The Regressor Is Too Strong (6)
The Regressor Is Too Strong (6)
Lately, I feel like the term SSS-rank has really lost its impact. SSS-rank this, SSS-rank that—every possible crazy thing popped up and got slapped with the label, and it became a trend. Now an unadorned S-rank honestly seems cooler than a clichéd SSS-rank.
Is that why?
"We did find them all, but..."
Finding the two SSS-rank items wasn't especially difficult. Whenever I headed somewhere that looked like it ought to hold something, something really was there. In the desert, a colossal pyramid lay buried in the sand, and deep underwater, an enormous temple waited. Getting there empty-handed wasn't easy, but I managed using items I'd bought from the village. In fact, we even found traces of people who'd reached those places before us.
So why were the Hidden Pieces still there? Because the gatekeeper guarding the treasure was strong. Absurdly strong.
If Choi Ji-won hadn't been with me, and if we hadn't teamed up, it would have been a guaranteed loss. I could somehow hold back the giant sea dragon with my Cold Energy, but the Anubis inside the pyramid would've been a toss-up if Choi Ji-won hadn't gone all-out. Well, now I'm more familiar with its combat patterns, so it seems doable... but either way, it's an enemy an ordinary player wouldn't stand a chance against.
At any rate, we succeeded in tracking down the SSS-rank submissions 'Tears of the Oasis' and 'Jangmi of the Deep'—and securing each of them at least once.
"I guess I can see why they're so desperate to get their hands on them..."
I noticed a pattern: Hidden Pieces that are hard to find come with easy combat, and Hidden Pieces that are easy to find come with hard combat. That feels intuitive enough, and it makes sense. Anyway, we'd secured two SSS-rank items, but...
"They're coming."
"Already? Ugh."
No matter where we went, the real problem was those bastards chasing us.
The pyramid and the deep-sea temple were spots they clearly already knew about, because they came after us especially fast. And it's not as if those places were incredibly far from the village.
"Blocking them with mana would be a stretch, right?"
"Eight hours... yeah, that's too much..."
Even if we tried holding them back by force like before, the round trip itself didn't take long, so the time we'd need to stall them grew accordingly. No matter how much mana I had compared to everyone else, neutralizing them for over six hours was rough. And these weren't pushovers; they could actually fight, so it only got harder as time dragged on.
"We couldn't destroy the structures either..."
If we couldn't keep people out, I'd thought about preventing them from entering the buildings entirely, but any building that contained a Hidden Piece seemed to get special treatment. If you destroyed it, it reverted to its original state almost immediately. Even objects we used to block the entrance simply teleported away. "Why not just destroy the Hidden Piece itself?" They were invincible. I struck the chunk of 'Tears of the Oasis' with my sword, and a message reading 'Adventures are meant to be shared!' popped up—and my sword bounced right back. The plan to destroy the Hidden Pieces themselves to increase rarity was a failure too.
"So there's only one answer."
"What?"
"You draw aggro, and while they're distracted, I slip away and grab both SSS-rank items and come back."
The more complicated the problem, the simpler the solution. Right after we regressed, Choi Ji-won would draw the other players' attention—all eyes on her—and in that window I'd snag the two SSS-rank Hidden Pieces and submit them to the Exchange.
"...That doesn't sound like it'll work."
The real question was whether it was even doable. As for memories, we just needed to sync up once after returning to reality, and then we could execute the plan without meeting up. I already had the experience, so if I was given enough time, I could defeat the SSS-rank gatekeepers...
"But those guys aren't idiots. Would they really pay attention just because I loiter around a little?"
Whether they'd fall for it was a complete unknown. Maybe it wouldn't be a village player we ran into—some random passerby could show up, or they might spot the items I'd brought and rush to grab a few scraps.
"Ah, Jun-ho. How about this? We go for those other S-rank or SS-rank submissions we found."
The plan Ji-won proposed next was actually pretty reasonable. We'd repeated regressions while searching for SSS-ranks, and during the process we'd discovered a few other Hidden Pieces that were harder to locate but had relatively easy guardians. If we used those as bait, clearing the floor might become a lot easier.
"Let's save those."
The other Hidden Pieces we'd discovered could be used in negotiations, so it would be a waste to burn them like this. Moreover, since Floor 22 reward was an item, we couldn't just collect the SSS-rank reward once and then regress.
"Here's my plan. While you draw attention, I'll submit the two SSS-rank items to the Exchange. Then I'll call over a few decent players and tell them the locations of S or SS-rank Hidden Pieces, earning us some favors. What do you think?"
"So, exactly how are you going to pull that off?"
"Listen."
I laid out my plan in detail, and Ji-won's expression, skeptical at first, gradually cleared up.
"How is it? Not bad, right?"
"...It's not bad, but..."
"Alright, let's regress then."
The players probably wouldn't be able to resist falling for it.
**
"How many days has it been?"
"Two weeks, maybe three..."
"Fuck."
Just because players were squatting in the village square didn't mean they enjoyed being there. They wanted to get out of this boring village as fast as anyone.
And yet, the reason they were still fiddling with items in the square was because 'the chance to clear Floor 22 comes only once.'
If you were here at this point, you were at least highly motivated—talented, with considerable hard work put in, a prodigy or a genius. So far, you had never faced an impossibly difficult challenge in the Tower.
