The Tutorial Is Too Hard

“Save me!”

“Please. Please, spare me…”

“Demon, I have already filled in 35 sheets of paper and am writing two more. Please…”

Everyone who was told to run began to beg for their lives. From the other side came all the sorcerers who were waving their filled papers and begging for my mercy.

No, I was just telling you to run away.

[It sounded like you were going to hunt them down.] Ahbooboo gave his opinion.

I just said it normally, though. Ahbooboo, if I could explain in detail that this place was dangerous and to run away, these people would be scared, right?

[Yes, they’ll think you let them run away only to chase them down.]

Damn it.

These people were really scared of the demon. The archmage who fought against the demon was considered great. To them, I was a monster.

[Well, I’m afraid of the demon too, but maybe I’m just more afraid of the Warrior in front of me.]

Tch. Anyway, if I wanted to keep them away from the spire, I couldn’t just say run away. I was called evil, so I should talk like a devil.

“If your life is so precious to you, I will spare you. But only if you pay enough for it.”

“I’ll give everything to save them.”

“If you let me live, I’ll do anything.”

“I’ll gladly give you anything.”

“Then give your soul.”

* * * * * *

Those who were told to offer their souls quickly shut their mouths. I informed the frozen people that if they didn’t want to dedicate their soul, then they’d have to obey my command. Some of them were unusual lunatics who offered their souls, but most vowed allegiance. Of course, it was an unbinding and untrustworthy loyalty, but that was enough. I just wanted to send them away.

The kidnapped commanders returned to the troops stationed near the spire and began to retreat one after another. Outside the window, the air was filled with dust caused by the 200,000 soldiers preparing to withdraw.

“That’s the spell that protects you from the cold?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Unlike the commanders who were preparing to withdraw, the sorcerers clung to me and were practicing sorcery. Now that I had a written down version of all the theories, I’d been experimenting by applying the spells one by one to my body. If there was anything useful, it may also help in the fight against the native gods. I was told that sorcery could damage gods after all.

“Next is a magic trick that makes your body fluffy.”

Why do I feel weird?

“That’s strange,” I remarked.

“What do you mean?”

“Why do I have a spell that makes me feel trapped. No, it feels like a spell with tracking.”

I was a total stranger to sorcery, but I knew quite a bit of magic. Ahbooboo always said that I was like a primitive man that carried a stone ax in regards to magic, but in fact, it was enough to say that I was a wizard even on a magical stage. That was why I felt that the spell I just put on my body was used for tracking purposes.

“Well, I don’t think it is.”

“Strike your head,” I commanded.

“Yes.”

The sorcerer, who was tricking me, hit his head and fell over, and the sorcerer standing behind him came forward.

“Let’s start. If you play tricks like the one before you, you’ll die.”

“Yes.”

The sorcerer took out the strange props before me, and began to chant out spells. As I was looking at the figure before me calmly, the air suddenly became heavy.

“Stop.”

“What? I still haven’t done anything.”

It wasn’t because of the sorcerer. The atmosphere was strange.

“You should go down now and join the army.”

It was time to send off the sorcerers.

“What are you doing? Get out quickly.”

Hearing me, the sorcerer began to creep back, as if he was wary of me. As soon as they left the room, they ran down the stairs of the spire like mad, and the room at the top of the spire became quiet again.

[Kkeureuk.] A cry from the source was heard, perhaps because of the sudden silence.

Ignoring it, I turned back to the window. The outside could not be seen properly because of the dust, but I closed my eyes and expanded my sensing range.

Beyond the spire, even beyond the vicinity of the army. The sensing power, which had continued to expand, stopped at some point as if it had been blocked by a wall. And the walls were slowly approaching the spire. As the walls approached, my sensing power was quickly pushed out.

I was certain the gods were coming.

[Are you really going to do it?]

“Of course.”

I needed experience. The experience of killing a god. No matter how much I fell off compared to the gods of the Temple, even if it was just a boss on the stage, I needed the experience.

I went closer to the source lying on the wall. The source shook his head with an open mouth as I approached.

What was it saying? I thought it was saying ‘Don’t come near’. Did its consciousness come back? It was interesting. Could torture restore the mind of a source that had been previously lost? It was a pity that there was no more time to experiment.

I put my hand into the open chest of the source. After a moment of rummaging around, I was able to find the core of the source: a nucleus that was a little larger than a pebble. I pulled it out.

When the core was pulled out, the source shook and died without making a sound, but the stage didn’t end there. The source that needed to be protected was not the horrible-looking monster, but the core in my hand. If the core was taken away, and not protected, the stage would never end.

[May the deceased rest in peace. Please don’t face a demon like Warrior in your next life.]

Ignoring what Ahbooboo next to me said, I threw the core into my mouth and gulped it down. It was a little too big to pass through my throat, but it didn’t get caught on the way.

[Why would you eat it like that? If you’re hungry, go eat, Warrior.]

Who’s hungry?

I couldn’t fight with the core, so I had to put it in my stomach. Come to think of it, it was kind of weird. My way of thinking had become like Piccolo. [1]

No power was absorbed from the core of the source, since the source was just an imitation of the stage. It was a Tutorial stage where everything seemed real, but it didn’t have any power. The only explanation was that the core of this source was a fake.

