WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B.

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Chapter 22: 022

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As the glow faded, I slowly looked around.

The first thing I saw was a vast rocky desert.

The terrain around us was fairly flat, and jagged rocky mountains stood in the distance.

The closer one got to those mountains, the more monsters appeared.

I turned and looked behind me.

'Just like they said, there's a small stone tower next to the Return Portal.'

The Return Portal stood behind me.

Beyond it was a small stone tower about two stories tall.

Above the tower floated a number.

[2000]

Na Hyeji and I had entered Floor 8 together.

We needed to earn 2,000 Points for the two of us before the stone tower's doors would open and reveal the Escape Portal.

Floor 8 of the Tower of Trials.

A floor that demanded 1,000 Points per person.

One thousand... It was an odd number.

'The average amount of Points one Hunter needs to earn is exactly 1,000.'

One out of every thousand people became a Hunter.

If every Hunter earned at least 1,000 Points, Points would never run out.

And Floor 8's clear condition was earning exactly 1,000 Points...

The intent was painfully obvious.

'It's telling Hunters to at least pull their own weight.'

If the previous floors had all taught lessons about combat, then Floor 8 was a floor meant to instill a sense of responsibility.

By deliberately displaying the number 1,000, it emphasized that every person had to earn at least that many Points each month.

It was like a kind of climber indoctrination.

I stared blankly at the number above the stone tower.

'If every Hunter in our country earned 1,000 Points every month, we wouldn't be facing extinction like this.'

But reality was a cesspit.

Most Hunters had settled on the Lower Floors and could barely earn a few hundred Points.

As many as ten thousand Hunters were not working due to injuries or other reasons.

The overwhelming majority of Hunters were practically dead weight.

As a result, the few thousand Hunters on the Middle Floors and above were carrying most of the country's Point burden.

The Republic of Korea was scheduled to be destroyed in three months.

As I stood there blankly staring at the number above the stone tower, Hyeji asked beside me.

"What are you thinking about with such a serious expression?"

"How our country is doomed because of inactive Hunters like you, Hyeji."

"...You leave me with nothing to say when you put it like that."

Maybe she did feel guilty about it, because Na Hyeji shrank into herself.

I snickered.

"I'm joking. Why are you curling up like that?"

"No... If you call someone an inactive Hunter these days, they could actually get pelted with rocks. Do you know how terrifying the soldiers looked when I was detained?"

"Oh dear. Did you get trauma from being detained or something?"

"Of course I was scared. They pointed guns at me and threatened me into entering the Tower right away..."

Three months before the destruction of the Republic of Korea.

People were filled with resentment and anger toward reserve Hunters.

But I knew.

'Inactive Hunters and Lower Floor cash-farming Hunters weren't the only problem.'

Inactive Hunters and Hunters who parked themselves on the Lower Floors were only part of the problem.

There were many others.

In the Tower's early days, public opinion and the government had neglected domestic Hunters after getting hooked on cheap Points bought from developing countries.

Hundreds of Normal-rank Hunters had left the country.

Hunters who pursued money over Points.

The public's irresponsible optimism.

Government incompetence.

Political conflict.

Schemes by other countries.

Those problems and many more had become tangled together...

And pushed us into this situation, right before extinction.

It was simply unfortunate.

"Come on. Let's go."

I strode north.

Jagged rocky mountains loomed in the distance.

* * *

Hyeji and I walked toward the rocky mountains in the north.

Na Hyeji asked with an uneasy expression.

"But... Are you sure we don't need to bring a cart? What about the loot?"

Na Hyeji had not brought a cart today.

That was because I told her not to.

Her bag only held a few sturdy sacks.

I answered her question.

"We don't need a cart. I don't plan to build a road and haul loot today."

"Why not?"

"I want to conserve mana and kill as many monsters as possible."

I did not plan to obsess over loot today.

I intended to kill as many monsters as I could.

After all...

"This is a hunting ground, right? It's not like the number of monsters is limited, so we don't need to carefully collect every single piece of loot. It might be more efficient to save the mana needed to make roads and kill more monsters instead."

The reason I had obsessed over loot on every floor until now was because the number of monsters was limited.

