WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B.
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 163
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I slowly raised my staff.
I examined the array before my eyes.
Hummmmmm...
A procession of Blue Motes extended straight ahead.
They formed countless overlapping layers, each rotating in a different direction.
A structure that went beyond the flat Magic 1.0.
That far transcended the simple cylindrical three-dimensional form of Magic 2.0.
In other words... Magic 3.0!
I muttered quietly.
“This is complicated as hell. Why does magic have to be so damn hard?”
It was an insanely complex, densely packed array.
Just looking at it made my head spin.
Well, it was spatial magic.
It was a high-level school of magic that screamed overpowered just from the name. There was no way it would be easy to handle.
But who was I?
“Extreme Lunatic Hell intellectual magic PhD!”
I was a PhD from Korea University, the best university in our country!
Surely I could solve an array like this!
With that thought, I focused my mind and carefully examined the arrangement of mana.
Then, at some point, a thought occurred to me.
‘It’s beautiful.’
At first, it had only looked like a chaotic jumble of dizzying dots.
But as I continued studying it, the array’s true form came into view.
Polyhedral structures meshed together and rotated in perfect symmetry without a single error.
Geometric harmony that folded the front and back, above and below, then connected them into one.
It was a perfect and beautiful array without a trace of unnecessary excess.
You know how mathematicians are supposedly moved when they see a beautiful equation?
Maybe this felt similar.
It was like standing before a work of art!
So beautiful...!
But then.
Slice.
Something sprang from the edge of the array.
Something so thin it could not even be seen.
A distant boulder split in two and slid apart.
Slice. Slice.
More things sprang out in succession.
Each time, hills, boulders, and hardened chunks of lava were cleanly sliced apart like butter.
But that was not all.
Sliiiice!
A thin blue line shot toward the horizon.
It cut a distant mountain ridge in half without stopping, then vanished beyond the southern horizon.
“...That’s the direction of the city, isn’t it?”
Only then did I remember.
The smooth cross-section of Wall-Iing Iing, as though it had been cut with a blade.
It was not difficult to figure out.
“So that was what sliced through the wall earlier?”
As space folded and twisted, phenomena like spatial slashes were shooting out!
And with that insane range, too.
This was crazy.
It was completely overpowered!
As I examined and picked apart the structure of the magic, half in admiration and half in curiosity, ideas for how to use it came pouring out.
Spatial Leap, folding space to move instantly!
Spatial distortion, twisting the space between my enemy and me so attacks could not reach me!
And, like what I had just seen, spatial severance, tearing space itself apart to slice through anything!
It would be difficult now.
But I had an intuition that it would soon become possible.
A feeling of intellectual fulfillment filled my brain.
I was moved.
“Ah... Is this the joy of knowledge? I really am an intellectual with a higher education after all. To think gaining new knowledge could fill my heart so completely! My brain... is trembling...!”
“Mr. Jiho, we can get out of here, right? Right? We’ve been trapped here for thirty minutes already. We’re not going to be stuck here forever and starve to death, are we?”
“Silence!!! How dare you spoil things when I, a PhD, am immersed in my research! How cocky of a mere bachelor’s degree holder!”
“No, Mr. Jiho, do not joke around... I am anxious...”
Ms. Hyeji was whining beside me.
This PhD was immersed in the beauty of magic, deeply moved by it.
How dare she ruin the mood?
This was why bachelor’s degree holders were no good!
If you went to university, you should at least get a PhD, seriously. Tsk, tsk...
Kids these days were always avoiding graduate school. That was the problem!
Anyway!
“Don’t be so anxious, Ms. Hyeji. I’ve finished my research.”
“Research?”
“I am a PhD. A person with research capabilities who challenges unknown fields humanity has yet to uncover, discovers problems independently, and proposes solutions. The holder of the highest degree available in the academic system.”
“Mr. Jiho, you’re really drunk on that PhD thing... Are you that happy about getting an honorary doctorate?”
Ignoring whatever Ms. Hyeji was babbling about, I pointed my staff forward.
Hummmmmmmmmm...
I drew out the Blue Motes in my heart.
A vast amount of mana flowed toward the tip of my staff, and my spiritual senses instantly spread across the entire space.
Rumble...
I spread my senses and examined the flow of Blue Motes.
A massive array where tens of thousands of particles turned tightly together like interlocking gears.
But now...
I could see it.
Amid the countless intersecting flows.
The central axis that connected the entire array as one.
“So it’s there?”
I thrust condensed mana deep into the heart of the array.
My mana burrowed between the interlocking structures and began taking control of the flow.
In an instant, it seized control of the mana flowing through space.
I muttered quietly.
“Break, Kyoka Suigetsu.”
Spatial magic countered, click.
Craaaack!
