I Became a Disaster-Class Newbie by Stealing Abilities - Chapter 3

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 3. A New World (1)
“Shrieeeek!!!”
“Screeeee!”
The monster’s roar made every hair on their bodies stand on end.
“Gahhhhh!”
“What—what is that?”
“Help us!”
Pure terror rippled through the air.
Massive scorpions, each easily over thirty feet long, began advancing toward them.
There were dozens of them at least.
And it wasn’t just the sheer numbers—each one moved with impossible speed and strength.
“Kang Ho Young! What in the world is this?”
“You said the hardest part was just a few orcs!”
People hurled curses and demands for explanation.
Kang Ho Young was just as bewildered.
“By balance calculations, this absolutely shouldn’t be possible. I’m certain of it.”
He’d run through this early section dozens of times, but he’d never seen higher-tier creatures spawn like this.
He’d never even seen videos online or forum posts about difficulty ratings this far off the scale.
‘Fight these things? With what?’
The crude blades here wouldn’t so much as scratch their jet-black carapace.
A single blow from them could pulverize the massive pillars around them.
There was no hope of resistance.
No matter what he tried, all he could envision was their brutal deaths.
And then, as the last shred of hope vanished—
[The Goddess gazes upon those who are dying.]
Golden letters blazed across the air, driving back despair and casting down the light of hope.
[She says that if you offer her the most precious thing you possess, she will perform a miracle to save your wretched souls.]
It was the moment the Goddess, a being woven into The Emperor’s world itself, made her presence known.
“The most precious thing?”
“Offer… to her?”
Death.
Life.
The choice didn’t take long.
Out of five hundred fifty-two people, roughly four hundred sixty-two pledged their devotion to the Goddess.
And agreed to surrender their Stat Points to her.
With hope in their hearts.
Believing with absolute certainty that mighty celestial beings would come to their aid.
And simultaneously—
Ding!
A status window flickered before Ju-sang’s eyes.
[You have achieved a remarkable feat!]
[You have deceived over eighty percent of the selected participants!]
[You have obtained the maximum Stat Points (462)!]
Excellent.
So many people with such devout faith.
He felt almost dizzy with satisfaction.
‘I should give them something in return for those precious Stat Points.’
At minimum, he’d make sure no one here died.
Most of them were innocent people dragged into this place without any understanding of what was happening.
Besides, this served their interests too.
To prevent Earth’s destruction and reach the game’s ending, the most talented hardcore player needed to monopolize everything—and everyone else’s power.
A single point distributed to each of them was nearly meaningless, but four hundred sixty-two points concentrated in one person could yield tangible results.
Ju-sang, his broken smartphone already tucked away, cracked his knuckles deliberately.
‘Let’s invest wisely.’
[Strength increases from 10 → 75.]
He now possessed the kind of raw power that could crack stone with his bare hands.
[Agility increases from 13 → 90.]
Agility too—reflexes and body speed—now far exceeded anything a normal human could achieve.
[Stamina increases from 10 → 80.]
At this level, he could fight at full intensity for five minutes without tiring.
[Your Mana increases from 14 to 264.]
Mana — essential for deploying any ability or trait.
You can never have too much of it.
Naturally, he’d invested the vast majority of his Stat Points there.
Whoooosh!
A scalding sensation tore through his entire body.
The transformation was nearly a complete rebirth.
The average total Stat count for those arriving at the Hall of Heroes for the first time: forty points.
Ju-sang’s total had already breached ten times that threshold with ease.
This was the birth of an early-game balance-breaking character.
* * *
When nothing happened despite their offerings to the Goddess, panic seized the crowd.
“This is insane. What kind of scam is this goddess running?”
“I knew it was a cult. Give my Stats back!”
For now, only injuries—but it wouldn’t be long before the first deaths began.
Then it happened.
Crack!
An anomaly unfolded.
While everyone else scrambled to flee, someone was running headlong toward the scorpions.
His face held no trace of fear—only a serene calm.
The sword in his reverse grip glinted with lethal clarity.
“Oh! Has the Goddess finally sent us a miracle?”
“He must be a hero!”
“No—a demigod!”
Cheers erupted in succession.
Hope bloomed at last—they could survive this hellscape.
But then.
“That man—he came through with us!”
A woman’s shout shattered every hope like snow in spring.
The face had been beside them the whole time. Too familiar.
No mistake about it.
He was one of them—a hero from the same intake.
“Damn it. Just some lunatic after all.”
“Don’t waste time on him—keep running! At least he’ll buy us some time before he dies.”
Hope curdled into despair.
Even hardcore players with five hundred hours logged wouldn’t dare meet these monsters’ eyes. What could one man possibly do?
He’d be shredded in seconds.
Then.
Thud.
Ju-sang vaulted high, sword in hand.
Completely unguarded, defenseless.
Charging straight at the gaping maws of blood-starved predators.
Anyone watching would swear he had a death wish.
Slice!
That’s what everyone thought.
Until a single stroke bisected the giant scorpion’s body.
“……!?”
“……!!”
“What—what is that?”
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
Like watching the inside of a blender.
Every time Ju-sang moved, blood erupted in sprays.
“Screeeee!”
“Kyieee!”
When his sword shattered, he seized another weapon without pause. The slaughter continued.
Spear. Blunt club. Shield.
It made no difference.
The weapons littering the Tutorial were crude and worthless, yet Ju-sang wielded each one with absolute mastery.
Thud.
Mounting the next scorpion’s back, Ju-sang began to whistle.
‘This is insane.’
He had always fought with only his left hand.
The constraints were heavy, and the limits were clear.
But.
Not anymore.
Now he could unleash his full capabilities at one hundred percent without restraint.
