[You have accepted the challenge.]
[The First Tutorial: 'The Marathon of Blood' is commencing.]
The world blurred.
When Kim Jiseok's vision cleared, he was no longer in the park. The screams of civilians had been replaced by a heavy, metallic silence.
He stood in a long, narrow corridor constructed of cold, grey stone. Torches flickered on the walls, casting long, dancing shadows.
Click.
A weight settled around his throat.
Kim Jiseok reached up. A sleek, black metallic collar had materialized around his neck. A small red LED on the front began to blink rhythmically.
[Warning: The Tutorial is a restricted zone.]
[Objective: Reach the end of the corridor within the time limit.]
[Time Remaining: 00:05:00]
'A death trap.'
He knew this collar. It was a mana-charged explosive. If the timer hit zero, or if the wearer stepped outside the designated path, the collar would detonate with enough force to vaporize a human head.
Most people who received the message to enter the tower would have hesitated. They would have stayed in the parks and streets, paralyzed by fear.
But Kim Jiseok couldn't afford to wait.
"Let's go."
He sprinted.
The first room was a gauntlet of swinging blades and pressure plates.
Swish!
A pendulum blade whistled past his chest. Kim Jiseok tried to roll, but his shoulder hit the stone floor with a dull thud.
'Slow.'
His mind was a veteran's, but his muscles were those of a warehouse worker who survived on instant ramen and cheap beer.
He scrambled up, but his foot pressed a raised tile.
Thwip!
Arrows hissed from the walls. One grazed his thigh. The pain was a sharp reminder of his current reality. He kept running, his lungs burning.
'No—'
BOOM.
Kim Jiseok's eyes snapped open.
He was back at the start of the corridor.
His hands flew to his neck. The skin was intact. No blood or charred flesh.
[The participant has failed the trial.]
[System Note: Tutorials allow for 'Retry' due to the participant's potential.]
[Beginning Second Attempt.]
He gasped, drawing in deep lungfuls of the stale air.
"Good thing this is the tutorial," he muttered, wiping cold sweat from his forehead. "Otherwise, I'd be nothing but a red stain on the floor."
The timer reset and he ran again.
He was faster this time, anticipating the pendulum blades. He slid under the first and leaped over the second. But the corridor seemed to stretch.
The lack of stamina was a wall he couldn't climb.
Halfway through, his legs turned to lead. He stumbled. His vision blurred as his heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird.
'Move, you piece of shit body! Move!'
He reached the final door, his fingers grazing the handle.
BOOM.
Attempt Three.
Kim Jiseok didn't wait for the countdown to finish. He was already leaning forward, his center of gravity low.
"Third time's the charm."
His voice was a low growl.
The previous two deaths acted as data points to him. He had memorized the timing of the blades and knew the exact sequence of the pressure plates.
Whoosh.
As the timer started, he exploded forward.
This time, the body felt different. The a wakeningmessage he'd received in the warehouse was finally taking root. The heaviness was fading, replaced by a strange, humming lightness.
He reached the first room.
He moved between the blades with millimeters to spare, his body twisting in mid-air. He stepped only on the safe tiles, his feet barely touching the ground before he launched himself forward again.
'I'm getting used to it.'
He reached the end of the first room in sixty seconds.
The second room opened up.
This was a vast chamber filled with floating stone platforms unlike the corridor prior. Below them was a pit of lava.
[Trial 2: Precision.]
A series of mechanical golems stood on the platforms, armed with iron staves.
Kim Jiseok leaped onto the first platform.
The golem swung.
He caught the staff with his left hand, using the golem's own momentum to swing himself around. He delivered a brutal kick to it's core.
CRASH.
The golem shattered.
He leaped to the next platform, and the next.
Two golems attacked simultaneously from both sides.
Kim Jiseok dropped into a split, the staves whistling over his head. He gripped both golems by their mechanical ankles and pulled.
They collided with a heavy thang and tumbled into the lava.
'Still too slow for the old me, but enough for now.'
He cleared the second room.
The third room was the final stretch. It was a pitch-black hall.
[Trial 3: Perception.]
The moment he stepped in, the collar's blinking red light was the only thing visible. Then, the sound of hidden mechanisms clicking.
Shuck-shuck-shuck.
Spinning saw blades emerged from the floor and ceiling, moving in a chaotic, interlocking pattern.
Kim Jiseok closed his eyes.
'My hearing ability has been good even before awakening.'
He began to move.
It was a mesmerizing display of choreography. He ducked, leaned, and hopped. A saw blade grazed his hair...another passed inches beneath his crotch.
He accelerated.
He was a moving by instinct and the memory of a thousand trials.
He reached the exit and flew through the doorway.
[00:02:45 remaining.]
[New Record Established!]
[Tutorial 1 Clear.]
The black collar fell from his neck and vanished before it hit the floor.
Kim Jiseok leaned against the wall, his chest heaving. A notification appeared.
[Strength has increased by 2.]
[Agility has increased by 3.]
[Sense has increased by 2.]
"Ha..."
He looked at his hands. They were steady now.
'The real game starts now.'
He pushed off the wall and walked through the heavy iron doors at the end of the hall.
The room beyond was a large, circular plaza. It looked like an ancient Roman forum, but built with the same cold, black stone as the tower.
There were people here.
About twenty of them. Some were sitting on the floor, weeping quietly. Others were staring at their hands in shock.
They were the survivors of the first trial.
'I didn't expect there would be people who cleared it faster than me.'
A moment later a man in a torn business suit spawned his eyes widened and looking around in fear.
He looked at Kim Jiseok and the lack of blood on his clothes.
"You... how did you get here so fast?"
The man asked, his voice trembling.
"The blades... I saw people die.
My head almost..."
Kim Jiseok ignored him.
He scanned the room. These people were his future competition...or his future baggage.
He walked to the center of the plaza where a massive stone monolith stood. It glowed with a faint, golden light.
[Waiting for remaining participants...]
[Current survivors: 21]
[Second Tutorial Level will begin shortly.]