Level Up Machine

Chapter 2: Tutorial (2)

A heavy silence settled.

Seo Ara and Kim Gil-soo stared at Yeong-sik with flustered expressions.

Kim Gil-soo shook his head vigorously, as if unable to comprehend what was unfolding before his eyes.

“Wha-what is this…”

His voice, more astonished than when the orcs had appeared, questioned Yeong-sik.

However, Yeong-sik was just as bewildered.

With a stunned expression, he examined the cross-section of his arm that had been launched forward.

Instead of flesh and blood, the cross-section revealed cold metal.

A glimpse revealed intricate metal components entangled within.

“What are you?”

Seo Ara looked at him with eyes full of confusion.

Understandably, seeing an arm being launched would naturally elicit a wary gaze.

“I don’t even know…”

Yeong-sik trailed off, his face showing he was at a loss for words.

He had no remaining memories about himself.

How could he possibly explain this phenomenon?

“I don’t know how it launched my arm?” Seo Ara said incredulously.

At that, Kim Gil-soo sighed and spoke.

“Yeong-sik had been unable to remember anything about himself since he woke up earlier.”

“But still, this…”

Seo Ara frowned as she alternated her gaze between his embedded right arm and Yeong-sik.

The shocking event unfolding before her eyes was simply too much to dismiss as mere memory loss.

Confusion was evident in Yeong-sik too.

He slowly walked over and lifted his arm that had pierced through an orc’s head and was stuck in the ground.

Inspecting the bloodied arm that he lifted, Yeong-sik turned it around, examining it.

Despite being made of mechanical devices, it felt and even retained warmth like a human arm.

Yeong-sik brought the cross-section of his arm close to his elbow.

Click.
The sound of gears interlocking was heard as his right arm attached back to his elbow.

The arm attached at the elbow moved naturally as if it had never been detached.

“Uh…”

Yeong-sik made a fist with his right hand, opening and closing it in disbelief.

Seo Ara and Kim Gil-soo also wore dumbfounded expressions.

“Are you… even human?”

Kim Gil-soo asked, his head throbbing.

Yeong-sik couldn’t respond.

After displaying such an unnatural phenomenon, it was hard to assert that he was human.

He didn’t even know who he was, to begin with.

“I’m not sure myself.”

Yeong-sik gave a bitter smile as he looked at his right arm.

Could it be because he had already used the rocket punch once?

Knowledge on how to use the rocket punch naturally filled his mind.

“It seems I can’t call back my fist.”

Yeong-sik thought about the information on the rocket punch that had entered his mind.

The rocket punch was only possible with his right arm, and once the fist was shot, it did not automatically return.

In other words, once used, he would have to go and retrieve his arm manually.

“This is more useless than I thought…”

After calmly contemplating the rocket punch, Yeong-sik’s face twisted in frustration.

Although the punch was powerful enough to kill an unidentified monster with one blow, its drawbacks were critically severe.

Fighting even two or three monsters at once would be challenging.

“…So we’re just going to stand here?”

Seo Ara, having stood up, looked at Yeong-sik and Gil-soo and said this.

While she still kept her guarded gaze on Yeong-sik, she thought standing around doing nothing was dangerous.

It was uncertain when or where those monsters might reappear.

“Hmm. Let’s try to find a safe place first. Worrying about it now won’t provide us with answers,” Kim Gil-soo said in a calm voice.

Yeong-sik wanted to say more about his arm, which was made of mechanical devices much like an android’s, but the current situation was not favorable.

And it wasn’t just Yeong-sik’s arm that was unbelievable.

Being suddenly dropped into this world, and the emergence of unidentified monsters were also incredulous.

Even if they pondered all these matters, immediate answers would not come.

“Yes.”

Spurred by his words, Yeong-sik nodded and responded.

Together, Yeong-sik, Gil-soo, and Ara moved to find a place that seemed safe.

“Do we have to hold out for three weeks?”

Gil-soo recalled the message window he had seen earlier and asked.

Yeong-sik nodded gravely in response.

“Yes. Unless someone catches the chieftain before that.”

“Ha… Probably unlikely,” Gil-soo laughed.

A single orc was already a formidable opponent for a human, let alone dealing with their chieftain, which seemed a daunting prospect just to think about.

Hearing this, Seo Ara looked at Yeong-sik’s back intently and spoke up.

“That ability to launch your arm. Couldn’t we possibly catch him with that?”

She spoke with a weary expression.

There was no guarantee they could return after finishing the tutorial, but she wanted to escape this dreadful forest for the moment.

Yeong-sik shook his head in response to her words.

“No. After using it, I have to pick up my arm myself. The chieftain won’t be alone, so it will be difficult.”

“…you seem to know a lot for someone who claims to have lost their memory.”

Seo Ara narrowed her eyes and asked in a sharp voice.

Yeong-sik responded with a calm expression, “The moment I first used it, the memories naturally came back to me.”

“Hmm, once your memories fully return, will you be able to know the secrets of that mechanical arm?”

Kim Gil-soo asked with an intrigued expression.

“I’m not sure.”

Yeong-sik shrugged as he replied.

Since his own memories were cut out as if by a knife, even if they returned, he couldn’t predict what would happen next.

Yeong-sik and his group continued walking through the forest non-stop for several hours in search of a safe place.

They encountered orcs twice along the way, but since there was only one each time, Yeong-sik was able to deal with them easily using his Rocket Punch.

Kim Gil-soo and Ara watched his fist shoot out flames in disbelief.

