Chapter 1: Tutorial (1)

The first thing I saw as I opened my eyes was a ceiling made of stone. Simultaneously, dampness and cold crept up from the floor, making the hairs on my arm stand on end. Pushing the shivers aside, I managed to lift my body.

I was in a dungeon, the walls built from stone.

This overwhelmingly familiar scene quickly triggered my understanding of the situation. It was an environment I simply couldn’t not recognize. It was a place I must know.

“This is ridiculous.”

The scene of me clicking the link to apply for the beta test of the fifth installment of the Brightest Darkness series in my head, and then being sucked into the monitor with a bright array of lights, surfaced in my mind. That was my last memory in reality.

The first emotion that crossed my mind was disbelief. These madmen were now reincarnating people by baiting them with an invitation to a beta test for a sequel to a game.

Even if it wasn’t me, any sucker who played Brightness Darkness 4 could have fallen for this elaborate trap. It made me wonder if they needed such creativity to reincarnate people.

The next emotion that surfaced was regret.

“I must be insane. Why did I even bother to be the world number one in the enemy enhancement mod?”

Yes, that’s what the world has become nowadays.

If you’re reincarnated into a novel that you’ve followed till the end on your own, or if the only reader who followed the author’s work till the end reincarnates the author, at least it could be seen as fundamentally plausible.

But in the world today, you get reincarnated into novels you’ve never read, into novels you just skimmed through, you get reincarnated even without commenting, just looking at the cover, even if you filter out a work, if you criticize a novel or an author, you get reincarnated, and even if you get hooked once and come back, you get reincarnated again. It was a truly treacherous world.

In such a world, being a veteran player who clocked 30,000 hours of playtime? That made me the perfect bait for some terrifying entities striving to achieve records as humans.

But what could I do? I had already done it, and I was physically brought here, stamped and approved.

I rose from the spot. The floor was too cold to sit on with bare skin. And in just a little more time, the first event of this tutorial zone was about to start.

Plans automatically formed in my head. I had gone through this segment thousands of times. I knew exactly what actions and movements I needed to make here.

“Save me! Aaaaah!”

Before I could even finish thinking, the sound of fleeing footsteps and horrifying screams echoed from afar.

“It’s begun.”

Taking a deep breath, I positioned myself against the wall farthest from the prison bars. Outside of the cell, people were desperately running away, pushing and shoving each other.

The prisoners on the opposite side approached the iron bars with bewildered faces, peeking towards the outside. Given the sight of people fleeing en masse, they must be wondering what on earth was happening outside.

-Thud… Thud…

A faint trembling of the earth emanated from afar. As the trembling gradually approached, the prisoners looked at each other, clueless about what was happening.

Finally, the moment a prisoner, who had been surveying the outside with his face pressed against the iron bars, dropped to the floor in utter shock as the thudding grew louder, a monstrous figure revealed itself from beyond the left corridor.

It was grotesquely misshapen, its enormous, bloated body nearly filled the corridor. Its skin was covered with irregular, deformed scales. Its legs and thighs were significantly thicker than an average person’s torso, but its body was even more huge, which ironically gave it a semblance of balance. Its arms were shorter than half its legs, but it held a wooden club almost as tall as itself. The club was already dripping with blood.

Its face was twisted beyond recognition, its mouth, ripped almost to the ears, was filled with disordered, jagged teeth poking out. It was the boss of the tutorial area, the Human Butcher.

Upon seeing this fiend, the prisoners on the opposite side screamed in desperation to get away from the it. Whether it was drawn by the noise or not, the Human Butcher veered towards the opposite jail cell instead of coming my way.

Its immense body bent the iron bars like candy canes as it squeezed itself into the cell. Shortly after, the sound of human bodies being crushed and horrific screams filled the air.

Blood splattered on the walls. Everything so far was just as in the game. The graphics, although not as advanced as in the “Brightest Darkness 4”, were disconcertingly detailed, especially the crushed flesh, which was so vivid it made my stomach churn.

