WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 8

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Floor 1 Hidden (1)

The highest skill grade revealed so far was Rare.

The order was Common, Common+, then Rare, and nothing above that had appeared yet. Well, maybe there was a Rare+.

For reference, the Flame Strike skill I got was Rare.

Skills were also broadly divided into Physical-Type and Magic-Type, and apparently Magic-Type skills were far rarer than Physical-Type ones.

So at first, I thought I had landed an amazing skill.

I was on Nightmare difficulty, so I figured I deserved at least this much as a reward.

[Butterbread: This magic-type skill is just trash, though?]

[Phone: Ah fuck, my Floor 8 reward was magic-type;]

[AmKorean: Magic-type is seriously overhyped JoAT trash. It has zero advantages except firepower]

It was not.

Among Climbers, the overall opinion on Magic-Type skills was mostly lukewarm.

There were several reasons for that.

“Davis-ssi, you said you also got a new Magic-Type skill on Floor 7 this time, right? What skill was it exactly?”

“It is a Common+ grade skill called Shockwave. It is just the ability to fire invisible force.”

“How did it feel when you used it? I heard Climbers are generally negative about Magic-Type skills.”

“Mm... yeah. Magic-Type has strengths and its own style. Fundamentally, it gives you ranged attacks, and the raw power is decent.”

I had once watched an interview with Davis, who was famous as a frontrunner on Normal difficulty, and he explained it well.

“But even at my current level, the cost is so awful that if I use it a few times, my Willpower bottoms out. And above all, the biggest issue is the unique Magic-Type penalty: mental concentration.”

Mental concentration.

In simple terms, it was the casting time needed to use the skill.

It was a penalty-like condition that existed only on Magic-Type skills.

“During mental concentration, you cannot move your body. It is honestly absurd. You have to use skills during combat, so what, do you ask the enemy to wait for you?”

“Hahaha.”

“Now let us look at it. This skill, Shockwave, needs 10 seconds of mental concentration and consumes 50 Willpower. Meanwhile, my other Common+ skill, Charge, needs no casting time and only consumes 15 Willpower. That means while you waste 10 seconds to use Shockwave once, you can use Charge more than three times.”

“Ohh... I see.”

The conclusion Davis-ssi gave was clear.

“In one line, Magic-Type skills are just flashy trash. Other than waiting for enemies before combat starts and landing one big hit, there are almost no situations where you can use them. Well, if you use them well, sure, maybe they still have uses, but Physical-Type skills are better in almost every way. Honestly, I do not think Climbers would disagree.”

Long casting time.

Hard to use in combat.

And on top of that, absurdly high Willpower cost for a skill that only has power.

That was what a Magic-Type skill was.

Still, did they really have to rip it apart that hard?

But... I could not argue.

[Skill: Flame Strike (Rare)]

Launches condensed flames forward to cause an explosion. Requires 20 seconds of mental concentration to cast.

Classification: Magic-Type

Willpower Cost: 100

Cooldown: 30 seconds

That was the description of the Flame Strike I got.

For reference, Willpower was basically like mana in a game. It was a stat that rose with your level.

Once consumed, it recovered by 1% per minute.

[Difficulty: Nightmare]

[Floor: Floor 2]

[Level: 10]

[Willpower: 100/100]

And that was my Status Window.

In other words, if I used Flame Strike once,

to use it again, I had to wait until my Willpower fully recovered, which meant 100 minutes.

What kind of bullshit was this...

Like they said, it really was flashy trash.

Still, they said its power was good, and that was the one part I could look forward to.

[You have entered Nightmare difficulty Floor 1.]

A familiar cave.

I picked up my sword and stared at the passage.

I had no plan to use the skill right away.

I would kill the first three myself, then use it when the Archer Goblin appeared.

After a short wait, goblins came out of the passage.

“Yeah, come on in.”

I had never tested this skill in real combat, so that part was still new,

but I was already fully used to my strengthened body from leveling up.

Honestly, I had gotten stronger than expected, so much stronger that even I was surprised.

Hard difficulty gave you 4 levels every time you cleared one floor, right?

Nightmare was 2.5 times that, 10 levels.

So I was not worried.

At this point, I was confident I would not struggle against mere goblins.

Kieeek!

As expected, one Sword Goblin charged first.

I did not even need Time-Slicing.

My reflexes and dynamic vision had improved too, so I could see the goblin's attack clearly.

I dodged lightly and swung my sword.

Rip!

The goblin's upper body split in half.

“Huh?”

The blade cut too well.

No, my strength had grown. That was it.

The halved goblin body dropped with a wet thud.

