WeTried Translations
Translator: ZEROSUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Regression is Too Much
Chapter 167
──────
The regressor wanders (3)
[Entering Floor 15.]
In the brief moment between closing and opening my eyes, my gaze instinctively drifted upward toward the sky.
"...Oh?"
A black Milky Way was embroidered across the heavens. I gazed up at the universe, and the universe gazed down at me. Twinkling stars. A brilliant sun. Endless darkness. The sky was woven in a mysterious ink-black hue.
"...But the sun is visible too?"
What felt deeply out of place, though, was that despite the sky being pitch black, the sun was also clearly visible. It was like looking at a photograph of the sun taken from a spaceship.
"...Is this outer space or something?"
Only then did I lower my head and take in my surroundings. I was standing near the summit of a mountain, and the ground beneath my feet, the entire mountain itself, was completely black.
With both the sky and the mountain draped in black, it should have been hard to see anything around me, but...
"...Wow."
Aside from this mountain, everything in sight was covered in lava. It looked as though this mountain was bobbing on an ocean of molten rock. Strangely enough, even though lava stretched as far as the eye could see, the air was not particularly hot. Breathing was easy too.
"..."
If I went down the mountain from here, I would just end up plunging straight into magma. In the end, the only option left was to head for the summit. I leisurely scanned my surroundings as I climbed the rough, jagged mountain. There were no signs of other people. This floor seemed to be a solo one.
"The message window never shows up when you actually need it."
How long had I been climbing? I had been so absorbed in taking in the scenery that before I knew it, I had reached the top.
"...A person?"
A wide, sunken pit sat at the peak of the mountain. At its center, a single silhouette was visible.
"..."
There was nothing else in sight besides that person anyway. I carefully made my way down into the pit, moving toward the figure at the center, making sure not to lose my footing.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
A rhythmic sound echoed through the silent mountain. As I walked toward the center of the pit, I paused briefly to pick up something lying on the ground.
"...A figurine?"
A dog? A wolf? I could not tell exactly what it was, but it was a fist-sized figurine depicting something from the canine family. Judging by the color and texture, the material of the figurine seemed to be the same as the mountain itself.
The closer I got to the center of the pit, the more figurines there were. Some resembled human forms. Others looked like animals. And some were closer to the shape of a dragon straight out of legend. The craftsman's skill seemed impressive, but the stone pieces were so small that fine detail appeared difficult to achieve.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
After examining the figurines one by one as I made my way to the center, I finally came face to face with the culprit behind all the tapping.
"...Who goes there?"
I could not even tell if they were a man or a woman. An elderly person with skin so wrinkled it looked shriveled was hammering away at a small stone carving with a chisel and mallet, addressing me as they worked. Their tone was casual, like a neighbor greeting the kid next door.
"..."
Honestly speaking... this was suspicious. Incredibly suspicious.
The atmosphere of Floor 15 felt completely detached from every other floor. The cosmic black sky, the lava covering every visible surface, and the fact that the only person here was this wrinkly cocoon of an elder.
"Who are you?"
"Did I not ask first?"
Despite their haggard appearance, the elder spoke in a surprisingly clear voice.
"My name is Kim Jun-ho."
"I see."
"...Are you not going to tell me who you are?"
"Why should I?"
"..."
"I'm kidding, kidding. I'm, well... something like a caretaker."
Tap. Tap.
The elder chuckled as they tapped away at the stone in their hand. I did not laugh. I just stared at them in silence, because a terrifying possibility had suddenly crossed my mind.
"By any chance..."
"Hm?"
"Are you the god who created this Tower?"
In novels, was there not always some mysterious figure who appeared at either the beginning or the end, greeting you with something like, "Hello, I'm God"? Given the bizarre environment of Floor 15, and the fact that this person was the only thing sitting here in the middle of nothing... I thought it was a perfectly reasonable suspicion.
"Khehehe... Young man, you have quite the imagination. Why would a god show up on Floor 15? Even if one did appear, it would have to be much later than this."
But the elder dismissed my question with an amused laugh. Judging by the fact that he had just mentioned "Floor 15," he seemed to be the type who knew this place was a Tower.
"Then what exactly do you do? And what do you mean by caretaker?"
"Let's stop the questions about me here. I cannot say, and even if I did, you would not be able to understand."
"...Understood."
Tap!
The stone the elder had been chipping away at was finished. It was an adorably tiny goblin figurine. It looked pretty well-made to me, but the elder let out a deep sigh.
"Phew. Stone is terribly difficult to work with. Now then, let me explain the task for Floor 15."
The elder set down his mallet and waved his wrinkled right hand through the air, and a string of text floated up before my eyes.
-[10] Weapon Technique Training Assistant
-[9] C-grade Trait Selection
-[8] Refined Mana Stone
...
-[1] The Elder's Wise Counsel.
"Go ahead and pick one."
"What are all these?"
"Rewards. Just pick whichever you like."
"...And after I pick one?"
"Then Floor 15 is done. You just go back to reality."
<Floor 15>
-Select your reward.
As if urging me to hurry up and choose, the message window finally appeared. After a moment of deliberation, I took two steps back from where I stood.
Shing!
I drew my sword from its scabbard. Because no matter how I looked at it, this elder seemed to be lying.
"What's your intention?"
"...My intention?"
"These rewards, what's the catch? And what do the numbers next to them mean?"
"Those are values I assigned based on what I think each reward is worth. And a catch? What catch are you talking about?"
