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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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A blackened field of vision.
As if entering the sea, or as if experiencing a zero-gravity state, my body floated up and hovered in the air.
[Tower of Babel – 0th Floor]
[You have entered the tutorial stage.]
[Mission – Survive]
Rainbow Island is a mysterious space where various natural environments are mixed together.
Players who have set foot in the Tower for the first time must adapt to each environment and learn how to survive in them.
The achievements you accomplish here will be of great help in climbing the Tower of Babel.
▶ Objective: Survive for 14 days.
▶ The trial of the 0th floor cannot be challenged more than once.
▶ Death is considered a failure, and player privileges will be revoked as a penalty.
‘The tutorial stage.’
A place I shouldn’t be able to enter more than once.
The fact that I had returned to the past hit me anew.
[Rainbow Island is divided into seven regions.]
[The player can select a starting point.]
[Regions with high risk cannot be chosen.]
Plains: Risk Level Low
Forest: Risk Level Low
Wasteland: Risk Level Medium
Mountains: Risk Level Medium
Before my regression, I had chosen the plains.
‘Because that’s the standard strategy.’
10 years had passed since the Tower of Babel revealed its form on Earth.
The number of players who had gone through the tutorial was in the tens of millions.
-If you go down south of the plains, you can get the Patience skill.
-If you climb Mount Emirate, there is a red rock in the middle, and if you go around behind it, there is a cave. In the cave, there is Mighty Moss, an ingredient for making high-grade potions.
-In the forest region…….
As such, a standard strategy for the tutorial stage had already been established.
‘Before, I also followed that strategy.’
As I mentioned, my starting point back then was the plains.
I formed a party with the people who entered the Tower with me and hunted monsters.
At that time, I thought that was the right thing to do.
It was a big mistake.
Rainbow Island still had many undiscovered secrets hidden within it.
Especially for me, who had the talent of [Predation], it was like a hidden treasure trove.
‘Essences that can only be obtained in the tutorial.’
Antlion.
Nessie.
Blood Mountain Lord.
All of them were rare species that only inhabited Rainbow Island.
Besides those, the island was full of items and titles that could only be obtained in the tutorial.
‘This time, I’ll take everything.’
I pressed the [Wasteland] region without hesitation.
[You have selected the Wasteland as your starting point.]
[We wish for the player’s good fortune in battle.]
Along with the system message, the senses of my whole body gradually faded.
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A barren field.
A wind that felt devoid of any moisture brushed past my cheek.
[Your current location is the Wasteland.]
[Wasteland – Stamina consumption increases by 10%]
Hwiiing-!
A tumbleweed, rolled into a round shape, tumbled across the ground.
It felt like I was watching a scene from a Western film.
It was just like how I remembered it to be.
I let out a slight smile.
The scenery wasn’t much different from my past memories.
Flash! Flash!
Blue lights shot up from all over the wasteland.
It was the sight of players, who had taken their first step into the Tower, entering Rainbow Island.
Unexpectedly…
There were quite a lot of challengers who had chosen the wasteland as their starting point.
They were either oddballs with a strong sense of challenge…
Or they were players who were confident because they had been granted a decent ability.
‘Even so, they probably don’t know about the hidden elements here.’
I walked slowly while following the swaying tumbleweeds.
-When I went to the place where the winds of the wasteland gathered, I saw a strange phenomenon, you know?
The explorer, Laurent.
He was an eccentric who had found all sorts of hidden elements in the Tower of Babel.
It was also Laurent who had discovered the hidden space of Rainbow Island, the [Forgotten Ruins].
Since it’s 2025 now… Then it’ll be 5 years from now.
‘Sorry, but I’ll find this first.’
Preempting information is a regressor’s privilege.
If not now, when else would I enjoy the advantage of having come from the distant future?
I couldn’t remember the list of soaring stocks, but I was more knowledgeable about the internal information of the Tower of Babel than anyone else.
I walked through the barren field with slow steps.
In the wasteland, you get out of breath quickly because of the dust lingering in the air.
If it wasn’t a battle, it was essential to conserve stamina.
De-gu-ru-ru-
One by one, more tumbleweeds, clumped together into a round shape, joined the procession.
How long had I walked through the wasteland?
“Kiiiiii.”
A low breathing sound echoed in my ear.
The wasteland was deeply pitted with funnel (▽) shapes all over.
Antlion.
It was the habitat of a monster that lured its prey into a hole, sucked it in, and ate it.
