A Regressor's Bucket List

Orcs were a species of Magical Beast classified as the lowest rank.

It was true that their bodies had high mana adaptability, making them physically powerful, but aside from their superior physical condition, they didn't possess any special mana abilities like other Magical Beast species.

The lack of variables meant they weren't particularly difficult to fight among the Magical Beast species.

That was why they were chosen as the sacrificial lambs for the First Gate out of the countless Magical Beast species.

However.

That was a story that only held true in the Upper-Dimensional Plane.

For novices who had just arrived after hunting half-baked Magical Beasts like goblins in the Lower-Dimensional Plane, even an orc was a sufficiently overwhelming opponent.

That's why they weren't scattered individually but were gathered in groups and transported to the same location.

“If you keep standing there, you'll get crushed.”

“…Huh?”

“I said, move.”

“Uh, ah, right.”

I gestured with my chin at Choi Kang-hyuk, who was standing there awkwardly with a dazed expression, and he stepped away, rubbing his trembling hands.

I then grabbed the back of the token necklace around the orc's neck and pushed its head with my right foot.

With a ‘thud-!’, the orc's body fell forward, and the cross-shaped token landed naturally in my hand.

Shhhk-!

I crouched down, pulled the dagger out of the orc's skull, and looked up at Choi Kang-hyuk.

“The reason your body wouldn't move just now was a mana-related phenomenon.”

“……?”

“The denser and heavier mana is, the stronger its inertia. This orc's internal mana was relatively higher than yours, so you were affected.”

“……!!”

“In situations like that, it's best to just use any ability to create a flow of mana. To be honest, once you get used to it, a difference of this level won't affect your body... but well, the time it takes to adapt varies from person to person.”

“……”

“You two over there should keep that in mind as well.”

I peeked over and said to the two people behind me. Oh Chan-young nodded.

“Thank you... for the advice.”

Kim Sia expressed her thanks in a low voice.

I nodded in reply and turned my gaze back to the orc.

More precisely, to the two-lined scar carved on its forearm.

‘…To think they had such a hard time with a mere two-year-old.’

Orcs had a unique tradition of carving a scar on their right forearm with each passing year, which was their own way of marking their strength.

It was a tradition maintained because they were born with bodies superior in mana adaptability, and in the mana-rich Upper-Dimensional Plane, their bodies would automatically grow stronger each year.

Therefore, this orc with a two-lined scar was a little kid(?) orc that had just turned two.

If you went to the Orc Mountains in the Upper-Dimensional Plane, it would be considered a non-combatant, at best chopping wood with an axe.

“Sigh…”

If he was flustered enough to resign himself to death over a Magical Beast of this level, how hopeless would this man named Choi Kang-hyuk's future be?

I couldn't help but shake my head.

Tiring-!

[You have defeated an ‘Orc’.]

[Absorbing a portion of the target's internal mana.]

[Your physical condition is enhanced due to the increase in combat experience.]

[Physical Force has slightly increased.]

[Mana Force has slightly increased.]

As the orc's death was confirmed, the spoils of victory returned with the sound of the system window's notification.

Along with a pleasant sense of exhilaration, I felt a subtle adjustment in all the muscles of my body.

“*Ssp... haa.*”

As a breath naturally escaped me, I checked my Status Window.

[Checking body information.]

+

■Name: [Seo U-jin]

■Hero Grade: [-]

■Physical Force: [7.1/Balanced]

■Mana Force: [4.1/Balanced]

■Innate Ability: [Absolute Realization]

■Traits: [-]

■Skills: [-]

+

Looking at the empty Status Window, the feeling of helplessness I first felt began to creep back in, but.

‘…Well, what can you do.’

There was no other way.

I just had to fill it up again by clearing my bucket list one by one.

My once-high level, skills, and traits were all gone, but I took some comfort in the thought that this empty window would be filled with things even better than in my past life.

It was then.

“W-w-wonderful!”

Choi Kang-hyuk suddenly said with an awkward smile, giving a thumbs-up.

“The strategy where I draw its attention, and you strike from behind. Ah, it was a textbook hunt.”

“……?”

“I can see that the golden cross shape is the token. Now, let's get mine, and with a generous heart, we just need to get three more for the two runts back there. Ha. Ha. Ha.”

At his transparent words, the "runt" title that had been attached to me was now passed on to Kim Sia and Oh Chan-young.

It seemed he had realized that the Hunter Ranks from the Lower-Dimensional Plane didn't mean much here.

…Or perhaps he had guessed that I was a little different.

In any case, one thing was certain about this guy.

He seemed to be a far more opportunistic person than I had thought in the past.

“Hey, Choi Kang-hyuk!!”

Kim Sia must have had the same thought at his quick change of attitude, as she shouted his name, but Choi Kang-hyuk simply barked at her.

“Shut up! You tool. A tool should just stay crumpled up like a tool.”

“What…? I mean, what…”

“You're no different from a healing potion, what makes you think you can butt into a conversation between melee fighters?”

“Hah… that guy is truly impossible.”

Then, without a care, he continued talking to me.

“If it's a bother, we can just get mine and go, just the two of us. No, let's do that. Honestly, there's nothing to even think about.”

