The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 109

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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The Maxed-Out Player’s 100th Return – Episode 109
109. Choosing a Merchant Group
◀ ROUND 8 ▶
【Main Quest】
└Escort the merchant group to the destination
【Sub Quest】
└Eliminate the traitor
└Upon success ▶ ???? awarded
[All Districts]
└Participants: 3,047,910
└Achievers: 0/1,523,955
[District C2-ESKA003]
└Participants: 2,166
└Achievers: 0/1,083
The players who saw the Quest tilted their heads in confusion.
“Escort a merchant group to the destination?”
“Where did this merchant group suddenly come from?”
“Where is this merchant group supposed to be?”
A merchant group refers to a gathering of merchants, but for that to exist, there would need to be merchants in the first place, wouldn’t there?
“Are they asking us to do some kind of roleplay?”
“One person plays a merchant and the rest escort them?”
Angel’s laughter burst forth, as if she had heard the murmuring.
[Roleplay? Kyahahaha, did you come here to act? We would never ask for something like that.]
“Then what do you mean….”
[It’s exactly as I said. You simply need to escort the merchant group.]
“But that still doesn’t explain where this merchant group is….”
[I’ve heard that humans are inferior, but I never knew you were this foolish.]
The players remained silent despite Angel’s sarcasm.
No matter how much the players gossiped about Angel behind her back, they understood the power dynamic clearly.
[Do you think you’re the only ones in this world? You’ve already encountered the existence of other races—goblins, angels, Nol, orcs, and so on—haven’t you?]
“Ah….”
“Could it be….”
[That’s right. The merchant groups are from the Other World. There are merchant groups from three races in total—the Human Merchant Group, the Elf Merchant Group, and the Dwarf Merchant Group. You’ll choose one of them to escort.]
“We get to choose which race to escort?”
“Elves and dwarves had merchant groups too?”
“Wait, so elves that I only read about in fantasy novels actually exist?”
The thought of seeing races from the Other World that only existed in fantasy novels made some players’ hearts race with excitement.
[The escort mission lasts five hours. If you safely transport the merchant group to the destination, you pass the Quest. Of course, there will be monster attacks during the escort, but don’t worry too much. You won’t be alone.]
“We won’t be alone?”
“Do we form parties like in Round 6?”
[That’s correct. Today, you will form unusually large parties. The 2,166 of you here will be divided among the three merchant groups I mentioned earlier.]
“Divided among them?”
That meant anywhere from hundreds to over a thousand people would have to act together.
[You must choose only one of the three merchant groups. If you select the same group, you’ll automatically form a party with those who chose it. Of course, you won’t know what others choose.]
“Large parties, huh…”
“So we’re all moving toward the shared goal of escorting them…”
“It feels like running a raid in a game, doesn’t it?”
[As a note, each merchant group has difficulty levels ranging from easy to hard, so choose carefully. I won’t tell you which has higher difficulty.]
“So we just have to pick one of the three at random?”
“Then if we’re unlucky and pick a hard difficulty merchant group, we’re screwed, right?”
In other words, we had to choose based solely on the race.
“Since the difficulty isn’t shown, I guess I’ll just have to guess.”
You can’t infer the difficulty just by looking at the race.
In the end, it all comes down to luck.
Hoping for an easy difficulty.
Ariel explained the sub-quest next.
[As you can see, the sub-quest is to eliminate the traitors. There are traitors within the merchant group you choose. Whether there’s one or several, I can’t say.]
“Traitors exist?”
“You mean there are traitors during the escort?”
“Is this like a Mafia game?”
[The traitors’ objective is to prevent the merchant group from reaching their destination. Naturally, the traitors aren’t part of your party. You can kill them with skills or anything else.]
“Oh, so we can kill them?”
[If you successfully find and eliminate the hidden traitors, you’ll receive a sub-quest reward. Of course, the reward goes only to the one person who contributed the most to killing the traitors.]
People nodded their heads.
After hearing the explanation, everyone had a basic understanding.
[That concludes the explanation. We’ll begin the game after you choose your merchant group in 10 minutes. Good luck to you all. Kyahahaha!]
After Angel disappeared, the crowd erupted into murmurs.
“Man, we have to pick one of three.”
“I need to pick easy difficulty.”
