Chapter 48 - The Regressor Takes Action (5)

The sign in the square listed the rewards for each grade.

Bronze rewards were miscellaneous consumables or garbage-tier potions.

Silver rewards were weapons and armor with the modifier “Sturdy,” along with lowest-grade potions.

Gold rewards were weapons and armor with the modifier “Well-Made,” along with low-grade potions.

And once you reached Platinum, there was the “Flash” set, whose performance looked broken—absolutely broken—at a glance, plus pills you could always count on, wherever and whenever you took them.

In fact, setting aside the unfairness of its system, there was no denying that Floor 2 was an incredibly generous stage from a Player’s perspective.

There was next to no risk, and regardless of how substantial the reward might be, you were guaranteed to get one. Compared with the blood and death of the Tutorial Stage, it was practically heaven.

There were no bull-headed monsters out to kill you, and food wasn’t limited. On Floor 2, Players could stay forever if they wanted, or move on in no time at all. As long as you weren’t greedy and aimed for nothing more than a Silver reward, clearing it was no problem whatsoever.

And here I was, receiving a Diamond reward after putting myself through hell, despite having such an easy clear right in front of me.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited.

Would there be another pill? Or an item with insane performance? Come to think of it, I remembered seeing a stat called “Mana” in other people’s Status windows... Maybe the rewards included a lightning mana training method? Could I send streams of lightning pouring out of my entire body like the city’s ruler?

I swallowed without realizing it and checked the message floating before me.

[Please select your Diamond reward.]

-Lightning Heart [Trait]

-Flash Step [Trait]

-Lowest-Grade Elixir [Consumable]

“... Hmm.”

An elixir was an elixir. What the hell was a lowest-grade elixir?

With that pointless thought, I decided to read the detailed descriptions.

-Lightning Heart [S]

‘When a Knight of Lightning uses this technique, it means they are prepared to die.’

Upon activation, consumes all your mana and replaces it with lightning-aspected mana. Greatly enhances all physical capabilities, including reaction speed, and adds lightning damage to every attack you deal. The user continuously takes damage for the duration. Lightning Heart remains active until all lightning-aspected mana has been consumed.

-Flash Step [S]

‘By the time you see it, it is already too late.’

A footwork technique that utilizes extreme changes in pace. Consumes a large amount of mana to enable brief movement at incredibly high speeds. However, the distance traveled depends on proficiency.

-Lowest-Grade Elixir [S]

‘Eternal youth and immortality may be impossible, but a long, healthy life seems within reach.’

Consuming one full bottle heals all physical defects and losses. Unlike the original, it has little effect on curses.

“Tsk...”

Lightning Heart. At a glance, it looked like an enormously powerful trait. And a damn cool one, too.

A protagonist backed into a corner. People he had to protect. An overwhelmingly powerful enemy. After wrestling with the decision, the protagonist steels himself and activates Lightning Heart. Man, that was cool.

Besides, my Regression ability itself paired extremely well with traits suited to short, decisive battles. Just like when I’d pumped up my strength with Hero and taken the Minotaur’s head off, I could briefly boost my combat power, grab the reward, and regress.

But as long as the description said, “The user continuously takes damage for the duration,” all of that was out of reach. I’d regress the moment I activated the trait.

Since taking damage made me regress, I simply couldn’t use any of those “Hold together, body!” types of traits.

Likewise, the Lowest-Grade Elixir was a consumable. I could make an enormous fortune selling it back in the real world... but I couldn’t bring it with me through Regression.

I could drink it right now, but my body was the very picture of health. There was no particular benefit to choosing the elixir.

That left only one option. Flash Step.

For a supposedly Diamond reward, should I be grateful there was even one thing I could use?

“... How do I even use this?”

I’d never acquired a skill I had to activate myself, like Flash Step.

With a little curiosity, I tapped “Flash Step” with my fingertip.

“U-ugh...”

Pain crashed over me, as if my head were splitting open. It felt like every cell in my brain was burning up, but apparently this didn’t count as damage, because there was no sign of Regression.

Information forced its way into my head. How to maintain my balance on the tips of my feet. When to direct mana, and where. How to place my feet without putting too much strain on them.

