Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty - Chapter 90

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Episode 90

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Orca had been urgently summoned to the Association.

The moment she saw everyone's faces, her expression changed completely, and she quietly took a seat.

It wasn't the kind of atmosphere where she could complain about needing to watch a drama.

"Y-You called?"

"The other races have started an Economic Blockade."

Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Lizardmen...

Even races we hadn't properly met yet had joined in.

It was serious enough that we immediately began a strategy meeting.

An Economic Blockade only meant they wouldn't sell goods from the Dimensional Shop to us, but...

Even that would be a major blow.

"Was it even possible to refuse to sell only to us?"

"Well, I guess it's up to the sellers."

The ones who had imposed the blockade were the Hunter Lords of the other races.

Even they probably couldn't control every hunter in their dimensions.

They didn't need to.

Their sheer scale was overwhelming.

Once the Hunter Lords imposed a blockade, imports would practically stop.

"Can't we find a way around it? Team Leader, you have a lot of Death Priest friends."

The first person who came to mind was Bellion.

He'd helped us last time, so he'd probably help again.

Still, there was an obvious limit to what one Death Priest could do.

Bellion wasn't the head of some massive organization, either.

"Couldn't that Dwarf stockpile goods and sell them to us?"

"That's true. But Dimensional Shop fees are pretty steep, and there'd be shipping costs too..."

Those with any real influence didn't sell loot as-is.

They processed it at their own facilities to increase its value before selling it.

It made more money that way.

Naturally, the Hunter Lords who owned those facilities controlled the vast majority of the supply.

So even if we asked Bellion for help, it wouldn't be a real solution.

"Then what about the Orc Lord? His name was... Goloks?"

Goloks's situation would be much better.

But he was both a Death Priest and a Hunter Lord.

He might reject our request because he'd have to tread carefully around the other Hunter Lords.

Honestly, we weren't close enough to rely on him yet.

"I'm afraid he'll refuse."

"Is that so...?"

"To make that kind of proposal in the first place, we need something we can offer too."

"Hm? Do we have a good item?"

Before answering Go Jiho's question, I asked Orca something.

"Even under an Economic Blockade, there won't be a problem with us selling goods, right?"

"Hmm... right. But they probably won't want to buy most things from us."

Just as I thought. Selling was still possible.

I didn't think much of the other races' cooperation.

When the Reapers invaded and everyone was supposedly in danger, they only sent token reinforcements and left it at that.

Right now, they were only temporarily united because they wanted to screw us over.

The moment even a small gain or loss appeared, they'd split apart.

And I had exactly the right product.

Go Jiho, who still didn't fully understand the situation, sent Orca on her way before speaking cautiously.

"Don't tell me you're planning to make and sell the Elixir of Immortality?"

"We don't even have enough for ourselves... I have something better. Something we can mass-produce."

"Something like that exists? If it's too good, isn't it a waste to give it to those bastards?"

"We can control the supply. Besides, it probably won't be that useful to Hunter Lords. It's not that rare."

"What? You really have something that fits so perfectly?"

The product I had in mind was the Basic Skill Enhancement Elixir.

It had the powerful effect of raising a Basic Skill's rank to S rank.

It could also be downgraded to raise a skill only to A rank.

That would increase production.

An S-rank elixir cost around a hundred thousand gold.

A Hunter Lord would have obtained and consumed one long ago.

If they didn't have any S-rank skills to begin with, they couldn't have risen to become Hunter Lords.

"Uh... then why would they buy it?"

"If they don't buy and control it themselves, someone else will."

The elixir itself was extremely useful.

Even if they didn't use it personally, they could secure it and reward obedient subordinates with it.

Since it permanently strengthened hunters, it was a top-priority purchase.

More importantly, if they let other races or Lords buy it, those forces would grow stronger.

In the worst-case scenario, it could even fall into the hands of a Rebel Force.

"We're not releasing all our stock, right?"

"No. We'll release it little by little and keep the price up. It'd be a headache if our enemies suddenly got much stronger too."

Go Jiho immediately called in the Association's accounting team to calculate an appropriate sales volume and price.

The rest would be sold to hunters from other countries.

"Having an eight-billion-person domestic market is really paying off."

"Can we really call this a domestic market...?"

"I'm heading back to the workshop to start production."

I also had to make prototype Elixirs of Immortality, so there was a lot to do.

Yuki naturally followed me.

There was an unexpected guest waiting at the workshop, though.

A security company employee standing guard at the entrance greeted me.

"Hello, Mr. Kang Hyun. An important shipment arrived from the Association research lab..."

"Ah, let's open it right away."

What emerged from a box much taller than a person was the Automaton I had made myself.

The research lab had sent it back after several days of all-night testing.

"Good. Let's test it."

It was an Automaton I had made myself.

I'd only copied the design written in the textbook, but didn't everyone start out that way?

Naturally, as a prototype, it barely had a humanoid appearance.

I hadn't had the room to worry about that.

"Automaton, begin activation."

Click!

The Automaton rose at my command.

A mechanical-sounding voice came from its mouth.

"Automaton activated. Main system, normal mode."

The Automaton moved fairly smoothly.

All that heavy lubrication had paid off.

The joints seemed suitably strong too.

"Bring me that."

"Here it is."

"Bring me one Spirit-Nourishing Grass."

