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nTranslator : Ekdud

nTL Check : KobatoChanDaiSuki

nChapter 24 – Sky Road (3)

nAs soon as the people got to the land, the bridge got destroyed.

nAs the people saw the bridge fall down to what seemed like an endless amount of time, they made a horrified face.

nIf they can’t climb up fast enough, then they would fall along with this island.

n“Well. The explanations were done earlier so let’s decide what to do from…”

nSince it looked like they were all from different tutorial areas and were strangers, Hanchul started his story.

nBut before he could finish his words, somebody started moving.

n‘…needle?’

nThe guy with the needle started to walk towards the suspicious looking jungle hesitantly.

nHanchul shouted as he looked at Hansoo.

n“Hello there? Do you know where to go?”

nHansoo shrugged his shoulders.

n“It’s a straight line so you just need to go in a straight line. What’s there to think about”

nThe rest who had seen this made a helpless expression.

nOf course there indeed existed a path through the center of the jungle.

nAn extremely suspicious looking and dangerous looking path where something might pop out.

n‘What is this guy’

nBut he didn’t seem like someone lame.

nAs long as he wasn’t somebody who treated their lives like flipping a coin, acting like that meant he had confidence.

nAnd at that moment a rumbling sound was heard as the outskirts of the island started to break off.

nThe exact area that the bridge was attached to just until now.

n“…**ing hell.”

nIt meant that it will not let them rest even for a moment.

nThe people spat out curses as they followed Hansoo.

nIt was a straight path anyway, there was no other paths.

n‘It somehow feels like I became a lackey’

nHanchul didn’t really feel comfortable but he decided to leave him alone because his ruthless attitude was rather burdensome.

n‘I’ll know once I peel him. Either he’s a faker or has something’

nHanchul mumbled as he followed him.

n…………………………

n‘Let’s see. With the central Dormant Volcano as the center of direction… the eighth room on the left of the lava river, so turn rightwards twice and once left…’

nThe he needed to obtain was a mutant of

nAnd the place he needed to find for this.

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nThe structure of all 100 of the 1st level of the stair islands was the same.

n10 white rooms with the Dormant Volcano as the center and forked roads that connected 498 beast habitats and everything else.

nSo as long as you follow the path as you memorized than you could find the forest.

nAnd as soon as the fork on the road appeared, Hansoo smoothly turned right.

n‘Well it’s actually the same no matter where you go’

nThe danger was similar no matter which path you took and eventually you will end up on the center where you can move to a different island.

nIf he wasn’t going to find the habitat for the Rune Pattern Snake then he would’ve just gone in any direction.

nHanchul, who had seen this, asked in confusion.

n“Wait. You said you were just going in a straight line before? Do you perhaps know something else?”

nHanchul asked as he looked at Hansoo who was continuously walking off.

nHe had tested earlier. To see if he could move to the other roads on the side.

nBut the creator of this island seemed to want them to only move on the paths so they could not walk outside.

nWhich meant they had to go straight.

nWhich made sense until now when he decided to go right in a fork on the road like this without hesitating.

nHansoo looked at Hanchul and then spoke.

n“I have a psychic power.”

n“What?”

nWhat was this nonsense?

nEveryone who had been following made groans.

nThey thought he had some sort of navigating skill because he was walking so confidently.

nBut to think that he had no plans.

n“What nonsense is this? What are you thinking?”

nHansoo sighed as he spoke.

n“You just need to go that way so why are you acting like homing missiles.”

n“…”

n‘Fuck. He’s right. After hearing him for a while’

nHe didn’t know why he was following that guy like that.

nIt seems like that the girl called Jimin and everyone else wasn’t weak but were following his guy without saying anything.

n‘My pride suddenly feels damaged. Do I take it?’

nHanchul shook his head.

nIt was obvious that if one person moved confidently while others were hesitant that everyone would want to follow that guy.

nAnd more so if the island behind them was getting destroyed one by one.

n‘Sure. We’ll go as you say’

nIt’ll be the same no matter which way they go.

nSince that bloody fairy wouldn’t have made some parts of the island easier than others.

nHanchul checked the people in the group.

n‘First, there is a self-proclaimed psychic and a crazy bitch’

nEveryone seemed normal but there was somebody else that stood out.

nFirst the person with the healing skill.

nFrom his walk and the fact that he had the healing skill, it seemed like his stats were good.

nAnd the sword that was shining around his waist didn’t look normal either.

nHe probably wouldn’t attach something to dangle on his waist if he wasn’t going to use it.

nIf this were a game he felt like a priest, no, it was more like a paladin.

nThe rest seemed normal but were even more unique.

nA couple and three daughters whom seemed around twenty.

nHalchul mumbled after seeing this.

