章節 7: Chapter 7. First Test ends, Evankhell’s Mothership

[Woah, Master, I never knew you were this type of a person,] Mordred said after she saw Isaac let the crocodile leave.

Isaac didn't reply as he got back to the group and sat down. With what he said, he hoped that Rak won't be clowning around during the team forming test anymore like in the manhwa and will advance to the second stage of the test with the desire to hunt him down.

Thanks to this little scheme Bam, Khun and Rak should all hopefully smoothly advance to the second stage despite his appearance and interference.

Khun looked at Isaac and said, "I understand you wanted to preserve his warrior's pride, but was it really fine to let that crazy crocodile go?"

"You mean, because he could cause me trouble later on?" Isaac said.

Khun faintly nodded. The crocodile was not a major threat now, but letting an enemy go that would later come for revenge and screw you over was a common trope, wasn't it? It was naturally an especially bad move to do during a test.

Isaac shook his head and faintly smiled. "No, I could tell that he's an honorable type. And if I can earn enough of his respect, he might even become an ally in the future."

"Oh?" Khun became curious.

As far as he was concerned, that crocodile was completely unreasonable and stupid. But Isaac entertained the thought of possibly turning him into a friend. How interesting.

Isaac didn't say anything more.

On the other side, Khun looked at the Pocket's timer.

At that moment it was over 30 minutes into the test and the number of remaining Regulars was close to reaching 200.

'The test is almost over,' Khun thought.

After noting the time, Khun turned to the two, smiled and said, "Bam, Isaac, I've decided to go up the Tower with the two of you. What do you think?"

Bam was still a mystery to him, but he saw that Isaac seemed quite protective of him. That boy should also be quite special to end up in this place despite looking quite weak and powerless - in a way it was way too abnormal and seemed as if he had some kind of secret power.

And there was one thing that Khun was certain of - he really wanted to climb the Tower with Isaac! In contrast, Bam was an extra, an interesting kid that he wanted to figure out and that seemed to be included in a package deal.

Isaac looked back at Khun with a small smile. "Sure! I think it would be interesting."

"Great," said Khun, smiling. Seeing Isaac look at Bam, Khun did the same and asked him, "What about you, Bam?"

"Uh… You want to go up the Tower with me? Well, I'm not good at fighting… And I know nothing… I won't be any help..." Bam stuttered in an embarrassed manner.

Isaac was about to reply, but at that moment a loud alarm sounded out from the tiny cube in the sky.

Whirrrrrrrrr!!!

"Like I thought," Khun muttered as he looked toward the sky.

The other two also looked upwards.

{Mic test... Everyone, stay where you are, the first test is now over!}

{All remaining Regulars... Stop what you're doing and listen carefully. Any Regulars fighting from now on will be eliminated!}

{To the 200 regulars who passed the first test…}

{Congratulations to all of you!}

Bam and Khun smiled at the message while Isaac thought of something else: 'Would it still be three per team? If it is four for some reason, we will need to rush to find the crocodile…'

Meanwhile the voice continued:

{It may seem a bit rushed, but a short second test will be carried out right now!}

"Eh? Right now?" Bam muttered, surprised and anxious.

Khun sighed nonchalantly. "Sigh. No time to rest, huh?"

{Ha, ha! Don't be so disappointed! The next test is really simple!}

{Now, here is the challenge for the second test... The challenge is: 'getting teammates'!}

{There are 200 remaining Regulars! Among those who remain, find two Regulars to be your teammates!}

{In short, this test is... to make a team of three!}

"..." The three of Isaac, Khun and Bam looked at each other with various expressions.

{For your reference, we're giving you a five minute time limit!}

"Five minutes?" A surprised expression appeared on Khun's face, before it quickly disappeared as he looked at the other two.

What five minutes? They were already set!

After a few moments of silence, the voice continued: {Ok, starting now, make a team of three!}

{Of course, if you don't make a team in five minutes, you are eliminated.}

{Oh! And one more thing. To be considered a team, you need to be touching some part of your teammates bodies when the time limit ends.}

{So, everyone… Good luck!}

"Test Floor indeed. It's actually quite a difficult test," Khun said.

"Difficult?" Bam asked.

