Chapter 54: 4F Hidden (5)

I was transported to the Reward Room.

The 4F Hidden challenge had been quite an ordeal.

If I hadn’t run into that monstrous bodyguard at the very end, it would have been a perfectly 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.

Well, now that I had reached the fourth floor, perhaps it was about time for the reward grades to improve.

Until now, every Hidden route had rewarded me with either a Rare+ Skill Stone or a Skill Enhancement Stone.

I turned my attention elsewhere.

The Skill Stone was Epic grade, and as for the item reward...

Well, I had more or less guessed what it would be.

So this was what they had decided to give me.

I picked up the Warp Device.

[Item: Premium Warp Device]

A warp device representing the pinnacle of the Dateian Empire’s magitech engineering. It can be activated by charging it with willpower. Each point of willpower allows the user to travel 10 meters. The user may either travel toward a designated direction or move to a saved point. A maximum of one point may be saved. Movement between the interior and exterior of the Tower is not possible. Activation requires 10 minutes.

Current charge: 0/1,000,000

I read through the description.

It was unusually long.

The device was activated by charging it with willpower.

Each point of willpower translated into ten meters of travel.

Current charge: 100/1,000,000

I poured one hundred willpower into it as a test, and the displayed value changed.

‘Its maximum capacity is one million...’

That meant it could transport me ten million meters.

Ten thousand kilometers.

“That’s insane.”

With this thing, I wouldn’t even need to take a plane to travel abroad.

That was the first ridiculous thought that entered my mind.

Of course, I wasn’t insane enough to actually use it to leave the country.

‘What does it mean by a saved point?’

According to the description, I could either travel to a saved point or simply aim in a direction.

Traveling in a chosen direction probably worked like Teleportation—I would move wherever I aimed.

A saved point, on the other hand, sounded like some kind of checkpoint.

It seemed to let me designate an exact destination in advance.

[Save current location as a point?]

When I tried activating the function, a prompt appeared.

Ah.

So that was how it worked.

I canceled the save.

To summarize the Warp Device’s functions:

It could transport me up to ten thousand kilometers.

It could move me directly to a saved point.

It could also send me in a chosen direction, much like Teleportation.

Only one point could be saved at a time.

And it couldn’t transport me between the interior and exterior of the Tower.

That was about it.

It didn’t appear to have any real cooldown, either.

The willpower cost was absurdly high, but for me, that wasn’t much of a problem.

The °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° only serious drawback was the ten-minute activation time.

It clearly wasn’t something I could use during combat.

Without that delay, it would have made an excellent emergency escape tool.

“All right, then...”

Next came the skill.

What kind of Epic-grade skill had I received?

I picked up the Skill Stone with growing anticipation.

[Skill Stone: Subspace (Epic)]

When used, you can acquire ‘Skill: Subspace (Epic).’

“...Subspace?”

The word itself was familiar.

Surely it meant the kind of subspace I was thinking of.

An inventory.

[‘Skill: Subspace (Epic)’ acquired.]

I learned the skill immediately and read its description.

[Skill: Subspace (Epic)]

Creates a subspace in which objects may be stored and retrieved. Direct physical contact is required to store an object. Stored objects may be retrieved within a radius of 1 meter. Living beings and spirits cannot be stored. Maximum storage capacity: 100 kilograms. Requires 3 minutes of mental concentration to cast.

Classification: Magic Type

Willpower cost: 300

Cooldown: None

Yep.

It was an inventory.

Since it wasn’t a combat skill, it felt somewhat underwhelming for an Epic-grade reward.

Still, I decided to test it.

I took out a bladeless Ice Dagger.

I stopped time, completed the required mental concentration, and cast Subspace.

Pop.

The dagger vanished in an instant.

Now to retrieve it.

I stopped time again, concentrated, and cast Subspace once more.

Pop.

The Ice Dagger reappeared in my hand.

So both storing and retrieving an item consumed willpower.

I continued using Subspace and ran several more tests.

Storing and retrieving each required a separate cast, but I could place multiple objects inside at the same time.

Diul’s bracelet and Plli’s necklace, however, couldn’t be stored.

