The Regressor is too Powerful in Martial Arts – Chapter 9

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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My mother, perhaps thinking that I hadn’t eaten lunch because I had been playing computer games all day, configured the computer in my room and set a time limit for how long I could play games each day.

Of course, since I only used the computer for information gathering and not for gaming, it was rather meaningless.

‘Well, it’s hard to think that a normal 8-year-old child would forget to eat because he was training.’

Thanks to that, aside from being nagged to cut down on gaming, there was no real damage to me.

It was on a certain day, a good amount of time after I had created the mana-gathering magic circle at home and started to seriously practice the Divine Art of Harmony.

‘It’s already November.’

It felt like it hadn’t been that long since I entered elementary school, but the second semester of the first grade was already coming to an end.

Of course, during that time, I had spent my time either training in the Divine Art of Harmony or preparing for the future, so I felt that I had used my time fruitfully instead of just letting it pass by.

‘The Yeouido Disaster was definitely… on December 5th.’

The Yeouido Disaster.

To summarize it simply, it was a disaster where an extremely powerful monster appeared right from the entrance of a dungeon that had appeared in Yeouido, and when Korea’s top-ranking Awakeners had gathered to clear it, numerous monsters suddenly emerged from the dungeon, resulting in a large number of casualties.

At that time, I was only an elementary school student, but since it was a major incident that would later appear in history textbooks, I remembered the time and place where the disaster occurred.

‘Among the top-ranking Awakeners, the knights who used aura and the psionicists mostly survived on their own, but the damage to the mages and spiritmancers, who were vulnerable without a frontline, was said to be severe.’

This was because, due to the sudden surprise attack, it became a chaotic battle, and the mages and spiritmancers couldn’t properly receive help from the knights or psionicists.

What good was it to be able to use powerful magic and receive the help of spirits when their own bodies were only slightly better than those of ordinary civilians?

If they were attacked by monsters directly, that was the end.

‘And on top of that, there were the civilians who couldn’t evacuate.’

The fact that there was a dungeon with powerful monsters was known, but a correspondingly large number of strong Awakeners had gathered there as well.

For that reason, people believed that those Awakeners would clear the dungeon and just went about their daily lives.

As a result, it was said that there were quite a few civilian casualties as well.

‘Of course, the current me can’t stop it.’

It was obvious that they wouldn’t properly believe me even if I sent something like an anonymous letter to the authorities, and even if I revealed my identity and said it myself, how many people would believe the words of an elementary school student?

Therefore, I couldn’t prevent this disaster.

In that case, the remaining method was to go to the disaster site myself and reduce the casualties as much as possible, but….

‘The time that the disaster happened was on a weekday morning, so I have to be at school.’

In other words, I couldn’t go to the place where the disaster occurred.

“But that doesn’t mean I can’t do anything about it.”

I muttered that and checked the accessory on my arm… the subspace artifact I had obtained from clearing the orc dungeon.

This subspace artifact initially had a small subspace, barely large enough for the orc chieftain’s sword, but as I trained in the Divine Art of Harmony, it began to grow.

This meant that it was a growth-type artifact whose functions were added on to or enhanced as its owner grew.

Thanks to that, there was now spare room in the subspace, and I put various things like tree branches and stones inside it.

And at night, I took out those tree branches and stones and started to make something.

What I was making was a doll.

And it wasn’t just an ordinary doll, but a doll that resembled me.

It wasn’t a doll that resembled the current me, but a doll that resembled the pre-regression me.

‘I didn’t use expensive materials, so I can’t expect much durability from it….’

And the Awakener System had taken a bit of my internal energy as a usage fee.

Well, this much should be enough.

I thought that as I poured my internal energy and blood into the doll.

Then, flesh began to form on the doll, which had been made of wood and stone.

The Awakener System sent me a message as if it couldn’t understand what I was doing now.

It seemed to be demanding for an explanation, asking what on earth this was and if this was really puppetry.

It seemed like there were things that even the Awakener System, which had regressed me through an ‘initialization,’ didn’t know.

“This isn’t puppetry. It’s closer to a spell.”

Sympathetic magic.

A spell that used the law that things that resemble each other affect each other.

I made a doll that resembled the pre-regression me and put my internal energy and blood into it, thereby making the doll as similar as possible to the pre-regression me.

Of course, it didn’t end here.

“Empathy.”

I used word-command magic to grant the doll the same senses as me.

Then, the doll, which had been lying lifeless on the floor, began to move slightly.

“…This is harder than I thought….”

I intended to move my arm, but the doll could only manage to wiggle a single finger.

I had a rough idea of what the problem was.

There was the fact that the quality of the materials for the doll, the tree branches and stones, was low, and there was also the fact that the doll I made was close to just being for show, so its completeness itself was not very high.

‘Fortunately, thanks to the Eyes of a Grand Master that the system gave me, I have a rough idea of where the problems are and how to fix them to increase its efficiency.’

However, as long as the materials were just ordinary tree branches and stones, the limit would be clear.

