WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 203: Joint Training (2)
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[Person123: Then when would you be available?]
[Lotus: Any time is fine. I’m available right now, too.]
[Person123: Then would three this afternoon work?]
[Person123: Oh, right. You must be at work, so that might be difficult.]
[Lotus: It’s fine! I have the day off today.]
Shin Su-jin typed out her replies as if in a trance, tap-tap-tap, then sat blankly for a moment before grabbing her coat and getting up.
“Something urgent came up, so I’m taking annual leave and heading out!”
“What?”
The Climbing Surveillance Division team members watched in surprise as Shin Su-jin rushed out of the office, then looked at one another.
“...I’ve never seen the manager take a day off before.”
“Isn’t this a first since the Climbing Surveillance Division was founded?”
Shin Su-jin left work and immediately entered Floor 5.
Person123 had chosen the cave in the rocky mountain where the Zone 3 boss appeared as their meeting place. Of course, she knew it well.
But what surprised her was...
[Person123: Three other people will be joining us. The leading Nightmare Climbers from the US and China, and the American who holds the highest-floor record on Hard difficulty.]
She wasn’t the only one who would be receiving training.
The leading American Nightmare Climber had to mean Taylor...
And China’s was Ye Tianwei. He was a mysterious figure in many ways, but Shin Su-jin at least knew his name.
As for the American record holder on Hard difficulty, that would be Vince. Lately, he’d been climbing at an incredible pace, even overtaking Security Force Captain Alex, and had publicly announced that he would soon challenge Floor 19.
‘Could it be...?’
She suddenly remembered how Taylor had cleared Floors 7, 8, and 9 in rapid succession.
There had been plenty of talk about how she’d managed it back then. Could that have been...?
In any case, Shin Su-jin reached the boss’s rocky mountain in Zone 3 with her heart pounding.
As she carefully entered the cave, she sensed people farther inside.
Two men and a woman.
“Oh! Shin Su-jin, you really came!”
Vince was the first to greet her.
They weren’t close, but as fellow Security Force officers, they saw each other fairly often.
“Hello.”
Shin Su-jin also exchanged nods with Taylor.
She only knew Taylor by sight. Taylor tended to work independently rather than as part of the Security Force.
After greeting her warmly, Vince looked a little puzzled.
“But aren’t you Level 48 or so right now, Shin Su-jin? Normal Floor 25, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then why did Person123 invite you? I thought he’d called us all here to help us break the highest-floor records... The current Normal record is Floor 32.”
Another man stepped forward.
“Vince.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t you dare question his will. That’s blasphemy.”
Vince flinched at the man’s words and looked a little intimidated.
Shin Su-jin even sensed a hint of killing intent. She tensed as she looked at the man.
Ye Tianwei, China’s leading Nightmare Climber.
He smiled at Shin Su-jin as though he hadn’t given off that dangerous air at all.
“I heard you would be joining us for this training. I look forward to working with you.”
“...Yes, likewise.”
“By the way, have you known Person123 for some time, Shin Su-jin?”
“Ah... Yes.”
Ye Tianwei’s eyes flashed.
“If you don’t mind my asking, what sort of relationship do you have with him?”
Vince tilted his head and muttered.
“Huh? Could it be...?”
Startled, Shin Su-jin answered.
“N-no! It’s nothing like that. Absolutely not. He did me a great personal favor some time ago... We just check in with each other now and then.”
“Oh, I see. A great personal favor. But how long ago are we talking...?”
“Around when Nightmare Floor 2 was cleared...”
Overwhelmed by his intensity, Shin Su-jin answered without thinking, then wondered why he was asking so many questions.
Ye Tianwei’s expression stiffened slightly at her answer, and he muttered.
“...Since Floor 2? That’s hard to beat...”
What was with this person...?
He seemed a little dangerous and strange.
Taylor spoke.
“Ye Tianwei and I have received training from him once before. Thanks to Person123’s help, we were able to clear Floors 7, 8, and 9.”
So that was what had happened. But Ye Tianwei too?
China hadn’t made any announcement about those clears, so she hadn’t known.
“For the record, this is my first time too, just like you, Shin Su-jin. Whew! To think he’d help train us personally. I never imagined I’d live to see the day.”
Vince sounded nervous.
He’d seen Person123 very briefly during the Zone 3 boss fight, but this was practically their first proper meeting.
The two top Nightmare Climbers after Person123, and the highest-floor Climber on Hard difficulty.
Surrounded by such impressive people, Shin Su-jin felt a little intimidated.
But why had he invited her when she wasn’t even the highest-floor Climber on Normal difficulty?
‘...Was he looking out for me because we know each other?’
The thought made her a little happy, but she also worried that she might be imposing on him.
After their brief introductions, the four of them waited.
There was still quite a while until the agreed time, but they’d arrived early.
But really, why had he invited her instead of the highest-floor Climber on Normal difficulty?
As the time drew closer, everyone grew nervous.
Even Taylor and Ye Tianwei, who had already trained with him once, felt the same way.
It would be their first time seeing Person123 since he’d become something like a god.
“You’re all here already.”
Before long, he appeared.
Looking as ordinary as ever.
* * *
At the agreed time, I moved to the cave in the rocky mountain in Zone 3 of Floor 5.
All four of them were already there.
Apart from Vince, the highest-floor Climber on Hard difficulty, they were all familiar faces.
“Welcome.”
Ye Tianwei bowed his head politely, his eyes filled with emotion.
Taylor stared blankly at me for a moment before greeting me too.
I then shook hands with Manager Shin and Vince in turn.
“I-it’s truly an honor! You saved my life when you were supervising the Zone 3 boss fight... I don’t know if you remember...”
