Chapter 3: Easiest at Low Levels (1)

When an Awakened used the Appraisal System to assess a Gate, information such as the Name, Difficulty, and Reward would appear in front of them as a Hologram like this.

[

Goblin's Forest

]

Difficulty: Level 1–20

Reward: None

The Appraisal System was one of the Support Systems created by Earth.

It compared the strength of monsters against that of the Awakened, displaying this as recommended levels under Difficulty. This allowed Hunters to gauge the risk of each Gate and choose one that best suited their leveling needs.

Since that was the case, what was the big deal about leveling up?

As long as a Hunter continued to hunt monsters, their level would naturally increase. As their level went up, the additional stats granted by the system—Strength, Vitality, Magic, and Willpower—would all go up by one without any training.

As Strength increased, physical abilities would improve.

As Vitality increased, endurance would improve.

As Magic increased, so did the amount of mana one could absorb.

As Willpower grew, resistance to the mental attacks used by both the monsters and the Awakened increased.

As time went on, the number of Gates grew exponentially and their difficulty gradually increased. This naturally meant that greater levels were required to clear them, therefore the Awakened were primarily focused on leveling up in order to meet this demand.

Rather than training for long periods of time to become stronger than other Awakened of the same level, it was much quicker to level up by challenging Gates and become stronger than anyone else.

However, during a particular incident, the Hunters, whose sole focus had been leveling up quickly, regretted their choice.

"Appraisal," Kim Ki-Rok ordered.

[

Arcane's Tower

]

Difficulty: Unable to confirm

Reward: ?

It was at this Gate, Arcane's Tower, that the incident had occurred. No one knew when this Gate first appeared, but a traveler had accidentally stumbled upon it during a walking tour.

The Gate was protected by a very strong defensive barrier, so the possibility of its monsters going on a rampage was extremely low. And the Gate leaked such a small amount of mana that it was difficult to even detect.

Nevertheless, a Gate was still a Gate.

The Republic of Korea's Awakened were naturally deployed to destroy this mysterious Gate, but then...

"Was it about 382 people?" Kim Ki-Rok muttered.

...382 of them had died in there.

The first to enter Arcane's Tower was a C-Class Hunter.

It was impossible to confirm the difficulty, or in other words, the necessary levels needed to clear it, but the amount of mana flowing out of the Gate itself was lower than expected. Unlike ordinary Gates usually marked with "None" for rewards, this Gate instead had a question mark, hinting at the fact that there was something to gain.

This meant that the Gate contained a reward even with only a small amount of mana flowing from it.

The Hunter, unable to resist this temptation, had quickly entered the Gate.

But instead of adding one more destroyed Gate to his record, he perished within.

After the C-Class Hunter had been confirmed as deceased, a party of ten C-Class Hunters entered next.

Despite their numbers, they also died within the Gate. Hunters unable to resist their temptation continued to pour into the Gate, dying in search of the mysterious reward. As a result, the Hunters Association eventually cooperated with the government to seal the Gate.

However, this wasn't a seal that blocked

all

Hunters from entering. It only restricted the working class Hunters who usually loitered at the entrance of a Gate with their party members, as well as Hunters who had formed temporary parties.

After this had been implemented, the Hunters Association and the Korean government sent a request to the guilds to clear the Gate.

The problem was that the party of B-Class Hunters who received this request had also died within the Gate.

Naturally, what followed was an A-Class Hunter who had volunteered to clear it.

When that Hunter ended up dead as well, the government and the Hunters Association decided that this Gate was extremely dangerous and permitted a party of only A-Class Hunters to enter.

But what came of this?

Out of the ten A-Class Hunters in that party, only two had managed to return alive. They were unable to destroy the Gate and instead retreated to the entrance to escape.

Still, their sacrifice wasn't in vain.

They had discovered the identities of the monsters inhabiting this Gate, monsters who had been able to take the lives of even A-Class Hunters.

"

Haaaah, pheeeew.

" After staring blankly at the Gate for a few moments, Kim Ki-Rok closed his eyes and took a deep breath before facing the entrance to Arcane's Tower once more. "Let's try and set a new time attack[1] record this time."

As he repeated his regressions, a thought had occurred to Kim Ki-Rok at some point.

His life was like a game, complete with its own storyline.

Well, except for the fact that he would always reach the bad ending, experiencing indescribable pain upon death each time.

Kim Ki-Rok breathed in and out as he stretched his body. "

Hooo! Haaah! Hoooooo!

"

Like most games, the first time was fun.

As for the second time?

Being able to dig deeper into the elements of the setting while progressing through the story was also fun.

The problem began with the third run, where the novelty would become noticeably diminished.

It was mundane having to go through all the boring parts again and do all sorts of grinding such as training and hunting monsters. Skipping through the story wasn't an option either, not even with every detail memorized by heart.

