Chapter 5

Tutorial 1st Floor, Waiting Room (Part 2)

Countless weapons spanned across my surroundings .

They looked like the typical beginner class weapons .

Most of them didn’t even have accessories and just looked unadorned .

It was no doubt that they were made just for practicality .

Which one should I pick?

First, let’s think about my stats .

Height: 177cm . Weight: 71kg .

I used to have quite a skinny physique, but I gained quite a bit of weight while staying home doing absolutely nothing .

Due to the lack of my muscle strength, swinging heavy weapons would be hard .

I was pretty confident when it came to fitness .

I was skilled at sports in general, this was probably attributed to the fact that I had good hand-to-eye coordination .

However still, I was most confident when it came to playing video games .

I never really practiced martial arts for a long .

When I was young, I only went to a Wushu dojo, though it only lasted for a short period of time .

And during my time in secondary school I tried a bit of Kendo .

It would be best if I didn’t rely on either Wushu,Kendo or martial arts in general .

Out of all the available weapons, the staff caught my eye .

It wasn’t a paddle-like staff that was used like a club, it was more of a magical staff that even Gandalf would probably carry around himself .

Well, I didn’t know if it was a real magical staff but it sure looked like one .

If I chose that, would I become a mage or a priest?

I might have to learn skills completely independent of the staff too .

Just as I imagined, melee weapons would be better .

Having a ranged weapon definitely had the advantage of safety in terms of staying at a safe distance in battle . However, that would only apply if I had someone protecting me .

Moreover, if I think about the people I had met in this area, the decision to choose a melee weapon is even more appealing .

Sticking a blade into someone’s face definitely has a different type of pressure compared to sticking a staff in someone’s face .

It would also probably be wise if I stayed on good terms with the people back in the stone chamber, but I als had to take into account when things could go bad between us .

With the exception of the bow and staff, every other ranged weapon should be disregarded .

With the same reason, I should stay clear from blunt weapons like clubs .

They weren’t sharp and intimidating like a sword was .

Overall, they were too heavy .

After I took everything into consideration, the only weapons that would be viable for me were the likes of spear, sword and axe, and so on .

There were many variants of the same weapons, except for the axe .

Although there were a few axes that weren’t too heavy, I just didn’t like them .

The only ones left were the sword and spear .

Normally, people would think that the spear had the advantage of reach and would be easier to use effectively, but in reality this was not the case .

The spear was an advanced weapon that no beginner would be able to use it that easily .

Basically, the spear would only be stronger than the sword if the person wielding the spear kept their distance .

In other words, the spear would be hard to use effectively if this distance was to be closed by the enemy .

Perhaps if I had other spear wielding allies by my side, to form a nice scrum it might make it effective .

I don’t know what type of enemies I might encounter… no, actually I don’t even know if I’ll encounter any enemies, but if they were stronger, faster and more precise, using a spear would be problematic .

I’m only a beginner and an ordinary person too .

Although using a sword is honestly challenging for a beginner, if I continue to doubt my own thoughts I’ll end up hypothesising forever .

I trusted my own decision and began looking for a sword that would fit me .

I lifted a longsword and it was much heavier than I expected .

I swung it with all my might and it felt like my body was actually being pushed away by its weight .

From this experience, I decided to disregard all two-handed swords .

Once I found a decent sized one-handed sword, I found multiple with a shield, like a set .

Ah, the sword and shield combo .

There were more than twenty sets, however they all had one thing in common .

They came with a catch, a penalty .

The swords and shields were in poor condition compared to the swords and shields that were available by themselves . The shields in the sets were much thinner and some were even rusted . The swords were also either shorter or thinner .

Moreover, some were rusted and even chipped .

Should I give up the sword and choose a shield instead?

Just becoming a tanker from the start could be an option too .

I pondered for a moment but soon disregarded that thought .

No matter what, even in doubt, it was essential for me to have a weapon .

I wasn’t sure if I would be able stay with the people back at the stone chamber .

Even if could, I couldn’t trust them just yet .

After scavenging for hours, I finally decided on my weapons .

A round shield that could be strapped around my arm and a sturdy one-handed sword roughly 40cm in length .

The sword looked pretty similar to a gladius used in ancient roman times .

The shield was made of wood and the surface was lined with leather . I liked that there was a handle and also a leather belt that allowed it to be strapped around my arm .

Like other swords found in sets, the sword I chose had multiple chips on the blade . Out of anxiety, I chose a sword that was short and sturdy so it wouldn’t break easily .

[Dirty Shield]

Defence: 4

Description: Separate from the handle, a leather belt is attached . The belt is more valuable than the shield . Second-hand .

[Thrown away training sword]

Attack: 3

Description: A training sword once used by a kid . Second-hand .

These descriptions were absolutely worthless . Why did they have to explain to me that the items are second-hand anyway? Although all the basic weapons here had these types of descriptions, maybe it was the penalty for choosing a set . The condition of these items were really poor .

[Will you choose this?]

A message popped up .

“Yes . ”

The next moment I was back in the stone chamber .

“Welcome back . Did you choose your weapon?”

A man that resembled a bear questioned instantly upon my return .

“Yes . ”

“I see you’ve chosen a sword and shield set . Nice choice”

“What?!”

The gangster shouted from afar

“How come you brought two things? What are you?!”

“This sword and shield came in a set . Even though they come together, they lack in quality compared to the swords and shields that were available by themselves . ”

The gangster couldn’t accept my explanation and complained for hours .

The bear man confronted him and told the gangster that he himself saw the set weapons, which allowed us to barely calm him down .

The bear man taught me about the inventory and status bars and also how to use the Community feature .

“Inventory . ”

As I quietly muttered this, my inventory appeared right in front of my eyes .

Inside my inventory were dried foods and water . I should check how much I have of those later .

At the thought about disarming my sword and shield and storing them in the inventory, the weapons I held in my hands slowly disappeared and appeared in my inventory .

Now I thought of re-arming myself, the weapons appeared in my hands again .

Now this really felt like a game .

“Status . ”

Lee Ho Jae (Human)

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 13

Endurance: 10

Intelligence: 21

The status bar was so neat and tidy that it was so insignificant .

Surely there would be something more .

Like the main character in a story, I expected some special powers or something of the sort but it seemed like I was the very definition of the word human .

My intelligence could be quite high compared to others though . No wonder the staff was so tempting .

“The inventory and status bars are pretty simple to understand, but what’s this Community feature?”

“Mmm, it’s like a social media network . You can use this to chat to different people in different chat rooms . Other than that I don’t think it has any other feature . ”

“Other chat rooms?”

I was so curious about this community feature that I had to open it .

[Difficulty: Easy, Noticeboard (33/61)]

[Difficulty: Normal, Noticeboard (7/24)]

[Difficulty: Hard, Noticeboard (11/16)]

[Difficulty: Hell, Noticeboard (1/4)]

“It’s separated by difficulty . ”

“Yeah, and it’s only the four of us that chose the Hell difficulty . Since it’s like this, shouldn’t we combine forces and work together?”

“Right . ”

“Lastly, the clock . If you think about wanting to see the time, it will automatically appear in your vision . ”

Just like he said, I thought about wanting to see the time .

[Attempt 1, Day 0 . 1:13pm]

[Time left until Tutorial: 70 Hours 43 minutes]

“Come here, we should introduce ourselves to each other and have a talk . ”