Jae-hoon looks around and he spots some big statues holding axes, warhammer, shields and swords. He then remembers the trauma from the first time he met the angel before getting the system. In his mind he says, "I got PTSD from this…. Shit…. Is it going to be as hard as the one time I tried to survive against them before receiving the system? No…. It's different now. I'm far stronger than before. Well, I hope I'm strong enough to beat these shitty statues."
Yoon-jung looks over at Jae-hoon's nervous face and asks, "Are you okay, Jae-hoon? You seem nervous…."
Jae-hoon snaps back to reality and looks at Yoon-jung to reply with, "I'm fine. Don't worry. I just remembered an old memory. Anyways, let's go find the tablet to read the instructions to beat this trial."
"Sure!" Yoon-jung replies.
Everyone looks around to try to find the tablet that contains the instructions to beat this trial. After a while, none of them found the tablet.
Soo-won walks up to Jae-hoon to tell him that they found nothing, "Lee, we can't find anything resembling a tablet. It's rather weird this time. Usually there's a tablet in each room but this room doesn't have any. What should we do, Lee?"
Jae-hoon thinks for a while before coming up with something. "I think it's just hidden somewhere. I don't know where but…. I'll try something," he says, assuming that it's probably hidden somewhere in the room. In his mind he says, "I'll try to sense it. If my senses stats are enough that is…." He then close eyes to feel where the tablet is if possible. "Concentrate…. Concentrate…. I can't find it. What am I thinking? How can I sense something that's not alive and doesn't have any mana flow? I'm so dumb," he thinks to himself after concentrating on trying to find the tablet and realizing it was useless.
While walking around, Yoon-jung accidentally steps on a pressure plate that activates some mechanisms to reveal the tablet.
"Well…. That was very unexpected…. At least we found the tablet. Let me translate it," Jae-hoon says as he sees the tablet. He then walks up to the tablet to translate the writings on the tablet.
[Translating writings]
[Translation complete]
"The guardians of the castle risk their lives to protect. Whom that stepped inside the castle without permission shall be eradicated. Whom that is brave, shall fight them. Whom that is scared, shall die by their hands. Once the entrance closes, the guardians will wake up from their eternal slumber and eradicate those they considered intruders. May God be with you," he translates the writings.
Jae-hoon thought to himself, "'When the entrance closes, they will wake up from their eternal slumber'? That line is implied when the entrance closes."
He then looks over at the entrance where they came from and says, "It's not closed yet-"
As he finishes his words, the entrance closes at that moment. Jae-hoon is surprised to see that the entrance somehow read the room and closed itself. In his mind he says, "Shit. We're fucked."
He then shouts so everyone could hear him, "Everyone! Get back! The statues are going to move! Right with all your might! If you can't do it, don't push yourself!"
Everyone reacts to Jae-hoon's shouts and gets back to being careful of the statues. Soo-won looks at Jae-hoon before saying, "What's going on, Lee?! Do we need to fight them?!"
"As I said after translating the writings on the tablet, yes. We need to fight them. This will be the hardest trial yet. If I'm being honest, I don't even know if we could even win against THAT many statues. We're definitely fucked," he replies, implying that it's hard for them to fight the statues.
Soo-won then asks Jae-hoon, "So what do we do?! Just fight?!"
Jae-hoon replies with, "Yes. We fight. And pray to God that we win."
[Third Trial starts]
[Guardians of The Floating Castle]
[Objective: defeat all 8 guardians]
[Progress: 0/8]
Meanwhile outside on earth, there's a girl with long black hair walking down the streets with her friends. One of her friends asks her, "What about your relationship with your brother, Han-yeong? I heard he's a hottie."
She then replies to her questions, "It's been a while since we talked. Sure, I want to meet him again. Since he started university, he hasn't contacted me once. I really miss him. Guess I'll go meet him next week if possible. And can you stop saying that to my brother? He's not that good-looking to be honest. He's average, if I may say."
"Average?! You're clearly delusional, Han-yeong! You're already so pretty so your brother might be a hottie too, right?" her friend says, complimenting her and her brother.
"Well, I'm not that pretty. I could say I'm abive average," she says, clearly humbled about her looks.
Her other friend says, "That's an understatement, Han-yeong. You're too pretty to be above average. All guys are swooning over you so it's impossible to say you're not pretty. And what is your brother's name again? I remember it starts with J,"
"It's Jae-hoon. His name is Jae-hoon. He's currently learning at an art university even though most of the subjects he took wasn't art related at all. Well, if I remember that university is not just an art university. It was a prestigious university that specialized in art but also have other subjects. Out of 12 subjects, he took 10. I don't even know how can he pass and how is he not stressed out…." she tells her friend what's his brother's name is and explain his current situations.