"

Hmph! Hmph!

" Kim Ki-Rok diligently finished his stretches in front of the Gate, staring at the entrance to Arcane's Tower.

Despite all that, he still had to go through with it.

This wasn't a game, after all.

Unless he killed himself or died of old age, he would have to repeat this life over and over again.

That was why he felt like he was repeatedly playing the same game over and over.

He had only seen bad endings to his story, but every one of those endings had been slightly different based on the choices that he had made. He knew that the "life" he was living was one with thousands or even tens of thousands of endings that all depended on the outcome of his decisions. So even if it was boring, annoying, difficult, or painful, he still had to do it.

Kim Ki-Rok casually reached into his subspace pocket and pulled out two daggers before stepping into the Gate.

In the blink of an eye, the world around him had changed.

Having been suddenly transported away from a patch of forest near a road to Arcane's Tower, he now found himself standing within a huge hall that appeared to be inside of a tower.

Kim Ki-Rok immediately set off, racing down the first-floor hall.

Fwooosh.

There was a sudden explosion of blue light.

𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

He lightly kicked off the ground, taking a step back in the opposite direction. He attacked the black shadow that had suddenly popped up from the ground by throwing one of the daggers he had been holding.

Thud.

The dagger plunged into the shadow's forehead.

If this were any other monster, it would have been able to endure such an attack even on a vital spot, but this black shadow was different.

The shadow disappeared in the same manner as when it had first slipped out of the ground, and in the place where it had disappeared remained only the dagger that Kim Ki-Rok had thrown.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

Kim Ki-Rok didn't pause to retrieve the dagger. He simply continued to run forward.

"

Hmph

, it's just a Level 1 Chimera Doppelganger," Kim Ki-Rok said dismissively.

A Chimera Doppelganger was a monster that could transform to mimic the appearance of its enemy.

It was a challenging opponent, capable of mimicking the appearance, level, abilities, and additional stats of Hunters who had entered the Gate. For Kim Ki-Rok, though, it wasn't difficult to slay due to the difference in their experience, particularly in combat.

However, that advantage could only be held when dealing with one or two Doppelgangers.

If the number of Doppelgangers grew to just three or four, it would become very difficult for the average Hunter to survive.

Dadadadada.

Kim Ki-Rok soon arrived at the second floor by climbing the stairs two to three steps at a time, but he didn't stop there.

Dadadadada.

He continued to run down the hallway on the second floor.

There was another explosion of blue light followed by the appearance of more black shadows, but Kim Ki-Rok didn't stop running.

He threw his dagger at the Chimera Doppelganger in the distance, piercing its neck, then swiftly plunged the other dagger into the closer one, tearing open its throat.

Despite both of them wearing his appearance, Kim Ki-Rok didn't hesitate to quickly dispatch the two Doppelgangers that had appeared on the second floor.

Although they usually fought by transforming into their enemies and causing confusion, since Kim Ki-Rok had been the only Hunter to enter this Gate, they had had no other choice but to transform into him.

Dadadadada.

Continuing to climb the stairs two to three steps at a time, Kim Ki-Rok headed to the third floor.

It had been smooth sailing so far, despite Kim Ki-Rok's stats.

Although he was a Level 1 Hunter, not to mention a rookie with no training or additional stats, this only scratched the surface of his true abilities.

As he watched an exact clone of himself slowly run toward him while brandishing its dagger, Kim Ki-Rok countered with a swing. He deflected the incoming strike and thrust his own dagger forward.

He might only be Level 1, but Kim Ki-Rok was someone who had repeated his life seventy-six times over and was on his 77th Attempt.

Unlike the previous floor, Kim Ki-Rok had to change tactics starting from the third floor. He might only have a minuscule amount of mana, but he could expertly manipulate it to strengthen his body.

There had been one Doppelganger on the first floor, and two on the second. So naturally, three on the third?

Not even close.

"If only they just increased by one each time..." Kim Ki-Rok grumbled.

One on the first floor.

Two on the second.

Four on the third.

Eight on the fourth.

Sixteen on the fifth.

Thirty-two on the sixth.

Arcane's Tower had seven floors in total, and with every floor, the invading Hunter would have to deal with double the number of Doppelgangers. Furthermore, all the enemies would have the same stats that he did.

***

Unlike Kim Ki-Rok, who could perfectly control the small amount of mana he possessed, the Doppelgangers couldn't make use of their minuscule mana reserves.

While controlling large amounts of mana was said to be quite difficult, it was even harder to gain control over tiny amounts of mana.

Crackle.

After gathering his mana to his fingertips, Kim Ki-Rok forcefully stabbed them into the Chimera Doppelganger's heart. Out of habit, he cracked his neck to the left, then to the right.

No Doppelgangers remained alive on the third floor.

