Chapter 239: To Other direction.
She smiled and hugged me, which meant I had made the right call. Maybe.
Then she pulled back and her voice went more serious. "Okay. I know this is hard to hear, but... I think we need to check the other directions first. West, east, south. Before we go north again."
I frowned. "Wait, you’re saying we shoul—"
She put a finger against my lips.
I stopped.
"I know it’s hard." Her eyes went soft, then suspicious-wet again. "It’s just... it’s the best plan and I know it and—" She pressed both hands over her face. "I miss Shiori!! I wanna go back and fix everything and make sure those zombies don’t come and make sure she and her parents are okay but PRIORITY FIRST, okay? We need to clear the trial and get out and then we ca—" She squeaked. "Okay?"
Her parents... didn’t her parents abandoned Her... ah, I can’t say this to her.
"Okay," I said. Because she was right, and because watching Jisoo try to be strategic while actively crying about a 9-year-old was maybe the most specifically her thing I’d seen in this entire trial.
Then the window appeared between us.
That pale blue glow, familiar. The letters assembled slowly, like they were enjoying themselves.
「Amazing!!! People are amazed by your run... because you have completed the exploration of the north... hmm, COMPLETED? I should say, MAYBE COMPLETED IT... you have earned a massive amount of experience! Aren’t you curious why you aren’t getting EXP from killing zombies or anything? Well. Because of THIS:
TO EARN EXPERIENCE — VISIT NORTH, WEST, EAST, SOUTH.
Each direction gives different rewards.」
I stared at it.
"It’s been a while since I’ve seen one of these," I said.
Jisoo stared at it too. "I forgot about exp entirely. I forgot exp was a thing."
Then the second window.
「REGION CLEARED: NORTH
Reward Type: Growth
Main Reward: Massive EXP
Secondary Reward: Hidden Title
Secret Reward: Regional Completion Chest
Special Condition: The North remembers your footsteps — events will not trigger until you step into the Northern Region again.
Proceed by opening your Status Window.」
"WAIT." Jisoo’s voice went up. "Wait, wait— the horde? The fungal ones? The giant? All of that doesn’t trigger again as long as we don’t step north first?"
"That’s what it says."
"That’s INSANE." She grabbed my arm. "That’s actually insane! That means we can—"
"Use the other directions without the north being a problem the whole time, yes."
She squealed loud and hugged me, which made us have to recover our balance, and then we both said Status at the same time and the windows appeared side by side.
────────────────────────
Name: Si Hon
Level: 64
Tendency: Careful Strategies
J*b: Unemployed
Title:
Northbreaker
Confused Fate
The one who died to a dragon
Still new but hanging in there
Thief
A Clown
Stat Points: 24
Strength: 50+ (12.8) (special 4: more...)
Agility: 48+
Stamina: 70+
Endurance: 70+
Luck: 60+
Intelligence: 35+
Mana: 28+
────────────────────────
────────────────────────
Name: Jisoo Park
Level: 47
Tendency: Observer of Possibilities
J*b: A Fated Regressor, Life to Death
Titles:
21 Different Titles Available + new 1
[Tap to Expand]
Stat point: 24
Strength: 28
Agility: 38
Stamina: 30
Endurance: 40
Luck: 20
Intelligence: 52
Mana: 50
────────────────────────
"Spending time." I said.
"Spending time," she confirmed.
What followed was approximately four minutes of both of us talking at the same time about stat allocation while neither of us listened to the other and we each did our own thing anyway.
My points went where they always went— the build that was essentially I run fast and hit hard and do not die easily expressed in numbers.
「Si Hon:
Strength 55
Agility 53
Stamina 73
Endurance 73
Luck 63
Intelligence 37
Mana 31」
Jisoo went Str, agility, and endu, like what she promised, physical stats.
「Jisoo:
Strength 34
Agility 43
Stamina 35
Endurance 45
Luck 20
Intelligence 52
Mana 53」
After we finished, we looked at each other’s updated stats and then started jumping around like idiots.
Just— actually jumping while hugging eachother, in a field of tall grass in the middle of an apocalypse trial, celebrating level ups like we’d just hit a personal record.
Then we stopped. Looked at each other. Made a collective quiet decision to never mention this.
"Wait... what’s the title for?," I said.
"Well, uh... hmmm (*´ω｀*) it’s useless actually, most... some of them for decoration, and some actually just give a small buffs." She tapped the window. "Let me check mine first."
The new title expanded into a dark blue rectangle between us.
「New Title — Northern Strategist
Passive:
Every time you analyze an area, you automatically notice:
— Bottlenecks
— Ambush routes
— Escape paths
— Structural weaknesses」
Jisoo stared at it. "ಠ_ಠ... So my brain just... levels up now? I’m already smart and I’m going to get even smarter?" She looked at me. "This is I don’t know... I’m tired of this..."
"It really is for you." I said, which was the correct response.
I tapped mine.
「New Title — Northbreaker
The first person to conquer the Northern Region after the world fell.
Passive:
Regional monsters recognize you as a conqueror.
Slight fear resistance.
+15% damage against Giant-type enemies.
Hidden Trait Upgrade:
Weak Glare evolves.
Previously: Stun anyone you glare at or give them fear buff.
Now: Briefly highlights—
— Unstable structures
— Hidden mechanisms
— Disguised enemies
— and Enhance your glare」
I read it twice.
Then I looked at the window without looking at Jisoo, because I could feel her looking at me in a way that had weight to it.
"Fuck," Jisoo said.
I kept my eyes on the floating text.
Fuck... why the fuck does it feel like she’s gonna kill me if I look at her... this is the cute Jisoo right...?
"I’m just going to keep looking at my window," I said.
"Good idea," Jisoo said, in the specific tone of someone planning something. "You keep doing that."
The morning light came through the tall grass around us and the system window glowed pale blue in the air between us, and somewhere in the distance the trial kept existing with its walls and its directions and its remaining three regions we hadn’t touched yet.
I kept looking at the window.
And well... she kept looking at me.