WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 63

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Floor 5 (1)

After finishing a discussion about Floor 5 with Secretary Zhao Degang, the Chairman's closest aide, Wang Kai clicked his tongue in irritation.

"Seriously, that old bastard just keeps yapping like he knows anything... one poke and he'd drop dead."

It was nothing different from what he always heard, but Wang Kai was still on edge over the sub-tower issue, so everything got under his skin.

It wasn't as if anyone in the Party was blaming him.

No matter where in the world a sub-tower appeared, Person123 cleared it within a few dozen minutes. That was what was monstrous. How was anyone supposed to beat that?

If you really wanted to nitpick, Mongolia had been a chance, but from the third sub-tower onward, it would've been impossible no matter what anyone did.

If they'd entered at the same time, he would've cleared faster than that bastard every single time. That was all Wang Kai could think about.

He didn't know whether it was some kind of long-distance Teleport or what, but the thought that everything had been stolen by some cheap trick kept his anger from cooling.

'Floor 5...'

So far, there had been no news or rumors of Person123 appearing on Floor 5.

Of course not. A rat who had hidden his identity this long wasn't going to act differently just because it was a new floor.

If they happened to run into each other even once, Wang Kai swore he would grind him into the dirt.

He couldn't kill him, so he'd beat him right to the edge of death.

Enough to make the gap in their levels crystal clear.

With those thoughts in mind, he walked down the hallway and saw people coming from the opposite direction.

Wang Kai frowned.

A neat-looking man with slicked-back hair. Beside him was Xiaolin, a member of the Party's Central Committee.

The man gave a slight smile and a polite nod. Wang Kai blatantly ignored him and walked past.

The man watched Wang Kai's back disappear, then said,

"He doesn't look like he's in a good mood."

That man was Ye Tianwei, a Nightmare Floor 4 climber and China's representative Nightmare raider.

Xiaolin said,

"It must have hurt his pride, with the sub-towers. Person123 humiliated him properly."

Ye Tianwei snickered.

"It's pretty entertaining."

"Sorry? What is...?"

"The way Mr. Wang Kai is so fixated on that person. It's fun to watch."

He had absolutely no sense of his own place.

Did he really think he was in the same class as that man? It was laughable.

Then again, there was only so much anyone could do.

No matter how kindly Person123 uploaded strategy posts, nobody could truly understand them.

What Nightmare difficulty really was, what kind of hell it was, what absurd things he kept accomplishing.

Unless you'd personally experienced Nightmare while trying to follow in his footsteps, it was beyond what mere text could convey.

At best, maybe he and America's Floor 4 climber understood even a little of it.

If Person123 hadn't cleared the fifth sub-tower first, Wang Kai would have died. Lucky man.

Though with his arrogance running that wild, who knew how long that luck would last.

"It's a shame. It was a chance to remove someone unpleasant from the picture."

In his usual casual tone, Ye Tianwei said it as if it were nothing. Xiaolin answered in the same tone.

"It doesn't disrupt the overall trend. The dragon is complete. We only need to wait for the moment to dot the eyes."

After that slightly loaded exchange, the two of them left the hallway as well.

* * *

Floor 5 shared zone.

Just like the name said, it was a common area where climbers of all difficulties gathered.

According to Floor 5 climbers, it was practically another world, separate from Earth.

I at least knew the basics.

Floor 5 came up every day in the Communication Window and online communities, and it was a regular news topic too.

Climbers from one country clashing with climbers from another, things like that.

Entering Floor 5 still felt a little unsettling to me.

Still, it was probably a pointless worry.

If you looked up the numbers, there were around a thousand climbers who had reached Floor 5 or above.

Not even one percent of all climbers, but still plenty.

In a place where thousands came and went, who would care about one guy like me?

And even if my identity somehow got exposed... well, I could just use Stealth and run.

It wasn't like anyone could take a photo or video of my face.

Electronic devices, or even slightly complex machinery, couldn't be brought into the Tower. Floor 5 was no exception.

There was no need to worry that much.

Either way, I needed to enter Floor 5 at least once.

I could skip straight to Floor 6 without clearing it, but Floor 5 had rewards you could only get there.

I couldn't challenge Floor 6 without picking those up.

[Would you like to enter Floor 5?]

"Enter."

I entered Floor 5 directly from my room.

[You have entered Floor 5.]

The scenery changed.

I was standing on a floor with a soft glow rising from it.

I looked around.

A vast grassland stretched in all directions. People and scattered buildings here and there.

The place I was standing on was a portal.

In the shared zone, both entry and exit happened through this portal.

Unlike other floors, even leaving the Tower was only possible within portal range.

In short, it was just like a game portal.

From what people said, the shared zone itself felt like an MMORPG open field.

After watching people appear and disappear on top of the portal for a moment, I stepped outside its range.

'Let's see...'