Cracks spread through space.
Like throwing a stone into a transparent mirror.
Or bringing a hammer down on a frozen lake.
White cracks spread in every direction through the empty air across this entire space.
CRASH!
With the sound of a massive window shattering, space itself broke apart and collapsed.
Crumble...
Fragments of space scattered.
Beyond the broken space, accompanied by glittering clusters of light, I saw a new space.
But it was a strange space.
‘The universe?’
It looked like outer space.
Countless stars floated and glittered in the black sky.
No, they were far too huge to be stars.
Too distant.
Too unfathomably far away.
I felt countless stars looking at me.
[...Already?]
Flash!
My mind was thrown back.
I blinked both eyes open.
What I saw was...
“Mr. Jiho! We’re out! We got out!”
“Holy shit, that scared me. I thought we’d never escape.”
“Iing!”
My party members were laughing and chatting happily.
I felt like I had seen something just now.
What was it?
Anyway, I had countered the spatial magic, so nice!
“My city won’t get sliced up again! Then now... shall we go collect my dragon pet?”
I turned to look at the middle of the valley.
Then...
“...Huh? What? Where did it go?”
I could not help but be flustered.
It was gone.
The place where the huge egg had been just moments ago was completely empty!
What the hell?
“The egg... is gone?”
“Of course there isn’t. What are you talking about?”
“No, it was here until just now! It was sitting there, seducing me in a blue dress made of mana!”
“What kind of bullshit are you spouting, you crazy bastard? Anyway... there’s nothing else here. What do we do? Search some more, or go back?”
“This is seriously so unfair.”
The egg had been there moments ago.
Then it disappeared when I destroyed the spatial magic.
What the hell was going on?
I asked Iing Iing, the GOAT of detection, too.
“Iing Iing. Do you sense anything?”
“Iing? Iing iing.”
Iing Iing shook her head.
Even Iing Iing said no.
I let out a long sigh.
“My dragon...”
I was sad as hell.
I had imagined becoming a Dragon Rider and soaring through the blue sky on a dragon’s back.
It had only been a midsummer night’s dream!
While I stood there disappointed and dejected...
Screeeech!
Screeeech!
Monster cries rang out in the distance.
When I turned, a flock of Wyverns was moving in a great swarm.
There had not been a single Wyvern in sight until just now.
With the spatial magic gone, they seemed to be sensing the change and revealing themselves one by one.
I gripped my staff.
“I was already in a bad mood, so this is perfect. You Wyverns! Become sacrifices for me to vent my anger on! Die!!!”
BOOOOM!
BOOOOM!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
[Baek Jiho (Republic of Korea: Floor 49)]
[You have completed Tower Floor 49.]
[You have defeated 6,667 Wyverns (3,000).]
[Points are being calculated.]
[Tower Floor 50 has been unlocked.]
[Returning.]
I vented my anger on the Wyverns, repaired the wall, and returned to reality.
In the end, I had not obtained the Dragon egg.
Still, it had been a run where I earned a decent amount of Points.
* * *
Right after returning to reality, I immediately opened my status window.
[Baek Jiho (Republic of Korea: Floor 50)]
[20,001,000 Points]
What I saw was an enormous amount of Points, a full twenty million!
My chest swelled with majesty.
“Twenty million!!! Twenty million! To think the tens-of-millions digit changed in just one day! Amazing!!!”
“Holy shit... Thirteen million was already insane yesterday. Now it’s twenty million? This is seriously impossible, fuck...”
“It’s me.”
Choi Yejin let out a hollow laugh beside me.
She had gotten somewhat used to the Points I had been earning lately.
But even she seemed dumbfounded by the overwhelming figure of twenty million.
It made sense.
Honestly, I had not expected to earn this many Points either.
An additional income in the tens of millions in one day?
This drive vastly exceeded the creator’s expectations.
I muttered quietly.
“But twenty million... What a shame.”
“What do you mean, a shame? Isn’t twenty million a fucking huge amount? Aren’t you being too greedy?”
“That’s not it. I just suddenly thought of North Korea.”
“...North Korea?”
Choi Yejin looked puzzled at my words.
Like the ordinary person she was, she clearly did not understand my love for humanity.
I wore a sad expression and spoke quietly.
“If North Korea hadn’t collapsed, I could have saved all the people of the Korean Peninsula by saving North Korea too, beyond King Korea...! To think North Korea went completely to hell before I could save it... How truly regrettable...”
“This bastard is so random. Why are you suddenly talking about North Korea now...?”
“Silence!!! Do you have no love for your people, Ms. Yejin?”
North Koreans were Korean people too!
People of the same ethnicity had to be saved!
Even if I had not been able to save them!
As I bickered with Ms. Yejin...
