WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B.

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 60: 060

──────

Early that morning.

While eating soybean paste soup with my sister, I stared at the iron box in one corner of the living room.

A grin spread across my face.

"Hehe. I've officially become a million-volt electric rat. From now on, this body will be responsible for our country's electricity."

"Jiho, what is that thing?"

"It's a Magic Stone Reactor. Make Korea Great Again! The Extreme Lunatic Hell Power Plant is about to begin operations!"

"...I don't know what that means, but I guess it's good. Congratulations?"

I'd obtained a Magic Stone Reactor!

The day I would take responsibility for the Republic of Korea's energy security truly wasn't far off!

Then a question occurred to me.

"They said its generating capacity is 1 GW, right? How much electricity is that, exactly?"

I didn't know anything about electricity.

How could I know anything about power generation?

I'd have to ask the collective intelligence.

Help me, Hunter Gallerymon!

I immediately made a post.

[Post Title: Guys, how much electricity does our country use?]

[Author: Blue Dot]

If the artifact I found is a Magic Stone Reactor,

that means it can produce electricity, right?

How many Magic Stone Reactors would I need to save Korea's energy security?

I'd like to find enough Magic Stone Reactors to generate all our electricity,

but I don't know how many I need...

└Why are you asking Hunter Gallery that?

└Are you still doing that electricity bill concept, you idiot?

└This concept is pretty persistent, Blue Dot...

└Ask the Korea Electric Power Corporation!

...

Useless comments poured in.

I clicked my tongue.

"You stupid Hunter Gallery bastards! As the Extreme Lunatic Hell Wizard Hunter, I wish to save this country's energy security, industry, and economy! Yet rather than supporting me, all you do is mock me!"

"Jiho, don't look at your phone while you're eating."

"How tragic! Common rabble truly are...!"

Well, I hadn't expected much anyway.

All they did was brag about making money off the Tower or complain about Hunters. What would they know about electricity?

I'd get a more accurate answer by asking on a related forum rather than Hunter Gallery.

Just as I was about to close it...

└The one you posted is a small Magic Stone Reactor, so its capacity is around 1 GW. The combined generating capacity of every power plant in our country is roughly 150 GW.

└But that 150 GW includes things like wind and solar power, which have low operating times. Gas power plants are also turned on and off, then only used briefly during peak hours, so actual generating capacity is much lower.

└Peak summer electricity demand in Korea is 100 GW. A Magic Stone Reactor would probably have around a 90% operating rate... Even accounting for grid distribution, 120 should be enough to cover Korea's entire electricity demand.

└└Why are you seriously answering this? He's an attention seeker doing a concept. Don't waste your time lol.

└└I just happened to know about it, so I explained...

...

"Oh."

A helpful Hunter Gallery user had appeared.

What a surprise.

Anyway, the conclusion was...

"If I get 120 Magic Stone Reactors, I can meet the Republic of Korea's entire electricity demand?"

Should I stay on Floor 22 and farm reactors over and over?

After considering it, I shook my head.

"No. What's important right now is climbing floors quickly and earning lots of Points. At this rate, the country will collapse in two months."

If I had enough time, I could keep obtaining Magic Stone Reactors.

The method was simple too.

I just had to launch a Super-Fireball the moment I started.

But the Republic of Korea was only about two months away from collapse.

As the Extreme Lunatic Hell Wizard Hunter, I needed to quickly raise my floor and earn Points.

Otherwise, the country would really be destroyed.

I had no choice but to decide.

"Construction on the Extreme Lunatic Hell Power Plant is suspended for now... I guess I'll farm Magic Stone Reactors after reaching the Highest Floors."

"Jiho, stop looking at your phone while you eat. It's rude."

"Okay, sis."

My sister could be kind of old-fashioned sometimes.

Who didn't look at their phone while eating these days...?

I finished breakfast.

As expected, nothing beat a warm, savory bowl of soybean paste soup in the morning.

Today was Floor 23.

* * *

After breakfast, I called SSS-rank porter Na Hyeji and Iing Iing.

"Hyeji-ssi, I transferred 118.2 million won. Please buy Iing Iing some snacks."

-Iing Iing!

"...I feel guilty making money this easily. I just went into the Tower for a little while, and I'm getting over a hundred million won."

"If you know that, do your job properly."

"Yes...!"

First came the profit distribution.

Since I'd earned nearly 1.2 billion won yesterday, porter Hyeji-ssi received over a hundred million won herself.

Hyeji-ssi should consider it an honor.

To enjoy such luxury simply because she was beside the Extreme Lunatic Hell Wizard Hunter.

Then she suddenly asked.

"Jiho-ssi, why are we going to the Tower this morning? We usually go in the afternoon every day."

