WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ The World After the Fall ◈

Chapter 5: Episode 1. Ten Billion Stabs (4)

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"...What is it?"

Beastrein's leonine brows twitched sharply.

"Ah, I see. Just leaving with your memories would be too stingy a reward, is that it?"

Beastrein tapped one temple and smiled pleasantly.

"Fine. You deserve that much. What do you want? A hidden item? A hidden skill? Or information about a hidden class?"

"I don't want anything."

"Then why..."

For the first time, confusion filled Beastrein's face.

"I'll hunt you down and go to the next floor."

Beastrein's expression stiffened awkwardly.

"The next floor... You mean the next floor? There is no such thing. This is the end of the tower. Why would you think there is another floor?"

"Because I've decided not to believe anything you say."

"Haah, you really can't trust me? Even after I've shown you so much proof..."

Beastrein looked tired.

"It's no use. You can never defeat me. The gap between someone who has only cleared the Tutorial Game and me is as vast as the gap between a human and a dragon."

Jaehwan gripped the True Dragon Sword he had obtained on the 85th floor and the Ice Dragon Sword he had obtained on the 99th floor, one in each hand.

"Then that gap is hardly anything at all."

* * *

Seventy-two times.

Over four months, Jaehwan had challenged Beastrein seventy-two times, yet he had failed to leave even a single scratch. Every time the battle ended, he returned almost crippled.

For some reason, Beastrein never killed him.

Jaehwan used every ability he had gained while climbing to the tower's 100th floor. He tried every method he could think of.

None of it worked. He could not even touch Beastrein.

Jaehwan took out the potion remaining in 〈Hiren Potion〉 and slathered it over his wounds. Then he soaked himself in the holy water remaining in the temple warehouse. His fatigue quickly faded.

After that, he visited 〈J's Workshop〉.

"J, I'm here."

No one answered.

When Jaehwan returned to Atopos on the 50th floor after his first defeat at Beastrein's hands, 〈J's Workshop〉 had already been empty.

He had learned the Blacksmith Skill from J bit by bit in preparation for a day like this. Still, now that the day had truly come, it did not feel real.

The neatly maintained tools. The spare equipment made specifically for Jaehwan, enough to last him several more decades.

Jaehwan stared for a long time at the hammer J had loved to swing.

The last Companion in the workshop had left.

Now, he was truly alone.

Jaehwan picked up J's hammer.

* * *

On the tower's 100th floor, Beastrein watched Jaehwan hammering away through a holographic panel while chewing on a thumbnail.

Beastrein had never faced a situation this troublesome before.

The process of cultivation, training Products so they could safely adapt to the 《Great Lands》.

Beastrein was the 「Cultivator」 responsible for managing and carrying out that process.

‘...I have to endure it. That bastard is a Product I need to sell. A premium Product, at that.’

Beastrein had installed the 《Tower of Nightmares》 in other Worlds several times, but had never encountered a case like this.

‘Why won't he play the Main Game? I said I'd give him anything he wants.’

One Walker was about to throw the entire cultivation process into disarray. Beastrein groaned and clutched his head.

The cultivation of Products was divided into two major stages.

The 「First Cultivation」, which sorted out the good Products through the Tutorial Game.

Then the 「Second Cultivation」, which fully developed the carefully selected Products through the Main Game.

The 「First Cultivation」, the Tutorial Game, was like selecting the best seeds from among plants. The 「Second Cultivation」, the Main Game, was like raising those selected seeds with water and fertilizer.

Because of Jaehwan alone, Beastrein had been unable to begin the Second Cultivation for four months already.

Whether Jaehwan knew how Beastrein felt or not, the holographic panel continued to produce the same grating rhythm.

Clang. Clang.

It was the sound of a hammer striking a sword. As if he wanted someone to hear it, the sound grew louder and louder.

Thanks to that, Beastrein found himself seized several times a day by the urge to beat Jaehwan to death and force the game to end.

‘Should I just shut my eyes and kill him? But the harvesters will hate it if I kill him here.’

The 《Tower of Nightmares》 was created by Dream Demons, known as 「Creators」, who molded clumps of dreams. It was powered by energy supplied from the trunk of the giant 《Phantasmal Tree》 at the center of the Great Lands.

Put simply, everything that happened within this tower was a dream provided by the Phantasmal Tree.

Since the inside of the tower was a dream world, dying here would not truly destroy one's soul unless special methods were used.

Still, there was no telling.

After undergoing three molts as a demon, Beastrein possessed combat power equivalent to that of a Third Adapter. The difference in Spiritual Rank between Beastrein and Jaehwan, who had not even undergone First Adaptation and had only just passed the tutorial, was enormous.

If Beastrein killed Jaehwan carelessly, the Product's soul might suffer terrible damage. Jaehwan could enter the Main Game half-crippled.

If that happened, Beastrein’s customers, the 「Harvesters」, the lords of the 《Great Lands》, would be furious.

There were more than one or two lords with their eyes on Jaehwan. Some had even offered option contracts in advance, worried that the Product's auction price might rise.

A Walker who had cleared the 99th floor alone.

It was an unprecedented achievement, even if one searched the entire material realm.

Especially when considering what kind of tower this was.

"Those Dream Demon bastards fooled me into buying this piece of junk. What kind of control system is this?"

The 《Tower of Nightmares》 Beastrein operated was among the first generation of towers created by Dream Demons.

"You can't end the game without the Product's consent? What a ridiculous system."

If Beastrein had opened the game with a recently released third-generation tower, this would never have happened. Third-generation towers could forcibly end the Tutorial Game without damaging the Product.

But what could Beastrein do now?

Poverty was a crime.

Beastrein had searched for a tower available at a low price, and this had been the last one found.

Beastrein had been completely taken in after hearing that it had been made personally by a 「Master」-grade Dream Demon.

After inspecting it, Beastrein discovered that it was an antique so old its age could not be guessed. It had indeed been made by a Master-grade Dream Demon, but it was a test piece made before that Dream Demon had earned the title of Master. It still functioned normally, so Beastrein kept using it, but it had all sorts of small problems.

"...Once this is over, I need to take this up with them."

Beastrein ground clenched teeth at the thought of the auction house that had sold the tower.

* * *

Another month passed.

"Hey, don't you ever get tired?"

Yawning, Beastrein casually deflected Jaehwan's attack. Jaehwan's stabs flew in from every direction, aiming for Beastrein's true body, but they could not touch even a single strand of fur on the lion-headed demon.

"If you would just agree to start the Main Game, it would be good for both of us. It is a win-win, as your World's proverb says. Why do you keep refusing?"

Jaehwan did not answer.

"You seem to be under some huge misconception because you've experienced hunting an Ice Dragon, but I told you, it's useless. That was a downgraded beast, while I'm a real demon. If you really want to fight me, you need to finish the Main Game and spend at least several decades getting knocked around in the 《Great Lands》."

Without a word, Jaehwan stabbed with his sword.

"Please, just answer me. What do you want? I said I'd give you hidden items and hidden skills!"

No matter how Beastrein thought about it, the situation made no sense.

Why was Jaehwan causing this pointless trouble?

Yet Jaehwan's incomprehensible actions were not simply pointless trouble.

For the past three months, Jaehwan had never been idle.

There were several reasons Jaehwan still refused to give up on the Tutorial Game.

Footnotes:

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