Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability - Chapter 192

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 192: Proclamation

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I pondered carefully as I restored my depleted divinity.

At the very least, Earth...

If I had enough divinity to back it up, I might be able to save it completely from the Tower’s clutches.

But that was impossible for now.

I needed far more divinity than I had now to suppress the Tower’s power.

Then how could I increase my divinity?

“Would it be possible to increase my divinity through training or something, Demon King?”

The Demon King replied.

- I don’t know. I’ve never been a god myself, so how would I? Besides, you’re not a normal case.

“You said there was no set way to obtain divinity in the first place. Does it matter whether I’m normal or not?”

- Tch. That’s not what I mean.

The Demon King clicked his tongue and explained.

- Suppose there was a god who obtained divinity by honing their swordsmanship to the absolute limit. That god would have gained an insight that led them to divinity, so they could use that as a foundation to seek a path to a higher realm, no?

“Right.”

- But you aren’t that case. You had divinity without even knowing you possessed it, so what insight could you possibly have? What training do you think will increase your divinity?

Hmm... Was that so?

I had asked the Demon King because I did not know, but hearing that made it obvious there was no reason for the Demon King to know either.

After recovering some of my divinity, I picked up the pen on my desk.

As I repeatedly tossed the pen lightly upward and caught it, I stopped time with the pen in midair.

The pen froze in midair.

After becoming a god, I had gained a more detailed understanding of my ability...

I had not merely gained the ability to move through stopped time.

This power also allowed me to freely limit the area where time stopped.

Just as I had stopped time only around the pen, leaving it suspended in the air.

Of course, limiting the range of the stop like this or moving through stopped time myself consumed a considerable amount of divinity.

In truth, the two concepts were no different.

Moving through stopped time myself meant limiting the stopped area to everything except me.

For reference, simply stopping time and thinking, as I had always done, consumed almost no divinity.

Before I absorbed divinity, I had been able to maintain Time Stop indefinitely with only a tiny speck of it.

It was ironic when I thought about it.

Stopping time and doing nothing but thinking.

That was an act of stopping time throughout the entire world.

Even if I could not move either.

Then why did stopping only part of the world consume far more divinity than stopping time across the whole world?

I knew the reason.

It was not as simple as stopping a larger area consuming more divinity.

Divinity was the power to twist causality.

The more greatly one twisted causality, the more divinity one consumed.

In other words, what mattered was how severely causality had been distorted.

Stopping time while doing nothing but thinking did not truly violate the laws of the world all that much.

After all, my ability to influence the world was nearly nonexistent.

But stopping time only around a pen like this?

That was an outright violation of the laws of the world.

That was why it consumed so much divinity.

That was roughly how it worked... Once I became a god and could see the flow of causality, I understood it naturally without anyone having to explain it.

I released time and caught the falling pen.

Anyway, increasing my divinity through training.

As the Demon King said, that would probably be difficult.

I had not gained the Time Stop Ability through some grand realization...

Even if I practiced controlling it better, that would only build proficiency.

‘Another way...’

The other way was faith.

Increasing the scale of people’s faith in me.

I instinctively knew that doing so would affect my divinity.

The total amount of divinity would increase, and it would recover faster.

But that method had its limits too.

Faith was only an indirect factor that enhanced divinity.

And humanity’s faith in me was already considerable.

Even if all eight billion people on Earth became my fanatical believers, it would never be enough to catch up to the Tower’s divinity.

- There is only one method left.

The Demon King spoke.

I nodded.

“I thought so too.”

The surest and most efficient method.

Just as I had become a god by absorbing the God-Slaying Sword’s divinity.

I could increase my divinity by absorbing the divinity of other gods or divine artifacts.

Normally, that method had limits as well.

Even the Fighting Demon God had been unable to absorb all the God-Slaying Sword’s divinity and had struggled with it.

After all, one could not absorb an amount of divinity that far exceeded one’s own level.

But...

‘It might not matter for me.’

As the Demon King had said, the divinity I possessed was abnormally high in rank.

I could feel it myself.

Absorbing the divinity of the God-Slaying Sword and the Fighting Demon God had barely made a dent.

So if I absorbed far more divinity than I had now...

Perhaps I could become a complete god.

A complete god.

Honestly, I did not know what that was.

I could only vaguely sense that, since I was incomplete now, there must be a complete state as well.

The Demon King spoke.

- I heard that a complete god is eternal and infinite in itself.

“Have you ever seen one?”

- No. I have only heard such legends.

Eternal and infinite in itself.

Was the Tower a complete god as well?

In my current state, I could not see through its true nature.

