[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 4: Damned Tutorial (3)
When I ca to my senses and opened my eyes, the view of the waiting room ca into sight.
I imdiately checked my body.
“Hah, I thought I’d be healed, but actually being healed feels weird.”
The pain that had felt like my flesh was being gouged out just monts ago was completely gone.
There were no scars left on my body either.
Well, it was to be expected.
In the ga, even if an employee was on the verge of death, as long as you cleared the stage, they would be back to normal as if nothing had happened.
Of course, that didn’t an you were invincible.
Once you entered a stage, there was no way to return to the waiting room through ordinary ans.
I closed my eyes, sweating coldly.
Then, I recalled the fierce battle I had with the kobold.
mories of the pain that should have disappeared resurfaced in my mind.
‘...One mistake is enough.’
It wasn’t just close; it was incredibly close.
It felt like I was about to board the ferry run by the Grim Reaper himself.
The reason was that I had confused reality with the ga.
That was why I had been careless.
I had subconsciously denied that this was reality.
‘How foolish.’
If I had taken just one more wrong step…
‘That would’ve been my grave.’
After finishing my thoughts, I opened my eyes again.
I clenched and unclenched my fist.
The vivid sensation traveled up from my palm.
This was my reality.
‘Stay focused on the present, as always.’
This wasn’t a ga; it was reality.
I doubt I’d ever confuse the two again.
After roughly checking my condition, I opened the mailbox and checked the logs.
[You have unclaid rewards. Please check them now.]
This was the reward for clearing the stage.
I pressed the notification to check my rewards.
[You have successfully completed the stage 'Kobold Assault'. ( 10 points)]
[The Foundation's Star absorbs knowledge about the creature. You have acquired the skill ‘Beastman Language’.]
After reading the ssage, I frowned.
“10 points, huh...”
Points were the in-ga currency.
They were used for training, contracts, recruiting employees, and purchasing equipnt.
They were also the score needed to survive.
When I glanced at the monunt, a hologram that wasn’t there before appeared above it.
[Assigned Points: 30]
[Owned Points: 10]
[Ti remaining until point submission: 90 hours 13 minutes]
Of course, I knew what this ant.
“So, the real ga begins now.”
From the mont you started containing creatures, the headquarters' point collection order was issued.
The main content of this ga was submitting points to the headquarters within the designated ti.
‘If you didn’t submit the points on ti, the ga would end with a ssage saying the company had collapsed...’
In the ga, it would simply end, but now, this was my reality.
That ant I might die if I failed to submit the points to headquarters.
‘This is where most newbies face their dilemma.’
Points were needed to grow the company.
But points were also needed to protect the company.
I swallowed dryly.
The number of employees was only two.
There was just one creature.
The only silver lining was that the company was still small.
‘It’s fine. This is still the tutorial. Collecting 30 points is easy.’
Once all the tutorials were completed, I’d receive a reward of 10 employee recruitnt tickets and 100 points.
With only the last tutorial remaining, points weren’t the problem.
What really made frown was the ssage below that.
‘The problem is this…’
[Beastman Language]
- A creature that once brought a civilization to the brink of extinction. You understand the language of this creature.
I’ve invested over seven years into KeepWorld.
I morized almost all the skills by heart.
‘For soone like to see a skill I don’t recognize...’
It ant that ‘Beastman Language’ was one of the kobold creature’s skills.
‘Understanding the language of this creature...’
This was useless.
What good was it to understand a monster’s language?
Even if I could understand them, there was nothing I could do.
I was drained by the fact that the first skill the Foundation’s Star absorbed from a creature was decoding the Beastman language.
But then, sothing flashed through my mind.
‘...Now that I think about it, where’s the creature?’
The creature I encountered in this tutorial was a situational-type creature called ‘Kobold Assault’.
Since I cleared the stage, there should be a space within the company where the creature was contained.
I couldn’t see it around here, which ant it wasn’t in this layer.
In that case…
I placed my hand on the monunt and opened the vortex labeled ‘Managent.’
[Administrator Area (No Affiliation)]
- Company Rank: Unranked
- Administrator: Shin Seongjin
[Creature Managent]
- Number of creatures currently managed: 1
- Company score: 1 (Unable to calculate rank)
[Employee Summoning and Managent]
- Number of current employees: 2
- Grade 9 (2)
A massive screen filled the air.
But I scrolled down the screen without hesitation.
[Relocate Containnt Room]
‘Found it.’
I opened the settings window labeled ‘Relocate Containnt Room.’
Soon after, a massive screen popped up.
The company’s cross-section diagram was displayed on the screen.
It was a structural configuration mode that only players could use.
[You can move the containnt room by tapping and dragging.]
Following the on-screen instructions, I touched the air.
Before long, with a thud.
A containnt room appeared right in front of .
On the sign of the containnt room, the words [Kobold Assault] were inscribed.
I touched the sign to retrieve information about the creature.
[Kobold Assault (0/5)]
- A space where you can endlessly clear the 'Kobold Assault' stage.
- Non-escape entity.
- Clearing generates 0 to 10 points.
‘Oh, this is…’
A windfall.
After reading the detailed description of the creature, my eyes lit up, which was rare.
‘A creature I got from the tutorial is a non-escape entity and a farming-type creature that can help the employees grow.’
On top of that, ‘Khan,’ whom I picked first, was performing better than I expected.
