#2. Gold-Spoon Start
The black horned rabbit charging straight at me looked almost like a bullet.
"What the—!"
Instinctively, I raised my arms to protect myself, but my awkward stance didn't help at all.
The rabbit's forehead shoved my arm aside, and its thick horn slammed straight into my solar plexus.
"Urgh!"
With a body as large as a big dog, the horned rabbit rammed me with full force, sending me tumbling backward.
What the hell, a horned rabbit that does a preemptive attack?That kind of monster wasn't mentioned in any of the guides!
No—more importantly… I'm gonna die!
"Ghk… huff!"
Sweating profusely, I hurriedly checked the part of my body that had been struck.
But there wasn't a single wound. Even after being stabbed with that much force and speed, I was completely fine.
Only after confirming my body was intact did I belatedly remember the status window.
HP: 91/100
My HP had decreased. That headbutt had shaved off 9 points.
'Ah, right.'
Once again, I recalled the basic system of the Tower of Ordeals far too late.
This Tower of Ordeals operates on a system very similar to a game—stats, skills, and even HP.
When you're attacked, your HP decreases, and as long as it doesn't drop to zero, you never suffer a fatal injury. It's like a protective shield.
I'd known this even before entering the tower, but I'd been so flustered that I'd completely forgotten.
"Damn… I really thought I was dead."
Wiping the cold sweat from my forehead, I stood up.
The black horned rabbit that had rammed me was no longer hopping around—it was glaring straight at me.
It looked like it was waiting for another chance to body-slam me. Like hell I'd let that happen.
"You little bastard!"
I charged at the black horned rabbit and delivered a full-on soccer kick.
Piiik!
My wooden sword had broken, so I'd just lashed out randomly, but it seemed more effective than expected. Was this the difference made by just 2 points in Strength?
I followed up the soccer kick with repeated kicks. The black horned rabbit kept squealing as it was beaten down.
There were no damage numbers, so I couldn't tell how effective my attacks really were.
Then, the rabbit's eyes glinted faintly, and it charged at me again with another body slam.
"Ugh!"
I'd taken the hit when it charged from afar, but at close range there was no way to dodge.
I went rolling backward again, but aside from a small decrease in HP, there were no injuries this time either.
"Hyaaah!"
I sprang right back up and unleashed another soccer kick!And once again, the black horned rabbit squealed!
Getting stabbed by the horn had startled me at first, but now that I was actually fighting properly, it wasn't all that different from any other horned rabbit.
It's a low-level monster anyway. That must be it. Just quietly become my EXP.
—Piiik! Piiik! Piiiiik…!
After beating it down for quite a while, the black horned rabbit finally collapsed.
YW9peUx5cktZYXhyU2hzY1VsMkQ0VEJodkZMcENkK0hQRjhJK1pCKzg5UWdjcC9zYkJjOVlhcjRmRUNnNktZdg
[Black Horned Rabbit Hide][Horned Rabbit Horn]
The horned rabbit dropped two items. Without even checking them properly, I headed straight back to the village.
Then I opened the public community and started searching for information on the black horned rabbit.
***
—Welcome to the Tower of Ordeals Open Community!
[1st Floor Guide for Newbies Ver. Truly Final][1st Floor Monster Spawn Information (Revised)][Must Read! Basic Guide for New Challengers Part 1][Basic Interface Usage]
Even after combing through all the beginner guides neatly organized in the open community, there was hardly any mention of the black horned rabbit.
But my information-gathering skills—honed through years of idling at home and living on the internet—managed to dig something up.
Not from the revised guides updated multiple times, but from an old guide buried long ago.
[1st Floor Monster Spawn Information (Old Version)]
[Black Horned Rabbit: Appears in plains after consecutively killing 10 or more horned rabbits. HP is double that of a normal horned rabbit. Aggressive monster. Guaranteed horn drop.]
The reason it wasn't included in the latest guides was revealed in the comments.
[As of February 17, Year 17, confirmed not to spawn in any existing Tower of Ordeals.]
That's right. The black horned rabbit was an extinct monster—no longer spawning in any other Tower of Ordeals.
The monsters and resources in the Tower of Ordeals are finite.
Good hunting grounds, good quests, and good items were all claimed long ago by the first-generation hunters during the chaotic era when everything was overturned.
But in this Tower No. 2661, I'm the only challenger.
Which means all those finite resources are still overflowing, untouched.
Isn't this… kind of amazing?
Treasures in the labyrinth zones, limited-quantity rare items—I get to monopolize all of it alone.
Maybe my life isn't completely screwed after all.
