Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability - Chapter 36

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 36

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Overcompensation (1)

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

"...Astonishing clear?"

That was a thing too?

Still a little dazed, I looked around.

It said the reward tier had been upgraded...

"...Huh?"

The moment I saw the Skill Stone, I couldn't help but stare.

It wasn't green, meaning it wasn't Rare or Rare+ grade.

The Skill Stone gave off a purple glow like amethyst.

I'd never seen that color before.

Which meant this was a Skill Stone from a grade that had never appeared before.

I picked it up.

[Skill Stone: Destruction Beam (Epic+)]

Use to learn 'Skill: Destruction Beam (Epic+)'.

"Oh...?"

Epic grade...?

And not just Epic, but Epic+?

Until now, no skill above Rare+ had ever appeared in the world.

And this skipped past Epic entirely and went straight to Epic+.

That meant the reward had jumped two whole tiers above anything I'd gotten so far.

"Heh... wow..."

I couldn't help getting excited.

Destruction Beam? From the name alone, I couldn't tell whether it was Physical-Type or Magic-Type.

Before reading the description, I offered a quick prayer.

Please be Magic-Type.

[Skill: Destruction Beam (Epic+)]

Condenses the power of destruction and fires it in a straight line. Casting requires 30 to 300 seconds of mental concentration. The longer the concentration time, the stronger the skill becomes.

Classification: Magic-Type

Willpower Cost: 1,000

Cooldown: 3 minutes

"...Yes!"

At least it was Magic-Type.

I read the description again.

"Condenses the power of destruction and fires it in a straight line..."

Hmm... ah.

So basically, a destruction beam? A laser attack?

The first thing that stood out was that the concentration time wasn't fixed.

From 30 seconds to 300 seconds.

And the longer I concentrated, the stronger it got.

"Feels like a charging skill."

The other thing that stood out was the absurd Willpower cost.

A thousand. Ten times Flame Strike.

And the cooldown was pretty long too, three minutes.

Was this what Epic-grade magic looked like?

I didn't need to worry about skill cost anyway, so that only made me more excited.

Just how strong was this thing if it needed this much Willpower?

"No way it's stronger than that cannon... right?"

The cannon had cost 600 Willpower.

Since this skill consumed even more than that, the thought naturally crossed my mind...

Still, even if it was Epic-grade above Rare, there was no way it was that strong. That would be completely broken.

The cannon had only been that strong because it was a special item usable only in that stage.

If you compared by Willpower alone, that cannon had to be at least a thousand times stronger than Flame Strike, yet its cost had only been six times higher.

Even so, this Destruction Beam should still be way stronger than Flame Strike or Blade Gale, so I had high hopes.

[You have learned 'Skill: Destruction Beam (Epic+)'.]

After learning it, I almost tried it right there...

'Not here.'

What if it was so strong it blew up the Reward Room?

Nah, no.

I was getting ahead of myself again.

Better not expect too much. What if it was weaker than I thought?

I decided to test Destruction Beam later, when I re-entered for repeat clears.

Then I checked the other reward.

[Item: Heavenly Music Box]

A lost holy relic of the Paeli Order. When used, it plays a melody that calms body and mind. It can be used by consuming 1 Willpower per second.

"...Hmm."

I did have a feeling one of those relics might show up as a reward.

But this one really had to be the one I got?

♫~ ♩♪~

When I used the music box, that clear, bright melody from earlier started playing.

It definitely made me feel calmer.

Great, sure, but... what do I use this for?

I wish I'd gotten the relic that could deploy a barrier instead.

Still, I'd gotten an Epic+ skill, so I could let this one slide.

Well, it did make me feel relaxed.

[Difficulty: Nightmare]

[Floor: Floor 4]

[Level: 45]

[Willpower: 1,250]

[Skills: Destruction Beam (Epic+), Teleport (Rare+), Sixth Sense (Rare+), Rapid Regeneration (Rare+), Flame Strike (Rare) (+2), Blade Gale (Rare), Exaltation (Rare), Fairy Light Bolt (Common+) (+1), Lesser Toxic Resistance (Common+), Leap (Common) (+1), Swing (Common), Thrust (Common)]

My level had gone up by another five, and before I knew it I was already close to 50.

My body had become way too strong now.

If I ran a little hard, my shoes got wrecked, so ever since clearing Floor 2, I'd been entering the Tower barefoot every time...

Did that mean I had to give up on shoes forever?

It'd be nice if I got some sturdy shoe-type item.

I fiddled with the Pligas necklace around my neck.

'Speaking of which, this guy too...'

Maybe before challenging Floor 4, it was about time to try subjugating Pligas.

If possible, doing it before Floor 4 was obviously better. It could be a huge help for the clear.

I should test the power of my new skill first, then decide.

"Nice, very nice."

This Floor 3 Hidden run had really been a massive haul.

Astonishing clear. I had no idea something like that even existed.

But normally, that condition would never be possible.

In the end, the condition for an astonishing clear on Floor 3 Hidden had been wiping out the giant undead horde.