Considering he was a rank 9 employee with low ntal strength, that is.
A creature dungeon that can be fard infinitely and a usable employee with skills.
This was not a bad combination for the start.
No, it was actually a blessed combination, comparable to a god-tier account.
Assuming I have the knowledge to run this company moving forward.
‘There are two ways to develop the company with this combination...’
One was the thod used by the forr number 1 ranked player.
Since they used it, it would be the fastest and most reliable route to grow the company.
‘The return is guaranteed.’
But...
I imdiately shook my head, dismissing the idea.
‘I can’t recklessly follow that person’s thod.’
In the first place, the forr number 1’s thod went beyond the realm of understanding.
Following a strategy I couldn’t even comprehend would be tantamount to suicide.
‘It’s not like I have multiple lives, so there’s no point in experinting.’
So, that plan is dismissed.
The other plan is the one I devised myself.
This thod was how I surpassed the forr number 1, who had stopped logging in at so point, and climbed to the top.
A thod that has never been disclosed to anyone.
It didn’t take long to decide.
For now, I just need to fully utilize the cards in my hand and walk down the solid path laid out for .
The other important thing is to uncover the secrets of this world and adapt to it...
There are several ways to uncover the secrets of this world.
The first is through conversations with other people.
“Do you understand a bit now?”
I asked Khan, who had approached unnoticed.
But Khan’s reaction was a little odd.
“…I sowhat understand.”
His actions were visibly cautious.
I tilted my head for a mont, then recalled the performance he had just shown and the characteristics of the Foundation's Star.
‘Right. It must’ve been an extraordinary display of action.’
Additionally, the trait of the Foundation's Star’s authority must have played a part.
‘How ironic. I was just an ordinary office worker, but now, killing a living creature doesn’t even faze .’
Just as I was about to lose myself in these thoughts, Khan’s voice snapped back to reality.
“However, I don’t rember everything.”
As I silently listened, Khan seed to misunderstand sothing, continuing to stay in a submissive posture.
But I didn’t feel the need to correct his misunderstanding.
‘It would be troubleso to set a precedent that wasn’t intended.’
Even though it was just the two of us now, it was important not to be underestimated.
It was crucial for to give orders as I wished when running the company in the future.
And I had been curious about sothing.
In the ga, employees of certain ranks—
That is, employees ranked 7 or higher—usually followed orders well from the beginning.
On the other hand, lower-ranked employees often disobeyed the manager's orders or acted rebelliously, not understanding why they needed to manage the company.
How was that possible?
After thinking about it briefly, I concluded.
Employees of a certain rank and above were summoned with a certain amount of information already unlocked.
‘And the condition for unlocking this information was the employee’s rank promotion.’
In contrast, the information given to lower-ranked employees was probably very limited.
I suspected they might have been abducted while ntioning the world.
And, as expected.
“One day, a goddess appeared to and told to follow the manager and save the world... She said the world would be safe if I protected this place.”
Khan knows information that I don’t.
“This is all I know. I don’t know why I was chosen. Or why kobolds, thought to be extinct, have suddenly appeared before !”
Khan lanted over his situation, crying out in frustration.
“...”
“Sorry for going on so long. This place just feels more like a prison than a hall for saving the world...”
When he ntioned "prison," I closed my eyes tightly.
His careless remark reminded of the account I had raised.
‘He’s not wrong…’
Managing creatures that could die at the re flick of a player’s hand while quietly earning points for the headquarters—what else could you call it but a prison?
“This is all I know. Can you now tell more clearly what this place is?”
After spilling all the information he knew for free, Khan now requested information from .
I could tell him everything I knew.
But revealing all the cards in my hand would not be wise.
I slowly opened my eyes and looked at Khan.
There was only one answer I could give him.
“You’ll find out soon. Whether you like it or not.”
“What does that an...?”
Khan’s eyes trembled slightly, dissatisfied with my answer.
But it wasn’t a joke.
Soon, the final tutorial—the alpha and oga of this ga—would begin.
“The only way for us to survive. And the protection of the world you heard about from your goddess. You’ve already noticed, but that’s not sothing we can control. It’s from higher up.”
I raised my index finger and pointed upward.
“The headquarters.”
Strictly speaking, it would be the developers who made this ga, but since the ga was now a reality, I figured the "headquarters" must know sothing too.
“So just do your best to survive.”
Sure enough, right after I finished speaking, a notification appeared in the air.
[The third tutorial is character promotion.]
[Would you like to proceed with the third tutorial imdiately?]
[Yes/No]
Without a mont's hesitation, I selected YES.
Then, sothing massive fell toward where Khan and I stood.
Boom!
With a loud crash, smoke spread everywhere.
Soon after, the smoke cleared, and a massive machine was revealed.
[Promotion Device]
No matter how you look at it, it looked like a modification chamber, but it was called a promotion device.
Character promotion.
A rank 9 employee must pass through this to be promoted to rank 8.
If I rember correctly, the promotion device's description said sothing like this:
It awakens the forgotten mories of employees to help them grow.
Other than that, I’ll have to experience it for myself to know for sure.
I quickly selected the employees.
[Rank 9 employee ‘Shin Seongjin’ has t specific conditions for promotion.]
[Rank 9 employee ‘Khan’ has t specific conditions for promotion.]
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