“Materials… materials….”

The best thing to do here would be to find an unknown dungeon, clear it, and take the materials from there….

It was when I was thinking that…

The Awakener System sent me such a message.

“…Huh? A deal? So suddenly?”

The Awakener System was a being that would do anything for the survival and happiness of humanity.

As such, the Awakener System helped humanity through various means.

A deal was also one of those means.

But I hadn’t received any usage fees, so I didn’t really have anything to use for a deal….

If anything, I might have a debt from what I just paid for the puppetry skill.

What kind of deal was it proposing to me?

Various techniques?

“What does that mean? Are you perhaps saying that you want me to create new techniques?”

The Awakener System then answered my question.

After seeing that message, I asked the Awakener System.

“…I don’t mind registering the techniques, but why are you helping me to this extent?”

Of course, I knew that the Awakener System existed for the sake of humanity.

But the Awakener System’s resources were also limited, so it couldn’t just give things away freely.

This meant that the Awakener System giving such excessive special treatment to one person was abnormal.

The Awakener System answered my question.

It answered that it was because I was a regressor.

That since its future self that moved for the survival and happiness of humanity had regressed me, what I did would be connected to the survival and happiness of humanity.

That was how it answered.

“…I see.”

It wasn’t wrong.

It wasn’t like I could save ‘everyone’ in this world.

But I did intend to save many people.

This meant that my purpose and the Awakener System’s purpose were the same.

Now that I knew the reason for its favor, there was no need to be reluctant anymore.

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After that day, my daily life changed a little.

I had to register the numerous techniques remaining in my memory into the Awakener System’s database.

And the Awakener System, in return, had to provide me with the necessary materials.

Both of these had to be done away from the eyes of others, so they were things that I couldn’t do in the school’s training room or at home.

‘Especially since many of the techniques I remembered required specific tools or had high destructive power.’

Thanks to that, I often went into the mountains at night to perform the techniques.

I could relieve fatigue with just a little bit of qi circulation, so not sleeping wasn:t a problem for me.

Like that, I recreated all the techniques that the pre-regression me had created as well as the techniques that I hadn’t created but remembered, and registered them in the Awakener System’s database.

And the Awakener System kept its promise.

“…What is this?…”

I looked at the tree branch and the metal ingot that had fallen in front of me and asked the Awakener System.

No, actually, I wasn’t unaware of the identity of the tree branch and the metal ingot in front of me.

Because they were things I had seen before my regression.

Seeing that message, I shut my mouth.

A branch of the World Tree….

Among the trees that appeared in fantasy, it was as good as the best item.

And what about the ten-thousand-year-old cold iron?

In martial arts stories, the ten-thousand-year-old cold iron was a metal with the highest strength.

Although it was said that every Tom, Dick, and Harry used a treasured sword made of ten-thousand-year-old cold iron in recent martial arts novels, that didn’t diminish its value.

“…If I had my way, I wouldn’t want to use both of these on a doll. Rather, I’d want to make my own sword with them later….”

These materials were too good to be wasted on a doll that was scheduled to be used for a short time and then be disposed of afterwards.

But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to make the doll with them.

It was a waste, but when you had to use it, you had to use it.

I thought that and made the doll just as I had when I made it with ordinary tree branches and stones.

A doll was made with a skeleton made of ten-thousand-year-old cold iron, and on top of that, its muscles and flesh were replaced with a branch of the World Tree.

As if the Awakener System had made prior arrangements to make it easy for me to create the doll, the ten-thousand-year-old cold iron and the branch of the World Tree transformed as I wished and became a part of the doll.

Into the thus-created doll, I once again poured my blood and internal energy.

Finally….

“Empathy.”

Finishing with word-command magic, I looked at the doll.

‘If it doesn’t move as I wish even after using such good materials and making repeated improvements….’

Then, in effect, the Yeouido Disaster would be unstoppable.

The materials were one thing, but as I was registering techniques in the database and improving the doll, the date of the disaster had drawn near.

“Please… work….”

Did my will reach it?

“……”

The doll I had made, which had been lying still, slightly opened its eyes and then got up from its spot with an awkward movement.

And it then began to check its body.

“…This feels familiar….”

That sound came out of the doll’s mouth.

To be precise, it was the voice I made through the doll.

I wasn’t yet familiar with the doll’s body, but time would solve that.

In other words….

‘Success… I guess.’

I had succeeded in creating a doll that would act in place of me, who couldn’t move freely.

Three days remaining until the disaster.

All that was left was for me to get used to handling this doll.

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T/N – Damn, dude. Respect to whoever created the Awakener System. It’s quite intelligent for a system, and it’s super loyal to humanity too. A shame that guy died early.

Also, what an expensive doll. The MC says that it’s disposable, but the fact that it’s made with such expensive materials, and from the system no less, means that odds are sky high that he uses it again. I just wanna ask why did he have to make it in the image of his future self? That’s just inviting unnecessary potential trouble.

If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.