WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability
Chapter 27
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Before Floor 3 (1)
Time passed after the Seo Dong-woo incident.
The news reported that Seo Dong-woo had been shot dead by an agent from the Climber Surveillance Division of the Climber Special Affairs Office.
As time went by and nothing happened, it seemed my existence had not been exposed, thankfully.
[Lotus: Thank you.]
I even got one random thank-you whisper through the Communication Window. It was from Director Shin Su-jin.
We exchanged a few lines checking if the other was okay, and that was it.
Even though I was not a criminal, civil servants from the Climber Special Affairs Office still made me uncomfortable.
...Or maybe I was not exactly clean either? Not registering as a Climber and filing a false difficulty report were both illegal.
Not a criminal, maybe just a lawbreaker.
Anyway, they would probably keep my secret from now on too, so I figured I did not need to worry.
"Wouldn't it be better if you stayed in the hospital a little longer, Dad?"
"Ah, it's fine. They said the bones are all healed, so why stay? I'm going crazy lying there."
Thankfully, my father recovered well without major aftereffects and got discharged.
Even now, thinking back on it, it was pure luck.
Because of that lunatic, I could have lost the chance to ever see my father's face again.
- Doesn't this Seo Dong-woo incident show us clearly? Climbers are dangerous! They are basically walking killing machines!
- We need to avoid that kind of blanket generalization. Seo Dong-woo was a vicious murderer who had been imprisoned for slaughtering an entire family. This tragedy happened because an evil person who was already broken gained power. It is not right to slander most decent Climbers together with him.
- Even so, isn't it undeniable that Climbers are dangerous? One single person's rampage turned the country upside down. They are no different from ticking time bombs that could go off at any time...
- Didn't this disaster happen because of the government's loose preparation and response? We need much stronger restraints on Climbers!
- We especially need proper safeguards for high-level Climbers. In just a few years, average Climber levels will rise sharply, and if a second Seo Dong-woo appears, someone far stronger than Seo Dong-woo could...
- And how exactly would you prepare those safeguards? Don't just throw words around, give a detailed alternative.
If Climbers do not climb the Tower, then who does? You people are mistaken about one thing, Climbers are the future of this world! We should be preventing crime with friendlier policies. If you use oppressive methods like that and Climbers start leaving for other countries, what then? Realistically...
Whenever I watched news debates, it was the same argument on repeat for a while.
I did not care much, but treatment of Climbers had always been controversial.
People's anxiety was understandable.
Calling Climbers walking killing machines sounded harsh, but it was not exactly wrong either.
If my father had gone through that while I was not a Climber, I might have ended up hating Climbers too.
Still, freaks like that were a minority.
And since I was a Climber now, it did feel unfair when public perception got too hostile.
Then again, maybe it would feel less unfair if I could at least enjoy the benefits.
How nice would it be if I could just live comfortably by repeating Floor 1 forever.
[Gnat: Korean Joker dead?]
[Geumeun: Dead. Heard a Korean Climber Bureau agent fought him head-on and killed him.]
[1ruryuru1: It was pretty funny watching that guy hog the chat and spew nonsense though.]
[Horororo: But he really was insane. Didn't he break through armed prison guards and escape?]
[Last Leaf: Heard he was over level 20? High-level Climbers are no joke.]
Anyway, the Seo Dong-woo incident had become a huge topic not just in Korea but globally, yet even that gradually faded with time.
As the clock toward apocalypse kept ticking, people's attention always narrowed back to one thing.
Would the world survive this year too?
I was curious too.
Whether I could clear Floor 3 or not.
[Nightmare]
Population: 258,326
Time Limit: 185 days 1 hour 34 minutes 59 seconds
Reached Floor: Floor 3
About half a year had passed since I cleared Floor 2.
During that time, my daily life had not changed much except that I had quit college.
I technically filed it as a leave of absence first, but it was not like that could be extended forever, so it was basically quitting.
"Wow, how did even Seo-hyeon end up becoming a Climber? That's wild."
"Do you think our school has that kind of energy or something?"
"Drop by sometimes. Come buy us food."
I told my friends I was quitting because I had become an Easy Climber.
They were all good guys, so it was sad knowing I would not see them as often.
Oh, and my younger sister graduated high school and got into college too.
She said she bombed the CSAT, but she still got into a pretty decent school. I bought her a laptop as a gift.
"Let's go, Diul."
By now, I had my parents' full permission for Climber activity.
I had time to spare all day, so I entered the Tower whenever I had a chance.
Partly to keep my body sense sharp, sure, but the main goal was obviously getting closer to Diul.
I still had not unlocked any new abilities.
I could definitely feel our connection becoming clearer little by little...
But I seriously had no idea when this guy would finally show me a new power.
"Diul, aren't we pretty close by now? I'm starting to feel hurt here."
Even when I said things like that, all I got back was the same prim emotional response, like he was snorting at me.
I was not asking for much, so I just hoped something would change before I challenged Floor 3.
[Nightmare(8)]
There had also been a change in Nightmare's headcount.
It went from five to eight after three more people were added.
I heard one clearer came from Australia too, not just the U.S., China, Russia, and India.
But there was no way to know whether anyone had succeeded in clearing Floor 2.
If someone updated the highest reached floor, a global notice appeared, but other progress did not get announced one by one.
[Person123: Has anyone succeeded in clearing Floor 2?]
I got curious and asked Mr. Rhino once.
[Rhino: I am ashamed to say no, not yet.]
That was the response I got.
Still, it sounded like they were preparing, not dying after trying.
