"Whew, it's a lot easier now that I've actually tried it."

Hyun Woo let out a sigh of relief as he got out of the unit.

Once again, technological advances were to be admired. The scenery, the people, and monsters in the game looked very realistic. The battles were overflowing with a sense of realism.

Although he had started playing the game for the sake of the recruitment test, he thought he might get deeply immersed and beyond. However, Hyun Woo could not afford to get blindly obsessed with the game.

The game was great, but for him, it was more important to get by. He was in a different situation compared to the other applicants. It was a given he wouldn't be able to feed himself and pay for his mother's hospital fees if he didn't work. He couldn't just give up everything and enter this 1 in 200 war with his life on the line.

'However, the game is just as important. I can't quit work, but, I can put the private academy on hold for the moment. Then, I suppose I can play more if I sleep less.'

The clock indicated it was already 2 in the morning.

The Hyun Woo who skipped lunch in order to set up the unit, fetched himself a carton of milk and sat in front of the computer.

He had underestimated New World.

After he had actually tried the game, he realised it was quite different from any other games. As a result, he felt the need to look up more information during his spare time.

Sure enough, within a span of a month, the game was the top topic that came up and dozens of related sites had formed.

There were sites that shared information with users; while the information was insufficient, it was good to thoroughly look over them just in case.

Hyun Woo went onto the sites and looked through the information.

However, information could only be understood if one had some background knowledge. Since he didn't know much, they were all Greek to him. At that moment, after clicking through the forums without much thought, the milk carton fell from Hyun Woo's hand.

"W-What's this?"

Hyun Woo moved his face right up to the monitor and read through the forum.

'Whoa, n-no way... Is this for real?'

Hyun Woo forgot about his fatigue and immediately entered the unit.

* * *

Ark entered Harun together with a hazy light.

"Stat Window."

When Ark hastily looked at the opened Stat Window, all colour drained from his face.

"My god! I-I was done in!"

Character Name

Ark

Race

Human

Fame

0

Level

1

Profession

None

Title

None

Health

100

Mana

100

Strength

1 (-14)

Agilitiy

1 (-14)

Stamina

1 (-14)

Wisdom

1 (-14)

Intelligence

1 (-14)

Luck

1 (-14)

All the stats turned red and had dropped down to 1.

The information Ark saw online turned out to be true.

On the forum, there was a tale of a newbie user who died without knowing much. According to it, his stats was deducted by 1 each time he died. And like Ark, he didn't check the deducted stat and leveled up; permanently losing the stats in process. The figures inside the bracket indicated the deducted stat, and if one leveled up without recovering them, those stats could never be returned.

Ark was able to understand everything that had happened until now.

'So this was why the people around me showed extreme reactions.'

They must have thought of me as someone who had given up on the game since I kept going at it like a nutcase and everytime I died, my stats got hacked away.

Damn it, so that's why Bulma said she was so sorry.

He felt like an erupting volcano about to explode.

Ark having experience playing many games, he knew firsthand the importance of stats.

Everytime you level up in New World you are given 10 points.

This means at level 10 you should have 100 points. However Ark had already lost 84. In other words, this means at level 10 he would essentially be lower than a level 2. This was a huge difference.

No, the bad side aside, he wouldn't be able to do anything at this rate.

Before logging off, Ark was panting while holding a dagger, but he wasn't tired. He had 1 strength so the dagger was heavy, and also one agility, so his movement were sluggish.

'From the beginning that bastard Andel knew all about it. Bulma knew too. They took advantage of me in order to hunt safely. All this for a handful of crappy items.'

For 84 stat points, he got a bunch of wolf leather, meat, and a rusty sword.

Ark clenched and grinded his teeth while searching for them. However, they must've fled the village, or cut off all means of communication as he wasn't able to find them anywhere. Then again, there wasn't anything that he could do even if he caught them.

With these stats, he could not exact revenge, and they could not return his lost stats anyway. In the end, Ark sank down to the ground with a hollow expression.

Everything in front of his eyes became dark.

'Damn it, to think that such a system would exist.'

The stat couldn't fall below 1, so he really had a body that had nothing to lose now.

His anger subsided a little and his guilt rose. No matter how hurried he'd felt, he should have looked through the information first. Even 1 hour, no, 30 minutes of skimming through a forum would have prevented such a mistake. It was his fault for thinking that this game would be no different from other games.

Ark realized how much of a difference one small piece of information could make. No, but before that, the disappointment on himself surfaced.

'What a stupid bastard I was! Why didn't I notice the reason Bulma was being so kind? It may just be a game, but in the end those guys are only human. There's no reason for them to be so nice to a useless guy like me!'

If this was reality, he definitely would never have made that mistake.

'Andel and Bulma! You bastards picked on the wrong person. I'll make you regret it someday!'

Life is unfair beyond imagination. Survival would be impossible if one underestimated it.

If there was one thing Ark had learned while working hard in real life, that would be it.

Sometimes, after working a part-time job for over a month, he didn't receive his pay.

The manager had taken Ark for an easy mark because he was just a student. So Ark didn't go to school for a week and clung to the manager until he finally got his money. He couldn't give up because his life was on the line.

