Chapter 66

With that, all matters we had to address during the day of the great harmony were handled .

The meeting was concluded well, and it seems the thing about Park Jung-ah sufficiently resolved .

We fixed her attitude problem . However, having witnessed her human side alone was worth the trouble .

Honestly, Park Jung-ah treated people too stiffly and with a machine-like manner . There were times when she gave the creeps .

She was calm and unaffected when she blew up a criminal’s head with a handgun out of vengeance .

As an organization’s commander, being able to always maintain and iron-blooded attitude was definitely a plus .

However, if her attitude was approaching the point of inhumane, the people around her would not want to trust her and follow her .

Park Jung-ah decided she will consciously try not to treat me as someone above her .

She promised us that she will cut down on respectful language as much as possible and treat me like a familiar friend .

However, in reality, instead of relaxing her attitude, she started to act even more uncomfortably around me .

She was acting strange . She slowly turned her head to the side when our eyes met . She stopped halfway when trying to talk to me about something, and just muttered a few things then dismissed it instead of actually saying what was on her mind .

Also, like just now, she just ran away to avoid me .

She is acting this way because she is feeling awkward .

When she gets use to it, we will be able to get along more comfortably .

On a side note, Idy was pissed, which was a problem .

It seemed that I bored her too much during the meeting .

She was not capable of understanding what anyone else was saying .

She could only communicate with me .

When she was like that, I didn’t tend to her at all throughout the entire day . I could understand why she was pissed .

To make her feel better, I went to talk to her for a bit . However, Idy turned her back on me and lied down .

She said she was going to sleep so I should stop bothering her .

It seemed she was very disappointed .

Only Idy, Kim Min-huk and myself were in the tent now .

Park Jong-sik left when Park Jung-ah left the tent .

I turned to look at Kim Min-huk, and he was doing something strange .

“What are you doing?”

“Can’t you tell?”

He had a piece of wood in one hand and a carving knife in the other hand .

He was making something by carving the wood with the knife .

“In the end, have you decided to walk the path of the Legendary Moonlight Sculptor?”

“What the hell are you talking about? I’m just doing it for fun . A hobby . ”

A hobby, huh…

In the past, I had dabbled on knitting scarfs and socks and making gloves and outwears for fun .

Ah, I also made a hat too .

I opened the inventory, and the clothing that I made before were still there .

“Hey . Are you the sewing type? Sculpting is better . Sculpting Swordsmanship Skill is like a cheat . ”

“That’s the main character’s special boost ability . From the common sense standpoint, a sewing skill is better . By the way, why are you sculpting all of sudden? Are you bored?”

I started sewing things when I was mentally cornered and exhausted .

I started when I was raising my resistance skills by purposefully inflicting harm on my body first thing in the morning .

Back then, I was all alone and unaware that I could meet other people through the day of the great harmony like this .

One day, the pain became the only stimulant in my life . I start to feel something like pleasures through intense pain .

When I had been snickering as I inflicted harm on my body, I hoped my Pain Resistance Skill would not improve any further .

I was concerned my life would become dull as well if my ability to feel pain became dull .

I started to mumble on my own more often . I obsessively focused on causing self-harm .

It was not just for the goal of increasing my passive skills . I was making it more painful and doing it in more dangerous ways .

One day, I came to realize that my behaviors were excessively dangerous and the condition of my mind was not normal .

I was suffering from a mental illness .

I could not escape from Tutorial, so I came up with three options .

They were not anything big .

First, I decided to look at the Community regularly at a certain time every day .

Even when I was not curious about anything, I watched people have conversations .

Second, I decided to have daily routines .

The last thing was getting a hobby .

While I enjoyed my hobby time, I forgot about everything regarding Tutorial, skills, growths or levels . I just focused on sewing .

Now that I am thinking about it, all three were pretty effective .

“… You also went through a lot . No . What you went through goes beyond that . My situation is nothing like that . I got a house at the 30th Floor’s residential district, but I got nothing to decorate the inside, so I am making them myself . ”

It’s expensive to buy things using points .

Kim Min-huk added .

