WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 202

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The regressor runs into trouble (5)

"Wahahahaha!!!"

"Whoa, is that true? Then you're buying drinks today, buddy."

A noisy tavern. Everyone was busy eating, drinking, shouting, and enjoying life.

"It's thousand-year snow ginseng."

I handed the thousand-year snow ginseng to Jang, the round-faced Taoist.

"...Pardon?"

"I heard rumors you're looking for an elixir. Here, please take it."

"P-putting aside how you even found out I was looking for an elixir... isn't this insanely expensive?"

"It is."

"..."

Jang's smug mask cracked, revealing a genuinely flustered expression. First, his face asked how I got this. Then it asked why I was giving it to him. Finally, it asked what kind of lunatic I was.

"So, you'll accept it, right?"

"..."

I forced the box containing the thousand-year snow ginseng onto his hand.

-You have cleared Floor 18.

-If you wish strongly, you can return to reality.

The message window I had been waiting for rose before my eyes. With this, I had cleared Floor 18.

So wishing strongly was the clear condition. I could return to reality right now if I wanted. But I had no intention of stopping here. If I planned to stop here, I would have cleared through another Overseer, or quit regressing once I had built up enough wealth.

Back when I was head merchant, I had already heard stories from other players. Overseers usually marked you as cleared if you brought a decent weapon, brought back an enemy's severed head, or brought a good tonic. None of those were easy to get, but none were impossible either. A capable player could generally get one in one to three months.

Which meant the thousand-year snow ginseng I had just handed over far exceeded Jang's standard.

That was right. I was expecting a hidden reward, or something close to one.

"How did you obtain this?"

Jang looked down at the thousand-year snow ginseng in his hand with an odd look. Experts said it was probably not truly one thousand years old. More like two hundred to five hundred. Even so, in this world it was still incredibly rare, and an eerie chill leaked from the ginseng itself.

In short, it was a ridiculously expensive treasure. And not something a player like me should have been able to obtain.

"Does that matter? What matters is that I want to give it to you."

"There is no favor without a price."

"Then here it is."

Of course, I had no intention of explaining my long regression history here, so I glossed over the details. Half because I expected a reward. Half because I wanted to see this man's reaction.

This man was an Overseer. There had to be something.

"I cannot simply accept this."

As if answering my expectations, Jang's eyes lit up.

"If you truly want to give it to me... then beat me in a spar."

"Do you really think that makes sense?"

"This is my condition. If you cannot accept it, just take it back."

A man insisting on gifting a rare treasure, and a man saying that if he really wanted to give it, he should beat him first.

Why was this man refusing my gift? Was his personality just twisted? Or was there something more?

"Fine."

There was no way I was backing out after coming this far.

A quiet hillside. Jang and I faced each other in a clearing marked with traces of wild animals.

"If you're a swordsman, where's your sword?"

"I had no money... so I pawned it."

"..."

"I can get it back now that I have some breathing room... but fighting with real blades is a bit too brutal, isn't it?"

Jang picked up a branch from the ground and tossed it to me.

"This is enough."

He also picked up a thick branch and gripped it with both hands like a sword.

"..."

Deep down, I had been thinking it would be a waste if I regressed here, so I welcomed the idea of fighting with branches. If I got clipped lightly, there was even a chance I would not regress.

No, enough side talk.

Was this what a true master felt like? He was only holding a branch, yet the pressure was real. This stinging sensation on my skin. This feeling that I could be cut at any moment.

"Haha..."

Now that I knew he was serious, I gripped my own branch and faced him. Let me check what weapons I had right now.

No cold mana, no chill. That change belonged to my original body's mana nature, not a power this body could use. Things might change if I ate the ginseng over there, but this body was not my real body anyway, and I was fighting to give Jang that gift in the first place, so it was meaningless.

Then did I at least have enough mana? Not that either. I had clearly more than an ordinary person, but not enough to force anything through with raw mana. Besides, my opponent was also a martial artist. It was correct to assume I had no mana advantage.

Combat experience? Judging by Jang's rough hands, he had walked through bloodbaths too. No edge there either. Swordsmanship was probably the same.

So what could I confidently say I was better at than him? Nothing. Since I carried the risk of regressing from a single heavy hit, I had to assume I was clearly at a disadvantage.

"I'm coming."

Then again, since when did I only take favorable fights? Isn't a regressor's spirit to slam your head into it first, even if it fails?

If I regress? Then I can just clear it then. I can still regret it later after doing my best now.

I gripped the branch hard.

"Hup!"

I lunged at the enemy in front of me.