"

Pheeewww...

" Kim Ki-Rok let out a deep breath and plopped down right where he stood.

The first to third floors weren't too difficult for him.

However, because he would need to face at least eight Doppelgangers simultaneously starting from the fourth floor, he needed to make some preparations beforehand.

In this Gate known as Arcane's Tower, it was impossible to hide behind cover or lure enemies into a one-on-one confrontation.

The location where all the monsters appeared was a huge hall without a single terrain obstacle one could manipulate.

This would be the case all the way up to the seventh floor, where the Gate Boss would appear.

"Let's see now, what do we have here," Kim Ki-Rok muttered to himself as he reached into the subspace pocket that he had "borrowed" from the Treasure Goblin, before pulling out a crossbow and placing it down in front of him.

He had once entered Arcane's Tower while carrying a firearm.

However, he quickly discovered that as the Doppelgangers copied his weapons, the knowledge on weapon usage had also been transferred, allowing them to make use of their firearms immediately. As such, Kim Ki-Rok never dared to touch a firearm during any of his next visits.

"I almost died then..." Kim Ki-Rok recalled, his voice trembling from the memories of that one time he had visited Arcane's Tower with a gun.

He then took out his next few weapons. They were a dagger, a longsword, and a small pouch.

The dagger and the small pouch were tied to his waist on one side. The longsword was hung on the other side of his waist. When he arrived on the fourth floor, he would be holding a dagger in his left hand and a crossbow in his right, ready for his Doppelgangers to make their appearance.

This begged the question of why he didn't carry any enchanted weapons?

That was because Doppelgangers could not only perfectly copy a Hunter's stats, they could also copy the stats granted by their equipment.

Armed with weapons that wouldn't even be able to deal damage to a normal monster, Kim Ki-Rok got up to his feet.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth floors awaited him.

"

Phew...

" Kim Ki-Rok let out another deep breath as he readied himself.

As long as one was properly prepared, the danger of the seventh floor was about the same as that of the first. However, he needed to be extremely careful on the three floors before that. The moment he lost his concentration, he would be moving on to his 78th Attempt against his will.

Kim Ki-Rok slowly caught his breath and attentively relaxed his whole body. Then, he mustered all of his concentration as he slightly bent at the knees.

Bang!

Kim Ki-Rok kicked off the ground and climbed up the stairs once more.

He soon arrived on the fourth floor.

As Kim Ki-Rok ran into the center of the hall, there was an explosion of light.

Taking advantage of the gap that this had created in their vision, Kim Ki-Rok immediately threw his dagger at one of the Doppelgangers rising from the ground.

Swiiiish! Thud!

There were now seven Doppelgangers left.

Pulling out another throwing dagger from the pouch at his waist with one hand, he held out his crossbow with his other and examined the remaining Doppelgangers.

The Chimera Doppelganger standing at the very front of the pack charged at him with a longsword. Kim Ki-Rok gathered his mana to the very tip of his feet and used it to jump high into the air.

As he did so, he quickly scanned his surroundings.

He was doing this in order to find which of the Doppelgangers had copied the most troublesome weapon for him to face.

As he found his targets at the rear of the pack, Kim Ki-Rok smirked to himself. "

Haha

, as expected of the 77th Attempt."

He truly was lucky.

There were no Doppelgangers with longswords or daggers stationed near the two Doppelgangers that had copied his crossbow. And the two Doppelgangers that had copied his crossbow were standing right next to each other.

Swiiiish! Thud!

With a click of his crossbow trigger, there were now six Doppelgangers left.

There was no time to reload his crossbow. Kim Ki-Rok quickly threw the dagger that he had just pulled out, taking down the second crossbow-wielding Chimera Doppelganger, while discarding the now-unloaded crossbow.

Five Doppelgangers remained.

Whoosh, crack.

Using the momentum that he had gained from falling forward, Kim Ki-Rok leaped back into the air once more.

Sailing through the air with a somersault, he caught the pack of Doppelgangers from behind.

As he soared through the air, the Doppelgangers who had been caught staring blankly spun around in a panic, but it was already too late.

If one's back was turned to the enemy, it was only natural that it would become vulnerable to a backstab.

In the midst of his somersault, he had pulled out his longsword and sliced through one of the Doppelgangers' necks. Using the recoil from this, he spun around and stabbed another Chimera Doppelganger in the heart with his other dagger.

There were now three Doppelgangers left.

"Now that I think about it..." Kim Ki-Rok absently muttered.

Claaaang!

With a swing of his longsword, Kim Ki-Rok deflected his foe's attack, then drove the dagger from his left hand into the Doppelganger's heart.

"It should have arrived about now," Kim Ki-Rok continued.

1. The term comes from motorsport, where drivers compete to set the fastest time, but has been adopted by videogame speed-runners. ☜