WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 150

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The regressor is training (11)

"So you're saying there was something like a mannequin?"

"Yes. In the completely white space, a black mannequin with a weapon charged at me. But since my difficulty was 1, it was incredibly weak."

"Hmm... It seems like it's human combat similar to floor 5."

The four players who heard my explanation kept nodding their heads. Their expressions were bright, apparently confident in human combat.

"More importantly, how did you decide to distribute the difficulty?"

"Ah, since the number 34 is a bit awkward... we decided to divide it 9, 9, 8, 8. The second and third people to enter will take 8."

"That's reasonable."

There was a possibility that 1 was exceptionally easy. So it would be rational to try difficulty 9 after getting a taste with difficulty 8. As expected of top-tier players, their minds work quite well.

"Oh, and there's a cabinet with weapons over there. If you need any, feel free to use them."

The bespectacled woman swung the sword in her hand around, saying she had gotten her weapon from there too. The two men were each holding an axe and a spear, while the short-haired woman was wearing gauntlets.

Good. With this, all preparations were...

"Wait… wait a minute."

Just as I was about to naturally move on, I felt something off. Something, something was strange. But what was strange?

Ah. I got it. The source of the discomfort I was feeling.

"Um..."

"Yes? What is it?"

"Everyone... you don't have weapons?"

Come to think of it, they didn't have weapons when they entered floor 11. You might ask what difference it makes since weapons are provided at the start of each floor anyway? It does matter. If they had properly cleared floor 11, they should have been carrying at least one dwarven-made weapon.

The reason I hadn't noticed this discomfort until now was because they were wearing dwarven-made armor... but they only bought armor and no weapons?

"Ah, weapons?"

However, the bespectacled woman shrugged her shoulders as if asking what the problem was.

"Weapons were too expensive... it didn't seem cost-effective for the time invested. So we just bought passage stones and came out. We got the armor for free though."

"You got armor for free?"

"Yes. Something about commemorating Choi Ji-won, they said."

"..."

So... did these guys really come up here purely by farming passage stones?

"Since our skills are solid, we thought climbing the Tower quickly was more important than item farming. It's probably just a difference in priorities, don't you think?"

"I-I suppose that could be..."

Right, we're all top-tier players, so ultimately it's just a difference in values. You can't say that farming all items before going up is necessarily the correct answer. If you have the skill to climb the Tower easily, I think it's fine to gain advantages by ascending quickly.

...But then why did they meet me after waiting 11 days? Ah, they must have been summoned late to the tutorial.

"Anyway, I'll go and come back! Since it's difficulty 8, it shouldn't take too long."

While I was finishing my mental rationalization, the bespectacled woman boarded the elevator. Soon the doors closed, and a brief silence fell.

"Hey, but have you ever fought a person?"

"...No? But it should be similar."

Only after some time passed did they quietly chat among themselves. They didn't seem to have any intention of talking to me or getting friendly, but I felt the same way, so it was comfortable.

So I pondered future plans while they engaged in small talk among themselves for about 3 minutes.

"...Why isn't she coming back?"

"She came back quickly last time?"

"...The difficulty is different, you idiots."

"Oh, she's here."

The elevator doors opened, revealing the bespectacled woman.

"Huh, huh?"

"Are you okay?"

No, now I had to call her the former bespectacled woman. In her hand were broken glasses.

"Well... I was careless."

"Can you see without glasses?"

"I'm a player, so I can see. It's just slightly blurry?"

According to the former bespectacled woman... no, I'll just call her the bespectacled woman. According to her, the difficulty 8 mannequin was quite challenging. While she was superior in basic physical abilities, the mannequin was superior in technique. It was like the fight between me and my doppelganger on floor 5.

"But I have a trait that lets me see weaknesses. So I overcame it quickly."

However, even if she was inferior in technique, she was still a top-tier player. Based on her significantly superior physical abilities and her weakness-detecting trait, she was able to slowly strategize against the mannequin and defeat it quite easily. The broken glasses happened because she was careless at the end.

"Hmm..."

Since this was a floor requiring cooperation, she probably wasn't lying. So I could think of the difficulty 8 mannequin as 'capable of landing one hit on a careless top-tier player.'

This difficulty increase was quite steep. The difference between difficulties 1 and 8 was quite severe.

"Then, is it my turn next?"

Anyway, the next in line was acne guy. He confidently boarded the elevator with a large axe strapped to his back.

And 4 minutes later.

"Hey, your armor is dented."

"No, I was careless too... How do I straighten this out?"

He returned with a deeply dented wound near the side of his armor. Since there were no wounds anywhere else, he had certainly dominated the fight, but seemed to have allowed an unexpected blow at the end.

"Hey, wait. Let me show you."

The next to enter, mole guy, looked fine on the outside but had a few small scratches on his armor.

"I'll go and come back too...!"

The last to enter, the short-haired woman, completed the test without any wounds except for hot steam rising from her body.

Right, they're top-tier players after all, so they should clear this level easily. Anyway, with this we had successfully cleared the first test. It was quite a satisfactory result.

-Then, before starting the second test, each person will select their reward. Please take your seats.

Without even a moment to celebrate this small victory, an emotionless voice echoed through the space. Quite confident now, we immediately sat in the metal chairs.

Just like before, a protective barrier surrounded us, blocking all sound as a message window appeared before our eyes.

[10] Custom Item Box (A- ~ C+)

[15] Elixir of Experience (Medium)

[20] Random Trait Box (Unique)

"...?"

Suddenly the difficulty had jumped up. The lowest number was 10? The highest was 20? What was this? Were the others seeing the same thing? Or was it just me since I chose 10 in the first test?

