Chapter 18
Tutorial 2nd Floor, Waiting Room (Part 2)
[1st attempt, day 29. 17:15]
[Time left until end of 1st attempt: 30 hours 45 minutes]
Now, let’s think.
What are the pros and cons of attempting the 2nd floor with the leftover time?
Well, the pros are obvious…
Even if I don’t clear the 2nd floor before the 2nd attempt started, I would still gain knowledge of the 2nd floor.
Moreover, there could be extra bonuses for entering the 2nd floor.
On the other side, let’s think about the cons.
The cons were also quite obvious.
Firstly, the danger of entering the 2nd floor.
It was the uncertainty of the challenge on the 2nd floor.
It was too vague.
The bonuses I might gain from entering the 2nd floor or even what kind of dangers lay ahead.
The only thing I learned about it from Kirikiri was one key word, ‘Status Ailment’
Let’s think calmly.
There had been no information about extra bonuses from clearing the 2nd floor.
Only the a.s.sumption that there may be.
I could easily learn about the dangers that might await me if I rush into the 2nd floor.
It could be just dangerous enough to kill me. No more, no less.
Although there was no information, I didn’t even need to think about this one. It was a given.
The fact that I could gain knowledge about the 2nd floor wasn’t too appealing to me.
If the attempts reset, there was no certainty that the patterns of the traps would stay that way.
Plus, there was only so much ground that I would be able to cover right now. The rest would only be possible to learn when the 2nd attempt began.
Being up to date with information is always a strong weapon, however I have no compet.i.tors to have a race with.
This tutorial was something like a solo marathon for me.
It was important to make sure I managed my pace and went steadily.
If the amount of info I could gain while attempting the 2nd floor lessens, then naturally my approach will become inefficient.
If I were to push my attempt of the 2nd floor to when the 2nd attempt began, I would be able to use my remaining time to learn about other things.
There was only so much that my body could do, it’s slowly reaching its limits for a human being.
But still, it was impressive to say that this superhuman body was achieved in a short time of one month.
There were still areas where I could improve.
I still wasn’t able to judge what this new enhanced body was capable of.
After all, my mind was still used to the poor body I’ve had for the past 20 years of my normal pathetic life.
I had to deeply think about what kind of power I could show with this body and how to use it.
Ok then, let’s push the 2nd floor challenge until the 2nd attempt began.
So, should I just start training again?
It felt like I’ve went back to the beginning, before the 1st attempt began.
Well of course, the difference here was that I was the only person in this 2nd floor waiting room.
Out of the blue, the people from the 1st floor waiting room popped into my head.
Choi Min Sik, Cho Kyeong Min, Park Su Ah.
They were all nice people.
Even I, a person who lacked social skills was able to become friends with them in only 3 days.
I wonder what it would have been like if I met them normally outside of this world?
The thought not being able to see those people again saddened me.
As I began to picture the three of them, miserable thoughts flooded my mind.
No, I couldn’t to be like this.
I knew too well that dwelling on misery with a depressed and negative mindset would only hinder the body’s concentration and how badly that could turn out to be.
I forced myself to not think of them.
It was because I was lying on this comfortable bed that I was thinking of such fragile thoughts.
I stood up immediately and moved around.
With deep breaths I steadied my breathing.
With many hours of stretching, I deeply observed how much my body had changed with multiple exercises like running, high jump, long jump, push ups, burpees, throwing punches and kicks.
Since I had no knowledge of training my fitness, I just repeated simple movements to compare my current self with my past.
As predicted, the results were unbelievable.
Even those considered superhuman in American football can’t compare to what I have achieved with my body.
It revealed so much potential and it was performing above and beyond expectations against what I could see from just the change in my muscle ma.s.s and my build in general.
It felt like I could get a gold medal in any sport in the Olympics with this superior body.
This power and speed was definitely at the limits of any human.
It was unbelievable this power was mine. I guess this is how it felt like wearing Iron Man’s suit and whizzing around in it.
