After Person123 cleared even Japan’s third Sub-Tower, Wang Kai was absolutely seething.
By rights, he should have been the one to clear them all and claim ownership of the Sub-Towers, and now two had already been snatched out from under him.
Of course, it wasn’t out of any patriotic devotion to his motherland China that he was so frantic about securing the Sub-Towers.
He had a deal with the Party, so handing them a Mana Vein on a platter would bring him substantial benefits too, but that had beco a secondary concern.
Simply put, having his things taken from him over and over was twisting his temper into knots.
Person123. The Nightmare-difficulty record holder.
It had grated on him to see everyone exalting the man as so kind of savior, but Wang Kai had never paid him much attention. They had no real reason to clash.
After all, the world’s highest-level climber was Wang Kai himself.
But if the man was going to interfere like this, that was a different story.
Wang Kai was the kind of man who got what he wanted, and anything that got in his way had to be cleared aside or stomped flat before he could feel satisfied.
On top of that, the chatter on the Communication Channel, busy comparing him to Person123 and mocking him, was scraping at his nerves sothing fierce.
If those bug-like little pests were standing right in front of him, they wouldn’t dare open their mouths, but on the channel they ran them just fine…
“How about you just put a fighter jet up and fly there?”
“…Don’t be absurd. You’re asking us to violate another country’s airspace?”
“If you can’t, forget it. Tch.”
Japan’s Sub-Tower had only been lost because that bastard happened to be in Japan to enter and clear it first.
Luck like that wouldn’t strike twice.
He had the full backing of his nation behind him.
So long as a Sub-Tower didn’t appear in his own country, there was no way that Japanese punk could reach a foreign Sub-Tower’s radius faster than he could. Was there?
Wang Kai waited only for the next Sub-Tower to appear.
[The fourth Sub-Tower has appeared.]
A week later, the fourth Sub-Tower appeared.
“Brazil? Nice.”
The host country was Brazil. At last it had escaped Northeast Asia, and one had erged on the Arican continent.
That ant Person123 was bound to take a long ti on this one. He’d be in Japan.
The fourth Sub-Tower is mine. I’ll go straight there, clear it, and leave him sucking his thumb.
Thinking that, Wang Kai boarded his plane.
[The fourth Sub-Tower has been cleared to the final floor.]
“…!”
The instant he settled into his seat, the ssage that flashed up nearly made him spit out his drink.
After hacking and coughing, Wang Kai wiped his mouth and screwed his face into a deep scowl.
“Huh?”
What is this.
No… how?
Unable to make sense of the situation at all, he stared blankly at the ssage.
*
After clearing Japan’s Sub-Tower, I posted info threads on the Communication Channel.
[Person123: Information on the second Sub-Tower clear.]
[Person123: Information on the third Sub-Tower clear.]
Both Mongolia and Japan.
Originally I hadn’t planned to post Sub-Tower info on the Communication Channel at all.
I was going to clear them all anyway, and the monsters changed from tower to tower, so there was no real reason to write up info posts.
But on second thought, posting them seed like the better call.
After being cleared, Sub-Towers could be re-entered, kind of like Repeat Clearing, and there might be people who wanted to go in.
So I posted the info threads, and another week passed.
The fourth Sub-Tower appeared in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
It had finally broken out of Northeast Asia, but that wasn’t exactly sothing to celebrate.
Brazil was practically on the opposite side of the planet.
I looked up the distance and felt my mind go numb.
“Eight, eighteen thousand…”
Nine tis Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Willpower needed to charge: 1,800,000. Roughly 1,400 hours’ worth.
Subtracting the 120 hours I’d been topping up bit by bit over the past week, that left 1,280 hours…
In days, that was over fifty days!
“Holy shit.”
This is seriously absurd.
Even worse, it exceeded the Warp Device’s maximum charge capacity, so I’d have to split the trip into two jumps.
Is going by warp really the right call here? I had to seriously think about it.
Maybe I should hurry up and look into flights to Brazil before travel advisories ca down. I could tell my family I was off on another trip.
Ah… but sohow…
Sothing told .
China’s probably scrambling to clear that Sub-Tower right now too, negotiations be damned. They obviously know about the Ownership system.
If I went by plane, I’d probably get there after them.
Should I just sit this one out?
No matter how much of an expert I’d beco at killing ti with ti stop, fifty days was seriously crossing the line.
That dizzying number was more than enough to make consider just letting China have it.
In the end, I chose the warp.
If I’d decided to do this, I had to see it through to the finish…
I’ll skip the detailed description of just how mind-numbingly tedious that stretch of ti was.
I fully charged the Warp Device and traveled all the way to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the other side of the world.
