WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 217

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The regressor is too strong (4)

"What do we do?"

It was already too late to stop them. Unless I cracked them in the back of the head, there was no way to make those people stop.

"For now... let's go to the Exchange."

"Yeah... we should."

They were running after possibility, while we were already holding a guaranteed reward.

Of course, we were in no position to take our time, so we quickened our pace and headed back to the village. The sun had set long ago and it was already night, but the Exchange building was still brightly lit. Since this place was a game at its core, facilities like this seemed to run on flexible hours.

"Welcome!"

"Here."

"A submission item? Please wait a moment!"

The Exchange clerk took the Essence of the Mountain with a bright smile. When she put the glass bottle into a strange-looking machine, it vanished in a sparkle effect.

"Please wait just a little!"

"Okay..."

A drumroll rattled in my ears, dududududu. I'd already seen this when I regressed last time, so I felt nothing in particular, but Choi Ji-won flinched beside me.

After about ten seconds, the clerk pulled out a rolled scroll. Last time, when I submitted a tree branch, it had a big F written on it.

"Oh...?"

But this time, even the paper looked different. It was rainbow-colored. In most gacha games, gold is right below top tier and rainbow is top tier, so...

"The rarity is SS-grade! Congratulations!"

As the clerk said that with a bright smile, fanfare blared around us and fireworks popped. [Congratulations!] flashed in front of my eyes too.

"Wow."

Choi Ji-won let out a small gasp, mouth hanging open in pure admiration.

SS-grade, of all things. It wasn't quite the SSS-grade people had talked about, but it still meant we'd pulled an almost best-possible card. At this level, it was fair to say we'd cleared Floor 22 successfully in a short time. Good thing we finished faster than expected.

"But!"

"...But?"

That thought didn't even last five seconds.

"Since there are two submitted items... the rarity dropped, so it became S+ grade! SS-grade is one and only, based on there being just one!"

"What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"It's the law of supply and demand! All submissions are sent to the auction house and sold, and if there are two of the same item, the value has to drop. SS-grade is the rarity assigned when the item is still undiscovered and unknown."

"..."

Setting aside the game-like error of undiscovered items already having assigned rarity, she wasn't wrong. She wasn't wrong, but getting downgraded because we submitted two still felt bad. Still, S+ was good enough to let slide.

"Wait."

No, maybe this wasn't something I could just brush off.

"Um... Miss clerk?"

"Please, speak freely. What is it?"

"If... and I really mean if... around twenty more Essence of the Mountain were submitted, what would happen...? Right before ours goes into auction."

Submission and reward confirmation didn't happen immediately.

'Outside the village, you can find all kinds of things! Animal hides, useful herbs, a bag someone lost, and if you're very lucky, even a legendary mineral! Bring it back to the village and submit it to the 'Exchange,' and its value will be decided through an auction after 12 hours.'

According to what the village chief had said, and from what I'd experienced myself, the auction that set the grade happened twelve hours after submission. Only after those twelve hours passed did a portal back to reality appear, and rewards were then given on Floor 1.

But what if, before those twelve hours passed, massive amounts of the reward I brought were dumped into the market...?

"Then of course the rarity drops even further!"

The Exchange clerk answered with a bright smile.

"As quantity increases, lowered rarity gradually recovers over time... but 'rare' items are an exception!"

"...Why?"

"Because those are the rules!"

"..."

"If twenty more appear... it'd probably drop to S- grade, maybe even A+ grade. But that would never happen, right?"

I wanted to say, I'm asking because it seems like it could happen right now, but the words stopped at my throat. What a mess. I understood why those people had run off earlier, and at the same time anger and irritation surged up.

Right. If normal rewards capped out at A-grade, I'd run too just to get A+ grade. They probably camped in the village square waiting for someone to find the hidden piece.

"Tsk..."

I could've cursed out loud, but I was a calm, rational regressor. What mattered here was figuring out why this had happened.

How did they learn our location? I had a rough idea.

"Where are you going?"

"Village shop."

With Ji-won's wrist in my hand, I headed straight to the village shop. Maybe this place had system correction too, because it was still open in the dead of night.

