WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 152: Help (3)
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Before meeting Taylor, I entered the 7th floor again and perfectly learned and memorized the arrows' patterns.
So I could recreate the environment in the Mindscape.
Arrows poured in from every direction.
Taylor ran around the cavern, dodging them.
I watched her with my arms crossed.
‘She’s dodging well.’
She looked a little flustered at first, but she quickly calmed down.
Having trained based on my guide, Taylor seemed to know exactly where each arrow would come from.
Her movements gradually became more relaxed, and she even dodged some arrows without looking at them.
I could tell how intensely she must have trained all this time.
The final volley came from every direction.
Taylor timed her jump and leaped upward to dodge it.
She avoided every one of the hundreds of arrows without getting hit once.
I stopped the arrows.
“Excellent.”
Taylor gave an embarrassed smile.
“Ah... no, I still have a long way to go.”
“Do you happen to have the Sixth Sense skill?”
“...Sixth Sense? No, I don’t. Do you mean the skill Fernando, the climber who reached the highest floor of Hard difficulty, supposedly has?”
Taylor tilted her head.
There were other people in the world who possessed the Sixth Sense skill I had.
It would’ve been a tremendous help if Taylor had it too...
But there was nothing to be done.
The skill stones climbers received as clear rewards were completely random.
Rare skills, especially Rare+ skills, weren’t something you could obtain whenever you wanted just because you had money.
Only a tiny number of climbers even received rewards of that grade, and I’d heard they almost never made it onto the market.
Still, I felt grateful once again to Billon, who had worked so hard to obtain various skills for me. Thanks, Billon.
Well, if she didn’t have it, she could just train even harder.
“How many defensive or movement skills do you have?”
“I wouldn’t call it a defensive skill, but I have the passive skill Toughness. I don’t have any skill that can block those ridiculous arrows.”
Toughness was the skill that slightly increased physical durability, wasn’t it?
Naturally, she had no defensive skill capable of blocking those absurd arrows.
When I cleared the 7th floor, I hadn’t even considered trying to block them. There was no way another Nightmare Climber could manage it.
“For movement skills, I have Quickstep, Blessing of Wind, and several others of Common grade or below, such as a jumping skill...”
Blessing of Wind? What kind of skill was that?
It sounded like a fairly high-grade skill, yet Taylor told me everything without holding back. I had asked, though.
I nodded.
“The goal of training here is simple. You need to become capable of perfectly passing every gate without relying on skills. Except for the boss room, of course.”
That was how she could clear the 7th floor with as few variables as possible.
And it was certainly achievable.
“...Yes! Understood.”
Taylor answered with a determined expression.
“Let’s move on to the next gate right away.”
The door leading to the next gate opened.
As Taylor approached it, an arrow suddenly flew at her.
She stepped aside to avoid it and went inside.
The second gate was the Gate of Darkness.
With a wave of my hand, I extinguished every light in the cavern.
I watched to see how Taylor would respond.
‘Just as I thought.’
Taylor created a ball of light in midair and illuminated the darkness.
It was Light Orb, a Common magic-type skill.
It only required three seconds of concentration and consumed just one willpower per second, making it practically the only magic-type skill other climbers could use as a flashlight.
I spoke to Taylor.
“Turn it off.”
“Pardon?”
“Try dodging without looking. You’ve memorized all the patterns, so you can do it, right?”
The harsher the training, the better.
Taylor looked a little surprised, but nodded and turned off the light.
Pitch-black darkness descended upon the cavern once more.
The arrows began to fire.
Taylor moved through the darkness, dodging them.
She did well again. There were a few close calls, though.
Then came the final rain of arrows falling from the ceiling.
Taylor moved smoothly between the arrows at just the right moment.
It was excellent.
But it wasn’t perfect this time.
I lit up the cavern.
“Ah...”
Taylor groaned as she looked down at her right arm, which had been nearly torn off.
One arrow had grazed her along the way.
Of course, this was the Mindscape, so it regenerated quickly.
“Let’s repeat it until it’s perfect.”
“...Yes!”
Without giving her a moment to rest, I extinguished the lights again.
Why would she need rest when she couldn’t get tired?
“Try to dodge with only the minimum movement necessary. You’ll need to consider your stamina in reality.”
Of course, she could rest as much as she wanted between gates, so she probably wouldn’t run out of stamina.
Still, I intended to push Taylor to her limit.
So she could clear the 7th floor perfectly, without facing even the slightest danger!
We had unlimited time to train, so there was no reason not to.
Boom! Boom!
Had we repeated it over thirty times?
Taylor finally succeeded in leisurely dodging every arrow, even in the darkness.
Taylor looked over at me with an excited expression.
I clapped.
“Excellent.”
“...Thank you!”
“Let’s move on to the next gate.”
At last, it was time for the hellish third gate.
That damned left-right inversion mechanic.
Even I wasn’t sure whether it would be possible to train for it in the Mindscape.