Of course, the two native gods anxiously seeking the core of this source were not even aware of that. In that sense, the core of the source in my stomach would also serve to protect me because it would be hard to attack me with the idea that the core might break.

Now the gods were close enough to be seen in my sight. I was sure the sorcerers downstairs noticed. In a little while, even ordinary soldiers would be able to see the existence of the gods.

The gods, who were approaching the spire, suddenly stopped. With the spire in the center, the two native gods, who stopped, began to throw their attacks on each other. That was how the fight between the gods began.

* * * * * *

Bang!

Like flowers in the sky, a huge block of ice that was floating, blew up. The world was covered with pitch-black darkness, followed by a blinding light. Every second, every minute, all kinds of disasters that a man could imagine would appear and disappear, repeatedly. Water spurted out of the ground and dived into the sky, and the moisture evaporated in a moment. The evaporated water froze in the air, and the air exploded, giving rise to flames.

The power of gravity was also strange. Some soldiers were crushed to death by the strong pressure, and some slowly rose into the air from zero gravity, then fell again to their death. It was difficult to take even one step ahead. Some soldiers moved more than a hundred meters in a single step, but even then, they fell to the floor and died because of their own speed. As the space split, all sorts of bizarre things rushed out, and a soldier turned into a strange monster. There was a soldier for whom, the time got too slow, hence his heart stopped beating. There was another whose time had become too fast to recognize anything in the world.

The fight between the gods could not simply be defined as who attacked and who defended. It was collapsing the world.

The soldiers begged the gods for mercy while fleeing desperately, but the gods didn’t even care about them. In a way, that power wielded by the gods came from those soldiers. The power of the gods was from the faith of the people. People were being massacred by such power, and it wasn’t a good sight to see.

“This is pretty bad too, compared to something,” I said.

[Something?]

“Neither of the two native gods are interested in me.”

I felt like a trophy on the podium. The trophy that the winner would finally get.

“I feel bad. Very bad.”

I shook my hand in the air, and the ceiling of the spire and the wall of the room burst with a bang. I could finally see the whole scene outside.

All the laws of the world were distorted and half the things were destroyed, but they didn’t affect me. The gods were not considerate of me.

It was the power of the gods that could apply the power of twisting the laws of the world, without any interference. I called this power ‘control’. The power to make a person’s brain melt, and could freeze the heart. I could handle that power, too.

It was only a tiny fraction of what the gods were wielding. This power acted as an interference when used by others, but when used by me, it served as a defense against interference. As long as I had control, the gods could not interfere with me directly and physically.

It may be because of that. I couldn’t believe the gods’ fight was causing so much damage. They couldn’t blow each other up. Instead, they were causing an explosion and delivering the shock indirectly. They were unable to interfere with each other.

That was the divine power. To interfere directly with others, and to prevent themselves, the gods, from interfering. This was why there was a huge gap between a person who had power and a person who did not. I was no match for them in the first place. We were playing a completely different game.

However, there was a way to exercise one’s power without achieving prestige, and that was the source. I could see why the Gods of the Temple clinged to the source. The source would not only raise the level of the gods, but also to make it possible for the unclassified to kill them.

[Hahaha!]

About four meters long, something big flew towards the spire: a charred-black body and bat wings. It was a recognizable appearance. It was the ancient demon who competed with the archmage, who had been sealed before.

[Hahaha! Give it to me, human! Give up that power! Only if there is any left.]

Finally.

I snapped my fingers lightly, and a blazing blue flame sparked in the devil’s head. The devil was tormented by the bluish flame that burned his eyes, nose and mouth. He soon lost his breath.

This was all I had. The degree to which a small spark is generated inside a person’s body. On the 57th floor, there was a bigger amount of power, but that was because on the 57th floor I was able to gather faith with a larger base. My power was still limited. Compared to the two native gods who were overturning the world and releasing all kinds of powers, it was no different from shining lanterns in front of the sun.

Help was needed to counter the two native gods. It was not my cup of tea to take others’ help, but it was worth it this time.

╔═══════════════╗

[The God of Slowness watches over you.]

[God of Adventure gets up in excitement.]

[God of Fight…]

[Ninety-nine gods of the Temple are watching you.]

╚═══════════════╝

The gods of the vaccine war began to watch me, but it didn’t bother me much. It wasn’t a day or two. Instead of wasting time worrying about it, I decided to go ahead with the plan I had prepared.

“Ahbooboo.”

“Yes.”

Ahbooboo’s core, the blue bead, fluttered in the air. The clouds, which were floating and producing bizarre colors, shifted and bright lights shone through, falling on Ahbooboo and me

╔═══════════════╗

[Voting begins]

[Yes: 96 No: 3]

╚═══════════════╝

The voting session was held. I was sure it was a vote to sanction Ahbooboo. If not that, then it was the God of the Sky. Of course, measures had to be taken.

╔═══════════════╗

[God of the Sky designates his new object, Aubutz, as an apostle.]

[The result of the vote will be nullified as the god of the sky had appointed Aubutz as an apostle.]

╚═══════════════╝

[Thank you for the meal.]

< Tutorial 59th floor (5) > Finished

Note from Imagine:

[1]: The reason Hojae states he’s starting to think like Piccolo is because during Dragon Ball (Not Z) when Piccolo defeated Kami in the world tournament he sealed Kami in a bottle and swallowed him.