A house huh…

I have heard that you could purchase homes and lands with points at the 30th Floor’s residential district and use them as your private residence .

A house .

Um… Well . That’s nice .

Although I am not envious of him .

“Just call that friend of yours named Lee Jun-sik or Lee Jun-suk again . I’m going to increase my passive resistance . ”

“All right . ”

Kim Min-huk responded, briefly yawned and opened the message window .

“By the way, are you not going outside?”

“What’s the point of talking to the people outside? I’ll just end up with more work to handle . I’d rather stay here until the day of the great harmony ends . What about you? Why aren’t you going outside?”

“This is my tent, you rascal . ”

Honestly, I don’t feel comfortable meeting other people outside either .

There are too many people who are afraid of me .

* * *

“Ihaoi continent?”

“Yes . Can you get information about that before the round ends?”

“Yes… I can, but…”

While we were taking a break, I asked Lee Jun-suk to gather information about the Ihaoi continent at the 12th Floor stage .

Lee Jun-suk was a member of Order who was exempt from information gathering duty .

The reason for exemption was to allow him to focus on gathering information for clearing stages .

He needs information for himself, so I cannot ask him to do an unreasonable amount of intelligence work .

“What’s your Mana Circuit Skill level now?”

“I’m at level three…”

That’s perfect .

He is exactly at the point where mana operation gets even more delicate .

“Here . Try wearing this . ”

I brought out a bracelet and gave it to Lee Jun-suk .

“I got this as a reward after clearing the Tenth Floor . Its additional attribute increases your Mana Circuit level by one . This item is at a whole another dimension from items you can get from the store . Try it on first . I’ll explain afterwards . ”

Just wearing this leather mana bracelet made the wearer’s Mana Circuit level higher by one level .

A person’s Mana Circuit level indicated how skillfully and smoothly the user could operate the mana .

However, the operation method is something that the user has to learn without other’s help .

Things like swordsmanship or spear techniques are something that even non-experts can get a bit of sense for it .

Perhaps it should be swung this way . Doing it like this is making the stance better? Like that .

However, mana operation didn’t have things like that .

It was like bashing one’s own head to the floor all alone to learn .

Also, because of that, this Mana Bracelet was even more precious .

Even if it was through the power of the item, being able to experience the mana operation that’s a level higher was still worth it .

“Like that, when you accumulate enough experience, your skill’s level will go up to four in no time . After that, because of the bracelet’s effect, your Mana Circuit will be at level 5 . If you work a little harder after that, your skill level will rise to five . Like that, it will keep going up . Does it make sense?”

Lee Jun-suk repeatedly nodded .

“It’s sick, right?”

“Yes . ”

“Deal?”

“Yes! Deal . ”

All right, that went well .

Actually, the Mana Circuit training won’t go as well as I described .

Separate from the experience, he will have to work hard, very hard .

The bracelet is like reducing the effort required from 100% to 80% .

“I’m giving this to you because you seemed to be the most talented one of all kids out there . Ah, do not tell others about this . ”

Actually, I didn’t know much about Lee Jun-suk before I met him today . However, I tossed this comment out just for the sake of it .

Lee Jun-suk’s face looked a step brighter . He started to really focus on using the skill .

Meanwhile, Kim Min-huk stared at me as if he was accusing me of selling snake oils .

“Ah, I need to meet Hyung-jin too . Can you come with me later and talk to him?”

“The one who is in Hell Difficulty, Third Floor?”

“Yes . I don’t think he is in a good condition . ”

I explained to Kim Min-huk about the conversation that I had with Lee Hyung-jin and the Third Floor in Hell Difficulty .

“I am not sure . I don’t think talking to him is going to resolve this problem . I think letting him be is sufficient . ”

“Is that so?”

“You can only console him, but it won’t really feel close to home for him since you got through the Third Floor with great ease . ”

I did .

I got through it in just two or three days .

“Instead, try letting him be for now . ”

Okay .

I sent the thought of talking to Lee Hyung-jin far far away beyond the outer bounds of my mind .

When it comes to dealing with people, it is better to listen to Kim Min-huk’s opinion .