“Iing!”
Poro-rong.
Iing Iing flew cheerfully through the air.
Maybe it was because I had rebuilt the collapsed Wall-Iing Iing bigger and grander before returning.
There was no trace of the sadness she had shown when the wall had fallen. She was bright and energetic again.
As long as Iing Iing was smiling, that was enough.
Even without a dragon, I had Iing Iing.
With Iing Iing here, I did not need some dragon!
I spoke to Ms. Hyeji.
“Ms. Hyeji. Take out that piece of wall rubble we brought back earlier. It’s the remains of Wall-Iing Iing Mark I, so let’s set it up in the yard like a memorial.”
“You’re going to decorate the yard with a rock? I think Jiye will have something to say about that...”
“Just think of it as a landscaping stone.”
“Ugh. I don’t know.”
Ms. Hyeji sighed and opened her Spatial Bag.
Thud!
A heavy fragment of the city wall fell onto the living room floor.
Come on, be more careful.
The marble floor could crack.
Then, right at that moment.
Plop. Roll...
From inside the Spatial Bag that the fragment had been taken from, an unfamiliar object fell out and began rolling across the living room floor.
It was a round bead the size of my fist.
A transparent crystal sphere, filled with beautiful red and black scattered light that flickered like flames.
“? What’s this?”
I blinked and picked up the sphere from the floor.
A crystal ball with vivid red scattered light inside.
Where had this come from?
I turned to Ms. Hyeji.
“Ms. Hyeji. What’s this? When did you pick something like this up?”
“Huh? I didn’t put anything in there except that wall fragment...”
“?”
Then what was this?
Ms. Hyeji tilted her head and peered at the crystal ball in my hand.
Perhaps something had come to mind, because she spoke quietly.
“Mr. Jiho. Doesn’t this remind you of when we got Iing Iing a long time ago? Iing Iing came out of a crystal ball like this too.”
“Iing? Iing!”
Poro-rong.
Perhaps curious because she had been mentioned, Iing Iing flew over and perched on top of the crystal ball.
Ms. Hyeji continued.
“Could this be some kind of egg too? Oh, come to think of it, Mr. Jiho, you kept looking for some Dragon egg, right? Could this be it?”
“Come on. No way.”
I snorted at Ms. Hyeji’s words.
This fist-sized crystal ball was a Dragon egg?
Impossible.
“The Dragon Egg I saw earlier was the size of a side-by-side refrigerator. There’s no way such a huge egg shrank down into a little glass bead the size of my fist, right?”
“Really? Still, you never know. It’s some unknown object from the Tower.”
“Well, even if it’s not a dragon, it could be another fairy egg. Nice, Iing Iing. You might get a younger sibling.”
“Iing?! Iing iing iing!”
Iing Iing shook her head vigorously.
It seemed Iing Iing did not want a younger sibling.
Could she be jealous because she thought she would have to share my love?
Don’t worry, Iing Iing.
Even if another fairy appeared, my love would never change!
Anyway.
“Today’s climbing is over, so now it’s about time...”
“You’re going on Hunter Gallery?”
“Of course!”
It was time for my post-climbing routine!
Click!
I raised my smartphone, took a photo, and quickly wrote a post.
[Post Title: (Info) How to Clear Floor 49!]
[Author: Blue Dot]
(Photo of a rock with one smooth cut surface)
A Hunter who is not a newbie...
Today I went to Floor 49.
As soon as I got there, I saw my proud Extreme Lunatic Hell City.
It had two walls around it, and the people were living peacefully inside. Seeing it made me so proud.
But then there was suddenly a boom.
And Wall-Iing Iing came crashing down!!!
Iing Iing started crying when the wall collapsed...
It made me so angry...
So I immediately searched north.
When I got there, there was some kind of spatial barrier set up, and spatial slashes kept flying out and wrecking the surrounding terrain.
Turns out those spatial slashes were what hit my city wall and broke it...
Pretty damn outrageous, right?
So I did this and that, figured out the spatial magic, and broke Kyoka Suigetsu!
I even got a lead on spatial magic while I was at it.
I might be able to use spatial magic soon.
Later, I might use Spatial Leap magic to flash around east and west like I know miraculous movement arts.
Magic 3.0 is a little difficult.
But with the intellectual brain of this Korea University magic studies PhD, I’ll surely be able to use it someday!
Anyway, today’s income!
6,667 Wyverns killed...
20,001,000 Points...
Total income: 200 billion and 10 million won!!!
My daily income has finally surpassed twenty million Points!
Even after saving King Korea, I’m earning this much...
Soon, I may be able to save the whole world!
Just wait a little longer!
I’ll save all humanity across the entire world!
Oh right, the way to clear Floor 49 is just to kill all the Wyverns.
