WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B.
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 9: 009
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Following the array was easy.
It was simple to begin with.
‘Draw a circle with Blue Motes, then layer it a few times...’
I moved the Blue Motes into their designated positions.
Tap, tap, tap, like placing pixels in a computer paint program.
Before long, I had copied the array in front of me.
-Swoosh!
A large amount of air compressed into a single point and hovered above my staff.
I had learned Air Compression Magic.
‘As expected, it’s easy.’
Of course it was easy.
All I had to do was draw a few circles. How could that be difficult?
Still, it felt strange.
“Is magic really supposed to be this easy?”
In most fantasy novels, even learning simple magic took days.
You had to calculate formulas, recite incantations, and do all sorts of things before you could master it.
Yet real magic could be learned with a click by tracing a dotted shape.
It was a little anticlimactic.
I shrugged.
‘Well, it’s good for me if it’s easy. If magic really involved difficult calculations, I’d never have been able to learn it.’
Either way, I had learned Air Compression Magic.
I tried casting it once.
-Pshooong!
Compressed air shot forward.
It wasn’t particularly powerful.
The original spell had been designed to fire poisoned darts, so it was bound to be weak.
That wasn’t a problem.
If I used more Blue Motes and made it larger, it would obviously become stronger.
Something else bothered me.
“Why is this so crude? It’s worse than the sorcery that Tutorial Goblin Shaman used.”
The array’s construction was a mess.
It looked like a blind person had forced themself to draw it by feel.
I couldn’t stand that sort of thing.
I quickly modified the array.
‘Reduce the gaps between the particles. Refine the overall shape. Make it bigger too...’
-Swoosh!
The air compressed and floated above my staff.
More air than before had been compressed at a far greater density.
I fired it at the wall.
-Crack!
The hard stone bricks shattered and cracked.
If it could break bricks, it would punch straight through a Goblin’s soft flesh.
I nodded.
“It’s weaker than Fireball, but it uses far fewer Blue Motes. It’ll be good for taking care of trash mobs.”
Honestly, I had been using far too much firepower.
It sometimes felt wasteful to keep blowing up Fireballs just to kill Goblins.
It was like shooting a gun to kill a cockroach.
I had been using miniature Fireballs to lower the power, but even those were too strong against Goblins.
They were also bright and noisy.
I had been feeling the need for magic that was weaker than Fireball but easier to use.
Then I got exactly the right spell.
It consumed few Blue Motes.
It was quiet.
It was invisible, making it stealthy too.
Its array was also simpler than Fireball’s, so its rate of fire would surely be much higher.
“This is perfect for clearing trash mobs. Every Goblin is dead from now on.”
A spell that fired compressed air bullets.
Air Bullet seemed like a good enough name.
‘The only thing left is figuring out how to apply this and make something as badass as Wind Cutter...’
I really couldn’t let Wind Cutter go.
If I kept changing the array structure little by little and experimenting, it felt like I might be able to make it happen.
As I pondered that...
-Growl.
Hunger suddenly hit me.
I stopped thinking and got to my feet.
“Forget it. I’ll go home and eat first.”
I couldn’t let Wind Cutter go, but hunger was even harder to ignore.
Focusing on research while starving wasn’t my style.
I could think it over slowly at home. I’d find an answer eventually.
I walked toward the Escape Portal.
[Baek Jiho (Republic of Korea: Floor 2)]
[You have completed Tower Floor 2.]
[You have defeated 48 Goblin (1).]
[Points are being calculated.]
[Tower Floor 3 has been unlocked.]
[Returning.]
* * *
As soon as I got back, I organized the loot.
-Clatter.
When I tipped over my bag, chunks of metal filled an entire ramen box.
Just thinking of it all as money made me happy.
That was when it happened.
“Hey! Didn’t I tell you to let me know before you went into the Tower?”
My older sister burst into my room.
She must have heard me organizing the loot and realized I had returned.
“Sorry. I forgot.”
“It’s fine as long as you came back in one piece. More importantly... did you bring all that back from the Tower just now?”
“Yeah. It’s a lot, right?”
“Metal parts, daggers... That’s a huge amount. It fills the whole box, so it looks like at least forty kilograms. That means it’s worth around four million won. Two million after taxes.”
