ALL NOVEL chapter 28
28 – 2nd Floor, Gladiator of the Colosseum.
Parents I no longer remember.
My mother used to say,
Don’t envy the luck that comes to others.
That luck will come to you someday, so there’s no need to be jealous.
‘…At least in the Tower of Struggle, that doesn’t apply.’
Joo Sohee was confident in saying that her mother’s words were wrong.
‘Enjoying luck fairly is only possible when luck is scattered from the sky.’
Players of the Tower of Struggle are controlled by the Soul System.
Even the seemingly irresistible luck stat should be considered to be controlled within a large framework.
Resources are finite.
The Tower of Struggle is a sandcastle, and players must share the sand of causality and probability.
If someone takes a lot, someone else’s share decreases.
In such a structure, how does luck exert its power in the Tower of Struggle?
【Luck: 78】
The answer is to take from others.
─ What is this?
Joo Sohee sighed as she peeked into the waiting room of the Error Man.
‘I definitely told him to raise his luck….’
The Error Man lightly ignored Joo Sohee’s words and invested all his points in agility.
Confident in his physical abilities, it was, in a way, a natural choice.
Joo Sohee recalled the reason she invested in luck.
Lacking talents that surpassed others, she sought a field with some potential.
That was luck.
Being an Earthling with nothing, she could abandon her attachment to strength and invest in luck.
If she had been a martial artist, she would never have been able to spend points on luck.
‘No matter how you look at it, not even one point? After all the points I gave him.’
Luck is uncertain.
No matter how high it is, it sometimes malfunctions.
It should not be considered omnipotent or invincible.
So Joo Sohee did not explain all the functions of luck she knew.
She was worried that the player, who had staked their life, might go wrong again.
This time, she shifted the responsibility to each player’s individual choice.
It resulted in a dud.
It was so absurd that she could only laugh.
─ You still have 1,000 Blinky Gold left!
Blinky chattered away.
Who knows what was so enjoyable.
‘…Still, overall, it’s not bad.’
Half of the Earthlings survived.
Most of them became winners in the mini-games.
It was because they knew the answers thanks to Joo Sohee’s tournament.
Some Earthlings had dozens, if not hundreds, of Blinky Gold.
A few who invested their points in luck drew unbelievably good skills and acquired equipment.
─ What is this!
The same words, but the nuance was different.
Oh Ryoo-in sighed, but Kim Minseong kept exclaiming in admiration.
The things they obtained now would greatly help the survival rate of Earthlings.
Perhaps, they might grow steadily and contribute to the potential of the Earth dimension.
Joo Sohee waited for Oh Ryoo-in’s choice.
Almost all the administrators were watching how he would spend the remaining 1,000 gold.
─ It can’t be helped.
After a not-so-short deliberation, Oh Ryoo-in spent all his gold to purchase none other than five D-rank skill random boxes.
‘Not a bad choice.’
Assuming all the luck had been taken by other Earthlings, he made the best choice.
Though he might not know it himself.
* * *
There is a reason why I chose the D-rank skill random boxes.
‘Equipment needs to be worn eventually.’
Thanks to the ‘inventory’ function provided by the Soul System, carrying them is not inconvenient.
But the fact that you have to wear them to receive the effects of stats or options is a bit of a downside.
‘Skills are different.’
They can be used in any situation.
Since they are not visible at a glance, they are good for creating variables.
‘…To be honest, it could turn out to be F-rank instead of D-rank.’
My personality itself was closer to the negative side.
Having experienced drawing a brilliant future only to crash into an accident and fall into the mire, it was perhaps natural.
So I reached out for the skill random boxes guaranteed to be D-rank.
「Instead of drawing five of those, how about going for a bold C-rank?」
“I am satisfied with D-rank.”
“Really? If that’s the concept, well, it can’t be helped.”
Just in time, I fed the artifact to the illusory ancient book and expanded the skill slots.
I think five D-rank skill random boxes are the best choice.
“……”
In front of Eun Seoryeong and Baek Songyi, I opened the random boxes.
[Blinding Poison Needle][D]
[Frozen Prison][D]
[Grade 4 Super Regeneration][D]
[Survival Instinct][D]
[Apprentice Knight’s Mana Circulation Method][D]
There was too much content, so I was busy reading the descriptions.
[Blinding Poison Needle][D]
Shoots a needle coated with blinding poison, dealing 『344』 poison attribute damage and inflicting ‘blind’ status for 1 second.
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Mana cost: 30
[Frozen Prison][D]
Summons an ice wall with 『10,003』 durability, dealing 『523』 ice attribute damage and trapping the opponent.
