Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability - Chapter 16

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 16

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Nightmare Floor 2 (4)

The scenery shifted, and I was moved to the Reward Room.

[Floor 2 has been cleared on all difficulties.]

[The Tower is calling new Climbers.]

[A new rule has been added.]

[From now on, if you do not enter the Tower within 3 years of receiving the Tower’s Summons, you will die.]

What?

That new rule message caught me off guard.

If you received the Tower’s Summons and did not enter within three years, you would die.

So from now on, it meant they would kill every Climber who still did not clear even Floor 1.

"...What kind of bullshit are they pulling now?"

Looks like the number of Climbers does not just keep increasing as we climb the Tower.

Can they really add rules like this whenever they want?

[Difficulty: Nightmare]

[Floor: Floor 3]

[Level: 25]

[Willpower: 450]

[Skills: Teleport (Rare+), Flame Strike (Rare)(+1), Leap (Common)]

I checked my Status Window.

My level had gone up by ten, so I was now level 25.

My Willpower had risen a lot too.

When I moved, I could clearly feel my physical abilities had jumped again.

Bang!

I leaped forward from a standstill, and the stone floor under my foot caved in as my body launched explosively.

I stopped and looked down at my feet.

The soles of my shoes were completely torn up. They could not handle the impact.

Hmm... how should I put this.

It was nothing new, but I could feel it more clearly than ever. My body was drifting farther and farther away from being human.

If I got this much stronger with every floor, how strong would I become later?

That thought crossed my mind as I checked the rest of the rewards.

Other than the Mana Stone, two glowing stones sat nearby.

A Skill Stone and an Enhancement Stone. I could tell from their shapes.

I wondered what skill I got this time.

If possible, I hoped it was magic-type again.

[Skill Stone: Exaltation (Rare)]

Use to learn 'Skill: Exaltation (Rare)'.

[Skill: Exaltation (Rare)]

The more you move, the more exalted you become, strengthening your physical abilities. If movement stops, the effect gradually fades.

Classification: Physical-Type (Passive)

Willpower Cost: None

Cooldown: None

A passive skill dropped.

Normal practice is to value passives more than actives.

Because they were always on and cost no Willpower.

"Tch."

Still, I liked magic-type better.

With a little disappointment, I read the description.

It looked like a decent skill overall.

The more you moved, the stronger your physical abilities became.

[You have learned 'Skill: Exaltation (Rare)'.]

I used the Skill Stone right away and learned it.

Then I moved around to test the skill.

Since the effect faded when movement stopped, I ran around the Reward Room nonstop.

"Oh."

I could feel it working.

A sense of exaltation slowly rose, like my blood was pumping faster.

As it rose, my body got faster and my senses sharpened too.

Once I hit a certain point, I did not get any faster.

Was that the cap?

There were no numbers in the description, but by feel, it was not 1.5 times, more like a 20-30% boost.

At my current level, did that mean I was basically getting the raw stats of about 5-7 extra levels for free?

That made this a very solid skill.

[Rare Skill Enhancement Stone]

Can enhance one Rare-grade skill when used.

Last time my only option was Flame Strike, but now I had just gotten one more skill.

Should I use it on Flame Strike, or Exaltation?

If I used it on Flame Strike, it would probably add one more fireball and make it three.

Exaltation... maybe it would just raise the physical boost cap.

I would only know if I used it.

My mind leaned toward Flame Strike.

For me, magic-type skills were still the most efficient by far. Focus and specialization, right?

I thought it over, then decided to use it later. It was not urgent.

[Do you want to exit the Tower?]

About an hour had passed, maybe? It was probably still deep night outside.

I had worked hard enough. Time to get out and rest.

* * *

The famous podcast show The Jude Noise invited guests from many fields and discussed a wide range of topics.

This episode's guest was Arlo, an American current-affairs commentator and influencer.

He was known for analyzing social trends with his trademark blunt and cynical style, and he had both many fans and many haters.

The topic this time was Nightmare Floor 2 and humanity's future.

True to his reputation, Arlo opened by declaring doom.

Jude, the host of the podcast, asked him,

"A lot of people are thinking that way right now. Is there really no hope? One person failed, but there are still five clearers left."

"Five people, right. Jude, do you happen to know the survival rate for difficulty Floor 1?"

"Let's see. Nearly 40,000 people have challenged it so far, and only six made it, so that puts it around 0.015%."

"Correct. And even that is after Floor 1 information became public. Before the first clearer appeared, around 25,000 people were sacrificed. If you count only the period before information was released, the survival rate was only about 0.004%."