Are you kidding me? How would anyone do that?

Even at level 100, they'd probably collapse from exhaustion before killing them all.

A cheat-like clear like that was probably only possible this one time.

Unless I got another custom broken item like that cannon.

[Do you want to exit the Tower?]

The moment I got back to my room, the door flew open, making me flinch.

"Oppa, I need help with an assignment... why are you startled?"

"...I told you. Seriously, knock before coming in."

"Yeah, yeah, got it. Check my report."

My sister strode in and shoved papers at me like I was obligated to do it.

How was she still like this at twenty?

I roughly skimmed her pathetic assignment report. What was this five-minutes-to-disaster mess?

"Didn't I tell you to clearly separate subheadings and numbers when you write a table of contents?"

"Huh? Ahhh."

"And stop writing in that ~yo style. It's all over the place. And why is the intro's flow this bad?"

"Why? What's wrong with it?"

"How are you jumping straight into the main body from here? Shouldn't there be one more thing to say first? Try thinking a little."

"Ah, come on, just tell me."

She frowned and forced herself to listen to every bit of advice that could actually help her, then snatched the report and turned to leave.

Not getting even one "thanks" annoyed me, so I ruffled her hair into a mess.

"Ah, you psycho! I said don't do that!"

"Wahh blah blah~ get out."

I kicked her out of the room.

I heard her tattling to Mom outside, but was Mom really going to take her side?

All she got was another scolding for talking back to her oppa, then I heard her muttering as she shut her room door.

"Ugh..."

I stretched once and left my room too.

I grabbed water from the fridge and drank, and Mom asked me,

"Did you go into the Tower?"

"...Yes."

"Okay. Don't push yourself too hard, and take it easy. I always say this, be careful, all right?"

"Yes, don't worry."

I went back to my room.

I'd gotten my parents' permission, but entering the Tower still made me self-conscious.

Even if they understood that repeatedly clearing Easy Floor 1 wasn't dangerous, they were still bound to worry.

'Wouldn't it be nice if there were goblins in real life too.'

Then I could flick one in the head and pop it right in front of them... wait, would that be too unfilial?

Back in my room, I rested a little, then went right back into the Tower.

I still had to test my new skill.

[You have entered Nightmare difficulty Floor 3.]

Grrraaaah-

Undead rushed in.

I grabbed my mace and kicked off the ground hard.

I started fighting the undead with my body alone, no magic.

Bang bang bang!

I jumped around and smashed their heads.

Back at level 30, I still needed magic to fight comfortably, but now I could practically fly around even like this.

As time passed, the undead kept increasing, and suicide undead and beast undead started appearing too.

I only sniped the bomb undead with light bolts and kept fighting without magic.

Exaltation activated too, and it was still manageable. I pushed forward while practically pulverizing the undead.

A thought crossed my mind: should I let a suicide undead hit me once and test Rapid Regeneration?

Then I decided not to. Dying like that would be too stupid.

I fought for ten minutes on purpose, waiting for sunset.

As soon as the sun went down, an undead legion appeared on the horizon in dense ranks.

Only then did I move to the underground passage.

After collecting all the gems and activating the sun emblem, I came back up to the surface.

I watched the undead melting in sunlight for a moment.

Soon, countless undead started gathering and clumping in one place.

"All right... come on out."

The fully reinforced lump boss that had put me through hell.

I'd deliberately waited until all the undead poured out just to make this thing appear.

I'd hit level 45 and gotten a crazy high-grade skill, so of course I had to fight this thing again.

It was a monster that had gone toe to toe with Pligas, who was recommended for level 50.

That made this thing at least a level-50-range boss.

I still didn't know if I could beat it, but if it looked impossible, I could just leave.

Gwoooouuuh-

That low-frequency cry rattled my eardrums.

I tapped my ears and waited for the lump to roll in.

Kugugugugu!

Just as expected, it came barreling in at insane speed.

This time I dodged by jumping sideways without even using Leap.

Mm, this was actually dodgeable now.

It rolled again and again while changing direction, then leaped up and dropped like a meteor, and I dodged every single one.

Of course, even if I could dodge, I still wasn't at the point where I could take that absurd mass head-on and attack it directly.

'Warm-up's enough.'

After finishing my physical test, I moved on to the main event.

[Skill: Destruction Beam (Epic+)]

Condenses the power of destruction and fires it in a straight line. Casting requires 30 to 300 seconds of mental concentration. The longer the concentration time, the stronger the skill becomes.

Classification: Magic-Type

Willpower Cost: 1,000

Cooldown: 3 minutes

The lump tried to roll at me again.

I stopped time and began concentrating.

Of course, I filled the full 300 seconds.

How strong would it be?

It was Epic+, so at minimum it should deal meaningful damage.

After finishing 300 seconds of concentration,

I resumed time and cast a full-charge Destruction Beam at the lump.

In an instant, a pitch-black sphere flickered in midair like a black hole, making a strange sound.

A giant jet-black beam shot out, so huge it filled my entire vision.