[The fourth Sub-Tower has been cleared to the final floor.]
The clear was, of course, instantaneous.
This ti too the monsters were a little different, and the overall difficulty was about the sa.
The 10F boss was a Wyvern-like creature that breathed fire from its mouth.
I dodged it cleanly with Teleportation, then ended things with a click of Destruction Ray.
[You have obtained ownership of the fourth Sub-Tower.]
“Hehehehe.”
Yay now to get ho, all I have to do is charge another fifty days’ worth.
Laughing a little manically, I exited the tower.
Please, please let the last Sub-Tower pop up sowhere closer.
*
After Japan’s Sub-Tower was cleared and the rumor that Person123 was Japanese spread far and wide.
Adding to that, Person123 had even posted info threads about the Sub-Towers on the Communication Channel.
It had practically been treated as fact already, but now it was officially confird: he was the one who had cleared both Mongolia’s and Japan’s Sub-Towers.
[Ratata: The 10F boss is at least level-50 strong?]
[Ice: But how’d he beat it? Isn’t Person123 only level 40?]
[Weirdo: Maybe he’s got so over-spec skill or item? He grabbed all the first-clear rewards on Nightmare too]
People marveled at Person123’s prowess, as they always did.
anwhile, the Japanese climbers were still riding high.
[Lighter: Of course, it’s our Japanese people who save the world]
[WinterBud: Honestly, Person123’s noble spirit of self-sacrifice does sh well with our national character]
[Cheonji: The world should thank Japan]
There were so who really laid it on thick.
Person123 had not made any statent to deny it, and as a rule he never wrote anything on the Communication Channel unless absolutely necessary.
But the current atmosphere made it seem as if Person123 being Japanese was settled fact.
[Tadaki: Now Korea’s the only country among Japan, China, and Korea without a Nightmare clearer lol]
[DogAndCat: No Mana Vein either. Korea’s the only one that hasn’t gotten a Sub-Tower]
[Secret: Pretty pathetic (lol)]
[Gangnam: Look at them, having a field day]
[ChickenLeg: Go yap sowhere else, just amongst yourselves]
And then the fourth Sub-Tower appeared in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
This one too was cleared in about twenty minutes. Just like Japan’s Sub-Tower.
[Latinya: ?]
[SoSo: Huh?]
The Communication Channel went up in flas all over again.
[Hansen: What? The Brazil Sub-Tower clear took only twenty minutes too?]
[CoffeeBean: Wasn’t this one cleared by soone else…?]
[Reset: As if. The clear ti is exactly the sa]
People wondered if maybe soone else had handled it.
[Person123: Information on the fourth Sub-Tower clear.]
But not long after the clear, Person123’s info post went up, nailing it down: it wasn’t anyone else.
How is this even possible?
People were thrown into cognitive dissonance.
Could Person123 have just happened, by sheer coincidence, to be in Brazil…?
Anyway, with Brazil’s Sub-Tower cleared, the rumor of Person123 being Japanese instantly lost all its steam.
[Salanco: So actually he wasn’t Japanese, he was Brazilian]
[Placebo: Why not just call him a half-Japanese, half-Brazilian mix]
[Banwol: Finally those obnoxious bastards are gone lol where’d all the Japanese climbers go? They were so loud earlier]
[Salamander: Heard they went off to cry about it]
[Hongsi: They went totally overboard, seriously]
[Musashi: Yeah well, we got the Mana Vein anyway~]
[OneThird: But seriously, no joke, how the hell did he do it? Unless he knows where the Sub-Towers are going to appear in advance, how is this even possible?]
[MountainKing: Person123’s using chukjibeop, dang [TL: legendary Korean technique that lets one cover great distances in a single step]]
[Dinosaur: Maybe he’s got so kind of clone technique]
[FunParty: Could it be so ultra-long-distance Teleportation skill?]
People now turned their attention to what would happen with the fifth and final Sub-Tower.
anwhile, at the Japanese Pri Minister’s residence.
“Even from the surface deposits found so far, the estimate is at least fifty tons. If we add in the underground reserves…”
A eting was underway between the Pri Minister and his cabinet ministers.
The Mana Vein ford after the clearing of the Sub-Tower in Sendai, Japan.
For the Japanese governnt, the question of whether Person123 was Japanese or not, an unconfird rumor, mattered far less than the question of how to refine and swallow this enormous lump of gold. It was a very pleasant dilemma.
The Sato Cabinet’s approval rating had been near rock bottom, but considering the overwhelming economic effects the Mana Vein would bring, a dramatic rebound was within reach.
‘Can things really go this smoothly?’
Sato struggled to keep the corners of his mouth from curling upward.
