Regressor Instruction Manual - Chapter 433. Re: Starting Life in Another World From Zero (2)

I inspected myself briefly. If I were to dilly-dally, then there was a huge chance that I might not find a party for myself. Lee Ji-Hye seemed surprised as she watched me check my luggage. It was clear that she didn’t expect me to act like this.

“Wait, you’re really going there? Why don’t you just rest here?” Lee Ji-Hye suggested.

“I told you that I wanted to take a look. I’m somewhat nervous since we opened the place in a rush before sending in testers. I need to figure out the exact issues as they appear,” I told her.

“Since when have you been so passionate?” she asked.

“It’s just that important,” I said.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason why I was suddenly going on an expedition, but it was a huge part of it. I knew Lee Ji-Hye and Kim Mi-Young had done a good job, but they couldn’t do a deeper field inspection at all.

If they were the managers of the museum, then I could relax and let them take care of it, but Max and I were the only managers. Max was a Rank Five Manager while I was Rank Four.

In other words, I was the CEO of the museum, and it would be strange if the CEO of a big company didn’t appear at the company’s opening.

I didn’t want to be careless because the fate of the continent would depend on the museum, but honestly, I was also being greedy.

I had to see if people were being reasonably charged, and it was important to siphon them dry in a way that wouldn’t make them fall into despair. They had to be given constant hope that they would make a lucky break so that they would keep on coming.

I also had to make them feel desperate so that the players would have no choice but to focus on their growth, and that was Rift Land’s raison d’etre.

The Blue Guild’s financial gain and the foreigners’ desperation were important. It sounded easy, but there were a lot of sensitive parts, so the fact that I was about to check everything for myself wasn’t really that strange.

“You’re too famous. What are you going to do about it? You can only do so much with magic…” Lee Ji-Hye said.

“I’ll just wear a simple disguise. My face is pretty ordinary anyway,” I told her.

“Honestly, you don’t have an ordinary face at all. Your features are distinct, but I think you’ll look a bit different if you were to change your hairstyle and your equipment…”

”Honorary Cardinal Lee Ki-Young has a certain image about him, so I think you’ll do fine if you just tweak your overall bearing and demeanor a bit…” Lee Ji-Hye suggested.

“…”

“No, that still won’t work. You’re too famous,” she said.

“I told you that there’s no need for us to go that far,” I said.

“We might as well go all out. What about a mask? It’ll make you look kind of suspicious, though…” she asked.

‘Why would you say something like that?! Ji-Hye! Are you crazy? That would make me look like the masked scum!’

“I decline,” I replied.

“You’re right. I don’t think people will be wary of you right off the bat. You’re going to enter a rare-ranked dungeon, right? Or will it be an epic-ranked?” Lee Ji-Hye asked.

“Depends…”

“In that case, then you won’t be able to cast any magic because they’ll notice your holy power—Ah! Wait. There is a way. Wait here. I’ll be right back,” she said.

I thought it wouldn’t be so bad, so I nodded and watched Lee Ji-Hye heading somewhere. She looked as if she had thought of a great idea as she emerged out of a bathhouse. I wasn’t expecting much, but when I saw the solution she brought with her, my jaw dropped to the floor.

“This should work, right?” she asked.

“What?! Where did you get these?” I asked.

“We hid them when Miss Hye-Jin brought the unicorn over. It will work, right?” she replied.

“I-I think it should be fine, but…”

“You said the effect won’t last long anyway. I think this is perfect, so use this,” she interrupted.

“Yeah, it’s not bad,” I commented.

***

“Chul-Woo oppa?”

“…”

“Chul-Woo oppa!”

“Oh, Minji.”

“So, have you found anyone useful?” Minji asked.

“Not yet. It’s more like… I can’t see anyone useful. I knew finding a rearguard in Lindel was difficult, but it’s even more difficult when starting out from scratch…”

”Whenever I find someone decent, they would always be already in a party. In addition, our frontline isn’t that strong, so I’m sure the mages we want to recruit won’t want to join us. If I knew this was going to happen, I would have let mages join the clan,” I[1] replied.

“Easier said than done. If we let them and they don’t grow, that’ll be an even bigger problem for us, and there are a lot of people who look like mages on the outside… I wish someone like Jung Ha-Yan from the Blue Guild would show up. Then, we’d treat them really nicely…” Minji explained.

“Jung Ha-Yan is a really special case. I’d even take a mage from the Veteran Guild. Anyway, this crisis means that there aren’t that many mages available,” I told her.

“How about…” she paused.

“What?”

“How about we try applying for the expedition on the Demon Spire? I heard they provide a lot of supplies to their expedition members, and if we join the attack squad, it won’t be hard for us to create a party from then on. If we were to become close to the mages on the same attack squad, we could discreetly offer them a place in our clan…”

”There’s also the Magic Kingdom. I’m sure there are talented mages there…”

“We can’t do that,” I said, interrupting her.

“Ah…”

“It’s still dangerous, and it’s not a place we can join with our skill level,” I told her.

“Who knows? I heard the Neighboring Tree Clan is heading toward the Demon Spire…” she commented.