The two goblins behind it flinched and stopped.

Looks like that performance shocked them too.

“What is wrong? Come at me.”

They did not move, so I moved first.

I rushed the Sword Goblin and swung.

It could not resist at all and got split in half like the first one.

The last Spear Goblin suddenly turned and ran toward the passage.

“Seriously?”

I let out a dry laugh and chased it.

I caught it in an instant and stabbed the back of its neck.

Easy.

Did killing three even take ten seconds?

I was not even out of breath.

I could clearly feel that my body had completely surpassed human limits.

Especially that pain-in-the-ass Archer Goblin. I decided to kill it the moment it came out.

For the first time, I cast a skill.

The moment I started casting Flame Strike, my body stiffened and I could not move.

Something like an hourglass started flowing in my head. Strange feeling.

Was this the mental concentration state?

I had to keep this state for 20 seconds to use the skill.

If it got interrupted in the middle, of course it reset from the start.

The hourglass in my mind ran out, and skill prep was complete.

I panicked.

What.

...I still could not move?

Wait, no way.

So it was not just that you could not move during mental concentration.

Until you actually fired the skill after concentration, you still could not move?

If I wanted to move, I had to cancel the skill right there.

Wow, seriously.

I could already feel why people called Magic-Type skills trash.

I stood there stiffly and waited for the goblins to come out.

Kerrrrk-

Two Sword Goblins and one Archer Goblin.

I cast the skill immediately.

Whoosh!

A fireball rose from empty space in front of me.

The fireball shot toward the goblins at my will.

And then...

KWA-BOOM!

Flames burst outward and a huge explosion went off.

The shockwave pushed me back a little, and my hair flew around.

The power was beyond what I expected. I blanked out for a second.

“Whoa...”

The smoke cleared.

The three goblins that had been there were gone without a trace.

Instead, black ash-like chunks were scattered across a cratered floor.

It looked like they exploded so completely they could not even leave proper bodies.

It really was strong. I had to admit that.

My evaluation rose a little, but I still was not convinced.

The penalties attached to that power were too fatal.

At this rate, I really could not use this in active combat at all...

Rumble-

Once all the goblins died, the stone gate started closing.

I ran and exited into the passage.

I kept running straight up the unbroken uphill path.

By the time the iron ball started rolling, I was already inside the alcove.

Boom!

This section was easy if you knew it.

After the roar ended, I stepped out leisurely and checked my Status Window.

[Willpower: 1/100]

One skill use and my Willpower was completely drained.

I decided to wait until it filled, then move on.

With my current physical abilities, I could probably win without using skills anyway,

but I still wanted to test the skill's power on that guy too.

After waiting a full 100 minutes and refilling all my Willpower, I moved forward again.

The ownerless weapon shop appeared.

I skipped it and passed by.

I entered the red-lit boss room.

Krrrk-

The Goblin Knight stood in the middle of the cavern.

The moment I saw it, I started casting Flame Strike.

20 seconds of mental concentration.

But the Goblin Knight saw me and rushed at me faster than that.

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

That bastard was impatient.

At this rate, I could not cast.

Without much thought, I stopped time.

Then...

“Huh?”

The hourglass in my head kept flowing.

...Mental concentration was not interrupted?

Why was it still going even though I had stopped time?

I was briefly confused by this strange phenomenon, then I realized it.

Wait, could mental concentration work even while time was stopped?

The hourglass fully emptied.

After finishing concentration, I released time and immediately cast the skill.

The fireball slammed into the Goblin Knight.

KWAANG!

It got blasted several meters away and crashed down.

It did not move again.

I walked closer and checked it.

The explosion had torn apart both the armor and the goblin's body.

The boss mob I had struggled so much against got one-shot.

Even I found that pretty impressive.

“Still, this...”

I tilted my head.

Mental concentration worked while time was stopped?

Why did that work?

Then one hypothesis popped into my mind.

Time stop.

Even when time stopped, I could still think.

In other words, even if the world's time stopped, time in my head still flowed normally.

If mental concentration was judged by mental time flow too?

Was that why it worked even with time stopped?

Another thought hit me right then.

...Then what about Willpower?

Even the word Willpower sounded mental, did it not?

Will and mind were basically the same family anyway.

Just in case, I stopped time again.

[Willpower: 0/100]

Willpower that had bottomed out from the skill I had just used.

I stayed still and waited with time stopped.

And after a moment.

[Willpower: 1/100]

...!

Willpower had recovered.

Even though time was still stopped.

Without realizing it, I shouted in my head.

Eureka.

...I felt like I had just discovered a ridiculously broken cheat.

One only I could use.

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