“Haa, haa…”

As hours passed, Ara let out a heavy breath.

Kim Gil-soo also appeared tired, though not as much as Ara.

“Thirsty. It would be nice if there were a stream nearby,” Kim Gil-soo murmured, clutching his throat as his thirst worsened.

Yeong-sik nodded in agreement, “Yes, I’m thirsty too.”

Though not feeling the agony like Kim Gil-soo or Ara, Yeong-sik definitely felt a distinct thirst.

Kim Gil-soo stopped himself from asking, “Do machines need water too?”

Just because Yeong-sik’s arm was made of metal didn’t mean his entire body was mechanical.

And really, what kind of machine moves and talks so naturally?

Kim Gil-soo thought Yeong-sik must be wearing an incredibly advanced (and somewhat absurd) prosthetic arm.

After about ten more minutes of walking, Yeong-sik heard the sound of flowing water.

He headed towards the sound.

Pushing through the dense bushes, they arrived at a stream wide enough for a person to dive into.

“Wow!”

A short exclamation escaped Seo Ara’s lips as she saw the clear, flowing water.

She covered her mouth with her hand, slightly blushing, embarrassed by her own outburst.

“Luckily, the water looks drinkable,” Kim Gil-soo said with relief as he approached the stream.

He bent down and plunged his face into the water, gulping it down eagerly.

The cool water flowed down his throat, revitalizing his entire body.

“Phew! Feels like I could live a bit longer.”

Following Kim Gil-soo, Yeong-sik and Ara also drank from the stream.

Ara, evidently very thirsty, scooped up water with her hands and drank eagerly.

In contrast, Yeong-sik took only a few sips, but even that was enough to completely quench his thirst.

“Let’s rest here for a bit.”

Yeong-sik turned his head and surveyed the surroundings as he suggested this.

If they needed a hideout to last three weeks, the area around the stream was ideal.

After all, water was an essential element for survival.

Gurgle.
“Ah!”

At that moment, perhaps due to her relief, a rumbling sound came from Ara’s stomach.

She clutched her stomach, her face turning red with embarrassment.

Hearing the noise, Kim Gil-soo lightly chuckled and nodded.

“We should look for something to eat first.”

“Um… Is there anything to eat?”

Yeong-sik swallowed his saliva and asked. He felt slightly hungry, but honestly, it wasn’t severe.

He felt as if he could go on for days as he was.

‘Am I really not human?’

Yeong-sik looked down at his own body, which had too many unusual aspects to be considered human.

No matter how long he walked, he never tired, he needed only minimal water and food, and his right arm was not flesh but a mechanical device.

His body had too many oddities to be deemed human.

“I saw some fruit on a tree earlier on our way here.”

“…Eating just anything could be dangerous.”

Ara spoke in a calm voice, echoing his concerns.

As she pointed out, this world still held too many unknowns for them.

“Eating an orc’s corpse, perhaps?”

Yeong-sik tilted his head and asked jokingly.

At his words, Ara and Kim Gil-soo shook their heads, clearly disgusted even by the thought.

Seeing their expressions, Yeong-sik chuckled and continued.

“Just kidding.”

“Don’t even say such dreadful things. Let’s go pick that fruit.”

Yeong-sik and his group moved towards the location Kim Gil-soo had seen the fruit.

There, fruits the size of oranges and colored yellow were hanging abundantly.

Yeong-sik gazed at the tree, his eyes twinkling.

“Mr. Kim Gil-soo, look over there.”

“Huh…? Isn’t that a cave?”

Kim Gil-soo looked behind the tree at the cave with a pleased expression.

It wasn’t far from the stream, and there were fruit trees around; it was an ideal spot for a hideout.

“Let’s go inside.”

Yeong-sik said, walking slowly into the cave.

“What’s this?”

Entering the cave, Seo Ara looked around with an astonished expression.

Inside the cave, walls were adorned with fist-sized blue stones emitting a faint light and warmth.

“We won’t die of cold, at least,” Yeong-sik commented as he gently stroked one of the blue stones, feeling the warmth emanating from it.

The nights in the forest were cold, but it seemed there was no need to worry within the cave.

“Growl…”

Just then, a low growl of a beast echoed within the cave, causing Yeong-sik and his companions to stiffen.

“ROAR!”

What emerged from the depths of the cave was a massive bear, larger than any orc they had encountered.

It charged at Yeong-sik with a ferocious roar.

Yeong-sik instinctively thrust his right arm forward.

Whoosh! Bang!

Flames burst forth from his arm, shooting forward like a bullet. His right arm struck the bear squarely on the crown of its head.

Crack!

“Roar!”

The bear let out a deathly scream and collapsed on the spot.

Yeong-sik approached the fallen bear and retrieved his arm.

Seeing this, Kim Gil-soo managed a wry smile and said, “I’m starting to get used to seeing that.”

Yeong-sik smiled wryly and nodded.

Click.

His arm reattached at the elbow with the sound of mechanical components locking into place.

As Kim Gil-soo noted, it was a movement that seemed quite natural.

“Let’s hold out here for three weeks.”

At Yeong-sik’s suggestion, Ara and Kim Gil-soo nodded.

Yeong-sik’s group swiftly found stability, thanks to the power of his mechanical arm.

Considering that most people who fled into various parts of the forest either lost their lives to monsters or succumbed to exhaustion without securing water and food, they were quite fortunate.

However, they were not the only ones adapting to life in the forest.

Gradually, individuals with a talent for ‘survival’ began to emerge.