“Wouldn’t the Elf Merchant Group be relatively easier?”
“I’m going with the Human Merchant Group. Other races are just too scary…”
“Me too, the Human Merchant Group seems safer.”
“Wouldn’t it be bad if everyone flocks to one place?”
“Right? The Human Merchant Group is probably going to be crowded.”
“I should go somewhere else.”
“The Dwarf Merchant Group seems unpopular, so maybe I’ll try that?”
“By the way, how is ranking determined?”
“Right? If we’re all escorting the merchant group together, what’s the ranking criteria?”
“I forgot to ask about that.”
“And what about these traitors anyway? Damn it.”
Everyone was chattering about the Quest, and Min Ju-ri was no exception.
“Black Scythe. I heard we have to choose one of the three races?”
“So it seems.”
“Which one are you planning to go to?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
There were three types of merchant groups.
I knew which one would be the most popular.
‘People will flock to the Human Merchant Group, then the Elf Merchant Group, then the Dwarf Merchant Group.’
Humans would draw crowds because they were both familiar and of the same race.
Elves would attract those who wanted to meet them in person at least once.
Dwarves would be unpopular, reminiscent as they were of short, stocky grandfathers.
‘If I had to choose one, the Dwarf Merchant Group would be the better option.’
Having repeated countless cycles, I knew the difficulty levels of each.
‘The Dwarf Merchant Group has the easiest difficulty. Next is the Elf Merchant Group, then the Human Merchant Group.’
In other words, unfortunately, the location with the most people was the highest difficulty tier.
The advanced difficulty spawned monsters that required approximately level 50 to handle.
These included trolls, gargoyles, skeletons, minotaurs, and the like.
The intermediate difficulty Elf Merchant Group spawned harpies, lizardmen, werewolves, and such.
The beginner difficulty would only spawn orc-level monsters.
‘If I want to clear the round as easily as possible, I should choose the beginner difficulty Dwarf Merchant Group.’
The main Quest was fundamentally about escorting the merchant group, but simply escorting them didn’t guarantee passing the round.
‘Escorting is only the basic condition for clearing the round. Rankings are determined by the order of highest contribution earned.’
At first glance, it appeared to be a party Quest where everyone escorted the merchant group together, but in reality, individual performance determined who survived.
Competition was necessary.
‘If the monsters are weak, I can earn higher contribution, so choosing the lower difficulty Dwarf Merchant Group would allow me to achieve a higher ranking.’
While Heo Tae-sik didn’t know this fact, Min Ju-ri did.
‘I told her all this information through prophecy, after all.’
In short, she knew that choosing the Dwarf Merchant Group would allow her to clear the round easily.
Yet Min Ju-ri still appeared to be deliberating.
The reason was simple.
‘The Dwarf Merchant Group offers low difficulty but grants less experience.’
While the strategy would be easy, the monsters’ low level meant less experience gain.
The advanced difficulty was the opposite—the strategy was difficult, but experience gains were high.
‘In other words, I have to choose between low risk and low reward, or high risk and high reward.’
This was why Min Ju-ri was hesitating.
—I know the Dwarf Merchant Group has low difficulty. But if I clear somewhere too easy, my level won’t rise much. Then the gap between me and Black Scythe will widen. What if by then… he no longer needs my help?
Reading her thoughts, I could see she was worried that if the gap widened, Black Scythe would abandon her.
‘Needless worry.’
Even if Min Ju-ri’s level was low, Blessing was fundamentally an incredibly powerful buff.
My wish was for her to survive as long as possible.
“Min Ju-ri.”
“Yes?”
“What’s troubling you so much?”
“Oh, it’s nothing really.”
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but remember this one thing. Greed invites calamity. Survive as long as you possibly can. That path benefits you, benefits me, and benefits everyone around us.”
“….”
Min Ju-ri was startled.
It seemed as though he had spoken with her situation in mind.
-Does he really see through people’s hearts?
I heard her thoughts, but I turned my head away as if I didn’t notice.
‘If I do this much, she’ll take the easier path.’
Sure enough, when I read Min Ju-ri’s true intentions, she seemed to have resolved to join the Dwarf Merchant Group.
That was a relief.
‘If I’d known this, I should have driven the point home and told her to go to the Dwarf Merchant Group from the start.’