Now that I was here, I just needed to quietly do what I came to do.

Still, maybe I could look around first.

I'd heard all kinds of things before coming to Floor 5, so I headed toward the people and buildings.

[Drake's Diner]

A large, two-story wooden building.

I checked the sign and went inside.

The interior felt like a medieval inn. It was crowded and noisy.

"Zone 1 boss expedition starts soon."

"Ha, I hope the reward rolls are good this time."

"Huh? When did Zone 3's boss gauge get this high? It's over 90%."

I moved deeper into the hall, looking at what people were eating.

There was one thing everyone agreed should be your first stop when you entered Floor 5 for the first time: Drake's Diner.

Only climbers who had reached Floor 5 or higher could enter Floor 5.

There were no local residents in this world, so naturally everyone here was a Floor 5+ climber.

Then what about the owner of this diner?

He was a climber too.

Mr. Drake, a British climber, had been serving free food here since the early days.

Why would a high-level climber bother doing this? Apparently, he just genuinely loved cooking.

So Drake's Diner had become one of Floor 5's signature landmarks, and a place climbers gathered regularly.

As I approached the kitchen, a bearded white man was vigorously working a frying pan over the stove.

That had to be Drake.

I walked closer and spoke.

"Um..."

Drake glanced at me and shouted.

"Horned Deer steak is sold out!"

"What?"

"You were just about to order Horned Deer steak, right?"

He was right.

When I stood there a bit dazed, Drake let out a booming laugh.

"Hahaha! I can tell at a glance. First time on Floor 5, right?"

"...Yes."

"Everyone orders that first thing. Rumors spread everywhere about how it's heavenly and all that."

At Drake's Diner, they brought ingredients from outside, but they also cooked with monsters that lived on Floor 5.

The most famous one was Horned Deer steak.

Someone once said its rich, savory meat flavor wasn't even comparable to beef on Earth.

I'd come to try that too, but no luck. Too bad.

"Try grilled goblin thigh instead. Don't be biased just because it's goblin. The taste is guaranteed."

"Ah, no. I'll pass."

"Tsk, it's seriously good..."

I'd heard about it, but they really did sell goblin meat.

Drake set down the frying pan and poured me a drink.

It was a dark red liquid with a sweet fruit aroma.

"Wine made from raspberries grown on Floor 5. Have a glass to celebrate your first entry."

"Ah, thank you."

"The menu's there, so sit and pick what you want. I'm serious, goblin meat is really good. One bite and you'll be shocked."

Such good meat too... muttering that, Drake went back to the frying pan.

I took a seat at the bar-style counter right in front of the kitchen.

When I opened the menu, it was in English. Not hard to read.

'But conversation really does flow naturally.'

Like the translation function in the Communication Window, Floor 5 seemed to provide real-time interpretation when people spoke.

What Drake had just said reached me naturally in Korean, as smooth as water. It seemed written text wasn't translated that way, though.

For reference, just like on other floors, the Communication Window couldn't be used on Floor 5 either. It seemed to be blocked anywhere inside the Tower.

"Drake, wine and Horned Deer steak for me."

I was choosing from the menu, skipping goblin meat, when someone sat beside me.

A huge Western man.

Drake barked at him.

"Out of ingredients! Eat something else."

"What? Then just give me anything."

"How about goblin meat?"

"If you serve me that, I'll take it as a duel request."

The man traded a short bit with Drake like they were close, then glanced at me.

I gave a slight nod, and the man smiled and asked,

"First time on Floor 5? Don't think I've seen your face before."

"Yeah. First time."

"Welcome! I'm Alex, the Peacekeeper Captain of Floor 5."

Oh... this guy?

I was a little surprised.

Alex, America's Hard-difficulty top record holder. And the man serving as Peacekeeper Captain in the shared zone.

Floor 5 had something called the Peacekeeping Corps, and as the name suggested, they were the group maintaining order there.

From what I'd heard, they only enforced minimum necessary order.

This was a place where climbers from all over the world gathered.

I'd also heard the China-aligned side mostly kept to itself.

"Not surprised?"

Alex looked at me like it was unexpected.

"Usually first-time climbers get surprised when they hear my name. Not to brag, but I'm pretty famous."

"...No, I was surprised."

"Doesn't look like it."

"I don't show much on my face."

Alex laughed heartily.

"So, you're not going to tell me your name?"

Just in case, I gave a slightly altered name.

"I'm Hyeon."

After we shook hands, Alex kept going.

"Hyeon, are you Korean? Your name sounds Korean."

"Yes."

"Hahaha! Knew it. My daughter really loves Korea. This year she's been begging me to take her there... ah, you're not from North Korea, right?"

"What?"

"Ah, don't get me wrong. There really are North Koreans around here, so I asked. Going by your reaction, I guess not. My mistake."

Well, that made sense.

Anyway, Alex kept talking in a way that felt oddly overwhelming.