Crack! 

The two branches collided hard, bark flying through the air. It was a powerful downward strike, but Jang simply raised his branch horizontally and blocked it with ease.

Right. If I won this too easily, that would be disappointing. I steadied my breath, gathered strength, and swung again.

Head. Groin. Torso. Head again. My attacks were sharp and precise. The branch that had aimed at vital points twisted in an instant and began targeting less critical areas like wrists and legs, and every breath became a foothold for the next strike.

A nonstop chain of attacks. Breathless rapid strikes pushed to this body's limit. Rotation upon rotation made vicious cutting whistles keep bursting from the tip of the branch.

Meanwhile, Jang, who blocked my attacks, was impossible to read.

He looked fierce, yet soft. Heavy, yet fluttering. When it seemed he was being pushed back, he used that recoil to launch a sharp counter. My brutal strikes were deflected with the slightest movement.

"..."

"...!"

Crack! Crack!

I was clearly the one pressing him. But I was also the one growing impatient. If I allowed even one proper counter, I would lose. No, I was already on the edge of defeat. If I could not create an opening while my stamina was still intact, I would lose for certain.

Time to gamble.

"Hoo."

"?!"

I suddenly drew up the sleeping mana inside me. Jang hurriedly raised his inner energy in response, but initiative was mine.

The moment I spread mana through my whole body, I could feel each muscle fiber throbbing. The mana wrapping my branch had no cold aura, but it carried fierce force instead.

No, this still was not enough. I could not activate the Flash Step trait, but I could still load its principle into my footwork. I needed time to focus.

Thud! I stomped the dirt hard with my planted foot. The dirt pellets kicked into the air blocked his vision and became bullets aimed at his eyes. You could call it dirty, but I really wanted to win.

"Urgh!"

Jang staggered. The moment he lost balance lasted only an instant, but in that gap I set my stance. I bent both legs, gripped the handle end of the branch with my right hand, and braced the strike with my left palm against the tip.

A single thrust packed with everything I had realized. I poured in all I had with the thought that if this got blocked, I lost.

No, he could not block this. Jang's inner energy was not fully restored yet. Jang's posture was broken. Jang's right eye was distorted by dirt. I had won.

Right before the fierce branch reached his solar plexus,

"..."

Jang's eyes changed.

"Huh?"

The tip of his branch lightly touched the tip of mine. A feat impossible even if someone told you to do it.

At that same moment, my branch stopped. Like someone pressed pause in a game. Like a hand had snatched it in midair. With no recoil transmitted to me, it truly stopped.

Softness overcomes hardness. No matter how much force I applied, no matter how I twisted my body, the branch would not move, as if fixed in empty air.

"Your mind is impatient. And you fear being hurt. Considering the level you have reached, that is quite strange."

He was only speaking simple sentences, yet a mystical air drifted from right in front of me. A dizzying depth in the slight curve of his lips. A faint mist spreading over the ground.

This man was not the same man I had been fighting a moment ago. He was beyond that... no, saying "beyond" felt almost embarrassing. He was on a completely different plane.

"But... excellent. I can see your effort. Still, I hope you learn there is no need to cling too hard to one side. The world is not made of only black and white."

Yes, an immortal sage. What he was showing now was close to an immortal sage. Not a fake one I had imitated, but the real thing.

The natural pressure only someone layered with years could reveal. The mystery rising from a lofty realm.

His shabby clothes, youthful face, and round features were unchanged... yet this man looked more like an immortal sage than anyone else.

"If it is you... you can do it."

I stared at him in a daze. The man smiled and handed the thousand-year snow ginseng back to me.

Then I lost consciousness.

-You have cleared Floor 18.

"Congratulations."

"..."

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Dry applause. The angel I had seen when I first entered Floor 18 was clapping for me.

So I had cleared it. The chill racing through my body felt unfamiliar. This body overflowing with strength felt uncomfortable.

No, more than that.

"...An immortal sage?"

I replayed what I had just seen. Had he said, "You can do it"? It seemed pretending not to know this place was the Tower had been an act. Or maybe the lofty personality hidden inside him had briefly slipped out.

I thought about the words he said at the end and the movement he showed. The world is not only black and white. Those words landed deeply on me, someone caught between Choi Ji-won's path and the elder's path.

For now... should I return to reality? Choi Ji-won had probably cleared it by now.

"You need to take this with you."

I was about to leave Floor 18, but the angel stopped me.

I followed the tip of his finger with my eyes.

"...Haha."

In the spot where I had been lying, the thousand-year snow ginseng was resting there.

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