Chapter 183: The Fifth Proposal

TL: DDTL

I took out the Celestial Music Box and activated it.

My nerves were completely shot, so I needed to recover.

Even now that I knew it had all been fake, the unease it had left behind still wouldn't go away easily. That was how badly it had shaken me.

♪ ♬

As I listened to the music box's melody, my body and mind gradually relaxed.

The lingering negative emotions were soon washed away completely.

“Phew...”

Good. I feel like myself again.

I got to my feet and checked my rewards.

There were two Skill Enhancement Stones.

One Epic+, and one Epic.

“Oh.”

Looks like I can get Weakness Insight to +5 now too.

That meant I could obtain the skill above Weakness Insight.

I used the Skill Enhancement Stones immediately.

I used the Epic+ stone on Elemental Arrow Barrage, and the Epic stone on Weakness Insight, which was currently at +4.

[‘Skill: Weakness Insight (Epic)’ has reached its maximum enhancement level.]

[You have acquired ‘Skill: Supreme Combat Sense (Epic+)’.]

[Skill: Supreme Combat Sense (Epic+)]

See through an opponent's attacks.

Classification: Physical Type (Passive)

Willpower Cost: None

Cooldown: None

The description was just as brief as Weakness Insight's.

As expected, it was a passive skill.

See through an opponent's attacks?

I'd have to test it against some monsters later to see exactly how it worked.

[Difficulty: Nightmare]

[Floor: 18]

[Level: 210]

[Willpower: 23,100/23,100]

[Skills: Radiant Incarnation (Legendary+), Elemental Arrow Barrage (Epic+)(+4), Destruction Ray (Epic+), Blood Frenzy (Epic+), Supreme Combat Sense (Epic+), Weakness Insight (Epic)(+5), Hellfire Eruption (Epic)(+1), Subspace (Epic), Air Walk (Epic)...]

[Nightmare]

Population: 1,573,608

Time Limit: 9 years 329 days 9 hours 1 minute 25 seconds

Reached Floor: 18

Elemental Arrow Barrage only needed one more enhancement to reach +5.

Then I'd be able to obtain a Legendary-grade Magic Type skill.

[Would you like to exit the Tower?]

Anyway, even though I didn't actually remember clearing it...

I'd safely cleared the 17th Floor too.

I exited the Tower.

“...Seo-hyeon!”

When I returned to the living room, my family greeted me warmly.

...This really is reality this time, right?

Just to be sure, I stopped time once and started it again, then let out a sigh.

I looked around at my family's faces, then pulled all three of them into a hug at once.

“W-What's wrong?”

“Was the floor really that hard...?”

My younger sister looked bewildered, while my parents patted me on the back and asked worriedly.

I smiled.

“It's nothing. I'm back.”

After getting some sleep and giving my exhausted mind a rest, I entered the Tower again to test my new skill, Supreme Combat Sense.

[You have entered Nightmare Difficulty Floor 16.]

Deep-Sea Fish came charging from every direction.

The moment I faced the monsters, I understood what Supreme Combat Sense did.

‘Ah...’

So this is how it works?

Red markings filled the space, showing the Deep-Sea Fish's attack paths ahead of time.

It was like the attack indicators that appeared when fighting a boss in a game.

Since the Deep-Sea Fish could only perform simple charging attacks, all the red markings formed straight lines.

I entered another floor to examine the skill's effect more closely.

The 11th Floor, the room with the Golem Knights.

When I tried it against them, the trajectory of every sword swing was displayed.

‘So that's how it works.’

It wasn't just some vague indication of an attack's range.

It clearly showed everything in advance: how wide an area the opponent's attack would cover and exactly what trajectory it would follow.

Its effect was similar to Sixth Sense, except this skill essentially made Sixth Sense visible.

Sixth Sense was ultimately still just a gut feeling, so it couldn't match this level of precision.

‘Nice.’

A skill that let me perfectly anticipate an opponent's attacks.

