ALL NOVEL chapter 6
6 – Safe Zone (1)
“Ugh-!”
The sensation of the hard floor lingered at his fingertips. Kangwoo, having passed through the door as if thrust into the ground, anxiously looked around.
A vast, gaping square came into view.
No dripping stalactites, no damp humidity characteristic of caves, no nauseating smell of monster excrement.
“Ah- Ahh-!”
Relief flooded him only after confirming with his own eyes.
He survived.
He made it through.
Survived that dog-like place.
“Ah… Cough…!”
But there was still an unresolved issue before celebrating victory.
Kangwoo looked down at his trembling body.
Then, he immediately regretted his choice.
The past wounds were mere medicine, meow. From the torn and battered body, a red stream of blood flowed like a broken faucet.
“S-Sacred touch…!”
The determination that had sustained him with a will to live wavered.
With this condition, he couldn’t endure for even a few minutes.
Ironically, it was strange that he was still alive and breathing in this state.
[Strength increased by 0.1.]
“No, this can’t be…”
Even though he had used his abilities, the blood flowing on the floor at a terrifying speed showed no signs of diminishing.
How many times could he heal in this state?
Once? Twice? It was impossible to improve his current condition even with just that.
No, even if his mana was fully charged and he could use it five times, it was impossible to heal these kinds of wounds.
[Trial completed. Reward: 200 points]
[Eliminated monsters: 26⨉15 points]
A harsh mechanical sound informed him of his achievements.
“I killed 26 of them…?”
His consciousness faded away due to excessive bleeding. In the distance, Kang Woo absentmindedly thought.
“I killed quite a lot…”
[Successfully cleared the trial in a short time.]
[Great achievement. All rewards are doubled.]
To double the reward meant doubling the points, didn’t it?
“… Cough-!”
But then, what’s the point? Even if I die, I won’t be able to use any points.
“I… wasn’t supposed to come here…”
Kang Woo sincerely regretted it. His past self, who admired awakeners and defiantly climbed to the top despite his family’s opposition.
[Total reward points: 1,180 points.]
[Points can be used at the store.]
[The store is…]
“Sto… re…”
Kang Woo’s eyes snapped open amidst the numbing sensation.
That’s right. The store. There was still a store.
Although the system’s words continued, they didn’t register in his mind.
He had already learned how to use the store when studying at the Association.
“I… will use the store!”
As he expressed his determination to use the store, a translucent window appeared and disappeared repeatedly in his hazy vision.
“… C-cough-!”
A bitter mass of blood surged back up his esophagus, filling his mouth with a metallic taste.
There really wasn’t much time left now.
His mind was like a faulty TV, repeatedly cutting off and reconnecting.
“Emer… gen… cy… heal… po… tion…”
With all his strength, Kang Woo managed to utter the words.
“Thus, time… life…
The excruciating pain gradually faded. Within the dreadful darkness…
[You have purchased an Intermediate Healing Potion.]
[1,000 points deducted.]
[Intermediate Healing Potion, immediate usage initiated.]
Ignoring the words of the system, Kangwoo lost consciousness.
***
“…Cough-!!”
Kangwoo woke up abruptly, accompanied by a dry cough.
The hazy focus slowly sharpened, and the first thing that greeted him was the unrealistically high gray ceiling.
“…!!”
His drowsy mind suddenly cleared.
The Tower. That’s right. This place was inside the Tower.
The events leading up to his collapse after entering the Tower flashed through his mind like a panorama.
“A mountain…?”
Kangwoo tried to urgently sit up but let out a groan.
“Ouch!”
His body, still not fully recovered, screamed in agony. As he examined his body in severe pain, he noticed numerous oozing wounds.
“Insane…”
Seeing his bloodied body, the stark realization that he had come back from the brink of death hit him vividly.”
Perhaps if he had recalled the memories of the store a bit later, he would no longer be of this world.
“A… divine touch.”
Instead of getting up, Kangwoo grabbed the staff next to him and used a heal.
Thanks to the rest, the use of his abilities was smooth.
“Indeed… It seems like my strength hasn’t increased much with this.”
Even though the wounds were so severe that they were horrifyingly painful, the system was silent, as if mocking him.
As Kangwoo sighed at the malicious standard for strength increase, something different echoed instead of the awaited notification.
[Magic power has increased by 1.]
Reflecting, Kangwoo used heal again.
Paaah-.
If the shimmering light somewhere had grown, perhaps it was his excitement.
As the light disappeared, Kangwoo meticulously examined his wounds.
“… It doesn’t show much.”
The increase in magic power didn’t simply mean an increase in the number of ability uses.
Just like the punch of a person with ‘Strength 50’ is different from that of a person with ‘Strength 5,’ magic power significantly influenced the intensity of abilities.
It doesn’t mean that healers and mages line up in order of magic power for no reason.
After using heal twice more, Kangwoo confirmed that his injuries were considerably healed and slowly moved his body.
“Wow…”
Discovering a massive pool of blood, Kangwoo let out a sigh.
“Brutal…”
I almost died, knowing that I spilled blood like that. It was truly a miracle that I was alive.
Shaking off the shivers, I looked around, and the vast space was entirely unified in gray.
Even though it was my first time in this space, Kangwoo knew where this was.