***
"Have a safe trip!"
I stepped outside, receiving the lifeless farewell of the weapon shop NPC.
In my hand was a newly purchased wooden sword—the [Sturdy Wooden Sword] I'd bought with the money from selling horned rabbit hides.
I'd originally planned to buy a regular wooden sword, but the black horned rabbit hide turned out to be quite valuable, earning me more money than expected.
It cost twice as much as a normal wooden sword, but its durability was more than double, so if you could afford it, buying the sturdy one was obviously the right choice.
Other Tower of Ordeals newbies don't buy things like this at all, but I don't feel bitter about it.
I'm going to earn far more money than other challengers anyway—no reason to skimp on this kind of expense.
"Yeah, I like it."
Maybe because it's expensive, it feels much better in my hand. I'm looking forward to seeing how satisfying it'll be to beat horned rabbits with this.
I headed back out into the fields and resumed my horned rabbit hunt.
According to the open community guides, just completing all the horned rabbit quests given by village NPCs is enough to reach level 5 quickly.
And on top of that, I'd accepted black horned rabbit–related quests that couldn't be obtained in other Towers of Ordeals.
Limited elements in the Tower aren't just monsters and items—quests are included too.
There are several limited quests that can no longer be accepted once they've been completed a certain number of times, and their rewards are usually quite good.
After digging through quest-related info in the open community, I found that the black horned rabbit hunting quests had noticeably better rewards than most others.
Enough to more than make up for the money I spent on the wooden sword—and to put me in a far better position than other challengers of the same level.
They say you should enter the labyrinth zone after reaching level 3, and at this rate, hitting level 3 would be effortless.
When I first received the invitation, I fully intended to ride a ranker's bus and settle for being a low-tier hunter.
But if I grow like this, monopolizing limited resources from the start, then even if S-rank or A-rank is too much…
Couldn't I at least make it to B-rank?
No—maybe I'll even find a hidden piece and grow all the way to S-rank?
"Hyaaah!"
With my imagination running wild, I continued hunting horned rabbits.
***
Fueled by overflowing motivation, I cleared all the horned rabbit quests in no time.
Now, the only quests left in the fields were repeatable ones that could be done once per day.
So what did I get from all that questing? Ta-da.
"Status window."
I immediately brought up my now-flashy status screen. Compared to just a few hours ago, my level had skyrocketed.
Seo Jin-hyeok Lv. 8 (Unemployed)
HP: 200/200MP: 140/140
Strength: 10 (8+2)Agility: 10 (8+2)Endurance: 8Intelligence: 8
Level 8. Level 8!
It wasn't information shared on the open community, but it seemed that clearing a quest for the first time on the server granted an additional bonus.
Thanks to the bonus for being the first to clear every horned rabbit–related quest, my level rose far more than I'd initially expected.
And attached to my right arm was something like a shield—a thick book.
It was an equipment item called [World Rabbit Encyclopedia], which you could obtain at a certain probability after clearing the Horned Rabbit Quest.
According to statistics from the open community, the chance of getting it was about 10%. But since I was the first person to clear the quest, I was able to directly choose my reward.
As an equipment option, it gave +2 Strength, +2 Agility, and +20 HP—an absolute god-tier item for the early game. On top of that, it also came with a considerable amount of G (gold).
"Damn… this is a straight-up rich-kid starting setup."
It was the kind of early-game build that only challengers with so-called "connections" on the open community usually had.
I went straight to the shop and spent every bit of money I'd earned that day, fully gearing up with armor as well.
Then I logged into the open community, used the [Attach Photo] feature to show my equipment and status window, and posted a thread.
[Author: Seo Jin-hyeok#2661][Title: Tower of Trials Day 1 newbie stats—how's this?]
(Photo)
TL;DR.
You're full of shit
How the hell did you hit level 8 on day one?
Full shop gear too lolololol
What tower is 2661 even from?
ㄴ Yeah seriously, never seen 2661 before
ㄴ ?? For real, what even is 2661?
You're asking "how's this" when it's obviously top-tier, asshole
Rabbit Encyclopedia luck brag, fuck lol
ㄴ That bitch Emily gives everyone one except me
You should've upgraded the encyclopedia instead of buying armor
Everyone was amazed by my stats—hard to believe they were achieved in just one day. Feeling deeply satisfied, I closed the community.
"The most expensive room you've got."
I booked a room at the village inn, flopped down on the bed, browsed the community for a long while longer, and eventually fell asleep.
The explosive reaction from the open community gifted me a truly peaceful night's sleep.