WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Upbeat Newbie the Infinite Regressors Are Obsessed With ◈
Chapter 7: Now. Immediately.
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The Tower’s pure-white interior.
I stood there blankly, absorbed in the Archmage’s basic magic lesson.
The tutorial wouldn’t begin unless I stepped out of the safe zone myself.
ㄴArchmage) The basic use of mana is broadly divided into three stages.
ㄴArchmage) Concentration, fixation, and release.
ㄴArchmage) First, draw mana from the core in your heart and concentrate it in a particular circuit.
“Concentration.”
I hadn’t felt anything using the breathing method the Martial God taught me, but this was different.
This distinctive energy spreading out from my heart.
So this was mana?
Once the core settled inside me, I knew instinctively.
“Gather... mana.”
It was an instinctive feeling, like a baby turtle heading for the sea the moment it hatched.
I scooped up a handful of mana from the huge well called a core, carried it to the circuits in my legs, and concentrated it there.
“Ooh!”
Strength instantly filled my legs.
Just concentrating mana in a circuit made my physical abilities feel twice as high.
If I ran like this, I could probably leap over an entire floor without breaking a sweat.
I had another option for countering the Orc Chieftain’s first pattern.
I could duck, or jump over it.
But that feeling of omnipotence was brief.
Fwoooosh...
The mana concentrated in my leg circuits quickly scattered, and the strength drained from my legs.
“So that’s why fixation is necessary.”
How was I supposed to fix it in place?
Drawing mana from my heart and carrying it through the circuits came instinctively, so it wasn’t difficult.
But fixation was surprisingly hard.
I could imagine carrying water, but I couldn’t picture fixing water in place.
ㄴAmor Fati) I managed to move it into my legs, but how do I fix it?
ㄴArchmage) Hahahaha!!
ㄴAmor Fati) Don’t laugh, just tell me...
ㄴMartial God) Is it because the core was opened with an elixir? Your progress speed is definitely insane.
ㄴSolo Hero*) Don’t obsess over the word. Just do it by instinct.
ㄴVampire Princess) Swing it. It already lies within thee.
ㄴMartial God) Ah, damn it, I was gonna say that!
No, I said instinct wasn’t working!
How was I supposed to fix flowing water...
“Ah!”
A bolt of realization struck me.
“Stop-moving?”
Even if a character had commands queued up, one press of the space bar stopped them immediately.
It was a small trick that could let you easily dodge an opponent’s non-targeted skill.
The moment the idea came to me, before the mana in my legs could scatter, I mashed the space bar in my head.
Tap tap tap tap tap!
The mana about to scatter hesitated, then stopped.
It didn’t feel smoothly fixed in place, but I had roughly gotten the hang of it.
ㄴAmor Fati) It’s not completely fixed, but it jerks to a stop like I hit the brakes.
ㄴArchmage) Hoho, Newbie. If you keep doing that...
ㄴAmor Fati) ?
ㄴDungeon Rogue) Run awaaay!! You’ll become a grad student!
ㄴMartial God) I thought it was just the core, but your aptitude is pretty good too.
Judging by their reactions, I wasn’t headed in the wrong direction. That was a relief.
Still, the Archmage’s comment gave me chills for some reason.
It felt like I had almost been kidnapped by some enormous, inescapable being.
Anyway, the only step left was release.
According to Professor Archmage, release was much easier than concentration and fixation.
And it really was.
“Hyah!”
I kicked at the air.
Whoosh!
The mana gathered in my leg flew out in a crescent-shaped slash.
The slash was immediately absorbed when it struck the pure-white space, but I couldn’t hide my shock.
“Holy crap, this is that thing.”
The technique that stood alongside Finger Pistol in that pirate manga.
Rankyaku.
“This is magic?”
How was this any different from martial arts?
ㄴAmor Fati) Hey. I released it and some crescent-shaped sword energy flew out. Is this ma12gic?
ㄴArchmage) It is an excellent basic attack spell!
ㄴAmor Fati) What class are you?
ㄴArchmage) Battle Mage.
ㄴAmor Fati) Then you’re saying you’re a martial-arts type too...
ㄴArchmage) How dare you!!!!!
ㄴDungeon Rogue) LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
ㄴPoisoned My Blade) You really hit the berserk button.
ㄴPuppetmaster) Predicting the next comment: “It’s different from martial arts! Different!”
ㄴArchmage) It’s different from martial arts! Different!
ㄴVampire Princess) The prediction did not miss by even an inch.
ㄴHeretic Exterminator) Ah, ah...
ㄴArchmage) Battle Mages only use the bare minimum for self-defense! Once we progress further, we wield magic on an entirely different level from those uncultured fools who use their bodies!
ㄴMartial God) Gramps, want in with the martial artists?
ㄴArchmage) Shut up!! You ignorant fool!!!!
ㄴAmor Fati) Just kidding, lol.
