The Earth Is Changing Fast (4)
The Earth Is Changing Fast (4)
My plan to monopolize the elixir endlessly had failed... but that was fine.
The elixir hadn't disappeared. I could hand it over to a ranker later and use it to build goodwill.
If nothing else, I could give it to Choi Ji-won.
I hadn't lost anything. The pill was safe, and my Strength stat had gone up by a full 10 points.
Once you start thinking of a smaller gain as a loss, there's no end to it.
"Hm... So the next thing to test is..."
My initial plan had failed, but I had a Plan B ready.
A plan that exploited the convenience of Floor 1.
Floor 1 could become anything, and it could provide anything.
The downside was that anything you created wouldn't persist outside of Floor 1... but what if you created something that didn't need to be taken outside?
"The Shaolin Great Rejuvenation Pill."
I imagined the greatest elixir in the martial world — the Shaolin Great Rejuvenation Pill. One pill would supposedly boost your internal energy.
"..."
But no matter how hard I concentrated, nothing appeared in my palm.
I hadn't really expected it to work... but it was a little disappointing.
What about a book instead of an elixir?
"...The Heavenly Demon Divine Art manual."
I imagined the strongest martial arts book I knew. In martial arts novels, the Heavenly Demon is always the strongest.
"Oh?!"
An old, worn book materialized in my hand.
This was it... the supreme martial art that could put the world at your feet. The ultimate technique that could smash the Tower and everything else!
"...What the hell is this."
But once I actually read it, the contents were nothing but firewood.
There was no martial arts instruction, just a heap of profound-sounding epiphanies. A closer look revealed it was a crudely stitched-together patchwork of passages I'd read in web novels.
"...Does the Christian God not deal in martial arts or something?"
So next I imagined a "legendary sword manual taught only to the imperial bloodline," but its contents were just a mishmash of text, same as the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Yeah, freebie shortcuts like this are impossible.
"Hm... Then compile the swordsmanship Choi Ji-won taught me into a book."
But when I imagined "Choi Ji-won's swordsmanship," which I knew in relative detail, a proper book popped out.
Everything she'd taught me about the sword was neatly organized inside. Looking at it, I felt like even a complete novice could grasp the basics of the sword from this book.
Apparently, creating something like a secret manual required it to be based on knowledge I already possessed.
Of course, since I already knew the material, there was no need to read the manual again, and since I couldn't show it to anyone else, I figured it was useless.
"Huh?"
Wait, if that's the case, then maybe...
"...Berserker's Pill."
I imagined the pill in my right hand multiplying into two.
A second Berserker's Pill materialized in my left hand.
"...Aha."
The restriction against consuming duplicate Unique Items was probably meant to guard against Floor 1's creation ability, since I could generate Tower items, not just objects that existed in the real world.
Well, it had been absurd to think the system was keeping regressors in check. There couldn't possibly be another regressor besides me.
"Two main possibilities..."
One: I could create items I had personally "seen" at least once.
Two: I could create items I currently possessed.
"Berserker's Axe."
But when the axe the angel had shown me failed to appear... it seemed I could only duplicate items I already owned.
I'd need more testing to be sure... but even just this much was a substantial gain.
If I could get my hands on a doping pill that provided buffs, I could enter every floor fully buffed from the start.
"Well, that's enough on items..."
The space around me, which had taken the shape of my studio apartment, rippled and gradually transformed into what looked like a sterile white laboratory.
This was the training space I'd imagined.
Since Floor 1 could materialize anything plausible with modern technology, this space was designed to allow a wide range of practical combat training.
What I needed to do here was simple.
Practice cutting cleanly, dodging well, and staying alert at all times.
At first, I considered asking outside experts for help, but I quickly concluded that would be pointless.
My fighting style, where even a graze triggers regression, has to be different from everyone else.
The goal must be to defeat my opponent without taking a single hit.
On top of that, my Strength stat had risen by a full 10 points.
