hu, ah, hu, ah . ’
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Hyeonu gripped his longsword while controlling his breathing .
Was it due to fear? Or was he just nervous? This wasn’t the reason why . He just hadn’t been so excited about battle in a long time . That was it .
The dark elf showed cautious movements . It was as if it was already fighting with Hyeonu . On the other hand, Hyeonu was relaxed . It was due to the idea, ‘Well, how hard can they make the tutorial?’
Additionally, he believed in his skills . In the end, the single dark elf warrior was impatient and attempted to attack . The dark elf crossed the 10 meters in a flash and appeared in front of Hyeonu, stabbing its dagger . Hyeonu didn’t panic . He used his longsword to deflect the dagger .
‘It is better than I thought . . . ’
The dark elf was taking full advantage of the dagger . It used the recoil to quickly continue with its attacks . The dagger which stabbed at Hyeonu’s belly was so fast that it seemed like two or three daggers . However, Hyeonu was someone who once dominated Arena . This dagger was gently evaded like it was nothing .
The dark elf seemed to be going crazy . The human, who didn’t seem to be special, boasted a defense that was like an impregnable wall . There was no way to succeed no matter how much the dark elf attacked . It was blocked like this human was anticipating its every move . The amount of stamina being consumed by the continuous attacks was enough to make the dark elf nervous .
At this moment, Hyeonu’s longsword made a stab at the dark elf’s shoulder .
“Kuock . Human!” The dark elf struggled in pain .
Hyeonu wielded the longsword with a blank expression . This was just like watching meleegod who had been at the top of the rankings . An undefeated legend who had never lost to anyone in battle—the legend was continuing in the tutorial . The dark elf screamed and stabbed wildly toward Hyeonu .
‘It won’t stop . Human . ’
It was the dark elf who kept launching attacks yet it couldn’t smile . Hyeonu’s voice was expressionless as he blocked the dark elf’s blows . It seemed as if these attacks were nothing . Hyeonu’s longsword showed a strange trajectory . He seemed to be drawing in the air, but at some point, he hit the dark elf’s dagger . After cutting off the head of the dark elf with a blank expression, Hyeonu finished the tutorial .
Al was only left with a sense of shock when he saw Hyeonu’s battle . Hyeonu had succeeded in the stage 10 combat tutorial, where no player had succeeded so far .
“Tru . . . Truly amazing . I will finish the tutorial with this . The reward will be given by Aslan’s village chief, Dell . ”
“Oh! Are you a new traveler? It is nice to meet you,” Dell, an old man with a warm expression, welcomed Hyeonu . “I am the chief of Aslan . You’ll probably see me often while you are here . ”
Hyeonu appeared at the location of the village chief of Aslan . Dell was an NPC that beginners were tired of meeting .
“What is your name?” He greeted Hyeonu with a smile like he wasn’t an NPC that was tired of saying such things every time .
Hyeonu politely introduced himself to Dell, “I am Gang Hyeonu . ”
“Gang Hyeonu . . . I'll remember it . Here are your rewards . You can get something useful or perhaps something from a legend . ”
Hyeonu received the reward box from Dell . He immediately opened the box . The thing that emerged from the box was a ring with a rough pattern .
[Ring Containing the Form of a Giant]
[-A ring containing the form of a giant . The power and spirit of a giant from the past mythical era can be felt from it .
Rating: Unique
Restrictions: None
Effect: Strength +50, Physique +50, ‘Giant’s Power’ is available (Cooldown: 2 hours) .
Giant’s Power: Gain an additional power equal to the physique stat . The duration is 5 minutes . ]
“Isn’t this good? I’ll wear it right away . ”
Hyeonu felt great from the start . It was like a gift celebrating his return . Hyeonu revisited the plan he made when he decided to return .
‘All I can do right now is . . . sell items…? Is that all?’
Hyeonu came to the integrated auction house to buy materials to make an item . However, he couldn’t see the materials at all . No, as soon as several appeared, they disappeared like a ghost . It was like someone was hoarding them . Hyeonu struck the ground in anger .
At this moment, a whisper arrived from Yeongchan .
-From Yeongchan: Hey? Is the tutorial over? Then don’t waste time with pointless things and come to the east gate . This Hyung will give you a proper bus ride . Or should I play as your bus driver?
Hyeonu was impressed with Yeongchan’s concern . Yeongchan was definitely a ranker . He had no time to waste in places like this yet he took the time to help his hopeless friend .
-To Yeongchan: No . I have to make an item . Thank you for thinking of me . I’ll consider it for next time .
-From Yeongchan: . . . What?
-To Yeongchan: Just wait a bit . I’ll show you something really good .
Yeongchan, who was waiting for Hyeonu outside the gate, cocked his head in a confused manner . He didn’t know what this person was thinking .
‘What are you thinking about? Hyeonu . . . ’
Still, Hyeonu was a friend who could do anything, so Yeongchan just had to believe in him . Then a whisper from Hyeonu came again .
-From Hyeonu: By the way, Yeongchan . . .
-To Hyeonu: What? Want to take the bus?
-From Hyeonu: Give me 50 gold . I forgot that I don’t have gold .
-To Hyeonu: . . . Understood .