2 – Regressors too weak (2)
“… Hmm. Is there anyone who would like to speak up? Or even constructive feedback? Now, are you willing to consider it positively?”
A fairy talking right above my head.
But I couldn’t really concentrate on the fairy’s words.
‘… They said they returned because they suffered damage.’
[Damaged.]
[Return to the moment you first entered the 0th floor.]
This is the message I saw right before the regression.
One thing to note is the word ‘damage’.
Before returning, the only damage I received was a tiny wound that was scratched by a blade of grass and dripped with blood.
In terms of game, it was a minor damage that only took 1 damage.
However, the system regarded it as ‘damage’, and I returned to the moment I first entered the tower.
But it could be a mere coincidence. An experiment seemed necessary.
“… “
I flicked my fingers strongly against the palm of my hand, watching the fairy notice.
Tak!
I hit my palm hard enough to feel a bit warm, but there was no sign of returning.
“Hmm… “
It doesn’t seem to be treated as ‘damage’ to this extent.
Puck!
This time, he hit the lower arm hard with his fist.
A tingling sensation spread all over her arm, and her skin was about to turn slightly red.
[Damaged.]
[Return to the moment you first entered the 0th floor.]
***
“f*ck! Where are you!”
“… “
With the familiar bald man’s voice, he slowly gets up from the dirt floor.
The blow didn’t seem to return unless someone hit it with a lot of force.
It’s fortunate. Later, when I was hit by a shoulder strap on the road, there was no sudden return.
But the experiment isn’t over yet.
I strongly pinched the back of my hand with my fingernail.
“… It won’t come back again.”
I pinched it hard enough to leave a red mark, but it showed no signs of returning.
He jumped up from his seat and tore off a single blade of grass growing around him.
“… “
I get goosebumps thinking about hurting myself with this.
The creepy feeling of cutting through the paper while reading a book.
I have a strong instinctive reluctance, but I had to do it.
Saaak.
I drew a long blade of grass on the back of my hand.
“Ugh, f*ck.”
An unpleasant sensation that gives you goosebumps. Drops of blood ooze from the back of your hand.
[Damaged.]
[Return to the moment you first entered the 0th floor.]
***
“f*ck! Where are you!”
With this, the conditions for regression were grasped to some extent. The blow will return only after receiving a fairly strong blow, but it will return immediately the moment it is cut in any way. Even if it’s not a weapon, but a blade of grass.
“f*cked.”
I tried my best, but no matter how much I think about it, I feel like I’m screwed.
Because the hurdles for regression conditions are too low.
It is not a level that can be passed simply as ‘Isn’t it good to do frequent regression?’.
Let’s compare this with regression by death.
Death returners usually have no regrets when returning. Why? I was in a situation where I would die anyway, but it was better to return unconditionally.
But I have a different story.
Even if things are going the way I want them to, I can be forced to return with just a little mistake.
If death regression is a racehorse with a well-tamed breed, it is like riding a wild horse in a vast meadow.
“Hello! You lowly human beings who are wasting their lives in exasperation! Nice to meet you!”
After thinking about it for a while, the fairy of the tutorial appeared just in time.
“… I’ll just give you the essential explanation and skip it? I don’t want to do it either, but it’s a procedure, so I can’t help it.”
I heard the explanation of the fairy I already knew with one ear and let it out with the other.
“The status is different!!!!!!”
“Status window!”
“Changing the status!”
At this point, people are shouting the status window here and there.
This is the point where I regressed.
When I saw the word “Return” In the status window, I ran out excitedly, but then I returned because my ankle was cut by grass.
Looking back, it was an idiotic regression.
After a brief madness where people shouting status windows here and there are over.
Gongteo fell into a lull again.
My choice here was to wait and see.
Information has always been a valuable resource for regressors.
Rather than actively stepping out, I wanted to collect information first.
And from what I observed, people were divided into three main categories.
First. People who get together and talk to each other to soothe anxiety.
“Mom would be worried… “
“I came here while cooking… What if the house catches fire?”
Perhaps it was for escape from reality, there were people who talked about everyday life, not at the top.
“By any chance, what are your characteristics?”
“… Doesn’t the characteristic appear?”
“… Is it so?”
There was also an insidious person who secretly looked at the other person.
Meanwhile, the second group was hanging out near a pile of weapons in the middle of the clearing.
“Hmm… I like swords.”
“Don’t you know that’s a story that comes out of a novel? In practice, it is unconditionally a spear, a spear.”
People picking up their favorite weapon and fiddling with it.
“Oops, why is this so heavy?”
“If I wield this incorrectly, my back will break?”
Of course, modern people didn’t have a chance to wield a weapon, so the posture was sloppy.
But these guys were preparing to fight. It is clearly aware that this place is a ‘top’.
And the third and final category… Everyone was doing something.
Puck! Puck!
A man scooping up the ground with a shovel that had been mixed up in a pile of weapons.
Huung! Whoo!
A woman repeating the motion of slashing down a sword inorganically.