The description had clearly stated that living beings and spirits were excluded, so that made sense.

I had acquired a pure inventory-type skill.

The willpower cost and concentration time were fairly steep, but neither posed much of a problem for me.

I decided to look at the bright side.

It was still a useful utility skill.

My collection of items had been growing lately, and carrying everything around had become increasingly inconvenient.

“From now on, I’ll just keep everything in here.”

I immediately placed 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)...]

After finishing with the rewards, I left the room.

The Hidden route was complete.

Now it was time to diligently write up everything I had learned and post it.

***

After Nightmare 4F was cleared, two main topics dominated the Communication Channel.

The first was the impending appearance of the Sub-Towers.

After the incident with the Fallen, it was only natural that people were anxious about whatever the Tower planned to unleash next.

[Yuseong: So another tower is going to appear, and we’ll have to climb that one too?]

[Saika: Who knows. Their locations are random, so whichever countries get one are screwed.]

[Hwikhwik: There are supposed to be five of them. What kind of bullshit is this? I’m seriously worried...]

[Pulbit: If the Sub-Towers have Time Limits too, that would be completely insane lol.]

The other topic was, as always, the information post Person123 was expected to publish.

The fourth floor was especially noteworthy.

After all, Person123 had cleared it while under a Penalty.

[Hawaii: 4F post when? 4F post when? 4F post when? 4F post when? 4F post when?]

[DawnOfChaos: Person123, post the 4F information at once!]

[Confirmed: Is Person123 your buddy or something? At least say please.]

[Stakes: I’m dying of curiosity. When is it going up?]

[Priyan: But if they cleared it despite taking a Penalty, wouldn’t this one have been less brutal than the previous floors?]

[Whistle: They cleared it with a Penalty? Ah, that means the floor was easy! (X) Ah, Person123 really is a god! (O)]

[Floor999: Common sense says the higher the floor, the harder it gets lol.]

Whenever Person123 cleared a Nightmare floor, the subsequent information post became an event in itself.

The Time Limit had just been extended by another year, so the general mood was upbeat.

The Climbers gathered on the Communication Channel, chatting and speculating about just how vicious and deranged the fourth floor had been while waiting for the post to appear.

Governments around the world—especially those with Nightmare clearers of their own—were also monitoring the channel by the second.

The moment Person123 uploaded the post, their analysts would begin dissecting every detail.

[Person123: 4F strategy information.]

At last, the post appeared.

[Person123: The distance between golems, the time required for them to reach the exit, and the rest periods between stages are identical to those of the other difficulties. On Nightmare difficulty, however, the golems arrive in repeating waves of 5, 10, and 20 across a total of 18 stages. Stages 1 through 3 consist of basic golems with no abilities. Stages 4 through 6 consist of blue golems with 99% physical-damage immunity...]

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[Collecting the cores of destroyed golems awards points and unlocks the shop. The available shop items are listed below. Golems from stages 1 through 3 award 50P each, those from stages 4 through 6 award 100P, and those from stages 7 through 9 award 150P...]

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[After stage 18 is cleared, the boss appears as the final challenge. The boss possesses every ability used by the blue, red, black, green, and yellow golems encountered in the previous stages. The intended method of defeating it is to obtain the ‘Ability Nullification Part’ from the shop’s Special Gacha. The chance of drawing it is one in three, which means the outcome is entirely dependent on luck. The only practical approach is to conserve as many points as possible...]

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[...There is exactly one alternative: activate Grand Incineration and survive it longer than the boss. Grand Incineration kills the boss as well. If you remain alive even a moment longer than it does, the clear will succeed.

The method I used was to amplify a healing skill twenty-seven times using 300% Scrolls, then activate Grand Incineration and outlast the boss. It seemed to take approximately ten seconds for the boss to die completely, though I cannot confirm the exact duration.

More importantly, this strategy offers no guarantee of success, so I strongly advise against using it as your primary plan. It should only be attempted as a last resort if you possess a healing skill and fail to draw the Ability Nullification Part.]

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The post was even longer than the one covering 3F.

The Communication Channel erupted almost immediately.

[SantaClaus: Eighteen stages? Have they completely lost their minds?]

