'Nice, I got a level by killing just one mere goblin!'

Sung-jin pretended to be surprised.

'The first time I cleared the tutorial, I had to kill two goblins before getting my first level. But since I have the Dark Apostle title now, leveling will be a piece of cake!'

Sung-jin smiled, satisfied that he made the right choice to rebirth.

'But now that I leveled up, I should allocate the stat points I got.'

Sung-jin opened his status window and began to wonder what he should spend his points on. But something caught his eye when he looked at the stat points.

"Five stat points!"

Sung-jin exclaimed, this time actually surprised.

'It gave me five stat points by leveling up once? Normally a level-up would only give three points. Is the rebirth the cause of this?'

Sung-jin questioned, even though he knew what the answer was.

'But five is better than three, so I can't complain! But what should I spend them on?'

Sung-jin thought carefully about where he would spend his points since it couldn't be reverted when a point is spent.

'Ah! I got it!'

-Status Window

Name: Sung-jin | Level: 2 | Age: 20 | Title: Dark Apostle | First Generation

Strength: 10

Vitality: 10

Agility: 15

Dexterity: 10

Intelligence: 10

Stat Points: 0

Skills: None

Titles:

Dark Apostle: Lvl 1 [Exp: 0%]

[Effect: 5% exp gain]

[Effect: 10% damage gain. Dark Type skills only]

Sung-jin spent all his points in raising the stat Agility from ten to fifteen.

'I'm not planning on balancing this character!'

Sung-jin smiled and briefly looked at the other stats he could have chosen. Right now, Sung-jin was raising his stats the same way as they were before his rebirth. But even though he thought carefully about it before raising his stats, he didn't know if playing the same way as before was the best solution.

'Maybe I shouldn't go the assassin path. I already did that before, and even though I was the strongest, I couldn't beat the Lich King at the end. Maybe I should raise my stats as a warrior or mage?'

Sung-jin thought for a few seconds before tossing aside his decision for a later time.

'That problem is for my future self to solve. Thanks in advance!'

Sung-jin thanked himself for procrastinating. He then took a quick peek at how many goblins there remained in the first wave.

-System: 14:20 Goblins remain.

'The other players have actually done something!'

Sung-jin was ecstatic at what was in front of him; it made him happy to see that some players were adapting fast. But killing only five goblins in this amount of time despite there being a thousand players—

'It looks like I have to pick up their slack.'

Sung-jin began to run towards the goblin's main force again, and this time he could feel what the five stat points in Agility did.

Woosh-!

"This feels a lot better!"

Sung-jin said out loud running faster than before.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

…

It didn’t take long before Sung-jin reached the frontline and he stopped right behind some people fighting a few goblins. There were six goblins that had a mix between knives and short swords in their hands. And even though goblins were small and weak, the players they fought against were slowly losing their ground.

'There are only six goblins and around ten players fighting them. Right now, it just looks like a dog fight since none of the players know how to fight.'

Sung-jin observed the fight between the humans and goblins from a few meters behind.

"Come on! Attack the left one!"

A big, muscular man screamed, commanding a flimsy-looking person to attack the goblin, who had chosen to close in on them despite not having its pack with it. The flimsy-looking person had torn and dirty clothes. Presumable after having a close-combat encounter with one of the goblins.

"Okay!"

The man yelled as he ran closer to the goblin. The player dashed forward and swung his sword at the neck of the goblin.

Swash-!

The goblin's short sword and the player's sword clashed against each other.

"What?!"

It was a surprise for the flimsy man that the goblin had a fast enough reaction time to block his swing. And since the player didn't have enough experience with sword fights, he completely froze, not knowing what to do next.

'At least do something? Or you will die.'

Sung-jin looked at the man who gotten too scared to even defend himself.

'Are you even worth saving?'

Sung-jin thought as the goblin grinned wickedly at the human while drooling. The goblin could already taste the meat of the prey in front of it.

The muscular man that people had put their trust in quickly realized that the flimsy man would die if he didn't move away quickly.

"Run! Fast!"

He screamed, but it was already too late.

"No…"

The others could only watch in horror since they couldn't reach him in time and help.

The goblin didn't waste any time, and it raised its arm with the short sword, and with a fast swing at the throat—

Thunk-!

"!"

Surprisingly, the players watched the goblin's head flying towards the pack of five goblins and land right in front of them.

"That's how you take care of a goblin."

A mysterious man with a rusty sword said, trying to sound like a cool person. The man then swung his sword to the side, shaking off the goblin's blood.

