WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 130

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The regressor is tired (5)

"We entered floor 11 a week ago."

Felix Hoffman was Germany's greatest player both in name and reality. He was the eldest son of the prestigious Hoffman family, someone who had been called a genius since childhood and grew up bearing all of his family's expectations on his shoulders.

Of course, most geniuses tend to crumble under the weight of pressure that comes from such excessive expectations, but Felix was different. After graduating from university with top honors, he immediately founded a big data venture company. He was one of the icons of young entrepreneurship, using his characteristic resourcefulness to elevate a company not even five years old to the threshold of becoming a major corporation.

"My colleagues and I, we were overconfident. We had conviction in our abilities, and we prided ourselves on being thoroughly prepared."

The colleagues Felix gathered were no ordinary people. Former special forces members, UFC champions, olympic gold medalists and young geniuses who saw their future in the Tower had come together, systematically training and honing their skills. Felix took pride in the fact that his party was one of the top-tier parties on Earth.

"What good are exceptional abilities when it's already too late?"

However, their timing for entering floor 11 was poor. By the time they entered the Tower, everything had already ended.

"The structure of floor 11 is simple. If you retrieve valuable items from the forest, you can sell them to angels and obtain currency."

Bronze, silver, gold, a classic currency system. The design of floor 11 was extremely intuitive. Explore the forest, obtain treasures, return to the fortress, and purchase passage stones.

"Our party saw infinite possibilities on floor 11. There's more than just one or two things you can obtain here, after all."

But that wasn't everything. This fortress didn't just sell passage stones for escape. True to the dwarves' reputation for skilled craftsmanship, they sold all sorts of goods, weapons, armor, various magical tools, daily necessities, and even complete camping sets for outdoor use.

The important point was that all of these were classified as items which meant they could be used on other floors as well.

It was truly a treasure trove. A stepping stone where you could lay the foundation for progressing through the Tower. If utilized properly, floor 11 could generate endless value.

"If only we could actually buy things, that is."

Assuming the dwarves would actually sell things to us, that is.

"I don't know what happened. Whether the advance party that entered before us royally messed something up, or if this floor was originally like this..."

They wouldn't even respond when spoken to. Even when players held out gold coins saying they wanted to buy things, the dwarves ignored them, pretending not to see. Players couldn't purchase weapons from the shops, let alone secure lodging within the fortress. The dwarves were completely rejecting humanity.

"Ah."

The reason why Germany's prodigy Felix was in such a beggar-like state was simple. Even though they had money, they couldn't spend it.

"Are they refusing to sell passage stones as well?"

"They're still selling passage stones. It seems the Tower is forcing them to sell those. But..."

Felix's face darkened as his words trailed off.

"For the details, it would be better if you saw for yourselves."

Felix jerked his chin toward the fortress. Rather than explaining it a hundred times with words, it would be better to experience it firsthand.

"Understood."

Ji-won and I began walking toward the fortress with unenthusiastic expressions.

There were guards at the fortress's side gate, but they didn't particularly try to stop us from passing through. They just glared at us with displeased eyes.

"Wow."

After passing through that narrow side gate and entering the fortress, what came into view were quaint wooden buildings that looked like something out of a fairy tale. Even though I knew it wasn't the time or place for this, I couldn't help but let out an exclamation of admiration.

"But aren't dwarves supposed to live in mountains?"

Were dwarves originally a race that was friendly with trees? In novels, they usually live by digging into mountains and forming underground cities. Well, imagination and reality are always different, I suppose.

"Let's save the sightseeing for later."

"Oh, okay..."

Ji-won, who was firmly holding my hand, took the lead walking down the path. While I was looking around at the buildings, I found myself being led by her towards the center of the fortress before I knew it.

"Whoa."

As I was being led by Ji-won, I saw shops, shops, and many more shops on both sides. The countless items displayed on the stalls bewitched my gaze.

Everything seemed to be top-quality goods, dazzling and brilliant. What particularly impressed me were the weapons. I wasn't particularly knowledgeable about armaments, but even just glancing at them from afar, I could immediately tell they were the best of the best.

"..."

"..."

Of course, since the shop owner was glaring with eyes sharp as axes, I didn't dare think about buying anything. What could we do when the shop owner refused to sell?

"We're here."

After frantically taking in the sights along the street like that, we arrived at the passage stone shop Felix had mentioned. A shop with a swirl pattern drawn on the door. Yes, this had to be it.

"Should we go in?"

Creak.