[SnowMountain: 99% damage immunity, damage negation, one resurrection... wow. A full assortment of bullshit.]

[Beluga: Still seems manageable if you use the shop properly, doesn’t it?]

[Swag: The boss is the real problem. If you don’t pull the Ability Nullification Part, they’re basically telling you to die.]

[Heron: Rigged luck-based trash game;;]

[Waguwagu: Even if you fail to pull it, there’s still another method. Just get incinerated together with the boss.]

[Benjanew: I mean... can that really be called a “method”?]

[MaxFirepower: So Person123 failed the gacha and immediately thought of setting themselves on fire. Is that even an idea a sane person could come up with...?]

[Demigod: They’re not sane. That’s why they clear Nightmare every year.]

[LunarEclipse: Even with a Penalty, 4F was still completely insane...]

People could hardly contain their shock at the way Person123 had cleared the fourth floor.

At a training facility operated by the U.S. Climbing Bureau, Taylor wiped the sweat from her face as she read through the Communication Channel.

Her expression grew more serious with every passing second.

“Are you reading it now?”

Max, who happened to be visiting the facility, noticed her staring into empty space and spoke.

“I read it on my way here. As expected, 4F was sickeningly difficult.”

“Right. The key will be allocating the points properly.”

Taylor sighed.

“This person... truly is on another level. Every time I read one of these posts, I become more aware of the gulf between us.”

There was something distinctly alien about the fourth floor compared with the ones before it.

The gacha system.

No matter how carefully a Climber conserved their points, the boss couldn’t be defeated without luck.

Taylor could feel the Tower’s vicious intent.

It was no longer testing skill alone.

Now it was testing luck as well.

Person123 seemed to have fallen directly into that trap.

They had failed to draw the Ability Nullification Part.

What would it have felt like?

Taylor tried to imagine herself in the same position.

The final boss had appeared.

Every remaining point had been spent on the gacha.

And the result was nothing but the Grand Incineration switch and three 300% Scrolls.

It would have been crushingly unfair.

Utterly hopeless.

Failure would not have resulted from a lack of ability, but from simple bad luck.

Even Taylor, a former CIA Special Activities Center operative who had undergone extensive training in psychological resilience, doubted she could have remained calm under those circumstances.

And yet Person123 had still found a way.

They had taken the best possible gamble with the few tools available to them.

And they had won.

They had allowed themselves to be consumed by the same flames as the boss and survived through sheer endurance.

How had they even conceived of such a plan?

More importantly, how had they found the courage to carry it out?

They had gone that far and, once again, saved the world.

A noble soul deserving of gratitude and respect.

In truth, Taylor had recently begun questioning her reasons for continuing to climb the Tower.

The grand ideal of saving humanity had faded long ago.

Now, climbing had become little more than a delayed race against China, driven entirely by national interests.

Even while risking her life, she could barely remain behind Person123.

She had nearly died on 3F.

She was only following in their footsteps.

She offered no real assistance.

She was useless.

...But after reading the 4F strategy post, something inside her stirred awake.

Someone was standing alone at the very front.

Fighting desperately and in complete isolation to save humanity.

And here she was, wasting time wondering whether her own actions had meaning?

Why did Person123 share their strategies after every clear?

Why did they always help everyone else without ever asking for anything in return?

It was because they wanted someone to remain behind them in case they failed.

There could be no other explanation.

That was why Taylor had to continue climbing.

Whether she was useful wasn’t for her to decide.

Whether her actions had meaning, whether she was helpful, whether she eventually died for nothing—none of that mattered.

She simply had to give everything she had in order to honor Person123’s noble resolve.

Taylor drew a deep breath and turned to Max.

“Max.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s prepare a strategy for 4F as quickly as possible.”

Max looked slightly surprised by her sudden determination, then nodded.

“Understood.”

***

Downtown Chongqing, China.

Rrrrrumble...

People screamed as a sudden earthquake shook the streets.

The ground split apart.

Buildings collapsed.

And something began rising from below.

A colossal black tower.

The handful of people who had narrowly avoided being swallowed by the earth stared blankly at the structure that had erupted in the middle of the city.