Two million won!
I had earned more in a single day than I made working overnight shifts at a convenience store for a month.
And if I added the 48 Points I got for killing Goblins...
My income for the day came to around two and a half million won.
It was so sweet my teeth might rot.
‘I have to brag about this!’
-Click!
I immediately took a photo and posted it on Hunter Gallery.
[Post Title: Newbie Hunter Cleared Floor 2 Today]
[Author: Blue Dot]
(Photo of scrap metal piled inside a ramen box)
Newbie Hunter bro... went to Floor 2 today
The maze had a lot of traps
I broke the traps, killed Goblins, wandered around the maze a bit, then took the Escape Portal out
Ah, the map was pointlessly huge, so it took three whole hours...
Still, I made a lot of money, so I feel good
If I sell all this scrap metal and exchange the Points, I think I’ll make around 2.5 million won
I’m grilling pork belly today
└You cleared Floor 2 in only three hours?
└└Blue Dot: Yeah
└What bullshit lol How do you clear Floor 2 in three hours? It normally takes five days, or even a week if you’re slow
└If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable
└Floor 2 takes forever. You have to check the walls, ceiling, and floor for traps, and it’s a maze, so you have to make a map while finding your way...
└You have to map the route from the return portal at the starting point to the exit. The maze is disgustingly big and complicated, so there’s no way anyone clears it in a day
└Even Kim Taeseok and Choi Yejin, who came from Hard-rank, said it took them three days to clear Floor 2. Three hours? What a story
└Blue Dot: It’s true, but no one believes me... Isn’t that a little hurtful?
└└Hurtful my ass
No one believed I had cleared Floor 2.
That made sense.
Everyone else took at least three days, and some took as long as a week. I had finished it in only three hours.
Anyone would think it was a lie.
‘But it’s true. It also means my abilities have gone beyond what they can comprehend.’
Ordinary people could never understand geniuses.
It was only natural that commoners who were either ordinary or only came from Easy-rank couldn’t understand someone like me, who came from Extreme Lunatic Hell.
Someone as capable and kind-hearted as me had to be considerate of them.
└Blue Dot: Hah... Is this why geniuses are lonely? No one believes what I say. But it’s fine. It’s only natural that mediocre people can’t understand a genius. In my boundless generosity, I forgive your ignorance.
└└Ugh, this bastard’s persona is fucking unbearable
└└Why doesn’t Hunter Gallery have a block function? I don’t want to see this guy anymore, damn it
A stream of insults and criticism appeared beneath my comment, which had honestly expressed my feelings.
I ignored them.
“The pork belly’s done! Come eat!”
It was time to eat anyway.
I jumped to my feet and headed for the living room, fragrant with the rich smell of pork belly.
“Food tastes best after a walk.”
“Going into the Tower is a walk?”
“It is for me.”
Anyway.
I finished climbing safely today too.
Tomorrow, I would take on Floor 3.
* * *
At the site that had once been Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, a massive black tower stood.
The Tower of Trials.
It had appeared seven years ago without any warning, as though it had torn through space.
A circular building now surrounded the enormous tower.
It was the central headquarters of the Climber Management Department.
Deep within the Climber Management Department’s headquarters was the space where the Tower stood.
“A lot of people died today.”
One civil servant muttered as they studied the Tower’s surface.
Another civil servant responded.
“Yeah. A lot of names disappeared from the Tower. Around three thousand, maybe?”
“Exactly three thousand four hundred and eighty-two. That many vanished today.”
Countless names were written across the surface of the Tower.
They were the names of Tower climbers.
Once someone cleared the Tutorial and became an official Tower climber, their name and floor number were engraved on the Tower’s surface.
Then, the moment a Tower climber died, their name disappeared.
Another person who had newly become a Tower climber would have their name engraved in its place.
By looking at the Tower’s surface alone, the current state of Tower climbers could be tracked in real time.
Who had reached which floor.
Who had died.
Who had become a new Tower climber.
That was why the government recorded the names engraved on the Tower’s surface every day.
The two civil servants speaking to each other were responsible for that work.
Their conversation continued.
“Three thousand four hundred and eighty-two... So many died in a single day. Most of them were reserve Hunters, right?”
“That’s right.”