The Human Butcher, true to its name, had literally butchered the prisoners and now walked out of the cell. Fresh blood over the dried layers dripped from its club.

Now, I was the next target. That hulking body started moving again, thudding with every step. The frame of the cell door crumpled in less than a second under its weight.

With half of its body squeezed through the iron bars, the Human Butcher took another step, raising its club high to strike me.

Cr-r-rack!

Just before the arm swung down, a massive crack appeared from the spot where it stepped, and the floor started splitting. Surprised, it stopped the downward strike and retreated.

But the crack didn’t stop. It continued until the entire cell floor was teetering on the verge of collapse.

‘This is just the beginning.’

Thinking I would fall and die, the Human Butcher snorted once and turned away. I would indeed fall along with the crumbling floor. However, I wasn’t planning on dying.

Closing my eyes, I braced myself for the shock. The floor soon reached its limit, collapsing under my weight. Simultaneously, I plummeted with the rubble into the depths below.

“Cough, cough.”

Choking on the dust, a fit of coughing overtook me.

Lifting an arm, I pushed aside a nearby stone and gradually cleared the heap of debris piled atop me. After repeating this process for a while, I barely managed to crawl out.

I had fallen to the very bottom of the dungeon.

It could be said that this was the true start of the game. Everything that happened in the upper prison before my fall was merely an introduction.

After dusting myself off, I escaped the prison through the bent iron bars. The surroundings were serene. It was a scene straight out of the game I was familiar with.

I never could have imagined that I’d experience this first-hand. A complex mix of emotions surged within me.

‘I wonder which class was selected.’

Looking down at my body, I saw a muscular frame covered only by a scanty loincloth. Unfortunately, class and physical appearances were separate factors, making it impossible to guess from my physique.

To be honest, I was relieved for a moment that I wasn’t a female character.

‘It’s pointless to speculate here when I can confirm it soon.’

I headed towards the nearby stairs. Ascending these stairs would lead me to the tutorial area where I’d have my first battle with minor enemies, and where I could confirm what class was selected.

Picking up a crudely made wooden club near the stair base, I carefully climbed the stairs, doing my best to tread silently while listening to the conversation from above.

“……”

No sound reached my ears.

‘Damn it.’

A grimace warped my face upon realizing this.

Normally, when you ascend the stairs without making noise, you could overhear the enemies’ conversation about how to distribute their loot. The dialogue usually gave away the class. If they mentioned armor, long swords, and shields, then the class was that of a knight. If it was daggers and magic scrolls, then it was a thief. Staff and robe indicated a wizard, and so on.

However, hearing nothing indicated that the class of the player character was ‘The Forsaken.’ This realization stirred up a wave of frustration within me.

‘Out of the ten available classes, why on earth would it be that one?’

The Forsaken was undeniably the weakest character option. They started at level 1 with all stats at 1, and were not given any items, weapons, or armor.

With all stats starting at 1, the Forsaken had the highest stat efficiency in PvP at the appropriate level range, but that was their only advantage.

Reaching that point was a struggle in itself. With low health, pathetic stamina, terrible attack power, and lacking any items or armor, it was going to be a challenge.

As they say, when the seasoned player desires their own hard mode, the past track chosen is typically that of “The Forsaken”.

In the game, even if you choose to be “The Forsaken” as your past track, you could always hit the endless retry button. However, now I’ve been drawn into the game itself. There was no guarantee of reviving after death.

I sighed deeply to myself and picked up a club. No matter what, it was better than having nothing. Clenching the wooden club with strength, I began to slowly ascend the stairs.

The appearance of the upper floor gradually caught my eye.

‘As I thought.’

Just as I had predicted, the spots where items representing my class should be, were completely empty. Prisoners clad in crude clothes were aimlessly lingering around, clubs in their hands.

The scene was identical to the one I had seen repeatedly in the game.

In that case, my task would also be identical to what I had tediously done in the game.

I took a deep breath and proceeded upstairs.