WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability
Chapter 59
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Sub-Tower (5)
A sub-tower’s mana vein appeared at random spots within a 100 km radius.
This was the first time magic stones had formed in real land outside the Tower like natural minerals.
For now, there was no proper way to survey it. The only option was to follow whatever jutted out of the surface inward and keep digging in a chain, like pulling up sweet potato vines.
Once they got a rough estimate of the vein’s scale, full-scale mining would begin.
Japan was also pouring effort into magic-stone exploration within the Sendai sub-tower’s radius.
"...Huh?"
The scholars and experts conducting the survey panicked when the magic stones in the test shafts suddenly lost their light.
And it wasn’t just that one location.
Every magic-stone spot Japan had found so far lost its glow all at once, as if the stones had reverted to ordinary rocks.
The only intact magic stones left were the tiny test quantities that had already been extracted.
Like a river running dry, the mana vein had dried up in an instant.
"What the hell happened?! Why did the mana vein suddenly disappear?!"
"The other countries are fine? Why only us...?!"
Japan was thrown into chaos.
After some time, a post appeared in the Communication Window.
[Person123: The clearer of a sub-tower is granted authority to activate/deactivate its mana vein.]
[Person123: If conflict breaks out because of a mana vein, I will deactivate that country’s mana vein.]
The Communication Window exploded again after Person123 posted that.
[Torch: Ownership? So clearers got personal rewards too?]
[DanceWithMe: Japan’s apparently freaking out because all their mana veins vanished, so Person123 did that.]
[Insomnia: Why? Did Japan do something?]
[Pepper: Dug through the news. Sounds like they unilaterally withdrew from some accord.]
Japan’s withdrawal from the magic stone accord had been too minor to become a global issue while sub-towers were still appearing, but Person123’s post dragged all the attention to it.
[Turkey: lmao they got hit first for being greedy]
[Blaze: As expected, international peace is Person123]
[Sherlock: A healthy market economy is Person123]
[ProbabilityAndStatistics: Brazil and Mongolia got lucky. Japan got smacked first before they could try anything weird.]
[MangoJuice: So those Chinese bastards knew about ownership and still hid it while trying to squeeze more out of Mongolia?]
[Vant: Not surprising at all.]
After wiping out a massive chunk of national interest with pointless stupidity, Japan became the laughingstock of the Communication Window.
[Hyar: Then Person123 probably isn’t Japanese.]
[Mephisto: Who knows. If it’s Person123, he seems like the type who’d hit even his own country if it crossed the line.]
[Curd: He does seem like that kind of great figure.]
[Blizzard: Or maybe he’s from one of the countries tied to the magic stone accord?]
[333Draw: Which countries are those?]
[Finger: Look it up.]
[Jennifer: South Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia.]
[Ullaryu: It wasn’t even a major issue, and it got punished instantly.
Could really be one of those countries?]
[Gold: Or maybe he just watches a lot of news?]
While everyone else watched the fire for fun, Japan, the house actually burning, was in total uproar.
Losing something after getting it always hurt more.
They had almost had a chance to become a global magic-stone resource powerhouse, only to watch it fly out of their grasp.
"Goddamn it!"
Prime Minister Sato felt like he was losing his mind.
If he had known this would happen, of course he would’ve read the room and acted carefully.
If he had known tower ownership existed, that is.
"Who could’ve known something like that existed...?!"
There was only one option left.
They had to beg Person123 by any means necessary to reactivate the mana vein.
But Person123, who ignored everything except Nightmare clear consultations, gave no reply through the Communication Window, just as expected...
Prime Minister Sato immediately released an official statement.
"...The matter of withdrawing from the magic stone accord was an unfortunate incident that occurred amid insufficient mutual communication, and we express our regret. Our cabinet deeply acknowledges responsibility for actions that may have appeared unilateral."
Put bluntly, it meant this:
They would not withdraw from the accord. They would apologize to the member states and work toward proper consultation. And if Person123 had any separate demands, they would accept all of them.
So please, please turn the mana vein back on.
Person123’s response? None.
No new posts appeared in the Communication Window, and the Sendai sub-tower mana vein still remained off.
Public sentiment across Japan boiled against Prime Minister Sato.
Person123 had been the one who shut off the mana vein, but even after getting it and losing it, could Japan really direct mass outrage at humanity’s savior?
Of course not.
All arrows naturally turned toward the current prime minister, whose approval ratings were already low.
If the outcome had been good, no one would have blamed the government, and most people wouldn’t have cared much to begin with. But the outcome was the worst possible one.
Public opinion spread like wildfire: the prime minister had caused a massive blunder and ruined everything.
Watching that whole process, Mongolia felt strangely relieved, despite not doing much itself.
"We will pursue coexistence and cooperation so that everyone can benefit."
Brazil, which had been preparing to test the waters with neighboring countries little by little, quietly softened its stance and released a swift statement.
And then... South Korea and the Southeast Asian countries directly tied to the issue were mostly just baffled.
Person123 stepped in and handled it all? What?
This kind of small issue, well, not small at all for those directly involved, but was it really important enough for someone busy saving humanity to care about?
Person123 had intervened in political conflict only once before, when tensions between governments and the Association had escalated globally. This wasn’t on that scale.
So people couldn’t help tilting their heads.
"Did he get pissed because they were messing around with a sub-tower he cleared?"
