The Cursed Blacksmith Who Regressed - Chapter 3

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 3

The system, which had paused for a moment, immediately responded.

[ …. ]

[ Skipping all explanation processes. ]

[ Starting the first tutorial. ]

Creeeeak-

Along with a brief notification, the sound of a heavy iron door opening came from somewhere, and far in the distance on the opposite side, a large door fell open.

Choi Hyun ran toward the direction of the sound.

What appeared beyond the door was none other than a single goblin.

“Grrr.”

A goblin holding a scrawny wooden club.

Choi Hyun ran toward the creature while summoning his hammer.

[ Repair Hammer is activated. ]

Along with the system notification, a hammer was gripped in Choi Hyun’s hand.

However, the summoned hammer wasn’t the characteristic blunt shape for repairs, but rather the thin and sturdy type commonly called a ‘claw hammer.’

It was actually the form Choi Hyun used every time he fought, and he called it a claw hammer too.

The moment the creature emerged from the door, Choi Hyun, who had summoned and gripped the claw hammer, leaped up without any hesitation and struck the creature’s head with his full body weight behind his arm.

Thwack!!

A dull but chilling sound.

At the same time, a deep groove was carved into the goblin’s forehead as it collapsed to the floor with a death rattle.

[ You have defeated the Tutorial Goblin. ]

Defeat notification.

And then.

[ New Record Achieved! ]

[ You have successfully defeated the Tutorial Goblin at the fastest speed in Tutorial Tower history. ]

[ For achieving an excellent Achievement, the system gifts you 2 bonus stats. ]

The corners of Choi Hyun’s mouth rose upon seeing the notification.

He had just become the player who acquired bonus stats the fastest after awakening in Awakener history.

Achievements were an extremely important system for Awakeners.

For players who only received one bonus stat per level, Achievements were crucial since they gave at least one bonus stat.

‘One stat can be considered equivalent to one level.’

That’s why ordinary players mostly focused on leveling up.

Since that was the easiest way to obtain stats.

However, those called regression candidates didn’t just focus on leveling up, but swept up stats through various Achievements.

The so-called ‘All-Stars’ that Choi Hyun had selected as candidates for interviews were especially like that.

So Choi Hyun also decided to focus on collecting stats like them this time.

In battles between masters, what ultimately determined the outcome of strength was the stat values that differed by paper-thin margins.

‘Even going so far as to give up the starter weapon.’

Moreover, according to the original procedure, players could pick one weapon from the tutorial armory before the goblin appeared.

But Choi Hyun boldly gave that up and proceeded with the tutorial.

Only then could he receive bonus stats.

This was the optimal decision for Choi Hyun alone.

The weapons from the Tutorial Tower would be discarded soon anyway, and for Choi Hyun who knew how to handle almost all weapons, it wasn’t much of a merit.

‘Right now, just having a claw hammer is enough for me.’

And there was another Achievement that could only be obtained in the Tower of Tutorials.

[ Ending the first tutorial. ]

[ Starting the second tutorial. ]

“Skip all tutorials and start the final tutorial.”

[ …. ]

[ Skipping all explanation processes. ]

[ Skipping all tutorial processes. ]

[ You have forfeited the benefits obtainable from each tutorial process. ]

[ The difficulty of the entire tutorial is being adjusted. ]

[ Starting the final tutorial. ]

Thud!

As soon as the final tutorial began, the sound of large footsteps came from somewhere, and when he turned his head, the boss of the Tutorial Tower had appeared.

– Gatekeeper of the Tutorial Tower Lv.???

Its name was Gatekeeper.

Level display was undetermined.

That creature, reaching a full 3 meters in height, was a golem.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen one.’

Looking back, that creature was just an ordinary golem soldier.

It had no special functions, just fighting players based on its sturdy body.

If there was a strategy point, it would be having to destroy the core embedded in the center of its body.

Of course, there was also the method of completely destroying the stone body with overwhelming force, but even for Choi Hyun who had received bonus stats, it was currently impossible.

There was one reason.

‘Because I skipped all the other tutorial processes.’

The Tower of Tutorials subtly adjusts the difficulty and floor composition of step-by-step tutorials for each person.

The reason was surprisingly to consider the players – it was the academic consensus that they did this because there was more fun in grinding if you at least passed the basic stages.

But Choi Hyun had the audacity to completely ignore such consideration and skip everything.

How exasperated must the system be?

For that reason, the system was planning to teach Choi Hyun a lesson.

A lesson of cramming all the difficulty into the final tutorial.

That’s when it happened.

Thud thud thud!

The Gatekeeper began charging toward Choi Hyun.

Faster speed than expected.

The creature that should have originally been sluggish had received a difficulty upgrade and could now move at the speed of an average person.

‘It’s not just speed. It probably received defense and attack power buffs too. And that creature’s purpose is….’

Only one thing.

To kill the player trying to pass the final tutorial gateway.

The reason was to make the player experience death.

‘If it’s useless, it’s really quite useless consideration.’

If you die in the Tower of Tutorials, you go out into the world in a revived state.

And most people become dazed by the terror of death they experience for the first time.

At the same time, it makes a person reborn as a completely different kind of person.

That’s what death is.

And this was the fundamental purpose for which the system created the Tower of Tutorials.

Of course, dying at other stages rather than the final gateway, the Gatekeeper, was the same.