It was an extremely useful skill.

True to its name, Supreme Combat Sense looked like it would practically double my combat efficiency from here on out.

After I finished testing the skill, I immediately organized what I knew about the 17th Floor and wrote a Strategy Guide.

But damn, how the hell were other Climbers supposed to clear this?

If it hadn't been for Demon King, I would've had no choice but to give up all my memories of climbing the Tower.

And for other Climbers, each of the Red Scales, Blue Scales, and Gray Scales would be devastating in its own right.

Well... it was a completely pointless thing to worry about.

There were already countless problems on the lower floors anyway.

And there were only two people left who could even attempt Nightmare in the first place.

[Person123: Here's the Strategy Guide for Nightmare Floor 17.]

After posting the guide, I trained nonstop in the Mental World.

The Great Invasion had already eaten up a lot of time, so I planned to challenge the 18th Floor tomorrow without delay.

With even-numbered floors, the rules that followed a clear were always a major concern too.

But time was precious, and my lifespan was limited...

There was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't afford to slow down.

All I could do was keep running without stopping, hoping I could make it through safely this time too.

*

Nightmare Floor 17 had been cleared.

Clearing Nightmare floors had practically become part of everyday life by now, but every time the news came, it still brought people tremendous joy.

After all, the world's lifespan was growing by another year each time.

[Pig: Hell yeah! Nightmare Floor 17 cleared!]

[Angel: I read the guide, and this one is no joke either. You have to offer up your memories?]

[Paulo: One more floor and Nightmare catches up to Hard!]

[Greatsword: Hard Climbers, you guys for real? Hurry up and set a new highest floor too. You're slacking]

[Dullahan: Come on, clearing a new highest floor every few days makes no sense lol. Person123's the freak here lmao]

[Star: Can't be helped~ How's a human supposed to keep pace with a god?]

The Great Invasion had ended safely, and the world was peaceful.

By now, people worried more about the Interval Floor Rules than whether Nightmare would be cleared, but Person123 had managed to prevent most of them from causing any real damage.

It was the kind of peace one might enjoy in the eye of a typhoon.

“It was only last year that we were trembling because we thought the world was going to end. Crazy, isn't it?”

“Hahaha, seriously.”

A group of Tower Climbing Special Agency employees were on their way back to the government complex after lunch.

They noticed a fundraiser being held on the street.

“We're collecting donations for children overseas who suffered severe harm because of the Fallen. Please lend us your support!”

Judging by the sign that read ‘International Person123 Church Welfare Foundation’, they were members of the Person123 Church.

One of the employees spoke up.

“Should we make a donation to celebrate the 17th Floor being cleared?”

“Oh, sure. Let's do it together.”

The employees readily opened their wallets and put whatever cash they had left into the donation box.

“Thank you! Have a wonderful day!”

As they resumed walking down the street, the employees continued chatting.

“I still remember it so clearly. Back when Nightmare Floor 1 hadn't been cleared and we were only a few hours away from the end of the world.”

“God, that was chaos. There were plenty of people setting fires in the streets and beating others up.”

“Honestly, even after we barely managed to buy ourselves another year, I thought the world wouldn't last more than a few years. Didn't everyone? If we only barely cleared the first floor with a few hours to spare, how were we supposed to clear the second?”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Who could possibly have known?

Who could have imagined that the world would become this peaceful after the Tower appeared?

All of it had been achieved by a single superhuman.

For Koreans in particular, the fact that humanity's savior was Korean was an immense source of pride.

One employee jokingly clasped both hands together.

“The fact that we're still living like this is practically a miracle. Isn't it all thanks to Person123-nim's grace?”

“Right. Our lives may be miraculous, but we still have to go back to work on a nice day like this.”

“Can't we make the days when Nightmare floors get cleared holidays?”

“Then we'd get an extra weekend day every week.”

They were laughing and trading silly jokes when...

