WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability
Chapter 58
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Sub-Tower (4)
After Person123 cleared even the third sub-tower, the one in Japan, Wang Kai was absolutely seething.
He should have been the one to clear them all and claim ownership, but two had already been taken from him.
It was not as if he was obsessed with securing sub-towers out of patriotism for China.
Sure, he had made promises to the Party, and handing over mana veins would bring him massive benefits too, but that was secondary now.
What really twisted him up was this situation itself, where what he wanted kept getting taken away.
Person123. The top record holder in Nightmare difficulty.
He had always found it irritating that people worshiped that guy as some kind of savior, but until now, Wang Kai had never paid him much attention. There had been no reason for them to clash.
After all, he was still the highest-level climber in the world.
But this kind of interference was a different story.
Wang Kai was the type who had to get what he wanted, and if something got in his way, he had to erase it or crush it before he could be satisfied.
On top of that, the mood in the Communication Window, constantly comparing him to Person123 and mocking him, was scraping his nerves raw.
Those bug-like worms who would not dare open their mouths in front of him, running their mouths so freely...
"How about just sending a fighter jet to fly me over?"
"...Don't be absurd. You want us to violate another country's airspace?"
"If you can't do it, then fine. Tsk."
That bastard only got to clear it first because the sub-tower happened to appear in Japan and he got lucky.
Luck like that would not happen twice.
Wang Kai had full national backing.
As long as a sub-tower did not appear in his own country, there was no way that Japanese bastard could reach another country's radius faster than him.
[The fourth sub-tower has appeared.]
A week later, the fourth sub-tower appeared.
"Brazil? Nice."
It appeared in Brazil. Finally, one had shown up in the Americas, outside Northeast Asia.
If that was the case, Person123 would obviously take longer this time. The bastard had to be in Japan.
The fourth sub-tower is mine. I will clear it first and leave him with nothing to do but watch.
With that thought, Wang Kai boarded a plane.
[The fourth sub-tower has been cleared up to the final floor.]
"...!"
The moment he sat down, that message popped up, and he almost spat out his drink.
Coughing, Wang Kai wiped his mouth and twisted his face in disbelief.
"Huh?"
What the hell was this?
No... how?
Unable to make sense of it, he could only stare blankly at the message.
* * *
After clearing Japan's sub-tower, I posted info in the Communication Window.
[Person123: Here is information for clearing the second sub-tower.]
[Person123: Here is information for clearing the third sub-tower.]
Both Mongolia's and Japan's sub-towers.
Originally, I had no plan to post sub-tower info.
I was going to clear all of them anyway, and since the monsters changed by tower, there did not seem to be much point.
But after thinking it over, I figured posting it was still better.
Even after a sub-tower was cleared, it still seemed to allow repeat entry, so someone might go in later.
Anyway, after posting, another week passed.
The fourth sub-tower appeared in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
It had finally moved beyond Northeast Asia, but that was not exactly something to celebrate.
Brazil was practically on the other side of the planet.
I looked up the distance and nearly blacked out.
"M-my god, eighteen thousand..."
Nine times farther than Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Required Willpower charge: 1.8 million. Around 1,400 hours.
Even after subtracting the 120 hours I had charged little by little over the week...
In days, it was still over 50 days!
"Holy shit."
That was seriously insane.
It even exceeded the Warp Device's maximum charge, so I would have to split the trip into two jumps.
Is warping there even the right move? I seriously thought about it.
Should I hurry and check flights before travel warnings hit Brazil, tell my family I was going on another trip, and fly there instead?
Ah... but still...
I had a feeling.
By now, China was probably going all out to clear it first, negotiation or not. They obviously knew ownership existed.
If I took a plane, I might arrive later than China.
Should I just skip this one?
Even for me, someone used to stopping time and killing it, 50 days was absurd.
That ridiculous number was enough to make me seriously consider just letting China take it.
In the end, I chose warp.
I will skip the detailed explanation of how mind-numbing and boring that time was.
I fully charged the Warp Device and moved to Rio de Janeiro, on the opposite side of Earth.
