The Tutorial Is Too Hard Chapter 5:

Tutorial 1st Floor, Waiting Room (Part 2)

Countless weapons spanned across my surroundings .

They looked like the typical beginner class weapons .

Most of them didn’t even have accessories and just looked unadorned .
It was no doubt that they were made just for practicality .

Which one should I pick?

First, let’s think about my stats .

Height: 177cm . Weight: 71kg .

I used to have quite a skinny physique, but I gained quite a bit of weight while staying home doing absolutely nothing .
Due to the lack of my muscle strength, swinging heavy weapons would be hard .

I was pretty confident when it came to fitness .
I was skilled at sports in general, this was probably attributed to the fact that I had good hand-to-eye coordination .
However still, I was most confident when it came to playing video games .

I never really practiced martial arts for a long .
When I was young, I only went to a Wushu dojo, though it only lasted for a short period of time .
And during my time in secondary school I tried a bit of Kendo .
It would be best if I didn’t rely on either Wushu,Kendo or martial arts in general .

Out of all the available weapons, the staff caught my eye .
It wasn’t a paddle-like staff that was used like a club, it was more of a magical staff that even Gandalf would probably carry around himself .
Well, I didn’t know if it was a real magical staff but it sure looked like one .

If I chose that, would I become a mage or a priest?
I might have to learn skills completely independent of the staff too .

Just as I imagined, melee weapons would be better .
Having a ranged weapon definitely had the advantage of safety in terms of staying at a safe distance in battle . However, that would only apply if I had someone protecting me .
Moreover, if I think about the people I had met in this area, the decision to choose a melee weapon is even more appealing .
Sticking a blade into someone’s face definitely has a different type of pressure compared to sticking a staff in someone’s face .
It would also probably be wise if I stayed on good terms with the people back in the stone chamber, but I als had to take into account when things could go bad between us .
With the exception of the bow and staff, every other ranged weapon should be disregarded .

With the same reason, I should stay clear from blunt weapons like clubs .
They weren’t sharp and intimidating like a sword was .
Overall, they were too heavy .

After I took everything into consideration, the only weapons that would be viable for me were the likes of spear, sword and axe, and so on .

There were many variants of the same weapons, except for the axe .
Although there were a few axes that weren’t too heavy, I just didn’t like them .

The only ones left were the sword and spear .

Normally, people would think that the spear had the advantage of reach and would be easier to use effectively, but in reality this was not the case .
The spear was an advanced weapon that no beginner would be able to use it that easily .
Basically, the spear would only be stronger than the sword if the person wielding the spear kept their distance .
In other words, the spear would be hard to use effectively if this distance was to be closed by the enemy .
Perhaps if I had other spear wielding allies by my side, to form a nice scrum it might make it effective .
I don’t know what type of enemies I might encounter… no, actually I don’t even know if I’ll encounter any enemies, but if they were stronger, faster and more precise, using a spear would be problematic .
I’m only a beginner and an ordinary person too .

Although using a sword is honestly challenging for a beginner, if I continue to doubt my own thoughts I’ll end up hypothesising forever .
I trusted my own decision and began looking for a sword that would fit me .

I lifted a longsword and it was much heavier than I expected .
I swung it with all my might and it felt like my body was actually being pushed away by its weight .
From this experience, I decided to disregard all two-handed swords .
    
Once I found a decent sized one-handed sword, I found multiple with a shield, like a set .
Ah, the sword and shield combo .

There were more than twenty sets, however they all had one thing in common .
They came with a catch, a penalty .
The swords and shields were in poor condition compared to the swords and shields that were available by themselves . The shields in the sets were much thinner and some were even rusted . The swords were also either shorter or thinner .
Moreover, some were rusted and even chipped .
Should I give up the sword and choose a shield instead?
Just becoming a tanker from the start could be an option too .

I pondered for a moment but soon disregarded that thought .
No matter what, even in doubt, it was essential for me to have a weapon .
I wasn’t sure if I would be able stay with the people back at the stone chamber .
Even if could, I couldn’t trust them just yet .

After scavenging for hours, I finally decided on my weapons .
A round shield that could be strapped around my arm and a sturdy one-handed sword roughly 40cm in length .
The sword looked pretty similar to a gladius used in ancient roman times .
The shield was made of wood and the surface was lined with leather . I liked that there was a handle and also a leather belt that allowed it to be strapped around my arm .
Like other swords found in sets, the sword I chose had multiple chips on the blade . Out of anxiety, I chose a sword that was short and sturdy so it wouldn’t break easily .

[Dirty Shield]
Defence: 4
Description: Separate from the handle, a leather belt is attached . The belt is more valuable than the shield . Second-hand .

[Thrown away training sword]
Attack: 3
Description: A training sword once used by a kid . Second-hand .

These descriptions were absolutely worthless . Why did they have to explain to me that the items are second-hand anyway? Although all the basic weapons here had these types of descriptions, maybe it was the penalty for choosing a set . The condition of these items were really poor .

[Will you choose this?]

A message popped up .

“Yes . ”

The next moment I was back in the stone chamber .

“Welcome back . Did you choose your weapon?”
A man that resembled a bear questioned instantly upon my return .

“Yes . ”

“I see you’ve chosen a sword and shield set . Nice choice”

“What?!”
The gangster shouted from afar
“How come you brought two things? What are you?!”

“This sword and shield came in a set . Even though they come together, they lack in quality compared to the swords and shields that were available by themselves . ”

The gangster couldn’t accept my explanation and complained for hours .
The bear man confronted him and told the gangster that he himself saw the set weapons, which allowed us to barely calm him down .

The bear man taught me about the inventory and status bars and also how to use the Community feature .

“Inventory . ”

As I quietly muttered this, my inventory appeared right in front of my eyes .
Inside my inventory were dried foods and water . I should check how much I have of those later .
At the thought about disarming my sword and shield and storing them in the inventory, the weapons I held in my hands slowly disappeared and appeared in my inventory .
Now I thought of re-arming myself, the weapons appeared in my hands again .
Now this really felt like a game .

“Status . ”

Lee Ho Jae (Human)

Strength: 8
Dexterity: 13
Endurance: 10
Intelligence: 21

The status bar was so neat and tidy that it was so insignificant .
Surely there would be something more .
Like the main character in a story, I expected some special powers or something of the sort but it seemed like I was the very definition of the word human .
My intelligence could be quite high compared to others though . No wonder the staff was so tempting .

“The inventory and status bars are pretty simple to understand, but what’s this Community feature?”

“Mmm, it’s like a social media network . You can use this to chat to different people in different chat rooms . Other than that I don’t think it has any other feature . ”

“Other chat rooms?”

I was so curious about this community feature that I had to open it .

[Difficulty: Easy, Noticeboard (33/61)]
[Difficulty: Normal, Noticeboard (7/24)]
[Difficulty: Hard, Noticeboard (11/16)]
[Difficulty: Hell, Noticeboard (1/4)]

“It’s separated by difficulty . ”

“Yeah, and it’s only the four of us that chose the Hell difficulty . Since it’s like this, shouldn’t we combine forces and work together?”

“Right . ”

“Lastly, the clock . If you think about wanting to see the time, it will automatically appear in your vision . ”

Just like he said, I thought about wanting to see the time .

[Attempt 1, Day 0 . 1:13pm]

[Time left until Tutorial: 70 Hours 43 minutes]

“Come here, we should introduce ourselves to each other and have a talk . ”