Only I’m the solo player

Chapter 19 – Survival Report

—–CROW—– 

The open community had many similarities to other online communities, but there were also many differences.

First of all, the open community was completely real-name based. Posts must include the author’s real name and server tag.

Sometimes there were people with the same name on the same server, but each profile had a unique tag, so they could be distinguished.

Thanks to this, so-called trolls didn’t appear often. Of course, there were some people who did crazy things with their real names.

Also, unlike other communities, cliquishness and mentioning usernames were allowed to some extent.

In the past, the Tower of Trials was a very dangerous place.

All the challengers who were kidnapped by the invitation had to fight for their lives, and many lost their lives in the end.

Currently, solid strategies had been established up to the 100th floor, and there were many safe ranker buses, but that didn’t mean all dangers had disappeared.

Strategies were only meaningful if they were fully understood and practiced, and even ranker buses could be wiped out if something went wrong.

It was true that it had become much safer than before, but climbing the Tower of Trials was basically more dangerous than most extreme sports.

Therefore, cliquishness was allowed on the grounds that there should at least be someone to deliver the news of each other’s deaths.

In the first place, even with cliquishness, there was no problem because there was a lot of turnover due to the nature of the Tower of Trials.

Except for the rankers who deliberately stayed in the tower, most of the challengers would eventually clear the 100th floor and leave.

-Didn’t this guy die on the 1st floor? He’s still alive?

When I suddenly disappeared without a word after posting nonsense every day in the open community, the challengers naturally thought I was dead.

Moreover, many people thought that I hadn’t died while challenging a boss, but had gone crazy and committed suicide while trapped on the 1st floor.

It seemed to be because I stopped posting on the community after the day I received the news of my mother’s death.

Actually, that wasn’t entirely wrong.

I died once then. And I was reborn as a new person. At least that’s what I thought.

“Good grief.”

I had decided to completely quit the community, but since there seemed to be a big misunderstanding, I thought I should at least explain.

[Author: Seo Jinhyuk#2661]

[Title: Yeah, it’s me]

I didn’t die on the 1st floor, I just stopped using the community to grind.

A few days ago, I soloed the boss and came up to the 2nd floor.

I thought a lot after my mother passed away.

I don’t know if I’ll be alone on server 2661, but I’m going to try to clear it alone as far as I can.

So tell me how to raise spirit intimacy, I’m in a hurry.

– So you’re on the 2nd floor now? You can get a spirit skill on the 2nd floor?

–  ㄴ Yes, probably the 1st generation hunters got it too

–  ㄴ This guy is eating the tower alone, he must have found something hidden

– Wow, seriously, you can clear the 1st floor purely solo? What level did you clear it at?

–  ㄴ 39

–  ㄴ 39, you crazy bastard lol

–  ㄴ How the hell did you do it

–  ㄴ Level 39 with just goblins? Did you go insane?

– Are you still alone on that server? No one else came in?

–  ㄴ Yes

– I’m glad you got your act together, Jinhyuk. I’m rooting for you.

Every time I refreshed, the number of comments increased by a page. The reaction was much more intense than I had expected.

Most of the comments were asking how I was able to defeat the 1st floor boss alone, and what my current specs were.

After that, there were many comments supporting my new start.

Not only the usual community addicts, but even rankers who weren’t very active in the community appeared and left comments of support.

I felt good for a moment, receiving countless attention that I had never received before while being active in the open community.

So how do you raise spirit intimacy, you bastards?

****

I turned off the constantly ringing comment notifications for a while and closed the community window.

I felt like I would waste the whole day if I kept staring at the comment section.

I’ll check the remaining comments after I’ve made a round through the labyrinth area.

I put on the equipment I had taken off and headed to the entrance of the labyrinth, crossing the center of the village.

[Challenger, the Tower of Trials is calling you.]

Passing through the entrance, where the same message as on the 1st floor popped up, I was soon greeted by a monster I had never seen before.

-Grrrr…

A low growl that was very similar to the wolves in the field. It didn’t look much different from a wolf either.

Just the face.

