Chapter 62: Sub-Tower (8)

Tower’s Curse Immunity.

It granted protection against death caused by the Tower’s Curse.

In other words, even if the Tower’s time limit expired, the user would be spared.

“It did say the reward would be special...”

So this was what made it special?

I certainly hadn’t expected anything like this.

I checked the remaining options.

[1. Tower’s Curse Immunity]

[2. 90% Skill Promotion Ticket]

[3. Scales of Life]

A 90% Skill Promotion Ticket...

And the Scales of Life? What did that do?

I examined the description of the Skill Promotion Ticket first.

[Special Item: 90% Skill Promotion Ticket]

Select one skill. There is a 90% chance that it will be promoted to a higher-tier variant of the same skill. If the promotion fails, the skill’s grade will be reduced by one level. Single-use. Consumed upon activation.

The effect was exactly what the name implied.

A ninety-percent chance of promoting a skill by one grade.

But if it failed, the skill’s grade would actually decrease?

Hmm... that was a little...

[Special Item: Scales of Life]

Sacrifice a portion of the user’s remaining lifespan in exchange for a reward of proportional value. The user may sacrifice between 1% and 99% of their current remaining lifespan. Single-use. The scales will break upon activation, and the user’s remaining lifespan will be revealed.

The third and final option was the Scales of Life.

I read the description carefully.

So... if I sacrificed part of my lifespan, I would receive a reward equal in value to what I gave up?

There was no indication of what that reward might actually be, though.

“Hmmm...”

After reviewing all three options, I folded my arms and sank into thought.

Which one should I choose?

I began by deciding which option to eliminate first.

It had to be number one.

Tower’s Curse Immunity.

What use would immunity to the Curse be?

So I could stop climbing Nightmare?

Don’t make me laugh.

For someone like me, who would die anyway if I failed to clear it, the effect was completely meaningless.

The only thing that gave me pause was that the item could be used on someone other than a Climber.

...Had it given me three immunity tokens, I might have considered it.

Then, even if I failed one day, at least my family wouldn’t die.

But after thinking it over, that wasn’t right either.

A world where ninety-nine percent of humanity had died, only for the dead to rise again as the Fallen.

In an apocalypse like that, wouldn’t surviving alone—unable even to die—be the greater torment?

No.

Option one was out.

A half-hearted insurance policy against failure wouldn’t accomplish anything.

I had to focus solely on succeeding.

And to do that, I needed to choose whichever reward would help me clear the Tower most effectively.

“The Skill Promotion Ticket...”

Next was option two.

It would promote one skill into a higher-tier version of itself.

What if I used it on Destruction Ray?

My already absurdly powerful Destruction Ray would evolve into a skill one grade above Epic+.

What grade even came after Epic+?

Since the ticket specified a higher-tier variant of the same skill, I probably wouldn’t have to worry about it transforming into something completely unrelated.

But—

“...why does it have to be another damned probability gamble?”

Ninety percent.

Sure, that was a high chance.

But the same thing had happened on the fourth floor.

If I landed in that cursed ten percent and failed, my precious Destruction Ray would be downgraded.

I could use it on another Rare+ skill instead, but... was there any point?

Epic was certainly a high grade, but still.

I couldn’t even comfort myself by pretending the fourth floor had already used up all my bad luck for the year.

Right afterward, during the hidden clear, I had somehow succeeded with that ridiculous three-hundred-percent scroll multi-roll as though possessed by a gambling spirit.

[3. Scales of Life]

Should I choose this one instead?

It wasn’t exactly reassuring either.

For one thing, I would have to sacrifice part of my lifespan.

And on top of that, the reward itself was uncertain.

Aaah... what should I choose?

Was I really going to give up the chance to obtain a skill above Epic+ because of a measly ten-percent failure rate?

[You have selected ‘Scales of Life’ as your reward.]

Yes.

Apparently, I was.

The trauma of the fourth floor had been carved too deeply into my soul.

Without deliberating much longer, I chose the Scales of Life.

At least this option involved no random chance.

I would be sacrificing my own lifespan, after all.

Surely the Tower would give me something worthwhile in return.