"Here to buy items? But... you have no money."

The shop owner narrowed his eyes at us. He was right. The village chief had said we could buy items with rewards earned by helping villagers, and we really had no money.

"Yeah, we don't have money, but can we at least look around?"

"Well, nothing wrong with that. Take your time."

Leaving the yawning shop owner behind, I inspected the goods on display.

Most of the items were meant to help with adventuring, and at a glance they looked pretty useful. Enough to let weaker players explore, basically.
But not what I wanted. I wanted an item that could reveal another person's location.

"Hey, sir."

"What."

"Do you have any items that can be used on other players?"

"Sure, got a few. Over there."

He pointed to a corner of the shop. When I looked closely, I finally saw the items I'd been looking for.

-Strength Gauge Talisman
-Tear this talisman, and for one hour you can tell whether someone is weaker or stronger than you.

-Guardian Angel
-If you are hit by an attack that would reduce HP to 0, the attack is nullified and the attacker is trapped in a soap bubble for a short time.

-Value Appraisal Glasses
-You can see the total value of the target's submitted items.

"Oh ho."

They'd probably used the Strength Gauge Talisman too. The reason they studied me so carefully when they first met me was likely because I looked strong. Then when Choi Ji-won showed up, their focus shifted to her. But I still couldn't find what I wanted, an item that revealed location.

"Jun-ho, isn't this it?"

While I was thinking, Choi Ji-won, who had been rummaging through items beside me, tapped my shoulder.

"What is it? Let me see."

"This."

-Friend Registration Ticket.
-You can register one other player as a friend. Stay with your friend always!

"...What is this."

"Register someone as a friend and you get several benefits. First, cooperative gathering becomes more efficient, you get a bonus when camping together, and most importantly, you can see the other person's location and status. If you have a teammate you play with, why not register them as a friend first?"

The shop owner recited the line like he'd memorized it.

This was it. One hundred percent this. I couldn't see any other item that tracked other players' locations, and that shady name, Registration Ticket, gave me a bad feeling right away.

"Wait, so they can just register me as a friend without even asking me? Sir, do you have some kind of friend deletion ticket?"

"No such thing. The more friends, the better. If you fought with a friend, why not clear the bad blood while adventuring?"

"..."

Another memorized line from the shop owner. It fit the bright, adventure-pushing tone, but from the perspective of someone being stalked, it sounded like the police saying there was nothing they could do.

"Hmm..."

As long as they could register us as friends unilaterally, it was safer to assume there were no secrets. They had already seen Choi Ji-won's face, so they'd likely picked their target. No matter where we went, they'd keep following us and aim for our rewards. Anyone on Floor 22 at this point was probably very strong. If people like that were willing to spend their time camping here, they clearly wanted results worth the trouble.

"What do we do?"

It was true I wanted to clear the Tower in the most decent way possible, but I wasn't doing this as charity. This wasn't about sharing rewards because I respected them as strong players, either. I had no intention of sitting back while they swarmed in and snatched what we found.

So what should I do? Think. There had to be some workable plan.

"Jun-ho, I thought about it."

Choi Ji-won tilted her head slightly and cracked her knuckles.

"From this village to that mountain and back is about ten hours total, right? Add in the time to collect the essence and all that, and it comes out to around twelve hours. That's how long it took us."

"Right."

"But those people left a little earlier, so they'll be back in this village in about eight hours from now. Right?"

"Right."

"So... if we don't want our rarity affected, we just need to delay those people from submitting the Essence of the Mountain by four hours, right?"

"...Can we do that?"

"Maybe, if we explain it properly? We found it first anyway, and if they submit early, everyone just loses together."

She had a point. If they had even a little conscience left, they might let us go first since we found the hidden piece before them. If that happened, this could end cleanly.

"Hmm..."

But what if things didn't go well? What if conflict broke out?

"Then, well."

Choi Ji-won smiled.

"We'll have to find another solution, right?"

-Bzzzz.

Bung-bung at her waist vibrated ominously. I could only hope that sword wouldn't have to come out.

Four hours later.

"No, that's a bit much for us too."

"Sorry?"

Things didn't always go the way I wanted.

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