n“Huh. People come rather well bunched. Thought it was random…”

nThey got separated on the first area on random.

nWhat are the chances of the family over there coming together.

nBut Hansoo knew the reason.

n‘Since it’s more fun this way’

nThere’s no other reason. This was it.

nThey split up relationships created from understandings but left the relationships created from affection.

nSince bringing them like had higher chances of created more interesting situations.

n‘Well. That’s just how they want it’

nHansoo, who had stopped his thoughts, stopped walking as he stopped in front of a weird looking tree next to the road.

nHansoo pulled out a kukri instead of the needle that he had on his waist, cut a bit of the wood and then started to chew on it.

n“…What are you doing?”

n“If you chew on this it gives a slight effect of neutralizing the poison”

n“Why do you need to neutralize the poison?”

nAnd then Hansoo slightly pulled on Hanchul’s neck.

nKududuk

n“…”

nIn an instant a 3m long snake that stretched down from the trees bit the spot where Hanchul was standing.

n‘…That was dangerous’

nHanchul got flustered at an extreme speed.

nHansoo chuckled at this.

nThe one just now was this fast because it was an agility pattern so as long as you are careful of ambushes then it wasn’t that bad.

n‘Rune Pattern Snake’

nA unique beast that gained extra stats depending on the pattern on its skin.

nThe annoying part was that the patterns kept changing.

nAnd if there are mana rune patterns on its body one also needed to be careful of the poison.

nOnce you get bitten while it had mana runes up then you will be poisoned with a toxin that will steadily burn your own mana.

nAnd whilst the mana burned, your magic power as well as health were also affected.

nOf course it didn’t burn until you died and the effects will disappear after some time but by the time the effects disappear, you will have become quite a mess.

nThe bark of the oak tree which it lived in had some sort of antidote-like effect due to it being rubbed against its scales but it was best to just not get bitten by it at all.

nHansoo chewed on the oak bark as he spoke.

n“Always be careful of being bit while it has mana runes up and attack when it doesn’t have agility runes up. You can dodge the agility runes if you are careful of ambushes but it will still be hard to catch.”

n“How did you know all th..”

n“Psychic powers”

n“…”

nHansoo, who had completed his talk, went into the jungle and everyone else stared at each other but followed him in with frowns as they felt the vibrations behind them into the jungle where the snakes were.

n……………………………………

nKududuk

n“Goddamit!”

nHanchul grinded his teeth at the snake which did not die even after getting hit by his sword and had bit into his flesh.

nIt wasn’t that bad because it didn’t have mana runes up but he had failed to kill it with in one shot because it had physical resistance runes up.

n‘Such difficult beasts…’

nThey were so strong that his body was full of scars from being bit from these guys despite having been in here for only a while.

nAnd the way their runes changed was random.

nIf it changed according to how the snakes wanted or needed then they could at least see it coming but it was very dangerous due to the random changes that happened at random times.

nHe had thought that he could kill this snake instantly just now because it had strength runes up but then it instantly changed to physical resistance rune, resisted his attack and bit into his flesh.

nHis flesh didn’t get bit off because it wasn’t a strength rune pattern but the spikes that were attached around the snake had turned his flesh into rags.

n‘Damn… there isn’t time to regenerate much either’

nSince he had some stamina runes he needed time to regenerate but he constantly heard the damnable island crumble behind him so he did not have the leisure to rest to recover before moving on.

nBut there was a bigger problem than the snakes.

n“Goddamit! Why aren’t you guys fighting!”

nOnly five of the nine had been fighting.

nThe four in the back were just idling about.

nWell they weren’t idling to be exact.

nSince the guy that looked like the head of the family stood at the back as he slashed off the snakes that flew towards his wife and his daughters.

nThe man hardened his face at Hanchul’s rage.

n“I’m sorry. Please understand. I must protect my family”

n‘Damnit… family means a free pass?”

nThen what would happen to the guys fighting in the front.

nThis was a difficulty meant for 9 people.

nThe fairy had set the difficulty like this from the start.

nBut because four people were doing nothing the others were struggling.

nIf that guy called Hansoo wasn’t flying around next to them they would’ve already died.

nOk. He could understand the family man but why was the guy with the heal, who was holding a sword, wasn’t fighting too?

n“Hey! Why aren’t you fighting!?”

nHe did not understand.

nIf he had a healing skill then shouldn’t he fight even more aggressively.

nAnd then Kangmin, the guy holding the sword, chuckled as he spoke.

n“I don’t think I really need to fight. I’ll just heal you guys.”

n“…”

nHanchul’s rage skyrocketed.

n‘This yankee, then why are you holding onto a sword?’

nHanchul started to calm down his mind.

nThis wasn’t the right time to be fighting.

n‘Yeah. Let’s think of him as a healer. A healer.’