But the most direct and terrible death was only bestowed by the Gatekeeper before his eyes.

If hit by that massive fist, any level 1 player would undoubtedly die instantly.

‘But I won’t die this time either.’

Naturally, not all players experienced death according to the system’s intentions.

Sometimes players called geniuses or irregulars would brazenly defeat the golem and proudly exit the tower.

And such players had influenced the world and survived to be active until the final Shelter.

Choi Hyun was one of them too.

At that moment, the Gatekeeper’s fist extended diagonally downward and struck where Choi Hyun had been.

Crash!!

A powerful punch.

Originally a punch that would send you to your grave with one hit, but now it seemed like even grazing it would be fatal.

But Choi Hyun dodged.

He had no intention of getting hit in the first place.

No matter how many buffs it had consumed, it was still just a tutorial-level monster.

To Choi Hyun, who came from the end of destruction, it was nothing more than child’s play.

Kwang!! Kwang!! Kwang!!

The enraged Gatekeeper threw punches without rest.

Choi Hyun put away his hammer and focused solely on dodging its attacks.

He did nothing else.

All he did was dodge the creature’s attacks.

Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!

It was a one-sided affair.

The Gatekeeper attacked by extending both arms while Choi Hyun dodged.

Without performing any acrobatic feats like somersaults, he evaded the creature’s attacks by only moving his feet and twisting his body.

There was no reason for the Gatekeeper to get excited.

It was just a puppet without self-awareness that only moved as the system commanded.

How much time had passed like this?

[ Repeated and mastered action. ]

[ You have succeeded in evading the Tutorial Tower’s Gatekeeper’s attacks for an amazingly perfect and long period of time. ]

[ Conditions have been met. ]

[ You have acquired the skill ‘Footwork’. ]

Suddenly, he was able to obtain a skill as the conditions were achieved.

But that wasn’t the only notification.

[ You have succeeded in learning a skill on your own during the tutorial stage. ]

[ You have achieved an excellent Achievement, so the system presents you with 1 bonus stat. ]

He had achieved an Achievement.

Thanks to that, he gained one additional bonus stat.

A smile spread across his face.

This was enough.

The reason he had been dodging the Gatekeeper in the first place was for Footwork.

Choi Hyun continued evading the creature’s attacks while checking the information on the acquired Footwork.

[ Footwork ]

– Type: Skill

# A skill that can be obtained by those who use agile footwork.

# Effects of reduced stamina consumption, increased speed, enhanced power, and accelerated experience gain occur for all actions performed with feet.

There are things that serve as fundamentals for everything.

Among them, Footwork was one of the skills called the fundamental of fundamentals.

‘Because there are surprisingly many actions that use feet.’

Especially the reduced stamina consumption, increased speed, and enhanced power options were very important, but more important than those was ‘accelerated experience gain’.

This dramatically increased the acquisition speed of techniques or traits related to feet that could be learned through the same principle.

That’s why it was called fundamental.

‘There’s one more similar skill of this type, but you can’t get it here.’

So he gave up on it for now.

But he judged that Footwork could be sufficiently obtained by utilizing the Tutorial Tower’s Gatekeeper, so he deliberately invested time in it.

“Well then, let’s finish this now.”

[ Repair Hammer is activated. ]

He had obtained what he wanted.

Then there was no reason to stay any longer.

Choi Hyun summoned and gripped the Repair Hammer.

Just then, the Gatekeeper threw another punch toward Choi Hyun.

As soon as the creature’s fist struck the ground, Choi Hyun climbed up it and instantly stepped on the creature’s shoulder.

Then the creature’s eyeball rolled around following Choi Hyun.

The creature’s eye was made of a core.

In other words, the eye was the core and the core was the eye.

That’s why it was attached to the center of the body rather than the head like humans.

The Gatekeeper immediately swung its opposite hand to sweep across its shoulder.

Choi Hyun jumped like skipping rope at the right timing to avoid it.

Then instead of landing back on the shoulder, he fell while grabbing and hanging from the creature’s shoulder with his opposite hand like hanging from the Cliff Railing.

This allowed him to match eye level perfectly with the creature’s large eye.

“Hello?”

The flustered Gatekeeper immediately began to react.

But Choi Hyun was faster.

Choi Hyun immediately swung his hammer to strike the creature’s eye.

Crack!

A golem’s core was softer than expected.

No matter how much stronger it had become than the original Gatekeeper by consuming various buffs, why would a weak point be a weak point for nothing?

Of course, that didn’t mean the core would shatter in one hammer blow.

‘If you hit it carelessly, that is.’

But Choi Hyun aimed for the most vulnerable vital spot among weak points.

The Inner Core, called the core within the core, located right next to the center.

While others wouldn’t easily find it, Choi Hyun located it immediately.

Soon, when he aimed for the Inner Core and precisely drove his hammer into it, the creature’s core shattered like breaking glass.

[ You have defeated the Tutorial Tower’s Gatekeeper. ]

A system notification that was like a guarantee of victory.

And.

[ New record achieved! ]

[ You are the first in Tutorial Tower history to successfully defeat the Tutorial Tower’s Gatekeeper in one strike. ]

[ You have achieved a great Achievement, so the system presents you with 3 bonus stats. ]

Choi Hyun was able to obtain 3 more bonus stats as spoils of war.

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