[The fourth sub-tower has been cleared up to the final floor.]
The clear succeeded instantly, of course.
Again, the monsters were different, and the overall difficulty was similar.
The 10th-floor boss was a wyvern-like creature that breathed fire.
[You have acquired ownership of the fourth sub-tower.]
"Heh heh heh."
Woooow, now I had to charge another 50 days just to get back home.
Laughing like I had gone a little crazy, I exited the tower.
Please let the last sub-tower appear somewhere close.
* * *
After Japan's sub-tower was cleared, the rumor that Person123 was Japanese spread like wildfire.
Then Person123 even posted sub-tower info in the Communication Window.
It had already been treated as a settled fact, but this basically confirmed that he was the one who cleared Mongolia's and Japan's sub-towers.
[Latata: The 10th-floor boss is at least level-50 class strong?]
[Ice: But how did he clear it? Isn't Person123 level 40?]
[Oddball: Maybe he has some crazy over-spec skill or item? He got all the first-clear rewards in Nightmare too.]
As always, people were amazed by Person123's ability.
At the same time, Japanese climbers were still celebrating.
[Lighter: As expected, it is our Japanese people who save the world.]
[Winter Eyes: Honestly, Person123-nim's noble spirit of sacrifice really matches our national character.]
[Heaven and Earth: The world should thank Japan.]
Some of them made a huge fuss.
Person123 did not deny anything either, though he was the type who wrote nothing in the Communication Window unless it was necessary.
The atmosphere had become one where Person123 being Japanese felt like confirmed fact.
[Tadaki: Among Japan, China, and Korea, Korea is now the only country with no Nightmare clearer lol]
[DogAndCat: And no mana vein either. Korea is the only place where no sub-tower appeared.]
[Secret: That's pretty pitiful (lol).]
[Gangnam: They're really worked up.]
[Drumstick: Go chatter among yourselves somewhere else.]
Then the fourth sub-tower appeared in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
That one also got cleared in about 20 minutes, just like the one in Japan.
[Latinya: ?]
[Soso: Huh?]
As a result, the Communication Window burst into flames again.
[Hansen: What? Brazil's sub-tower also took only about 20 minutes?]
[Coffee Bean: Maybe someone else cleared it...?]
[Reset: No way. The clear time is almost exactly the same.]
People wondered if maybe someone else had cleared it.
[Person123: Here is information for clearing the fourth sub-tower.]
But soon after the clear, Person123 posted info immediately, and that nailed it down that it was not someone else.
How was this even possible?
People were hit with cognitive dissonance.
Had Person123 somehow been in Brazil too, purely by coincidence...?
Anyway, once Brazil's sub-tower was cleared, the "Person123 is Japanese" rumor instantly lost steam.
[Salanko: So maybe he was Brazilian, not Japanese.]
[Placebo: Just say he's half Japanese, half Brazilian then.]
[Half Moon: Nice, I don't have to see those annoying guys now lol. They were loud until a minute ago, where did all the Japanese climbers go?]
[Salamander: They went to cry because they're upset.]
[Persimmon: They seriously overdid the hype.]
[Musashi: Yeah but we still got a mana vein~]
[OneThird: No but seriously, how did he do that? If you don't know where it'll appear, how is this possible?]
[Sangun: Person123-nim can use ground-shrinking footwork, damn.]
[Dinosaur: Maybe he has a clone skill.]
[ExcitingParty: Could it be he has an ultra-long-range teleport skill?]
Now people were watching to see what would happen with the fifth and final sub-tower.
Meanwhile, at Japan's Prime Minister's Office.
"Based on what has been found on the surface alone, we estimate at least 50 tons. If we include underground reserves as well..."
A meeting was underway between the prime minister and cabinet ministers.
The mana vein formed after the sub-tower in Sendai was cleared.
From the Japanese government's perspective, uncertain rumors like whether Person123 was Japanese mattered far less than how to process and swallow this huge gold mine. It was a very happy problem.
Prime Minister Sato's cabinet approval rating was near rock bottom, and the overwhelming economic effect from the mana vein could make a dramatic rebound possible.
How can things go this smoothly.