"Yes. To make a team of three in five minutes, you have to make a team with those nearby. But the ones nearby are normally Regulars you were fighting with right before the first test ended… Which means to make a team in five minutes is to turn enemies into allies," Khun explained.

"But there's already three of us here…" Bam quietly muttered.

"Yeah, we're already set," Isaac said as he shrugged with a small smile.

"Yes, that's convenient." Khun smiled back.

…

For the next five minutes, Isaac proceeded to appreciate the beauty of nature around him while practicing some basic sword swings, putting memories of Mordred into practice.

In truth, he didn't quite need practice because these movements were now a part of him, but he felt quite good doing that instead of doing nothing.

As the Pocket's timer was about to reach 5 minutes, the three young men touched each other's hands.

To make direct skin contact with the others and avoid any mis-haps, Isaac magically de-equipped his steel gauntlets, to the amazement of both Khun and Bam.

For Isaac, it was slightly embarrassing to hold each other's hands in a circle like in kindergarten, but a test was a test.

However, the other two men strangely didn't seem to mind it at all and held both his hands with friendly smiles.

'They say that Khun and Bam being gay is just fanon, but seeing this, I'm becoming a little worried here,' Isaac joked inwardly.

At that point, the voice from the sky sounded out once again:

{The Second Test is over!}

"Finally over..." Khun let out a sigh as he looked toward the sky with a bored expression.

{Those who have made a team... Keep holding onto each other!}

{The three people holding each other at this moment are considered a team!}

{You'll be sent to the next test spot!}

…

After a bright white light faded around them, Isaac found himself in a completely new location together with his two teammates.

The three were in a wide and spacious room with an incredibly high ceiling. Many people, both humans and strange fantastical humanoid monsters, stood around them in small groups - all of them also holding onto each other one way or another.

As Isaac and the others were looking around, the familiar slightly excited male voice sounded out again:

{Mic test, mic test…}

{All Regulars who passed the first test… Welcome to Evankhell's Mothership! This is where you will take the second test.}

{For now there will be a short few minute break for all Regulars to have some rest. By the way, fighting is prohibited during the break.}

As the man finished speaking, Isaac, Bam and Khun began to silently make their way deeper into the gathering place while looking around.

[Woah! There are so many competitors here. And they all seem interesting. I'm pretty excited! But they're all weaklings. How boring.] Mordred commented, also seeming to look around.

There were also those who discussed Isaac.

"Wow, look at that guy's sword and armor."

"Damn, it had to be expensive! He's quite prepared."

"He might be someone from one of those Ten Great Families. It's better to avoid him."

At Isaac's side, Bam commented, "Amazing… There are so many Regulars here."

Khun lightly replied, "Well, it looks like there are more than a hundred. They are the chosen ones for sure. There's no doubt they qualified to pass the test."

As Khun spoke, Isaac was mostly expressionless as he glanced around, but his eyes still secretly glittered with excitement.

There were all kinds of people in that place, all kinds of interesting humanoid beasts and monsters - warriors of various species with varying weapons and fighting styles.

And unlike most people there, because of his strength and knowledge, he wasn't anxious or worried, but instead only excited to be able to see more of this world and grow stronger.

Meanwhile, Khun noticed Bam's naive expression and cautioned him, "Be careful, Bam. Some people here have unusual powers, some are cheap and dirty players. The chosen Regulars who came from the residential area must have at least one extraordinary talent. Don't underestimate any of them. All the Regulars here are… ferocious enemies."

"I understand..."

"Well, I'm sure we'll do fine, since we're the strongest team," Khun added with a cocky smile.

Bam smiled. "Haha, yeah."

Isaac also faintly smiled.

His expression then slightly changed as he noticed Rak's huge body in the distance that stuck out in this crowd like a sore dumb.

At the same time, the crocodile man also glared back at him with a cold expression, spear in hand.

Surprisingly, next to him was a thin masked person in a black full bodysuit, seemingly looking back in his direction.

'The Guide girl. Did she team up with Rak?' Isaac watched this with surprise.

On second thought, Rak was a strong and useful Regular to have on the team, so it wasn't strange that Hwa Ryun wanted to recruit him when it became an option.

"-Finally! I got'ya! I will kill you!!!"

