Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability - Chapter 82

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 82

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Masked Auction (4)

"...One person?"

I frowned.

If one person died, they would give me this? A Legendary-Grade Skill Stone?

"If you accept the proposal, use the Skill Stone right away. Then one life will be deducted."

"..."

I stayed silent.

A lot of thoughts crossed my mind.

The very first thought I had when I heard that a human life was the price of the Skill Stone was...

'...Only that much?'

Honestly, that was my reaction.

I was not as noble and selfless as people thought I was.

People kept calling me a savior, but I was not some saint.

Not ten thousand people, not a thousand, just one.

Some people would say, who are you to measure the value of a human life?

That was true. Human life was precious.

But by my standards, it was not some absolute value that could never be weighed.

If needed, it could be compared against other things.

And this was a Legendary skill.

Legendary, higher than Epic.

Even Epic+ Destruction Beam was incredible.

...So how absurdly strong would a Legendary skill be?

How much would it help with future Nightmare clears?

Out of eight billion people, if only one person was sacrificed, I could gain that kind of overwhelming power.

It would just be one person somewhere on Earth dying. Just one more among the hundreds of thousands who died worldwide every day.

...I could not deny that it felt acceptable.

I remembered that person earlier who shouted that I should take the Skill Stone.

To be honest, maybe ninety-nine out of a hundred people would tell me to pick the Legendary skill.

It tempted me. It was a sweet temptation.

But at the same time...

My mind settled down.

Because the one making this offer was none other than the Tower.

'What are you trying to do?'

Why was the Tower making me this offer? What was its goal?

To break my conscience?

To mock me, saying, let's see if you can still refuse even after this?

...It did not feel right.

The Tower wanted me dead and wanted my clear to fail more than anything, so would it really boost my power this much for such a cheap reason?

It felt different from the Floor 4 penalty and the Floor 6 Ark proposal.

No matter how I looked at it, this was overwhelmingly favorable to me, as long as I gave up a bit of conscience.

"Why are you making this offer?"

I asked the host directly.

"It reeks of a trap, so do you really think I'd just swallow this whole?"

The host stayed silent.

The host looked like there was no intention of answering.

I stopped time.

After thinking for a long while, I reached a conclusion.

Then I released time.

"I have two conditions too."

"..."

"If you accept them, I'll accept your proposal. If not, this deal is over."

"What are they?"

I thought the host might ignore me again, but unexpectedly, there was a response.

I stated my first condition.

"Don't kill a random non-Climber. Let me choose who dies."

I could not tell what the Tower wanted.

But I trusted its malice.

What if it was not random and it was rigged? What if it was targeting my family?

So I was already almost decided on rejecting the offer.

I just threw out a ridiculous condition with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude.

But I assumed the host would obviously refuse...

After a short pause, the host answered.

"My master says your condition will be accepted."

"..."

That was accepted?

So it was not targeting my family?

The fact that the Tower accepted so easily only made it feel more disturbing.

[Legendary-Grade Skill Stone]

Use to learn one Legendary-grade skill.

"Please state your remaining condition."

I stared down at the Legendary Skill Stone for a moment, then gave my second condition too.

"Instead of this, give me a Legendary Skill Stone that shows the skill name and description. Like the Skill Stones you get after clearing floors."

"..."

"Whether I use this and learn a skill, or you hand me one at random, it's random for me either way, right? So give me one with the skill description visible."

Compared to the first condition, this was not even that unreasonable.

But the host did not answer.

"...No answer, huh."

I stared at the host silently.

Only after a long while did the host speak.

"My master says that condition cannot be accepted."

"...Why? Is that such a difficult request?"

"My master says that condition cannot be accepted."

The host repeated the answer.

Ha...

You piece of shit.

I looked back and forth between the host and the Skill Stone, then laughed.

"This isn't random, is it?"

"..."

"What skill were you trying to give me?"

There was a Rare-grade skill called Heaviness.

It greatly increased physical durability, but it slowed your movement speed.

