Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability - Chapter 22

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 22

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Decision (1)

The Republic of Korea's Climber Special Affairs Office, abbreviated as the Climber Special Affairs Office.

This central administrative agency was newly established a few months after the Day of Upheaval two years ago. It handled all work related to Climbers, and even now it was still chaotic, overloaded, and often patched together on the fly.

It was not just Korea either. Other countries were in the same situation.

Humanity still had far too little information about the Tower, and just keeping up with a world that kept changing by the minute was hard enough.

"So much work. So blessed with work. Wow, I love this. Wow, I'm so happy."

One employee muttered that with hollow eyes while hammering at the keyboard.

Maybe it was their own defense mechanism for surviving extreme stress. Or maybe they had actually snapped.

There had already been a mountain of work to begin with, and after Nightmare Floor 2 got cleared, the Climber Special Affairs Office's workload multiplied several times over.

This time was even worse than when Floor 1 had been cleared, because besides new Climbers, the Tower had also announced a new rule.

Anyone who did not climb the Tower within three years would die. Climbers who had no intention of climbing were suddenly under immediate pressure. Especially those on Nightmare difficulty.

And of course, sorting out that whole mess fell to the Climber Special Affairs Office. Registering, classifying, and organizing new Climbers, expanding and planning new training facilities, budget allocation, nonstop complaint floods... why did the workload keep increasing again? Was this a bug?

It was definitely good news that humanity had gained one more year on the clock, but the office workers' own clocks might have been shrinking in real time. Every single department was swamped.

"I'm seriously dying here. How is there not a single slow day out of all 365 days in a year?"

"We should blame our fate for getting dragged in here."

Employees sipped instant coffee in the hallway and enjoyed a brief moment of rest.

A few had volunteered to come, but that was the minority. Most civil servants in this office had been half-forced in from other ministries.

It could not be helped.

"These days, I'm seriously thinking about quitting."

"Hang in there. If you tell yourself it's duty, it's a little easier to endure."

"Haha, duty... oh."

At that moment, the employees gave a small bow to someone passing down the hallway.

A woman so expressionless she seemed cold. She gave them a brief nod and walked past.

One employee watched her back and said,

"...Speaking of duty, isn't she what real duty looks like?"

There was one department inside the Climber Special Affairs Office made up only of Climbers, the Climber Surveillance Division.

And the person who had just passed by was its chief, Shin Su-jin.

Their work involved Floor 5 shared-zone operations and cooperation on Climber-related crimes, so by nature they were an independent unit that felt separate from the rest of the office.

Even so, Chief Shin Su-jin was famous enough that everyone in the office knew her, because she was a level 20 Climber on Normal difficulty Floor 11.

A high-level Climber who could live in luxury just by selling Mana Stones from the Tower was here doing hard civil service work instead. It was not easy for ordinary people to understand.

"If I ever became a Climber, I'd quit this job on the spot. Isn't becoming a Climber way more likely than winning first prize in the lottery anyway?"

"Come on, difficulty matters too. What if you get Nightmare?"

"Then, well... I'd jump, haha."

"True. Easy is one thing, but even Normal is rough now. I heard Normal floors are no joke too."

After chatting a little more, the employees shuffled back to work. Another late night shift, as always.

* * *

More than a month had passed since I cleared Floor 2.

What I had been doing lately was a quest to get closer with Bandiul, the dark spirit.

"Diul, what I'm saying is, we're best friends. Soulmates, even. It's not just me who thinks that, right?"

I was in the forest outside Tower Floor 2.

Originally, if you finished a repeat clear, you automatically moved to the Reward Room. But if you came down from the castle without defeating the Minotaur, the clear did not progress any further.

I walked through the dark forest and kept trying to bond with Diul.

I had even made a nickname already. I decided his family name was Ban and his given name was Diul, so I called him Diul.

No matter what I said, he usually stayed so indifferent that it never seemed to do much, though.

"Yeah, yeah, let's at least take a walk. Want to run a bit?"

I moved deeper into denser brush.

Moonlight got blocked, and the night's darkness thickened.

Still, I could see the scenery around me perfectly clearly.

This was Diul's basic ability, seeing through darkness.

To describe it more precisely, it was not like night-vision goggles. Objects looked like they were drawn in white chalk on a blackboard. It was a pretty unusual view.

Not some insanely amazing ability, sure.

But darkness could no longer hinder me.

I ran fast along the forest path, letting the cold night wind hit my whole body.

Diul floated beside my head and followed me along.

Even this habitually dry little guy showed emotion once in a while, and that was when he was in darkness.

More specifically, he liked darkness in nature. Probably because he was a spirit.

If I just turned off the lights in my room and sat there, he did not seem to like it much.

That was why I had been coming into Floor 2 for night walks so often lately.