Her friend is surprised about the information and asks, "Really?! He took 10 subjects out of 12?! Is he a genius or something?!"
She then replies with, "I wouldn't say he's a genius but he's a crazy guy. Can you imagine taking 10 out of 12 subjects? I'm sure it will be stressful. High school is stressful enough and university? I bet it's like hell."
"Yeah, I know right? I'm sure it will feel like hell in university. High school is already hard and stressful enough. Well, I won't continue university anyway. I will just go get a job after I graduate. I will be making money, which is good," her friend said.
"It is good but I'm going to continue university. I mean, like my brother, while he's studying in university, he's also probably making money. I don't know how but I heard the university he's in offers you a job as a student to complete. But I also heard the Art Club could get commissions from other campuses and got paid for it and the money is all for themselves. Must be great…." Han-yeong says, telling her friends she wants to continue to university.
Back to the situations with Jae-hoon and the raid party where they're fighting the statues. Jae-hoon is actively dodging attacks from the statues.
In his mind, Jae-hoon says, "Shit! I can't dodge forever! It I keep dodging, this damn statue will be coming at me! Fuck! I need to think of a plan! But what plan?! Everyone is actively running away from the statues! We're fucked! Damnit, I can't think of anything!"
He then remembers something and in his mind he says, "I remember! I still have 10 stat points from clearing the last trial! So I won't hesitate to allocate them. But where?! What stat will be helpful at this time?! Damnit!"
He keeps dodging the attacks from the statues. While running, Jae-hoon heard something. "Ack! No…. I don't want to die…. Noz not yet!" Jae-hoon immediately turns around to look at what it is and it's Yoon-jung almost getting crushed by one of the statues but he managed to save her in time.
"T-thank you, Jae-hoon…." Yoon-jung thanks him for saving her life.
"Be careful next time. Don't fall again, sunbae," Jae-hoon says, advising Yoon-jung to be more careful.
Jae-hoon finally made up his mind about the stats and in his mind he says, "I'll be damned if this doesn't work so…. Let's just fucking try it! Allocate all on strength!" After he allocated the stat points into strength, he rushed towards a statue and jumped on its hand and ran up towards its face before hitting it with all his force.
"Die, dipshit!" He shouts after he punches the statue. The place where Jae-hoon punched the statue now has a big dent after it falls down, defeated.
I'm his mind he says, "I freaking did it…. I defeated one statue…. There's only 7 more damn statues. If I manage to kill all of them, we pass the trial. Finally, I can beat these assholes up!" He also thinks, "Can I use a weapon? Dagger? No…. That won't be effective…. If I have a hammer right now, it's going to get a lot better. Whatever, let's help the others first."
Jae-hoon then runs to help the others by attacking the statues. It's hard for him but he managed to destroy two. The rest of the statues are now solely focusing on Jae-hoon giving chances for the others to attack.
"Everyone! Now! Attack the statues while I distract them!" Jae-hoon shouts to the others to attack the statues that are chasing him.
"I'll give everyone buffs!" Yoon-jung says, telling everyone she will be giving buffs to all of them.
She then casts buff spells to everyone and without wasting time, everyone charges in to fight the statues. All of them attack the statues in a pattern that will ensure victory if they keep doing the same thing.
In Jae-hoon's mind he says, "I haven't tried this yet but…. There's a first time for everything! Fire Magic! Fire Arrow!"
He casts the Fire Arrow spell and it hits one of the statues with such a force it manages to pierce through its tough body.
In Jae-hoon's mind, he says, "That's…. Strong…. It doesn't burn because they're made out of stone but for some reason it can pierce through the statue…. What a crazy feat-"
Suddenly he feels a strong headache after casting the spell. In his mind he thinks, "Shit! I used up too much mana! I didn't know it would take up that much mana! That spell cost 800 mana?! It's so fucking high?!"
"Fuck! I can't keep up if I'm like this! Captain! Hold them off while I'm recovering my mana!" he shouts, telling Soo-won to keep attacking the statues
Soo-won turns his head to look at Jae-hoon before replying, "Got it!". He then turns to the others and shouts, "Everyone! Don't back down! Keep going at it while Lee is recovering his mana!"
The others replied, "Got it, captain!"
Everyone continues attacking the statues to hold them back and wait for Jae-hoon to recover his mana. In his mind, he remembers, "Oh yeah! I still have 60 coins after I bought the black metal to craft Anansi's Poison Dagger! I can use that to buy mana recovery potion! Shop! Potion section!"
