The Regressor Is Too Strong (4) (Revised)
The Regressor Is Too Strong (4) (Revised)
"What do we do?"
It was too late to try to stop them now. Unless I clubbed them over the back of the head, there was no way to halt those people.
"First... let's head to the Exchange."
"Yeah... I guess we should."
In any case, they were chasing a possibility, while we were already holding a guaranteed reward.
Not that we could afford to take it easy, so we picked up the pace and headed back to the village. The sun had long since set and it was night, but the Exchange building was still brightly lit. Since the whole thing was game-based at its core, it seemed they ran these kinds of facilities with some flexibility.
"Welcome!"
"Here."
"Is this your submission? Just one moment, please!"
The Exchange clerk accepted the 'Mountain Essence' with a bright smile. When she placed the glass vial into a strange-looking machine, a sparkling effect flared and the vial disappeared.
"Please wait just a moment!"
"Sure..."
A rumbling drumroll rang in my ears. Having been through a regression before, I felt nothing special, but beside me, Choi Ji-won flinched.
After about ten seconds, the Exchange clerk produced a rolled-up scroll of paper. When I had submitted that tree branch before, the scroll had a big fat F scrawled on it.
"Ohhh...?"
This time, though, the paper itself was completely different. The color was rainbow. In gacha games, gold is usually just below the top rank, and rainbow marks the absolute highest rank...
"Rarity is SS-rank! Congratulations!"
As the female clerk announced this with a bright smile, party popper sounds and firecrackers went off around us. The words [Congratulations!] even burst into existence before my eyes.
"Whoa."
Choi Ji-won's mouth fell open in pure admiration.
More importantly, SS-rank. It wasn't quite the SSS-rank that people had mentioned before, but it didn't change the fact that we'd drawn one of the best possible cards. At this level, we could safely say we'd cleared Floor 22 in a short amount of time. It was a relief to clear it faster than I expected.
"However!"
"...However?"
That thought didn't even last five seconds.
"Since there were two submissions... the rarity dropped and became S+-rank! SS-rank is one-and-only, based on there being just one!"
"Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean all of a sudden?"
"Well, it's the law of supply and demand! All submissions are sent off to an auction house to be sold. If it's a unique item, fine, but if there are two of them, the value inevitably drops. SS-rank is the rarity assigned in a state where the item hasn't been discovered yet."
"..."
Setting aside the game-logic absurdity of an undiscovered item having a preset rarity, she wasn't wrong. She wasn't wrong, but... seeing the rank drop just because I submitted two of them left a sour taste. Still, S+-rank was something I could let slide.
"Hang on."
No. Maybe this wasn't something I could let slide.
"Um... Miss Clerk?"
"Feel free to speak comfortably. What's the matter?"
"What if... just what if... about twenty more bottles of that 'Mountain Essence' got submitted? You know, right before ours goes to auction?"
Submission and reward confirmation weren't immediate.
'Outside the village, you can discover all sorts of things! Animal hides, useful herbs, someone's lost bag, and if you're very lucky, you might even uncover a legendary mineral! Bring it back to the village and submit it to the 'Exchange,' and its value will be determined in an auction twelve hours later.'
According to what the village chief had said, and from my own direct experience... the auction that determined the rank took place twelve hours after submission. Only after those twelve hours had passed would the portal back to reality appear, and the reward would be granted on Floor 1.
But what if... before those twelve hours were up, the reward I had brought in became available in bulk...?
"Then naturally, the rarity would drop even further!"
The Exchange clerk smiled brightly as she spoke.
"The lowered rarity gradually recovers over time as the supply becomes established, but... 'Rare' items are an exception!"
"...Why?"
"Because those are the rules!"
"..."
"If twenty more were to appear... it could drop to S-minus rank, maybe even A-plus rank. But really, what are the odds of that happening?"
I'm asking because I think it's happening right now... The words nearly made it to the tip of my tongue. I felt hollow. The moment I understood why those people had been running earlier, rage, irritation, and everything else surged up at once.
Right, so if the usual rewards maxed out at A-rank? If I were them, I would've run to get that A+-rank too. Chances were, the reason they'd been camping out in the village square was to wait for someone to find a Hidden Piece.
"Son of a..."
I could have spat out a full curse, but I was a calm and rational Regressor. Here, I needed to figure out 'why' this had happened.
How had they known our location? I had a rough guess.
"Where are you going?"
"The village shop."
Keeping hold of Ji-won's wrist, I headed straight for the village shop. This place also seemed to have some systemic hand-waving behind it, since it was still open in the dead of night.
"You've come to buy items? But... you've got no money?"
