Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability - Chapter 54

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 54

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Floor 4 Hidden (5) - Paid Start

I moved to the Reward Room.

Floor 4 Hidden had been a rough one too.

If I hadn’t run into that monster escort at the end, it would’ve been an easy clear.

Still, a clear was a clear.

I checked the rewards scattered across the floor.

"...Oh."

A small exclamation slipped out.

A purple skill stone.

Epic grade.

Yeah, by Floor 4, it was about time the grade started going up.

From Floor 1 onward, the clear rewards had consistently been Rare+ skill stones or Skill Enhancement Stones.

I looked elsewhere.

The skill stone was Epic, so what was the item reward...

Well, I had a rough guess.

As expected, this was the reward.

I picked up the Warp Device.

[Item: High-Grade Warp Device]

A warp device that embodies the Dateian Empire's magi-engineering technology.

It can be activated by charging Willpower, and can move 10 meters per 1 Willpower. You can move using a saved point, or by setting a direction and using it. Up to one point can be saved. However, movement between inside and outside the Tower is impossible. Activation takes 10 minutes.

Current charge: 0/1,000,000

I read the description.

It was pretty long.

An item used by charging Willpower.

And it said it could move 10 meters per 1 Willpower.

Current charge: 100/1,000,000

I immediately charged 100 Willpower, and the number changed.

"If the max charge is one million..."

Then at max, it could move ten million meters, up to ten thousand kilometers?

"That is insane."

With this, I wouldn’t even need to take a plane to travel overseas.

That was the first pointless thought that came to mind.

Of course, there was no way I’d actually use this thing to go abroad.

"What is this point part, then?"

The description said it could move using a saved point, or move by setting a direction.

Moving by direction probably meant moving that way like Teleport.

Was a point basically a checkpoint?

It seemed like it let you pinpoint an exact location.

[Would you like to save your current location as a point?]

A notification popped up when I tried using it.

Ah, so this was how it worked. Got it.

I canceled point saving.

To summarize this Warp Device:

It could move up to 10,000 kilometers.

It could move to a saved point.

It could also move just by setting a direction, like Teleport.

Only one point could be saved.

It could not move between inside and outside the Tower.

That was about it.

Also, it didn’t really have a cooldown.

The Willpower consumption was ridiculous, but that wasn’t much of a problem for me.

The downside was that activation took 10 minutes.

It wasn’t an item you could use in combat.

If not for that activation time, it could’ve worked as an emergency escape in danger.

"Now then..."

What Epic skill had appeared?

With anticipation, I picked up the skill stone.

[Skill Stone: Subspace (Epic)]

Use to learn 'Skill: Subspace (Epic)'.

"...Subspace?"

The word wasn’t unfamiliar.

Was it that kind of subspace I knew, like an inventory?

[You have learned 'Skill: Subspace (Epic)'.]

I learned it right away and read the description.

[Skill: Subspace (Epic)]

You can create a subspace to store or retrieve objects. To store an object, you must be in direct contact with it. When retrieving, you can take it out within a 1-meter radius. Living beings and spirit bodies cannot be stored. Up to 100 kilograms can be stored. Casting requires 3 minutes of mental concentration.

Classification: Magic-Type

Willpower Cost: 300

Cooldown: None

It really was an inventory.

Since it wasn’t a combat skill, it felt slightly awkward as a pull, but...

I decided to test it first.

I took out the bladeless ice dagger.

After stopping time and finishing concentration, I cast Subspace.

Pop.

The dagger disappeared in a blink.

Then how do I take it back out?

I stopped time again, focused, then cast Subspace.

Pop.

The ice dagger returned to my hand.

So both storing and retrieving consumed Willpower.

I kept using Subspace and ran tests.

You had to use the skill each time, both when storing and retrieving, but it was possible to put multiple items in at once.

I also couldn’t store Diul’s bracelet or Pli’s necklace.

Since it said living beings and spirit bodies couldn’t be stored, that seemed to be why.

I’d gotten exactly an inventory-like skill.

The Willpower cost and concentration time were significant, but that wasn’t a problem for me.

I decided to see it positively, since I’d gained a fairly useful utility skill.

I already had more and more items, and carrying them all around had been getting annoying.

"From now on, I can just store them here."

I immediately put everything into Subspace except the necklace and bracelet.

[Difficulty: Nightmare]

[Floor: Floor 5]

[Level: 60]

[Willpower: 2,100]

[Skills: Destruction Beam (Epic+), Subspace (Epic), Teleport (Rare+), Sixth Sense (Rare+) (+2), Rapid Regeneration (Rare+), Searing Zone (Rare+), Flame Strike (Rare) (+5), Blade Whirlwind (Rare), Heightening (Rare), Skin Hardening (Rare), Fairy Light Bolt (Common+) (+1)...]

After finishing with the rewards, I exited.

Now it was time to organize and post another detailed info guide.

* * *

After Nightmare Floor 4 was cleared.

People in the Communication Window mostly talked about two things.

One was the sub-towers that were about to appear. After going through the Fallen incident, people were naturally anxious about what the Tower would do this time.

[Meteor: If this means more towers are gonna appear, do we have to climb those too?]

[Saika: Who knows. Since locations are random, whichever country gets hit first is probably screwed]

[Whik-Whik: They say five are appearing, I am seriously worried what fresh bullshit this is...]

[Greenlight: If sub-towers have a time limit too, seriously lol]

The other topic, as every year, was the clear guide Person123 would post.

