"Max, my boy, you're something else! How can you kill these things, tell me too!"
The old man who pulled me aside earlier was skipping toward me like a gazelle; like the others, he too had witnessed me taking down two Fallen.
"Uncle, I'd like to tell you, but even if you knew, it's not something you can do right now. You have my word, when I meet up with my crew, I'll let you kill a Fallen."
The man had a giant 'Headline' written above his head; what in my right mind would possess me to tell him I had immunity to the zone?
I might have looked like I was paying attention to him, but I was actually checking how fast my energy was regenerating. I got the result I wanted in no time; I discovered I could regenerate 1 energy every 10 seconds.
When I promised the old geezer earlier that I'd let him kill a Fallen in the new day, I was very confident in myself. It wasn't really a lie; once the four of us grouped up, doing that would be a piece of cake. The only problem here would be figuring out if a day had passed or not. Even though the sun above us wasn't scorching hot, it hadn't withdrawn its light all day long.
It was the perfect time to make another attempt.
"System, show the clock!"
When I said this sentence in my head, a digital clock appeared before my eyes. These numbers, which read 00:15:48, would now tell me how much time was left until the new day.
"Pin it to the top right of my vision!"
I wasn't about to leave it sticking out right in the middle of my vision. Out of old habits, I moved the clock to the top right of the screen, in a sense. It made checking my energy easier too. It was enough to rest for a hundred seconds after landing five hits.
The questions in my mind were being resolved one by one. Was it to make room for new troubles, or had I actually made some progress? Believe me, I couldn't care less. I'm someone who fell into Hell. Since there couldn't be a bigger problem than that, let them all come at me from now on.
"Folks, what's your status!"
The chat system, however, was very well thought out. The audio only went to the people we wanted to talk to.
"Big Bro Max, after I used my skill, the part that said Energy in my stats changed to Magical Energy!"
The one speaking was Rimel. I guess because the skill she used was magic-based, her energy type underwent a metamorphosis.
"That's not a big deal. How many points does your energy drop with each skill?"
"4"
My expectation was that all tier one skills would have the same energy consumption, but I was going to trip and fall at the very first step.
"Well, what's the regeneration rate, Rimel?"
"1 energy every 20 seconds!"
Double the consumption and twice as slow regeneration speed; it was obvious there was a huge attribute difference between our two skills.
"Max, boss, mine is just like Rimel's skill, and it even says Magical Energy instead of Energy for me too!"
Apparently, the obsession with magic continued in Hell too; people with magic-based skills had it harder than the others.
"It must be because of your skills. Toraman, how many Fallen did you kill!"
"Brother, this skill eats up a lot of energy, so I couldn't kill many. After two skills, I barely managed to take down five. Suddenly, my hands and feet felt heavy; when I started having trouble moving, I barely dragged myself inside the shield!"
"I'm warning you, keep your energy under control at all times, or else the moment it runs out, they'll waste us even if we have immunity!"
What I said was true; our special skill only protected us against effects, but we were just as defenseless against physical blows as anyone else.
"Guys, whatever you do, don't let them hit you!"
When someone panting heavily joined the chat, we all knew it was Sukrucuk.
"What's up, Big Bro, what's going on over there!"
The man's tone of voice wasn't pleasant at all. I was worried too because something bad might have happened to him that would mess up our plans.
"Max, what you said is true. While killing these things, I got pumped up and went deeper in. Next thing I knew, three of them surrounded me. By the time I planted a headbutt and got out, they each hit me once. While I was running back into the shield, a warning popped up in front of my eyes!"
"I swear it said 'Your remaining Health Points have dropped to 1'. When I saw that, I ran back without even looking behind me!"
I guess our fierce tough guy saw his brother-in-law among the mobs again; a tank is supposed to be calm, to assess the situation, but look at what we ended up with?
"Now, everyone moves forward sticking to the first plan. We're in no rush, we move slowly and safely!"
"Repeat what I say: 'System, place the energy bar in the top left corner!'"
Right across from the clock on the top right, a fully filled orange bar had now appeared. I actually liked this aspect of the system; I could customize my vision for my own needs.
"Wow, an indicator where I can check my energy just popped up!"
"Brother Max, can we do this for health too?"
While Toraman spoke with an exclamation of astonishment, on the other hand, Sukrucuk was obviously quite scared after what happened to him.
"Yes, Big Bro, it will appear if you ask for it the same way. I moved the clock to the top right corner, for example!"
"Big Bro Max, it's good you told me this. I'm so scared I won't be able to kill one before time runs out."
Since I had strictly told Rimel to only use her skill, it was normal for the girl to feel this way.
"Then let's do this: when the clock strikes 12, we'll meet up and assess the situation. Right now, we don't know this place well enough to fight and talk at the same time."
When the group chat ended, it was time for some calculations for me. After doing some simple math, I figured out I could kill a maximum of eight Fallen at a time. Factoring in the cooldown time, even though I was one-shotting the mobs, each round would take about 2 minutes.
In all the MMORPGs I played, the first levels were passed after one or two kills, but even though Toraman killed at least seven Fallen, there hadn't been any progress yet.
I guess I sometimes forgot this was Hell. For us who came to suffer punishment, it couldn't be made that easy, right?
I was going to stuff all the thoughts in my head into a jar and shut the lid tight. All I had to do was step outside the shield and slaughter Fallen until I leveled up.
When I set my mind to something, I don't give up easily. I was wandering around the borders of the Alcohol Zone, putting on a punching show.
When the proverbs of our ancestors were taught to us in school, whether it was due to childhood mischief or simply not seeing their real-life application at the time, we usually didn't take them seriously. But for the last three hours, I was bitterly realizing how true one of them was.
Things hadn't gone according to plan at all. While I thought I would kill 8 mobs in 2 minutes, I barely managed to take down 450 in three whole hours.
Yes, 450, you heard that right. I had slaughtered this many mobs to get from Level 1 to Level 2, but there was still no progress.
I realized that while I was only calculating energy, I completely forgot to factor in the Health Points I lost from taking hits. On top of that were my efforts to escape the Fallen trying to surround me and the struggles to pull individual mobs from groups.
The joy and determination that filled me when I formed the party were rapidly fading away, like a balloon deflating when its knot is untied.
A voice inside me was constantly nagging me: 'Go back and lie down inside the shield. Why push yourself? You can just kill one every day and call it a day!'
While struggling with a difficult task, the alluring melodies of comfort resonated within my body. If I listened to them, I could rest here comfortably forever.
When examined with simple logic, the offer presented to me was one that couldn't be refused. Among people resisting not to suffer every day, I would essentially have an untouchable status.
When I returned inside the shield, I spent about an hour thinking over this idea. When I finally reached a decision, I had experienced an epiphany on many subjects.