The Regressor Plays the Game Too Well - Chapter 24

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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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Episode 24
Episode 24
Free City Felsia.
A city where users of varying levels from 30 to 100 could reside.
The fact that there could be such diverse levels was already appealing.
It meant there were multiple Hunting Grounds.
That translated to a wider range of choices!
Which Hunting Ground was the most popular, you ask?
Dungeons, naturally.
As long as you weren’t in a party, PvP wouldn’t occur.
No interference to worry about.
How convenient was that.
True to its name as a free city, Felsia had plenty of dungeons.
The Suspicious Cave was one such place.
‘I know this place.’
The Suspicious Cave where Jin-woo went on a Hidden Quest.
It wasn’t a Hidden Dungeon.
But I wasn’t disappointed.
Of course not.
I was going there on a Hidden Quest—it couldn’t possibly be the same dungeon as other users!
Even regular Quests changed the dungeon.
But this was a Hidden Quest, no less?
There was no way it wouldn’t change!
I couldn’t help but feel anticipation.
‘To think there would be hidden elements here.’
Even Tensor, the errand boy, didn’t know about this.
Moreover, the Suspicious Cave was quite a famous dungeon.
In other words, it was a popular one.
Yet I’d never heard of hidden elements here before.
Well, perhaps those who discovered it kept it secret.
One could think that way.
But that was absolutely impossible.
Every dungeon has hidden elements, and if someone triggers one?
The dungeon itself changes.
The story progresses and transforms.
Yet the Suspicious Cave had never undergone such a change.
‘No one has ever discovered it.’
Everything I’d obtained so far came from regression knowledge.
Well, that was good too.
But it couldn’t compare to discovering something myself.
I did find Parson using my regression knowledge, but I discovered everything else on my own.
When you think about it, I really did find him myself!
My heart is racing for the first time in a while.
I wonder what awaits in the Suspicious Cave.
I still have no idea what might appear there.
‘The Quest doesn’t provide any hints either.’
I opened the Quest window again with that thought.
[The Suspicious Old Man and the Suspicious Cave]
【Hidden Quest】
*Description: In an alley of Felsia.
There, you discovered a suspicious general store.
The potions and various goods were of considerably higher quality than what you’d seen at the Alchemist Guild, so you were about to use the shop when you ended up agreeing to a request from the old man who owned it.
But he seemed quite suspicious.
When you returned after completing his request, the old man was quite surprised.
He seems to be after something, but it remains unclear what.
And now he’s making another request, asking you to retrieve something he left in a certain cave.
A suspicious request.
But you decide to fulfill it anyway.
*Objective: Retrieve the item inside the cave at the old man’s request.
*Reward: Linked Quest ‘Felsia’s Eccentric Alchemist, Parson’, Substantial Experience Points, All items obtained inside the Suspicious Cave
It’s quite long.
In summary, Parson seems quite suspicious, and the request is to go to the cave and retrieve something for him.
That’s what the Quest is asking me to do.
But from this, one thing is certain.
‘He wants to kill me?’
Is it because of the ‘noble’?
It seems to be connected to the nobility.
How intriguing.
This is what makes Quests interesting.
All the Quests I’ve cleared so far were ones I already knew about.
Now that things have changed like this, it’s suddenly fascinating.
Most of all.
I’m pleased with the next linked Quest.
‘That was the final Quest.’
Normally, I’d need to complete four more linked Quests to see it.
But I can see it in just two attempts?
That’s far too advantageous.
It’s fresh and different from what I knew, which makes it entertaining too.
It feels like advantage upon advantage.
And the other reward is all items obtained inside the cave.
A reward that would normally be disappointing.
But anyone who’s played Pantheon knows better.
What? You’re saying I’m the only one?
Well, that’s true.
‘A hidden reward room appears.’
The reward room you get after defeating the boss in the Boss Room.
Normally, that’s all you’d get when leaving the dungeon.
But if you enter a dungeon with a Quest that offers such rewards?
Ta-da~! A hidden room exists~!
That’s exactly the feeling.
You can’t find it with trap-setting skills or detection-type abilities.
It’s a system mechanic.
It’s a room that only opens when you complete a Quest with such rewards.
I wonder what they’ll give in there.
I’m so curious.
Perhaps that’s why.
I arrived faster than expected.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve been here too.’
A dungeon located on the mountainside.
Any player in the Deron Kingdom starting at levels 30-40 has visited this dungeon.
Now that I think about it, chimera monsters appeared here too.
That’s why I remember Tensor, the errand runner, broadcasting that there might be something related to Parson here.
Though we came up empty in the end.
Yeah, that’s how it was.
Anyway, even if the chimeras didn’t drop anything, the experience was quite decent.
Well, there’s difficulty to match that.
Still, high experience is always a gain.
‘So shall I go in?’
Grin.
I’m excited since it’s been a while.
Then let me equip my gear.
I equipped all my equipment.
It’s become a habit since last time.
When I’m in the Village, I walk around in beginner gear.
Anyway, I equipped the Cobolt set and the item I obtained this time, the ‘Regenerating Wood Root Breastplate’.
I was already wearing the rings.
They don’t stand out much.
Finally, my weapon was a rather large double-bladed axe.
Why an axe instead of a sword, you ask?
Simple.
‘If I use a sword, they die too quickly.’
My swordsmanship skill efficiency has improved so much that enemies fall apart in seconds, but what can I do?
