I'm the Only Wizard Climbing the Tower - Chapter 29

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B.

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 29: 029

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The Fireball carved a red trail through the air.

It struck right in the middle of the Orc group.

-KABOOOOOM...!

An explosion erupted.

The Orcs were torn apart and sent flying. A mist of blood burst outward, limbs scattering in every direction.

The muscle-pig bastards who had mocked me just moments ago were smashed to pieces in an instant.

-Kuwoooock!

-Kyaaaak!

The Orcs screamed as they rolled around on the ground.

A few had luckily survived.

The ones who used their comrades as shields, or quickly dropped flat to save their own lives.

-Work! Work!

-Uwooooo!

They fled in a panic, faces filled with shock.

Of course, I had no intention of letting them get away so easily.

-Thud! Thud! Thud!

All I had to do was put some nice air holes through the backs of their heads.

Thud. Splat. Flop.

The Orcs who had been desperately running away collapsed where they stood like puppets with their strings cut.

Silence fell in an instant.

I shouted, “You balloon-muscled bastards! Do I still look skinny to you now?!”

“Jiho, did they get under your skin?”

“Get under my skin? Not at all. Why would you think I was upset when I’m proud of my intellectual, refined wizard’s physique?”

“They definitely got under your skin.”

No, they really didn’t!

Anyway, my first encounter with Orcs was over.

I looked at their corpses scattered across the ground and muttered, “You third-rate martial artists who only trained external arts... How dare you insult this body that has reached the peak realm. Pay for that crime with your lives and Points.”

A brief martial arts lesson here.

If a muscular extra picked a fight in a martial arts novel, there was a 95 percent chance they were a pathetic third-rate martial artist.

That was because martial artists who only trained external arts were weak nobodies.

Then the protagonist, with an ordinary build but internal energy, would easily suppress the muscular extra they had gotten into a dispute with.

The people watching would be shocked and impressed.

It was a common martial arts novel cliché.

And Hyeji was standing beside me right now.

I glanced at her and asked, “Hyeji. Isn’t it impressive? I have an ordinary build, yet I defeated those huge, muscular Orcs.”

“You didn’t defeat them. You completely disassembled them... Please wait a moment. I’ll collect the loot.”

Na Hyeji calmly raised her grabber and collected the Orc axes one by one.

Hm. As expected, Hyeji wasn’t impressed.

Normally, the people around you were supposed to praise you and talk you up.

She had gotten used to my magic before I knew it.

Anyway.

Orcs...

‘I want to get to Floor 15 soon.’

Floors 11 through 14 only had ordinary Orcs.

But Orc Shamans appeared from Floor 15 onward.

In other words, true martial artists who could even wield internal energy would begin appearing from Floor 15, rather than pathetic third-rate martial artists who only trained external arts!

I clenched my fist.

“Masters and seniors watching from the heavens! Please watch over me! I will win my duel against an Orc Shaman and raise our sect’s honor!”

I, Baek Jiho.

After passing through Floor 10, which had been full of seniors, I had finally arrived on Floor 11.

I had left the warm embrace of my sect and taken my first step into the martial world.

In other words.

‘My first step into the martial world!’

And when a protagonist in a martial arts novel first entered the martial world, wasn’t it practically the rule for them to get caught up in all sorts of incidents and go around defeating dojo after dojo?

I, too, planned to follow the example of martial arts novel protagonists and go on a journey of duels.

If I killed countless Orc Shamans and stole all their secret martial arts...

The prestige of our Goblin Sect would rise high!

“Jiho. What fantasy are you having now?”

“I’m thinking about raising the sect’s honor.”

“...”

Hyeji clicked her tongue, but I ignored her.

Ordinary people couldn’t understand the world of martial artists.

As a righteous hero who protected the common people and upheld order, I would generously understand her ignorance.

The Floor 11 clear continued after that.

It was easy.

“There’s an Orc village over there!”

Na Hyeji called out as she pointed somewhere.

After walking for about ten minutes in the direction the Orc hunting party had come from, we found a small village.

There were around ten crude huts standing there.

Orcs were tearing meat apart beside a bonfire.

“I’ll take care of this right away.”

I fired ten Fireballs at once.

And that was the end of it.

-KABABABABABOOOM...!

All ten huts exploded at the same time.

Building debris and chunks of Orc flesh soared high into the sky.

Drip, drip...

Blood and debris rained down.

Once the Orc village had been completely wrecked, a bright cluster of light appeared amid the ruins.

It was an Escape Portal.