Besides, although the promotion ticket promised a higher-tier skill, there was no guarantee that the new version wouldn’t somehow be less useful than my current one.

...It probably wouldn’t happen, but I still didn’t trust the Tower enough to rule out the possibility of rigged odds.

Click.

I reached out and took hold of the silver scales that appeared in midair.

They were about the size of my face.

Naturally, I had no intention of using them immediately.

I would save them for a moment when I was truly cornered and had nothing left to lose.

I placed the scales inside my Subspace.

[You have acquired ownership of the fifth Sub-Tower.]

My overall assessment of the fifth Sub-Tower?

The final boss had been unsettling, but taken as a whole...

Perhaps a 5.5 out of 10.

Of course, I was rating it purely by how brutally difficult it had been.

There had been plenty of tricks and gimmicks, but the fundamental rule remained unchanged: defeat the enemy, and the floor was cleared.

Aside from Floor 8, every floor had also given me enough time to work out a solution.

I couldn’t say I had felt the same thick, deliberate malice that permeated Nightmare—the kind that seemed to scream, “I’m going to kill you no matter what.”

So, 5.5 points for you, sir.

Joking aside, that was the end of it.

The Tower had said that only five Sub-Towers would appear.

There were no more left.

Thank goodness the world hadn’t fallen into the same kind of chaos as it had during the emergence of the Fallen.

[Do you wish to exit the Tower?]

“Exit.”

The mere thought of charging the Warp Device again made me sick.

Before leaving, however, I needed to complete another Repeat Clearing.

I still had to determine what abilities the monsters on Floors 3 and 4 possessed.

I had killed both of them with Destruction Ray the moment I entered, so I had learned nothing about their mechanics.

I needed the information for my guide post.

Telling myself that I would finish quickly and finally get some rest, I entered the Tower once again.

***

The fifth Sub-Tower had appeared in Tajikistan.

The moment it emerged, Wang Kai and his Party sprang into action.

Tajikistan was closely connected to China geographically, politically, economically, and militarily.

Aside from China itself, it was almost the most favorable location in which the Tower could have appeared.

This time, they intended to mobilize a fighter jet outright.

That might have been impossible with most countries, but Tajikistan was a different matter.

They could launch first and obtain airspace clearance afterward.

“Takeoff preparations will be complete in five minutes.”

At a military base in Beijing, Wang Kai waited in the hangar while the maintenance crews finished servicing the fighter.

Once it was ready, the aircraft would carry him at maximum speed directly to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.

The Tower had even announced that the fifth Sub-Tower would offer a special reward.

This time, he absolutely could not allow Person123 to clear it first.

He could dismiss Japan and Brazil as coincidences.

But the Sub-Tower in Tajikistan had to be his.

Unless Person123 could actually use some kind of cloning technique or teleportation, of course.

“Preparations comple—!”

[The fifth Sub-Tower has been cleared up to its final floor.]

Just as the mechanics inspecting the fighter were about to announce that the aircraft was ready, a message appeared before Wang Kai.

The last thread of his self-control snapped.

“...Fuck! That goddamned son of a biiiiitch!”

CRASH!

Japan.

Then Brazil.

And now the final Sub-Tower.

Three times in a row.

He brought his foot down on the bare ground.

The surface split apart in a spiderweb of cracks.

The soldiers standing nearby lost their balance and fell, then scrambled back to their feet and hurried away.

Faces drained of color, everyone watched as Wang Kai continued stomping the ground in a frenzy.

***

The fifth and final Sub-Tower had been noticeably different from the previous ones.

Even so, as always, it was cleared less than an hour after appearing.

[Rapito: What? So it was nothing after all?]

[FantasyBeast: Yeah, guess we panicked for no reason.]

[Soldier: Looks like he didn’t struggle much.]

The clear had taken slightly longer than those in Japan and Brazil, but not by much.

People assumed the fifth Sub-Tower simply hadn’t been any more difficult than the others.

Then they waited for Person123’s report.

[Person123: Information regarding the clear of the fifth Sub-Tower.]

Before long, the fifth Sub-Tower guide was posted.

Its contents were nothing like what people had expected.

The first floor contained goblins capable of concealing themselves.

