WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B.
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 65: 065
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Flash!
The brilliant glow subsided.
I raised my head and looked straight ahead.
What came into view was a massive fortress.
It was comparable in scale to the massive factory on Floor 22, but built far more solidly.
As I studied the fortress, I muttered softly.
“Floor 24 is the ‘City Outskirts Fortress’ floor.”
Just as it sounded, Floor 24 involved clearing an outer fortress that defended a city.
As many as three hundred Golems wandered inside that fortress. You had to avoid or destroy them, make your way through the complicated paths at the risk of your life, then find the Escape Portal deeper within the fortress.
Apparently, it was a very difficult floor for other Hunters.
They had to enter that Golem-infested fortress and fight their way through its maze-like paths. Of course it would feel dangerous and difficult.
For me, though, it was just another absurdly easy floor.
“Hyeji. Shall we finish this right away?”
“You're going to use Super-Fireball, right?”
“Of course. The Golems are all gathered in one place on this floor, so it's perfect for ending it in one shot.”
The more tightly packed the Golems were, the easier it was for me to clear the floor.
One Super-Fireball would wipe them all out!
I could probably clear this floor in ten minutes too.
“Now, Iing Iing. Up!”
“Iing!”
Bo-ro-rong.
We rose high into the sky.
The fortress spread out beneath us.
It was a pretty impressive fortress. Grand, sturdy stone walls, gun ports carved throughout them, and ruined cannons sticking out from those openings.
After staring at it for a moment, I prepared a Super-Fireball.
Whoosh. Whoosh! Whoooosh! Whoooooosh!
A cluster of Fireballs layered over one another.
The flames grew denser.
Their bright red glow gradually darkened, until they transformed into black flames.
Rumble...
A black Fireball hovered in my hand, giving off a solemn hum.
Super-Fireball.
Now, it only took thirty seconds to complete.
“Go.”
I threw the black Fireball.
And that was it.
Flash.
A brilliant light flooded my vision.
Kwoooooooong!
A massive explosion erupted.
The roar shook heaven and earth.
The world turned red.
A huge pillar of fire shot into the sky and formed a mushroom cloud.
The fortress caught in the colossal blast broke apart into countless fragments that scattered in every direction. A tremendous shockwave spread outward, followed by an aftershock.
Kwakwakwakwa!
A violent wave of force and dust rushed toward us.
Dust covered my entire field of vision.
Hyeji had already hidden behind me when she spoke softly.
“Jiho, I've figured out how to withstand the aftershock. The answer is hiding behind you.”
“Iing!”
“Wow. A porter using her employer as a shield?”
“Porters are supposed to hide behind people.”
“Iing...!”
Hyeji stayed tucked behind me.
After getting knocked around by the aftershock every time, she seemed to have developed her own know-how.
How shameless, Na Hyeji.
To use the Extreme Lunatic Hell Wizard Hunter as a human shield.
Still, Iing Iing clinging to the back of my coat was cute, so I let it slide. If it hadn't been for Iing Iing, she wouldn't have gotten away with it.
Ssssss...
The aftershock died down.
My vision cleared once more.
The sight before us was completely empty. The fortress that had stood there so firmly moments ago was gone, leaving behind nothing but heaps of fragments.
At the edge of that wreckage, a glowing light shone.
Only the Escape Portal remained.
I had erased the entire fortress and cleared Floor 24.
I clapped my hands.
“There. Floor 24 cleared! Let's hurry, collect the loot, and leave.”
“...Wow, but that's seriously too easy. You just cast one spell and cleared an entire floor, didn't you? Wizards really are broken.”
“You're the one with the easiest job, Hyeji, a fairy summoner who just clicks one button.”
“But I'm weak.”
“I don't know about that. Looking at Iing Iing's E-skill, I think you have quite a bit of potential.”
While we had that pointless argument over who had it easier, we collected the loot.
Which meant that my abusive employer, Na Hyeji, stood beside me holding the Spatial Bag while Iing Iing busily used telekinesis to carry loot like Magic Stones into it.
Summoners really were broken.
That was some incredible one-click power.
As I watched them gather the loot, Na Hyeji muttered quietly.
“But... I think we're collecting more Magic Stones than expected.”
“This is Floor 24, the City Outskirts Fortress floor. It's a floor where additional Magic Stone loot appears inside the fortress. Some of it must have survived.”
“Wow. Magic Stones survived that huge explosion? They weren't even embedded in Golems, and they still didn't break...”
“Seriously. Are Magic Stones tougher than I thought?”
The fortress had been shattered by Super-Fireball.
Yet the Magic Stone loot inside it remained intact.
Magic Stones seemed to be an extremely sturdy material.
Super-Fireball could tear apart stone and iron alike, but these had survived in perfect condition.
Thanks to that, it looked like we could collect around a hundred more Magic Stones than expected.
The higher I climbed, the more Magic Stones I would collect.
Eventually, there would be floors with mountains of extra Magic Stones from mines, refineries, and things like that.
There was more income besides that.