Suddenly, loud shouts sounded out through the area that attracted the attention of most people on the field, including Isaac's and Rak's teams.

After turning his head, Isaac saw that the one shouting was a red-haired young man without an arm.

Looking enraged, the red-haired man was grabbing the collar of a teenager with spiky black hair, furiously shouting into his face as the latter remained unmoved.

As it turned out during the discussion, the red-haired man had apparently gotten his arm cut off by the other. So it was no wonder that he was furious because losing an arm would be a huge hindrance for him going forward.

The two fought verbally and their teammates tried to stop them, but things kept escalating in the direction of the one-handed man attacking the other for revenge.

'Is that spiky haired guy also an important character? He has that vibe. What was his name again? It shouldn't be Hatsu…' Isaac pondered inwardly as he looked at the black-haired swordsman.

At one moment, a clear voice spread through the crowd: "Did you not understand? No fighting during break time."

Everyone then looked toward the source of the voice, including Isaac.

The one who spoke up was a skinny blonde man that looked to be around 20 years old. He had two marks on his cheeks and he wore pants that were extremely wide at the thighs, which greatly contrasted to his seemingly skinny arms and calves, making him appear slightly comical in Isaac's eyes.

'Lero Ro,' Isaac thought.

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章節 8: Chapter 8. Lero Ro and the Shinsoo veil

[This person is really strong!] Mordred immediately warned.

And Isaac immediately recognized that man as the owner of the voice that administered the previous test, even though his voice was a little different in person.

However, the furious one-armed man seemed to be unaware of this as he snorted at the intervening person. "Who's this guy? He looks like a cricket. Do you wanna die, too?! Want some pesticide?"

As Isaac wondered if the one-armed guy seemed to have lost some brain cells during the last test together with his arm, he watched in amusement as a large humanoid chicken that seemed to be the man's teammate grabbed his shoulder in a panic and tried to calm him down: "S-stop! I think he's-..."

"I'm the Test Administrator... Lero Ro," the blonde man said cooly, smoothly finishing the humanoid chicken's words.

The armless man's expression sobered when he heard this. "Test Administrator? Then you are a Ranker."

"Yes, I'm a Ranker of the Tower," Lero Ro nonchalantly replied.

"A real… Ranker!" The armless man's expression turned even more startled at those words. He then turned toward the person that he argued with and spat out: "Damn it! I'm only backing down because a Ranker is here. But remember! I'll be the one to kill you!"

Isaac observed with mild interest as the Ranker began walking back.

Bam said, "Wow, he's good. He only said a few words, but stopped them from fighting!"

"Yeah, of course. He's a Ranker and the Test Administrator," Khun commented.

"A Ranker…? What's a Ranker?" Bam asked Khun.

"... What? You don't even know about Rankers?" Khun looked at Bam weirdly. He then looked at Isaac, but saw him stay silent and expressionless, so he began to explain instead, "Rankers are people who've reached the top of the Tower. They are assigned a Ranking every season in the Tower. And that's why they are called Rankers."

"To-to the top of the Tower?!" Bam exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, they're amazing. Only one or two out of thousands of Regulars get to become Rankers. Quite frankly, they are monsters. They've got crazy strength."

'One or two out of thousands of Regulars?... Regulars are already said to be the chosen ones, so becoming a Ranker is really a great accomplishment…' Isaac thought inwardly.

At that time, Lero Ro's voice sounded out again, but this time louder and clearer.

{Mic test... Regulars, over here! Please focus! I will explain the next round.}

"Hm, already?" Isaac was a little surprised.

As Isaac and the others looked toward Lero Ro that could be found standing before them, the Ranker continued, {Before that, to give you some brief information about myself. I'm your Test Administrator, Ranker Lero Ro! Nice to meet'chiu!}

Seeing the Ranker greet them while attempting to imitate a 'cute voice', the gathered Regulars sent him weird glances and cringed.

'Meet'chiu!?'

'What the hell?'

[Does that guy cosplay as Pikachu?] Even Mordred commented.

'Cosplay, Pikachu… Right, Mordred still has memories from Earth that she received from the Grail,' Isaac reminded himself, slightly amused.