That was right.

Unlike usual, I intended to climb the Tower early in the morning instead of the afternoon.

There was a reason for it.

"I'm meeting Choi Yejin for a face-to-face fight this afternoon. I'm going to make a quick trip before then."

"Wow. Are you really meeting Hunter Choi Yejin? Can't you take me too?"

"Why?"

"She's a celebrity. I want to see her once too."

Hyeji-ssi seemed to be a fan of Hunter Choi Yejin.

In fact, it wasn't just Hyeji-ssi.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the entire nation was a fan.

Kim Taeseok and Choi Yejin.

Hard-rank Hunters who hadn't accepted the dazzling offers from overseas and had remained in their homeland until the end.

They were figures respected and admired by the entire nation.

"She's someone devoted to our country. I think it'd be an honor just to exchange a few words with her. Maybe I'll even get an autograph if I'm lucky?"

"You talk to someone far greater than some Hard-rank commoner every day. Consider it an honor."

"...Your personality is weird, Jiho-ssi. Talking to you drains all my energy."

"No, what's wrong with my personality?"

"..."

What slander and fabrication, claiming my personality was strange.

I couldn't forgive you, Na Hyeji.

I wouldn't take you to the site of my face-off with Choi Yejin.

Still, Choi Yejin...

'Looking at the Raid Team, that woman Choi Yejin seems a little crazy too.'

Hunters were naturally the type to have a screw or two loose.

And she had climbed all the way to the Highest Floors.

She had bled, struggled, and fought for years. There was no way her personality could be normal.

The odds were high that she was a little unhinged.

But that was fine.

I had plenty of craziness myself, didn't I?

I was confident I wouldn't lose in either combat ability or insanity!

"Choi Yejin, this is a challenge! Let's see who's stronger and crazier!"

"So you know you're crazy too, Jiho-ssi."

"Self-awareness is an essential quality for a wizard. Anyway, shall we get going soon?"

"Yes."

And so...

[Entering Tower Floor 23.]

The raid of Floor 23 began.

* * *

Flash!

The bright light faded.

I looked over the surroundings and muttered.

"Tower of Trials, Floor 23. An industrial complex."

Floor 23 was a kind of industrial complex floor.

Large and small factories were tangled together, with Golems roaming everywhere.

It was a maze map of sorts.

You had to move through the complicated complex, find the exit, and then locate the Escape Portal outside to clear it.

Of course, I had no intention of finding the way.

"Iing Iing, up!"

-Iing Iing!

Boing.

Relying on Iing Iing's telekinetic flight, I rose high into the air.

Why find a path when I could fly?

I looked down.

"There's a big building in the middle. Iing Iing, let's go over there."

"Are you going to use that Super-Fireball thing again?"

"Yes. It'd be a hassle to kill all the Golems wandering around one by one."

There were around 250 Golems roaming the vast industrial complex.

Most of them were gathered in the central section.

My mana pool was plentiful anyway, so I intended to drop Super-Fireballs on one or two places where the Golems had gathered.

My current mana pool was enough for roughly 800 Fireballs.

I could fire two Super-Fireballs, then use my remaining mana to launch 200 Fireballs.

Golems were sturdy enough that I didn't have to worry about damaging the loot.

It was nice being able to use Super-Fireballs freely.

"Good. A lot of Golems are gathered there. Come on, then!"

Dozens of Golems were gathered around a large factory in the exact center of the industrial complex.

I immediately prepared my magic.

-Fwoosh. Fwoosh! Fwoooosh!

A rapidly stacking mass of Fireballs.

-Rumble...!

Before long, a black Fireball was complete.

A Super-Fireball.

I murmured quietly.

"Are my magic skills improving? The time it takes to make a Super-Fireball keeps getting shorter."

It was a spell that had originally taken over a minute just to prepare.

Now, it took only around fifty seconds.

The more I used it, the faster my casting speed became.

Was actual combat the greatest source of experience?

It didn't seem like my skills improved this quickly when I practiced alone at home.

After taking down a Chinese submarine and blowing up Golem factories, my casting speed had visibly increased.

Maybe someday, I would be firing Super-Fireballs as casually as basic attacks.

Anyway.

-Whoooosh!

I fired the completed Super-Fireball.

A blinding flash burst forth right after.

-KWAAAAAAANG!

A massive explosion erupted.

A huge pillar of fire rose into the sky.

A billowing mushroom cloud formed.

The world turned red as a vast shockwave spread into the distance.

Sky and earth shook.

The blast wave came rushing in.

-Kwakakakakakakak!

"Aah!"

-Iing Iing!

"Tsk tsk. Such weaklings."

The familiar blast wave passed, and my vision cleared again.