Arlo raised two fingers and flicked them.

"People need to understand how absurd that probability is. Do you know the chance of being struck by lightning at least once in your lifetime? About 0.007%.

So hoping that at least one of those five clearers succeeds is less than half as likely as picking five random people off the street and hoping at least one of them has been struck by lightning. How does that sound to you now?"

"Ridiculous."

Jude shook his head.

"But those clearers are elite among elites who beat that vicious Floor 1, aren't they? Wouldn't that make their odds a little better?"

"Sadly, probably not. Even if you look at other difficulties, statistically there is no case where a higher floor has a better survival rate than Floor 1. As floors rise, Climbers get stronger, yes, but the difficulty rises even more. That is the Tower's rule. Nightmare will not be an exception."

Arlo continued.

"The United States, the first to challenge Floor 2, failed. The government that bragged about staking the nation on this still has no official statement. But anyone can see what happened if they think for a minute. They probably poured in every resource they could. Skill Stones, items, everything they could obtain, they dumped all of it on the challenger. And what was the result?

That is why I say there are no miracles. The Nightmare Time Limit now has only a few weeks left. Everyone, please throw away these scraps of hope. Accept it, and enjoy the life you have left with peace of mind. That is why I came here today."

"I see. So Mr. Arlo, that makes you what people call a doomist these days?"

People who had already concluded the world was over were now often called doomists rather than simple doomsayers, and the trend was spiraling out of control.

People committing crimes because the world was doomed anyway, people preaching faith in the Tower's god and promised salvation, extremist factions and religious groups springing up everywhere, all of it had become a serious social problem.

"I will not deny it, but I am not saying people should run around causing crime and social chaos like lunatics. I only hope people can spend the rest of their lives a little more peacefully. I am already doing that."

"How?"

"I liquidated all my assets, and I am enjoying the rest of my days with my family while spending freely. After this show, I plan to travel around those Asian countries. I kept saying I would go someday, but I was always too busy and never went even once. Jude, why not quit this show and do what you always wanted to do?"

"Haha, maybe I should. Still, I really want to do a live broadcast at least for the exact moment the world ends, so it still feels too early to quit."

The show was in full swing when the staff suddenly started murmuring.

One staff member rushed over and gave them the news.

"...We just got word that Nightmare Floor 2 has been cleared!"

Both men widened their eyes in shock.

Jude looked at Arlo. He wore a blank expression for a second, then cleared his throat and said,

"...Amazing. I guess miracles are not completely forbidden."

News of the clear spread, and the world shook once again.

[Hokinter: Did everyone get the message? Floor 2 cleared!]

[Outlaw of the Ocean: wow wow wow!!]

[Pizza Bread: Holy shit, we somehow bought another year lol, yiiihaaa~]

[Twisyon: With only six challengers, I really thought we were done this time]

[Coin: Who cleared it?]

[Phoenix Egg: No idea. No post is up yet, nothing.]

[Hades: But what is this new rule? They say people who do not enter the Tower die now?]

People wanted to know who had cleared Floor 2.

On the other hand, one man already knew.

Billon Must sat in his office chair and thrust his fist into the air.

"Uhhaha! I knew it, my instincts were right! I believed in him!"

Beside the celebrating Billon, his secretary Ellen continued her report.

"We got a reply immediately, Chairman."

"Good! What did he say?"

"It was him, confirmed. He said the Leap skill you gave him helped a lot with the clear. He says thank you."

The moment Billon saw the Floor 2 clear announcement, he sent Person123 a whisper to thank him. He also wanted to verify whether it really was him.

[Person123: The Leap skill helped a lot in this clear. Thank you.]

And he got an immediate reply back.

As soon as he heard those words from Ellen, Billon felt an indescribable sense of fulfillment.

The first Nightmare clearer had acknowledged his contribution. Even after climbing this high in life, it had been a long time since he felt this hungry for recognition from someone else.

That person deserved it.

A messiah carrying the fate of all humanity.

Floor 1, then Floor 2. Once could be luck, twice was no longer luck.

Billon became certain once more that his choice had been right.

He was special. The only one. The only being worth placing hope on.

Billon quickly calmed himself and organized his thoughts.

"Right, the connection is open now, so all we need is inventory..."

Now that the result was confirmed, what came next was clear.

All in. Invest everything in him.

They needed to secure as many Skill Stones, Skill Enhancement Stones, and items as possible.

By any means necessary.

Ellen said,