The Orc village on Floor 11 had been reduced to ashes in an instant with a few taps of Fireball.

There were no enemies left.

“Hyeji. Please gather the loot.”

“Okay.”

Na Hyeji picked through the debris with her grabber.

After collecting all the loot, we headed for the Escape Portal.

[Baek Jiho (Republic of Korea: Floor 11)]

[You have completed Tower Floor 11.]

[You have defeated 53 Orcs (10).]

[Points are being calculated.]

[Tower Floor 12 has been unlocked.]

[Returning.]

I had cleared Floor 11.

It had been far too easy.

* * *

After returning to reality, I immediately checked my status window.

[Baek Jiho (Republic of Korea: Floor 12)]

[530 Points]

The number 530 appeared.

I clicked my tongue.

“Clearing it in about thirty minutes was nice, but there were way too few Points. Maybe because it’s the start of the Middle Floors, there aren’t enough monsters.”

Floor 11, the beginning of the Middle Floors.

Maybe it was intended to let Climbers encounter Orcs for the first time and get some practice in.

There were far too few Orcs.

Only 53 of them.

I had earned just 530 Points.

“Only 530 Points. What am I supposed to do with this...?”

I had consistently earned thousands of Points on Floors 9 and 10, the previous two floors.

Yet my Point income had suddenly dropped to less than a quarter on Floor 11...

Hyeji looked at me like I was ridiculous.

“That’s only strange because it’s you, Jiho. Who earns thousands of Points on the Lower Floors?”

“There’s one right here.”

Anyway, the Tower was so stingy.

If it wasn’t going to include elite monsters like Orc Warriors or Orc Shamans, it could at least give us plenty of regular monsters.

Was it trying to save on material costs or something? It only put in 53.

What terrible service.

That wasn’t how you kept customers.

It was going to lose all its regulars like this!

“Anyway. Today’s climbing is over, so it’s about time...”

“Are you going on Hunter Gallery again?”

“Of course.”

-Click!

I took a picture of the Orc axes stored in a ramen box.

Then I quickly made a post.

[Post Title: Newbie Cleared Floor 11 Today...]

[Author: Blue Dot]

(Photo of Orc axes in a ramen box)

Newbie went to Floor 11 today.

Just like I heard, Orcs came out.

They had way too many muscles and looked gross...

So I just killed them all ...

I killed 53 Orcs and collected 53 axes.

One axe is worth about 300,000 won, right?

Normally they take half in tax, so it would be 150,000 each.

But I got tax benefits after becoming a Middle Floors Hunter, so they don’t take any tax now lol.

So good lololol.

You guys should hurry up and come to the Middle Floors too. No tax here.

My total earnings today came to 21.2 million won.

Ah... I reached the Middle Floors and even got tax benefits.

Why did I earn way less than on Floors 9 and 10?

I need to move up fast and kill lots of Orcs.

There are too few Orcs, it’s not satisfying ...

└Hey, you didn’t post yesterday, so I thought you left the gallery. You’re still alive?

└└Blue Dot: I took a day off from climbing yesterday to register as a Middle Floors Hunter. I’m climbing the Tower every day from today on.

└└What the hell is Middle Floors registration...

└I’m getting attached to that yellow floor mat after seeing it so often... I don’t know if you’re really a Hunter, but if you are, move already. The dirt smell is intense.

└└Blue Dot: I’m moving after I save more money.

└└How much have you saved?

└└Blue Dot: I’ve earned around 400 million won so far... But I recently bought a car, so I have about 300 million left.

└└Look at how specific those numbers are... How immersed are you in this concept?

└If you’re really in the Middle Floors, why aren’t you immediately immigrating to Japan? The fact that you reached the Middle Floors and still haven’t immigrated proves you’re a liar doing a concept.

└└Blue Dot: I’m going to earn lots of Points and save our country, so why would I immigrate?

└└You’re going to earn Points and save the country? Your ambition alone is Hard-rank Hunter level lol.

└└Blue Dot: Hard...? Don’t insult me.

└└?

As I warmly exchanged comments with the gallery users again today, Na Hyeji, who had been watching, clicked her tongue.

“How long are you planning to keep doing that Hunter Gallery thing?”

“Until I get tired of it.”

“When will you get tired of it?”

“How would I know?”

Once I found something that gave me more dopamine than Hunter Gallery.

Wouldn’t I quit around then?

‘For example, causing chaos on HunterNet.’

For now, I was only a low-level newbie in the Middle Floors...

So all I could do was anonymously stir things up on Hunter Gallery.