“Hah... Hah...”

After about a minute, the pain gradually subsided, and I finally managed to lift my head.

Every piece of information about Flash Step was now in my mind, as though an entire book had been hammered into my brain.

“...”

Flash Step. The footwork technique used by the Knights of Lightning.

What was that saying? You only see as much as you know?

The city’s ruler’s strange movements. The reason she could suddenly appear in the time it took me to close my eyes and open them again. With the knowledge in my head, I understood that the secret lay in the peerless footwork technique called Flash Step.

And I realized something very important.

“... I’ll need to know how to use mana to do this.”

That phrase in all those item descriptions, “consumes mana”... It didn’t mean mana was consumed automatically, like in a game.

I had to move the mana myself to activate it. And I didn’t know how to use mana.

I’d obtained an S-rank reward... but had no way to use it right now.

“Status window.”

[Name: Kim Junho] [LV:16]

[Traits]

-Regression [EX]

-Flash Step [S]

-Curiosity [A]

-Awe [B]

-Hero [C]

-Swordsmanship [F]

My achievement level had risen from 13 to 16.

And I’d added one dependable S-rank trait. With no use for it.

“Well, anyway...”

I’d originally planned to experiment with my new S-rank reward... but there was no need anymore. I already knew I couldn’t use it yet.

In that case, it was time to move straight to the next step.

First, I opened a portal to the real world and returned to my familiar little apartment.

I’d cleared Floor 2, but hadn’t entered Floor 3 yet. That meant taking damage would send me back to the moment I first entered Floor 2...

The important part was that I had now cleared Floor 2.

What did that mean? It meant the Floor 2 information embargo had been lifted. Which meant I could read all the accounts from other people who’d already cleared it to my heart’s content.

Hearing other people’s stories would surely reveal something I’d missed.

There had to be a way to persuade that stubborn-as-hell ruler, or force her to give in. I’d been told that others had tried replacing the nobles. That meant I wasn’t the only one who’d tried to change the tower’s structure.

I immediately turned on my computer and scoured Korean online communities. With all my years of hanging around forums, finding the information I wanted wasn’t difficult, but...

-Got this as my Silver reward. Is it any good?

-What happens if you hit each other on Floor 2? Too scared to try it myself.

-I seriously wanna kill all those fuckers blocking the way, for real.

-Why do Bronze rewards even exist, though? I don’t get it.

“... Didn’t account for this.”

The problem was that there wasn’t a single piece of useful new information. I knew all of it already.

After repeated regressions, I had a fairly good grasp of how Floor 2 worked. These people had only gone through it once.

Besides, it hadn’t been long since the US president publicly announced the tower’s existence.

At this point, you could literally count the people who’d cleared Floor 2 on one hand. Whether they were training on Floor 1 or just lounging around, I didn’t know, but everyone was reluctant to go up to Floor 2.

“... A wild-goose chase?”

After about two hours of browsing, I concluded that searching the internet for information was pointless.

The climber communities hadn’t really gotten going yet, and hardly anyone had gone up to Floor 2. Most of those who had probably chose Silver rewards, too.

Come to think of it, I might currently know more about Floor 2 than anyone else on Earth.

“Tsk.”

I turned off the computer and was just about to lie down on my bed to make a plan when—

“... Huh?”

I remembered Michael Jeter’s notice posted in a corner of the square.

And I remembered what the middle-aged American men chatting in front of it had said. They’d mentioned an unofficial Player community in America.

“... American forums?”

Everything I’d searched had been limited to Korean communities. Why hadn’t I thought to check foreign ones?

My hands immediately flew into action as I browsed the major American forums.

Apparently that American guy hadn’t been full of hot air. I found that several Player communities had already formed.

I opened the largest one and kept scrolling down.

It didn’t take long to find what I wanted. The post had an enormous number of upvotes.

“... Found it.”

A familiar username. Exactly the content I’d been looking for.

<My experience on Floor 2 was incredibly unpleasant. The city’s ruler nearly killed me.>

Author: M.Z.

I thought I’d found a possibility.

A Word from the Author (Afterword)

There definitely weren’t any problems when I uploaded it, so why do issues like messed-up line spacing and missing sentences show up afterward...?

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