I had heard that higher affinity let you use new abilities, but I had no clue how to raise it.

So I figured maybe it would go up eventually if I just did things he liked.

Compared to the start, it did feel like our connection had gotten a tiny bit stronger, but maybe that was just in my head.

For reference, Haylin no longer appeared on Floor 2.

Unlike the old man from Floor 1 Hidden Route, I had not killed her, so I wondered if that would change anything, but no.

Even when I went to the bridge where I escaped from the black knight, there was only a collapsed bridge.

I even tried climbing down the cliff once to see if I could cross over.

After running around the forest for a while, I returned to my room.

I lay on the bed and, out of habit, opened the Communication Window.

"Hm?"

I had one new whisper.

The sender was Chicken Sandwich, Billon Must.

After I cleared Floor 2, we had exchanged short messages once, but this was the first contact in a month.

[Chicken Sandwich: Have you been well? I am contacting you because I have obtained new Skill Stones.]

[Chicken Sandwich: The skills are 'Swing,' Common grade, and 'Lesser Toxic Resistance,' Common+ grade. Swing is an active skill that increases the power of swinging attacks, and Lesser Toxic Resistance is a passive skill that grants minor poison resistance.]

[Chicken Sandwich: If these are skills you do not already have, I would like to deliver the Skill Stones as before. Of course, if you do not want to meet in person, another method is also fine.]

Oh... well, damn.

He was offering Skill Stones again. Two of them this time.

Since I had already met him once anyway, I had no reason to refuse.

"If you're giving them, thanks, but..."

I knew Swing was relatively common, but resistance-type passive skills were pretty rare.

Was it really okay for me to keep taking things like this?

Some people felt burdened by receiving things from others for free, and I was exactly that kind of person.

Of course, strictly speaking, this was not free.

Mr. Billon Must was investing in me, and in return I was climbing Nightmare difficulty and extending the Time Limit.

Yeah. Fine. I should take what I could get.

I had already made up my mind by now anyway.

I sent a reply.

* * *

We arranged to meet in the exact same way as last time.

On the day of the meeting, I wrapped my face up tightly again with a hood, hat, and mask, then headed to the location.

An ordinary black sedan parked along a side street.

After confirming once more through the Communication Window, I walked up and knocked on the window.

I opened the backseat door and got in.

Even though this was my second time seeing him, the man in the seat beside me still had that surreal face. Billon Must.

"Hello."

"Good to see you. We meet again."

We shook hands lightly, skipped small talk, and got straight to business.

Billon took two Skill Stones out of a bag and handed them to me.

"Thank you."

I learned both skills on the spot.

['You have learned Skill: Swing (Common)'.]

['You have learned Skill: Lesser Toxic Resistance (Common+)'.]

[Skill: Swing (Common)]

Instantly amplifies the power of swinging attacks.

Classification: Physical-Type

Willpower Cost: 10

Cooldown: 10 seconds

[Skill: Lesser Toxic Resistance (Common+)]

Grants minor resistance to poison.

Classification: Physical-Type (Passive)

Willpower Cost: None

Cooldown: None

[Difficulty: Nightmare]

[Floor: Floor 3]

[Level: 30]

[Willpower: 600]

[Skills: Teleport (Rare+), Sixth Sense (Rare+), Flame Strike (Rare) (+1), Exaltation (Rare), Lesser Toxic Resistance (Common+), Leap (Common), Swing (Common)]

My Status Window suddenly felt a lot richer.

After learning the skills, I met Billon's eyes as he stared at me.

Yeah, this was awkward.

I was about to speak, but Billon spoke first.

"From now on, whenever I obtain Skill Stones or items, I would like to keep delivering them to you. What do you think?"

He wanted to continue this strange contact arrangement.

I asked him, "Can I ask just one thing?"

"Of course."

"Why are you doing this much for me? Do you really believe I'll keep climbing Nightmare difficulty?"

Billon nodded.

"I believe only you can save humanity."

"Yes, but why..."

"You are the one who made the first clear on both Nightmare Floor 1 and Floor 2, and you did it without any press coverage. America's Nightmare challenger failed even with full national support. You succeeded. Looking only at what has happened, is the answer not obvious?"

Billon said it like a declaration.

"That is why, Person123, I want to invest everything in you.

I believe that is the most likely choice for humanity to survive. You only need to use me as much as you want for clearing Nightmare."

I fell into thought.

When the silence stretched, Billon continued quietly.

"Of course, your own will matters most."

"There is something I felt while clearing Floor 2."

"...Yes? What was it?"

"That it's impossible for someone else to step up and clear this insane difficulty."

In other words, my view was not much different from Billon's.

It was not that I wanted to get drunk on ego and call myself special.

I had zero confidence myself that I could keep clearing Nightmare.