Later.
...
The moment I posted it, comments came flooding in.
└Saving the world beyond King Korea. Big Dot’s ambitions are as spirited as ever today. It’s nice to see you dream big.
└Hello. This is FFF Daily. We would like to request an interview.
└What the hell is spatial magic now?
└Miraculous movement arts? General King Dot is gonna flash in the east, flash in the west, pinecone grenades~
└You didn’t post a photo yesterday, so why is it a rock photo today? Hahaha.
└Dude, you only killed Wyverns again? I can’t even imagine how much you hate Wyverns.
└└He says he’s running a Four Pests Campaign because he’s post-Mao Zedong.
└└Aah, Blue Dot! The Four Pests Campaign is fine, but please don’t start a Great Leap Forward!!!
└Twenty million, wow hahaha. This is absurd.
└For real. I doubted my eyes and read it as two million. Twenty million? Does that even make sense?
└└Do you still doubt Lord King Dot? How dare you doubt Shining Blue Dot, who saved our country... Silence!!!
└└No, fuck, I believe him. It’s just that seeing the number makes reality feel weird...
└└Is this really the same country that used to sell off every company, technology, and Hunter because we had no Points? My chest swells with majesty...
└But what is Magic 3.0? Where did 1.0 and 2.0 go?
└└Blue Dot: 1.0 is a flat array, 2.0 is a three-dimensional array, and 3.0 is a hyper-dimensional thing that folds and interlocks all by itself. This is a theory personally established by me, a Korea University magic studies PhD. Take notes.
└└That Korea University doctorate thing, hahaha. He must really like it. He has been making PhD jokes since yesterday.
└└Doctor! If I go to Korea University’s Department of Magic Studies, can I see gender-swapped Malfoy?
└└Like that would happen.
└└Gryffindor gets one hundred trillion points!!!!!!!!!!
...
Comments continued to pour in.
I muttered quietly.
“What the hell is gender-swapped Malfoy? Is that a new meme? Seriously, memes these days make my head spin...!”
This was why internet demons were a problem.
They had removed a perfectly fine character’s dick...!
What a cruel meme.
Had I become an old geezer now? Sometimes it was hard to keep up with current memes.
As I scrolled down through the comments, a few in particular caught my attention.
└But if he cleared Floor 49, isn’t he on the same floor as David, the current world number one?
└└Yeah, that’s right. America’s elite team was the only group in the world to reach Floor 50.
└└Then if Blue Dot clears Floor 50 tomorrow, does that mean he’ll be the undisputed world number one???
└└Come to think of it, yeah. The world’s number one Hunter coming from Korea? My chest swells with majesty again...
└Come on, there’s no way he clears it in one day. Even America’s top Hunter dream team got torn apart on Floor 50.
└└Right. Floor 50 is a boss floor. It’s on a completely different level. David lost arms and legs there, and half his team died.
└└Blue Dot, be careful tomorrow... I know you’re amazing, but nobody has cleared Floor 50 yet.
└└America failed to clear it and came away traumatized, so don’t push yourself tomorrow. Just test the waters. You know there’s a Return Portal, right? Run immediately if it gets dangerous.
└Hahaha, why are these people worrying about King Dot for no reason?
└└Our Shining Blue Dot hyung will clear Floor 50 in one day tomorrow too, guaranteed.
└└Exactly. At this time tomorrow, he’s obviously going to post, “A Hunter who is not a newbie... Today I went to Floor 50. The boss was so scary. So I just killed it T_T,” hahaha.
└└I’m booking my future shrine visit.
└└Let’s go, Blue Dot! Time to claim world number one!!!
The comments were a mixture of worry and concern, expectations and encouragement.
I smiled with satisfaction.
“Hehe... World number one.”
I rolled the words lightly around in my mouth.
World number one.
Number one.
Humanity’s strongest.
The peak!
“Those are some titles overflowing with style!”
David, Yankees, Chinks, Europeans, and Russkies.
A wall of despair that no one in this world had been able to overcome.
The day I shattered that wall in one blow and stood at the top of the world was near!
I imagined it.
After clearing Floor 50.
The regular London conference where this body, now the world’s number one Hunter, would descend.
Torumph would congratulate me, Jang Daehan would be moved, and countless ordinary people across the world would praise, revere, and admire me.
It would be the stage for my global coming-out!
I was so excited that I could not bear it...!
I raised my staff.
“It is time for Extreme Lunatic Hell Number One!”
Tomorrow was Floor 50.
The boss floor.
Footnotes:
“Break, Kyoka Suigetsu” references Bleach. The pinecone grenade joke parodies North Korean propaganda tropes. “Gender-swapped Malfoy” and the Gryffindor points joke reference Harry Potter fandom.
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