"What's not a joke, Mr. Stark?"
An overwhelming silence filled the room.
Almost immediately, it was followed up by small, quiet whispers of 'Whoa, this guy is daring...', 'He's messing with him, of all professors?', and other things.
I couldn't help but be amused, though I try not to show it on my face.
"Sorry, I was in a bit of a daze, sir."
I apologized sincerely.
Whether that would piss him off further or calm him down, eh, forget it... It doesn't matter.
First of all, let's get out of here.
Before the professor could react, I took my bag and gestured to the person beside me.
"Coming through. Thank you."
Under everyone's shocked gaze, I stepped away from the table and bowed to the professor, who stood on the lecture stage with a dazed expression.
"Sorry again, but I'll have to excuse myself. Goodbye!"
Then, without waiting for his reply, I ran off.
***
Gently opening the rooftop door, I peeked inside and found no one else there.
I certainly hadn't expected that the first thing I would do after regressing would be to skip class.
The almost comical and absurd implications of the situation felt unreal.
Just moments ago, the squadron leader had been standing right in front of me, on the brink of despair.
"…Regression. What a way to cheapen things."
Clenching my fists, I couldn't help but feel agitated. 15 years of suffering, hardship, and constant danger were reduced to a mere "tutorial" by the Tower of Ragnarok's system.
As a reward, everyone was given a chance to regress.
Perhaps others didn't feel as strongly, but to me, it was an insult. It cheapened the moments when I had truly feared for my life—when I had to haggle, fight, and kill for a meager chance at survival. It feels like...
I cracked my fingers.
Stay calm.
Separating my personal feelings aside for the moment, this was undoubtedly a good opportunity.
We were essentially given a chance to try again, backed by 15 years of knowledge and experience.
Perhaps, if it were just a single person, they could influence little to nothing...
But it wasn't just me who had regressed; the squadron leader and even the leaders of the final conquest regressed, too.
"... That's good."
Thinking of those reliable fellows, my tense expression loosened up a little.
If it were just me alone, I would struggle to think how I could even change anything.
But with those people around, surely, things would be better than before...
Despite trying to remain optimistic, I couldn't help but feel something was wrong.
"..."
I went through my pocket and found my phone.
Snapping a quick look at the date, my hands suddenly tightened.
'Not even a day.'
We regressed back to September 3, 2025.
The day the Tower of Ragnarok made its appearance—to be precise, later at 7 PM.
Not much time to prepare or convince anyone.
But that's not the worst part.
Considering all the information I have right now, something will surely... go wrong.
If our previous life was only considered as a "Tutorial" by the Tower, then did that mean this time, climbing the Tower of Ragnarok would be much more difficult?
Just like in a game, a "Tutorial" is simple and easy to follow. But after that, the game's difficulty drastically changes, in some cases, skyrocketing to hell difficulty.
'What's the point of regression then?'
If the floors were much harder, then that meant a change in the plot line and quest contents for each floor...
That means one of our biggest advantages—Information, could end up being useless.
Feeling tired, I loosened up my hand and fell on the floor.
What to do...
Wait.
"... I'm just a D-rank, why am I worrying about humanity's future?"
That was right.
Looking at the sky, I couldn't help but stifle a laugh.
"Ha, haha... haha!"
How stupid of me, honestly.
This wasn't something I should concern myself with.
I was born with a sickly body, awakened a near-useless F-rank talent, and had a pitifully small mana core.
In this world, men are not born equal.
From birth, everyone had different fates, responsibilities, and talents...
I was never born to be "anything".
I was simply born to "survive".
And, to me, that's the only thing I'm good at.
'Surviving.'
There's no point in thinking of humanity's future.
I just need to survive.
"December."
At that moment, a system panel appeared in front of me.
Without exception, every human who has lived for at least 16 years would be given a personal system by the Tower of Ragnarok.
This personal system was only accessible to the user themselves and the Tower of Ragnarok.
Every ranker had the ability to name their personal system as they wished.
For me, I named it December due to a special reason.
[Name: Zold Starks]
[Realm: Unawakened.]