Since the choice was free, I had deliberately refrained from specifying, yet I myself was more anxious about it.
Worried that Min Ju-ri might be in danger.
‘No, that shouldn’t happen. Even without my involvement, she passed this level of round before, didn’t she?’
Heo Tae-sik was also deliberating, but it seemed he had ultimately decided to try the Elf Merchant Group.
‘Ma Gyeong-rok, An Sang-chul, Seo A-rin, Russell, Christine, and others. They’ll make their own choices.’
Some would try to conquer the easier routes, while those with greed would choose the Human Merchant Group.
‘Either way, my prophecy must have helped. I told them all the pros and cons of choosing each merchant group and how to deal with the monsters.’
However, there was one thing I didn’t mention.
The Sub Quest.
Regarding that, I dodged the question by saying I didn’t know.
Of course, there was a reason for not telling them.
‘Even if they knew, they wouldn’t be able to complete the Sub Quest.’
After a moment, when ten minutes had passed, the same message appeared in everyone’s vision.
[Merchant Group selection will now begin.]
[Please touch the merchant group you wish to escort.]
└ 1. Human Merchant Group
└ 2. Elf Merchant Group
└ 3. Dwarf Merchant Group
They had difficulty levels of high, medium, and low respectively, but those who didn’t know were being extremely cautious.
“Ah, it’s all luck anyway, right?”
“Whatever happens, happens!”
“I’m going with 1, whatever I want!”
“Let’s see what elves look like, 2!”
The moment the players selected their merchant groups, they vanished without a trace.
They seemed to have been transported somewhere.
“Black Scythe, where will you be going?”
“I’m not sure.”
“I’m heading to the Dwarf Merchant Group. Would you like to come with me?”
Ryu Min shook his head at Min Ju-ri’s suggestion.
“Never mind. You go first.”
“Hmm, understood.”
Despite knowing the difficulty level, Min Ju-ri held her tongue.
If she revealed anything about the prophecy, it could put Ryu Min in danger.
-Black Scythe will surely make the right choice on his own.
Min Ju-ri bid farewell before making her selection.
“Black Scythe. I’m not sure which path you’ll choose, but I hope it leads to a good outcome. Since we might not meet again, I’ll cast a buff before I go!”
Min Ju-ri’s buff enveloped Ryu Min’s body.
The corners of Ryu Min’s mouth lifted.
“You’ve got good instincts.”
“Then I’ll really be going now!”
After Min Ju-ri disappeared following her merchant group selection, Heo Tae-sik approached to say goodbye.
“Well then, Black Scythe. I’ll be heading out first.”
“Go ahead.”
Heo Tae-sik chose option 2, and his form vanished.
The players scattered throughout the area gradually disappeared to somewhere beyond.
“Hmm.”
Though most had moved on, I still hadn’t made my selection.
Though I appeared to be deliberating, my mind was already made up.
‘My choice is.’
I crossed my arms, my resolve hardening.
‘To choose nothing at all.’
At first glance, there appear to be three options, but there’s actually one more.
Choosing nothing.
I didn’t know this at first either.
‘I thought I had to pick one of the three, so I chose option 1 without hesitation.’
In my past runs, I’d tried various approaches—options 1, 2, 3—when a sudden doubt about the sub-quest struck me.
The traitor in the sub-quest used the same ability regardless of which merchant group I chose.
‘How is that possible? Wasn’t the traitor supposed to be randomly selected from among the merchant groups?’
While pondering this mystery, I accidentally missed the merchant group selection window.
That’s when I first realized there was a time limit.
‘Now I understand. Not choosing is the best path for me.’
There appeared to be no time limit, but there was.
After exactly 9 minutes of deferring my choice, an additional message appeared.
[1 minute remains until you must choose.]
[Failure to choose may result in penalties!]
The message urged me to decide, but I knew the truth.
Not choosing was the greatest gain I could secure.
[10 seconds remain until selection. Please hurry!]
[9 seconds remaining. Time is running out!]
…
…
[1 second remaining. This is truly the end now!]
[You have ultimately failed to choose a merchant group.]
The message that appeared brought a satisfied smile to Ryu Min’s lips.
[Player ‘Black Scythe’ belongs to the Betrayer Group.]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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