Chapter 29

In the quiet used bookstore, only Time was awake.

Both Lib and Sleet were deeply asleep.

Time watched the two for a while before beginning to look around the bookstore.

Books filling every direction caught her eye.

Almost all of them were books she had recorded.

Records that she could pride herself on having written objectively and fairly.

Records closer to fact than fiction.

She continued to print and discard books that had no use.

It was supply without demand, but someone had to record these things.

They might not be chosen, but everyone should receive a fair opportunity.

It wasn’t particularly special.

Even the most outstanding heroes are forgotten as time passes.

And then she encountered Lib.

An NPC who was originally a player. The most heterogeneous existence in the Tower.

A bird with broken wings, a wolf that lost its freedom, a climber whose possibility of becoming a god had disappeared.

As such, she was one of the figures who caught attention from the beginning.

It was quite amusing to see her struggling to become stronger despite having no need to climb the Tower.

Even though having great strength would be of no use.

Without qualification to climb, we are just strong fools.

Only watching, admiring, and enjoying.

Until then, she wasn’t particularly concerned.

Most become frustrated and remain simple NPCs without obtaining rank.

Well, even so, the Tower being built this time had quite an interesting structure, so it wouldn’t be completely useless. That’s the small expectation she had.

There are enemies inside the Tower and enemies outside.

Climbing was optional, but survival on the outside was a matter of life and death.

NPCs also cultivate strength as they can be killed by the Abyss invading from outside.

NPCs who were simple helpers became unnecessarily strong.

Thus, the Tower began to form a strange ecosystem different from other Towers.

Originally, Towers forcibly demand climbing.

A representative method is setting time limits to move climbers to the next floor immediately.

Or making it so there’s nothing to do if you don’t climb the Tower. The methods varied.

But the current Tower doesn’t force climbing.

As a result, too many NPCs have gained rank.

The problem is that the amount of magic power the Tower has is limited.

Since there isn’t much inflow to the Tower, the quantity itself doesn’t increase. As time passes, magic power can only decrease.

Consequently, the magic power that should go to players went to NPCs.

If those resources could return to players through something like Constellations, a virtuous cycle would have formed, but even that was blocked.

Gradually, the level of players decreased, and the world itself walked the path of decline.

The Tower’s downfall was a predetermined course.

Lib was unusual among them.

She was an oddball who literally viewed skill books, which are read once and discarded, as books.

She diligently collected books that others called useless and threw away.

Thanks to her, numerous stories that would have been discarded without being granted a rank or remembered by anyone gained life.

Lib would read the same book several times until she perfectly understood it.

After living like this for a long time, the time it took her to understand became faster.

She established a place called a used bookstore and shut herself in, only reading books.

She was quite strong even before accepting a disciple, but she became even stronger after.

But despite gaining the power she so desperately wanted, Lib seemed more unhappy. She became more gaunt and more desolate.

She broke down like that.

As expected, she’s breaking down without being able to satisfy her interest.

Time sat back down after rising to get a closer look.

When she relaxed her strength, the thorn vines that had been tightly holding her returned her to her original place.

Ping ping. When she plucked the thorn vines, it made a sound like plucking an instrument string.

The thorn vines that suppressed freedom were just stifling.

With great power comes responsibility. She didn’t know that obvious fact.

With a self-deprecating smile, Time sat in the chair.

“Sigh, it’s boring. I’m so bored.”

She leaned back in the chair and muttered.

When you can’t empathize with others’ pain, you end up pursuing pure fun.

“Wait a minute. Huh?”

She didn’t expect Lib, whom she thought was broken, to return to her senses.

She never imagined that an old man who could die at any moment would come to be called a sage.

She didn’t know the synergy they created would be this strong.

It was the first time in a while her prediction was off, and it made her feel good.

It was an interesting event after a long time.

“I wonder if that’s how I became a fan.”

All newly born things are immature. Imperfect and fragile.

A hand gripping the neck.

