WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 62

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Sub-Tower (8)

Tower's Curse Immunity Pass.

It said I would not die from the Tower's Curse.

In other words, even if the Tower's time limit ran out, I could be exempt from death.

"They called it a special reward..."

So this was why it was special?

I definitely hadn't expected something like this.

I checked the remaining choices.

[1. Tower's Curse Immunity Pass]

[2. 90% Skill Promotion Ticket]

[3. Scales of Life]

90% Skill Promotion Ticket...

And Scales of Life? What was that?

I checked the promotion ticket description first.

[Special Item: 90% Skill Promotion Ticket]

Select one skill and promote it into a higher-tier skill of the next grade with a 90% success rate. If it fails, the skill's grade drops by one level. Disappears after one use.

It did exactly what the name said.

A 90 percent chance to raise one skill by one grade.

But if it failed, the grade dropped instead?

Hmm... this was kind of...

[Special Item: Scales of Life]

Offer your lifespan and receive a proportional reward. You may offer from a minimum of 1% to a maximum of 99% of your remaining lifespan. After one use, the scales break, and your remaining lifespan is displayed.

The last one, Scales of Life.

I read it carefully.

So... if I offered lifespan, I'd get a reward equal to what I offered?

I still didn't know what kind of reward it gave, though.

"Hmmm..."

After checking all the options, I crossed my arms and started thinking.

What should I pick?

I first thought about what to eliminate...

No matter what, it was number one, Curse Immunity Pass.

What was the point of curse immunity?

Was I planning to quit Nightmare climbing now? What a joke.

If I failed a clear, I'd die anyway, so that effect meant absolutely nothing to me.

There was one tiny thing that gave me pause, though. It could be used on someone who wasn't a Climber...

...If it gave three immunity passes, I might have seriously considered it.

Then even if I failed someday, at least my family wouldn't die.

Still, maybe not.

A world where 99% of humanity was dead. On top of that, everyone who died would become Fallen.

In an apocalypse like that, being alive and unable to die might be even worse.

Yeah, not number one. Eliminated immediately.

Trying to buy insurance for a half-baked failure would get me nowhere.

I had to focus only on succeeding, and for that I needed a reward that helped with clears.

"Skill Promotion Ticket..."

Promote one skill into a higher-tier skill one grade up.

What if I used it on Destruction Beam?

Destruction Beam was already overpowered, and it could advance into an even higher-grade skill.

Since it said it would promote into a higher-tier line, I didn't have to worry too much about some random unrelated skill popping out.

But still.

"...Why is it messing with probabilities again for no reason?"

Ninety percent, sure, that was high.

But Floor 4 had been like this too.

If that 10% failure hit, my precious Destruction Beam would be gone.

Using it on another Rare+ skill also felt like... do I really need to? Sure, Epic+ was great, but still.

I couldn't even say I'd already paid off my bad luck during Floor 4.

During that Hidden clear, I'd pulled those 300% scrolls back to back like I was possessed.

[3. Scales of Life]

Then should I pick this one?

This one also felt uncomfortable in its own way.

First, it demanded my lifespan, and above all, the effect was uncertain.

Ah... what was I supposed to choose?

Should I really give up a chance at an Epic+ skill just because I was scared of a mere 10%?

[You have selected 'Scales of Life' as your reward.]

Yeah, I'd give it up.

With Floor 4 PTSD burned into me, I chose Scales of Life without much hesitation.

At least this one had no RNG variable.

If it was demanding lifespan, it had better give me something good.

And even if the promotion ticket said it promoted into a higher-tier skill, it wasn't impossible for a weirdly mediocre skill to come out instead.

...Probably unlikely, but I still couldn't trust the Tower's probability rigging.

Click.

I grabbed the silver scales that appeared in the air. It was about the size of my face.

Of course, I wasn't going to use it right away.

Someday, in a real crisis, I'd use it like someone clutching at straws.

I put the scales into Subspace.

[You have acquired ownership of the fifth sub-tower.]

Overall review of the fifth sub-tower.

The final boss had been pretty creepy, but overall... maybe a 5.5 out of 10?

Of course, my scoring standard was how bullshit the difficulty felt.

There were plenty of gimmicks, but the core structure was still simple: defeat the enemy and clear it.

And except for Floor 8, every floor gave enough time to clear.

It didn't have Nightmare's sticky malice, that feeling of "I will absolutely ruin your life."

So yeah, 5.5 points.

The Tower said only five sub-towers would appear, so there was nothing left.

Thank god the world didn't turn into chaos like during the Fallen incident.

[Do you want to exit the Tower?]

"Exit."

Just thinking about charging the Warp Device again made me sick.

Right, before that I had to do one more repeat clear.

I needed to check what abilities those Floor 3 and Floor 4 monsters had, the ones I killed with Destruction Beam the instant I entered. I had to post that info.

Thinking I should hurry and rest, I entered the Tower again.

* * *

The fifth sub-tower appeared in Tajikistan.

The moment it appeared, Wang Kai and the Party moved immediately.

Tajikistan was closely tied to China geographically, and in political, economic, and military terms as well. Outside their own country, this was nearly the best possible location.

This time, they planned to send a fighter jet outright. Maybe not in other countries, but in Tajikistan it was possible. They could launch first and secure airspace permission afterward.

