The Regressor Has It Easy (5)
The Regressor Has It Easy (5)
As the case of Floor 17 showed, the Tower operates like a kind of machine.
And machines, of course, have errors. I intend to exploit that error.
"I don't know if it was just Floor 17 or if every floor works this way... but it's a plan I think has real potential."
The Tower has a 'criterion for determining entry into a floor.' If I can trick that criterion, I can explore a floor while the system considers that I haven't yet entered it.
What's the benefit? Preparation.
The Tower is designed to prevent you from preparing for the next floor by gathering information. You can infer things indirectly—like the Association does—from the injuries people sustained, how long they took, and so on, but exactly what trial will appear is a complete unknown.
But if I can go back through floors? More precisely, if I can experience a floor in advance?
I would essentially gain a cheat key to perfectly prepare for every floor. It's not just about being able to go further back in time. Getting information is what matters.
Of course, it's not a high-probability plan. I don't even know if the regression criterion and the Tower's criterion are the same, and I wasn't in a state to confirm how regression works yet. Still, the return is so big that it's more than worth trying.
"So the moment I enter, I'll scan my soul thoroughly and see if I sense some kind of connection or not."
"Umm... I still don't really understand your 'soul' thing..."
Choi Ji-won shook her head. She was having a hard time accepting my 'soul theory.'
"Jun-ho, what if you're sensing something other than a soul?"
"No, I don't think so..."
Choi Ji-won had spent a long time trying, but she couldn't feel her own soul. There are two souls in my body, so why can't she feel hers? Is it because there are two, or because I'm an unusual case?
But I also couldn't prove the existence of the soul, because I couldn't feel Choi Ji-won's soul either. I tried concentrating beside her, holding her hand, hugging her—everything—but I still couldn't feel her soul. Just to be safe, I called Firefighter Park Cheol-jin to do a similar experiment, but I didn't feel a soul there either.
In other words... I'm either experiencing some kind of hallucination, or I can only feel my own soul. Personally, I believe it's the latter, given what happened on Floor 17.
"Well, maybe it's a regressor privilege."
So I decided to just believe, 'I'm a regressor, I've lived a long time, so it's possible.' Or maybe I lack skill. I trust that time will resolve this too someday.
After roughly organizing my thoughts, I spent about two weeks repeating the practice of 'awakening to my soul as soon as I regain consciousness,' then quickly regressed once I was ready.
Clearing Floor 17 again was no problem, and I finished in thirty minutes and immediately returned to reality.
After confirming that Choi Ji-won was safe.
"Shall we go?"
"Let's go."
We headed to Floor 18.
-Entering Floor 18.
**
Every time I enter a floor, or experience regression, there's a moment when consciousness cuts off. Obviously it doesn't apply only to me; it's a phenomenon experienced by everyone who enters the Tower.
Anyone entering the Tower will momentarily freeze for about one or two seconds. I observed this to the point of being sick of it when I was planted on Floor 2. When someone first enters the Tower, they stand there blankly, then at some point start moving as if a switch has been flipped. Training can't acclimate you to it, and being strong doesn't let you avoid it. It's just a phenomenon that occurs when you enter the Tower.
But even if it's a phenomenon, how you react to it varies, and how accustomed you are to it differs. And I dare say, I've experienced this 'dazing phenomenon' the most, and most often.
"Hup!"
Therefore, the moment I regained consciousness, without even a 0.01 second delay, I immediately drew up mana and perceived my soul. Having practiced many times, the process was skillful and swift.
"...?"
But I felt no disruption...
On Floor 17, I'd felt a very thin thread of mana that I just needed to sever. But now I felt nothing. Only my own soul was perfectly intact.
"Hmm..."
Was Floor 17 a special case? That's likely. After all, it was a floor about perceiving mana, so it might have been a sort of Easter egg. Maybe an Archangel who comes later would say, 'You have talent!' and present a gift.
Could the link to the Tower be established during that one second of unconsciousness? And on Floor 17, I could perceive that moment? That's plausible.
Or is my skill lacking? Could the thread of mana that judges entry into the Tower be so subtle and delicate that I can't detect it in my current state? Or is the entry judgment made by something other than mana? That's possible too.
If only I had a bit more information, I could be sure... but there's nowhere to get that information right now. And I can't try again. I only had one chance anyway.
The 'Excessive Regression' plan... for now, it's a failure.
**
"Jun-ho, you're here."
"...I failed."
I joined Choi Ji-won, who had been waiting nearby. This place was a sheer rocky mountain somewhere. Not a mountain full of trees and greenery. It was a rugged stone mountain of mostly white rock, shrouded in mist, looking like somewhere Sun Wukong might have been sealed.
"Do we go up that way?"
"I think so."
We had dropped into the middle of the mountain, but we didn't get lost. There was a path winding around and up the rocky mountain as if it were a tourist course. With nowhere else to go, we began to climb the mountain.
"...Is this safe?"
It felt incredibly unstable—the boards were attached with roughly driven nails—but fortunately the footholds held. When we climbed the spiraling footholds to the rocky peak, an Angel was waiting for us.
"Greetings."
The Angel bowed their head in greeting with a solemn voice. It was busily mending a torn cloth doll with a needle.
More than that, a doll. Reminds me of the old man on Floor 15.
"Where are the other players? I saw signs of them on the way up."
While I was lost in thoughts of the old man, Choi Ji-won posed a sharp question. Indeed, the footholds we climbed had clearly seen use. Since Choi Ji-won and I entered together, it wasn't a solo floor. Yet on this high mountain, there was no one else. Just me, Choi Ji-won, and this Angel. Unless it's a floor with a two-person limit, this situation was quite strange.
"Don't worry too much. I'll explain step by step."
Despite that question, the Angel calmly finished repairing the doll, then took out two new dolls from inside their clothes and handed them to us.
"Here, take these."
"...What's this?"
"It's the core of Floor 18."
The Angel clasped their hands politely in front and began the explanation.
"As you already experienced on Floors 16 and 17, the Archangel affirms training—the path of cultivating oneself through discipline."
"Yes, we experienced that and know."
"But do you know what the real problem with discipline is?"
"...?"
"It's that humans improve, and they become accustomed to the discipline itself."
To liken it to modern times: exercise, weight training.
It's natural that if you consistently repeat anaerobic exercise, muscle mass increases. Because the body adapts as muscles tear and recover.
But what if the goal is the discipline itself? If you enjoy the process itself—enduring, persevering, feeling a kind of euphoria through suffering—then getting stronger is an obstacle. Because lifting the same weight gives less stimulation and less pain.
"Of course, getting stronger is important. Because humans need a goal to progress. But I believe discipline must not be degraded to a mere means. Discipline is both means and goal, a lamp illuminating the path of life. The Archangel always lamented seeing martial artists who had grown too strong and lost a goal to train toward, or lost the means to train."
"Uh..."
"But the Archangel devised a solution: a way to reset your overly strong body back to baseline."
"...What?"
As soon as the words ended, a message window appeared before my eyes.
<Floor 18>
-All climbers' physical abilities are fixed equally on Floor 18.
-Submit a reward that exceeds the Overseer's standard.
Physical abilities are fixed equally? Overseer? Who is this Overseer?
Flustered, I was about to ask the Angel more questions when—
"Then, good luck."
The Angel stuck a talisman on the head of each doll with a smack! sound.
"Wait, just a..."
I lost consciousness immediately.