Once I killed every monster in sight, there would be nothing left to hunt.

That was why I had desperately tried to collect all the loot, even if I had to build roads.

But this place was a hunting ground.

As soon as one went a little deeper, all kinds of Goblins swarmed out in droves.

In a place where monsters were as plentiful as fish in water, it seemed more efficient to fire off another attack spell with that mana than build long temporary roads to transport loot.

Na Hyeji smiled brightly at my words.

"Wow! Then today won't be as hard as yesterday, right?"

"Who knows."

"...?"

"The bag and sacks you brought aren't just for decoration. Today might be even harder."

On Floor 7, I built roads, so all she had to do was push the cart.

Today, she was a pure porter.

She had to carry the bags herself.

Through those jagged rocky mountains, no less.

"Ah...!"

Na Hyeji's face darkened.

The thought of walking through jagged mountains with a heavy bag on her back must have made her feel suffocated.

We continued north.

The farther we went, the more often Goblins appeared.

-Kereruk!

-Kieeeeeek!

At first, they appeared only one or two at a time.

As we neared the rocky mountains, they began to roam in packs of five or ten.

Of course, they were no match for me.

-Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Every time I aimed my staff and fired an Air Bullet, Goblins fell with holes punched through their foreheads.

Na Hyeji asked curiously.

"But why aren't you using Fireball today?"

"Fireball is powerful, but it uses a lot of mana. If I want to kill as many as possible, it's better to focus on Air Bullets."

With the Blue Motes needed for one large Fireball, I could fire around two Wind Cutters or twenty Air Bullets.

Unless I killed more than twenty monsters at once, a large Fireball was less cost-effective in terms of Blue Motes than Air Bullet.

My goal today was to kill as many Goblins as possible with the Blue Motes I had.

Unless I found a tightly packed group of Goblins, I planned to refrain from using Fireball.

I gauged the amount of Blue Motes sleeping within my heart.

'I think I can use around 120 Fireballs right now... With this much, I could fire around 2,400 Air Bullets.'

That meant I could kill up to around 2,400 Goblins.

Two thousand four hundred Air Bullets.

It made me realize it again.

'Wizards are ridiculously overpowered.'

Using Air Bullet 2,400 times felt like carrying 2,400 bullets with a short range and little noise.

There was no recoil, and the shots hit almost without fail.

It was overwhelming killing power.

And I was only on Floor 8.

Would I be casting meteors or something later on?

'If this growth rate continues, becoming a national-level Wizard is guaranteed.'

The noble and great Extreme Lunatic Hell national-level Wizard Hunter, Baek Jiho.

Kuh...!

Seeing that long title made my chest swell with pride.

So this was why medieval nobles went around wearing so many titles.

Anyway, Hyeji and I continued onward until we reached the rocky mountains, then climbed the rugged terrain.

The Goblins became more numerous and varied.

There were not only ordinary Dagger Goblins.

Goblin Archers stood throughout the rocky mountains.

Goblin Warriors also appeared here and there.

-Kererer! Keruk!

-Kyaaaaaak!

-Kiik! Kiik!

They emerged one after another and charged at us in droves.

I mechanically put an Air Bullet into each of them.

-Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Dull bursts of air rang out one after another.

Each time, finger-sized holes opened in their foreheads, spraying blood and brains.

As I watched, I thought to myself.

'Fireball and Wind Cutter still feel the best to use.'

Air Bullet did not smash everything apart as satisfyingly as Fireball.

Nor did it slice through enemies cleanly like Wind Cutter.

It just made holes.

It felt refined and clean, but it was boring to watch.

Na Hyeji seemed to feel differently.

"Jiho! I wish you'd always kill them like this. I like not seeing their insides."

She was grinning from ear to ear.

Maybe she was especially happy today because she only had to see clean corpses without anything turning her stomach.

How outrageous, Na Hyeji.

How dare you reject my Wind Cutter and Fireball.

I wanted to demote her to an S-rank porter, but she had worked hard yesterday, so I let it slide.

After wandering around the rocky mountains and killing every Goblin we saw for some time, I discovered an unexpected advantage of Air Bullet.