A military base in Beijing.

As soon as prep was finished, the jet would pick him up and transport him at top speed to Dushanbe, Tajikistan's capital.

The Tower had even announced that the fifth sub-tower would give a special reward.

This time, they absolutely couldn't let Person123 beat them to the clear.

Japan and Brazil could be written off as coincidence, but for Tajikistan's sub-tower, they had to be faster. No question.

Unless Person123 could use cloning or intercontinental teleportation.

"Preparation complete...!"

[The fifth sub-tower has been cleared up to the final floor.]

Just as the mechanics inspecting the fighter raised their voices,

Wang Kai saw the message pop up before his eyes and lost his mind.

"...Fuck! You filthy son of a bitchhh!"

Kwaaang!

After Japan, then Brazil, and now the final sub-tower, three times in a row.

He stomped the bare ground, and the earth cracked like a spiderweb.

Soldiers nearby fell over, then scrambled back to their feet and retreated.

He kept stomping and raging, and everyone around him watched with pale faces.

* * *

The last, fifth sub-tower felt very different from the others.

Even so, it was cleared less than an hour after appearing, just like always.

[Rafito: What, it was nothing special?]

[Fantasy Animal: Yeah, we got scared for nothing]

[Soldier: Guess he didn't struggle much]

It took a little longer than Japan and Brazil, but not by much.

People assumed it probably wasn't much harder than the other sub-towers and waited for Person123's post.

[Person123: Here is the clear info for the fifth sub-tower.]

Then the fifth sub-tower info post went up.

People were shocked because it was nothing like they expected.

Starting with Stealth Goblins on Floor 1, then orcs that used Fear to paralyze your body, then higher floors with attack reflection, invincibility, underwater combat, a teleporting stone that read your thoughts, and on Floor 10, escaping from a dream...

At the end of the post, Person123 warned people not to challenge the fifth sub-tower if possible. Not that many would challenge it anyway with no reward to gain.

[Marlin: You cleared all that in one run...? In less than an hour?]

[ShortView: Seriously, how the hell lol]

[Sushan: If you're dumb, you couldn't clear this at all]

[Phoenix: Why are people even surprised. It's Person123.]

[Pipe: Hah, fair point]

[Udib: It's not like Nightmare where good stats alone can carry it. Feels like only Person123 could clear it.]

[Ragurangbate: Feels like he just cleared one extra Nightmare floor]

[Sword Saint: If Wang Kai challenged that, he would've died for sure]

[Ragurangbate: So what's the secret behind these ultra-fast clears? Are you seriously using intercontinental teleportation?]

[Death Roll: Actually there are Person1, Person2, and Person3 separately, that's why it's Person123]

[Buttercake: That sounds plausible]

As always, people were in awe, wondering how Person123 had traveled all over the world clearing sub-towers.

Person123 never told them, so endless speculation kept flying around. No one else knew the truth.

[Pruha: But with this, Person123 owns every mana vein except China's, right?]

[Bear Trap: Isn't that a good thing? Imagine if China had swept all of them.]

[Ocean Sunfish: Damn, that's chilling;]

[Solar Eclipse: Person123 doesn't even plan to use mana veins. He only warned that if people fought over mana veins, he'd shut them off.]

[Plus: If Person123 hadn't stepped in again, the world economy would've been wrecked]

No public opinion expressed concern that Person123 now owned four sub-towers. His actions so far had already earned that trust.

The crisis that had kept things in an uproar for over a month gradually calmed down once the final sub-tower was cleared.

* * *

After all five sub-towers were safely cleared,

I went back to focusing on what I'd been doing before they appeared.

I helped other countries with Nightmare clears, especially by going in and out of Floor 4 to help the U.S. and China prepare. Those two were still the only countries that had cleared Nightmare up to Floor 3.

"Japan has announced it is actively pushing consultations with South Korea, as well as Thailand, Vietnam, and other countries in the magic stone accord..."

Looking at the news these days, I figured the Sendai sub-tower's mana vein could probably be turned back on soon.

Once the news came out that consultations were fully finished, I'd activate it then.

Also, Japan's Prime Minister Sato stepped down, and a new prime minister was chosen almost immediately.

Guess he couldn't withstand public opinion.

"The world changes nonstop every year. Now it's mana veins and all this too... sigh."

Father watched TV and sighed.

Like he said, the world was still in constant upheaval.

He ran a company too, so he probably had endless worries. He couldn't afford to fall behind the changes.

"Seo-a, are you studying hard these days?"

"Yeah."

"I heard from your mom that you even got an F in one class."

"..."

My little sister suddenly went silent and just poked at her food.

Father sighed again.

Honestly, even I couldn't understand how someone got an F.

If she played around all she wanted and did the bare minimum, shouldn't she still get a B?

Then again... sure, whatever. Play hard.

In a world that could collapse anytime, who cared that much about college and grades?

To be honest, I wanted my family to do everything they wanted while they still could. I wanted my parents to enjoy more leisure too.

After lunch, I went back to my room and opened the Communication Window.

I watched people chatting for a bit, then closed it again.

"Should I head in soon?"

Requests for clear consulting had started slowing down, so things felt relaxed now.

Floor 5 shared zone.

It was about time I entered it.

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