"He might take potential mana-vein conflict seriously and want to shut it down early. Either way, Japan became the perfect example."
"It’s not a bad situation for us, but we’re not sure how to respond..."
Japan was now desperate enough to cling to the accord countries, including South Korea.
It seemed they believed that if they could present an image of successful reconciliation with the relevant parties, they might change Person123’s mind.
The South Korean government was also uncertain about what stance to take.
If the accord clauses were adjusted so this side also got some spillover benefits from mana veins, they could gladly shake hands and play nice. Better outcomes were better for everyone.
But even then, would Person123 really turn the mana vein back on?
Japan was clearly out of Person123’s favor now, so South Korea couldn’t help being cautious as well.
Japan and the other involved countries could only wait desperately for Person123 to issue any further statement.
* * *
After I shut off the Sendai sub-tower’s mana vein as an example,
I kept getting whispers in the Communication Window from people claiming to be from the Japanese government, but I ignored them.
I had no intention of turning the mana vein back on.
It was something they never had in the first place, so they could just go back to not having it.
I cleared the tower, that should’ve been enough. It’s not like people die if I don’t switch it on.
'Hmm...'
But as I thought about it more, my mind shifted a bit.
Was this a little too much?
China would keep happily mining magic stones from its mana veins while only this side stayed locked out forever. That was a huge loss.
Still, I didn’t want to personally start making demands of Japan, and it’s not like I know international politics or affairs of state.
So I decided to do this instead.
[Person123: Discuss the mana vein issue with the accord countries and conclude a treaty. If all five countries, South Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia, agree, I will activate the mana vein.]
If they could coordinate among themselves and make it work, that was best.
At least this way, Japan wouldn’t monopolize all the benefits.
Well, it’s on Japanese land, so it’s Japan’s sub-tower, and you can’t exactly say that’s wrong.
Still, when magic stones are bursting out in a neighboring country while ours can only sit and watch, that doesn’t feel great either... especially when I’m the one who cleared it.
I’m only human, so feelings like that are unavoidable.
It’s not like I want everything to benefit only my country no matter what, so this much is enough.
They can negotiate and split the profits reasonably, or if they don’t want that, then no one gets it.
[Time remaining until the fifth sub-tower appears: 5 minutes 1 second]
Time passed.
The appearance of the fifth and final sub-tower was now close.
Hoping it would show up somewhere nearer this time, I sat in my chair and waited.
[The fifth sub-tower appears.]
The message popped up.
But another message followed immediately.
[If you achieve the first clear of the fifth sub-tower, you will receive a more special reward.]
[Fifth sub-tower Time Limit: 29 days 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds]
"...?"
A special reward?
And the time limit was 30 days. Every other sub-tower had been 7.
Was the fifth sub-tower somehow different?
[Satellite: Did everyone see that? It says special reward?]
[Huiba: Time limit is 30 days, not 7.]
[Huhahu: A curveball like this makes me nervous;]
[Blade: Where did the sub-tower appear?]
I watched the Communication Window and waited for news of the location.
Tajikistan.
It had appeared in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.
'Central Asia, huh.'
I checked the map. It was right next to China.
Distance: about 5,000 km.
Well... yeah, much better than Brazil.
I had about 120 hours of charge saved up over the week, so I only needed roughly 80 more hours.
I immediately started charging the Warp Device.
But if they were offering a special reward, would the difficulty really be the same?
Probably not. They wouldn’t extend the time limit for no reason.
It was definitely going to be harder than the other sub-towers.
Still, I had to clear all ten floors in one run, so I doubted every floor would be as hard as Nightmare...
After a long, tedious stretch of refilling Willpower, I finished charging the warp.
I set my direction toward Tajikistan and warped immediately.
I landed far outside the radius, adjusted direction, and warped once more.
[Would you like to enter the fifth sub-tower?]
I entered the sub-tower radius.
"Enter."
With my tension slightly raised, I went in.
[You have entered the fifth sub-tower Floor 1.]
Out of habit, I stopped time and checked what I could see.
The place itself wasn’t much different from the other sub-towers.
Weapons were laid out on the floor ahead, but...
'...Nothing?'
There was no monster to fight.
I released time.
I wondered what this was, but I wasn’t green enough to panic over something like this.
I calmly scanned my surroundings.
At that instant, Sixth Sense reacted. Killing intent from behind me.
Swoosh!
A goblin appeared out of nowhere and stabbed with a dagger.
But I had already leaped back from where I’d been standing.
Kerrk-
It was a black-skinned goblin with a strange pattern on its face.
'Stealth.'
A stealth ability.
It wasn’t just invisibility.
Like Diul’s ability, it was the kind of stealth that erased its presence completely.
But judging by that attack speed, its physical stats were terrible.
Only a little better than a normal goblin.
Even if I had let it hit me, it probably wouldn’t have left a scratch.
The goblin turned transparent again.
"You think that’ll work?"
I immediately fired Flame Strike at that spot.
The goblin that had gone back into stealth burst apart.
[You have successfully cleared Floor 1.]
I looked at the drifting ash.
'A stealth-assassin goblin...'
From Floor 1 onward, this already felt off.
The fifth and final sub-tower.
As expected, it wasn’t ordinary like the others.
It was only a faint taste, but I could feel it: the taste of Nightmare.
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