The flimsy man who thought that his life was over a few seconds ago got soft knees and collapsed on the ground. And the other players could only watch in disbelief as the person who just easily cut off the head of a goblin approached them.

"You're strong! What's your name?"

The big muscular leader didn't waste any time and quickly wanted the mysterious man to join him.

"Sung-jin…"

He said a bit surprised that the leader immediately after a near death encounter changed so quickly.

"Sung-jin. My name is Daeshim, and I need to thank you for saving my comrade."

Daeshim smiled and offered him a handshake. Sung-jin gladly accepted it, though being cautious around Daeshim.

"You know that I can tell a lot about a person just by shaking their hand?"

Daeshim said, looking Sung-jin straight in the eyes.

"Oh, really?"

Sung-jin pretended to care about what Daeshim said. In reality, Sung-jin wasn't looking to form bonds with anyone. The only reason he saved that guy from dying was so he could work in society after the tutorial.

Daeshim began to press firmly into Sung-jin's hand.

"Firm yet soft, scars and scratches… From just this handshake, I can tell that you're a hardworking individual. Am I wrong?"

Daeshim asked Sung-jin. He had correctly guessed at least something right about Sung-jin as a person.

"Sure…"

Sung-jin looked disturbed at Daeshim, and an awkward silence followed.

…

"Uhm… There are still some goblins left…"

A girl in the back timidly interrupted the awkward atmosphere. She had long blonde hair, a slender body, and a beautiful face befitting only a love interest in a fantasy novel.

"You're right!"

Daeshim moved his hand away from Sung-jin and looked in the direction where the five remaining goblins in the pack were. He grasped tightly around his sword and was ready to lead his team into battle.

"Save your courage for a later time; instead of fighting, go and help that person over there."

Sung-jin pointed at the man he saved from the goblin.

"What do you mean by that? If we don't attack first, they will get the first move on us!"

Daeshim argued against Sung-jin's order.

"Don't you worry about the goblins, mister. Those are my precious EXP!"

Sung-jin leaped toward the five goblins with the same wicked smile as the goblin he just killed, without wasting any unnecessary time. It surprised Daeshim and everyone else that Sung-jin jumped in all alone against five goblins. But their worries were quickly laid to bed.

Thunk-!

"!"

The players watched in disbelief again when it only took Sung-jin one single swing to send all five of the goblins' heads flying.

'This sword isn't half bad!'

Sung-jin looked at his rusted sword and praised it.

Ding-!

-System: Congrats Player. You leveled up!

-System: Congrats Player. You leveled up!

'Nice! I got two levels!'

Sung-jin shined brightly. Sung-jin had only been at level five after all the monster waves were cleared last time he did the tutorial. So already being at level four made him very happy.

'I now have ten stat points I can allocate… But what should I do?'

Sung-jin thought for a while, still not having any clue about what he should spend them on. He completely ignored all the admiring gazes from the others and continued to be in his own world.

'There is a saying about doubt. When in doubt, spend all points in Agility. That's not much of a saying, but either way!'

Sung-jin once again spent all his points on Agility, taking the total from fifteen to twenty-five—

"I'm very impressed!"

Daeshim interrupted, right after Sung-jin was done allocating his points. Daeshim laughed quite loud and clapped Sung-jin on his shoulders. The tutorial had barely begun, but it seemed like some people were better at adapting than others.

'Party up and be friendly with others. These ten people might actually be able to survive in this harsh world.'

Sung-jin looked around with a smile; he felt a little nostalgic being around these people, making him a bit warm.

'But when's the new wave coming?'

Sung-jin pushed Daeshim's hand aside, and he resumed his usual expression.

-System: 6:20 Goblins remain.

'Only six out of twenty goblins left! Some other players must have killed goblins too.'

Sung-jin readied his rusty sword again and hurried to get to the last goblins. He couldn’t let all that exp get wasted on any other than himself.

"Adios!"

Sung-jin rushed the opposite way than the players he just met. He was making everyone confused about why he had to hurry so much.

"Don't die, okay?"

He said goodbye to the new players. Sung-jin was gone as soon as they had recuperated after the fight, and he was already out of sight.

"Uhm… Shouldn't we follow him?"

The blonde-haired girl asked Daeshim, still unsure what had happened, but Daeshim didn't hear her. The only thing in Daeshim's mind was the appearance of their savior.

Atchoo-!

"Who's thinking about me?!"

…