Well, regardless.

For now, the only way to greatly increase my divinity seemed to be absorbing other divinity.

And to do that...

‘In the end, I need to keep climbing.’

It was not certain.

But if I kept clearing the Tower and ascending to higher floors, I might find another god or divine artifact.

The worlds inside the Tower were only fakes that recreated worlds already destroyed, but perhaps divinity could not be reproduced. Like the God-Slaying Sword and the Fighting Demon God, it was real.

So I would look for worlds beyond Floor 17 that contained divinity.

That was the only thing worth hoping for.

Now that the Tower had weakened as much as it had, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Given more time, the Tower would recover its strength.

Before that happened, I would absorb as much divinity as possible so I could completely suppress the Tower’s divinity that had invaded Earth.

“Good.”

I had finally resolved my lifespan problem.

Yet it seemed I would still have to clear the Tower without rest.

But for the first time, I felt like I could breathe a little easier.

Rather than simply climbing the Tower with vague hope, I now had a much clearer, more concrete goal.

Now, I could imagine it.

A hopeful future that had once seemed impossible.

A peaceful world.

“...I’ll definitely do it.”

I muttered into the air as though reinforcing my resolve.

Tower.

The root of all evil that brought tragedy to countless worlds.

No matter what, I would be the one to defeat you.

I opened the Communication Window.

Everyone was in an uproar because the Tower’s time limits had stopped briefly. The news was chaos as well.

People were confused, so I was about to make a post in the Communication Window...

‘No.’

Maybe I should try this?

From now on, I needed to secure as much divinity as possible.

Absorbing divinity was the main plan, but the greater people’s faith in me became, the more it would help.

So even if I personally did not want to...

It would be better to guide more people into sincerely believing I was a god.

By acting like one.

‘This should be possible.’

I stirred my recovered divinity once more.

* * *

After all humanity simultaneously experienced a strange sensation, the world was in an uproar.

Countless people made the same claim about the unexplained phenomenon.

“I felt it clearly! Person123 called out to us!”

“It was a divine revelation! He delivered a revelation to humanity...!”

That Person123 had done something.

The more devoted someone was to the Person123 Church, or the more deeply they had revered Person123, the clearer the sensation had felt. They firmly believed Person123 had exercised divine authority as a god.

[Coconut: I think Person123 really did send humanity a revelation fr]

[Pattu: They say Person123 Church believers felt it way more strongly than everyone else?]

[WhiteElephant: I’m a Person123 Church believer, and I’m not exaggerating. It was real. We were in the middle of regular service today, and every believer started crying. Me too, of course.]

[Rookibis: I’m not really a believer, but the sensation was so intense my whole body trembled. Didn’t everyone feel that way?]

[First: I definitely felt Person123’s presence. Anyone who didn’t simply lacks faith.]

[Boekrik: Did Person123 really become a god...?]

[Cliff: I told you, he’s been a god from the start lol]

[MonsterTamer: But what happened with the Tower’s proposal? Did Person123 safely get through that Hidden Route thing?]

[Hazelnut: Please make a post if you’re safe, Person123!]

[WhiteNight: At last, He has prepared to lead humanity. Those who believe will be saved, while unbelievers will never find salvation.]

There were no real objections.

Everyone had experienced it personally, even if to different degrees. That mystical sense of connection.

Furthermore, the timing made it clear that it was related to Person123. The incident had happened shortly after the Tower made a new proposal to Person123.

Then, in the midst of it all...

Rumble...

“Ah...!”

“W-What was that?”

This time, earthquakes suddenly struck continents across the world.

The tremors were minor and lasted only a few dozen seconds, so there were no casualties or property damage.

It was soon discovered that the epicenter of the abnormal earthquakes was the Tower in the Pacific Ocean. It was a phenomenon similar to when the Tower had first appeared.

But that was not the issue.

[Stork: ?? What was that just now? The Tower’s time limit stopped for a moment?]

[Hakari: What bullshit are you talking about?]

[ProfessionalClimber: I saw it too. Is this some kind of bug?]

[Waffle: Check the news. They say the time limit really did stop.]

For the few dozen seconds when the earthquake occurred, the time limits for every difficulty had stopped flowing.

For the first time since the Tower appeared, the clock of destruction threatening humanity had stopped.

People were thrown into confusion by the successive strange events.

[GoldenLamp: What is going on today? Weird things just keep happening.]

[Siren: Could Person123 have stopped the Tower’s time limit?]

[Papipu: Maybe...? That strange sensation too.]

[Ray: Even Person123 can’t stop the Tower’s time limit. I don’t think that’s it.]