Lero Ro was unperturbed by these reactions and excitedly proclaimed: {Now that you've had some time to rest, let's move on to the next test!}

{But before that, there will be a little pre-test!}

{F-Y-I, those who don't pass this pre-test... cannot take the next test!}

At this, there was a disturbance among the crowd.

"What?"

"That means... It is another elimination test!"

"What is he testing?"

Among them, Bam and Khun were also startled.

Meanwhile Isaac pondered - his Shinsoo and Magic Resistance was at A rank, but would it still be as good as Bam's?

This test should probably decide his potential for handling Shinsoo inside the Tower in some way. Rather than testing strength, it seemed to test something like talent.

He received his powers and was transported to this world thanks to a wish from a Holy Grail, so his potential better be just as good.

{Ha, ha! Don't worry! It is a really simple test! Relax.}

{Alright, let's begin... the pre-test.}

Lero Ro then raised his hand and pointed near him to make the Regulars come closer. {Come here. Closer, closer, here, here…}

As the Regulars gathered, the Ranker suddenly pushed out his hand forward. {And boom!}

With a loud sound of wind, a wave of semi-transparent light-blue energy gushed out from Lero Ro's direction as the crowd was blown away.

"Arrrgh!"

"Ugh!"

"Aaah!"

"Damn it!"

"Argh, what is this?"

Among the people blown off were also Khun, Rak, Anak and Hatsu who hurriedly tried to regain their balance upon landing.

"Is this... Shinsoo?" Khun muttered as he looked up.

{Yep, I created a barrier of Shinsoo. I compressed the Shinsoo... to make a barrier that pushed you all out-…}

At the end of his speech, Lero Ro's voice gradually trailed off as he noticed that two Regulars were actually not 'pushed out' at all - the two remained standing in place as if nothing happened.

As Lero Ro stared at these two, a ghastly expression formed on his face as if he had seen something unholy.

With the attention that he was receiving, Isaac looked back at Lero Ro somewhat awkwardly. However, he felt relieved in his heart.

He was not pushed back! He really felt nothing!

Meanwhile, under the Test Administrator's strange glare, Bam became extremely nervous as he started sweating profusely. 'Did we do… something wrong?'

[Uh, are we in trouble, Master?]

Isaac didn't reply, feeling that things will be sorted out eventually.

Following the administrator's gaze, the crowd also turned to look at Isaac and Bam. They all had similar thoughts: 'What the hell? Why were these two not pushed back?'

Lero Ro continued staring at these two silently, being lost for words.

Among the Regulars, Khun, Anak and Laure, who were more knowledgeable and experienced, appeared very curious as they looked at the two that remained. They thought, 'Just who are they?'

While everyone was silent Rak's loud voice billowed through the crowd as he pointed his long spear straight at Isaac: "Ahahahaha!!! That's my prey! He didn't even budge! Ahahaha!"

Hearing this loud outburst, the Regulars turned to him, before returning their eyes back to Isaac.

Is that person so much stronger than all of them?

But then what about that kid that's with him?

Lero Ro noted Rak, then turned toward the crowd and cleared his throat. {Cough! So it seems I made a mistake... But for now let's just continue with the explanation.}

The crowd looked at him blankly.

What was that?

{So about Shinsoo, right?…} Lero Ro smiled and then continued as if nothing happened, {As you well know, Shinsoo is everywhere in the Tower, and it plays an important role because it allows us to breathe and is the source of all life.}

{However, Shinsoo is also... the source of powerful fighting strength for everyone inside the Tower.}

{However, there are people who have adverse reactions to Shinsoo. In other words, those who can't deal with Shinsoo... are not appropriate candidates to climb the Tower.}

{The people who can pass through this Shinsoo barrier... Don't have adverse reactions to Shinsoo at least.}

{The pre-test looks like this: the teams that pass through the barrier, pass the test as well, and those who don't, fail…}

{Alright then, everyone. Please come through.}

"Wait, did you say teams? What if... One of our teammates can't pass through the barrier?" one of the Regulars asked.

{Isn't it obvious? Then that team fails.}

At those words, the crowd of Regulars protested.

"What?!"

"That's absurd! It doesn't make any sense!"

{Absurd? What is?} Lero Ro asked.

"We joined teams at the last minute! It isn't fair if I'm eliminated because of a teammate! That's just bad luck!" someone replied in an indignant tone.

