Retry (2)
A Tower Announcement.
An announcement like this had been broadcast every time a 'Tower Break' occurred, and each time, a global catastrophe had followed.
Tens of millions died in the Tier 1 Tower Break, hundreds of millions died in the Tier 2 Tower Break, and in the Tier 3 and Tier 4 Tower Breaks, several nations were wiped out.
In the end, the SSS-Rank Awakeners who had conquered even the Tier 4 Tower returned and restored peace on Earth, but.
Everyone in the world knew.
That this manufactured peace would soon be shattered by the Apocalypse Tower Break.
Because they knew the future, nations were mustering Hunter forces and pouring gold into Awakener enhancement projects.
To survive even a little longer against the coming catastrophe.
But everyone knew.
No one could be saved that way. All it would do was defer their lives by a mere few years.
Even so, they'd thought there was still a fair amount of time. Hadn't the Tier 4 Tower been climbed at a very fast pace, greatly extending the grace period until the Tower Break?
[Time Remaining Until the End of Earth]
[16 hours 57 minutes]
But the announcement broadcast this time shook to the core the minds of people who had been steeped in complacency.
Even the choice of words was violent.
Not even a 'Tower Break,' but 'the end of Earth.'
The end of Earth had come right up to their noses, and they'd had no idea at all.
[The end of Earth has been deferred.]
But it had been deferred by a single person. By Yu Hyun-sung, who had recently been set to become Korea's first Tier 4 Tower graduate, but had suddenly committed suicide by throwing himself into the Apocalypse Tower.
-......So the Korean challenger, Yu Hyun-sung, succeeded in the end.
-Could he have already known about this situation?
-Even if he did, his courage is remarkable.
-Earth owes him a debt.
All sorts of news outlets and communities were plastered with the pause of the Apocalypse Tower Break. In the midst of it, a top actor's affair, some celebrity's tax evasion, and some politician's provocation of war were easily buried.
Without even making it to the surface of the issues.
That was how much this announcement had become a common topic across the whole world.
-So this was why Yu Hyun-sung suddenly headed for the Apocalypse Tower after raising all that hell about graduating.
-My god. I'd been wondering why that thug suddenly went crazy and threw himself into the Apocalypse Tower, and finally!
-Thug? Are you insane? He's Earth's hero.
Public opinion defending Yu Hyun-sung took over the world in an instant.
Of course, there were still many who disliked Yu Hyun-sung.
Within the Tower Community, that is.
[Tier 4 41] Alex: Even so, it's only been deferred for a bit. What's that bastard Yu Hyun-sung saving the world for?
[Tier 4 34] Lepi: True, yep. It's probably only been deferred by a few days.
[Tier 3 99] Kim Ji-woon: You seriously think that fucking idiot is fooling around trying to protect Earth for some noble purpose?
[Tier 3 70] Tianyu: Yu Hyun-sung's going to croak before he gets a few floors in anyway, so what's there to be happy about? Thanks for telling us the Tower Break deadline, though.
Since the atrocities he'd committed inside the Tower weren't just one or two, public opinion didn't come around easily even though he'd stopped the Apocalypse Tower Break, but.
[Tier 4 18] Weichi: Those bastards didn't stop the Tower Break themselves and aren't going to, so why are they running their mouths like that?
[Tier 3 89] Sophia: Exactly. It's true that without Yu Hyun-sung, there's no one to stop the Apocalypse Tower Break, so with what sense of responsibility are they acting like that? Is it jealousy?
[Tier 4 34] Lepi: Hey, you fuck. Who's jealous? You want to die?
The public opinion defending Yu Hyun-sung was definitely growing too.
Even ordinary people began to slowly sign up for the Tower Community to cheer on Yu Hyun-sung, so those who opposed Yu Hyun-sung had no choice but to slowly get pushed into the community's corners.
Of course, the powerhouses of the Tier 3 Tower and above didn't care about that public opinion and kept cursing Yu Hyun-sung, but.......
Only one thing mattered.
In the end, Yu Hyun-sung had cleared the Apocalypse Tower's 1st floor and proven himself.
And he had deferred the Tower Break.
***
Announcements and whatever else aside, I was honestly kind of dumbfounded.
'What the hell is this guy?'
He says he's a merchant, then cries by himself, then suddenly starts snickering. It was an extremely unfamiliar sight. Weren't merchants just NPC-like things in the first place?
'And what's with the state of this place?'
The form of the 'Shop' differed by difficulty. The Tier 4 Tower's shop had been dazzling and full of gold and treasure, but this place looked like some crumbling antique shop.
And on top of that, what about the owner?
A small, skinny guy for a man, looking almost like a wreck, with a shaggy beard and deep dark circles, blubbering away. It was quite an unsightly scene.
He looked almost like a hikikomori.
He'd even apparently been chugging straight from the liquor bottle.
“Hm.......”
Isn't that exactly the total-wreck life I'd dreamed of?
So jealous.
“Right! This isn't the time for this!”