I could argue that dying quickly is a good thing, but not right now.
I need to practice using the skills I’ve acquired, but they’re dead before I can even learn how to apply them properly.
That’s a problem.
So that’s why I’m using an axe instead—a weapon that doesn’t benefit from my skill enhancements.
Even though the weapon itself has high attack power, it receives minimal bonus damage, resulting in lower overall damage output.
Well then, shall I check out the skills I obtained this time?
Let’s go!
[Will you enter the Suspicious Cave?]
“Why ask? Of course, YES!”
* * *
An alley reeking of filth and decay.
From a shabby general store tucked deep within Felsia’s winding alleys came a grotesque cackle.
“Kekeke-kekekek!”
An elderly man with a hunched back and stooped posture laughed with unmistakable glee.
The sight of him cackling like a madman was utterly unsettling.
Grotesque incarnate.
Yet despite his bent back and curved spine, he had cast aside his cane and walked on his own.
No one could question such an incongruity.
There was no one around to see it.
“Kekeke! Fool! If you’d lived this long, you should have run!”
Muttering to himself, he recalled the young man who had just left.
An adventurer blessed by the goddess, they say?
But he was no ordinary adventurer.
The very fact that he had come to this city so soon told me he was no common soul, but there was something else about him.
A revolting stench emanated from him!
The reek of those cursed nobles!
“Damn! Those filthy nobles shoved into this cesspool!”
The young man carried the same abhorrent stench as those wretched aristocrats who had reduced him—the greatest alchemist of all—to this state.
It sickened me.
That he reeked of the very nobles who had destroyed me.
Pathetic vermin without talent, consumed by inferiority.
Fools who could not recognize my grand vision.
Human experimentation is essential for achieving greatness in alchemy.
Yet they cast me out for such a trivial reason!
I will have my vengeance!
“Kekeke-kekek! And so I turned to dark magic! For revenge!”
At first, I had refused to touch dark magic, warned of its dangers.
But having already conducted human experiments, what more could I possibly fear?
Of course, I dabbled in dark magic too, and now there’s no turning back.
I was far from normal.
Well, if I had been normal in the first place, I wouldn’t have entertained such thoughts.
Jin-woo reeked of the same stench as those wretches.
I couldn’t bear it.
So I sent him to my experimental Orcs to dispose of him, yet the bastard returned alive.
It still baffles me.
‘On the surface, he seemed weak, but apparently he was more skilled than expected.’
A phenomenon caused by his low level.
But how would an old man like Parson know that?
So how shocked I was at first.
The one I was certain would die came back perfectly alive.
Well, with experimental Orcs, such things can happen.
But this time is different.
‘All my masterpieces are gathered in that place.’
There’s no way he could survive there.
I was certain of it.
That place isn’t somewhere you can escape from just by being skilled.
It’s not merely a place where Chimeras dwell.
Masterpieces!
Yes, it’s where my masterpieces are, isn’t it?
I’m not talking about the experimental subjects at the entrance.
Even the one who appears as a boss to anyone who enters can hardly be called a masterpiece.
My masterpieces are hidden where no one can see them.
No, he’ll die before he even sees my masterpiece.
With such a gap in power, no amount of skill will help.
The experimental subjects alone will be more than sufficient to deal with him.
All the creatures in the Cave are successful specimens.
After some time passes, I’ll go there and use his corpse as material.
If only it goes that way…!
‘I will finally be complete. Kekeke! Kekeke! Kekekeke!’
The last precious blood I need.
I was racking my brains trying to figure out how to obtain it.
Yet he walks in on his own like this.
Divine providence.
Even if my successful creations fail to kill him, it doesn’t matter.
I still have my masterpiece!
‘Since he just went in, I should arrive in about five hours. Kekeke! Kekeke! Kekeke! At last, I too can be completed.’
No, it might be even faster than that.
He’s bound to struggle from the entrance anyway.
This newcomer is quite the formidable specimen.
‘I miscalculated. It won’t take more than five hours, so I should start preparing soon.’
Just as Parson was making preparations to head toward the Suspicious Cave.
True to Parson’s expectations, Jin-woo was already struggling at the entrance.
“Argh! Let me test my skills!”
Crack! Crack!
“Shriek!”
“Screeeech!”
“Kyeeeow!”
Crack! Crack! Crack!
He was struggling because he couldn’t test his skills.
“Why do they just die the moment I pick up the axe?!”
As he spoke, he gripped an axe drenched in countless splatters of blood.
If someone saw him, they might ask, “Isn’t that what axes do, teacher?”
But Jin-woo himself seemed oblivious to the irony.
“Ugh! Let me test my skills!”
Well, at least.
[Level Up!]
[You have gained bonus experience.]
[Level Up!]
[You have gained bonus experience.]
[Level Up!]
[You have gained bonus experience.]
His levels were rising steadily.
But what good was that?
“If I level up one more time, I’ll get another skill, but what’s the point?! These creatures are too weak!”
He was utterly frustrated.
At this point, his madness rivaled even Parson’s.
Unaware of Jin-woo’s predicament, Parson hummed cheerfully as he hurried with his preparations.
“Kekekeke! I can hardly wait to see how much despair one with such noble blood will experience!”
The saying that ignorance is bliss truly seemed to be wisdom.
Ah, no.
He simply didn’t know yet.
That’s right.
Those creations Parson took such pride in—they hadn’t appeared yet.
He had no way of knowing.
Perhaps?

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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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