The elder tilted his head as if genuinely confused. My grip on the sword tightened.
"From Floor 11 through Floor 14, every floor was designed so that one person's greed would hurt everyone else. And now you're just going to hand me a reward and tell me to take it? You expect me to believe that?"
"...It seems there's been a misunderstanding."
Still sitting on the ground, the elder pointed at my armor.
"That armor and sword. Where did you get them?"
"...Floor 11."
"Were they useful? No, they must have been. Dwarven craftsmanship deserves that much credit."
"Get to the point."
"On Floor 12 as well. Floor 13 as well. Floor 14 as well. Did you not grow stronger? It is true that the floors were designed to impose slight penalties when players did not work well together, but... you surely grew through them. Did you not?"
"Are you the archangel in charge of Floors 11 through 15?"
"No. But think of me as a helper who had a small hand in the design of each floor."
"..."
"Floors 11 through 15 were not designed to torment the climbers. On the contrary, they were floors built with the hope that climbers would grow stronger. I, and the archangel... we want the climbers to become strong. You mentioned a catch earlier? There is no price you need to pay. Choose your reward with ease. Think of it as a sort of bonus."
The elder smiled gently. Honestly... I could not take his words entirely at face value. But there was a ring of sincerity in his voice. Then again, it could also be an act. I simply did not have enough evidence to determine the truth.
Questioning could come later. For now, I would clear Floor 15 first, then gather information, including reviews from other players. I was a regressor, and I had all the time in the world.
Of course, blindly picking the [10] reward made me uneasy for some reason. There was a chance the elder's words were a trap, and trials corresponding to the number might actually be waiting. With that in mind, my choice was:
"I apologize for doubting you. In that case, I'll take the [1] reward, the Elder's Wise Counsel."
"...Are you sure? It is nothing more than me giving you a piece of advice."
"I’m certain."
"Hmm... Very well."
I chose "the Elder's Wise Counsel," the one with the lowest number and the most trivial appearance. If there was a trap hidden in this, it would not matter.
"All right then, ask away. What kind of advice do you want? If it is something I can answer, I will tell you with all my sincerity."
"Hmm..."
But now that I was actually told to ask a question, nothing came to mind in a flash. The detailed design of Floor 11? The identity of the god who created the Tower? Their true intentions? For anything that deep, it did not seem like he would give me a real answer.
Then again, asking something too trivial would be a waste... but I had Regression. No need to overthink it. I would just ask whatever I was most curious about right now.
Having made up my mind, I pulled out a question that had been sitting in the back of my thoughts for the past few days.
"On Floor 13 and Floor 14... were there any hidden routes?"
"...What do you mean by hidden routes?"
"I mean, aside from the set method... were there elements where you could earn additional rewards, or where the progression changed?"
Floors 13 and 14. I wanted to confirm whether my gut feeling that hidden routes existed there was right, or wrong.
"I'm not sure what you mean by hidden route, but... there is a way for the progression to change."
"Is that so?"
"On Floor 13, once all the horses die, a puppet appears to guide the way to the village... and on Floor 14, there is one additional hidden material. But the rewards do not change or anything like that. It simply speeds up the process of completing the machine."
"..."
"Think of them as safety nets of sorts. Let me give you some examples... on Floor 12, you actually do not die even if you fail the test. You simply receive no rewards. And do you remember the passage stone from Floor 11? If the dwarf who makes the passage stone dies in some kind of accident... the angel grants the ability to craft one to a different dwarf. There should never be a situation where a floor becomes permanently impossible to clear."
The elder's words fit together logically, with no inconsistencies. Floors 1 through 5 had hidden elements, sure, but just as Floors 6 through 10 had none, it made sense that Floors 11 through 15 simply had none either.
And yet... something still felt off. A nagging sense that I was missing something. Even if Floors 13 and 14 truly had no hidden elements, it felt like I was overlooking a bigger picture.
"Well then, with this, you have cleared Floor 15. I wish you good fortune."
But without giving me time to think, the elder clapped his hands together. At the same instant, a blue portal materialized beside me. There really was no trap after all. He was just letting me clear it.
"I have another goblin to carve. I can't focus with someone hovering around, so off you go."
"...Understood."
I had so many questions swirling in my head, so many things I still wanted to ask, but... for now, I decided to just clear Floor 15. If I had questions, I could always come back after regressing and ask then. For the time being, I judged it was the right moment to return to reality and verify some information.
After stepping through the portal, I arrived back at my studio apartment and saw Ji-won staring at her phone.
"Ji-won? Did you do Floor 15..."
I was about to casually ask her how Floor 15 went, but.
"...Jun-ho? Can you come here for a second?"
Ji-won called out to me, her eyes fixed on the phone screen with a grave expression.
<Refreshing! Clean! Just for you! Available at your nearest pharmacy!>
Judging by the sound coming from her phone, she seemed to be watching some kind of product advertisement.
"What's going on? Why are you stopping in the middle of watching YouTube..."
Without thinking much of it, I walked toward Ji-won, but the moment I saw the phone screen, I froze.
The audio was just an ordinary commercial. But the screen was different. Covered in red text, there was no way this was an advertisement.
Like an elementary schooler making their first PowerPoint presentation, red letters filled the entire ad screen. They read:
-This is Michael Zetter, president of the Player Association. I need help from players who have cleared Floor 15. Please contact me at the email below. Especially Choi Ji-won. I am waiting for you. Please do not inform the Association.
It was a message from Michael Zetter, the Player Association president who had supposedly gone silent.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
