Chapter 54: 4F Hidden (5) |
I moved to the Reward Room.
The 4F Hidden had been quite the ordeal.
If only I hadn’t run into that Monster Escort at the end, it would’ve been a smooth clear.
Still, a clear was a clear.
I looked over the rewards scattered across the floor around me.
“…Oh.”
A small sound of surprise escaped my lips.
A purple Skill Stone.
Epic grade.
Hidden route rewards from floor 1 onward had always been rare+ grade Skill Stones or Skill Enhancement Stones.
I turned my gaze elsewhere.
The Skill Stone was epic grade, and as for the item reward, let’s see…
Well, I’d more or less guessed what it would be.
So this was what they’d give me, huh?
I picked up the Warp Device.
[Item: Premium Warp Device]
A warp device that represents the pinnacle of the Dateian Empire’s magitech engineering. Can be activated by charging it with willpower; 1 willpower allows 10 meters of movement. Can be used by moving to a saved point or by aiming in a direction. Up to one point can be saved. However, movement between the Tower’s interior and exterior is not possible. Activation takes 10 minutes.
Current charge: 0/1,000,000
I read through the description.
It was quite long.
An item activated by charging it with willpower.
And each point of willpower allowed 10 meters of movement.
Current charge: 100/1,000,000
I pumped in 100 willpower just to test, and the number changed.
‘Max capacity is a million…’
So then it could move me up to ten million meters, ten thousand kilometers?
“That’s insane.”
With this, I wouldn’t even need to take a plane when traveling abroad.
That was the first silly thought that came to mind.
Of course, I wasn’t crazy enough to actually use this thing to leave the country.
‘What’s this point thing, though.’
Looking at the description, it said I could move to a saved point, or move by aiming in a direction.
Moving in a direction probably meant it worked like Teleportation: just going off in whichever way I aimed.
A point was something like a checkpoint?
Seemed like it let me pinpoint an exact location to move to.
[Save current location as a point?]
I tried activating it and a prompt popped up.
Ah, so that’s how it works. Got it.
I canceled the point save.
To summarize the Warp Device’s functions:
Can move up to 10,000 km.
Can move to a saved point.
Can also move by just aiming a direction, like Teleportation.
Up to one point can be saved.
Cannot move between the inside and outside of the Tower.
That was about it.
Plus, there wasn’t really any cooldown.
The willpower cost was absurd, but that wasn’t much of a problem for me.
The only real downside was the 10-minute activation time.
Not an item usable mid-combat.
If not for the activation time, I could’ve used it as an emergency escape device in a pinch.
“Alright, now then…”
Next up was checking the skill.
What could the epic grade skill be?
I picked up the Skill Stone with anticipation.
[Skill Stone: Subspace (Epic)]
When used, you can acquire ‘Skill: Subspace (Epic).’
“…Subspace?”
The word isn’t unfamiliar.
It has to be the Subspace I’m thinking of, right? The inventory kind of thing.
[‘Skill: Subspace (Epic)’ acquired.]
I acquired it immediately and read the description.
[Skill: Subspace (Epic)]
Creates a subspace in which objects can be stored or retrieved. Direct physical contact is required to store an object, and objects can be retrieved within a 1-meter radius. Living beings and spirits cannot be stored. Up to 100 kilograms can be stored. Requires 3 minutes of mental concentration to cast.
Classification: Magic Type
Willpower cost: 300
Cooldown: None
Yep, this is an inventory.
Not a combat skill, so it felt a little underwhelming as a reward, but…
I decided to give it a try.
I pulled out a bladeless Ice Dagger.
I froze time, finished the mental concentration, and cast Subspace.
Pop.
The dagger vanished in a blink.
Now to retrieve it.
Freeze time again, do the mental concentration, cast Subspace.
Pop.
The Ice Dagger returned to my hand.
So both storing and retrieving cost willpower.
I kept using Subspace and ran more experiments.
Each storage and retrieval required its own cast, but I could put multiple objects in at once.
Also, Diul’s bracelet and Pli’s necklace couldn’t be stored.
The description did say living beings and spirits couldn’t be stored, so that made sense.