“It couldn’t be helped, but... it really is cruel. Forcing people who are practically civilians into the Tower.”
Reserve Hunters who couldn’t work as Hunters because they were timid or had physical or mental problems.
Those people had been forced into the Tower.
Of course many of them would die.
The civil servants wore bitter expressions.
They had forced Hunters into the Tower because people’s lives were at stake.
But they were people too. They had feelings.
They couldn’t help feeling guilty as countless people were pushed to their deaths.
Especially when they were the ones recording the names of the victims every day.
The mood turned somber.
“...Oh, that reminds me!”
Perhaps trying to change the depressing mood, one civil servant raised their voice.
“I noticed something while organizing the records. I think there’s an unusual Hunter.”
“An unusual Hunter?”
“Yeah. They became an official Tower climber four days ago, but they’ve already cleared Floor 2. They registered as a Hunter the day after the Tutorial, cleared Floor 1 on the third day, and cleared Floor 2 on the fourth day.”
“What? Is that even possible? They finished Floor 2 in one day?”
The Tower recordkeepers checked the Tower’s surface every day and confirmed the names and floors of Hunters.
That meant they learned about Hunters’ progress faster than anyone else.
In a way, it was only natural that they would be the first to notice one Hunter’s exceptional growth.
The civil servant manipulated the tablet screen as they spoke.
“Here, I’ll show you. The name is... Found it. Baek Jiho. Look.”
“...The records do show that Baek Jiho cleared Floor 2 in one day. Could the record be wrong? Even if the Tower is accurate, we might have made a mistake while recording it.”
“I thought the records were wrong too, so I checked the photos of the Tower from yesterday and today. It’s certain. Baek Jiho cleared Floor 2 in one day.”
“Wow...”
The civil servant couldn’t hide their amazement.
Clearing Floor 2 in one day?
Even Kim Taeseok and Choi Yejin, who came from Hard-rank, took three days. David, America’s number one Hunter, took two days.
Yet Baek Jiho had passed it in only one day...
“Could Baek Jiho be a new Hunter from Hard-rank...?”
“Should we report this to the Minister?”
“Hmm.”
The civil servant stroked their chin for a moment before answering.
“If Baek Jiho truly came from Hard-rank, we should report it... but it’s too early to be sure.”
“Baek Jiho cleared Floor 2 in one day, and you think Baek Jiho might not be from Hard-rank?”
“You remember what happened on Floor 10. Someone cleared it as fast as a Hunter from Hard-rank, so we investigated. It turned out to be a Hunter from Normal-rank who had simply gotten lucky and cleared it quickly.”
Things like that happened sometimes.
A Normal-rank player could occasionally get absurdly lucky and clear a particular floor at a speed comparable to Hard-rank.
This could be one of those cases.
One exceptional record wasn’t enough to confirm that Baek Jiho came from Hard-rank.
“Besides, look at the timing. Everyone is already busy because of the Hunter General Mobilization Order. It wouldn’t be good to file a report based on something uncertain.”
“Well, the entire department is in chaos right now.”
“So we should watch for now. Once we see how long it takes Baek Jiho to clear Floor 10, we’ll know for sure whether Baek Jiho came from Hard-rank.”
Hard-rank took twenty days.
Normal-rank took thirty.
Those were the average times it took to reach the Middle Floors.
If Baek Jiho reached Floor 11 in around twenty days, then they could finally be certain Baek Jiho came from Hard-rank.
“Anyway, I hope Baek Jiho really did come from Hard-rank. Then we could sell an immigration deal to America or Europe for a high price.”
“...In the long run, that would be cutting off our own flesh. But we desperately need Points right now, so it can’t be helped. More importantly, what happened with rescuing Kim Taeseok? Is America going to rescue Kim Taeseok?”
“No. Word from above is that America refused to send a rescue team. They said they’re busy preparing to clear Floor 50...”
“What an excuse. They call themselves allies? They drained our country of all its promising Hunters and left us in ruins. They should at least have the decency to help!”
“It’s an age where everyone has to survive on their own. There isn’t anyone you can trust.”
The civil servants continued talking quietly.
Deep within the Climber Management Department, a handful of civil servants had begun watching Baek Jiho.
Footnotes:
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