Appearing in the 2nd floor labyrinth area were monsters slightly larger than goblins with dog heads, Kobolds.

The Kobold that found me started running towards me with its drooling dog head.

Its speed was nothing special. Compared to the wolves in the field, it was rather slightly slower.

-Thud!

I swung my shield with all my might and struck it. Like the goblins on the 1st floor, the Kobold flew far away and fell.

As a mob at the entrance of the labyrinth, it was definitely weak. At this rate, there was no difference from goblins.

Kobolds were bigger, so their physical abilities were naturally superior to goblins.

But my stats had increased so much that the difference in physical abilities between goblins and Kobolds was insignificant.

The important thing wasn’t how much stronger they were than goblins, but how much stronger they were compared to me.

“Hey, are you dead?”

I asked the Kobold that had flown far away. It probably didn’t understand, but the Kobold got up.

The eyes of the standing Kobold were glowing ominously red.

The main characteristic of the Kobolds, the main monsters of the 2nd floor labyrinth area, was their berserk pattern that activated when their health was low.

Kobolds usually fought with weapons, but when their HP dropped significantly, they lost their reason and went on a rampage.

Instead of using their weapons, they clung to people with their powerful teeth and claws, causing bleeding damage.

-Grr!

The berserk Kobold rushed in with noticeably faster speed than before. I lightly extended my foot.

-Crack!

A single kick triggered a critical hit with a red effect. The Kobold died instantly.

Berserk or not, a mob was just a mob. The pattern change wasn’t a big threat to me now.

The experience it gave was probably not much anyway since it would be halved due to my level, so it wasn’t worth deliberately fighting them.

“Then it’s treasure, as expected.”

I turned on the 2nd floor labyrinth area map uploaded on the open community and started searching for treasure chests for the first time in a while.

****

As my agility stat had increased, the speed at which I searched for treasure chests was incomparable to before.

In addition, since the labyrinth area itself wasn’t very large compared to the 1st floor, there weren’t many treasure chests.

Thanks to that, in just a few hours, I had completely explored the entire 2nd floor labyrinth area and obtained all the treasure chests.

But I didn’t gain much.

There was only one large chest, which was the most important, and only three or four medium chests, and about ten small chests.

[Kobold Tooth Belt]

Defense +15

Strength +1

Weight: 3

Durability 200/200

Number of possible enhancements: 2

The only item I got was this. A cumbersome belt that increased strength by 1.

The belt slot was empty, so it was an upgrade, but it was so minor that it would be hard to feel the difference.

My level was also completely stagnant, and there were no special quests to do in the labyrinth.

At this rate, it seemed that I had obtained everything that could be obtained in the 2nd floor area while doing the shepherd girl quest.

No matter how many Kobold mobs I killed, I didn’t think I could get more experience than killing hundreds of wolves.

I could raise my one-handed sword mastery or level through foolish grinding like on the 1st floor, but there was no reason to.

“Then all that’s left is this, I guess.”

So, just two days after entering the 2nd floor of the Tower of Trials, I stood in front of the boss room door.

It seemed a bit hasty, but I was confident.

I had defeated the Goblin Lord without much difficulty, and I had finished off the field bosses Lobo and Blanca in just a couple of hits.

The difficulty of the 2nd floor boss room, estimated from the clear records of previous challengers, wasn’t that great.

Among the clear records of the 2nd floor boss, the smallest number of people to defeat it was a 5-person party.

The average level of that party was around 25.

Compared to the record of the lowest number of people to defeat the 1st floor boss, which was a party of seven level 18 challengers, there wasn’t much difference.

It was clear that I had become stronger than seven level 18 challengers when I defeated the Goblin Lord.

Even compared to five level 25 challengers, I was probably stronger now.

I believed in the effort I had accumulated.

-Creak.

[On a night with a full moon, it suddenly appeared and usurped the throne. It was never a Kobold.]

As I opened the door without hesitation, a notification window appeared, shining.

[BOSS – Werewolf Lougarou]

Waiting for me inside the boss room was a giant bipedal wolf.

—–CROW—–