I’d just gotten a pure inventory-type skill.
The willpower cost and mental concentration time were pretty steep, but that wasn’t an issue for me.
I decided to think of it positively; I’d picked up a decent utility skill.
The items had been piling up lately, and lugging them all around had been getting annoying anyway.
“From now on, I’ll just store everything in here.”
I immediately stuffed everything except the necklace and bracelet into Subspace.
[Difficulty: Nightmare]
[Floor: 5]
[Level: 60]
[Willpower: 2,100]
[Skills: Destruction Ray (Epic+), Subspace (Epic), Teleportation (Rare+), Sixth Sense (Rare+)(+2), Rapid Regeneration (Rare+), Scorching Zone (Rare+), Flame Strike (Rare)(+5), Blade Storm (Rare), Exaltation (Rare), Skin Hardening (Rare), Fairy Light Bullet (Normal+)(+1)…]
With my rewards sorted out, I exited.
The Hidden route was done.
Now it was time to diligently write up the info post and put it up.
*
After Nightmare 4F was cleared.
There were broadly two topics people were talking about on the Communication Channel.
One was the Sub-Towers that were supposedly about to appear. After the whole Fallen incident, it was only natural people were anxious about whatever the Tower was planning next.
[Yuseong: So another tower’s going to show up, and that means we have to climb it too?]
[Saika: Who knows. Locations are random, so whichever country gets one is screwed]
[Hwikhwik: Five of them apparently, what kind of bullshit is this, I’m seriously worried…]
[Pulbit: If the Sub-Towers have Time Limits too, that’s actually insane lol]
The other was, as always, the info post Person123 would be putting up.
This 4F was particularly special. It was a floor cleared after accepting a Penalty, after all.
[Hawaii: 4F post when? 4F post when? 4F post when? 4F post when? 4F post when?]
[DawnOfChaos: Person123, post the 4F info at once!]
[Confirmed: Is Person123 your buddy? Say please]
[Stakes: I’m dying of curiosity. When’s it gonna go up]
[Priyan: But if they cleared it even after taking a Penalty, wouldn’t this one have been less brutal than the other floors?]
[Whistle: They cleared it after taking a Penalty? Ah, this floor must’ve been easy! (X) Ah, Person123 really is a god! (O)]
[Floor999: Common sense says the higher the floor, the harder it gets lol]
An info post from Person123 after a Nightmare clear was basically an event in itself. The Time Limit had just been extended by another year, and the mood was good.
The Climbers on the Communication Channel chattered and speculated about how vicious and how messed up this one would be, waiting for the post to go up.
Each country, especially those with Nightmare clearers, was also monitoring everything down to the second to see if the post had gone up. The moment Person123 dropped it, they had to begin in-depth analysis.
[Person123: 4F strategy information.]
And at last, the post went up.
[Person123: The spacing between golems, the time it takes for golems to reach the exit, and the rest periods between stages are identical to the other difficulties. However, on Nightmare difficulty, the golems come in repeating waves of 5, 10, and 20, progressing through 18 stages. Stages 1 through 3 are basic golems with no abilities, stages 4 through 6 are blue golems with 99% physical damage immunity…
.
.
.
Collecting the cores of destroyed golems earns points and unlocks the shop. The shop listings are as follows. The points golems award are 50P each for stages 13, 100P for stages 46, 150P for stages 7~9…
.
.
.
After clearing through stage 18, a boss appears as the final challenge. The boss possesses all the abilities of the blue, red, black, green, and yellow golems encountered up to that point. The only way to defeat the boss is to draw the ‘Ability Nullification Part’ from the shop’s special gacha. The odds are one in three, so this comes down entirely to luck, and the only real option is to conserve as many points as possible…
.
.
.
…There is exactly one alternative: activating the Grand Incineration and outlasting it. The Grand Incineration kills the boss too. If you can survive even a moment longer than the boss, the clear succeeds.
The method I used was to stack a healing skill 27 times using 300% Scrolls, then trigger the Grand Incineration and outlast the boss. It felt like it took about 10 seconds for the boss to fully die, but I’m not certain on this.