CLATTER!
The merchant tried to spring up from his seat and fell flat on his face.
“Oops.”
“......”
“Nice to meet you! Ahem, ahem. My name is Aedric. I am the merchant of the Earth Server's Apocalypse-level Tower, and also a guide who leads the challengers.”
“Server? Is there something else besides Earth?”
“Isn't that obvious? It'd be too much of a loss if there were only Earth in this vast universe and its dimensions.”
“Ah, is that so.”
He told me the truth of the world so nonchalantly that I was dumbfounded. Not that I hadn't figured as much.
“......It's a bit awkward to say this, but compared to other worlds, the level of players climbing the Ascension Tower on Earth is low, so it's being looked down on quite a bit. Even the Celestials of other worlds look down on it, calling it a world that'll soon be wiped out.”
“Not curious.”
“If the world is destroyed, our world's Celestials will also...... ahem. I suppose I can't say this. Because of the restriction.......”
“I said I'm not curious. More importantly, I'd like to look around the Shop.”
Aedric scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression.
“As much as you like. Esteemed challenger. However...... there won't be many items that you, having just cleared the 1st floor, can buy.”
I knew that much.
But window shopping's important too, right?
Besides, there's a huge difference in clearing floors between not using the Shop at all and being able to use it even a little.
“Ooh.”
Checking the Skill Shop, I couldn't help but marvel at the dazzling list. Originally, you could only buy up to A-Rank skills from the Shop. And even those went 'Sold Out' when someone else bought them, so I'd only managed to buy one.
But what about here?
Beyond A-Rank, the Shop was full of skills above that!
Namely, 'Celestial blessings'!
“You can buy blessings with money?”
“Of course. Unlike the fake towers you've challenged so far, the Apocalypse Tower is a 'real' tower.”
“Real? What's that supposed to mean?”
“Normally you'd have to pay an information fee in TP...... but if I overstep my authority a little, the Apocalypse Tower isn't a programmed fake like the lower towers. Every floor of the challenge is a 'real world.'”
“Oh.......”
It sort of felt like I'd heard some shocking truth, but.
“So what changes?”
“Huh?”
“Either way, I still have to smash through the Tower and climb it.”
“Uh...... I suppose so, yes?”
“Then forget it.”
I scrolled down the shop list.
A Celestial's Divine Powers and blessings were usually given in the form of a 'contract' only after you'd wagged your tail at those Celestial bastards and gotten on their good side.
If you didn't listen to them, the blessing could be taken right back.
In other words, even after receiving a blessing, the Celestial was the 'superior' and the player was the 'subordinate.'
Because of that, there were a great many cases of players forcing themselves to do things they didn't want to just because a Celestial told them to.
But...... if the system changed to the form of a 'transaction,' the superior and subordinate would switch places.
Since I'd be paying points to buy it, I'd be the 'superior' as the consumer, and the Celestial would become the 'subordinate.'
*Purchasable from Apocalypse Tower 80th Floor and above.
[Blessing of the Philandering Thunder]
TP 1,800,000
[Blessing of the Tree That Upholds the World]
TP 1,700,000
[Blessing of the Awakened Feathered Serpent]
TP 1,200,000
[Blessing of the One Eye That Records Fate]
TP 1,500,000
Whoa, the prices are seriously absurd.
Blessings from Celestials who were hugely famous, but who had never once been heard of granting a blessing to anyone.
It was an amount you could never save up even if you cleared the Tower up to the 100th floor the normal way.
You couldn't buy this even if you worked your whole life. It felt like how you can grind as an office worker for decades and still not afford your own home in Gangnam.
Even the purchase restrictions were brutal.
I quickly scrolled past the blessings I'd never be able to buy and looked further down.
*Purchasable from Apocalypse Tower 50th Floor and above.
[Blessing of the Endless Whisper]
TP 400,000
[Blessing of the Endurance of Flame]
TP 300,000
[Blessing of the Rain-Calling Frog]
TP 250,000
There were plenty of blessings from Celestials I'd never heard of in my life, and in those cases, most were 'relatively' cheap and had cheap performance too.
“Damn expensive here too. Can anyone even buy these?”
“Of course. Where would you find a merchant selling items that can't be bought?”
With the TP I had now, not a chance.
If I saved and saved, I'd barely be able to buy one around the 30s floors.
But how was I supposed to save?
This was Apocalypse-level. With no idea what would show up on the next difficulty, I couldn't afford to save up.
“By the way, the girl hanging off the crescent moon, was it? She's not here.”
[The Girl Riding the Crescent Moon Swing is exasperated, saying that she is the Girl Riding the Crescent Moon Swing.]
“Uh, yeah, you.”
I remembered that crescent moon whatever girl had been watching me since quite a long time ago. When was that? Was it when I was challenging the Tier 2 Tower? Or not?
[The Girl Riding the Crescent Moon Swing lets out a deep sigh and says she has been watching you since you wrote clear guides for the lower floors on the Tier 1 Tower's 70th floor.]