'The Goblins don't run away. They charge at us instead, so hunting is incredibly easy.'

Normally, the Goblins fled in panic whenever they saw Fireball or Wind Cutter.

But Air Bullet was so small and subtle that it was hard to see.

They did not realize I was a Wizard and rushed at me in droves.

Thanks to that, I could draw out and kill the Goblins scattered throughout the rocky mountains as if I were herding them.

It was an advantage I had not considered.

How many had I killed by then?

"My mana is almost empty."

At some point, I realized that the Blue Motes in my heart had been greatly reduced.

When I estimated what remained...

Around 20 percent.

I did not know what could happen inside the Tower, and I needed enough mana to deal with Goblins on the way back.

It was time to withdraw.

"Let's head back to the starting point. Hyeji, pack as much loot as you can fit in your bags."

"Okay."

We stuffed as much of the loot scattered around us as possible into the bags and sacks.

Hyeji carried around sixty kilograms.

I carried around 170 kilograms.

I could have carried much more, but we did not have enough bags or sacks.

I should have brought more sacks.

We crossed the jagged rocky mountains again and returned to the starting point.

Sure enough.

[0]

The number floating above the stone tower had changed to zero.

Its entrance was open, revealing the Escape Portal.

All we had to do was enter it, and Floor 8 would be cleared.

"All right. Let's go home."

"Yes...!"

Together with the exhausted Na Hyeji, I jumped into the portal.

Flash!

A bright glow wrapped around us.

[Baek Jiho (Republic of Korea: Floor 8)]

[You have completed Tower Floor 8.]

[You have defeated 1,108 Goblins (1).]

[You have defeated 531 Goblin Archers (2).]

[You have defeated 329 Goblin Warriors (10).]

[Points are being calculated.]

[Tower Floor 9 has been unlocked.]

[Returning.]

I had killed 1,968 monsters in total.

* * *

The moment I returned, I immediately opened my status window.

'How many Points did I earn?'

I had slaughtered a whopping 1,968 Goblins today.

I would have been lying if I said I was not looking forward to the result.

But the moment I opened my status window, I could not help feeling disappointed.

[Baek Jiho (Republic of Korea: Floor 9)]

[5,460 Points]

"Huh? Only 5,460 Points?"

I had slaughtered nearly two thousand Goblins, yet I had not even earned six thousand Points.

But it made sense when I thought about it.

More than half of the Goblins I killed were one-point Dagger Goblins.

I had only killed a little over three hundred Goblin Warriors, which were the real gold mine.

Of course the Points would be around that much.

I pulled out a calculator and did the math.

"I only brought back 73 longswords and 39 daggers. That means... after taxes, the loot profit is 11.53 million won."

I had earned 5,460 Points.

The loot was worth 11.53 million won.

That made a total profit of 66.13 million won.

It was far more disappointing than I had expected.

'That makes the profit about the same as yesterday.'

I had earned 62 million won on Floor 7 yesterday.

Today was also around 60 million won.

Considering I had used almost all my mana, the profit was disappointing.

Tsk.

'My prediction was wrong.'

I thought slaughtering monsters with the mana I would have used to build roads would earn me much more.

Not at all.

If I had killed fewer monsters, saved mana, built roads, and used carts to collect all the loot instead, I calculated that I would have earned much more.

"Even if it's a hassle, I should make roads and transport as much loot as possible. It's not a difference of one or two won, it's a fifty percent difference."

As I got lost in greed and tried to decide how I would climb from now on, something suddenly came to mind.

'Responsibility.'

Floor 8's theme had been responsibility as a Hunter.

It openly displayed the number 1,000, which symbolized a Hunter's responsibility.

It was a floor that emphasized how the lives of the entire country depended on climbers.

But perhaps because I had just cleared that floor, the fact that I was thinking about profit from loot, which was nothing more than money, instead of Points that were practically the people's lives...

How should I put it?

'Am I... being too materialistic?'

It did not seem fitting for the noble and great Extreme Lunatic Hell Wizard Hunter.

My hand, which had been tapping away at the calculator, stopped.

Footnotes:

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