Ark had suffered similar situations for the past few years. He couldn't fall apart here.

He had to get stronger somehow and get his revenge on those bastards! But for now there were more urgent matters.

One hour later, Ark went and found Hansen again.

"Give me a job."

"Hmm? If it isn't the customer who came in a while ago. Didn't you say you were going outside to hunt?"

"I'm about to cry, okay? Don't ask and please give me a job."

Ark said as he let out a deep sigh.

He had spent an hour digging through the Internet after what had happened.

Perhaps because there were almost no idiots who had made the same mistake as Ark, there was barely any information. Still, Ark determinedly searched through the Internet.

He thought there might be a way to restore his stats if the system deduct stats with each death.

If it was impossible to restore the stats, then there'd be no reason to put the lost stat numbers in parentheses.

Thankfully, he'd was able to find information about that part a little while ago.

The way was rather simple. If you hunted a lot, the lost stats would be naturally restored. But there was also a problem here. If the lost stats were not completely restored and the user leveled up in that state, then those stats would be gone forever. Hence, he had to recover all of his 84 stat points before leveling up to level 2.

Mice naturally came to Ark's mind.

Each mouse gave 1 EXP. However, leveling up by hunting mice alone would be an impossible feat. Since many mice had to be killed in order to level up, it might be possible for him to restore many stats.

'Although I would much rather make a new character...'

In New World, only one character was allowed per account.

Sink or swim-he had to suck it up and continue playing with his current character.. Although he was already way behind the other applicants even at the start, there was no other way.

"Okay, there aren't a lot of people who are willing to work in this village, so there's plenty of work I can give you. Go right now to the smithy. The number of mice these days has increased there as well."

Ark ran right to the smithy. Then, before the blacksmith could even open his mouth, he jumped into the cellar. The situation was no better than before. At least all of his stats had been at 15 before. Now they were at a measly 1. He'd be no better than a ninety year old grandpa holding a dagger. If his Health Points had been reduced too, he'd probably have gone mad.

'It's fine. Let's not think about it anymore. It's no use coming this far and regretting it. Like when I was up against wolves, the only way is to carefully take the mice on one by one...'

His attitude was different than before.

There was nowhere to run. If he couldn't even kill a mouse, then he should give up on the game. Ark gave it everything that he had as he battled a single mouse. In other words, he had to give it his all to kill a single mouse. As a result, he had to investigate into a more efficient way to hunt.

While doing this, he realised he could perceive many points.

'The speed and strength with which I can swing the dagger has definitely decreased. But the fighting experience I gained while hunting wild dogs and wolves is there to some degree. Even though it takes longer to hunt, it actually feels easier than before. That means..."

It meant combat wasn't based on the attack and defense stats.

Similar to reality, by utilizing fighting experience, the situation could be changed at any time. It was difficult for a level one user to defeat a player who is level ten, but with a level 4 or 5, by following fighting experience, it was possible.

From then on, Ark observed the movements of the mice. He fought while learning how to move in each situation and when to hit the mouse to deal a little more damage. He went through similar battles such as this several times and grasp the techniques of the mice.

'Okay, it's not going to work if I just randomly swing the dagger. The mouse is using its head to move. So, I should learn its movements as if I'm facing a real mouse.'

Ark dealt with all of the mice in the smithy's cellar.

Even so, there weren't any changes to his stats yet.

"Even though I've killed thirty of them.... Is it truly possible to recover my lost stats like this?"

Although he had his worries, he had no other choice.

Even if he were to go outside the village, it would be difficult to deal with one rabbit. There was likely no one who would allow him to squeeze into a party.

If he wasn't able to restore his stats with the mice, the game would end then and there.

'I gotta believe they'll be restored. They'll be recovered for sure.'

Ark received his ten pieces of wheat bread from the smith and received another request. This time, it was a request about the mice in the cellar of the fancy goods shop. In an hour and a half, he was able to finish three requests.

- Thanks to a lot of experience, the Strength and Agility that was lost to a huge blow has been found again. Strength up by 1. Agility has been restored by 1.

The message that he longed for finally appeared. He felt happiness, but at the same time, he felt at a loss as to what he should do.

An hour and a half. He was only able to recover 2 points after an hour and a half of nonstop mice hunting. How many mice did he have to kill to recover the remaining 82 points?

'But I'll get them back no matter what it takes. I can't just start like this, with these stupid penalties.'

Ark clenched his teeth.

* * *

Hyun Woo rubbed his bloodshot eyes and headed to work.

He had been able to regain only 6 points from staying up the entire night.

While he was lucky there was a way to restore his stats, thinking about the remaining 78 points he started to feel faint.

'Should I just give up on my stats and raise my level instead?'

It would cross his mind from time to time, but Hyun Woo would immediately shake his head.

Every time you increased by one level 10 stats would be granted. That fact didn't change whether he was a level 50 or a 100. Essentially, that meant that the value of stats rose with each level.

Leveling up from 1 to 10 to get the stats would probably be faster than hunting mice, but going from level 100 to 110 would take so much more effort than right now. When he took that point into account, he had no other choice but to go through this grueling process.