The next held orcs that inflicted paralyzing fear.

The upper floors featured attack reflection, invulnerability, underwater combat, teleporting rocks that could read minds, and finally, on Floor 10, a dream from which the challenger had to escape.

At the end of the post, Person123 strongly advised against attempting the fifth Sub-Tower.

Not that anyone would bother now that there was no reward left to obtain.

[Marlin: He cleared all of that in one attempt...? In less than an hour?]

[ShortVision: Seriously, how? lol]

[Shusan: Anyone with below-average intelligence wouldn’t even be able to clear it.]

[Phoenix: Why is everyone surprised? It’s Person123.]

[Pipe: Hahaha, fair point.]

[Udibu: Nightmare-level stats alone wouldn’t be enough. Person123 is probably the only one who could have cleared it.]

[Ragurangbate: It honestly sounds like they added an extra Nightmare-difficulty floor.]

[Sword Saint: If Wang Kai had challenged that one, he definitely would’ve died.]

[Ragurangbate: Then how is Person123 clearing these Towers so quickly? Can he really teleport between continents or something?]

[DeathRoll: The truth is that Person1, Person2, and Person3 are three different people. That’s why he’s called Person123.]

[ButterCake: You may be onto something.]

As always, people marveled at Person123’s achievements.

They also continued wondering how on earth he had managed to travel across the entire world and clear every Sub-Tower.

Because Person123 refused to explain, all kinds of theories circulated endlessly.

The truth was something they would probably never discover.

[Pruha: So this means Person123 owns every Mana Vein except the one in China.]

[BearTrap: Isn’t that actually a relief? Imagine if China had taken all of them.]

[Sunfish: Yeah, that would’ve been terrifying.]

[Eclipse: Person123 doesn’t even seem interested in using the Mana Veins. He only threatened to shut them down if anyone fought over them.]

[Plus: If Person123 hadn’t stepped in this time, the global economy probably would’ve collapsed.]

There was not the slightest sign of public anxiety over Person123 owning four of the five Sub-Towers.

His past actions had earned him enough trust.

After more than a month of global turmoil, the Sub-Tower crisis finally began to settle with the clearing of the last Tower.

***

Once all five Sub-Towers had been cleared safely, I returned to the work I had been doing before they appeared.

I resumed assisting other countries with their Nightmare clears.

In particular, I repeatedly entered and exited Floor 4 to help the United States and China prepare.

So far, those were the only two countries that had cleared up to Floor 3 of Nightmare.

—Japan has announced that it is actively pursuing negotiations with South Korea, as well as with members of the Magic Stone Accord, including Thailand and Vietnam...

Judging by the recent news regarding the Mana Vein beneath the Sendai Sub-Tower, I would probably be able to reactivate it before long.

Once the negotiations were fully concluded, the media would announce the agreement.

Then I could turn the Mana Vein back on.

On top of that, Japan’s Prime Minister Sato had resigned, and a successor had been appointed shortly afterward.

The public outrage must have been too great for him to withstand.

“The world changes every year without ever giving us a moment to breathe. Now it’s Mana Veins and whatever else... ugh.”

My father sighed as he watched the television.

He wasn’t wrong.

The world was in a constant state of upheaval.

My father ran a company as well, so he probably had no shortage of concerns.

He couldn’t afford to fall behind the times.

“Seo-a, have you been studying properly?”

“Yeah.”

“Your mother told me you got an F in one of your classes.”

“...”

Suddenly invoking her right to remain silent, my sister stared down and picked at her food.

Father sighed again.

How did someone even manage to receive an F?

Couldn’t anyone mess around as much as they wanted and still scrape together a B with the bare minimum of effort?

Then again...

Sure.

She might as well enjoy herself.

In a world that could end at any moment, what did university or studying really matter?

Honestly, I wanted my family to live however they pleased.

I wished my parents would spend more time relaxing and enjoying themselves too.

After lunch, I returned to my room and opened the Communication Channel.

I watched the conversations scroll by for a while, then closed it.

“Should I head in soon?”

Requests for advice on clearing the Tower had begun to decrease lately, leaving me with a little more room to breathe.

The Common Zone on Floor 5.

It was about time I made my way there.