When the Sub-Tower had appeared in Ulaanbaatar and China had been pressuring Mongolia, a Sub-Tower had practically been a calamity for the host nation.
But Person123 had stepped in and cleared the Sub-Towers at lightning speed, and the situation had flipped completely.
It was a heaven-sent rope, no, a rope sent down by Person123 himself.
Truly, he was humanity’s savior. Sato felt that if he knew which direction the man was in, he would happily perform a full dogeza right that instant.
“…One issue is the Magic Stone Accord. Under its clauses, there is room for Japan to be saddled with unnecessary losses.”
There was the Magic Stone Accord, signed between Japan, Korea, and several Southeast Asian nations.
Originally, this had been a treaty signed a year ago by countries that lacked Nightmare clearers and therefore had insufficient supply of Supre Magic Stones, in order to counter China’s market manipulation, but…
Now Japan was going to be pulling Supre Magic Stones out of a Mana Vein too?
It had beco a shackle, nothing more.
One of the ministers spoke up at once.
“Why don’t we go ahead and withdraw? With the international situation in turmoil over the Sub-Towers, now is honestly the perfect window.”
There was no shortage of justifications they could slap on it.
The backlash that would follow could be borne with a smile, considering the staggering benefits the Mana Vein would bring the country going forward.
Cutting the tail off as fast as possible, before the others, especially Korea, had ti to move, was the right play.
Of course, doing so would deal a severe blow to Korea and the Southeast Asian countries’ Magic Stone liquidity, but…
So what? That wasn’t Japan’s concern.
Even if there were imdiate protests, going forward Korea would have no choice but to bow lower to Japan over the Magic Stone distribution issue.
Sato nodded.
“Very well. Let us make our move first, before the Sub-Tower situation has fully wrapped up.”
*
After clearing the Brazilian Sub-Tower, I finally returned ho.
In real ti it had been less than thirty minutes, but to the journey had felt impossibly long, and I collapsed straight onto my bed.
[Chicken Sandwich: Mr. Kim, what thod on earth did you use for the Japanese and Brazilian Sub-Towers?]
I checked the Communication Channel and found a Whisper waiting from Bilon.
It was rare for Bilon to be the one asking questions first, but this ti he must have been too curious to hold back. Understandable.
I cleared up his curiosity.
[Person123: I have a long-distance teleport item I picked up as a Nightmare clear reward.]
[Chicken Sandwich: Ah!]
Now Bilon seed to grasp the secret behind the twenty-minute clears in Japan and Brazil.
[Chicken Sandwich: Excellent work. According to information the CIA has gathered, China appears to still be aiming to clear the Sub-Towers.]
Ah… so I’d been right?
That ans if I hadn’t gone to Brazil by warp, China could have beaten to it.
‘So I wasn’t running around for nothing after all.’
But how does Bilon know information the CIA had gathered.
I guess this is what the connections and power of the world’s richest man look like.
[Person123: Are you sure you should be telling that kind of thing?]
[Chicken Sandwich: For Mr. Kim, even Arican national secrets would be on the table, but unfortunately this is one matter I don’t know much about myself.]
[Person123: I’ll just appreciate the thought, haha…]
[Chicken Sandwich: By the way, is there a reward that goes to the Sub-Tower clearer personally, beyond the Mana Vein? If not, China wouldn’t be putting in this much effort.]
[Person123: It rewards Sub-Tower ownership. Apparently it lets you activate or deactivate the Mana Vein at will.]
[Chicken Sandwich: I see… so that’s what China was hiding.]
I ended the conversation with Bilon and went back to resting.
If I just cleared the last fifth Sub-Tower, it would all be over. But…
[Ti until fifth Sub-Tower appears: 3 days, 10 hours, 25 minutes, 6 seconds]
A few days passed.
I caught the news as it ca over the TV.
– The Japanese governnt has unilaterally announced its withdrawal from the Magic Stone Accord with Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, and others, citing what it claims are serious unfair clauses. Our governnt has imdiately moved to lodge protest asures…
The news that Japan had unilaterally torn up the Magic Stone Accord with our country and several Southeast Asian nations.
They had trotted out an absurd justification, but the real reason was obviously the Mana Vein.
From my point of view, I’d gone to all the trouble of clearing the Sub-Tower for them, and this was the thanks I got: a slap to the back of the head.
“Honestly…”
What’s with everyone being so greedy.
I hadn’t really been planning to exercise the Ownership rights I’d gained from clearing the Sub-Tower, but this changed things.
If I let this slide, the other countries that had received Mana Veins might start pulling stunts of their own…
I decided to make an example of them.
[Do you wish to deactivate the Mana Vein of the third Sub-Tower?]
Shut the valve.
Magic Stones, confiscated.
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