“Safe Zone.”
A space that moves after clearing the trial, and a safety zone where the use of force among the awakened is prohibited.
This was the Safe Zone on the first floor.
Confirming that he was the only person here, Kangwoo let out a bitter laugh.
He thought it might be like this, but he really was the ‘last survivor’…
The tower’s door only opened on the first day of each month.
In other words, Kangwoo, left alone on the first floor, had to wait almost 30 days to form a party.
However…
[Points: 180]
Even the cheapest food, ‘Hard Bread,’ costs 5 points. Even if he endured by eating two of these a day, it would be 300 points in a month.
In short, currently, it was impossible for Kangwoo to choose to wait for the next person for the next round.
Excluding this, there were only two choices left.
Challenge the next trial alone.
Or give up the climb and leave the tower.
Kangwoo had already decided on his answer.
“Even considering this, if I say I’ll climb the tower, I must be crazy.”
I almost died.
If he hadn’t received double points for the achievement of facing the trial alone, he would have truly died.
Yet, once again, challenging the trial alone?
It was something he shouldn’t do unless he wanted to die.
Moreover, Kangwoo still remembered.
April 16, 2045.
Three years from now, the world would come to an end.
The future of the world that he came to appreciate involuntarily after entering the tower.
Blinded by greed, he would climb the tower risking his life, only to die three years later.
A future where he would die no matter what. He concluded that he should use the remaining time wisely.
“Well, at least I’m not penniless.”
[Basic Round Shield. Health +1]
A shield that had fallen next to a middle-aged man who was already dead. Although it was a basic weapon, it was valuable in modern times due to its stat-boosting effect.
Kangwoo, holding the staff and shield, pondered for a moment before speaking.
“… Shop.”
As soon as he expressed his intention to use it, an opaque window unfolded in front of him.
Square tiles endlessly spreading, filling the field of vision, made him involuntarily admire.
[Bernhardt’s Staff 120,000 points]
[Enrique’s Shield 115,000 points]
[World Tree Sap 300,000 points]
The items were priced unattainably with the points he had.
Gangwoo, who had been admiring the splendid appearance, regained his senses.
“What’s the point of carrying all that when I die?”
After several trials and errors, he arranged them in descending order of low points, and the appropriate price range caught his eye.
[Hard bread – 5 points]
[Water 1.5L – 6 points]
How is that bread cheaper than water?
Swiftly scrolling down, Gangwoo let out a bitter smile.
He searched with a glimmer of hope, but there were no items within 180 points that were worth buying.
All the visible items were just food or sleeping bags, things that can be easily obtained even in the modern world, without any increase in abilities.
“They are the only things I truly gained.”
Gangwoo, alternating between the staff and shield in his hands, sighed and stood up from his seat.
Although it was a disappointing result after all the hard work, what can he do? If he hadn’t bought the intermediate potion at that time, he wouldn’t even exist in this position right now.
[Purchase of black top and bottom set is complete.]
[50 points deducted.]
[Black top and bottom set is immediately equipped.]
Instead of torn and worn-out basic clothes, he was now wearing light and comfortable fabric.
After preparing himself, Gangwoo turned his head.
In the space unified by a full gray color, he saw two strange doors.
One was a giant door filled with dazzling white light, and the other was filled with pitch-black darkness, giving off a creepy feeling.
Among them, Gangwoo chose the one filled with bright white light and headed towards the exit.
“Just like a door at the finish line.”
Perhaps because it is engulfed in the same bright white light.
The door of the first floor trial, which I approached with all my strength, and the exit in front of me kept overlapping.
The damp air unique to the cave.
The disgusting smell of monsters’ excrement mixed with the stench of blood.
The dark path that seemed endless no matter how much I walked.
The corpse of a middle-aged man I encountered face-to-face right in front of me, and the bodies in the common room that were torn apart and unrecognizable, confused my mind.
The scent of death that never left the surroundings, the time that I had to be on edge, wondering when and where I would be attacked, now truly bid farewell.
The tower that felt like hell, where a day felt like a year.
“We’ve met and it was dreadful, let’s never see each other again.”
Ah, anyway, once you leave the tower, you can never enter again, so I guess I won’t have any business with it forever.
Kangwoo took a step forward and stopped.
Staff in his right hand, shield in his left hand. Kangwoo, who briefly glanced at the ground stained red with his own blood, did not hesitate and stepped forward.
“I’m going, you damn tower-!!”
As his body passed through the exit, a bright white light enveloped Kangwoo.
It was at that moment, in that warm sensation, that Kangwoo flashed a bright smile.
[Error detected]
[User ‘Fist of Asper’s’ is intervening in the system.]
[Due to the intervention of User ‘Fist of Asper’s’, the voluntary withdrawal of Awakened ‘Choi Kangwoo’ is nullified.]
The warm sensation disappeared, and the dazzling light faded away.
Pushed by something unseen, Kangwoo, dazed, heard the system’s notification at the door.
[The Awakened One, ‘Choi Kangwoo,’ cannot give up midway.]
[Abnormal timer activated]
[After 12 hours, automatically transported to the second trial.]
[Time remaining until transport: 11:59:59]
“…Damn?”
A sincerely uttered word circled the Safe Zone weakly.