“Grrrng?”
An animal that lived in the wasteland, an iron-armored armadillo, saw me.
Hostility was present in its eyes.
The iron-armored armadillo on the other side of the sand pit bared its teeth and growled at me.
“Stop it. You’ll die if you come at me.”
“Grrr-rrng!”
The iron-armored armadillo curled its body into a ball and shot up towards me.
The fellow, which had picked up speed by bouncing off the ground a few times, threw its body into the pit.
Srrr…
The still sand pit began to rotate at a furious speed.
The iron-armored armadillo couldn’t escape the swirling sand and was sucked into the center of the pit.
“I told you. You’d die on your way over to me.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
Now that I think about it, I didn’t say that I was the one who was going to kill it.
It wasn’t my role to end the iron-armored armadillo’s life.
“Kiiiiii!”
The owner of the sand pit, the Antlion, revealed its large pincer-like jaws.
Kwajijik!
Even the hard carapace of the iron-armored armadillo was useless in front of those vicious jaws.
The iron-armored armadillo was instantly turned into well-minced meat.
“It’s as brutal as ever.”
My physical specs were similar to a level 20-ish player.
A player who had normally passed the tutorial stage was just about this level.
The problem was that even with those specs, you could never win if you got into a fight with an Antlion.
‘Because it’s not a monster that’s meant to be caught in the tutorial.’
In the early days of the Tower’s conquest, it was said that many players were eliminated after falling into an Antlion’s trap.
Even at the present time, it was a monster you shouldn’t mess with in the tutorial stage.
The fortunate thing was that if you didn’t step into its trap, you wouldn’t be attacked by it.
I moved while avoiding the Antlion’s traps.
“Is this it?”
The place where I stopped walking was in front of a large sand pit.
Hundreds of tumbleweeds that had gathered in one place were caught in the rotating sand vortex and were sucked inside.
The same form as an Antlion’s trap.
But…
Laurent said that he saw something different when he observed the vortex.
-The tumbleweeds weren’t being torn apart or bounced off, but were disappearing somewhere.
Antlions didn’t eat tumbleweeds.
The proof was that even if a large tumbleweed entered its pit, it didn’t suck it in.
However, the place that was the center of the wind blowing in the wasteland was said to swallow tumbleweeds.
‘It’s true.’
I nodded my head while recalling Laurent’s information.
If I went down inside there, I’d be able to enter the hidden place of Rainbow Island, the [Forgotten Temple].
The image of the iron-armored armadillo being torn apart lingered in my mind.
But I had no fear.
Before my regression, I had faced far worse sights countless times.
There were also times when my own appearance had been even more wretched.
So, as for a reason to hesitate…….
“I don’t have one.”
Muttering as if I was making a promise to myself, I stepped into the sand pit.
[You have stepped into an Antlion’s trap.]
[The friction inside is reduced by 80%.]
My foot sank into the pit.
There was a reason why the iron-armored armadillo couldn’t escape.
An effect corrected by a [Skill].
As for me, if I just put my mind to it, I could use something like the Monstrous Strength skill to shake off the sand pit.
‘I have to endure it for now.’
I ignored the continuous warning signals from my instincts.
The moment I reached the center of the sand pit.
Instead of an Antlion’s pincer jaws, I stepped on something hard.
When I dug away the sand with both hands, a door made of iron appeared.
I pulled the door handle hard.
At that moment, a bright light struck my retinas.
[You have discovered the Altar of the God of War.]
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[Your current location is the Altar of the God of War.]
[You are the first to discover the Altar of the God of War in the tutorial stage. Strength and Agility increase by 2.]
As expected, it’s a hidden space.
Just by discovering it, my stats rose by 4.
‘Up to here, everything matches the information.’
I looked around.
I was in a square-shaped room.
The area seemed to be about 100 pyeong*, and the noticeable thing was a single gladius standing handle up.
The name God of War…
And the gladius…
Even if it weren’t for Laurent’s information, I felt like I would know who the master of this temple was.
“Ares.”
The legitimate son of the God-King Zeus.
He is the god who presides over war.
Although he was fairly high in the hierarchy of the Olympian gods, modern people didn’t have a positive perception of him.
‘He learned a lot of Zeus’s bad habits.’
A womanizer, or a thug.
Ares had a strong image of a brat who ran wild while believing only in his own strength.
When I saw him in person, it was about half-right.
However, he was also quite vain, and he had a clumsy side where he would lavish you with rewards if you just humored him.