But once I reached around Floor 40, I would be able to openly reveal my real name and cause chaos on HunterNet.

Just thinking about Easy-rank, Normal-rank, and Hard-rank nobodies trembling over my bait made my mouth water.

I wanted to reach Floor 40 quickly and stir things up on HunterNet.

Anyway.

My routine for the day was done.

‘Are there any interesting posts?’

I left my post and checked the latest post list.

Then.

“Huh?”

The gallery was on fire over a new topic.

[Breaking) America Failed to Clear Floor 50]

[The Yankees got utterly destroyed lololol. Floor 50? Not a chance.]

[America failed the clear after selling Points at insane prices. Am I the only one who thinks it serves them right?]

[David Seriously Injured, Lost Limbs]

[Wow, Floor 50 must be insanely hard. Even America’s dream team failed.]

[Won’t China and Russia catch up at this rate?]

[They recruited all the Normal-rank and Hard-rank Hunters in the world, and still failed?]

...

“America failed to clear Floor 50?”

America.

It had maintained first place in Tower progress among all countries.

It used enormous wealth to recruit Hunters from overseas.

Combined with its macho culture and a social atmosphere that valued heroes.

Just as it had before the Tower appeared, it had retained its status as a superpower even seven years after the Tower’s arrival.

Yet America seemed to have failed to clear Floor 50.

I read one of the noticeable posts.

[Post Title: Breaking) America Failed to Clear Floor 50]

This news just came out.

Apparently America failed Floor 50 horribly.

Five of the ten Hunters sent in died.

The other five barely survived after using the Return Portal.

For reference, David, the world’s number one Hunter, supposedly lost an arm and a leg.

They say he barely survived because his teammates sacrificed themselves...

Anyway, America is probably taking a huge hit.

They lost five former Hard-rank Hunters who had reached Floor 49.

Could China or Russia really overtake them now?

└David lost an arm and a leg? Doesn’t that mean he has to retire as a Hunter?

└└It’s America, not some other country. They probably have a complete recovery potion... One bottle regrows severed limbs and organs, so he’ll be normal again. It’s just insanely expensive.

└└Oh right, there was an artifact like that, wasn’t there?

└Doesn’t America have around 60 former Hard-rank Hunters? I don’t think only five dying would be that huge of a loss.

└└The people sent in this time were a carefully selected elite dream team even among those 60 Hard-rank Hunters...

└└Floor 50 must really be insanely hard if America’s best got torn apart like this.

└America really is amazing, though. Korea is barely hanging on because it can’t even clear Floor 41, while those guys are trying Floor 50...

└└Korea only has two former Hard-rank Hunters to begin with;;; You need a party of ten to clear from Floor 41 onward, so what can they do with only two...

└└The fact is, there’s only one now, not two... Kim Taeseok has been isolated for three weeks... Am I the only one who feels there’s no hope of rescuing him anymore?

└└Don’t say that! Taeseok will come back alive and proud!

...

“I can’t believe America got stopped at Floor 50.”

I suddenly became curious.

What could possibly be on Floor 50 for even America’s top-tier team to fail so horribly?

I made a quick question post.

[Post Title: What’s on Tower Floor 50?]

[Author: Blue Dot]

America has some pretty strong people, right?

Then what killed half the party?

Curious.

└That’s probably an American state secret, so how would we know?

└From Floor 41 onward, it’s large monster floors with Trolls, Ogres, and Wyverns. Maybe some huge monster showed up.

└America’s Floor 49 team could instantly kill an Ogre, so I am curious what got them too.

...

As expected.

No one knew what America’s elite team had faced.

Well, that was only natural.

Information about clearing Floor 50 would be a national secret.

It made no sense for ordinary internet users to know it.

As I read the comments.

One comment suddenly caught my eye.

└Could it be a Dragon? Floors from 41 onward have large species like Ogres, Trolls, and Wyverns, and Floor 50 is a boss floor. It wouldn’t be strange if a Dragon, the symbol of large species, appeared there.

“A Dragon?”

It sounded quite plausible.

From Floor 41 onward were large species floors.

Trolls, Ogres, Wyverns, and more.

They were floors where large species, with body lengths of five to ten meters, mainly appeared.

If the boss of such large species floors was there.

It wouldn’t be strange for an incredible monster like a Dragon to appear.

...Or would it?

Was a Dragon going too far?

‘But if a Dragon really appears, could I learn magic from it?’

What was a Dragon?

In countless fantasy novels, it was described as an existence that far surpassed ordinary lifeforms.