WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability
Chapter 55
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Sub-Tower (1)
After I posted the Floor 4 info write-up in the Communication Window,
I stayed busy going in and out of Floor 4.
Because of the shop system, Floor 4 was complicated for other Nightmare challengers to plan around. It couldn't be helped.
In the end, the key to clearing Floor 4 was figuring out how to spend points for maximum efficiency.
Based on the info post I wrote, Mr. Rhino kept coming up with different strategies and methods and constantly asked me for advice. He kept asking about parts he wanted to check in detail.
And it wasn't just Mr. Rhino. Other countries also came to me for consultation.
As always, I just gave them as much help as I could.
This floor was just far busier than the others.
As for Floor 5, there was no rush, so I could enter later.
[Time remaining until the first sub-tower appears: 5 minutes 29 seconds]
Before I knew it, almost a week had passed.
Now only a few minutes were left before the sub-tower appeared.
"I'm scared, I'm scared..."
I was scared of whatever the Tower might pull this time.
Would the world turn into a complete mess again, like the Fallen incident?
Honestly, I was even more worried something worse might happen.
I sat at my desk and quietly waited for the timer to run out.
3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second...
Then the time ran out.
[The first sub-tower appears.]
A message popped up.
[Sub-towers are composed of 10 floors.]
[Once you enter a sub-tower, you cannot exit until you clear the final floor.]
[If you fail to clear a sub-tower up to the final floor within the Time Limit, a 100-kilometer radius centered on the sub-tower will be encroached by the Tower's Curse.]
[Encroachment is permanent, and any humans within an encroached area die immediately from the Tower's Curse.]
[Climbers can enter the sub-tower from within a 100-kilometer radius of the sub-tower.]
[First sub-tower Time Limit: 6 days 23 hours 59 minutes 55 seconds]
[Time remaining until the second sub-tower appears: 6 days 23 hours 59 minutes 55 seconds]
I calmly read the stream of messages as they appeared.
After reading all of them, the conclusion was simple.
"Haa..."
This is insane.
What kind of bullshit is this now?
* * *
The first sub-tower appeared in China.
A huge black tower rose right in the middle of Chongqing.
At the same moment the tower appeared, an earthquake struck the area and caused heavy casualties.
But even more serious than that was the message from the Tower.
[Phoenix: Encroachment? This means the Tower's Curse falls on the land itself now, right?]
[Jupiter: So everyone within a 100km radius dies.]
[Turtle: If they die by the Tower's Curse, they'll become Fallen, right?]
[Ordinary Human: Wow... then isn't China screwed?]
[Wade: Can't they just move outside the radius? A week is plenty of time.]
[Steel Sword: It's a 100-kilometer radius. You think it's easy to get everyone out in a week? Is your head just for decoration?]
[Mounted Charge: The problem is it says encroachment is permanent. Sounds like it'll become dead land nobody can enter.]
[Songgyeong: I live in Chongqing, and it's complete chaos right now. All roads out are blocked, so we can't even leave by car.]
- The first sub-tower has appeared in Chongqing, China. The Chinese government has not yet released an official position, and Chongqing and Sichuan Province are currently in a state of chaos...
The whole world was in chaos, and inside China it was even worse.
Not just Chongqing, but parts of eastern Sichuan, including Nanchong, Suining, and Guang'an, were also within the 100km encroachment range.
A mass exodus happened not only from the announced encroachment zone but even from nearby regions. Roads were completely jammed, and plenty of people tried to flee on foot.
Despite the outcry of countless people, the Chinese government only recommended orderly evacuation and gave no real statement for a full day.
[Great Nature: Who's gonna clear that?]
[WalkerWoker: It says entry is possible within a 100-kilometer radius.
If anyone does it, Chinese Climbers have to.]
[Ultrasonic: But with zero info, who'd be crazy enough to go in... lol. They have to clear all 10 floors.]
[Watangku: I'm curious how hard it is.]