The shopkeeper narrowed his eyes at us. True enough, the village chief had said 'you can buy items using rewards earned from helping the villagers,' but we genuinely had no money.
"Yeah, we don't have money, but is just looking around not allowed?"
"Well, nothing wrong with that. Take your time browsing."
Ignoring the shopkeeper as he let out a huge yawn, I inspected the goods displayed on the counter.
Most items were helpful for adventuring and, at a glance, looked quite useful. The kind of stuff that would let even a slightly weaker player go exploring.
But those weren't the items I was looking for. I wanted an item that could 'reveal another person's location.'
"Hey, mister."
"Whaddaya want?"
"Do you have any items I can use on other players?"
"Well, not like there aren't any. Over that way."
The owner pointed to a corner of the shop. I studied the spot he indicated and now, at last, I saw the kind of items I'd been looking for.
-Talisman of the Weak
-Tear this talisman to determine whether your opponent is weaker or stronger than you for one hour.
-Guardian Angel
-When you take an attack that would reduce your HP to 0, nullify that attack and briefly trap the attacker in a soap bubble.
-Value Appraisal Glasses
-Lets you see the total value of the 'submissions' another person holds.
"Oho."
They'd probably used the 'Talisman of the Weak' as well. The reason they'd sized me up so closely the first time they saw me must have been because I looked like a fairly strong person. And when Choi Ji-won appeared afterward, they'd been overshadowed by her. But I still didn't see the item I wanted — the one that would 'let me know their location.'
"Jun-ho, isn't this it?"
While I was mulling it over, Choi Ji-won, who had been rummaging through things beside me, tapped me on the shoulder.
"What? Let me see."
"This."
-Friend Registration Ticket.
-Lets you register another player as a 'friend.' Enjoy your time together with your friend!
"...What the hell."
"Registering a friend brings all sorts of benefits. Cooperative gathering efficiency goes up, you get bonuses when camping together, and most importantly, you can see the other person's location and status. If you have a companion you're adventuring with, how about registering them as a friend first?"
The shopkeeper rattled off the line as if it were rehearsed.
This was it. One hundred percent. No other item here seemed to let you track another player's location, and the shady name 'Registration Ticket' made my instincts scream.
"Hold on, so you just register someone as a friend without even asking them? Mister, don't you have a Remove Friend ticket?"
"Nothing like that. The more friends, the better. If you've had a fight with a friend, how about clearing the air while you adventure together?"
"..."
Another line delivered like a script. It fit the bright, adventure-encouraging atmosphere perfectly, but from the perspective of the stalking victim, it felt like looking at a police officer telling you there was nothing you could do.
"Hmm..."
Since the other side could unilaterally register you as a 'friend'... we had to assume there were no secrets. Now that they'd seen Choi Ji-won's face, those bastards had likely locked onto their target and would chase us anywhere to snatch the reward. If they were already on Floor 22 at this stage, they were certainly strong players... and since such strong players were sticking around investing their time, they clearly wanted to come away with a satisfying payoff.
"What do we do."
It's true that I was trying to clear the Tower in the most virtuous way possible, but I wasn't about to clear floors like some philanthropist. It wasn't like they were strong people I acknowledged and wanted to share the reward with. I had no intention of just standing by while they swarmed in and grabbed it for themselves.
But what was I supposed to do? Think. There had to be a usable plan—
"Jun-ho, I've been thinking."
Choi Ji-won tilted her head slightly and cracked her knuckles.
"From this village to that mountain, a round trip takes about ten hours, give or take. Add in the time to fill the essence and everything, and it's about twelve hours total, right? That's how long it took us."
"Right."
"Those people left a little earlier, so they'll be back in the village in about eight hours from now. Right?"
"Right."
"So... if we don't want our rarity affected, all we have to do is delay those people from submitting the 'Mountain Essence' by four hours?"
"...Can we really pull that off?"
"If we talk it out nicely, wouldn't it be possible? It was originally a reward we found. If they submit it early, everyone just takes a loss."
She definitely had a point. If those people had even a shred of conscience left, they might cede the priority to us since we discovered the Hidden Piece first. In that case, the situation could resolve nicely.
"Hmm..."
But what if it didn't resolve nicely? What if conflict broke out?
"Well, then."
Choi Ji-won gave a faint smile.
"I guess we'd have to look for another solution, wouldn't we?"
-Wooong.
Boongboong-yi, hanging at her waist, vibrated ominously. I had truly prayed that sword would never need to be drawn.
Four hours later.
"No, that's a bit unreasonable for us too."
"Excuse me?"
As it turned out, things never went the way I wanted.