{Hey, if you're eliminated, it's your fault for forming a weak team at the last minute! Why didn't you gather strong allies during the test instead? Instead of attacking each other without a second thought, like most of you did, you people should have been teaming up from the start.}

"Eh?"

"What?"

The Regulars appeared dumbfounded at this.

It was supposed to be a death match…

But was it really?

Actually, they now realized that the Test Administrator was right.

If they thought about it before and were teaming up from the start instead of fighting, then wouldn't they have a much easier time when traveling in a group?

Lero Ro slightly smirked as he saw these reactions.

The Regulars here were all chosen by Headon from among trillions of citizens of the Tower. Upon being chosen from such a large crowd, one out of billions, most believed that they were extraordinary, that they were special and that they were destined to make a name for themselves in the Tower.

As such, having entered the Tower, they rushed forward with determination and slashed out with their blades during the first test, wanting to prove themselves.

But the harsh reality was that most of them were nothing but cannon fodder!

As Lero Ro thought about it, the only reason Headon sent so many of them here might be just to help nurture the true geniuses.

The sad truth is that in the end only a select few of the most outstanding Regulars would be allowed to ascend to the 3rd floor. The quota for those who can pass this floor and climb the Tower is really quite small.

And that's also why the fairness of the tests didn't matter that much because those who were supposed to make it would make it regardless.

Lero Ro put those thoughts aside and continued:

{Besides, do you know what is the most important to move up the Tower?}

He made a brief pause and then smiled.

{It's... luck.}

{The luck of being born with talent, the luck of having a strong body, the luck of being smart, the luck of being rich, the luck of escaping from death, the luck of getting a strong teammate. The only reason you got this far... is because you were lucky.}

{So you can't say that testing luck is absurd. Stop your jabbering and just take the test, you Regulars.}

As Lero Ro finished his speech, Mordred commented, [He's just saying whatever he wants.]

'Yeah... It is actually quite absurd,' Isaac sighed inwardly.

Even if luck played a role for someone to make it up the Tower, shouldn't at least the tests be fair to not make things worse? After all, the examiners were supposed to choose the strongest and most talented candidates, not simply those who happen to pass.

In the manhwa, the green-skinned Jahad Princess Anak and the swordsman Hatsu nearly failed here just because their third teammate had a weak Shinsoo Resistance. It would be quite absurd if a Jahad Princess failed on the 2nd floor like this.

If you picked up a teammate that looked strong, had a strong body or was intelligent and seemed useful, and then got kicked out of the Tower just because that teammate happened to have a low tolerance for Shinsoo, how is that fair or reasonable?

It didn't concern Isaac, so he didn't care much, but he noticed that even the First Test was greatly flawed.

It was a free for all deathmatch with no rules.

With this kind of test design, geniuses that are among top 2-5 of the strongest Regulars here, perhaps future Rankers, could all die and be eliminated on the 2nd floor if only they were a little unlucky and bumped into the 1st strongest person, for example, a reckless killer like Endorsi.

It seemed to him as if the test examiners didn't put much thought into these tests.

However, Isaac did not speak his thoughts out loud, feeling there was no point in doing that.

"And what about these two?" Someone called out as he pointed his finger at Bam and Isaac.

Lero Ro plainly smiled at this and said, {These two have already passed.}

"What?!"

"How could they pass just like this when we were all pushed back?"

"No, this is not right. How could they be that much stronger? That little kid looks like a stick!"

{Well... It seems that I made a mistake.}

"A mistake?"

{Yep. The barrier in that part was somewhat weaker than in other places, my bad.}

"What?"

"What bullshit!"

"What is this, they passed like this because of a mistake?"

"Did they bribe the administrator?"

The people grumbled while Lero Ro kept smiling, continuing to play the fool and smiling. He said, {This can also be considered as part of their luck.}

Khun's eyes were focused as he stared at Isaac and Bam. 'Part of their luck, it's obviously a lie. We all stood together, but I was still sent flying back just like everyone else. How can their Shinsoo Resistance be that much higher than mine?'

And Lero Ro also turned to look at Isaac and Bam. 'It seems that two monsters have appeared. One more monstrous than the other.'

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