The blade in his right hand and the blade in his left traced entirely different arcs.
Slash!
It still felt awkward.
The cut made with his right hand wasn’t yet perfectly clean.
But.
With his unique instinct and experience, he was rapidly elevating his right-hand technique at an astonishing pace.
If he then mastered proper swordplay.
If he acquired the Empire’s signature techniques or the Five Great Houses’ swordforms!
What synergy could he possibly achieve?
His heart hammered wildly in his chest.
For the first time, he felt certain he could actually reach the ending.
It was then.
Crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch!
Sand split to either side as pillars crumbled like wheat stalks.
[‘Giant Scorpion King’ has appeared!]
A creature at least three times the size of an ordinary scorpion reared into view.
“Kieeeeeee!!!!!”
A piercing shriek tore through the air.
There it was.
Finally.
He’d been waiting so long he thought he’d burst.
This Tutorial boss monster possessed a unique stat that could be acquired: Anti-Magic Resistance.
[Anti-Magic Resistance]
Also called magical resistance, it was a stat that protected against all manner of supernatural abilities.
One mistake and he’d be done for, but that only applied to amateurs—not his concern.
‘First, let me drain some of that venom it’s been building up.’
His gaze fixed on the blood-red stinger.
A direct hit from one hundred-percent concentration Magical Poison meant death, stat acquisition or not.
‘It’s going for the lower abdomen instinctively.’
Scorpions preferred to liquify their prey’s organs from within, so there was a ninety-eight percent chance the first strike would target the belly.
His body moved like lightning to intercept the stinger.
Thud! Thud!
The stinger plunged into the sand.
‘If that fails, I’ll bait it toward the heart and head next.’
Thrust-thrust-thrust!
The stinger missed him by a hair’s breadth, grazing past his body.
‘If that doesn’t work either, it’ll switch to Attack Pattern D-11 and E-5—yeah, that’s right. The tail’s swaying three degrees side to side now.’
Thud! Thrust!
Like chasing a shadow.
Dozens of strikes from the stinger and sweeping arcs of its pincers, yet he continued to dart and weave between them.
“That’s not how you do it,” he called out.
A casual remark, almost an aside.
“Kieeeee!!!!”
The enraged Giant Scorpion King thrashed about with renewed fury.
As time wore on, the crimson hue of the stinger began to fade bit by bit.
It had expended too much venom.
Good.
This seemed about right to begin the next phase.
The next step: deliberately take a hit from the stinger.
The calf or forearm would be ideal—far from the heart.
Precisely one millimeter deep.
The stinger pierced through his skin and a fine mist of venom sprayed from its tip.
Sting!
An ice-cold liquid traced his veins all the way to his brain.
It was a pleasant kind of pain.
The tingling sensation meant my body was growing stronger.
[Anti-Magic Resistance increased by +0.1.]
Typically, only apprentice knights broke fifty in Anti-Magic Resistance.
Full knights usually carried a minimum of one hundred or more in that stat.
The time limit kept me from grinding stats relentlessly,
but as they say, little by little builds the mountain.
Even at this pace, I could accumulate fifty-plus Anti-Magic Resistance.
Once.
Twice.
Ten times.
[Anti-Magic Resistance increased by +0.1.]
[Anti-Magic Resistance increased by +0.1.]
[…increased.]
I ventured across riskier bridges.
Just slightly deeper.
I injected a bit more of the venom.
[Anti-Magic Resistance increased by +0.25.]
Ooh.
This time it was two and a half times as much.
‘Delicious tingle.’
The heavy magical poison that gnawed at my nerves left my arm momentarily paralyzed.
Flop, flop.
My arm thrashed about on its own.
Yet a grin kept spreading across my face.
Maybe I’d become some kind of deviant, but what could I do?
My body no longer responded to ordinary stimulation with dopamine.
How much time had passed like this?
“Kiii….”
The Giant Scorpion King, drained hollow as chaff, wobbled unsteadily.
“Just a little more! Five more times—just five!—and then I swear I won’t ask you to sting me again. I’m giving you my word on it!”
I’d already hit my target.
But five more strikes would bring Anti-Magic Resistance to fifty-one. How could I resist?
So.
I hoped it would show the pride of a predator, with an unbreakable spirit and an indomitable will.
“You can do it! You’re the king of the Desert!”
I cheered right in front of its face.
Shame and humiliation.
Mockery dealt by its own prey.
“Kieeee!”
The Giant Scorpion King drew together every last drop of venom it had.
A killing blow that burned even its life force.
It was going for mutual destruction.
Whoosh!
The tail lashed forward at tremendous speed.
My eyes tracked its movement rapidly.
The thirteenth segment of the tail.
That gap—that was where I had to strike.
From below.
Upward.
Thrust!
The blade drove into the seam between segments.
The tail bent sharply, forming an L….
Crack!
The poisoned stinger shattered through its carapace and dug deep.
“Kieeee!”
The concentrated venom poured in steadily.
No amount of natural resistance could withstand this.
The Giant Scorpion King, convulsing in agony, soon fell completely still.
It was dead.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve had this much fun. There’s a real thrill to it.’
Well then, let’s see what rewards we get.
I reached into the gaping maw of the corpse.
And pulled out a bead wreathed in green light.
An Inner Core—formed only when one extracts the deadliest venom and pierces oneself with it.
Gulp.
The moment I swallowed the Core, a scorching energy flooded through my entire body.
[Anti-Magic Resistance has risen to 52.]
A result that surpassed even 51.
Thanks to goading the creature skillfully and letting it scratch me along the way, I’d finally hit an Anti-Magic Resistance stat of 52.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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