Only My Skill Tooltip Is Strange

Chapter 81

When I was summoned to the tutorial, when exactly was it?
It feels like it was a long time ago.

‘I spent so much time on the 3rd floor, so it feels like it’s been over a year.’

But I haven’t forgotten.
How could I?

Right after being summoned to the Tower of Struggle, I felt the fear of death for the first time in my life.

‘It’s fortunate that the knight was stupid.’

She was the stereotypical knight I had seen before.
Blonde hair, blue eyes, the type of knight who would follow some rigid sense of chivalry.

So I challenged her.
I rolled the dice, risking my life on a slim chance.

Looking back now, it was a foolish move.

‘If I had just thrown a simple heavy blow and charged, I would have won.’

At the time, I didn’t know.
I didn’t know how the Soul System or the skills worked, so I had no choice but to bluff wildly.

“…You’ve made it up here alive.”

It seemed like Alice recognized me.
Before she could say anything, I cut in.

“I have a lot of questions.”
“About the 5th floor? You should know a fair bit already.”
“Not that.”

The 5th floor is irrelevant to me now.

What was confusing me was Alice’s very existence.

How is this possible?
That thought was clouding my mind.

“Are you a pretty good player? I didn’t think you’d be curious about me.”
“Can you go down to the tutorial?”

At my question, Alice responded affirmatively.

“From the 5th floor onward, players can make a contract with the administrator to assist with the trials of the lower floors. Specifically, there’s only one tutorial, though.”

Alice’s explanation was long-winded.
To summarize, the expression “from the 5th floor onward” was truly fitting.

‘The 5th floor seems like the stage where things start aligning just right.’

It was the stage where players who had successfully adapted to the Tower of Struggle and gained a certain level of power, and administrators or floor owners who weren’t immersed in their own floors, began to come together.

‘The Pirate King on the 3rd floor and the Goblins on the 4th floor were hopeless cases.’

The 2nd floor is still a space where players are adjusting.
It would have been too early for them to be assigned as tutorial guardians.

After hearing the explanation, I had a question.

“What’s in it for a player to make a contract with an administrator and help with the tutorial?”
“I answered one, so you should answer one, Earthling.”
“…….”

When I went silent, Alice continued.

“Are you Earthling or a Martial Artist?”
“Martial Artist.”
“You’re Earthling, then.”

Alice didn’t believe my words.
It was absurd.

“If you’re going to come to your own conclusion, then why ask?”
“To figure out your tendencies.”

Alice’s eyes widened.
She glared at me, as though trying to see through me.

She looked unexpectedly sharp.
The Alice I remembered was a naive knight who could be easily used.

“I recalled the tutorial. You were talking about chivalry then, right? You wanted to fight after exchanging a single blow.”

Alice agreed, giving up defense and evasion.

‘It didn’t matter though.’

Alice continued.

“Chivalry. Such a ridiculous belief. I gave up chivalry a long time ago.”
“…Then why did you listen to me?”

You could have just killed me with your sword.

‘She’s a Mana Expert. Even if her stats are limited, she could easily kill an Earthling like me.’

Even if she wasn’t an Expert, the same applied.
It was nearly impossible for a lone Earthling to pass the tutorial trials.
Six players would need to cooperate.

‘The people who were summoned with me...’

I couldn’t remember their names.
I forgot them.

‘Was it Park Ji-hoon?’

It was a common name.
The player I formed a team with had caused trouble in the tutorial.

Because of that, I was the only one who survived.

‘That’s when I got the Illusory Tome, right?’

My mind raced.

Since I knew the Illusory Tome’s options, a theory started forming.
What Park Ji-hoon and his partner had done.

The process unfolded in my mind.

‘No way.’

I asked Alice, almost as a last hope.

“Is it possible to participate as a player, not just as a guardian?”
“I thought you were a smart guy, but turns out you’re not. To waste an opportunity with a stupid question like this.”
“Wait a second.”

I stopped Alice’s response.

“It was just a thought.”
“…What?”
“It was just a thought.”

I clicked my tongue as I continued.

“It’s impossible, of course. It was a nonsense question. Heh, error, idiot.”

I lowered my voice as if muttering to myself, but Alice overheard.

“I’ll ask now. Alice.”
“…Do you think I’ll fall for it?”
“What will you do if I don’t?”

I grinned as I spoke.

“I’ve roughly figured out the structure of the 5th floor.”
“What?”
“Difficult missions are usually attempted by teams, right? The Pirate King was probably on your team.”

The number of members varies depending on the mission.
They probably formed flexible teams depending on the missions they took on.

