The Regressor Gets in Trouble (6)
The Regressor Gets in Trouble (6)
"...Immortal Sage?"
"Yeah. The real deal."
About a week later, Choi Ji-won came out after clearing Floor 18. When I told her what happened, her expression turned strange.
"Not the fake Immortal Sage I was pretending to be... more like the kind who just stands there and you feel this mysterious aura radiating from him."
"...What's the difference?"
"The way the act just flows out of you is similar. But that weight of experience you feel from old masters—that was different."
Pressure radiating naturally from a gap in experience, a gap in sheer caliber. I guess I've lived longer than the average young man too—will I be able to reproduce that someday? I might manage an imitation by borrowing the power of a trait, but I can't say I'd capture the feeling of the genuine article.
"Interesting... I wonder if the supervisor I faced had some hidden thing like that too? For me, he just passed me when I beat him in a spar. Finding him was the harder part."
"You'd probably have to show something that far exceeds his standard. If I hadn't given him an elixir on the level of Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, he probably wouldn't have shown his true self."
"Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng? What's that? I didn't see anything like that."
"Ah. I didn't tell you?"
I'd eaten the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng the moment I got back to reality, while waiting for Choi Ji-won. The instant I swallowed it, a wave of cold energy burst out and my mana roiled violently; I spent a full day just getting it under control. Thanks to that, the inside of my rented room froze completely white, and I had my hands full melting it all down. I think mold even grew on the wallpaper.
Thanks to eating a powerful elixir, my mana capacity has clearly increased, and my cold energy has deepened. I only got Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng because that happened to be what was available, but in the end I'd lucked into an elixir perfectly suited to me.
"So... are you going to regress now? Normally when you get an elixir, you regress and duplicate it."
"I did consider that, but the situation's a bit ambiguous."
The strength-boosting pellets I got in the Tutorial, or those 'items that increase Status Window stats' that drop occasionally on other floors—if you use those after regressing, it's pure profit. The Status Window is something that carries over through regression, and even if you can't use the item twice yourself, you can just feed it to Choi Ji-won or someone else.
On the other hand, whether this Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng affected the Status Window is unclear. My mana capacity has definitely increased. The cold energy emanating from my mana has deepened considerably. But there was no message like [Strength has increased.] that normally floats up when you consume conventional elixirs.
Handling mana is the soul's work, but storing it is the body's. So what will happen to the remnants of this elixir if I regress? Will it follow me through regression? Or vanish into the cracks of time?
There's no need to take risks. Even if I regressed and fought again, there's no guarantee I could summon that Immortal Sage uncle again.
"So... I'm not going to regress."
I've already minimized the time needed to clear this floor. The only possible improvement here would be preserving Choi Ji-won's memories and helping her find a hidden piece too—but that isn't something we'd finish in a day or two, so there's no point.
More than anything, Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng is an elixir that can't be properly digested unless you handle cold mana like I do. It's not particularly appealing for sale or trade. Just eating it now, like I did, and moving on to the next floor seemed like the most rational choice.
"I think so too. It's not like staying here longer will improve anything."
Choi Ji-won agreed, so after a day's rest, we decided to advance to the next floor without hesitation.
—You have entered Floor 19.
The task on Floor 19 was simple. Organize your own enlightenment into a book and submit it. The enlightenment could concern mana, martial arts, or even a way of living.
"Whatever it is, simply write a worthwhile book and submit it. I can provide a computer keyboard if you prefer, or a brush, pencil, or pen if those are more comfortable."
"...Will this book happen to be displayed on Floor 16?"
"No. It is immediately shredded. We want you to focus not on the final product, but on the process of writing it."
At first I thought this had to be the biggest freebie of a floor. Just write a book and hand it in—honestly, could I clear it in a single day?
"Hmm..."
Yet when I tried to seriously put my enlightenment into writing, one snag after another hit me. Same principle as when someone asks, "What are you good at? Could you explain it in detail?" and the words get stuck in your throat.
