Regressor Instruction Manual

“Congratulations on your safe return from the tutorial. My name is Lee Sang-Hee and I’m the person in charge of this tutorial dungeon,” she said.

She looked very polite.

Not only did she quietly bow, but seeing the small smile on her face made me realize that Lee Sang-Hee and the people behind her didn’t have any hostile feelings towards us. On the contrary, they were actually friendly.

“What do you mean by the person in charge of this tutorial dungeon?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“It’s like I said. I’m the sub guild master of the Blue Guild, a free guild within the Benigoa Empire and I am in charge of the tutorial dungeon for this round,” she explained.

“Does that mean you guys are the ones that summoned us to this place?” Kim Hyun-Sung asked.

“No. We’re in the same position as all of you guys. We were suddenly summoned into the tutorial dungeon one day and experienced the same test as well. The only difference is that we arrived before you. I don’t know how this happened or why the summoning ceremony started,” she answered.

“Hm…”

“Our job is to take care of you after you’ve finished taking control of the tutorial dungeon and saving the survivors that are still inside. Not only will we help you adapt and teach you about living in a new environment, but we guarantee that you’ll have basic living rights,” Lee Sang-Hee explained.

“Basic living rights?” Kim Hyun-Sung asked.

“Yes, basic living rights,” she replied.

“I see. Does that mean all of you were able to enter this place after controlling the dungeon?” he asked.

“That’s right. The door of the tutorial dungeon will remain open for about three days after completion. After three days, the door of the dungeon will close again. We haven’t figured out why that happens, but…anyways, please follow us. We can talk about the details once we’re inside,” she suggested.

I felt a bit dumbfounded because I never imagined that we would be able to relax like this after leaving the dungeon. More than that, the woman’s attitude was strange.

[Checking Player Lee Sang-Hee’s status window and stats.]

[Name - Lee Sang-Hee]

[Title - Iron Blood]

[Age - 33]

[Nature - Ideal Mediator]

[Job - Holy Knight]

[Job Effect - Acquired basic swordsmanship knowledge]

[Job Effect - Acquired basic shield knowledge]

[Job Effect - Acquired intermediate swordsmanship knowledge]

[Job Effect - Acquired advanced swordsmanship knowledge]

[Job Effect - Acquired basic holy knowledge]

[Job Effect - Acquired intermediate holy knowledge]

[Stats]

[Strength - 82/Above epic growth limit]

[Agility - 52/Above rare growth limit]

[Stamina - 90/Below epic growth limit]

[Intelligence - 30/Below average growth limit]

[Endurance - 91/Above epic growth limit]

[Luck - 33/Below rare growth limit]

[Magic - 77/Above rare growth limit]

[Gear]

[Saint Caliber - Epic Rank]

[Iron Blood Shield - Epic Rank - Exclusive to knights]

[Belt of Strength - Rare Rank]

[Attribute - Iron Blood]

[Overall Review - Player Lee Sang-Hee’s stats are amazing. She experienced quite a bit of growth and is now settling down. Her endurance and strength stats still have a bit of room to grow, but it may be difficult for her to grow her other stats. In the end, her stats aren’t bad, but it’s a bit unfortunate. However, please don’t underestimate her because a comparison between you two is impossible.]

‘Underestimate?’

Of course, I wasn’t going to underestimate her.

‘A monster.’

Even if all of us attacked her at once, we wouldn’t stand a chance. It was the same for the people around us.

If I were to judge her based on stats alone, there was too big of a difference between us to even make a comparison.

If she wanted to, she could easily kill us on the spot, but despite that…

‘She’s kind.’

She was very kind, no, it felt like she was trying to be humble.

“Miss Hwa-Yeon?” she called out.

“Yes,” a woman answered.

“Please begin searching for survivors that are inside. I’ll be spending some time with this group,” Lee Sang-Hee said.

“Got it.”

After seeing the soldiers enter the dungeon, I thought that it was only a matter of time until Lee Ji-Hye and the others were rescued.

Not only did I see Koreans, but I saw foreigners too. Based on the style and the appearance of their clothes, I didn’t think that they were from the modern world, so I assumed they were locals here.

As I looked around the place while walking, I saw Lee Sang-Hee, who was in the front, starting to talk and the person that answered was Kim Hyun-Sung, the leader of our party. Rather than participating in the conversation, I thought that it would be better to listen and gather information, so I quietly listened to them.

“I think you completed the quest pretty fast,” she said.

“Wasn’t it like this for the others?” Kim Hyun-Sung asked.

“No. On average, it takes about six months for a group to complete it, so it’s very rare for a group to complete it in three months. I’m sure the dungeon here was completed a lot faster than the other dungeons,” she explained.

“Are there dungeons in other places too?” he asked.

“Yes. The republic and the allied kingdom are managing several tutorial dungeons. The Benigoa Holy Empire, the empire we’re affiliated with, is managing a total of three dungeons. Not only are there Koreans here but people with different nationalities are usually summoned to a specific location and will undergo the same tutorial,” she replied.

“I see. Then does that mean we were the fastest in completing the dungeon quest?” he asked.

“Based on my explanation, yes. It’s forbidden to ask exactly what happened inside, but I’m really curious as to how you managed to complete the quest so fast. Not only that…but you managed to do it with a small group that only has four people,” she said.

“A lot of things happened and it would be difficult for me to tell you everything, but…we didn’t really face a lot of hardships. Not only that, but Mr. Deok-Gu, Mr. Ki-Young, and Miss Ha-Yan all did their parts, so we were able to control the dungeon. Oh, there’s also a shelter on the first floor, so please rescue the people that are there, ” Kim Hyun-Sung requested.

