The Regressor Trains (12)
The Regressor Trains (12)
[You have entered Floor 12.]
"..."
I pulled myself together and flopped onto the bed. It's only natural to want to lie down after a psychological shock. If the shock is severe enough, you just stay down forever.
No, wasn't he supposed to be confident? He breezed through Difficulty 9. Then at 25, his body came back headless. Ha, fuck. Can't he even judge his own limits?
And that woman—the fire woman. Was that her first time watching someone die? She screwed everything up because she couldn't even keep her mind control in check. You saw people die on Floor 4, didn't you? You said your group's barely been together. It's not like you have any real loyalty to each other anyway.
"No, that's a seriously asshole thing to think."
I reined in my thoughts before they spiraled further. My mental state has definitely been off lately. My thinking keeps veering toward violence. It started back on Floor 3, when I blew off Dok Su-hee's arm. Repeating that arrow trap hundreds of times twisted something in my head.
Spending time with Ji-won usually helps when I get like this... but Choi Ji-won is far away. Maybe much farther than I think.
Fuck.
"Let's sort things out. Sort them out."
This isn't the time for this. Lying on the bed feeling miserable won't change anything. I need to organize the information I've gathered and review the plan going forward.
For the next eleven days.
"..."
Let's organize what I've learned. First, the man with the mole handled Difficulty 9 fairly easily. If he cleared it with only light scratches on his armor, he passed with room to spare. But Difficulty 25 took him a long time, and in the end he failed completely, returning as a headless corpse.
The key point is that it took a long time. The enemy on Floor 12 is a black mannequin. I can't be sure, but it probably didn't toy with him or deliberately drag things out—it didn't seem to have any intelligence.
So the man with the mole was roughly on par with the Difficulty 25 enemy... and after a twenty-minute struggle, he narrowly lost. In martial arts novels, they fight for three days and nights, but in a one-on-one match against an equal opponent, stamina and energy drain at a ferocious rate. Twenty minutes is a very long fight.
Didn't I fight for three days and nights on Floor 4? That was partly the Hero trait's effect, and the enemies were much weaker than me.
"So, 25 is just too hard..."
In other words, the spearman's skill is slightly below Difficulty 25. Somewhere around 23 seems reasonable. Didn't that man originally pick 20? If he'd just entered 20, he'd be alive. He died because his greed made him enter 25.
Three questions follow from this.
First. Just how strong are the people I'm running Floor 12 with?
"..."
At first, I believed without a doubt that the people I was running Floor 12 with were top-tier players... but the more I see, the harder it is to shake my doubts.
I've wasted a fair amount of time along the way, but it's still an undeniable fact that I climbed the Tower quickly using regression. And every person I met in the process was exceptional.
Kang Chan and Ahn Gyeong-jun on Floor 3. William Smith, Yun Jung-hyun, and Ahn Gyeong-nam on Floor 4. The other top-tier players I met on Floor 11, including Felix from Germany. The top-tier players on Floor 11 were good enough to face me head-on and force multiple regressions. They were people worth acknowledging—talent, traits, and sheer tenacity all in one package.
But these people feel different. They haven't done much farming on Floor 11. They lack tension and focus. Most of all, they lack that edge unique to top-tier players. Standing next to them, my muscles didn't tense, the back of my neck didn't prickle—that instinctive wariness was missing.
At first I thought I was imagining things... but looking at the man who died on Difficulty 25, it seems more likely that I wasn't. Of course, it's entirely possible that Difficulty 25 is just that absurdly hard. That's something I'll need to verify later.
Which leads to the second question. If someone dies while taking the test, what happens to the test?
Does the score still get deducted even if the person died? The man attempting 25 died, so does the remaining score become 65 out of 90? Or does it stay at 90? It happened so fast I couldn't see.
Another question: what if all five people take the test and there are still points left over? If we only used 80 out of 90 points and 10 remain, does that mean the test is a failure? It could go either way.
<Floor 12>
-Pass a total of three rounds of 'tests.' Each person may only participate once per test. If the final test is failed, no rewards will be given.
-All rewards are distributed individually after clearing Floor 12.
This is the message that appeared when we entered Floor 12 room. The word to focus on here is 'failed.'
How exactly are success and failure determined? Normally, you'd think of Floor 12 as a team game. But I have to remember the malicious design of Floor 11—the structure that let one lunatic's trolling harm everyone else.