“Jiho. I found a Magic Stone Reactor. This one's bigger.”
“Bigger?”
“Yes. It's a little larger than the Magic Stone Reactors we've found before. Could this be a Medium Magic Stone Reactor?”
“Oh.”
We found a new kind of Magic Stone Reactor in the wreckage.
A Medium Magic Stone Reactor!
I'd heard it could produce ten times as much electricity as a Small Magic Stone Reactor.
Since this was a fairly large fortress, it must have been installed somewhere inside.
Magic Stone Reactors sure were common.
Was it really okay to find them this easily?
Anyway.
“Hehe. The day when I save the Republic of Korea's industry is drawing closer.”
I was climbing floors smoothly and gathering Magic Stone Reactors.
At this rate, it wasn't impossible to gather enough Magic Stone Reactors for 120 GW before Floor 30.
I'll clean out the Reactors from every floor and supply cheap electricity to the citizens of the Republic of Korea!
And then.
[Baek Jiho (Republic of Korea: Floor 24)]
[You have completed Tower Floor 24.]
[You have defeated 321 Rock Golems (300).]
[Points are being calculated.]
[Tower Floor 25 has been unlocked.]
[Returning.]
I cleared Floor 24.
Once again, it had been absurdly easy.
* * *
After returning to reality, I opened my status window.
[Baek Jiho (Republic of Korea: Floor 25)]
[96,300 Points]
The number I saw was ninety-six thousand.
I muttered softly.
“Tsk... I barely missed one hundred thousand Points.”
“No, you're disappointed after earning this many Points...? Other people are earning four Points a day on Floor 4, while you're earning tens of thousands by yourself...”
“You shouldn't compare Easy-rank commoners to the Extreme Lunatic Hell Wizard Hunter.”
“You really are something.”
I thought I would pass one hundred thousand Points on this floor.
Unfortunately, I fell just short.
There had only been 321 Golems in the fortress, so even after clearing them all out, I couldn't pass one hundred thousand.
Still, I would finally reach one hundred thousand Points tomorrow.
Anyway...
“I got another Magic Stone Reactor this time too.”
I glanced toward the new Magic Stone Reactor placed in one corner of the living room.
It had a similar appearance to the Small Magic Stone Reactors we already had.
A rectangular gray body.
Blue circuits running over its surface.
A small opening on top.
The difference was its size.
The previous Magic Stone Reactors were barely large enough to hide my upper body when I held them. This one was about 1.2 times larger.
It was large enough to comfortably hide my whole upper body.
I nodded.
“So this is a Medium Magic Stone Reactor... It has ten times the output of a Small one, so does that make it 10 GW? Then how much output do all the Magic Stone Reactors I've collected so far have combined?”
The Magic Stone Reactors I had collected so far.
Four Small ones and one Medium one.
A combined capacity of 14 GW.
Korea's peak power demand was around 100 GW...
That meant the Magic Stone Reactors I currently had could cover 14 percent of the country's electricity demand!
Hehe.
I chuckled quietly.
“The completion of the Extreme Lunatic Hell Power Plant is getting closer by the day...!”
“Um... To be honest, I thought you saying you'd build a power plant sounded kind of unrealistic. But after seeing this, it actually seems possible, so I feel a little weird about it.”
“That's me.”
I had secured 14 GW of capacity on Floor 24.
As the floor number rose and the maps grew larger, I would be able to get even more Magic Stone Reactors.
I was looking forward to the day the Extreme Lunatic Hell Power Plant was completed.
Anyway.
“Now that we're done climbing, it's about time...”
It was time for my daily routine.
Click!
I took a picture and quickly made a post.
[Post Title: Newbie climbed Floor 24 today...]
[Author: Blue Dot]
(A picture of ramen boxes filled with Magic Stones and a Medium Magic Stone Reactor in the living room)
Newbie... went to Floor 24 today.
Just like I heard, there was a huge fortress...
I knew there were over three hundred Golems inside.
It was so scary, you know?
So I destroyed it right away...
Thankfully, I guess this fortress had shoddy construction too.
It broke in one hit...
Thanks to that, I killed all 321 Golems without even seeing them lol.
Demolition really is the best.
Why break Golems one at a time?
Just destroy the whole building instead.
Do people seriously not know this???
Anyway, today's earnings!
437 Magic Stones.
96,300 Points.
A total of 2.274 billion won!
Hmm... Honestly, I don't feel much.
I recently sold a few Grade 2 artifacts and got 200 billion won.
So earning a measly 2.2 billion doesn't even feel like making money...
It's kind of whatever...
But I'm the person who's going to surpass Elon Mengsk someday.
I can't be satisfied with just 200 billion won!
I'll keep earning money desperately from now on.
Someday, I'll surpass Elon Mengsk!
Just wait, Elon Mengsk!
I'll take the number one spot!
Oh, and I found another Magic Stone Reactor today.
This time, it's a Medium one.
I now have four Small ones and one Medium one.
Does that mean I've secured 14 GW of capacity?