“Hmm… Hmm… “
Even one man who seems to be searching for something, wading through a pile of weapons.
Everyone was wasting their strength doing bizarre things.
Unable to overcome my intense curiosity, I approached the man who was digging.
The one who was digging was a man in his 40s who looked like an ordinary office worker wearing a suit, no.
The suit pants had already been ripped off and remodeled into shorts, as if they were annoying, and the jacket was buried in a pile of dirt, leaving only the sleeves sticking out.
Puck! Puck!
A man digging diligently with his shirt’s arms rolled up.
“Hey.”
I tried talking carefully.
A man stops digging and moves his eyes to me while wiping the sweat from his forehead.
“… What.”
A blunt answer came back, but I didn’t care.
“This is the ground. Why are you selling it?”
“I don’t know.”
A man who seems to be extremely wary of me.
“… All right.”
He backed off meekly, but he seemed to know what the man was thinking.
Hidden Peace.
The third type of people were looking for Hidden Peace from the beginning, probably because they had read too many web novels or webtoons.
A treasure was hidden on the floor at the beginning of the tutorial, or a skill was given after swinging a sword 100,000 times in the tutorial… There was a legendary weapon hidden in a pile of ordinary weapons.
From anyone’s point of view, it was an act close to bullsh*t, but I didn’t want to stop them.
If I really do find something, I just have to go back and steal it.
I settled down next to a group of people talking again.
The fairy in the tutorial earlier mentioned ‘system’.
I was going to wait until something happened.
I didn’t know the exact time because I didn’t have a watch, but it felt like about 10 minutes had passed.
A translucent message window appeared before my eyes.
“What, what?”
“… Notification?”
Judging from other people’s reactions, it seems that I’m not the only one who sees it.
I turned my gaze to the message in front of me again.
-Clear Condition 1: If you swallow the ‘Golden Orb’ hidden somewhere in the forest, you can move on to the next stage. However, there are only 50 golden orbs.
-Clear condition 2: Defeat the boss, goblin shaman, and a portal will be created to move on to the next stage.
“Hmm… “
At a cursory glance, the number of people in the vacant lot far exceeded 50. This tower was forcing people to choose between the two.
Will everyone work together to defeat the goblin shaman, or will you use the golden orb to find your way out?
Usually, someone would come out here saying, ‘Let’s all work together to catch the boss!’.
It seems that everyone here is selfish, but no one wants to join forces with everyone.
“… Shall we go together?”
“You. It seems to use some force. Go together how is it?”
Catching a goblin shaman is scary. I need to find the golden orb. In the end, people who go out to find allies who will give courage instead of me.
“Hey… If you don’t have a team… “
Although I have received several recruitment offers of my own.
“… Sorry.”
I had no choice but to refuse.
In the first place, I couldn’t even go outside because of the bushes.
Like that, middle-aged people who deny the existence of the system and cowards who don’t have the courage to fight in the first place. And, except for some geeks, I left the vacant lot in search of my own way.
“… “
Huung! Whoo!
Only then did I pick up a sword and settle down next to the woman who was still striking down the sword.
Earlier, I saw her brandishing her sword menacingly at a man who offered her a party. Talking about it for nothing would be a negative.
“… “
A woman who gave me one glance, then continued to swing her sword while ignoring me.
She is an oriental beauty with black hair tied with a string and a ponytail that suits her very well. Of course, being pretty has nothing to do with me.
Huung!
“Ugh… “
I tried to swing the sword with a big heart, but it seems like her shoulder is about to come off.
Sword, this is much heavier than I thought. Adjusting the cutting direction is not an ordinary task.
But you have to get used to the sword.
If I don’t get stronger, I’ll be forever regressing in tutorials.
The tower I know is a space where the weak cannot survive.
The body continues to recur. What I have to get used to with the sword is my mind.
Huung! Whoo!
I will definitely become a hero.
Definitely.
I’m not sure how much time has passed. Seeing as the sun is about to set, it doesn’t seem like a short time.
“Whoa.”
I swung my sword so much that my hands trembled. I barely stopped for fear that if I did more, my palms would peel off and return.
Huung! Whoo!
A woman with a ponytail who is still brandishing a sword, as if she is not tired.
“Kya.”
Looking at it like this, it’s really pretty. Her nose is also sharp… The point under her eyes is also s*xy…
Thrill!
The woman turned her head and glared at me, as if she felt my gaze on her face.
“… “
A regressor must always have a goal.
And I just set my first milestone goal.
Befriend that girl, learn the sword.
Of course, getting stronger is a bonus. Seeing this, we call it killing two birds with one stone.
Puck! Puck!
Huung! Whoo!
Like that, I was setting my own goal alone using the sound of digging and swinging a sword as ASMR.
“Quaaagh!”
The shrieking sounds of humans can be heard from somewhere in the distance.
I don’t know anything else, but I can’t forget that voice. It was the voice of a bald man who used to get annoyed every time he returned.
“… f*ck.”
A person died.