More than anything, this method offers zero guarantee of success, so I absolutely do not recommend it as a main strategy. Only use it as a last resort if you have a healing skill and failed to draw the Ability Nullification Part.
.
.
.
A post even longer than the one for 3F.
The Communication Channel promptly erupted.
[SantaClaus: 18 stages total? Are they out of their minds?]
[SnowMountain: 99% damage immunity, damage ignore, one revive… wow, a real variety of bullshit]
[Beluga: Still seems doable if you use the shop well, no?]
[Swag: The boss is the real problem. If you don’t roll the Ability Nullification Part, they’re basically telling you to die]
[Heron: Rigged luck-based trash game;;]
[Waguwagu: Even if you don’t roll it, there’s still a method. Get incinerated along with the boss]
[Benjanew: I mean… can you even call that a “method”?]
[MaxFirepower: So Person123 failed the roll and immediately came up with the idea to light themselves on fire; is that something a sane person could even think of…?]
[Demigod: They’re not sane, that’s why they clear Nightmare every year]
[LunarEclipse: Took a Penalty and 4F was still no joke…]
People couldn’t contain their shock at how he’d cleared 4F.
The U.S. Climbing Bureau training facility.
Taylor, wiping sweat off her face as she checked the Communication Channel, felt her expression harden by the second.
“Are you reading it now?”
Max, who happened to be visiting the facility, saw her staring into the air and asked.
“I read it on my way in. 4F was sickeningly awful, as expected.”
“Right. The key’s going to be distributing points properly.”
Taylor let out a sigh.
“This person… they really are something else. Every time I read one of these posts, I feel the gap between us.”
Reading through it, there was something alien about 4F that set it apart from the previous floors. Namely, the gacha.
No matter how well one saved points, without luck, the boss couldn’t be killed.
She could feel the Tower’s vicious malice; it was now testing not just skill but luck itself.
Person123 seemed to have fallen into that very trap. He hadn’t drawn the Ability Nullification Part.
What would that have been like? Taylor tried imagining herself in that situation.
The final boss stage, all remaining points spent on gacha, and the result: the Grand Incineration switch and three 300% Scrolls.
It would have been maddeningly despairing and unjust. Not a failure of ability but of mere luck, that’s what the clear failure would come down to.
Even she, a former CIA SAC agent trained through countless mental resilience drills, honestly didn’t think she could have kept her cool in that situation.
And yet Person123 had found a way.
He had thrown the best possible gamble with what he had, and won.
Getting incinerated alongside the boss and outlasting it by sheer endurance, of all things.
How in the world had he come up with that? And more than that, how had he found the nerve to actually go through with it?
He had gone that far, and once again, he had saved the world. A great soul worthy of gratitude and respect.
Honestly, lately, she had been feeling increasingly skeptical about her reasons for climbing the Tower.
The grand cause of saving humanity had long since faded, and now it had become nothing more than a late-start race against China purely for national interest.
Even putting her life on the line, she could barely manage to trail behind Person123. She had nearly died on 3F.
She was only trailing him; she couldn’t be of any actual help. She was useless.
…After reading the 4F info post, something jolted awake inside her.
There was someone out there fighting alone at the very front, desperately and in isolation, to save humanity.
And here she was, obsessing over things like meaning?
Why did he share strategy information every single time? Why did he always offer help without asking anything in return?
It was because he wanted to entrust the rear to someone in case he failed; there could be no other reason.
So she had to keep climbing the Tower. Usefulness wasn’t for her to decide.
Useful or not, meaningful or not, whether she ended up dying in some pointless way, none of that needed to be considered.
She simply had to give her absolute best to live up to his noble resolve.
Taylor let out a deep breath and spoke to Max.
“Max.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s draft a strategy for 4F as quickly as possible.”
Max looked slightly surprised at her sudden surge of drive, then nodded.
“Understood.”
*
Downtown Chongqing, China.
Rrrrrumble…
People walking the streets screamed as an earthquake suddenly struck.
The ground split open, buildings collapsed, and something began to rise.
A massive black tower.
The few who had barely avoided being swallowed up stared blankly at the tower that had abruptly surged up in the middle of the street.
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