I couldn't let myself get injured because I failed to control my own power.
"...Hoo."
Let's begin.
After training to my satisfaction, I opened the Guidebook for the first time in a while.
I'd only read the opening section and never touched the rest.
Watching YouTube, gaming, eating chicken, pizza, and jjajangmyeon, and keeping up with the news — that had been my life for the past two months, so I'd hardly paid attention to the Tower's rules.
But now that I had to climb to Floor 2, I figured I should read the rules properly at least once.
I flipped through the Guidebook to the section I wanted: "Basic Rules of the Tower."
3. I Want to Know the Basic Rules of the Tower!
The Tower is a miraculous creation built through the combined efforts of the Archangels! We Angels believe in humanity's potential and earnestly pray that you climbers will prove mankind's worth and earn God's recognition. From this point on, you climbers will challenge the very limits of humanity. There will be easy times and difficult times. You may even find yourselves doubting. "Is this truly meant to judge humanity?" For those of you who ask, I will now lay out the Tower's design philosophy in full detail! With precision! Spilling every last secret! First of all...
"This thing is seriously long."
This was genuinely the longest section in the whole Guidebook. Even skimming through it at a brisk pace, the pages felt endless.
Cutting out the pointless rambling and summarizing the key points...
1. A different Archangel oversees the Tower every five floors. The atmosphere and stage concept shift accordingly. Floors 1 through 5, Floors 6 through 10 — the overseeing angel changes in that pattern.
2. Clearing a floor returns you to Floor 1. However, if multiple floors are linked, you must clear all of them before you can return.
3. Certain floors allow permanent entry, just like Floor 1.
4. Every floor is different, so just adapt.
That was the gist.
Those were all the actual core points. The rest was nothing but rational-sounding justifications dressed up in fancy packaging. The person who wrote the Guidebook probably felt the same way — that this Tower was absurdly arbitrary.
God was unquestionably lazy. He wanted to wipe out humanity, but He dumped the construction work on the angels.
"...Hm."
I pressed my fingers between my brows and read the Guidebook's contents once more.
The key point here was that you returned to Floor 1 whenever you cleared a floor.
Why did that matter? Because my regression point was "the moment I entered each floor."
Even if I cleared Floor 2 and went back to Floor 1, regressing would snap me back to Floor 2.
That meant I needed to manage my timeline carefully. Once I entered Floor 2, I'd have to plan my route up to the moment I entered Floor 3 in advance.
"Alright, then..."
All preparations were more or less complete.
Now it was time to enter Floor 2.
Crunch.
I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek.
Overcoming the resistance to doing it had been tough... but after repeating it enough times, it became manageable.
Someday I'd need to regress in an emergency. This was the secret card I'd prepared for that moment.
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 1.]
***
"Alrighty..."
Right before entering Floor 2, I pulled out nearly all the cash in my bank account, leaving only basic living expenses, and threw it into a coin. Leverage: a full 10x.
The coin I'd poured my entire net worth into was called "Mighty Coin." It was set to skyrocket in two months, and the reason was simple.
The chairman of the American Player Association went by "Mighty Michael." The mere fact that both names contained "Mighty" was enough to send the coin's price through the roof.
A truly batshit reason if there ever was one, but apparently that was just how the coin game worked. I decided to roll with it.
The important thing was that I could grow my money in the real world.
I didn't urgently need cash right this second... but there was no guarantee that would remain true.
Knowing the future and not using it — that was practically a crime.
"Physical condition... good. Mental state, good. Almost no time lost, either."
Since I'd bought into the coin so quickly, almost no time had passed since my regression. This was practically the same as entering immediately.
After a quick condition check, I imagined the portal leading to Floor 2.
Woom.
A portal immediately materialized in the air before me.
"...Shall we?"
I took a deep breath and stepped into the portal.
The survival rate was supposed to be pretty high, huh... Let's see about that.