Chapter 2 - Regressors Are Too Weak (2)

N/T: This is not my own novel or translation. I am currently machine-translating the novel, so please do not expect a flawless translation as I am using Google Translate. Also, if your brain dies reading this MTL novel, then it's not my fault. Please don't comment about the translation quality because, again, it's Google translation. If you want to complain, then complain to Google.

Chapter 2 - Regressors Are Too Weak (2)

"... Hmm. Is there anyone who would like to speak up? Or even constructive feedback? Now, are you willing to consider it positively?"

A fairy talking right above my head.

But I couldn't really concentrate on the fairy's words.

'... They said they returned because they suffered damage.'

[Damaged.]

[Return to the moment you first entered the 0th floor.]

Right before returning, this is the message I saw.

The point to note is the word 'damage'.

Before returning, the only damage I suffered was a tiny wound that was scratched by a blade of grass and a drop of blood leaked out.

If you put it in a game, it's a minor damage that only received 1 damage.

However, the system regarded it as 'damage', and I returned to the moment I first entered the tower.

But it could be a mere coincidence. An experiment seemed necessary.

"... "

I snapped my fingers strongly on the palm of my hand while watching the fairy's eyes.

Widely!

He slapped his palm hard enough to feel a slight warming sensation, but there was no sign of returning.

"Hmm... "

It doesn't seem to be treated as 'damage' up to this point.

Puck!

This time, he hit the lower arm hard with his fist.

A tingling sensation spread all over her arm, and her skin was about to turn slightly red.

[Damaged.]

[Return to the moment you first entered the 0th floor.]

***

"Fuck! Where are you!"

"... "

With the voice of a familiar bald man, he slowly raises himself from the dirt floor.

The blow didn't seem to return unless someone hit it with a lot of force.

You can see it's lucky. Later, when I was hit by a shoulder strap on the road, there was no sudden return.

But the experiment isn't over yet.

I strongly pinched the back of my hand with my fingernails.

"... It won't come back again."

I pinched it hard enough to leave a red mark, but there was no sign of returning.

He jumped up from his seat and tore off a single blade of grass growing around him.

"... "

I get goosebumps at the thought of hurting myself with this.

The creepy feeling of cutting through the paper while reading a book.

I had a strong instinctive reluctance, but I had to do it.

Saaak.

I drew a long blade of grass on the back of my hand.

"Ugh, fuck."

An unpleasant sensation that gives you goosebumps. Drops of blood ooze from the back of your hand.

[Damaged.]

[Return to the moment you first entered the 0th floor.]

***

"Fuck! Where are you!"

With this, the conditions for regression were grasped to some extent. The blow will return only after receiving a fairly strong blow, but it will return immediately the moment it is cut in any way. Even if it's not a weapon, but a blade of grass.

"It sucks."

I tried my best, but no matter how much I think about it, I feel like I'm screwed.

Because the hurdles of the regression condition are too low.

It's not a level where you can simply pass it off as 'Isn't it good to do frequent regression?'

Let's compare it with death return.

Death returners usually have no regrets when returning. Why? I was in a situation where I would die anyway, but it was better to return unconditionally.

But I have a different story.

Even if things are going the way I want them to, a slight mistake can force them to return.

If death regression is a racehorse with a well-tamed breed, it is like riding a wild horse in a vast meadow.

"Hello! You lowly human beings who are wasting their lives in exasperation! Nice to meet you!"

After thinking about it for a while, the fairy of the tutorial appeared just in time.

"... I'll just give you the essential explanation and skip it? I don't want to do it either, but it's a procedure, so I can't help it."

I heard the explanation of the fairy I already knew with one ear and let it out with the other.

"Status difference!!!!!"

"Status window!"

"Changing the status!"

At this point, people are shouting the status window here and there.

This is the point where I regressed.

When I saw the word "Return" In the status window, I ran out excitedly, but then I returned because my ankle was cut by grass.

Looking back on it, it was an idiotic regression.

After the brief madness of people shouting status windows here and there, it was over.

The empty space fell into a lull again.

My choice here was wait and see.

Information has always been a valuable resource for regressors.

Rather than actively stepping out, I wanted to collect information first.

And as I observed, people were divided into three main categories.

First. People who get together and talk to each other to soothe anxiety.

"Mom would be worried... "

"I came here to cook... What if the house catches fire?"

Maybe it was for escape from reality, but there were people who talked about everyday life, not at the top.

"By any chance, what are your characteristics?"

"... Doesn't something called a trait appear?"

"... Is it so?"

There was also a sneaky person who secretly looked at the other person.

Meanwhile, the second group was hanging out near a pile of weapons in the middle of the clearing.

"Hmm... I like swords."

"Don't you know that's a story that comes out of a novel? In practice, it is unconditionally a spear, a spear."

People who each pick up a weapon they like and play around with it.

"Oops, why is this so heavy?"

"If I wield this incorrectly, I'll break my back?"

Of course, modern people didn't have a chance to wield a weapon, so the posture was sloppy.

But these men were preparing to fight. It is clearly aware that this place is a 'top'.

And the third and final category... Everyone was doing something.

Puck! Puck!