The problem was that it was a passive skill, so the effect was always on whether you wanted it or not. And once you learned a skill, you could not delete it.

That thought suddenly hit me while I was thinking earlier.

What if the Legendary skill from this Skill Stone was not random, but predetermined by the Tower?

And what if it was the same kind of passive as Heaviness, giving both an advantage and a disadvantage?

...What if that disadvantage was something fatal to me?

I was half certain.

They accepted my absurd condition about letting me choose who dies, but refused to show the skill description?

It stank.

It stank like they had rigged the Skill Stone.

I closed the lid of the box again.

"If you can't accept the condition, take it away. I don't want it even if you give it to me."

The host still stood there without a reply.

The host just stared at me.

I glared right back.

Then suddenly, the Skill Stone box disappeared.

Right after that, the host dropped with a thud, like a puppet with its strings cut.

"..."

What the hell was with this host?

I looked down at the host.

The host, motionless like a machine that had finished its role, crumbled into smoke and scattered away.

I stood there blankly and muttered into empty space.

"...Hello?"

So what now?

"Oh."

The scenery in front of me changed back to my room.

I was back.

The mask on my face was gone too.

I let out a long breath.

"Hoo..."

I sat in my chair and thought through what had just happened.

Was it really a weird skill?

There was a very high chance it was.

They even accepted the condition that I could choose who died, so no matter how I looked at it, something was off.

...Thinking about it now, maybe setting the price at one person was also part of a planned trap.

If they had offered a Legendary skill for free, I would have been suspicious right away.

So maybe they intentionally set the price at one person and pushed my focus onto that point.

Making me think, your only goal is to make me abandon my conscience, while hiding the real trap elsewhere.

...If that was true, the Tower was filthy beyond belief.

This made one thing even clearer.

If the Tower ever tried to make an offer, I could not let my guard down even for a second.

Anyway...

I was exhausted in every way.

I threw myself onto the bed and closed my eyes for a bit.

* * *

After the Climbers invited to the auction returned safely,

the Communication Window exploded first.

[Receipt: Do you know what happened there? It was completely insane.]

[Hekti: Why? Tell us fast, what happened?]

[Receipt: First, when we got moved to the auction hall, everyone was wearing masks...]

They could not hold it in, so they started spilling stories nonstop.

That the auction had used non-Climbers' lives.

That every auction item was a Rare+ or higher skill.

And most of all, the part about Person123.

What happened in the auction, how countless civilian lives were on the line.

People who heard the story fell into total shock.

[Guard Dog: Is that real? Person123 got invited too...?]

[Viper: Person123 killed a bidder and voided the auction? Is that true?]

[Davin: Wait, what do you mean you shook hands with Person123? Explain it properly already!]

All kinds of rumors spread and the Communication Window burned all day,

while the real world was just as busy.

Eyewitness accounts from people who had seen Person123 in person.

At least in the 21st century, there was no hotter topic than that.

During the Wang Kai incident, the Peacekeeping Corps members and Black Star Society members involved had only released official statements and never talked loosely about what happened.

This time was different.

Broadcast stations and media outlets scrambled like mad to book the Climbers dragged into the auction...

And one show aired almost immediately.

"All kinds of stories are going around right now about the Masked Auction. Isn't that right, Brooks-ssi?"

"That's right. Isn't that exactly why I'm here, to tell everything accurately?"

The famous podcast show, The Jude Noise.

Its guest was Brooks, a Floor 7 Climber on Easy difficulty who had been invited to the auction as No. 27.

After some short small talk, they moved to the main topic, and host Jude asked:

"Then let's hear it. What exactly happened in that auction?"

Brooks, with a serious face as if recalling the scene, began speaking.

"First, when time was up and we were moved, the place was a dark auction hall. There were audience seats and a stage. The hundred invited people, including me, all wore masks and had number tags on our chests. Then on the stage..."

Brooks briefly explained how things started, the hundred invitees, the non-human unknown host, and the Skill Stone that appeared as the first item, then continued.