[Egg Toast: If you're curious, go in yourself.]
Day two after the sub-tower appeared.
As the situation kept getting worse, a new message appeared.
[The first sub-tower has been cleared up to the final floor.]
A message saying the sub-tower had been cleared.
People were shocked it had already been cleared, and everyone wanted to know who did it.
The identity came out quickly.
- Wang Kai, the top record holder in Hard difficulty from China, has succeeded in clearing the first sub-tower.
Wang Kai, the top Hard-difficulty record holder and officially the highest-level Climber in the world.
He was the one who challenged the sub-tower and cleared it.
[When a sub-tower is cleared, the Tower's power takes root in the land within a 100-kilometer radius of the sub-tower, forming a mana vein.]
That message appeared after the sub-tower was cleared too.
A mana vein formed in a 100-kilometer radius.
People soon understood what that meant.
- A massive magic stone mine has been discovered near Chongqing's sub-tower. This appears to be related to the mana vein formation announced by the Tower...
Magic stones started erupting from the ground surface and underground in nearby land.
Even more surprising, stones of every grade appeared.
Lowest-grade, low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, even top-grade magic stones.
Higher-grade stones appeared less often, but the fact that top-grade magic stones showed up at all was shocking, since until now those had only been obtainable in Nightmare difficulty.
The Chinese government immediately designated the discovered zones as controlled areas and blocked civilian access.
Even if Climbers brought magic stones out of the Tower through repeat clears, supply still could not keep up with overwhelming demand.
There was no limit on repeat clears, but rewards only appeared about once in ten runs, and even then the amount of stones each time was small.
On top of that, magic stones earned from Tower clear rewards had never belonged to the state anyway; they were resources governments had to buy from Climbers.
So for a nation, the appearance of a mana vein was basically a giant jackpot.
The sub-tower was not just a stick. If you cleared it, it gave a matching carrot too.
[Time remaining until the second sub-tower appears: 1 day 20 hours 16 minutes 48 seconds]
For a while, countries focused on the huge mana vein China had gained.
Even so, no country wished for a sub-tower to appear in its own territory.
As expected, Wang Kai did not share information. What appeared inside a sub-tower, how hard it was.
There was still zero information about sub-towers, so even with the reward of a mana vein, the risk of whether clearing was even possible remained much bigger.
The world criticized China for not sharing information.
But China kept repeating that it was Wang Kai's personal choice and the government could not force him to share.
That was a joke, and everyone knew it. Who didn't know Wang Kai's actions were the same as China's will?
A chaotic week passed, and the time for the second sub-tower's appearance came close.
[The second sub-tower appears.]
This time, it was Mongolia.
A black sub-tower appeared in downtown Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.
The Mongolian government immediately asked China for help.
They had no other choice. No one knew the sub-tower's difficulty at all, so what Climber would volunteer to challenge it?
On top of that, Mongolia lagged behind in Tower climbing.
A nation's Climber talent pool usually matched its national power. Mongolia's highest-level Climber was over 10 levels below Wang Kai.
China's position on Mongolia's request was simple.
Of course we'll help. But you'll have to pay the right price.
For a while, the news was loud with stories about negotiations between the Mongolian and Chinese governments.
* * *
Two weeks after sub-towers started appearing.
In China, Wang Kai cleared the first sub-tower quickly.
The moment I heard that, I could relax at least a little.
"So it isn't an absurd difficulty."
The second sub-tower appeared in Mongolia, again in Northeast Asia.
Not surprisingly, China still did not share sub-tower information.
Right now, the news kept saying every day that Mongolia was negotiating with China.
China was making unreasonable demands on Mongolia, Mongolia would have no choice but to accept, stuff like that.
[Second sub-tower Time Limit: 5 days 9 hours 28 minutes 36 seconds]
I made up my mind quickly.
"Should I go clear it?"
I'd already been thinking that if things looked bad, I'd clear it myself from the moment one appeared in China.