I placed my hand on the gladius.
[Altar of the God of War]
[This is an altar that is dedicated to Ares, the divinity who presides over war.]
[Ares considers blood, violence, and struggle as great values. If you satisfy Ares, you will obtain a worthy reward.]
[Will you accept Ares’ trial?]
“Of course.”
The altar of a god hidden in the tutorial stage.
If I can overcome the trial, I can obtain a huge reward.
Even if by some chance I failed, I wouldn’t die since this was the tutorial stage.
Although the event of me failing won’t happen.
▶ You have accepted the Hidden Quest – Ares’s Trial.
▶ Objective: Win the battle against the Dragon Tooth Warrior (Weakened).
A knight decked in gold full plate.
The only exposed part was his eyes, and a red light glowed from them.
The soldier crafted from a dragon’s tooth, the Dragon Tooth Warrior, gripped the gladius that was the symbol of the God of War.
Goosebumps covered my forearms.
A sharp aura emanated from the Dragon Tooth Warrior’s entire body.
-The weakened Dragon Tooth Warrior was at a similar level to a challenger in their 50s. I barely received its recognition after swinging my sword to my limit.
Hmm, I didn’t know its specs, but that aura at least didn’t seem to fall short compared to the original.
Perhaps it was because the gladius was originally large, the Dragon Tooth Warrior gripped the sword with both hands.
At that size, wouldn’t it be more correct to just call it a two-handed sword?
「Are you the challenger?」
“That’s right.”
「I hope you have enough skill to bring glory to the God of War.」
“That’s something we’ll know when we fight.”
I slowly circled around the Dragon Tooth Warrior.
Full plate armor.
At a glance, there seemed to be no gap where I could penetrate it.
If there was no space to squeeze into…
I just have to make one myself.
「Are you trying to aim for a gap?」
The Dragon Tooth Warrior turned its body around as if it were a ghost.
Reacting to my killing intent, it swung the gladius in its hand vertically.
A blade bearing down towards the crown of my head.
“No. I’m not aiming for a gap, I’m making one.”
I already knew that the Dragon Tooth Warrior would react to my killing intent and attack.
The range of the gladius.
Its speed, proportional to its stat values.
I had moved after calculating everything, even its reaction speed.
I put the brakes on my feet just before the range of the vertical slash.
Kang!
The gladius struck the floor.
I charged again towards the Dragon Tooth Warrior’s wide-open chest.
「Challenger, I can defeat someone like you even without a weapon.」
The Dragon Tooth Warrior let go of the gladius and slightly lowered its shoulders.
It seemed like it was thinking of ramming me while trusting in the defense of its full plate armor.
That was a mistake.
[Using Monstrous Strength.]
[Inflicts damage based on the user’s strength stat +300%.]
The skill I had obtained while predating the folktale of the Baby General.
I struck the place where the shoulder and pauldron connected with my power amplified up to 4 times.
Kwaang-
The connection point was crushed by the strong force.
Perhaps because it couldn’t completely dissipate the power of the strike amplified by [Monstrous Strength], the Dragon Tooth Warrior was pushed back by 10 meters.
「That power just now, what in the world…?」
“Why? Are you confused?”
The essence of Baby General Uturi.
Its effect was certain.
My arm trembled from the aftereffect of punching out with great power all at once.
But it wasn’t enough to defeat the weakened Dragon Tooth Warrior.
「Not bad, challenger.」
The Dragon Tooth Warrior swung the gladius continuously.
A sharp aura.
An attack that would lead to a fatal wound if I slipped up even once.
Because I wasn’t wearing a single piece of armor, every moment was dangerous.
Well…
A fight like this is child’s play compared to before my regression.
If I had learned martial arts, I would have been able to push the Dragon Tooth Warrior back much more effectively.
For now, I had to lead the battle by utilizing my experiences from before my regression.
I landed a second hit with [Monstrous Strength] while avoiding its numerous slashes.
「Was that a coincidence? Or…….」
The Dragon Tooth Warrior said while shaking its head, as if it was confused.
Its offensive slackened.
“Come at me. You have to show me a fight that’ll satisfy Ares.”
I pursed my lips.
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T/N – Well, the MC is now in the Tower. Pretty standard regressor stuff so far. Entering a hidden place and undergoing a hidden trial using info from his comrades before his regression.
Poor armadillo though. It should really have listened to the MC. Though I wonder what the MC can get for eating the Antlion?
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