If I just apply a little pressure and twist with this hand, they would die.

Time gave a hollow laugh as she looked at her hand grasping the empty air.

Because her own appearance was quite amusing.

She lightly dusted off her hand and shook off the strange delusion as well.

A society where strength is justice and weakness is defined as evil.

Numerous sprouts alienated in that world.

She had seen many possibilities disappearing without even having a chance to bloom.

It wasn’t just about children.

People always had possibilities.

It’s quite capricious, and no one can predict when it will bloom.

Some are discovered early and called prodigies from childhood, while others only realize it in their later years.

There are flowers that bloom with talent alone, and flowers that bloom using experience as fertilizer.

The fragrance and appearance of flowers that bloom that way are simply differences in taste. There’s no need to discuss which is superior.

“Having survived, having bloomed—that alone is worthy of respect.”

Tap tap. She gently tapped a flower bud that was still closed with her finger.

The branch she was holding looked similar to a deer’s antler.

She could see thorn vines climbing up the branch.

The thorns were burrowing into the branch, and a red liquid similar to blood had dried on it.

Bizarre yet beautiful.

“If only it had lasted a little longer.”

She gazed endlessly at the flower that wilted without even blooming.

“You said you could endure.”

It wasn’t something like nostalgia. She wasn’t soft enough to involve personal emotions.

Yes, this was just regret.

“I wanted to see this flower bloom.”

She brought her hand to the thorn. And then she pushed it in.

It was embedded quite deeply.

“Is this painful? Is this stinging? Is this sad?”

Not a single drop of blood came from her finger.

She couldn’t feel pain nor sadness.

She seemed too dulled. It felt as if too much had been shaved away.

“Well, it doesn’t matter.”

She thought it was actually fortunate.

As one who governs the flow, as one who must leave fair records, personal emotions should not be mixed in.

Empathy is unnecessary. Rather than empathy that leans to one side, a vision that maintains center and looks objectively, even if cold, was needed.

The world is not a fairy tale or a novel.

It means you’re not the only protagonist.

The immature fail to realize this. Since they haven’t accumulated experience, they are the most vulnerable regardless of their power.

It means they’re easy to deceive.

She quietly manipulated the system to send a message to destruction.

The condition was that she would transfer some of her authority.

Stupidly, destruction accepted the condition without any suspicion.

Indeed, they’re so easy to deceive.

With this, she bought more time in the early stage.

As it gets later, destruction’s power will grow and the situation will become disadvantageous, but it’s fine if she ends it before then.

It had always been advantageous for her and disadvantageous for destruction.

This time would be the same.

* * *

Thump thump. Among the regular heartbeats, an unfamiliar sound was heard.

An eye popped out from the strongly beating heart and looked around.

Destruction quietly raised its gaze to look at the proposal that had come to it.

It was Time’s proposal to transfer some authority over the Tower.

This would be the authority to create enemies within the Tower, providing justification to intervene directly.

It was slightly suspicious that she was transferring such strong authority, but the flickering appearance made it anxious.

It felt like it might miss this good opportunity if it hesitated.

In the end, there was no choice but to accept the proposal.

As soon as it accepted, thorn vines entangled around the heart.

And then they began to tighten.

The heart continued to try to expand and grow, but the thorn vines hindered that growth.

Repeating expansion and contraction, it ultimately maintained a standstill.

Great power comes with proportional restrictions.

The materialization of destruction was itself likely to deny the originally determined outcome.

In the midst of this, gaining more power resulted in the imposition of compulsion.

Time’s strong elasticity trying to return to the original flow strongly constricted the heart.

Until now, Time’s power had acted more strongly, and destruction had consumed more power than expected by materializing, making this possible.

And since this happened as destruction accepted the proposal, it couldn’t forcibly break the restriction.

But this is just a temporary measure.

Literally, it can only buy a little time.

Knowing this, destruction decided not to resist and calmly observe the situation.

After all, as time passed, the advantage would be with itself.