nAren’t there healers in games.

nBut Hanchul had to curse at Kangmin’s words that came out afterwards.

n“By the way in order to recieve heals from me then you must bring runes. To heal all the injuries on you I will take 3 strength runes or 1.5 agility or 1 mana rune.”

n“This mother**er…”

nHanchul grinded his teeth.

nWas this something a person doing a team play should be saying.

nWhich means he, who was fighting in the front, should also receive runes.

nHe wasn’t fighting in the front because he wanted to.

nThat was not normal. From what it seemed from the way he acted, the amount of runes he had wasn’t low.

nHe was probably good at fighting.

nAnd it would be even harder to beat him once he fought while healing himself.

nBut then to not fight despite having so much battle powers.

n‘Is this bitch not fighting because then we will get hurt more?’

nSince if you set your mind to earn runes from healing, that was the easiest method.

nIt might be an over exaggeration but there was a high possibility.

nKangmin had heard himself being cursed but he laughed as he spoke.

n“But shouldn’t you fight more zealously? I think I can hear the island slowly crumble from behind?”

n“Goddamit…”

nHanchul grinded his teeth.

nThat he had fallen into a very nasty situation.

nRegeneration was a necessity.

nBut he had already been injured even though it was just the beginning.

nIf he didn’t heal this then his battle powers will fall and the speed at which he got stronger will slow down because the rate at which he gained runes will also drop.

nAnd if you take into account of the fact that stronger beasts will continue to come out then healing was really a necessity.

nIf that guy was asking for excessive prices that he would’ve just killed him.

nIt won’t be easy but if he were to continue then he didn’t know how to deal with him once he got stronger than him and continue to treat him like this.

nBut sadly the amount he offered was a very reasonable price for healing.

nIt was a perfect amount where he will still profit by not attacking but didn’t ask for too much.

nAnd to continue the relationship where they profited from each other.

nBut this wasn’t a situation to make profit of each other but rather a situation where they needed to combine their strengths.

nThat guy was holding onto the dangerous situation as if it was a chance but this meant their lives will get harder.

nSince as long as he took things they will lose something.

n‘Bitch. The healer is all that huh’

nHe wanted to just sit and stoutly declare that he wasn’t gonna do it but he knew that was a crazy act as he saw the island and road slowly fall bit by bit far behind him.

nAs he saw it, this guy had understood his worth in that instant and laid down these calculations.

nOr he had done something like this in the 1st tutorial area as well.

nHe had somewhat of an idea how this yankee had gained runes and gotten strong.

nHe probably wouldn’t heal you because you threaten or torture him.

nSince if he was somebody who will do that then he would’ve become a mess during the 1st tutorial area and would not have had the time to negotiate like this.

n‘Fuck…’

nIt wasn’t that his skill rune will drop with a 100% chance even if you killed him.

nAnd the worth of the healing skill was too high to bet like that

nAnd especially in a time limited situation like this.

n“Are you just gonna leave that alone?”

nAs Hanchul talked to Hansoo whilst grinding his teeth, Hansoo just shrugged his shoulder.

nHe didn’t particularly intrude even if they fought or didn’t fight.

nSince it will all eventually return to him.

n“Here are some runes. Please heal my wife”

nAs he saw the family man hand over the rune he gathered and asked to heal his wife who was slightly injured, Hanchul grinded his teeth.

nIt would usually be a very warming view but Hanchul’s situation was too dire to look at it in such a way.

nThe others also stared at the four coldly as if it wasn’t just Hanchul’s thoughts that were like this.

n‘A ** hand. I pulled a real ** hand’

nHe had thought that the psychic guy was the weirdest one but it seemed that he was the best hand he had now.

nA crazy bitch. A heal seller and three harmonious family members.

nHanchul’s face expression turned cold.

nAnd at that moment a voice flowed into Hanchul’s head.

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nHanchul answered as if this was all normal.

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n‘I don’t know… if these guys are worthy enough to take’

nHanchul ended the conversation as he thought of it only and did not send it as a message and then grinded his teeth.

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nHanchul, who had finished the conversation with his friend and leader Hyunjin, started to walk as if nothing happened.

nHe had thought that he was criticizing Hansoo but Hanchul believed in the existence of psychic powers.

nSince he had already seen somebody with such an ability like his friend, Hyunjin, and even benefitted like this.

nBut there was a guy watching Hanchul.

n‘It seems like there’s already somebody who had bloomed the sovereign’s trait It’s rather quick’

nTrait

nA trait which Eres and Kwang Goonju had.

nA trait which made them into a leader and the leader becoming a trait, a trait that made somebody into a .

nHansoo showed a conspicuous color as he looked at the small symbol that appeared for a moment and then disappeared on the back of Hanchul’s hand.

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