“Excuse me?” Lee Sang-Hee asked.

“This dude made a shelter so that he can gather all the survivors. We left the people that couldn’t hunt and created a separate dungeon party. We created something similar to a fortress wall at a safe location and used it as a base for our operations, so I’m sure they’re all safe. They also have more than enough supplies. Yup, that’s it!” Park Deok-Gu explained.

“I see…”

Lee Sang-Hee looked kind of stupefied.

‘Ohhh.’

I started to understand something. I understood exactly the things that were happening around us.

“I…I see,” she said.

It seemed like Lee Sang-Hee was having a difficult time hiding her emotions.

‘Kim Hyun-Sung, you sly fox.’

I never expected that our party’s ace and main character would do something as annoying as hiding his power.

When I looked back at the tutorial dungeon, I noticed people that had been rescued appearing one by one, but they weren’t people back at the shelter, so I assumed that these people had been hiding all by themselves. Of course, it was a mess. Some people were crying and others asked questions about where they were as if they were nitpicking. This was probably how people would usually react in a situation like this. Not only that but there were armed people in the area. In addition, the way they treated the others was strangely different from us. They looked oppressive and were looking down on the others.

“What is this place? W-What…in the world…” A survivor said.

“Mom…mom…waaah…” Another survivor was crying.

“Please gather. We’ll provide you with enough details later on. We first need to go outside together. Hey! You! Keep it down!”

“What! Is this place! Where am I?!” Another person yelled.

“Hey! Drag that bastard out of here this instant!”

“Let me go!” A survivor said while struggling.

“Waaaah…where am I?” Another person asked while crying.

“I told you that I’ll explain everything later. Please follow the regulations. You must follow the regulations first! All of you are safe. There isn’t any more danger. Everyone, please follow the regulations.”

‘This is nice.’

The way they were being treated was totally different from us.

I was sure that crying and asking others to save them and panicking was the usual reaction of people that had been in such a cruel environment, but our party was a bit different.

Not only was Kim Hyun-Sung extremely calm, but Jung Ha-Yan didn’t show any reaction to the new environment. She simply remained right next to me.

It was the same for Park Deok-Gu. He even kept on asking questions because he was curious about a lot of things.

From Lee Sang-Hee’s point of view, I was sure that she was a bit puzzled because this party cleared the tutorial dungeon that was located all over the world in record time and with only four people.

Not only that, but we were noticeably calm and had even created a shelter for other survivors.

I could understand why she was a bit confused.

‘They’re being treated differently…’

I could understand why these people were being treated differently from us. After all, these people did nothing but hide and run instead of fighting. Participating in a control party from the start meant that the party members had the ability to properly integrate into this new environment.

Seeing as how Lee Sang-Hee kept talking about a guild, an empire, and the republic, I was certain there was an interest group.

I wasn’t sure if this was a good example, but we were like rookie sports players whose worth had increased tremendously and they were like teams that were trying to recruit us. Assuming that there weren’t that many good players like us here, and there were a lot of people on the team, then there was one thing I could predict.

‘We’re the client and they’re the supplier.’

We were definitely the client.

I understood why Kim Hyun-Sung didn’t hesitate to hide his power. Seeing as how he was discreetly explaining our performance like a sly fox, it became obvious to me that he was trying to increase our worth. If we were eventually going to be sold off, it would be better for us to be sold at the highest price possible.

Of course, I didn’t know what Kim Hyun-Sung’s immediate plan was, but no matter which side he picked, we would be walking on a bed of roses and the thought of it made me smile.

‘Being in the same party as the regressor sure is great.’

“Let’s go inside,” Lee Sang-Hee said.

As expected, the place she guided us to was a pretty luxurious-looking room. It was so impressive that it was difficult to believe that this place was located near the tutorial dungeon.

“For your drinks…oh, if you’d like, we can serve you food,” she said.

“Do you have food that we can eat?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“Yes. It may be different from the food that you are used to eating on Earth, but I’m sure it’s way better than the food that you have been eating inside the dungeon,” she replied.

“That would be great.”

The blue flag and the accessories that were inside the room made it seem like they were trying their best to show off the status of the Blue Guild. It seemed like they put in a lot of work just for today.

I wasn’t sure if they were trying to immediately recruit us or if there were more procedures we had to go through, but they were trying hard to leave a good impression on us.

“Oh, now that I think about it, I haven’t heard your names yet. If you don’t mind, could you tell me your names?” Lee Sang-Hee asked.

“I’m Kim Hyun-Sung. A swordsman.”

The fact that he told her his job was quite surprising and after him, Park Deok-Gu spoke. “My name is Park Deok-Gu and I’m a shieldbearer.”

“I’m J-Jung Ha-Yan. I’m a mage…”

Naturally, her eyes landed on me.

For a moment, I contemplated whether hiding my job would be a good idea, but I thought that there wasn’t a need to do that. I nodded after thinking that it would be a good idea to copy the others in order to increase my worth.

“I’m Lee Ki-Young and I’m an alchemist.”

Unlike the other three, I changed my job twice. I nodded with satisfaction after thinking that Lee Sang-Hee’s evaluation of me was about to increase, but what I saw was a look of disappointment instead.

‘Huh?’

I was sure that I wasn’t seeing things and even though it only lasted for a moment, she looked very disappointed.

“Oh, t-that’s amazing. You already changed jobs twice…” Lee Sang-Hee said.

She said it was amazing, but her voice sounded as if her heart was breaking a little bit.

Naturally, I couldn’t help but look at Kim Hyun-Sung.

‘You said that alchemist is a good job, you jerk…’