Cooldown: 2 minutes
Mana cost: 100
《Race Specialization》
1. Midworlder
Casting speed increased by 50%.
《Skill Specialization》
1. Introduction to White Tower Ice Magic.
Inflicts ‘frostbite’ status.
I didn’t read all the content.
I didn’t have the mental capacity for it.
[Grade 4 Super Regeneration][D]
Recovers 『305』 health every 3 seconds.
《Racial Specialization》
1. Psychic
Life Recovery Rate ＋20%
[Survival Instinct][D]
When life drops below 10%, all stats increase by 『52』.
[Apprentice Knight’s Mana Circulation Method][D]
Activates the mana road within the body, recovering 『107』 mana every 3 seconds.
《Racial Specialization》
1. Midlander
Mana Recovery Rate ＋10%
The first thing I checked was the 『numbers』 of each skill.
‘This must all be exaggerated, right?’
I muttered just in case.
“…The results are really unsatisfactory.”
As expected.
Blinky babbled about what he saw.
「Let me see. Oh. Honestly, it’s not bad! The more skills that force status effects on the opponent, the better. Well, erroneous players might not feel its value though.」
“Good?”
「Why don’t you give it a try?」
“…….”
I shook my head.
‘The skill damage you see and the skill damage I see are completely different. How can I use this right in front of you?’
It was like boasting about stolen goods in front of the owner.
Even a fool wouldn’t do such a thing.
‘…It’s really all ten times.’
Poison damage, ice wall durability, other recovery amounts, all ten times.
A D-rank skill that is nothing special to others becomes an absurdly overpowered skill when I use it.
‘Thanks to that, I survived…. but it’s ridiculous.’
This was enough to make up for all the losses from the blue color equipment random box.
It was a fairly satisfying result.
“Everyone, you did great!”
It seemed I was the last one to draw a skill, and shortly after, Blinky began overall control.
“Soon, a portal to the second floor will open. It doesn’t matter if you go quickly or slowly, so take your time going up! And don’t forget about me on the second floor!”
Tzuzut-.
A blue portal appeared on one side of the waiting room.
The portal I had seen since the tutorial, it was familiar.
I looked at Eun Seoryeong and Baek Song.
Our eyes met.
“Please take care of me on the second floor, Oh Daehyeop.”
“Sure.”
We passed through the portal almost simultaneously.
* * *
Sunlight poured down.
I squinted.
“Woooah!”
“Newbie! Newbie! Newbie!”
“Hurry up! Damn it!”
I wasn’t sure, but.
It sounded like cheers welcoming us.
They were shouting so fiercely, I thought my eardrums would burst.
“…….”
I put my hand on my forehead to create some shade.
Only then could I open my eyes and properly face the second floor.
“Where is this…?”
We were standing in the center of an arena.
“Co, Colosseum?”
Someone muttered.
I looked to the side, and there was a person I had never seen before standing there.
Us.
That is, Eun Seoryeong and Baek Song were nowhere to be seen.
Where on earth did it go?
“…Who are you?”
“That’s what I should be asking.”
The people looked at each other, equally surprised.
“F-First, let’s introduce ourselves.”
A woman pointed ahead.
Her trembling voice was filled with fear.
Grrrr-.
A gigantic lion.
A black lion, about the size of a shuttle bus, bared its teeth at us.
Roar-!
The black lion didn’t pounce immediately.
Could it possess reason, unlike a typical beast?
“Welcome, new players.”
A voice echoed from a speaker floating in mid-air.
It was the voice of the administrator.
“I understand you’re disoriented from just arriving on the first floor. But that’s not my concern, is it?”
“……”
As soon as the administrator finished speaking nonsense, the crowd erupted in cheers.
“Kill them! Kill them! Just let them fight!”
“We’ve been waiting for this day!”
“Do you know how much we paid to see those Earthlings die?!”
I thought it was a welcome.
That was my mistake.
Blatant hostility.
On the second floor, Earthlings were treated even worse than on the first floor.
I gritted my teeth.
“Alright, let’s begin. You’re players now. You know what to do without me explaining, right?”
As the administrator spoke, a message appeared.
[Second Floor, Survive.]
It is common to give a fierce welcome to newcomers.
Survive first in the arena filled with malice towards you.
Thunk-!
The shackles that had been restraining the black lion were released.
The black lion, as if it had been starving for days, drooled and charged towards us.
Crunch-!
It bit and swallowed a person whole.
Chew, chew.
The person’s body was torn apart helplessly, and blood dripped down.
“Screeeeeeeam!”