This Floor 4 was especially notable. It was the floor he broke through after choosing a penalty.

[Hawaii: When is the Floor 4 post coming? When is the Floor 4 post coming? When is the Floor 4 post coming? When is the Floor 4 post coming? When is the Floor 4 post coming?]

[Dawn of Chaos: Person123, hurry up and post the Floor 4 guide!]

[Check: Is Person123 your friend? Say please post it]

[Stake: Ah, I am dying of curiosity. When the hell is it going up]

[Priyan: But if he cleared it even after selecting a penalty, wouldn't this one be less vicious than the other floors?]

[Whistle: Cleared even after selecting a penalty? Ah, so this floor was a bit easy! (X) Ah, Person123 is a god as expected! (O)]

[999th Floor: Floor number went up, how would it be easier, use your brain lol]

After every Nightmare clear, Person123's info post was basically an event.

The time limit had just been extended by another full year, so the mood was good too.

The Climbers in the Communication Window kept talking and predicting how brutal and nasty this one had been, waiting for the guide post to appear.

Each country, especially those with Nightmare clearers, was also monitoring by the second whether the post had gone up.

The moment Person123 posted, they had to begin deep analysis immediately.

[Person123: Here is the Floor 4 clear guide.]

And finally, it appeared.

[Person123: The spacing between golems, the time they take to reach the exit, and the rest intervals between stages are the same as other difficulties. But on Nightmare difficulty, golem counts repeat in the order 5, 10, 20, and this continues through Stage 18. Stages 1 to 3 are basic golems with no abilities, and Stages 4 to 6 are blue golems with 99% physical damage immunity...

You gain points by collecting the cores of destroyed golems, and the shop opens. The shop is as follows. Points from golems are 50P per golem for Stages 1 to 3, 100P for Stages 4 to 6, 150P for Stages 7 to 9...

After clearing through Stage 18, the final boss appears. The boss has all the abilities of the blue, red, black, green, and yellow golems that appeared so far. The only way to defeat the boss is to pull 'Ability Nullification Parts' from the shop's Special Draw. The one-in-three probability means this depends entirely on luck, and there is no method except saving as many points as possible...

...If there is exactly one other method, it is to use great incineration and endure it. Great incineration kills the boss too. If you survive even slightly longer than the boss, the clear succeeds.

The method I used was this as well: I stacked 300% scroll enhancements on a recovery-type skill to 27x, then activated great incineration and outlasted the boss. Based on feel, it seemed to take around 10 seconds for the boss to fully die, but this part is uncertain.

Most importantly, this method cannot guarantee success at all, so I absolutely do not recommend it as a main clear plan. Only use it as a last resort if you have a recovery-type skill and fail to draw Ability Nullification Parts.

A much longer info post than even Floor 3.

The Communication Window exploded almost immediately.

[Santa Claus: Total 18 stages? Are you insane?]

[Snowy Mountain: 99% damage immunity, damage ignore, one resurrection... wow, what a colorful pile of bullshit]

[Beluga: Still, looks clearable if you use the shop well?]

[Swag: The boss is the biggest problem. If you fail to draw Ability Nullification Parts, they are just telling you to die]

[White Heron: luck-based trash game;]

[WaguWagu: He says there is a method even if you fail the draw. Get incinerated together with the boss]

[Benzanyu: No... but can you even call that a method?]

[Maximum Firepower: So Person123 failed the draw and then came up with that on the spot and burned himself, is that even possible for a normal person to think of...?]

[Demi-God: Is that not exactly why he clears Nightmare every year, because he is not normal]

[Lunar Eclipse: Even with a penalty, Floor 4 was seriously no joke...]

People were stunned when they saw how he had cleared Floor 4.

At the U.S. Climber Management Bureau training facility.

Taylor was wiping sweat and checking the Communication Window, and her expression kept hardening.

"Are you reading it now?"

Max, who happened to be visiting the facility, asked as he saw her staring into empty space.

"I read it on my way here too. Floor 4 was, again, horrifying enough to make you sick of it."

"Right. The key will be point distribution."

Taylor let out a sigh.

"This person... he is truly remarkable. Every time I read his guide posts, I feel a wall."

After reading, this Floor 4 had one distinctly alien element compared to other floors.

The draw system.

No matter how well you saved points, if luck didn’t follow, you couldn’t kill the boss.

It felt like the Tower’s vicious malice, saying that now it would test not only skill, but luck too.

It seemed Person123 had been caught in those claws too. He had failed to draw Ability Nullification Parts.

What had that moment been like?

Taylor put herself in that position and imagined it.

Final boss stage. After spending all remaining points, the draw results were one great incineration switch and three 300% scrolls.

It would have been maddeningly despairing and unfair.

Not because of lacking ability, but because that tiny bit of luck didn’t go your way, and the clear failed.

Even as a former CIA SAC agent who had gone through countless mental endurance drills, she honestly wasn’t confident she could keep calm in that situation.

Yet Person123 had found a way.

He made the best possible gamble with what he had, and succeeded.

Burning together with the boss, and surviving longer than it did.

How had he come up with that method?

And how had he decided to actually carry it out?

He had saved the world again by going that far.

He was a figure worthy of gratitude and respect.

To be honest, lately she had been feeling more and more doubtful about why she was climbing the Tower.

The grand cause of humanity had long faded, and now it had become a latecomer race against China for national interest.

Even when she pushed herself to the brink of death, all she could barely do was chase after Person123.

She could only follow, and couldn’t even be of any help to him.

She was useless.