Part of the industrial complex had been completely blown open.

A single Super-Fireball had erased factories large and small by the dozens!

Of course, I wasn't done yet.

"One more!"

-KWAAAAAAANG!

"Aah...!"

-Iing Iing Iing!

Another dense Golem area was erased.

Countless factories were swept away, and a radius of several hundred meters had been devastated.

I smiled pleasantly at the sight.

"That really clears the chest. This is Tower climbing, smashing everything to pieces in style!"

"You're probably the only person who climbs like this, Jiho-ssi..."

"That's why I'm special."

This was Extreme Lunatic Hell Tower climbing!

You advanced by smashing and destroying everything.

Struggling around while swinging a sword was what commoners did.

Anyway.

One Super-Fireball had destroyed an area with a radius of several hundred meters.

The area within a hundred-meter radius was completely wrecked, while buildings several hundred meters away had collapsed from the impact.

What level of firepower was that?

'Maybe it was equivalent to a hundred tons of TNT?'

It was weaker than a modern tactical nuclear weapon.

Still, it felt stronger than the largest aerial bombs.

Maybe it had firepower comparable to the nuclear artillery shells used during the Cold War?

Grrr!

It was frustrating.

"I still have a long way to go...! To think I still haven't caught up to a real tactical nuke!"

"No, this is already insane firepower..."

"Someday, I will overwhelm tactical nuclear weapons with sheer firepower!"

This much firepower came from the mana for 300 Fireballs.

So if I had a mana pool worth 3,000 Fireballs...

Wouldn't I be able to achieve the same power as a tactical nuclear weapon?

Or maybe not.

After that, I quickly dealt with the remaining Golems.

"Put the target in the center, and switch."

"Are you still doing that?"

"Put the target in the center..."

-KWANG!

-KWANG!

-KWANG!

I sniped the scattered Golems with Railguns.

For reference, I'd prepared separate projectiles.

I had my sister, my manager, commission a Hunter equipment workshop to make hundreds of 100-gram steel balls.

Steel balls were fairly cheap.

They were nothing more than Tower iron melted down and molded into spheres.

Thanks to that, I probably wouldn't have to waste precious Orc axeheads by launching them with excessive firepower anymore.

-KWANG!

-Thud.

The last Golem fell.

I called out brightly.

"Cleanup complete! Hyeji-ssi, let's collect the loot and leave."

"Okay. But can't you take me with you when you meet Hunter Choi Yejin after today's climb?"

"No. I have no intention of turning a sacred arena of battle into a spectacle."

"Ahh, please..."

"Go collect the loot already."

"Jiho-ssiii."

"Ugh."

The moment I said I was going to meet Choi Yejin after climbing, Hyeji-ssi started acting cute and begging me like this.

She really seemed desperate to meet Choi Yejin, the idol of the masses.

I clicked my tongue.

"Why do you want to meet some commoner that badly... Sigh. If you collect the loot quickly, I'll consider it once. So hurry up and pick it up."

"Yes! Got it. Iing Iing, let's go!"

-Iing Iing!

Boing.

Hyeji-ssi hurried to collect the loot with Iing Iing.

Seriously. Did she like Choi Yejin that much?

Then again, I'd heard a lot of women admired her in secret.

Some kind of girl crush, apparently.

Anyway, my spar with Choi Yejin...

I clenched my fist.

"Come at me, Choi Yejin. I'll take you on with manager martial arts!"

The various martial arts I'd trained on Floor 21 had given me some confidence.

As I was now, even a Floor 41 climber from Hard-rank wouldn't defeat me easily!

I had to show her the overwhelming strength of a strength mage.

Just as I was preparing myself for my spar with Choi Yejin...

"Jiho-ssi!"

Boing.

Hyeji-ssi approached with Iing Iing.

Confused, I asked.

"Are you already done collecting the loot? How badly do you want to meet Choi Yejin that..."

"No, that's not it. There's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

"Um... You know the artifact we found yesterday? That Magic Stone Reactor thing?"

"Yes."

The moment I heard the words Magic Stone Reactor, my stomach twisted.

I needed to gather 120 of them to provide cheap electricity to the citizens of this country.

Yet I was forced to grit my teeth and keep climbing the Tower because Points were urgent...!

I would probably start seriously thinking about building a power plant once I reached Floor 42.

There, I could earn lots of Points and farm Magic Stone Reactors too.

I had no choice but to put off building the power plant until later...

As I swallowed my disappointment, Hyeji-ssi continued.

"We found several of them. There are two that we've found so far... and there might be more if we look carefully."

"?"

What?

I heard Magic Stone Reactors were incredibly valuable.

Then why were they appearing everywhere?

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried