The Regressor Is Tired (4)
The Regressor Is Tired (4)
[You have entered Floor 11.]
The moment I opened my eyes, I saw tall trees. Green moss carpeted the ground like the thinnest of rugs, and a cool earthy scent tickled my nose.
Cool sunlight filtered through the gaps in the dense canopy. A thin morning mist hung in the air, and the grass brushing my ankles was damp with dew.
"Wow. This place has atmosphere."
If I had to compare it to Earth... warmer than Norway, colder than France—exactly like a Danish forest. Moderately chilly, but with a hint of warmth.
"Sss-haah."
I took a deep breath, savoring the scent of nature, then looked down to check my condition.
"Again with this?"
What I was wearing was leather armor, so familiar it was tiresome. This leather armor seemed to be the default until you equipped your own gear before entering the Tower.
Other than that, I had my Transparent Gloves, my scabbard, my subspace... everything I should have was there.
"Ssssssssss..."
Once I'd finished checking my condition, I took another deep breath. This time, with a different purpose.
"Ji-won!!"
Ji-won, Ji-won, Ji-won, Ji, Ji, Ji...
My booming voice carried through the morning air. Is this okay when we haven't even figured out what Floor 11 is like? Of course not. It's a stupid thing to do—you'll draw aggro, and you have no idea what might happen.
"If I weren't a Regressor, that is."
Yes, if I weren't a Regressor. If we didn't see each other right after entering Floor 11, we'd agreed I would call out like this to find her. Choi Ji-won, with her keen senses, would hear me and find me quickly.
"Then now..."
Now, let's try drinking the elixir. I opened my personal subspace and smoothly took it out. The beginning of Floor 11 was the perfect time to test its effect.
I had planned to drink the elixir if my cold got worse, but I had no idea if it would even work. So I needed to test it now, when there was no risk, to see if it actually had an effect.
Why wait until Floor 11 to drink the elixir instead of copying it on Floor 1 and drinking it earlier? Remember the pill I got as a Floor 1 reward? Same reason.
Even if you copied the pill using Floor 1's function and consumed it, the stats wouldn't increase repeatedly. The elixir couldn't be copied at all. The Tower had clearly blocked it for the same reason.
Well, if the elixir could be copied, that would have been broken in its own way. The moment you got one original elixir, you could essentially let every player in the world drink it. (If you kept the original and endlessly circulated copies, it would theoretically be possible.)
"Hoo."
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
I opened the cap of the antique glass bottle and savored the elixir one drop at a time. The cool sensation that started in my throat soon spread throughout my body, creating a pleasant shiver.
After drinking the whole bottle, the effect was astonishing.
"Whoa, so this is an elixir?"
The lingering cold symptoms were utterly gone. The scratchy throat, the slight feverish feeling, the fatigue that had spread through my whole body—all vanished, and my body returned to its pristine state.
As expected, this is an elixir. Even just the name carried weight far beyond a potion. Right. An elixir that didn't work would be unacceptable. It's the ultimate cure in fantasy worlds. This confirmed that if my condition ever got bad, I could just drink the elixir.
I nodded to myself, satisfied, when I sensed someone nearby.
"Jun-ho!"
"Oh, you're here?"
"Yeah. It wasn't very far."
The approaching presence turned out to be Choi Ji-won, just arriving. We'd started close together, so it hadn't taken her long at all.
"You came from over there?"
"Right. After the regression, you came to find me this time."
"Got it."
I had confirmed the elixir's effect and that Floor 11 was a floor meant for multiple people. Most importantly, Choi Ji-won was with me. I was confident that no matter what came up on Floor 11, we could clear it easily.
I bit my cheek with a satisfied smile.
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 11.]
***
"...What do you mean you see something?"
"Yeah. Can't you see something like a wall way over there?"
"...I can't see it."
"It's okay. Honestly, I wouldn't have noticed it myself if Boongboong-yi hadn't pointed it out—it was so faint."
As soon as I regressed, I met up with Choi Ji-won, and we walked along a bumpy dirt road. According to her, there was something at the end of this path, but no matter how much I squinted, I couldn't see it at all.
<Floor 11>
-Clear Condition: Purchase a Passage Stone and submit it to the Angel.
"'Purchase'?"
A message window popped up at just the right time. The noteworthy part was the instruction to 'purchase' a Passage Stone.
It didn't say 'obtain' or 'find', but 'purchase'. The word 'purchase' implied a transaction, and a transaction requires interaction between intelligent beings.
"Isn't an Otherworlder acting as a shopkeeper going to appear?"
Choi Ji-won shrugged lightly. As she said, 'purchase' suggested the presence of a shop or a merchant. Or maybe something like a vending machine could exist.
"Ah, now I can see it too."
While we walked without a destination, exchanging opinions, what Choi Ji-won had described as a wall revealed itself. No, to be precise, it was a palisade made of wood.
"Oh..."
Sharply pointed logs were lined up densely, forming a menacing wall. The word 'fortress' immediately came to mind. I imagined a medieval fortress might have looked like this.
"Looks like we need to get the 'Passage Stone' here?"
The message window had mentioned a 'transaction,' and there was a path through the dense forest. Floor 11 clearly smelled of civilization. It seemed like we had arrived somewhere in another world, like Floor 2.
"...Where's the entrance?"
"We'll probably find it if we keep walking."
As we walked along the fortress perimeter looking for the entrance, a large wooden gate appeared. As fortress gates usually do, the main gate was shut, and people were coming and going through a side door.
"Wow."
No, not people. They were short, only reaching my waist. They had thick beards. But their bodies were solid with muscle.
"Dwarves."
Dwarves I'd seen countless times in fiction were living and breathing before my eyes. I'd been amazed seeing yetis and goblins, but dwarves moved me even more.
"Ahem, hello?"
I spoke to a dwarf who had just come out of the wooden fortress, carrying a large bag. I figured since I had been able to communicate with goblins, I could also communicate with dwarves.
"..."
But the dwarf coolly ignored me and kept walking. As if I were invisible, he walked on indifferently, with an air of indifference.
"...Excuse me?"
What's this? Was he deaf? Or could he really not see me? Wondering if this was also a Tower gimmick, I grabbed his arm.
"...!"
Grab!
As if something dirty had touched him, the dwarf violently shook my arm off. He glared at me briefly, then went on his way again.
"...What's his problem?"
"That's disconcerting."
What was this? I hadn't expected such a reaction from a first meeting. Had something bad happened? Or were dwarves always like that?
Thinking maybe it was just that one dwarf, I tried talking to others, but all I got was cold indifference. That confirmed it. The dwarves disliked us.
"...Hmm."
"..."
The atmosphere was seriously off. There was something we were missing. While Choi Ji-won bit her lip lightly and I let out a low groan...
"Hey, there."
"?"
"Did you just arrive? No, you definitely just did."
We heard a voice calling to us from near the main road connected to the gate.
"...Shall we go see?"
"Let's."
When we headed toward the source, we found a group of people in leather armor huddled together, squatting. If they had just been sitting, I would have thought they were resting, but...
"...Why are you like that?"
They looked to be in extremely poor condition. Their cheeks were sunken, their bodies covered in filth, their hair matted and caked. The word 'wretched' fit them perfectly.
Since they wore the same armor as us, they were players. But if they were players, the situation became extremely strange.
It had been three months since the first tutorial began, but if they were on Floor 11, they were among the top ranks. Choi Ji-won, the strongest in Korea, had just entered Floor 11.
Even if they had been summoned at the very first tutorial or around that time and had an extra month on us... being here meant they had exceptional skill. They shouldn't look like beggars.
"...Choi Ji-won?"
One of them appeared to recognize Choi Ji-won, his eyes going wide. That person seemed to be the group's representative, as he dusted himself off and stood up.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Felix Hoffmann."
The man who introduced himself as Felix Hoffmann was a handsome Germanic man with dull blond hair and blue eyes. That 'handsomeness' assumed the absence of all the grime.
"I'm Choi Ji-won."
Felix and Choi Ji-won lightly shook hands. After the handshake, a black smudge of soot was left on Choi Ji-won's glove.
"..."
Felix Hoffmann. I'd seen him on the internet. I'd heard he was probably the hottest player in Germany. Why was such a talent here like this?
"...I imagine you're wondering why we're in this state."
Felix, reading the question in our eyes, brought up the very topic I'd been thinking about.
"Well, a lot has happened, but... to sum up the key point, it's simple.
Felix's calm voice was filled with...
"...Floor 11 has become impossible to clear."
It was thick with despair.