“……”

“You know it. 80% of the contribution in a hunt comes from the tanker and the dealer anyway. I don't know why a quick-witted and resourceful dealer like you was still a B-rank, but…”

Once he started talking, his earlier stuttering vanished without a trace, and he was now spewing out a constant stream of fluent excuses.

Urgently and desperately, as if he were afraid of what words might come out of my mouth.

“I faltered a bit just now, but honestly, if I do it right, I think I can withstand it at least once.”

“……”

“Dodge it, or maybe... block it. Then it'd be no problem for you to take down another one. If we do that, it'll be much better than just now…”

So.

Pfft-

“Get lost.”

“…Huh?”

I cut him off and gave him the one word he needed to hear.

That is—

“You underwear bastard.”

—with a fair bit of my true feelings mixed in.

* * *

It was a very obvious course of action, but I refused Choi Kang-hyuk's request to accompany him and left the spot.

Of course, there was the fact that I didn't want to travel with a bastard wearing nothing but his underwear, as I'd said, but the bigger reason was that I was busy.

There was a bucket list item that could only be done in the First Gate.

There was a time limit, and considering the difficulty of my second bucket list item, I didn't have the luxury of getting tokens for others.

Then why did I waste time by accompanying them until the first orc was killed instead of acting sooner?

The reason was simple.

The 'Sowing Seeds' strategy.

“So, about two people for now.”

It was for a strategy that one of my comrades before the Regression had told me about.

「Sowing Seeds? What's that?」

「Once you succeed in your Regression, the future is going to change anyway. It's not like we only screwed up one or two things in the War against Demons.」

「Right. I suppose so.」

「So, don't act passively, thinking you shouldn't change the grand flow of things just to predict the future. Go around and blatantly spread your influence.」

「……」

「Guys who showed promise but died early. I'm saying you should get your hands on the ones who seem like they'd be fine if you just raised them. Whether it's making them hang on your every word or teaching them something.」

The 'Sowing Seeds' strategy was, to put it simply, a method of 'proactive talent cultivation.'

If the main ingredient for changing the course of the War against Demons was the 'Regressed Seo U-jin', then this was about securing the supplementary ingredients to assist him beforehand.

In this case, that meant 'Kim Sia' and 'Oh Chan-young'.

Including the people from other countries who were probably hunting orcs diligently elsewhere, there were quite a few among the 131st batch of Plane Transcendents who would pass the Gateway Zone.

But the only ones who survived until the War against Demons began in earnest were those two.

…Well, in the end, those two also died before long, but you could still say they both had potential.

In the Upper-Dimensional Plane where survival itself is a measure of skill, that was quite admirable.

“Then I'll have to gradually think about how to raise those two…”

I could feel the presence of orcs not too far away.

I rolled my neck and shoulders, lightly warming up.

“Shall we get started?”

Even though I had regressed and all my stats were reset, for someone like me who had some experience in the War against Demons, an 'orc' wasn't a very difficult opponent.

I knew everything about the orcs' characteristics, weaknesses, traits, culture, and traditions.

Above all, I had accumulated enough experience from long battles with them that my body moved automatically.

Moreover.

Before my Regression, the king of the orcs who had given us so much trouble in the Northern Continental War.

The one who burst the heart of the tyrannical, powerful, and immortal Orc Lord 'Nedkul', who had crushed all other orcs with pure strength to rise to the throne, was none other than me.

The sticky sensation of that heart, which I had burst at the end of a desperate struggle, still felt vivid at my fingertips.

So, a mere common orc.

And not just any common orc, but two-year-old kid orcs captured and dropped in the Gateway Zone could never be a match for me.

I was confident I could win a hundred times out of a hundred.

“…I wonder if I can do it.”

…The problem was that simply fighting and winning wasn't enough.

Rustle-

I opened my notebook and checked the second bucket list item.

[Bucket List #2]

『Hunt 100 orcs in the First Gate.』

“Hah… that guy was really crazy.”

It was a sentence that made me automatically say he was crazy.

“I'm only doing this because I regressed and at least know what the reward was... Is it even possible for a novice who just arrived to beat down 100 orcs?”

「Ah, U-jin. When you go back, try doing that too.」

「Hmm? What is it?」

「I started out by catching 100 orcs in the First Gate and getting a Trait.」

「You... did what?」

「I haven't heard any rumors of anyone else doing that after me, so I don't know if that Constellation will toss it out again... but give it a try. Well, if they don't give you a Trait, they'll probably throw you something.」

Normally, it would be impossible.

According to the Order's principles, Constellations can only intervene in the Gates starting from the Second Gate.

Apparently, that Constellation had coveted the old man in the bamboo hat enough to bear the risk of breaking the rules.

…Well, I had no way of knowing if I was covetable enough from that person's perspective to make them break the rules.

It was a bucket list item I'd written down, thinking that if they really didn't give it to me, I'd just have to hunt more than 100.

Crack- crackle-

“Hooo…”

I finished stretching and took a deep breath.

If my thoughts were correct, from now on.

Paaat-

It looked like I'd have to be taking orc necks without a moment to breathe.