Wang Kai wasn't releasing information, so I couldn't know for sure, but I figured clearing a sub-tower might give the clearer a personal reward besides the mana vein.
More than anything, since Wang Kai had already succeeded, it didn't feel like a highly dangerous clear.
No way another Climber had cleared a difficulty that even I couldn't clear.
Wang Kai had currently cleared Hard difficulty up to Floor 15 and was level 60.
In other words, he was the same level as me.
But same level or not... I also had time stop.
It wasn't arrogance. It was just a fact that my specs had to be much higher than other Climbers at the same level.
Sure, maybe each sub-tower had a different difficulty.
But if I couldn't clear it, no one could.
With the same mindset I always had when challenging Nightmare, I decided to clear the sub-tower.
The problem was that to enter a sub-tower, I had to get within its 100-kilometer radius.
Which meant I had to go to Mongolia in person.
"No flights..."
As soon as a sub-tower appeared in Mongolia, the Korean government moved fast and slapped on the highest-level travel ban.
Still, there was a way.
By pure luck, I'd gotten exactly this as a Floor 4 Hidden reward.
[Item: High-Grade Warp Device]
A warp device that is the culmination of Dateian Empire magitech.
It can be activated by charging Willpower, and allows movement of 10 meters per 1 Willpower. You can move to a saved point, or set a direction and use it. Up to one point can be saved. However, movement between interior and exterior is impossible. Activation requires 10 minutes.
Current Charge: 100/1,000,000
I checked, and the distance from Seoul to Ulaanbaatar was about 2,000 km.
I could get there easily with the Warp Device.
Still, three issues came to mind.
First, the distance was pretty far, so what about the margin of error?
Hmm... I figured that wasn't a big problem.
The Warp Device had no cooldown.
If I warped wrong, I could just adjust direction and warp again.
I could buy a high-performance GPS device too.
And I only had to enter the 100-kilometer radius around the sub-tower anyway, so a little error was fine.
The next issue was easy too.
I could just use stealth and warp.
Stealth only broke when I used a skill, not when I used an item. And the Warp Device was an item.
Last issue.
Honestly, this was the real problem.
Distance to Mongolia was about 2,000 km.
Willpower needed to charge into the Warp Device was about 200,000.
...How long was that supposed to take?
My current Willpower was 2,100, so I'd need to refill Willpower 100 times just to charge it. That meant 100 hours.
So I'd basically be repeating the same thing I did when firing that cannon in Floor 3 Hidden.
And I'd have to do it one more time for the trip back.
...Still, I had to do it.
I couldn't leave Mongolia's capital to become a land of death just because this was a pain.
Strike while the iron was hot, so I started charging the Warp Device right away.
About 160 hours of my own time-and-spirit-room grind. Start.
Charge the Warp Device, stop time and refill Willpower, charge, refill, charge, refill...
In the middle, I took a short break and went to the kitchen for water, and my mom asked,
"Are you tired, Seo-hyeon? What's wrong with your face?"
"...I guess I'm a bit tired."
Half was filled now.
I went back to my room to fill the remaining 50 hours.
Charge, refill, charge, refill, charge-refill-charge-refill...
Current Charge: 210,100/1,000,000
"...Hah."
I finally filled everything I needed.
I changed clothes and got ready to leave home.
"Should I leave a will?"
Honestly, I didn't think I'd fail this clear...
But just in case, I wrote one like I did for Nightmare clears.
"I'm heading out."
"Where are you going?"
"I've got plans with a friend. I might come back late."
I looked things up online, went to an electronics store, bought a high-end GPS device, and learned the controls roughly.
[Would you like to save your current location as a point?]
I rented a motel room and set the point to my current location.
Then I used a map and compass app to set the northwest direction toward Ulaanbaatar.
I activated the Warp Device and waited 10 minutes.
[0:05]
"Let's go."
Right before the timer ended, I activated stealth.
The warp triggered, and the space in front of me distorted.
Mongolia's sub-tower.
I'm going to clear it now.
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