But no matter how much I thought about it, Floor 2 seemed easier than Floor 1 as long as you knew the information...
Or maybe not? Honestly, it was hard to tell.
I challenged it at level 15 thanks to hidden rewards, but everyone else would be entering at level 0.
So at the level 10 benchmark, the Minotaur might actually be a brutal boss.
To be honest, I did not expect much from the other Nightmare clearers anymore.
I had already decided that I would take the vanguard role anyway.
If, by some tiny chance, someone worked hard, caught up, and cleared a new floor before me, then good for them.
Great if it happened, whatever if it did not.
That was about how I felt.
[Chicken Sandwich: Mr. Kim, I would like to deliver some Skill Stones.]
I got a message from Billon for the first time in a long while, saying he had Skill Stones for me again.
Maybe he needed time to gather them and send them all at once, because this time there were three.
[Chicken Sandwich: ...A Rare magic-type skill called 'Blade Gale,' a Common+ magic-type skill called 'Fairy Light Bolt,' and one Common+ Skill Enhancement Stone.]
Two Skill Stones and one Skill Enhancement Stone.
The key point was that both Skill Stones were magic-type.
One was even Rare grade.
They could not have been easy to get, but Billon, as always, did not show it and simply explained the skills.
[Chicken Sandwich: From now on, I will keep sending Skill Stones through the Mana Stone courier as well. Personally, I would like to meet you in person, Mr. Kim, but it seems best to avoid direct meetings whenever possible.]
Billon said he had tried to obtain the Skill Stones discreetly, but he could not completely avoid the eyes of the Climber Bureau.
So there was a chance he was being watched, and from now on, the same person who delivered Mana Stones would deliver Skill Stones too. I told him I understood.
He was a very busy man anyway, so there had never really been a need for Billon to personally come and go.
[Person123: Then I'll send Top-Grade Mana Stones through him too.
That's okay, right?]
On the scheduled day, I received the Skill Stones together with the Mana Stones.
I also handed over a big bundle of Top-Grade Mana Stones.
As always, the foreign man gave a quiet bow and coolly left without a word.
From what I had briefly heard from Billon, he was using Mana Stones for various research projects...
Well, however he used them, I hoped he put them to good use.
I returned home and opened the Skill Stones.
[Skill: Blade Gale (Rare)]
Creates a sharp gale within a 3-meter radius, dealing damage and knocking back all targets within range. Requires 50 seconds of mental concentration to cast.
Classification: Magic-Type
Willpower Cost: 150
Cooldown: 1 minute
[Skill: Fairy Light Bolt (Common+)]
Fires small light bolts infused with the power of light. Up to three can be created, and the Willpower cost stacks by 5 each time another bolt is added. Requires 10 seconds of mental concentration to cast.
Classification: Magic-Type
Willpower Cost: 20, 45, 75
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Blade Gale. This definitely felt like an area skill.
And Fairy Light Bolt.
The description was a little odd... but the cooldown was very short.
I learned all of the Skill Stones.
[Would you like to enter Nightmare difficulty Floor 2?]
I immediately entered the Tower to test them myself.
On Floor 1, the Goblin Knight had been my skill test dummy. On Floor 2, it was the Minotaur.
After crossing the lava stepping stones and climbing up, I reached the Minotaur's area.
Mooooooh-!
"Yeah, nice to see you too."
Maybe it was glad to see me too, because the Minotaur charged at me hard.
I stopped time.
I tested Fairy Light Bolt first.
Biiiing-
The moment I used the skill, tiny lights like fireflies floated around me.
I launched all three at the Minotaur.
The lights burst one after another and struck it.
Hm, so this was about the level of power?
Visually, the explosive force was not that large.
If Flame Strike was an artillery shell, this felt like a bullet.
The Minotaur only flinched for a moment, then came charging at me again while bleeding.
Pop, pop, pop!
Its power was nowhere near Flame Strike.
But after using it, I saw it had a different strength than Flame Strike.
Once fired, Flame Strike could only travel in a straight line.
With Fairy Light Bolt, I could control the travel direction to a certain extent.
If I wanted, I could send it in a curved trajectory or make it zigzag.
"Not bad."
A short 5-second cooldown.
Up to three bolts, and relatively free guided attacks.
Most of all, I loved that overwhelmingly short cooldown.
The Willpower cost did stack up as each bolt was added.
But concentration time and Willpower consumption were not disadvantages for me at all, so that was nothing to worry about.
Krrraaaah-!
Also, that comparison was only relative to Flame Strike. It was not like Fairy Light Bolt was weak.
The Minotaur, already hit multiple times by the light bolts, was bleeding quite a lot.
Furious now, it roared and charged at me again.
Time for the main dish.
I waited until the Minotaur got close, then stopped time.
After finishing concentration, I cast Blade Gale.
Kwaaaaaah!
With a violent blast, a whirlwind raged around me.
The Minotaur inside the hit radius was blown away as if it had bounced off.
"Oh."
Even while charging, this was the knockback power?
I walked up to the fallen Minotaur.
Its destructive power was also considerable.
From that one Blade Gale alone, the Minotaur's whole body had been shredded to rags.
Fairy Light Bolt damage had already piled up too, but it died right there.
An area skill that hit everything within a 3-meter radius.
A 1-minute cooldown, and this level of power.
A 3-meter radius was not exactly wide range.
But striking every enemy around me in all directions from my own position was definitely a strong feature.
I grinned.
"Thanks, Billon."
Considering Floor 3's theme, it looked like I had gotten some very solid skills.
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