I needed to be careful here. An 8 was capable of landing a hit on a careless top-tier player. If I chose 20, could I clear it without a single wound?

"...But there's not really much to choose from."

The problem was that the Elixir of Experience was completely useless to me. Even if I chose 10 and ultimately received an item, it would disappear when I regressed anyway, so I'd have to choose it on the final cycle.

On the other hand, looking at rewards alone, the difficulty 20 [Random Trait Box] was the most attractive. Even if I regressed, traits would remain.

"..."

What should I do? Gamble by choosing 20? Or should I choose 10 first to test the difficulty? No, 15 seemed like the right choice here. The fact that the lowest reward suddenly became [10] was highly suspicious.

If I had chosen 10 in the last test, and that became the baseline making 10 the lowest reward this time... then if I chose 15 this time, the lowest reward would similarly become 15.

Why not just choose 10, you ask? What if someone else chose 15? The change in reward baseline might be limited to me alone.

-All climbers have completed their selections.

Anyway, after making my choice and the barrier disappeared, I could see the relaxed faces of the other players.

"You're back?"

"This time it starts at 10?"

"Wow, it's gone up quite a bit?"

It seemed the reward baseline changed for everyone. Judging by the comment "This time it starts at 10?"

Turning my gaze away from their laughing and chatting, I checked the elevator and saw the number [90] written there. Wait, 90?

"Ah, I chose 20."

"...Me too."

The short-haired woman and mole guy confidently stated they had chosen [20]. If those two made 40... there was one more person who chose 20, and including me, two who chose 15?

"So you also chose 20, right?"

"...No? I chose 15."

"...Are you sure? We both chose 15 too..."

The problem was, once again there was a liar. If the bespectacled woman and acne guy also said they chose 15... that didn't make sense. Someone definitely chose 20.

"...Is there maybe a base score? Like a basic 5 points?"

If there was no liar, this hypothesis was likely. I could verify this by regressing, so I decided to let it slide.

"Then, shall I go?"

While I was pondering, mole guy stepped forward majestically and boarded the elevator. Having easily won at difficulty [9], he seemed to have gained confidence.

"Huh? Hey, why are you inputting 25?"

"There are 5 points left over this time, right? I'll handle the liar's share too. Wait."

Before anyone could stop him, mole guy quickly input [25] and disappeared in the elevator. It was a bit annoying since he had snapped at me about 'stealing growth opportunities,' yet here he was acting like this. Or was that comment because I said I'd monopolize 34 points?

"Will he be okay?"

The bespectacled woman hesitated at this sudden unexpected action.

"He must be confident to do that. Let's trust and wait for him."

Acne guy reassured her with these words. As he spoke while slowly approaching, it seemed he was trying to win some favor with this opportunity.

"Hey, people like us never get pushed around anywhere. Did I tell you about when I went to that Gangnam club? When they heard a player who conquered floor 11 had arrived, suddenly they were all like waaaah...!"

"..."

Acne guy spun quite entertaining tales of his experiences. His storytelling was quite engaging, and even I, who was checking my sword condition, unknowingly got absorbed in his story.

"So that bastard goes, 'Hey, do you know Minju's ham?' and I was like..."

Before I knew it, the short-haired woman was also absorbed in his stories, losing track of time. What had started as a Gangnam club story had flowed into a story about getting into trouble at a Busan bar.

"So I said there..."

"Wait, wait a moment."

"Yes? What?"

"I can hear the elevator."

About 15 to 20 minutes had passed? Finally, the sound of the elevator humming could be heard. Wow, I really listened without realizing time was passing. But wasn't 20 minutes quite a long time?

Ding.

"Hey, why did it take so long?"

"I told you 25 might be a bit difficult."

The elevator doors slowly opened, and people stood up to welcome mole guy. Having just heard an entertaining story, small smiles hung on their lips.

"...Huh?"

Until they confirmed the headless corpse inside the elevator.

"Huh? Huh? Huh?"

Acne guy repeated "Huh?" like a broken machine.

"Ah, ahhh..."

The bespectacled woman slumped down as if her legs had given out.

"Kyaa, kyaaaaaah!!!"

The short-haired woman screamed until her face turned bright red. The moment everyone was shocked by their comrade's death.

"Fucking hell."

I was racking my brain to figure out how to handle the situation when someone taking a test died midway. The fact that 'they'll come back alive after regression anyway' was stuck in my mind.

But at some point, I felt an inexplicable heat.

"?"

When I quickly turned my head to the side, the short-haired woman who had been screaming was glowing red all over her body. Along with this, the woman's voice saying 'always active' flashed through my mind.

"...!"

I instinctively jumped backward while awakening the cold mana that had been peacefully sleeping. By the time I had moved about 3 meters away in roughly 0.3 seconds.

"Kyaaaaaaaaah!!!"

Whoooosh!

Bright red flames burst from the short-haired woman's entire body. Since the space we were in was quite narrow, there was nowhere to escape.

"Gasp!"

But I had no intention of regressing so futilely. Drawing cold mana throughout my body, I swung my sword imbued with cold air in large, circular, repeated motions.

Swoooosh!

A barrier of cold sword energy created on the spot blocked the hot flames. This was a defense method I had only imagined in my head, but I couldn't believe it actually worked.

"Haha! I knew this would happen!"

Just before I could smile with victory, raising the corners of my mouth.

"...Huh?"

I felt a cold sensation swirling around my chest area and my muscles contracting excessively, followed by intense pain.

"Ah."

I lost consciousness.

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment of first entry on floor 12.]

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