'Yeah, killing mice is the only way to restore my stats with the minimal risk. There are other things I can learn while killing mice.'

Hyun Woo has always lived with a positive attitude.

The reason why he didn't quit computer prep school, even though he didn't have the money to buy a single bowl of black bean noodles (jjajangmyun), was thanks to his positive mindset. He also had a great amount of patience.[T/N: A bowl of black bean noodles costs around 5 dollars.]

Truthfully, the harsh training in reality helped him to learn a lot.

In other games, victory was split into the attack and defense stats. There was no room for any other elements. However, in New World, a real sense of fighting and experience played a major role.

The user's real strength and agility were not applied, but experience and reflex speed counted for a lot.

That is, if someone was attacked ten times with 10 points of agility, they could generally evade once. On the other hand, if they handled the situation with quick judgement, they'd be able to evade two or three out of ten times.

'This is the same concept for when I'm attacking.'

By following the enemy's movements, he maintained an advantageous distance.

It was a concept drilled into him over and over again when he learned Taekwondo a long time ago.

Of course, with an advantageous position, it was easier to avoid or counter-attack your opponent.

In New World, the rules of reality were directly applied.

It wasn't a game where you could just recklessly strike once and get hit once.

It was a big enough benefit to know that.

Hyun Woo began to exercise in his spare time from that day on.

Exercise was the best way to hone his reflexes.

The only exercise Hyun Woo could accomplish without spending any money was the Taekwondo he learned in elementary and middle school.

When he went into high school, he stopped because of examinations, but he still had the skills of a third-dan. He didn't remember everything he had learned, but it was still enough to work out by himself.

As he was cleaning out the mart cellar, he moved his body in the spare moments.

Afterward, he loosened his stiff body, stretched his legs, and did image training of fighting a bloody struggle with the mice. If he had a new thought, he adapted it in-game against the mice.

The days passed like this and he regained 30 stat points.

Even though he still had 50 points less than he'd had from the beginning, now he could fight the mice with his eyes closed.

There were approximately twenty to thirty mice to face with each quest he received, and now it didn't even take him 10 minutes to clean them up. Of course, the speed at which he received the quests increased as well.

'My thought was right after all. Ark gets stronger the more I exercise.'

Afterwards, Hyun Woo tried using his Taekwondo techniques in New World.

At first, there were a lot of awkward moments, but as he fought the mice he became more accustomed to them. And after a week, he could face two or three mice at once without the use of the dagger.

Thanks to that, he was able to save on the dagger's repair costs.

What a truly deep and complex game!

He was in the worst situation, but Hyun Woo was getting more and more fascinated with New World.

* * *

'Damn it, to think that I would actually die on purpose.'

Ark grumbled to himself in his faraway mind.

A swarm of mice was pounding on him like crazy.

On the tenth day after starting to hunt mice, Ark discovered yet another problem.

Mice only gave 1 EXP. However, those points accumulated and reached 99%. Had the situation been different, he would be grinning from ear to ear, but Ark's expression was grim.

There was no way to find the stats he hadn't regained yet if he leveled up like this.

Ark was agonized about it, but he decided to pull the trigger.

It was a way in which he would die on purpose and cut his experience. Every time he died, his experience was cut by 30% and his stats by 6 points. And by killing mice he gained 3% experience per 1 stat point. Overall, by dying once and killing mice to restore his stats, he was able to earn an extra 4 points.

'I won't lose out on a single point like this!'

He already invested 10 days into regaining his stats. Thus, it was ridiculous for him to start from a state of disadvantage after all that work. No, he couldn't accept that to happen. Ark steeled his resolve and let the mice hit him to death.

Through repetitive mice hunting, he was finally able to regain 70 points in ten days.

Even so, he wasn't even a little happy.

'Even if I regain all of my points, I'll just end up where I started from. Damn it, just you wait and see! I will never forgive those bastards Andel and Bulma, who are caused all this suffering!'

Ark, who was grinding his teeth, started to show a mad glint in his eyes.

Thanks to his wish for vengeance against Andel and Bulma, he was able to to stick to the arduous work of restoring his stats.

Around that time, he was able to obtain new knowledge from the game.

You have obtained a New Skill.Combat Skill (Beginner, Passive): Art of fighting utilising your fists and feet.

Fighting without equipping a weapon will not demonstrate your strength, but your evasion and accuracy will become higher. These additional benefits can be had even when using weapons.

Bare-handed striking power increased by 10%, accuracy up 3%, evasion up 3%.

'Just like 'Indomitable Will', I see that if you do one thing for long enough, the skills you need will naturally be made.'

Though they called themselves information sites, they didn't even have simple information like this. If anything, rather than proper information, there were baseless rumors that just caused confusion among the inexperienced players. Half of it was done as a joke, and the other half was meant to protect their advantageous positions. Those rumours fanned the distrust in Ark's human form.

'You never know, this could be a scheme unfolded by the other applicants. Those cheap bastards, it's no good to believe the information sites too much anyways. No, you can't even trust the other users. You have to find and learn everything by yourself.'