"Here it is."

It handled simple commands just fine.

At this rate, Yuki wouldn't need to assist me.

I decided to send her home first.

"Yuki, you can head home first."

"What? Don't you need me anymore?"

That was a pretty harsh question right from the start.

I'd have to be careful with my words here.

"I need you, so go home and get some proper rest first. Honestly, the work from here on will probably be boring. There's no need for both of us to be bored."

"Ah... okay. But please tell me anytime you need me!"

Once Yuki left, the real work began.

First, I mass-produced Basic Skill Enhancement Elixirs.

Maybe thanks to the All-Creation Cauldron, finished products came out easily without much effort.

I'd also worked out several Elixir of Immortality recipes, so all that remained was to simmer the elixirs down.

'This takes a while.'

The Basic Skill Enhancement Elixir had to be simmered until it took pill form, so it took especially long.

I had to tend to it now and then, and there was a high risk of ruining it if I didn't do it myself.

Looking at it this way, it was trickier than I expected.

I could understand why the other races couldn't make it.

"Auto. Keep the indoor mana concentration above 3.5, check the alchemy cauldron every minute, and call me immediately if you notice any changes."

"Understood."

I had some time to spare, so I checked the group chat.

I'd suddenly become curious.

What exactly did Yuki do when she wasn't with me?

She had to have hobbies besides using AI to wiretap my house.

There happened to be some messages in the chat.

[Kim Yuna: What? You got kicked out of the workshop? Then you have time free. Want to go shopping?]

[Yuki: I'm sorry. Something new came up.]

[Kim Yuna: What do you do when you're not with Team Leader?]

[Yuki: Today, I was planning to do some reaction fapping.]

[Sang Hajun: Reaction fapping?]

[Yuki: I mistyped. I mean reaction checks. Team Leader's stream is much bigger now, so other streamers watch it a lot too, right?]

[Kim Yuna: ... Right?]

Were there reaction streams that watched my broadcasts?

Back when I was a streamer, I'd been a tiny nobody with barely a hundred viewers.

After becoming a hunter, my broadcasts were doing better instead.

Maybe I really needed my own unique content.

For the record, reaction fapping was a relatively normal preference.

Wanting others to acknowledge something you liked wasn't particularly strange.

Maybe I only thought that way because I used to be a streamer.

[Kim Yuna: What exactly are you checking?]

[Yuki: I watch Team Leader's videos and write down anyone who doesn't shed tears of emotion in my kill list.]

They had to cry too?

That was a little intense.

If she was only checking, it was hard to stop her.

[Yuki: Ah, Team Leader. You're watching?]

Yuki noticed I was there when the unread count in the chat disappeared.

To change the subject, I told them about Modus, the Coward King.

Kaellis had told me about him last time, so the other team members hadn't properly heard it.

[Kim Yuna: There are all kinds of weird people...]

[Yuki: Do you think I could learn necromancy too?]

Yuki seemed deeply impressed.

I appreciated the thought, but I was a Death Priest.

It'd be a little awkward to walk around with a Necromancer.

If Gillius saw it, Gillius would probably try to stab me in the back.

After barely talking her out of it, Han Juwon sent a picture.

[Me: Wow, what's this? It looks delicious.]

[Han Juwon: I'm camping with my family.]

[Sang Hajun: We camped in a cave for days, and you want to go camping again?]

[Han Juwon: Renting an expensive camper or tent for luxury camping is different. You should try it sometime.]

[Sang Hajun: How's that any different from renting a vacation cottage and hanging out?]

[Han Juwon: Tough camping is a little much when you're bringing kids...]

[Sang Hajun: Ah...]

Having an outdoor hobby, Han Juwon was living like a real family man.

I collected the finished pills.

They'd come out well enough.

Next was the Elixir of Immortality.

Using the effects Orca had told me about as a reference, I went through a few rounds of trial and error.

I finely chopped one mushroom and used it up for a test.

[Burned Trash: You tried to make a tonic, but the main ingredient and secondary ingredients didn't seem compatible.]

With the help of my Alchemy and Appraisal skills, I gradually found the right direction.

I finally succeeded on the fifth attempt.

It took a little longer than expected.

"So the key was extending the main mushroom ingredient's effect as long as possible. Auto, clap."

Clap clap clap!

The Automaton listened well too, so it was useful.

[Alchemy skill level has increased to 9.]

It had been a while since a skill level went up.

Making something I hadn't made before was good for XP.

I turned every mushroom I had into elixirs.

I had nowhere else to use them anyway.

By the time I finished, two full days had passed.

They said pulling all-nighters was bad for the body.

So far, I was fine.

"Whew, should I visit the shop? Auto, clean up. You remember how the workshop originally looked, right? Restore it according to this picture. Once you're done, perform maintenance and rest to preserve your functions."

"Understood."

I had a rough idea of how to use the Automaton now.

I needed to give much more detailed commands than I expected.

Flash!

I entered the shop.

As always, the Goblin Merchant welcomed me warmly.

"Welcome, Hunter."

"I'd like to sell some goods through the Dimensional Shop. I can set conditions, right?"

"What conditions would you like to set?"

"I only want to sell to factions that haven't imposed sales restrictions on our dimension. The factions that are supplying goods normally."

"That much is possible."

"Good."