Please stop acting this familiar, mister... this is too much...

"...By the way, you're not Person123, are you?"

I almost spat out the wine I was drinking.

I looked at Alex like he'd lost his mind, and right then Drake, who had brought food, clicked his tongue and said,

"Do you do that to every newcomer you grab?"

"Well... it's fun!"

Alex burst out laughing like it was a joke.

I followed with an awkward laugh.

"Just kidding, just kidding. No way Person123 would be a young guy like this. Ah, right, what difficulty are you?"

"...Easy difficulty."

Alex was unbelievably chatty for a man his size.

"...So, any chance you'd be interested in joining the Peacekeeping Corps? Plenty of benefits, and the work's barely even work..."

"Captain!"

At that moment, someone called out to him and hurried over.

Something urgent seemed to have come up, because Alex frowned and downed his wine in one go.

"Tch, I haven't even eaten yet... anyway, good meeting you, Hyeon! See you around!"

Alex left like a storm.

I'd done nothing, but somehow I felt tired.

"Here, your Kangaroo Rabbit Sandwich is up. Enjoy."

My food arrived soon after.

Planning to eat quickly and leave, I took a big bite out of the large sandwich.

...It wasn't my taste.

I forced myself to finish it, then washed it down with wine.

* * *

If you compared Floor 5's shared zone to a game, it was an MMORPG.

There were monsters in the field, they respawned when hunted, and there were boss monsters too.

Killing monsters didn't drop magic stones, but there were several reasons climbers still operated on Floor 5.

First, monster byproducts.

Unlike other floors, where only rewards from the Reward Room could be taken outside the Tower, Floor 5 let you hunt monsters and bring their byproducts out.

Those byproducts could sell for prices comparable to magic stones, or even higher. They were materials that didn't exist on Earth.

For reference, the shoes I'd bought recently were made from the hide of a lizard monster said to live in Zone 2.

A foreign company had developed them recently for high-level climbers. They cost in the eight-figure range, but they were ridiculously durable.

Since I could no longer wear normal shoes, I was quite satisfied with them.

In that sense, Floor 5 was like a remote planet.

They couldn't let ownerless land be taken by another country, so climbers stayed active there, constantly checking each other.

At this point, it was basically U.S. camp versus China camp.

Finally, there were boss rewards.

That was why I'd entered Floor 5.

If you pictured Floor 5's zone layout, it was like a target: concentric circles expanding outward from the center.

The place I was in now was Zone 0, the innermost circle.

Zone 0 was a safe area where no monsters appeared.

At the center of Zone 0 was the portal I'd entered through, and Zone 0's total range was said to be about a 1-kilometer radius.

Zone 1, Zone 2, Zone 3... as you moved farther out, stronger monsters appeared.

And each zone had a boss monster.

A boss appeared once regular monsters in that zone were hunted past a certain threshold.

[Zone 1 (99.9%)]

[Zone 2 (10.3%)]

[Zone 3 (90.8%)]

Those were the boss spawn gauges visible in my vision from the moment I entered Floor 5.

Zone 1's boss was just about to spawn.

I had checked the Communication Window for news that the Zone 1 boss was coming soon, and entered Floor 5 today for that reason.

If I missed this chance, I'd have to wait at least a month.

Rewards for killing a boss.

Like floor-clear rewards, these were also first-time-only rewards.

Even at best, Zone 1 boss rewards only gave something like a Common+ skill stone.

Still, even that was worth taking.

The more skills, the better, so of course I planned to claim it.

I found the weapon rental shop in Zone 0 and borrowed a sword and shield.

On Floor 5, weapons were said to spawn randomly all over the place, and the rental shop collected them.

It was managed by the Peacekeeping Corps, and rentals were free.

[Zone 1 (100%)]

While I waited with borrowed weapons, Zone 1's boss gauge quickly filled.

[The Zone 1 boss has appeared.]

A message popped up.

"Alright, gather over here! We're moving out to kill the Zone 1 boss!"

I saw people starting to gather on one side of Zone 0.

Once the gauge filled, they immediately formed an expedition and moved out to kill the boss like this.

I naturally walked over and stood with them.

From what I'd heard, Zone 1's boss was around level 20 in strength...

There was a reason I was joining them instead of going solo.

You had to contribute above a certain threshold to the boss kill in order to receive rewards.

If I went and killed it alone, everyone else would lose out on rewards and have to wait for the gauge to fill again, which would be peak asshole behavior.

So I'd just blend into the crowd and fight enough to secure my reward.

"Nervous?"

While I stood there spacing out, someone spoke from beside me.

A brown-haired Western woman smiled as she said,

"I'm nervous too. It's my first time fighting together with other people, so my heart's pounding a little."

"Ah... yeah."

"Let's do our best together! Fighting!"

"Fighting."

Thinking she was energetic, I responded in kind.

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