Actually, I wouldn’t know what to say to Lee Hyun-jin when I meet him . It’s a bother too, so…

Well then… What should I do now?

Kim Min-huk turned his gaze back and worked diligently on sculpting the piece of wood as I watched him .

“Hey . ”

“What? Can’t you see that I’m focused on my work?”

“I’m bored . ”

“… Hey . Jun-suk . Do you have a stronger skill?”

* * *

The day of the great harmony ended . The end of Round 14 was also right in front of my nose .

I grew fond of my home here through the past month of stay . However, it was time for me to say goodbye .

Home .

It’s the cave that I had been using as the camp site in the 12th Floor stage .

I had been calling it home all this time, and now it really feels like home .

The grass outside the cave is well organized . It looks like a garden in front of a home . There is even an outhouse built at a distance from cave .

The home’s inside is tidied up, with household items and cooking utensils are also well organized in a corner .

The trace of decorations and organization that Idy had done whenever she had the time could be seen here and there .

This place really does look like a home .

“Don’t you think so?”

“Keruk . I feel the same . ”

I used to live in a studio room before entering the Tutorial . However, even that place didn’t give me this kind of sensation .

Back then, my home felt like a prison where I was trapped in .

Could it be that Idy also feel the same way?

“Keruk . I am a little different, Captain . To me, this place really is my first home that I got to have . ”

She said it casually, so I wondered if I could ask her for a detailed story .

Would that be rude?

No . It is not a matter of being rude or not . It might be a memory that would hurt her if I made her think about it .

Before I could start worrying about her, she started to tell me the story about her past .

“I did not get to live with my kind . I always lived at a forest nearby, alone . Because of how things were there, I didn’t get to have a place like this cave with adequate necessities . Every night, I had to move to different places and sleep . ”

… There is one thing that comes to my mind whenever I hear her story .

What exactly was the reason why she was shunned by other lizardmen?

I don’t feel comfortable asking though…

“Also, the Tutorial stage, the place which I am not even certain of my memories about, cannot be called my home . It was no different than a prison . You brought me out of that place . Captain, I am thankful . ”

Brought you out of that place…

Is that the right way to put it?

I once asked Kiri Kiri .

If another player meets Idy at the Fifth Floor’s boss room, does that Idy know me?

Is that Idy that I have summoned before?

Kiri Kiri’s explanation was like this .

She said Idy that I summoned and Idaltaru at the Fifth Floor’s boss room are the same but also different .

She said that the Idaltaru that another player would meet at the boss room will not have the memory of ever meeting me .

She also said that it is not that Idaltaru lost the memoires of me, but it is that she never met me .

Idy was confused when she heard that answer .

Ever since then, instead of calling her Idaltaru, I called her Idy .

I suddenly felt frustrated .

I wanted to say something to comfort her, but I could not think of anything to say .

The convoluted feeling persisted inside me . Meanwhile, many messages appeared in front of my eyes .

[You failed clearing the 12th Floor in Hell Difficulty . ]

[All of your status abnormalities and wounds will be healed . ]

[An additional reward is given based on your play record . ]

[You acquired Poison Lv . 1]

I thought it would give me more points . However, I unexpectedly got a skill instead .

Save for me failing to clear the stage, my play record was perfect .

I secured my survival for 25 days of stay inside the stage during the beginning . I had been leisurely spending the time and training since then .

“Keruk . Are we going to be at the waiting room for the three days? It’s not bad . ”

“No . We will be at the waiting room for nine days . ”

To be precise, we will be at the waiting room for the three days and in front of the bonfire for the other six days .

“Keruk? Six additional days in the waiting room? If you do, you won’t be able to clear the floor, isn’t that right?”

“That’s right . I plan on challenging the 12th Floor multiple times . I don’t want to let this opportunity pass and just go to the next floor . A perfect training opportunity like this may not come again . ”

I have plenty of time . Suitable prey for hunting roam around the jungle alone . I don’t have to bother with finding something, nor do I have to stop a cataclysmic event either .

More importantly,

“I should hunt those fake dragons before leaving .