“The dungeon could be Epic or above, so it’ll be difficult for us since we just hit epic. Of course, it doesn’t mean that we don’t stand a chance at all, but I don’t think there’s a need for us to act rashly. I think it still won’t be too late for us even If we go there after we’re done accumulating experience from the Rift Museum,” I explained.

Honestly, my feelings were betraying my words. I also thought about heading toward the Magic Kingdom. A party was necessary to access the Rift Museum, but the Demon Spire only required a ton of people, so there were a ton of openings.

I had somewhat of a connection with someone else there as well, and considering that they would give their expedition members a lot of supplies, the rewards were probably also much better.

Of course, we also had to consider our own supplies, but it was worth a try.

However…

‘This isn’t the right time.’

We were a squad of a clan, and the only dungeons we could enter were Epic dungeons.

If we entered an Epic dungeon above the Intermediate level, then there was a huge chance that accidents may occur.

The clan had enjoyed years of stability because of our innate cautiousness, and becoming too greedy had always been the undoing of many great people throughout history. Of course, the world had changed, but it should still be a reliable guideline.

“I knew you were going to say that,” Minji commented.

“Thanks for understanding,” I said.

“It’s fine. Even Dae-Geon oppa said you would be against it. I just suggested it since we’re in this situation. I wasn’t expecting you to agree, anyway,” she added.

“Dae-Geon said that?” I asked.

“Yeah. You guys really work well together like you two are constantly trying to prove that you guys are childhood friends. I get really jealous sometimes,” she answered.

“Hahaha.”

“Stop laughing. I wasn’t joking around. There really are clan members that feel left out because the Clan Master and the Sub Clan Master are too close,” she added.

“I feel bad that they feel that way… Should I apologize to them? By the way, where is Dae-Geon?” I asked.

“He’s at the pub looking for party members. I’m not sure if a mage who has been drinking since morning will be of any help in the expedition, but I’m sure he’s feeling desperate because we have to leave soon…”

”Ugh, there’s really no one here. Why did this have to happen at a time like this? Those demon servants… I want to capture them all and throw them into a fire pit. They just had to—”

“Not much we can do about it, and to be honest, it’s not all that bad,” I told her.

“What?” Minji asked.

“Even if the world hadn’t changed, there would still be no guarantee that we would get to acquire an epic dungeon for our own or even discover one for ourselves. The tutorial dungeon is about to open, and the entire continent will help the newcomers settle…”

“I’m sure the large guilds are focused on dungeon bidding because new players are necessary for the growth of their guild. In that sense, it would have still been nearly impossible for us to bid for an Epic dungeon with our lack of funds, and we also couldn’t rely on luck,” I explained.

“Makes sense…” she commented.

“We don’t have a lot of options, but at least we’re able to enter a dungeon. If the goddess is managing them herself, I’m sure they’re foreigner-friendly, and the large guilds announced that they would help the small to mid-sized clans. No matter how you look at it, this is a great opportunity,” I continued.

“You’re right,” she said.

“Don’t be so nervous. I’m sure there are one or two people who have the same idea as us,” I assured her.

“If we can’t find anyone after three hours…” she paused.

“It’s probably best if we head out. There could be mages who had gotten abandoned by their parties in front of the museum,” I answered.

“I hope so,” she commented.

Recruiting a mage in front of a dungeon was a dumb move, but I couldn’t give up. I had to be desperate since this was a brand-new opportunity for us. Naturally, I had to speak with confidence.

“We’re recruiting a mage for the Friendship Clan. We have a strong vanguard, and we have a priest as well. We’re heading toward the Rift Museum, and we’re looking for someone who will hunt with us in a fun and family-like environment!”

”We’ll leave as soon as you join us. We’re the Friendship Clan!”

“We’re looking for a mage who wants to hunt, not get into fights! Our clan master really likes meeting people! Please join us!”

Gook Minji started shouting next to me. However, the parties in the square started yelling as well, and they soon drowned our voices.

I keep holding up our sign, but we were still having a difficult time finding a party member.

All of a sudden, I saw someone approaching us while holding a staff.

‘Huh?’

Overall, she looked beautiful. Her sharp eyes, white skin, and lips as red as blood really stood out. She was covered in a robe from head to toe, and the way she was walking looked strangely awkward, as if she was injured.

I looked at her closely and saw her face.

‘What kind of face is that?’

It would be an underestimation to describe her face with the word ‘sexy’. Honestly, I was starting to wonder if succubuses could even compare to her in the looks department. In addition, her eyes were tantalizing and captivating, and they brought out this strange feeling of lust from within me.

Overall, she had an erotic demeanor. Erotic wasn’t really a word that one would use to describe someone else’s appearance, but it perfectly described her. I had met a lot of people so far, but I had never seen someone like her.

The sight of her visage alone made me blush.

The charming and mysterious woman finally arrived in front of me while I was staring at her as if I had been struck by a lightning bolt. She stared at me and opened her seductive lips.

“I… am a mage, but I’m a different type of mage. If that’s okay with you, could I join your party? I heard that you’re heading toward the Rift Museum.”

Her voice sounded so sexy that I had to do my best to hide the bulge on my crotch.

“I[2] should introduce myself first. Nice to meet you, members of the Friendship Clan. My name is Lee Ki-Yeon, and I’m a summoning mage.”