But what was more was that it wasn’t just the power and dexterity.
This body had its own quality.
Easily said, a ‘genius’ quality.
Abilities that people would not be able to obtain through logical training.
Only a few are born with this ability, and these people are called ‘gifted’.
Reflexes beyond human logic.
Flexibility which allows the body to fly in critical situations.
Vision which allows these people to observe and learn quickly in certain situations.
Thorough understanding of the human body.
Critical thinking in highly pressured environments and executing tactics others wouldn’t even be able to think of.
Adaptability allowing them to perfect a difficult movement in just one try etc.
There were people like this in the sports world.
It was just a small amount.
The growth of my body from the Tutorial seemed to have also improve these ‘’talented” qualities as well.
I have to admit, it excited me.
It felt like I went over a line that said “The limit of biological physiology” in an instant.
On top of that, I was capable.
I had talent.
I’m not trying to simply make bulls.h.i.t up for the moment, it was the truth.
I had a wide field of view, critical thinking and imagination. In addition, my reflexes allowed me to reach the top as a pro-gamer.
At the very least, my mind and eyes were the best quality of mine.
Let’s add exceptional fitness to that now.
My confidence grew.
But then again, this could just be a side effect of my personality due to the sudden improvement of my fitness and body physique, since before it was awfully weak.
Anyway, the strength I felt from this body was making me excited and upbeat.
I opened the status bar with excitement.
I’ll check the changes in my body for the final time.
I should keep moving my body constantly and get used to this superhuman body.
As I was reading my status bar slowly and thoroughly, I saw something I had never seen before.
[Battle Concentration (Lv.7)]
Description: Improves concentration during battle greatly. Can maintain high levels of concentration for longer periods of time. Can consciously push concentration beyond the limits for a brief moment. Can maintain concentration beyond limits for longer periods of time if mental strength allows it.
Requirements – Battle concentration skill Lv.6 and above, mental strength beyond base standards, experience of high concentration without aid of the skill.
There was an active for battle concentration.
I’m allowed to use this consciously?
The ‘experience of high concentration without the aid of the skill’ must be like that weird time I was in the boss room.
I could keep that kind of concentration whenever I wanted to?
d.a.m.n, this was the best skill.
After checking my Battle Concentration skill, I checked how long I could maintain it and how much I could move around while using this skill.
Surprisingly, it didn’t feel like I needed some sort of magical power.
‘As mental strength allows it’, just like the skill description says, it seems that the only thing that was being used was my own mental strength.
The one downside to it was the fact it used my mental strength. That was actually scary.
As I maintained this skill for 5 minutes, I felt a dizziness and a headache. As time pa.s.sed more, my vision was shaky.
I forced myself to maintain it longer, only to feel the need to vomit and my legs gave way.
After all that, due to the mental fatigue I really couldn’t do anything.
Actually, I just didn’t want to do anything.
Although I learned the active ability of Battle Concentration’s limits and risks, I kept using the skill whenever I could.
It wasn’t simply to try and level up the skill or to improve my mental strength.
It was really helpful when doing workouts and also when I used my sword and shield, it made everything a lot more effective.
With this enhanced mental strength, the world seemed a lot slower and that allowed me to observe my body and its muscles. I could tell how they were moving and what kind of energy they were exerting through the movements.
With this constant repet.i.tion, the slightly awkward movements were becoming more comfortable.
As I began my training, I felt a little frustrated.
Oh how great it would have been if I had a personal trainer.
A person that knew how to wield a sword and shield well, a person that understood the body really well.
Or even a person that could give me advice after understanding how my feeble body had improved.
All this pent up frustration for nothing.
There was no one here to help me, I was all alone.
With n.o.body around to guide me, I just sucked it up and went through it all by myself.
As I devoted my whole time into training, the 1st attempt ended.
[2nd Attempt will now begin.]
[h.e.l.l difficulty, Noticeboard (1/6)]