“Haha... Huh?”

Everyone froze.

Not just them, but pedestrians all along the street stopped at once and stared into empty space.

At the message that had once again appeared before the eyes of everyone in the world.

[The Tower is making a proposal to ‘Person123’.]

*

After finishing my preparations to clear the 18th Floor.

I stood in the living room with my family seeing me off.

“I'll be back. I'll clear it safely and return.”

[Would you like to enter Nightmare Difficulty Floor 18?]

It happened just as I finished saying goodbye and was about to enter the 18th Floor.

Another message suddenly appeared.

[Error correction is complete.]

[The Hidden Route has been reopened.]

“...?”

Huh?

For a moment, I was completely thrown off by the message saying the Hidden Route had been reopened.

After the incident with the Sage on the 7th Floor, the Tower had arbitrarily shut down the Hidden Route, claiming it needed to correct an error.

And now, more than a year later, a message had suddenly popped up saying it was open again.

Now? Out of nowhere?

‘...Wait.’

Then does that mean I can go back to the 8th Floor and start clearing the Hidden Routes from there?

After all, I hadn't received a single First Clear Reward since the 7th Floor.

Instead of tackling the 18th Floor right away, I should collect all the First Clear Rewards I'd missed first...

“Seo-hyeon? What's wrong?”

My family asked worriedly, wondering if something had happened.

I was about to tell them it was nothing.

Then another message appeared.

[The Tower is making a proposal to ‘Person123’.]

“...!”

What?

Right after the notification that the Hidden Route error had been corrected... came another proposal from the Tower.

I stopped time and read the messages as they appeared one after another.

[Upon accepting the following penalty, ‘Person123’ will receive a very special reward in return.]

[Penalty: Increase the difficulty of the Nightmare Difficulty Floor 17 Hidden Route and close all Hidden Routes on floors below Floor 17.]

[Reward: ‘Person123’ will permanently acquire ‘Rule Nullification Authority’.]

[‘Rule Nullification Authority’ can permanently nullify the rules triggered after a floor has been cleared on all difficulties, with no limit on the number of uses.]

[Entering the Tower before accepting the proposal will invalidate the proposal.]

[Upon accepting the proposal, ‘Person123’ must enter Nightmare Difficulty Floor 17 within 24 hours.]

[If ‘Person123’ accepts the proposal but fails to enter Floor 17 within the allotted time, entry into Nightmare Difficulty will be permanently prohibited.]

[If ‘Person123’ wishes to accept the proposal, indicate acceptance.]

‘...’

I was surprised.

Actually... I was very surprised.

The reward the Tower was offering was something I had never expected.

Rule Nullification Authority.

The Tower's Interval Floor Rules were probably the biggest problem I currently faced after my lifespan.

It was an authority that could nullify every one of those rules.

I looked at the penalty again.

[Penalty: Increase the difficulty of the Nightmare Difficulty Floor 17 Hidden Route and close all Hidden Routes on floors below Floor 17.]

Closing the Hidden Routes on the other floors was no big deal.

Give up all the First Clear Rewards I'd missed so far, and get Rule Nullification Authority in return?

That was obviously a huge win. It didn't get much better than that.

The problem was this.

Increasing the difficulty of the Floor 17 Hidden Route.

...The Tower had never worded anything like this before.

It had tried to make floors harder indirectly by imposing penalties, but this was the first time it had outright said it would increase the difficulty itself.

Two thoughts came to mind at once.

First, just as I'd suspected, the Tower couldn't interfere with floor clears however it pleased.

That had to be why it was going so far as to offer Rule Nullification Authority in exchange.

And the other was... what would happen if it did interfere?

If it said it would raise the difficulty, didn't that mean the Tower itself was going to modify the floor?

Nightmare was already horrific enough. Just how much worse would it become? How much harder was it planning to make it?

‘...Fuck.’

Another damn headache.

With time still stopped, I glared at the messages floating before me.