“Ah. Was it?”
Hm, a Tier 1 Tower guide, you say?
How many years ago was that, anyway?
I don't even remember.
[The Girl Riding the Crescent Moon Swing is hurt, claiming that she is the first Celestial who observed you.]
Seems like she's demanding to know how I can't remember when she's been with me from the start. But what can I do?
“If you're so bent out of shape, you could've given me a blessing or something.”
[The Girl Riding the Crescent Moon Swing says, drained of strength, that she has neither the Divine Power nor the strength to bestow a blessing.]
“Then get lost.”
[The Girl Riding the Crescent Moon Swing has fainted from the great shock.]
[The Philandering Thunder flies into a fiery rage at you and subtly tries to seduce the Girl Riding the Crescent Moon Swing.]
[The King Who Rejected Immortality grows angry at you and looks at the Girl Riding the Crescent Moon Swing with pitying eyes.]
[The Shield Bearing the Cursed Eye thunders at your rudeness and warmly comforts the Girl Riding the Crescent Moon Swing.]
The moment I cursed at the crescent moon whatever, a whole bunch of Celestials suddenly got angry.
I'd cursed at Celestials plenty of times until now, but this was a first.
“Usually when I curse at a Celestial, you guys love it to death because it's funny, so why's everyone throwing a fit today? Block Celestial messages. Just show me the equipment shop.”
There was no urgent need for skills right now. For a player who'd challenged the Tier 3 Tower or above, regaining old skills like muscle memory wasn't that hard. Besides, didn't I remember how to get my skills back?
Checking the equipment shop, I let out a choking sound and rubbed my eyes.
“What the hell is this.......”
*Purchasable from Apocalypse Tower 80th Floor and above.
[Mjölnir]
TP 3,000,000
[Gungnir]
TP 2,900,000
[Excalibur]
TP 2,200,000
Equipment items that would literally only appear in myths were lined up one after another. And at monstrous prices!
The Celestial blessings were cute by comparison.
“How the hell is anyone supposed to save up that insane, absurd amount of TP? You just put them on display to tease people, right?”
Shaking my head, I set it to show only lower-grade equipment. Maybe because I'd just seen that monstrous equipment, there was nothing but really boring Normal-grade gear.
“Will you purchase equipment?”
“No.”
“......Hm. It seems you'll need some decent equipment to challenge the 2nd floor.”
“Where would I get the money to spend on stuff like that? I've got to tighten my belt and buy a building in Gangnam.”
“??”
I closed the equipment shop, browsed the general goods shop, and bought a few miscellaneous items.
[Signal Arrow Bundle, Flare, Burning Torch Wick, Hunting Firecrackers]
“Wait...... hold on, is this really right? Not even equipment, you're buying this stuff?”
“It's my money, and I'm buying what I want.”
They didn't cost much, so it wasn't a big burden.
“Ah, also. Give me some cigarettes too. The kind with matches attached. Got to light them, after all.”
To avoid stress in a tower like this, luxury goods were essential.
[Many Celestials express doubts about your actions.]
The Celestials who didn't know how I usually lived seemed curious, but I'd have a chance to show them soon enough.
“Will you go straight to the 2nd floor? If you pay TP, you can purchase hints about the next floor.”
“Hints, huh...... can't you just tell me for free? Huh? You said I'm the only challenger.”
“......”
Guess not.
For now, I'd better earn some TP through retries.
I'd cleared the 1st floor, but I could earn points again by retrying the 1st floor.
The cap was fixed, so the more I retried, the lower the efficiency of the points I'd get, and after repeating it about 5 times, it would become meaningless, though.
Anyway, for that reason, I wasn't planning to go straight up to the 2nd floor.
There was no problem challenging the 2nd floor after earning experience and TP through enough grinding.
I'd always cleared the Tower slowly but safely like this. Grinding ahead of time up to the level cap, then slowly clearing the upper floors.
Because of this safe method, I'd fallen behind the vanguard, but for someone with ordinary talent like me to survive, this was the only way.
“Lastly.......”
[Box of Five Rings]
This box contained five rings, but I could only choose one of them.
The rings had various effects, but none seemed particularly useful right now.
Small stat boosts, or certain buffs in certain situations. Everything was kind of underwhelming.
[If you collect all Boxes of Five Rings, it will be upgraded to a higher-tier reward.]
Hm. I think it'd be better to just hold out on this one? Rather than pick some lukewarm ring, it'd be better to get a proper one.
“Retry 1st floor.”
[Retrying the Apocalypse Tower's 1st Floor.]
[In the Apocalypse Tower, once a stage is cleared for the first time and its story is complete, the 'ending' will not change thereafter, even if it is retried or challenged by latecomers.]
......What's that supposed to mean? Each floor even has an ending? Honestly, the Apocalypse Tower is a headache with all these weird concepts thrown in for no reason.
“Got it, so let's go.”
I had a mountain of work to do.