When I opened the wooden door, which made a pleasant sound, and entered the shop, a heavy woody scent hit me all at once. However, rather than being an unpleasant smell, it was the kind that put one's mind at ease.

"Hello? Is this the passage stone shop?"

The structure of this shop was somewhat similar to a jewelry store. The merchandise was neatly arranged inside glass display cases laid out horizontally, and the shop owner was sitting in a chair beyond the display case, killing time.

"That's right. We're open for business."

The dwarf sitting in the chair was fiddling with his fingernails. He gave a half-hearted answer, then went back to concentrating on fiddling with his fingernails. That dwarf was probably the passage stone shop owner. At least he answered, so should I consider that fortunate?

"Wow, is this a passage stone?"

Only after saying it did I realize what a stupid thing I'd said. To begin with, all the items placed in the shop's display case were stones of the same shape.

Bluish stones that were mysteriously translucent. These had to be the passage stones the Tower had mentioned.

[Passage Stone] [Unique]

-If submitted to an angel, you can clear Floor 11.

A message window confirming my guess was correct. So we needed to buy this and submit it to an angel.

"How much is this? I'm not buying it right now, but I'll come buy it as soon as I've saved up the money. It probably won't take long."

Ji-won asked the shop owner confidently. It was a truly haughty attitude, as if gathering that much money was no problem at all.

"One hundred million gold."

"Pardon?"

"I said one hundred million gold."

"...?"

The price was far beyond common sense. I didn't know exactly what the value of gold was, but it was clear that one hundred million gold was not a normal price.

"How much was it originally?"

"Originally it was one billion gold. Consider it heavily discounted."

"..."

Since the Tower was forcing sales, was he naming an absurd price like this? If he'd at least smiled, I could have considered it a joke, but the shop owner's face was endlessly expressionless. As if he truly believed the price was one billion gold.

"We'll come back later."

In the end, Ji-won and I left the passage stone shop empty-handed. I understood why Felix had told us to experience it for ourselves. The malice the dwarves were sending was definitely not temporary and fleeting.

Rather, it was closer to cold, sharp, and sticky malice. Even now, the gazes secretly stabbing from here and there stung. The dwarves were detesting the human race itself.

"Hmm..."

I'd grasped the current situation. I'd more than sufficiently recognized that floor 11 was in a completely twisted state.

However, the real problem was that I didn't know the cause. The dwarves couldn't have been like this from the start. Surely the advance party that cleared it before had done something to cause this, but there was no one to tell us what that cause was.

"I need to know the cause to figure out how to deal with it..."

The dwarves wouldn't tell us directly, and the German players including Felix were people who'd entered floor 11 after the situation had ended. While I was agonizing over whether there was anywhere I could ask.

"Didn't they say there are angels here?"

Ji-won suggested a surprisingly simple solution.

"They said to submit the passage stones to angels too, and the ones who receive items and give money are also angels. Couldn't we just ask the angels?"

She was right. On floor 11, the existence of angels was clearly specified. If it was an angel, they would definitely know the entire situation.

"Will the angels tell us though?"

However, whether the angel would be cooperative with us was a complete unknown. If it was the kind of angel that looked down on humans, rather than cooperating, there was a high possibility they would mock us instead. Something along the lines of inferior humans, as expected you people are useless.

"Still, it seems worth trying. Did they say the angel is in the center of the fortress?"

Of course, since there wasn't another solution, it was a nothing-to-lose situation. Who knows, if we went to find the angel and spoke well, they might help. And so we headed toward the fortress center where the angel supposedly was, and before long, the silhouette of a winged angel appeared in the distance.

"..."

"What's wrong?"

"No, it's just, I feel like I remember something..."

That angel had a somehow familiar look. It was that frustrating feeling where you might or might not remember, like passing by an elementary school classmate on the street.

The closer I approached the angel, the more my eyes narrowed with suspicion, and by the time I finally reached the angel, they widened in surprise. It was because I'd recognized the angel before me.

"Huh, huhhh?"

It seemed to be the same for the angel, whose eyes went round as a rabbit's in shock.

"You, from floor 2..."

"Jun-ho-nim?!"

Do you remember when I had that fierce battle with the master of the city on floor 2? After barely managing to defeat the master of the city, the archangel Raphael appeared and I had a showdown with her.

At that time, Raphael had taken away the placard angel who had fled in fear, saying they would administer punishment. I'd felt sympathy for the angel and told them to just leave him alone. Because I felt that just as the players were being used, the placard angel was being used too.

"Long time no see?"

That's right.

The angel assigned the guidance role on floor 11 was none other than that placard angel I'd saved on floor 2.

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