So that was the gist of it.
Creating a core increased my physical capabilities.
And concentrating mana into mana circuits to inflate my Strength stat was just part of the character concept.
The main damage dealer was magic, regardless.
ㄴAmor Fati) I think I can take on the Orc Chieftain once I get used to these three. What do you guys think?
ㄴArchmage) Ahem. Give it a try. The best training is real combat.
ㄴSolo Hero*) That’s true. We said thirty years and all that because we had to meet the minimum condition of making an artificial organ to handle mana. There’s no reason to delay actual combat when you already have the basics down.
ㄴMartial God) You died like that and you already want to challenge it again?
ㄴHeretic Exterminator) I’ll be cheering for you, brother!
ㄴVampire Princess) This is the way of an infinite regressor!
“Ooh!”
Honestly, I thought they would stop me if I said I was challenging it right away.
Apparently not.
When you had unlimited retries, there was no need to rack your brain studying theory, right?
That was the difference between ordinary people and infinite regressors.
Of course, even if they had tried to stop me, I planned to give it a shot anyway!
“You’re dead.”
I stepped out of the safe zone.
Flash!
The scenery all around me changed into a vast grassland.
I immediately pumped my heart’s core and carried mana throughout my body.
What I needed now was quick reaction time.
Squeeeal!
How much had I relied on this guy while pulling the gacha?
I could now dodge the first pattern with my eyes closed.
It took the Orc Chieftain only about a second to notice me and swing its club.
“Grrroooooar!!”
A massive club swung diagonally down at me.
I immediately lowered my body as much as possible.
Whoosh!
Was this what it felt like when an eight-ton truck with broken brakes passed right in front of you?
The wind pressure from a simple swing whipped my hair everywhere.
But I stayed calm, squinting as I watched its arm.
‘I dodged it!’
Thump. Thump.
It was a strange feeling.
The feeling I had experienced when I opened my eyes after creating the core.
The unfamiliar sensation of my body reacting before my thoughts.
As if...
‘I’m controlling myself!’
Of course, I was controlling myself.
To explain it a little better, it felt like I was controlling my body the way I controlled a game character.
I didn’t have time for idle thoughts.
‘If it used up its turn on a huge attack, the turn comes to me.’
Simply put, I had seized its turn.
I was still crouched low.
It was an awkward posture for launching Rankyaku.
‘A direct hit doesn’t seem to mean anything, anyway.’
Then the best move was to apply concentration, fixation, and release to inflict crowd control.
In other words, screw up its eyes.
Its balance was broken because it had swung diagonally.
Its head was hidden behind one of its massive shoulders.
The instant its face came into view, I planned to blow out its eye. I concentrated and fixed mana at the tip of my finger.
This turn ended with preparations for a counterattack.
Then the turn passed.
Whoosh!
The green giant suddenly loomed larger.
Without even thinking of changing its posture, it launched itself at me.
In technical terms, a shoulder tackle.
“You son of a...”
I instantly jumped backward and crossed my arms, concentrating mana into them.
A temporary measure to lessen the impact.
Bang!
“Ghk!”
The mana concentrated in my arms scattered, and I was sent flying through the air.
No wonder.
That was the sound of flesh colliding with flesh.
If I had still had the body of an ordinary person without a core, that impact could have shattered me into pieces.
I clenched my teeth and held on to my fading consciousness.
Fortunately, the mana concentrated at my fingertip was still fixed.
‘Even first-string FPS pros got wrecked when they met me in ranked, you bastard!’
Through my wildly shaking vision, I aimed precisely at its eye.
It would have been difficult if I thought of it as moving my body.
But imagining that I was moving a mouse cursor onto a target reticle made it absurdly easy.
Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap...
The moment I took my hand off the keyboard I had been pounding in my head to fix the mana.
Snap!
Zing!
A blue flash connected me and the Orc Chieftain in a straight line.
Thwack!
“Grrroooooar!”
Success.
I had completely turned its left eye into mush.
It was unfortunate that the firepower wasn’t enough to reach its brain.
‘If I succeed one more time, I can really kill it in one try.’
Destroy both its eyes and pelt it from a distance?
There was a ten-minute time limit, but it was definitely possible.
The situation was extremely optimistic.
That was assuming I landed properly, of course.
‘Damn it!’
I hadn’t realized it, but after flying through the air for a while, my head naturally started facing the ground.
If I fell like this, I would at least end up a vegetable from a broken neck.
My body had been strengthened by the core, but there was no reason to crash like this.
I twisted my body as much as I could in the air and performed a breakfall.
I had never learned how to breakfall, but if I landed without hurting myself, that counted.
The moment I spread my arms and touched the ground, I pulled them in and rolled forward.
“Ugh.”
Had I rolled fifteen times?
The world spun around me.
‘Anyway, successful landing!’
The instant I staggered to my feet, I spotted the Orc Chieftain some distance away.