"..."
What am I good at? The areas where I outclass other people... first, my achievement level. But that's simply something that rose naturally from repeating regressions and trying all sorts of things.
Does that mean I'm talented at effort? Is my mental fortitude for repeating regressions my strong point? That's not it either. Compared to the iron-willed regressors in novels, my mental fortitude is abysmal, and compared to heroes who save the world, I'm neither purely righteous nor particularly great.
Swordsmanship? There are truly many people better than me at that. To put it bluntly, if someone dismissed me as coasting entirely on my regression power, I'd have no argument at all.
After chewing on the problem again and again, I finally realized one thing I am good at.
"...Cold energy. That, I handle better than anyone."
Mana. Cold mana, specifically—that's where I'm strongest. Did I only get familiar with mana by brute-forcing it with time? Sure. But it's also true that I've studied cold energy more than anyone else in the world.
What kind of strain overusing cold energy puts on the body. How to fight without damaging your heart. How to control cold energy after releasing it faintly. Those are all results I achieved through effort.
"Ngh..."
Of course, translating things you know only by feel into writing is hard, and organizing them clearly is even harder. Turning the knowledge I held as vague intuition into concrete facts wasn't simple work.
And so, three weeks—no, maybe four. I finished the book.
"On the Method of Handling Cold Energy... this is a fine piece of writing. I can feel the traces of your struggle and deliberation. You pass."
"Thank you."
I cleared Floor 19. In the process of organizing everything, I realized things I'd known and things I hadn't, and my control over cold energy improved too—so I suppose it worked out just as the Archangel intended.
"..."
The Archangels. What's their intent? Ever since Floor 11, the Tower has consistently pushed players in the direction of growing stronger. It taught martial arts to people who'd been fighting sloppily, taught them mana, and now even gave them the opportunity to consolidate it all. There's definitely some intent behind it, but I still can't grasp its true shape.
"...Jun-ho. Would you wait a bit?"
Choi Ji-won tapped me on the shoulder while I was lost in thought.
Right. This time too, Choi Ji-won needed a lot of time.
"Honestly, I could just toss something together and probably clear it... but I want to use this chance to organize my thoughts."
The sword art she had completed on Floor 16 was still unfinished, and she said she wanted to refine it to perfection through this opportunity. I had no intention of refusing, and no grounds to refuse anyway, so I agreed.
Then came days of swinging a sword by day and writing by night, repeating for fully three months.
"You still haven't decided on a name?"
"Yeah... nothing's really clicking..."
Choi Ji-won finally completed her sword art in book form. I read it once before she submitted it to the Angel, and... it wasn't exactly easy to understand. It's like our orientations are different, or maybe it's just too high-dimensional...
"Magnificent! Truly magnificent!"
The Angel, on the other hand, read Choi Ji-won's book and seemed to feel some resonance, showering her with praise and shaking her hand. Am I just low-tier? No, let's chalk it up to a difference in direction.
"Anyway... that's the clear."
"Yeah. Let's head back."
We'd cleared Floor 19, but because it took Choi Ji-won fully three months to organize her enlightenment, we'd lost quite a bit of time. At this point, regression is a given anyway. But that doesn't mean we're behind schedule. A one-time assignment like this becomes the easiest task the moment regression gets added to the mix.
Writing a book from scratch? Hard. Writing it a second time? You just rewrite what you already wrote—how could it take long? Floor 19 had become a floor I could breeze through from now on. It probably won't even take five hours.
And when you have a floor you can breeze through, and regression is already locked in, there's something you should do.
"Ji-won. Can you get in touch with the Association right now?"
"Yeah. We finally heading there this time?"
"Let's go."
The timing is right, and I can get information—so I decided to deal with some homework I'd been putting off.
"We're going to the United States."
The privilege of a regressor.
Time to hunt for present treasure using future knowledge.