But just because that was true so far didn't mean you could be sure it would stay that way; you might hit a sudden power gap on the next floor and die a meaningless death. You might regret accepting a crappy reward right here. If you desperately needed power, you'd have no choice but to climb the Tower to grow stronger, but that wasn't the case right now... (They didn't know about the monsters invading Earth, so it was an understandable attitude.) So they climbed slowly, building a solid foundation to become as strong as possible.
"Hey, where've you been?"
"Jungle. Ran into a giant motherfucking queen bee and died."
"You dumbass."
Since they'd been around for quite a while, faces had grown familiar and they'd become friendly. You could call them old-timers.
"Huh?"
"What."
"It's Choi Ji-won."
"What???"
Whenever a new face appeared, they'd size them up among themselves... Choi Ji-won?
"She's still here?"
"Does that matter? It's Choi Ji-won."
"Oh, shit."
Choi Ji-won. One of the most famous players. Her achievement of completely restructuring Floor 2 had earned her the nickname 'Hero,' and the incident where she saved every player on Floor 4 was well known. Ah, even the dwarf-forged armor they were wearing was supposedly thanks to Choi Ji-won.
Lately, with things being quiet, slander like 'Choi Ji-won is overhyped' or 'Choi Ji-won only has strong early-game traits' had been going around, but the feat of overturning an entire floor's structure was unprecedented. She was second only to the Association Chairman 'Michael Jeter' in fame, someone even the general public recognized.
That Choi Ji-won had just entered?
"This is our chance."
"We're finally getting out of here."
Smiles tugged at their mouths. Ever since they first arrived, they'd envied those bastards who repeatedly submitted the French ranker's Hidden Piece and leeched off it before leaving. But Choi Ji-won? This was the real chance.
"Shh."
"Just watch. Just watch."
Choi Ji-won, walking toward the village, glanced over the players gathered in the square and then headed straight to the village chief's house. In that brief window, all the players tore their 'Friend Registration Tickets.'
"When's she gonna come out?"
"Hope she kills that stone golem. It's the closest, so it's super juicy."
"I'm telling you, that thing's at least SS-rank."
"What if Choi Ji-won gets pissed and comes for revenge?"
"Hey, at our level we won't get pushed around that easily. And from what I've heard, Choi Ji-won has a good personality. She'll probably let it slide."
"You think so?"
As they chatted and waited, they suddenly realized a lot of time had passed. At least ten minutes, but Choi Ji-won didn't come out of the village chief's house.
"...What?"
"Hold on. I'll use my trait."
A man with a trait that let him control small insects sent a fly into the village chief's house. No matter how strong Choi Ji-won was, she wouldn't notice such a tiny bug.
"See anything?"
"...Wait. Huh?"
"What?"
"She's reading a book."
Inside the village chief's house, Choi Ji-won had pulled a book from the bookcase and was studying it intently. As befitting the name 'village chief's house,' there was a small study in one corner, filled with books that might help novice adventurers.
"There's nothing there, though."
How could they be so sure? Because, obviously, every player had read them at least once. A study belonging to the village chief in the Starting Village? It practically reeked of something suspicious.
But even though supposedly smart players had examined that study closely, they found no clues. And so they had concluded that besides the 'Stone of Omnipotence' buried at the entrance and the 'Black Abyss' inside the trading post's trash can, there were no Hidden Pieces in the village...
"When's she coming out."
"Is she stupid? There's nothing in there."
Choi Ji-won showed no sign of leaving the study. One hour, two hours, three hours...
"Yawn."
"I'm getting sleepy..."
Just as the tension was easing and the players hiding in wait were yawning—
—Whoosh! "Can I take this?" "Of course." Choi Ji-won burst out of the village chief's house, promptly asked a guard for a wooden axe, and started running for the outside.
"Wh-what the?"
"Just follow her! From a distance!"
Choi Ji-won's sprint stopped only when she reached the forest in front of the village. It was an area where you could find the most low-grade collectibles, and even if you got lucky enough to score a 'Honeycomb,' its rarity was only B-rank, so hardly anyone went there. Still, since the starting point was inside this forest, everyone passed through it at least once.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! "What is she doing...?" "She's chopping trees...?" As soon as she arrived, Choi Ji-won started chopping trees without a word. Trees had a separate hit mechanic, so no matter how strong you were, it took five hits to fell one. If you submitted the logs to the captain, you could earn some gold.
"Why would she do that?" "Hmm..." Well, if she were doing it just to earn gold by chopping trees, that'd be one thing. But Choi Ji-won, right after arriving in the village, had inspected the study, then suddenly dashed into the forest and started chopping trees. She'd glance at the tree rings on a felled tree, then toss it aside and repeat with another.
Since the world ran on game logic, felled trees soon regenerated, but Choi Ji-won chopped them down faster. In less than two hours, the forest was devastated. After casting a glance around the forest, Choi Ji-won turned back and returned to the village, shutting herself inside the village chief's study again.
"What the hell?" "Beats me." It was absurd, like a storm had swept through. The players didn't know what to make of it.
Had she really figured something out? Was she trying to trick them? But if so, why? How would she, knowing nothing, even come up with a trick? It didn't make sense. There was no reason to suspect her.
So that behavior had to be genuine... but why had her genuine effort led her to the forest?
If a newcomer who hadn't even properly gotten a handle on Floor 22 suddenly started chopping trees like crazy... if something could drive her to that...
"A Hidden Piece...?" They smelled a honeypot.