[Shop (Potion)]
[Health recovery: 25 coins]
[Stamina recovery: 15 coins]
[Mana recovery: 35 coins]
"Fuck it! Buy mana recovery potion!" Jae-hoon looks through the shop and decides to buy the mana recovery potion.
[Mana recovery potion bought]
Jae-hoon summons the potion to his hand and drinks it to recover his potion.
[Mana recovered]
[Mana: 0 to 800(max)]
He then stands back up and runs to help the others. He then jumps up to match the eye level of one of the statues and punches it really hard so it would break its face and defeat it. Jae-hoon then lands safely on the ground and looks at the others doing tactics like hit and run.
Jae-hoon then shouts, "Everyone! Bring the statues to me! I'll handle the rest of them!" He signals everyone to bring the statues to him so he can finish the job.
Everyone on the team starts to run to Jae-hoon's position while bringing the statues with them. One after another, Jae-hoon defeated the statues. Even though he's struggling, he manages to defeat 4 of the remaining 5 statues. When the last one that was chasing Yoon-jung falls in sight, Jae-hoon wastes no time and heads straight for it to defeat it.
"Your opponent is me, dumbass!" he shouts before jumping up to match the eye level of the statue. In his mind he commands, "Anansi's Poison Dagger, equip!" The dagger then appears in his hand. "You just die, damn statue! I'll do whatever it takes! I'll end your with all I've got!" he shouts before slashing through the statue's head.
[Critical hit applied]
[Damage multiplier:100%]
Before Jae-hoon lands back down on the ground, he falls unconscious and falls, hitting the ground with a loud thud.
Soo-won sees this and rushes to Jae-hoon to check up on him. He says, "Are you okay, Lee?! Lee! Wake up!"
Yoon-jung rushes to Jae-hoon's side as well before trying to wake him up by shaking him.
Meanwhile in his conscious mind, Jae-hoon is floating in a void like area with no light. He thinks to himself, "Where am I? I can't see anything…. There's no light…. No sound…. No taste…. No smell…. No feeling of touch…. Why am I floating here….? What is this place….? Am I dead….? No…. Not yet…. I can't leave my team…. My team needs me…. I want to survive…. I don't want to die yet…. Not like this…. Not yet!"
[Ascension stage one achieved]
[Remaining stage: 19]
[You have leveled up to level 25]
[You received 45 stat points]
[You have unlocked skill "Fire Column]
[You received a new title]
["The One Who Overcame Weaknesses"]
Jae-hoon keeps floating through the void before a strange beam of light flashes him and he wakes up back to reality. Slowly opening his eyes and sitting up. He looks around to see everyone worried. Yoon-jung, who was nearby, immediately hugs him while still having some tears flowing down her cheeks. "I thought you're dead! Don't you ever fall unconscious like that ever again, Jae-hoon!" she shouts at him, telling him not to fall unconscious again.
"I can't control what happens. Anyways…. Can you let me go now, sunbae?" Jae-hoon calmly says before asking Yoon-jung to let go of him. Yoon-jung who realizes what she's doing immediately breaks the hug and looks flustered because of that.
She then apologized to him with a flustered face, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that…. I was just worried…."
Jae-hoon calmly replies with, "No, it's fine. I understand you're worried but, you can't just hug people who just woke up, y'know? It might scare them. Don't worry! I'm not scared! So it's fine."
"Anyways, I'm glad you survived…. I really thought you're dead…." she says while still sobbing a little bit.
"I'm fine," he replies to her.
Soo-won then clears his throat before saying, "Ehem…. Ehem…. Quit flirting and let's keep on going with the mission ahead,"
Jae-hoon turns his head to look at Soo-won and says, "Sorry. I was just recollecting myself after I woke up. Anyways, let's continue." He then stands up and brushes some dust off of him.
Soo-won smiles, feeling reassured to know that Jae-hoon is still alive. He then says, "Everyone. Let's go to the next room. The door has opened." He points behind him at the opened door that leads to the next room.
Everyone follows his instructions and goes to the door but Jae-hoon stays put while thinking about what happened after he fell unconscious. He thinks to himself, "What was all of that about ascension? What does that mean? And I suddenly leveled up drastically. I didn't even receive any exp whatsoever after I defeated the statues. So why? Why did I level up? Moreover, why did the system do this to me? What is its purpose? On the bright side, I received 45 stat points because I leveled up 9 times and a new spell for Fire Magic. I'll allocate the stat points after I find out what the next trial is about." He then walks the door, following behind the others