"...When I heard what the host said, I thought I heard wrong. The host said the number, one million for each of the hundred invitees, was non-Climbers' lives. The host gave us that as currency to bid on auction items."

"My god, that's horrifying. That's one hundred million lives total, isn't it?"

"Anyway, the auction started, and someone immediately stood up and shouted. A Climber named Shin Su-jin from South Korea. On Floor 5, she's a pretty famous Peacekeeping Corps officer."

That Shin Su-jin removed even her mask and urged everyone not to bid.

And then came the infamous No. 41.

"...That No. 41 bastard was completely insane. He started agitating people, saying who cares if people die, getting auction items would strengthen Climbers and help the world more, and that tens of millions die every year anyway so this much was fine."

"Huh..."

"...And right then, Person123 appeared."

Brooks' tone rose with excitement.

"Person123 said we must not dance to the Tower's tune, asked everyone not to bid, and said he trusted all of us."

Jude asked,

"So Person123 revealed himself because he was worried people might get swayed by No. 41? Once one person bids, everyone might follow."

"Exactly. But even then, No. 41 did not stop causing chaos. In the end he actually bid one thousand."

"Oh no...!"

"Then that lunatic started running his mouth like he was emceeing the whole thing, saying this was fun and asking if nobody would play, saying he would sweep all the items himself.

A few people ended up starting to bid. It jumped from one thousand to five thousand in no time. If it had continued, who knows how far it would have gone. But then..."

Jude tensed slightly. He already knew roughly what was coming.

Brooks raised his hand.

"In that complete chaos, Person123 slowly raised his hand."

"..."

"It wasn't a bid. He calmly asked the host a question. What happens to the auction if the last bidder dies.

The host answered. The bid becomes void and the auction restarts from the beginning. And the moment he heard that answer..."

Pew-

Brooks changed his raised hand into a finger gun and mimed firing into the air.

"No. 41 evaporated. It was that exact ability we'd only heard about in rumors."

"...The jet-black beam."

"Seriously... there wasn't even a sound, it was that chilling. No. 41 just disappeared like he had never existed. We only realized he had died when the host said the last bidder was dead."

Brooks let out a small breath and continued.

"Then Person123 walked to the front of the stage. While nobody could say a word, he declared it. No one should bid. If you bid, you die."

Even Jude swallowed hard without realizing.

"He told people that many times not to bid, but they would not listen, so he made the decision. If it had continued, at least five thousand civilians would have died.

After that, of course nobody bid. No. 41 died like that, who would dare bid after seeing it?"

"Nobody could."

"So all the auction items passed unsold one after another, and for the final item..."

After briefly explaining Lion's Roar, the Epic-grade skill that came up as the last item, Brooks described the end of the auction.

"Nobody bid on the final item either, and we were waiting for it to pass unsold, when suddenly someone stood up and shouted. They said at least that one should be taken by Person123, that even if ten thousand had to be sacrificed, the one who had to save humanity should take it."

"I see. Since it was Epic-grade..."

"But Person123 firmly shook his head. For him, it wasn't even worth a moment of consideration. Then that final Epic-grade Skill Stone also passed unsold... and the auction ended."

It had been obvious even before this episode began, but Jude became sure again. This episode would smash the all-time highest view count of the podcast.

"...And after that, there are many claims participants even shook hands with Person123 directly. Is that actually true?"

Brooks grinned proudly.

"Ah, that, yes... it's true. Person123 even accepted my handshake. I held Person123's hand myself, with this right hand."

"...! Could you tell us more details?"

"Haha, of course, I'll tell you everything."

The short banquet after the auction.

And Person123 shaking hands with everyone.

After that podcast episode featuring Brooks aired, news outlets and online communities worldwide, including the Communication Window, exploded.

- Person123 saves one hundred million non-Climbers at the Masked Auction...

- Person123's decisive judgment to save lives...

- Could one hundred million people have died? How Person123 saved people yet again...

[Chris: Again, again, again, again! You again?]