If this floor is not a team game but an individual competition... success and failure might apply only to the individual. Someone could selfishly pick 1 point, breeze through the test, and wash their hands of everything while still receiving rewards. This also needs further investigation.
But if it is an individual competition... in the absolute worst case, I might have to shoulder all the points alone. I need to keep in mind the possibility that every other player might betray me.
Now, the final question. Where exactly are my limits when I can't properly use mana?
Ever since I gained that 'chill' on Floor 10, I haven't used mana at full power, so I didn't realize... but right now, if I overuse mana, I take damage and regress. Considering that I'm currently the most mana-proficient person among all Earthlings, this is a massive penalty.
"...Hmm."
Glug.
After a moment's thought, I pulled an Elixir from my fingernail inventory and downed it. Unlike the 'Lowest-grade Elixir' I drank before, this one is 'Low-grade Elixir,' and it tastes noticeably better.
I waited for the Elixir's characteristic cool energy to spread, then slowly moved my mana. The old 'cold energy' hadn't completely vanished, but it felt much weaker. When I channeled mana into my sword, the cold radiating outward was just as strong. The Elixir must have mitigated the mana's unique penalty.
But I'm not stopping here. I pull my mana up to full power, channeling it into my sword, letting it pour out in streams. I'm unleashing the 'Mana Swordsmanship' the Clone taught me on Floor 5 at full force.
"Huuuuh..."
A chilling air filled the cramped room. Frost began to form on the bed, the desk, and the microwave. Vapor heavy with cold seeped from my entire body in waves. Normally you inhale cold and exhale warm, but right now even my breath was cold.
Yet my mind remained perfectly clear. Power overflowed throughout my body, and the sword in my grip felt as though it had fused to my hand.
In that fully prepared state, I focused every ounce of my mind, just about to swing the sword—
"Ghk..."
A crushing pain seized my chest again. I toppled over, still holding my sword stance.
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 12.]
***
"Okay."
I confirmed that drinking an Elixir significantly reduces the side effects of 'Cold Mana.' But honestly, unless it's truly the worst-case scenario, I want to conserve my Elixirs. If I can clear Floor 12 without using one, wouldn't that be better?
Anyway, that's everything sorted out. Now all I have to do is wait eleven days, doing nothing. Anyone who's done military service knows that true 'doing nothing' is a brutal form of labor. For now, it's bearable, but if it piles up, it's going to take a serious psychological toll.
"..."
I have to clear Floor 12 with the minimum number of regressions. Repeating that sentence to myself, I slowly sank into sleep.
**
Eleven days later.
"Whoa, what's this? There's a microwave?"
"Hey! Where are you guys?"
"Hello?"
The people I'd been waiting for finally entered Floor 12. Having already washed up and shaved, I quickly gathered everyone and moved to take the 'tests.'
-Now, before we begin the first test, each of you will choose your reward.
[1] Low-grade Potion x 10
[5] Custom Item Box (B~D)
[10] All-Purpose Medicinal Pill - increases all attributes by 3.
"Hm."
Last cycle, I chose [10]. But this time, I decided to pick [1]. This is a kind of build-up.
Once I finished choosing and the barrier vanished, I could see the other players sitting in their chairs—they must have finished their selections at about the same time. Ah, the glasses woman is still choosing.
-All climbers have completed their selections.
The glasses woman's barrier soon vanished as well, and a mechanical voice resonated through the space. Above the elevator, the number [26] floated luminously. Last time it was 35, wasn't it? Either there's a Liar again... or there's a base score of 5 points.
"Alright, listen up. I think this is some kind of loyalty game."
Just like last cycle, the glasses woman shared her theory, and it was time for everyone to talk about the rewards they'd chosen. Ah, when I said I picked 1, the men glanced at me with faint smirks.
Aside from that minor difference, almost everything was identical to the last cycle. We cleared the first test smoothly, without any major trouble.
But I can't let things continue like this. If they do, the man with the mole will die. And I'll be swept up in flames and regress.
"Everyone."
I slowly rose from my chair, drawing all eyes to me. My goal right now isn't a good reward.
"Could you listen to me for a moment?"
Even if it means receiving garbage-tier rewards, I intend to make it back to reality this cycle.