Prime Minister Sato could barely stop the corners of his mouth from rising.
Back when the sub-tower appeared in Ulaanbaatar and China pressured Mongolia, sub-towers had felt no different from national disasters.
But Person123 stepped in and cleared sub-towers at lightning speed, and the whole situation flipped.
It was truly a lifeline sent from the heavens, no, a lifeline sent by Person123.
As expected, he was humanity's savior. If Sato knew what direction he was in right now, he felt like dropping into a full dogeza toward that side.
"...One issue is the magic stone accord. According to the clauses, there is room for Japan to take unnecessary losses."
There was a magic stone accord between Japan, Korea, and several Southeast Asian countries.
A year earlier, countries that lacked Nightmare clearers and had insufficient top-grade magic stone supply had made that treaty to counter China's market disruption, but...
Now Japan also had top-grade magic stones from a mana vein.
The accord had become nothing but a shackle.
One minister immediately gave his opinion.
"What about forcing a withdrawal? With the international situation already chaotic, this is the best timing if there ever was one."
There were plenty of pretexts they could use.
Compared to the huge national profit the mana vein would bring from now on, any backlash was something they could accept with a smile.
Before the other side, especially Korea, had time to react, cutting ties as quickly as possible was the better choice.
Of course, if they did that, Korea and Southeast Asian countries could take a serious hit to magic stone liquidity, but...
So what? That was not Japan's concern.
Even if they protested right away, Korea would have no choice but to bow to Japan even more over future magic stone distribution.
Prime Minister Sato nodded.
"Good. We will move first before the sub-tower situation is fully wrapped up."
I cleared the Brazil sub-tower and finally returned home.
In real time, less than 30 minutes had passed, but for me it had been such a long journey that I collapsed onto my bed.
[Chicken Sandwich: Mr. Kim, what method did you use for the Japan and Brazil sub-towers?]
When I checked the Communication Window, I had a whisper from Billon.
Billon was not usually the one to ask first, so he must have been too curious to hold back this time. Fair enough.
I answered his question.
[Person123: I have a long-distance teleport item I got from clearing Nightmare.]
[Chicken Sandwich: Ah!]
Now Billon seemed to understand the secret behind those 20-minute clears in Japan and Brazil.
[Chicken Sandwich: You worked hard. According to information the CIA gathered, China also seems to be continuously trying to clear the sub-towers.]
Ah... so I was right.
If I had not gone to Brazil by warp, China could have snatched it first.
So it was not like I had wasted my time for nothing.
But how did Billon know information gathered by the CIA?
Was this what the world's richest man's network and power looked like?
[Person123: Is it okay for you to tell me things like that?]
[Chicken Sandwich: For Mr. Kim, even U.S. state secrets would not be too much, but sadly I do not know much beyond that.]
[Person123: I appreciate the thought, haha...]
[Chicken Sandwich: By the way, is there a reward for the individual clearer besides the mana vein? Otherwise China has no reason to act like this.]
[Person123: It gives sub-tower ownership as a reward. I heard you can activate and deactivate the mana vein.]
[Chicken Sandwich: As expected... so that was what China was hiding.]
Once I cleared the fifth and final sub-tower, everything would be over...
[Time remaining until the fifth sub-tower appears: 3 days 10 hours 25 minutes 6 seconds]
A few days passed.
I watched the news.
- The Japanese government has unilaterally declared withdrawal from the magic stone accord with South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, and others, claiming it contains severe unfair clauses. Our government has immediately filed a protest...
News that Japan had arbitrarily torn up the magic stone accord with us and some Southeast Asian countries.
They put forward ridiculous justifications, but the reason was obviously the mana vein.
From my perspective, I had gone out of my way to clear sub-towers for them, only to get stabbed in the back.
"Seriously..."
Why was everyone so greedy?
I had no real intention of using the ownership I got from clearing sub-towers, but now the story was different.
If this kept up, other countries that got mana veins could start wrecking things too...
I decided to make an example.
[Would you like to deactivate the mana vein of the third sub-tower?]
Close the valve.
Magic stones confiscated.
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