Chapter 9

After taking a sip of water to moisten his throat, he sat down in front of the glass panel. He had to decide what to choose.

Excluding the situation explanation and the recovery of life points, these were not necessary. That left level-up or special abilities.

The scary part about level-up was the unknown extent of the ability increase. How many levels would he gain, and by how much would his abilities increase? There was no benchmark.

If it would make him as strong as an Olympic athlete, he would choose it without hesitation, but how would it turn out?

For special abilities, he could make a rough guess from their names.

"Presence Detection" was probably the ability to sense the presence of living beings. Knowing the enemy's location would be quite convenient. It was a desirable ability.

"Night Vision" would allow him to see in the dark, no doubt. If there was a stage with no light, not having this ability could be a problem.

"Heat Resistance" meant becoming resistant to heat, right? Was it about becoming resistant to both heat and cold? He wasn't quite sure.

"Dissolving Fluid" was probably the dissolving saliva of the Black Tiger. Would he need it? It wouldn't damage himself, but having saliva that could dissolve things would be inconvenient.

"Roar" was clear. It was the roar that made the Black Tiger unable to move during the second or third encounter. If he learned this and it made the Black Tiger unable to move, it would be a very effective means, but such abilities often only worked on opponents of a lower level.

Another point of concern with special abilities was the number '2' next to his 'Guts.' Since the explanation was lacking, this was just a guess, but in a game-like world, the '2' was probably the level of the special ability. The higher the number, the more the ability's effect would increase or new abilities would awaken.

"What should I do?"

The text on the first glass panel provided several hints. First, clearing the first stage meant that there were still second and third stages to come. It couldn't be the end.

If it were the end, the creator would probably have set the life points to 10 to balance it out. Having 100 life points suggested that it would continue for a while.

After much deliberation, he decided to choose level-up.

"I hope it increases more than I expect..."

He touched the text on the glass panel that read, "One, by giving the experience points from defeating the Black Tiger, your level will rise and your physical abilities will improve."

"Whoa, wow!"

Suddenly, a surge of heat seemed to emanate from inside his body. He felt a surge of strength throughout his body, and it felt lighter.

After doing some stretching, he tried jumping on the spot.

Did his body not float to about the height of his own height?

He ran around the room and did some side jumps, and it was clear that his jumping power, reflexes, and endurance had significantly improved.

"This is promising."

He touched the other glass panel to check his status:

Yamagishi Maku

Level 5

Strength 19 + 10

Mental 23 + 10

Muscle 20

Toughness 21

Dexterity 17

Speed 19

Special Ability 'Guts' 2

Life Points 93/100

Wow, his level increased by 4, and his stats nearly doubled. They didn't increase uniformly, which might be related to the stats that were influenced when he leveled up.

This choice might have been a good one. Doubling his physical abilities was incredible when you think about it. His grip strength and back strength were also doubled. Wasn't this close to the physical abilities of a martial artist?

To get his rapidly growing body accustomed, he decided to move around a bit.

Despite having no experience with stretching or martial arts, the discomfort when he tried shadow boxing was significantly reduced.

However, his body felt incredibly light, like a joke. Even a basic punch made a slicing sound through the air. Choosing this was definitely not a mistake.

Since he didn't know when he could replenish his water next, he drank a large amount.

He wished he had a container to carry water, but he had nothing, so there was nothing he could do.

"Alright, let's move on to the next stage!"

He grabbed the double doors and pushed them open.

A wave of heat enveloped his body, and sweat began to seep out.

The world turned a reddish-brown, and a bubbling sound similar to a hot bath could be heard from somewhere. The ceiling was easily more than twice as high as where the Black Tiger was.

It was another straight path, but this time there were no walls. The straight path was a natural bridge over a massive canyon. There were no other paths, and it was impossible to judge how far it extended. The heat distorted the view ahead, making it difficult to see the exact length, but it was undoubtedly very long.

If that were the only issue, it would have been manageable, but the biggest problem was the river of magma flowing beneath the path.

The bubbling sound came from the magma bubbles bursting.

The path was about 5 meters wide, so he wouldn't fall off under normal circumstances. However, the center of the path was a 2-meter-wide section of blue, glowing ground.

He was currently standing on it, but what would happen if he stepped off this blue section?

He took out the tie he had stuffed in his pocket and extended the tip beyond the blue light.

"Whoa, it burned!?"

Smoke rose from the tip of the tie, and it quickly turned to ashes.

The area outside the blue section was a scorching hell. He had to make sure not to stray from the path.

After convincing himself, he cautiously stepped onto the blue path—then stopped.

"If I soak my suit in water, it might be a bit easier."

He thought about drinking more water. When he turned around, the door was gone, and the path had ended.

Well, I kind of expected that. No time to be surprised.

With a change of heart, he took the first step into the second stage.

At first, everything went smoothly. He walked quickly, wary of traps, but there were no traps on the ground and no enemies appeared.

"What, this stage is easy, isn't it?"

He wanted to punch himself for that arrogant comment.

Indeed, there were no enemies or traps. But when he realized that this stage didn't need traps, it was already too late.

Sweat no longer flowed, and his lips and skin were as dry and cracked as mummies. His head had been plagued by a dull pain, as if his brain was being scratched.

His vision was blurred, and it was becoming difficult to walk normally...

"A... u..."

He wanted to complain, but his throat was dry, and he could barely breathe.

The overwhelming heat was drying him out.

Now that he thought about it... choosing 'Heat Resistance' as a reward would have been the right choice.

Really... now that he thought about it.

Even if he died and returned to the save point in that room... the save point wouldn't activate until after he chose a reward.

In other words, there was nothing he could do.

Reaching his limit, he fell to the ground, but he had no more will or strength to endure. He barely managed to protect his face, but his body was strongly slammed into the ground.

A, a, a, consciousness... a fog in the brain... it's already... too much effort to think.