“Huh?”
It was bleeding from one eye and taking a stance.
In other words, its entire body was telling me it was about to throw its club.
Whoosh!
The movement was like someone had deleted all the in-between frames with an editing tool.
By the time I recognized it, the club was already in front of me.
“!”
From then on, it was instinct.
A purer, deeper instinct.
The instinct to survive.
‘I absolutely can’t dodge this.’
Before creating the core, I would have accepted regression while wondering how to counter this pattern.
But now was different.
In other words, my core still didn’t have the mindset of an infinite regressor.
Woooooosh!
The core, instinctively sensing danger, pumped out mana like crazy.
‘Huh?’
What was wrong with this thing?
Your owner is an infinite regressor!
There’ll be another chance!
But there was no way the core would answer.
The core inside my heart kept pouring out mana to protect me, regardless of my will.
Then the world began to slow down.
Even the club rapidly closing the distance gradually decelerated.
‘Ah, it’s that thing.’
The slowed world I had entered many times before an amazing play.
The Zone.
But I couldn’t just be happy about stepping into that world again.
‘This much mana...!’
An immense current of mana crashed over me like a tidal wave.
‘This is a core made from an S-rank magic stone?’
It was on a completely different level from carrying mana around with my own will.
It felt like a faucet had burst and water was gushing out uncontrollably.
No, it couldn’t even be compared to a faucet.
This was like a dam breaking.
A raging torrent of mana ran wild through the circuits in my entire body.
‘Ghh!’
A burning sensation, as if I were engulfed in flames.
At this rate, my body felt like it would swell like a balloon and burst.
‘More than that, it hurts so much!’
I focused my mind and somehow began concentrating the mana in my arm.
I skipped the fixation process.
A small trick like stop-moving could never fix a tidal wave of mana like this in place.
The instant I desperately concentrated the mana in my arm.
Boom!
My arm exploded.
Literally, my arm exploded.
And it didn’t stop there.
Once the tidal wave of mana had an exit, it naturally turned in that direction.
WOOOOOOSH!
“AAAAARGH!”
At that moment, I became Mega Man.
An energy blast was coming out of where my hand was supposed to be!
KABOOM!
An enormous impact painted heaven and earth white.
After the tidal wave of mana swept across the grassland, the ground ahead had been gouged deeply inward.
This was exactly what it would look like if a giant placed a hand on the earth and dragged it across.
Or if a meteor had struck.
Whatever the comparison, the Orc Chieftain evaporated without leaving even a trace behind.
Riiiiing...
The ringing in my ears was deafening.
This was exactly how it looked in movies when a landmine or grenade exploded.
So they really did get that right.
Hiss, hiss.
Had my lungs ruptured? Or was there a hole in my throat?
When I breathed, all I could feel was air leaking out.
I had no idea whether there was a single intact part left in my body.
Had all my muscles and nerves been cooked?
I couldn’t even feel pain.
I stared at the unreal scene created by the core for a moment, then barely turned my head toward where my right arm should have been.
It was simply gone, cleanly severed without even an elbow remaining.
I had gifted my right arm to a new era.
My vision was dyed red.
An endless ringing filled my ears.
My body wouldn’t move, like a puppet with cut strings.
Just as I began wondering why I was still alive.
“...?”
A message from the Tower suddenly appeared before my eyes.
[You defeated the enemy within the time limit.]
[Tutorial Clear!]
[An achievement will be saved after settlement.]
[Settlement in progress......(5)]
My mind instantly cleared.
The dull pain returned.
An overwhelming burning sensation, nerve pain as though knives were carving up my body.
Even my red-tinted vision suddenly sharpened.
“Ugh...”
The ringing vanished, and I could hear my own groans again.
Alarms blared inside my head.
The reason was simple.
This was the second time I had found myself one step away from being completely screwed.
‘W-wait!’
My unconscious dragged a comment from the Infinite Regression Gallery out of the depths of my memory.
ㄴPuppetmaster) There’s a 78% chance that your regression point gets fixed after clearing certain floors.
My missing arm.
Blood pouring out.
Cooked muscles and nerves.
A broken core and a physical condition that could never be restored.
The moment I understood the situation, goosebumps rose all over my body.
Thump. Thump.
‘Not certain floors...’
ㄴMartial God) I agree with the old man too. Newbie, don’t climb floors carelessly. If your regression point gets saved wrong, you’re seriously screwed.
[Settlement in progress......(4)]
‘What if a simple clear is enough?’
[Settlement in progress......(3)]
‘What if my regression point gets saved here?’
[Settlement in progress......(2)]
There was no time to hesitate.
No matter what, I had to die.
[Settlement in progress......(1)]
Now.
Immediately.
Footnotes:
Rankyaku is an air-kick technique from One Piece. The line about gifting a right arm to a new era riffs on a famous One Piece line associated with Shanks.
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