[Inbox: 2+]
Directing my thoughts to the inbox section, the system panel opened up a small window.
+1 [Congratulations, Zold Starks!]
+1 [Contribution Merit Rewards]
Seeing the large congratulations header, I reluctantly pressed the message,
===
Title: [Tutorial Complete ☆]
Against all expectations (including your own), you survived the "Tutorial" of the Tower of Ragnarok!
Alongside 3,000 other fortunate rookies, you have earned humanity the honor of participating in the real Tower of Ragnarok.
Your stubborn refusal to die has been noted.
As a special reward for clearing the tutorial, you have been granted the exclusive title: "Regressor".
We look forward to watching you try again.
===
I read through the entire text calmly.
Without a doubt, whoever sent this text was a sadist.
I looked at the next message.
===
Title: [Contribution Rewards!]
Overall contributions to tutorial clear: 12,234 points (Grade B)... (omitted).
For your survivor privilege, please choose one skill, talent, technique, and title.
===
Almost immediately, I knew what to pick.
"Telekinesis Mastery, Quick Mind, Longwinter Body Reinforcement, and..."
The first three were fairly obvious choices.
But, the title...
'[Blood, Sweat, Pain, and Destruction] or [Expressionless Hunter]...'
I looked at the two titles' descriptions once again.
[Blood, Sweat, Pain, and Destruction: To others, hard work is simply putting in more effort than necessary. But to you, it is the beginning. You have put yourself over the brink of death multiple times just to train your abilities. On one side, you are a ranker who broke through his limits. On the other hand, you are a Madman.]
[Effect: To you, who desires nothing but hard work, the best reward is the ability to always keep going. Immunity to status effects and significant improvement to muscle memory.]
[Expressionless Hunter: Some hunters play with their prey, while some even respect them. But to you, feelings only get in the way of a successful hunt.]
[Effect: Make your intentions invisible to others, allowing your presence to shrink. No one can guess your thoughts.]
This was a tough choice.
Mainly because these two titles had very difficult, or outright impossible, conditions to get.
Their effects were very practical as well.
"Not to mention, I've been relying on them for years now."
Losing either one of them was a massive loss, but if I had to choose...
"[Blood, Sweat, Pain, and Destruction]."
If my suspicions about this regression were right, this title's effect would be indispensable to me.
===
[Please confirm your choices.]
[Skill: Telekinesis Mastery.]
[Talent: Quick Mind.]
[Technique: Longwinter Body Reinforcement.]
[Title: Blood, Sweat, Pain, and Destruction.]
===
"Confirm."
Leaving no more room for hesitation, I immediately confirmed my choices.
===
[For your Grade B Privilege, please choose either of the three: one B-grade item, upgrade a talent to B-grade, or 2,000,000 RC.]
===
After a difficult choice, I was presented with another one.
I only had two talents in my previous life: F-Rank Quick Reflexes and D-Rank Quick Mind.
The former was my first awakened talent, while the latter was the talent I awakened when I broke through D-rank.
The first time a Ranker awakens, they are guaranteed to awaken a talent.
But after that, the subsequent awakenings or breakthroughs in ranks no longer had any guarantee.
But that possibility, no matter how small, can still happen. Such is the case for me.
'It was probably the luckiest moment of my life...'
I mused.
'Should I upgrade my talent?'
"Tempting, but useless."
I shook my head. The same applied for the 2,000,000 RTC, meaning Ragnarok Tower Currency, which can be used to buy products in the tower shop.
While they were valuable, they had little use to me right now.
'Wait... any B-grade item, does it include that one?!'
A flash of realization struck me.
I remembered a special item.
As if sensing my thoughts, a pop-up window appeared beside the system panel.
===
[Lesser Dragon Heart – The fresh, untouched heart of a pure-blooded lesser dragon. Contains explosives amount of mana.]
===
"This is it!"
Without even thinking twice, I immediately chose this item.
[Congratulations! May these rewards guide you in climbing the Tower.]
After flashing a brief message, the inbox panel turned empty.