‘I don’t know how many members they had, but there’s no way the Pirate King’s absence would go unnoticed.’

The Pirate King’s fury was a clue.
He didn’t have a tantrum just because he failed.

The penalty for failure.

‘If you die, stacks build up?’

I was pretty sure about that.
That random guy started causing chaos, and my stacks increased because of him?
And I missed the chance to get the A-rank reward because of that?

‘I’d be angry too.’

Alice’s situation wouldn’t be great either.
She probably unintentionally got stacks after being killed by Yuki.

“…Maybe twice? Or is there one more left?”
“You’re quick to catch on. This looks like something Earthlings would do.”

The Thief faction was lacking in numbers.
To be precise, they lacked reliable players.

“What about the Grand Sorcerer?”
“They’ll probably be ‘arrested’ by the police.”
“Taking a risky challenge, huh.”
“They probably didn’t think they’d die.”
“…For someone so confident.”

The Grand Sorcerer blocked my path.
He wanted to take the artifact from me.

“He probably thought he could win against me.”
“…Just a thought, but. Is the Grand Sorcerer’s sight just for decoration?”

He’s acting all cocky after seeing that scene?

‘Either he can’t see, or his brain is completely gone.’

One of the two is definitely true.

“The Grand Sorcerer is a strong magician. More than being strong, he’s cruel.”
“Cruel? Him?”
“He’s a dark sorcerer who uses corpses as mediums.”
“…I guess chivalry doesn’t mean anything. How could you team up with someone like that?”
“I learned that chivalry is meaningless for the weak.”

The Grand Sorcerer gambled.
If he had beaten me and taken the artifact, he could’ve grabbed an A-rank reward without any effort.
It was a gamble worth trying.

‘But he left because I was the opponent.’

This made the Dark Sorcerer irrelevant.
My words carried more weight.

“You don’t have a team member to do missions with now, do you?”

Alice didn’t deny my observation.

“Since the Pirate King and the Grand Sorcerer are out of the picture, the only reliable player left is me. That’s why you came to me.”
“Self-centered thinking.”
“Isn’t it?”
“The middle part is all wrong. You need me, but I don’t trust you.”
“Is it okay to say it like that?”

What if I refused to help?
What if I said I’d do the high-difficulty mission alone?

This wouldn’t end well for Alice, would it?

“You asked earlier, right? What’s the benefit for a player to help the administrator with the tutorial?”

Alice spoke.

“You can meet someone you know. Someone from your home dimension who was invited to the Tower of Struggle later than you. You can meet them and give them advice. Your chances of survival will increase exponentially. Of course, it’s limited to those who aren’t evil, and those whose tendencies help cooperation.”
“…….”

I hadn’t expected that kind of application.
I didn’t think of it.

‘…It’s probably useless advice for an Earthling. No wonder I didn’t come up with it.’

Alice continued.

“And you can make acquaintances. Like with you.”
“What does that mean…”
“When you keep crossing the river of life and death, eventually, just by looking at someone’s eyes, you can roughly sense their tendencies.”
“…….”
“I saw your eyes. Even though you were trembling, you were thinking about survival. I can’t call you good now, but when I first met you after you were invited to the Tower, you were definitely not an evil person.”

I understood Alice’s meaning.

‘Is she spreading debts? Going down to the tutorial? Why would she do such a troublesome thing…’

Or maybe not.
In the end, meeting like this and collecting debts, looking at my situation, it doesn’t seem entirely bad.

“…What if I hadn’t mentioned chivalry? What were you planning to do then?”
“I would’ve let you live, I think. Hmm. At this point, isn’t it pointless to make assumptions?”
“What if I didn’t appreciate you saving me and was rude?”
“If it showed on the outside, I would’ve noticed. But if I didn’t, well…”

It can’t be helped.
I let out a bitter laugh, watching Alice casually add her thoughts.

“You ruined it. Because of the mess you made in the mission, my turn won’t ever come around.”
“Turn?”
“This time, the Pirate King got the reward, next will be the Grand Sorcerer, and then it would’ve been me.”
“Ah.”

My head started to throb.
I felt nauseous.

The gratitude I felt toward Alice was surprisingly strong, and it made me uncomfortable.

Climbing the Tower of Struggle, I realized how widespread Earthling hatred was.
Yet, she didn’t ignore me.
Even though I clearly looked like an Earthling, she didn’t disregard me and saved me.

‘It was a pointless act, though.’

I scratched my head.
Right now, I had no options to choose from.
Thinking about it only made my stomach uneasy.

“…Alright. I’ll help you just once.”
“Alright. I wasn’t planning on staying on the 5th floor any longer either.”