“Taylor, this is a Mindscape where anything is possible.”
I tapped my head with a finger as I spoke.
“Try imagining it yourself. Imagine that the nerves controlling the left and right sides of your body have been reversed. When you move your right hand, your left hand moves. When you move your left foot, your right foot moves.”
When I tried it, it had worked fairly well.
But Taylor had never entered a Mindscape before, so she had no experience handling mental imagery.
She was different from me, who had spent an unfathomable amount of time in the Mindscape.
“Yes, I’ll try.”
Taylor nodded and furrowed her brow.
She moved her body this way and that, seemingly continuing to imagine the inversion of left and right...
But it didn’t seem to be working as she wanted.
After a long time, Taylor spoke with a troubled expression.
“I’m sorry. It’s not working... I’ll keep trying.”
I rubbed my chin.
As expected, was this too difficult with Taylor’s level of experience? It was a matter of consciousness, after all.
...Then would it be better for someone to directly force the actions from this side?
“Demon King.”
I summoned the Demon King.
He slowly appeared beside me.
“What is it?”
“You were watching the whole time, weren’t you? Can you do it? Can you directly reverse Taylor’s left and right nerves?”
I had become much better at handling the Mindscape compared to when I first started.
But compared to the Demon King, I was still at the crawling stage. There was a fundamental difference between us.
The Demon King could even recreate countless people so realistically that they seemed alive.
The Demon King clicked his tongue and waved his hand.
Taylor suddenly swayed and fell over.
“Huh?”
Taylor flailed about in confusion.
She tried to stand, only to keep falling over.
Holding back a laugh, I asked, “Did it work?”
“I-I think so.”
“Then let’s get used to it.”
No matter how strong a superhuman body she possessed, adapting to this left-right inversion was entirely a matter of the mind.
Taylor’s method for keeping her balance was simple.
Just like I had, she gave up walking on two legs and got down on all fours.
I supposed everyone thought alike. Still, it was certainly effective.
“The arrows are coming.”
The arrows began to fire.
Taylor barely dodged the first one by hopping to the side.
But the moment she landed, she lost her balance.
The second arrow pierced her body.
“Alright, here we go again~.”
The instant Taylor’s body regenerated, I restarted the trial.
What other choice was there?
If I pushed her relentlessly enough, she’d adapt eventually.
It was impossible to consciously control every movement to dodge them, unless she had a time-stop ability like mine.
The third gate could only be cleared after fully internalizing the sensation of left-right inversion.
Taylor frantically leaped around like a frog, her body repeatedly bursting apart from the arrows.
Her movements gradually improved.
We had already repeated it hundreds of times.
Her body might not have been tired, but her mind had to be exhausted. Yet Taylor still wore a serious expression as she gave everything she had to dodging the arrows.
Well, she must have had this much willpower to reach the 7th floor.
‘She’s actually fun to train.’
Had Seri felt something similar while sparring with me?
Feeling somewhat satisfied, I continued summoning arrows without rest.
How much time had passed?
After thousands, then tens of thousands of repetitions...
Clap, clap, clap.
I applauded.
She had finally done it.
Taylor successfully dodged every one of the hundreds of arrows. Perfectly.
“Excellent work. You did well.”
The Demon King released the left-right inversion.
Taylor fell over again and looked over at me.
She let out a small laugh.
“Now my normal sense of balance feels strange too. I suppose I’ll have to adapt to this as well.”
That was an admirable desire to improve.
I nodded.
“Right. Let’s adapt until you can switch perfectly between both.”
* * *
The training continued after that.
After countless more repetitions, Taylor became capable of moving perfectly with both her normal body sense and the inverted one.
Once she had overcome the biggest hurdle, the third gate, everything after that was easy.
The fourth gate, where she had to knock away colored arrows. The fifth gate, where she had to shoot a bow and hit statues. And finally, the boss.
We simulated it all.
We repeated a full clear from the first gate to the final boss room dozens of times. Taylor did it perfectly.
But I didn’t stop there.
You could never be too prepared.
To raise Taylor’s abilities even further, I changed the patterns unpredictably and fired more arrows at greater speeds.
Time was unlimited.
Taylor followed through with the training to the end, driven by her unbreakable will.
Though she didn’t say anything, Taylor was beginning to look tired.
That was how we prepared to clear the 7th floor perfectly, doing everything we could and more.
“Good work, Taylor. I think this should be enough.”
At last, we emerged from the Mindscape.
Taylor blankly looked around for a moment before turning to me.
“...Thank you. I feel like I’ve been reborn because of you.”
It wasn’t that dramatic.
I asked, “What are you planning to do now?”
I thought she would probably challenge the 7th floor soon after returning.
But Taylor said something I hadn’t expected.
“I’ll challenge it right now.”
“...What?”
“I’m in my best condition right now.”
Taylor’s eyes gleamed sharply.
It was true that now, while the sensations she had refined to their limit were still vivid, was probably the best time...
I nodded.