If things go well, I might be able to build a power plant before reaching Floor 30.
Everyone, wait just a little longer!
I'll build a power plant before summer ends and provide cheap electricity!
MAKE GREAT KOREA AGAIN!!!
└This guy seems to have abandoned his massacre concept and switched to a demolition concept at some point.
└He changes his concept every day lol.
└Later on, he'll probably take up a power plant manager concept too.
└Come to think of it, you said you were going to fight Choi Yejin yesterday. What happened with that?
└└Blue Dot: It was a draw. Choi Yejin was pretty strong, but even without using my main weapon, she couldn't subdue me. In the end, there was no winner or loser. It was a good match...
└└A draw my ass.
└└Isn't this guy getting sued by Choi Yejin? I hope she sues him hard for defamation or whatever law applies, so he gets completely screwed, fuck.
└└How can you mess with our country's hero, Choi Yejin? This guy has no conscience at all.
└└Blue Dot: Hey, I'm also a hero who'll save this country. I'm way more amazing than a commoner like Choi Yejin, so why isn't anyone defending me? I'm so hurt.
└└I don't want to defend you. I want to beat you to death with a shield.
└Info) Elon Mengsk recently listed Space S, and his wealth has risen to 2,600 trillion won. While you fantasize about earning 200 billion won and grin like an idiot, Elon actually earned another 800 trillion won in real life lol.
└└Blue Dot: What... did you say...???
└└Lol, he's happy about earning 200 billion in his fantasy. Lord Elon earned 800 trillion won in real life lol. Even your pathetic fantasy can't keep up with reality.
└└Blue Dot: Does that even make sense? How can his wealth increase by 800 trillion won in such a short time? That's ridiculous. And who launches spaceships these days...
└└Lol, don't you know Space S operates Starlinked? Do you know how important Starlinked is during wars?
└└Even now, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, where infrastructure was wrecked by war, connect to the internet through Starlinked.
└└Do you think the richest person on Earth is a joke? So stop fantasizing about catching Elon after earning 200 billion won and live in the real world.
└└Blue Dot: Catching up to that Elon bastard is going to be tough...
...
After reading the comments, I couldn't help but burst out in frustration.
“Ghk...! Elon Mengsk. You've pulled even farther ahead in the meantime. So you really are this body's rival...!”
My future rival, Elon Mengsk.
That bastard had earned even more money!
He had recently listed a company called Space S.
During the listing process, Elon's wealth had increased by around 320 billion dollars. At the current exchange rate of 2,430 won, that meant he had gained 800 trillion won.
As a result, his wealth was now 1.1 trillion dollars.
Around 2,600 trillion won.
The world's first trillionaire.
His wealth rivaled the power of a nation.
Could I catch up to him...?
A weak feeling began creeping in, but...
Grit.
I clenched my teeth.
“I won't lose, Elon Mengsk! Your attention-seeking power, your wealth, and your fame. This body will surpass all of it! Definitely!”
“Jiho, why are you developing a competitive streak against another attention seeker on the other side of the planet for no reason...?”
“The Extreme Lunatic Hell Wizard Hunter must stand higher than anyone else! I can't stand the fact that someone richer than me is above me!”
“Sigh...”
“From now on, I will stand above the heavens.”
Hyeji sighed quietly.
Iing Iing sat on top of Hyeji's head and played with her hair.
Anyway, I still had a long way to go.
2,600 trillion won.
When would I ever earn that much...?
While I was burning with competitive spirit, a polite knock sounded.
Knock knock knock.
I glanced at Hyeji and gave her an instruction.
“Hyeji. I think we have a visitor. Hide Iing Iing for now.”
“Okay.”
“Iing...”
“Iing Iing, hold on for a little while. I'll take you out soon.”
Hyeji hurriedly put Iing Iing inside her handbag.
I opened the front door.
And there stood...
“Hello, Hunter Baek Jiho.”
“Um, your name was... Reimu?”
“...It's Rachel, not Reimu.”
A blonde Western woman stood there.
Rachel Turner, a CIA agent.
The American woman I had clobbered twice and knocked unconscious.
She had suddenly come to see me again.
Why was this woman here again?
Did her head itch or something?
This body was pretty good at scalp massages, after all.
When I casually picked up my staff...
“Stop! Don't hit my head! Let's talk, please!”
“Why are you here?”
“...Mr. Baek Jiho. I've come to present the United States government's formal recruitment offer.”
She took a hesitant step back as she spoke.
She kept glancing at the staff in my hand, so it didn't seem like she needed a scalp massage after all.
What a shame.
It had felt pretty satisfying.
You didn't get many chances to crack the skull of a Middle Floors Hunter, after all.
Anyway, the United States government's formal recruitment offer?
Of course, I had no intention of leaving this country.
There was no reason to hear her out.
“Go home. I told you I'm not going to America.”
“I think you should at least hear me out.”
Flutter.
She held out a document.
“Don't you want to become richer than Elon Mengsk?”
“...?”
Footnotes:
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