A man scooping up the ground with a shovel that had been mixed up in a pile of weapons.

Whoo! Whoo!

A woman repeating the motion of slashing down a sword inorganically.

"Hmm... Hmm... "

Even one man who seems to be searching for something, digging through a pile of weapons.

They were all wasting their energy doing bizarre things.

Unable to overcome my intense curiosity, I approached the man who was digging.

The one who was digging was a man in his 40s who looked like an ordinary office worker in a suit, no.

The suit pants had already been ripped off and modified to look like shorts, and the jacket was buried in a mound of dirt, with only the sleeves sticking out.

Puck! Puck!

A man digging diligently with his shirt's arms rolled up.

"Hey."

I spoke cautiously.

The man stops digging, wipes the sweat from his forehead, and moves his gaze to me.

"... What."

A blunt reply came back, but I didn't care.

"This land. Why are you selling it?"

"I don't know."

A man who seems to be extremely wary of me.

"... All right."

He backed off meekly, but he seemed to know what the man was thinking.

Hidden Peace.

The third type of people must have read too many web novels or webtoons, and they were looking for Hidden Peace from the start.

There was a treasure hidden on the floor at the beginning of the tutorial, or if you swing a sword 100,000 times in the tutorial, a skill is given... There was a legendary weapon hidden in a pile of ordinary weapons.

It was an act close to bullshit from anyone's point of view, but I didn't want to stop them.

If I really do find something, I just have to go back and steal it.

I settled down next to a group of people talking again.

The fairy in the tutorial earlier mentioned 'system'.

I was determined to wait for something to happen.

I couldn't tell the exact time because I didn't have a watch, but after about 10 minutes, I felt it.

Notice 〈. Notice the rules of the tutorial stage.〉

A translucent message window appeared before my eyes.

"What, what?"

"... Notification?"

Judging from other people's reactions, it seems that I'm not the only one who sees it.

I turned my gaze to the message in front of my eyes again.

〈Tutorial Stage〉

-Clear Condition 1: If you swallow the 'Golden Orb' hidden somewhere in the forest, you can move on to the next stage. However, there are only 50 golden orbs.

-Clear condition 2: Defeat the boss and goblin shaman to create a portal to the next stage.

"Hmm... "

At a glance, there were well over 50 people in the vacant lot. This tower was forcing people to choose between the two.

Will everyone work together to defeat the goblin shaman, or will they use the golden orb to find their way to life?

Usually, someone would say, 'Let's all join forces to catch the boss!'.

It seems that everyone here is selfish, but no one wants to join forces with everyone.

"... Shall we go together?"

"You. It seems to use some force. Go together how is it?"

Catching a goblin shaman is scary. I need to find the golden orb. In the end, people who go out to find allies who will give courage instead of me.

"Hey... If you don't have a team... "

Although I have received several recruitment offers of my own.

"... Sorry."

I had no choice but to refuse.

Because in the first place, I couldn't even go outside because of the bushes.

Like that, middle-aged people who deny the existence of the system and cowards who don't have the courage to fight in the first place. And, except for some geeks, I left the vacant lot in search of my own way.

"... "

Whoo! Whoo!

Only then did I pick up a sword and quietly settle down next to the woman who was still striking the sword down.

Earlier I saw her brandishing her sword menacingly at the man who offered her her party. Talking about it for nothing would be a negative.

"... "

After giving me one look, the woman ignored me and kept swinging her sword.

She is an oriental beauty with black hair tied with a string and a ponytail that suits her very well. Of course, being pretty has nothing to do with me.

Whoo!

"Ugh... "

I tried to swing the sword with a big heart, but it seems that her shoulder is about to come off, perhaps because her posture is wrong.

Sword, this is much heavier than I thought. Adjusting the cutting direction is not an ordinary task.

But you have to get used to the sword.

If I don't get stronger, I'll be forever regressing in tutorials.

The tower I know is a space where the weak cannot survive.

The body continues to return. What I have to get used to with the sword is my mind.

Whoo! Whoo!

I will definitely be a hero

Certainly.

I'm not sure how much time has passed. Seeing as the sun is about to set, it doesn't seem like a short time.

"Whoa."

He swung his sword so much that his hand trembled. I barely stopped because I was afraid that if I did more, my palms would peel off and return.

Whoo! Whoo!

A woman with a ponytail who is still brandishing a sword, as if she is not tired.

"Kya."

Looking at it like this, it's really pretty. Her nose is also sharp... The point under her eyes is also sexy...

Jerrit!

The woman turned her head and glared at me, as if she felt my gaze on her face.

"... "

A regressor must always have a goal.

And I just set my first milestone goal.

Make friends with that woman, learn the sword.

Of course, getting stronger is a bonus. Seeing this, we call it killing two birds with one stone.

Puck! Puck!

Whoo! Whoo!

Like that, I was setting my own goal alone using the sound of digging and swinging a sword as ASMR.

"Quaaaaagh!"

The piercing screams of humans could be heard from somewhere far away.

I don't know anything else, but I can't forget that voice. Because it was the voice of a bald man who was annoyed every time he returned.

"... Fuck."

A person died