Vince spoke in a trembling voice.
Had I? Oh, was he that person?
“I remember. It’s good to see you.”
I briefly looked around at the four of them.
I could clearly feel their faith in me.
Unsurprisingly, Ye Tianwei’s faith was by far the strongest here.
I’d known that already, but feeling it like this was still pretty amazing.
Also, since becoming a god, I’d become able to sense the feelings of those who had faith in me...
It wasn’t quite mind reading. I could just tell things like their emotional state.
It made me feel closer to them than before.
After all, practically everyone on Earth was now mentally connected to me.
I felt that way even toward Vince, whom I barely knew, let alone the other three.
I smiled behind my mask and asked.
“Have you introduced yourselves?”
“Yes, we did while we were waiting.”
“Then let’s get started.”
I took out Pankera’s Crown and put it on.
Perhaps Taylor and Ye Tianwei hadn’t explained how the training would work. Manager Shin and Vince looked puzzled.
“Everyone, take my hands.”
I brought all four of them into the Mindscape.
This crown remained incredibly useful even after I’d become a god.
Combined with my ability, there was no item more overpowered than this.
“Wh-where are we...?”
Manager Shin and Vince looked around in confusion.
“This place is called the Mindscape.”
I gave them a brief explanation of where we were and how the training would work.
“For the record, time doesn’t pass in the outside world while we’re here. You two can take as much time as you need to prepare perfectly before challenging your floors.”
Manager Shin needed to prepare for Normal Floor 25, and Vince for Hard Floor 19.
It depended on their determination, but ideally, I wanted them to climb as many floors as possible before we wrapped things up.
Normal difficulty had currently been cleared up to Floor 31, but most information about the highest floors hadn’t been released. As a result, Manager Shin didn’t know what awaited her on Floor 25.
“I know everything up to Floor 31 on Normal difficulty, so I’ll explain it.”
But Ye Tianwei simply told her.
As the most powerful person in China, he apparently knew all the clear information for the other difficulties too.
“I failed to consider that. Once we leave, I’ll release all the clear information China has.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
After speaking to me with an apologetic look, Ye Tianwei turned to Vince.
Vince glanced around nervously before speaking too.
“I-I’ll personally release all the Hard difficulty information as well! The Climber Bureau will probably throw a fit, but I’ll just have to deal with it... Haha.”
Manager Shin was one thing, but Vince would be setting a new highest-floor record, so there was no information available for him.
Still, that didn’t matter at all.
I could simply use the Normal difficulty information as a base, then set up the environment with much higher levels and harsher conditions.
No matter how hard Hard difficulty was, could it possibly compare to Nightmare?
Honestly, it wouldn’t have mattered if we had no information for Normal difficulty either.
I intended to push both of them to their limits anyway.
And then there were Ye Tianwei and Taylor.
For those two, I planned to focus on improving their abilities through sparring with me.
There wasn’t really any specialized training I could offer for Nightmare Floor 10.
And so, the training began.
I left Ye Tianwei and Taylor to train on their own for a while and started with Manager Shin and Vince.
“You’ve had a little time to get used to this, right? Please tell me what skills you have.”
First, I got a rough idea of their abilities.
“How many floors would you like to clear during this training?”
I also asked about their goals.
Vince answered first in a booming voice.
“At least up to Floor 20... No, since there’s no time limit, I want to clear as many as I can! I’ll give it everything I have, even if it kills me!”
Manager Shin spoke too.
“I won’t set a limit either. I’ll do my best to follow your guidance for as long as you’re willing to lead me.”
I nodded.
They should be able to clear more than the three consecutive floors Ye Tianwei and Taylor had managed. They weren’t on Nightmare difficulty, after all.
“As long as you work hard and keep up with my training, clearing the floors won’t be difficult. I can promise you that. Though the training will be pretty tough.”
Vince laughed.
“Please work us to death! I’m confident I can endure any hellish training you throw at me!”
“Good.”
I waved my hand and divided the space in two.
Then I created their respective training environments.
Floor 19’s theme was a forest filled with poisonous fog.
The fog slowly poisoned Climbers until they died.
To clear the floor, they had to wipe out all the attacking undead monsters before the poison killed them.
On Normal Floor 19, the monsters were around Level 30, and there were a little over a hundred of them.
The longest anyone could survive in the poisonous fog was thirty minutes.
For Hard difficulty, I just needed to estimate how much tougher to make it.
“You’re Level 76 right now, correct, Vince?”
A Climber on Hard Floor 19 would be Level 72. Adding the level rewards everyone had received when I dealt with the rules, that would make him Level 76.
Vince answered as he looked around the forest.
“Yes! I think you can make the monsters much stronger than they’d normally be on Hard difficulty!”
“Of course. Then let’s make the monsters around Level 80.”
“...Uh, sorry?”
“Undead monsters have almost no combat intelligence, so you should be able to handle them even at higher levels. As for their numbers, let’s see. There are a hundred on Normal, so let’s go with five hundred. And I’ll set the time limit for the poisonous fog at ten minutes.”
“What?”
I spoke to Vince, who now looked completely lost.
“It’s fine. You’ll come back to life even if you die. You just have to keep trying until you can do it. All right, let’s go.”
Undead burst out of the undergrowth and charged at Vince.
I watched him start fighting with a cry that could have been either a scream or a battle cry, then turned my gaze to Manager Shin.
She was staring our way with her mouth hanging open.
I smiled and spoke.
“You’re Level 55, right, Manager Shin? You must have received the three-level reward during the Great Invasion too, so you’re seven levels higher than you’d normally be.”
“Y-yes.”
“Then let’s get you started too.”
Better safe than sorry.
There was no such thing as too much preparation.
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