“Do that. I’ll wait.”
Something occurred to me, so I took an item out of Subspace.
[Item: Organism Destroyer's Super-Powered Photon Cannon]
This is a photon cannon crafted from the Organism Destroyer’s core components. When used, it fires a super-powered photon cannon in a straight line. Once used, it can be used again after 1 hour.
It was the reward I received for defeating the Zone 6 boss.
I handed it to Taylor.
“I’ll lend you this. You’ll be able to defeat the boss easily.”
Of course, Taylor had perfectly prepared for the boss battle in the Mindscape.
But with this, she could defeat it without much effort.
Taylor looked surprised as she read the item description.
Then she held the item back out to me.
“I’m truly grateful, but... I’ll try to clear it with my own strength. That’s what the training was for.”
Well, if that was what she wanted.
I put the item away again.
After moving her body around a little, Taylor spoke.
“Then I’ll enter right away.”
I gave her one final word of encouragement.
“Good luck. You’ll succeed.”
Taylor nodded.
“I’ll definitely live up to all the effort you’ve put into me.”
The next moment, Taylor disappeared.
I stood still and waited for her to return.
I was 99.9% certain she would succeed. That was how much she had trained.
Then, about an hour later...
“...Congratulations.”
Taylor safely returned.
I grinned and congratulated her.
Taylor, looking extremely excited, smiled as though she couldn’t contain her joy.
“Thank you, truly! Finally, I...!”
At last, another climber had succeeded in breaking through the hellish 7th floor.
I couldn’t help feeling proud as well.
Helping other climbers clear floors by using the Mindscape.
It really was possible.
‘Not just Taylor...’
There was one more Nightmare Climber stuck on the 7th floor.
China’s representative Nightmare Climber, Ye Tianwei.
I thought I could help him clear it too, not just Taylor.
Every other Nightmare Climber was still on the 4th floor or below, but if I helped those two, they would certainly be able to clear up to the 9th floor.
“Taylor.”
“Yes!”
“Should we keep training? I’ll help you clear up to the 9th floor.”
“...Yes! If you’re willing, I’d gladly accept!”
I nodded and muttered, “I’m thinking of bringing the Chinese Nightmare Climber here to train together too...”
“...Do you mean Ye Tianwei?”
“Yes, him. I’ve never contacted him before, though.”
I had never directly exchanged messages with Ye Tianwei through the Communication Window.
Of course, China had a channel for receiving Nightmare-clear advice from me, so there were plenty of ways to contact him if I wanted.
Still, would it seem strange to suddenly offer to help him train for the 7th floor?
Taylor carefully spoke up then.
“Um... would you like me to pass along the message?”
“You, Taylor?”
“Yes. I know him. If you’d like, I can ask Ye Tianwei whether he’s interested. He’ll probably accept without question.”
So they knew each other.
I nodded.
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
* * *
After clearing Nightmare difficulty’s 7th floor, Taylor did not immediately report her success to the Climbing Bureau.
She had to go straight back for more training with Person123, and she didn’t want the trouble that would come with it. Besides, she had challenged Nightmare difficulty on her own.
It wouldn’t be too late to report it after she had cleared all the way to the 9th floor.
Instead, she sent Ye Tianwei a whisper asking to meet again at the place where they had met recently.
Was Ye Tianwei going to clear the 7th floor too?
Taylor didn’t care about that in the slightest.
It wasn’t as though she had no sense of rivalry toward Ye Tianwei, but...
The competition between the United States and China, or personal competitive feelings, were completely useless and unnecessary.
The more outstanding latecomers there were, the more help Person123 would receive. That was all she thought about.
The forest in Zone 1.
Taylor watched the person who emerged through the undergrowth.
Ye Tianwei looked a little surprised when he saw her.
He asked, “...Have you cleared the 7th floor?”
He seemed to have immediately noticed that her level had risen.
Taylor was a little surprised too.
As one’s level increased, the ability to gauge an opponent’s strength did become sharper, but she hadn’t expected him to notice immediately. Did he possess some skill like that?
Taylor nodded.
“I succeeded just a little while ago.”
Ye Tianwei’s reaction was unexpected, in a way.
There wasn’t a trace of jealousy or envy. Instead, he smiled as though he was genuinely congratulating her.
“Congratulations. You must have worked hard to become even a little more helpful to that person.”
“...”
“You are truly impressive. How did you manage to succeed? I should learn from you and succeed soon as well. It is embarrassing to fall this far behind.”
Taylor let out a quiet sigh.
“Actually...”
“...?”
“Person123 helped me clear the 7th floor. Person123 gave me special training.”
The moment she said that, the smile vanished from Ye Tianwei’s face.
Taylor was startled when she even sensed killing intent for a moment.
“That person...”
Ye Tianwei’s usually calm, composed gaze wavered.
“Why would that person help you...?”
Why only you?
...It couldn’t have been only Taylor’s imagination that it sounded that way.
Footnotes:
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