Breakthrough in the Blizzard
Detection Skill has risen to level 9.
My Detection Skill kicked in late.
Five presences outside the door.
A five-man team.
They were tackling the 6th floor, so of course they were fully geared up.
Facing them head-on meant death.
I bolted without a second thought.
The question was whether they'd give me the time...
Creeeak!
The moment the cabin door swung open,
my wire trap triggered.
Ting!
The hunters freaked at the metallic ping from the wire's end.
"G-grenade!"
"Dodge!"
Crash!
I slipped out the window in the chaos.
No explosion, obviously.
I didn't have fancy grenades.
Just a scrap of metal tied to the wire.
Their high skill level saved my ass.
If they'd rushed in without checking traps, it never would've worked.
They caught on late that it'd been a fake-out.
"N-no boom?"
"Fake trap! He's already gone!"
"Chase him?"
"Nah. No one's hurt, no point. Looks like he's solo anyway."
Smart bastards.
Almost tripped my trap, then chasing blindly? They wouldn't last long as hunters.
The blizzard still raged outside.
I was the one chased into it.
They were the winners.
I fled with just my life and backpack.
Wandering the blizzard again had me shaking my head in disbelief.
Normally, I'd be stressing over dinner or stream content.
Now? Just staying alive.
'Least I should film something—could make bank off it later.'
Phone battery was low; had to save it for light if shit hit the fan.
Stealth Skill has risen to level 9.
Forced March Skill has risen to level 2.
Couldn't have been long since leaving the cabin, and Forced March leveled up again.
Couldn't keep this up forever.
Decided to make a temporary hideout when it got a bit brighter.
Any decent building would draw other hunters, obviously.
Thought the surface was safer—wrong.
Found a spot that wouldn't stand out, grabbed my entrenching tool.
Snow piled so high, it dug nice and easy.
Should've made an igloo, but no time.
Didn't even know how.
Not bragging, but I'm no genius.
Smart folks don't dump thousands of hours into trash games like Tower Escape.
'Thanks to that, I'm still kicking.'
What would I say in a post-escape interview?
"Survived thanks to the game?"
My stream would blow up.
Distracted myself with random thoughts while digging like mad, until I hit solid ground.
Deep and long, like a trench.
Quickly covered it with branches and cloth before the blizzard buried me again.
Looked pretty solid when done.
Dexterity Skill has risen to level 4.
'Warm in here.'
Construction traces would vanish under snow soon.
Placed the Eternally Burning Heart on the floor, and the space warmed up, brightening nicely.
Sleep hit hard, but no water.
Packed the pot with snow, melted it over the heart.
Boiled quick.
Pot from training—military gear's tough and versatile.
Added a purifier capsule; survived the junkyard grabs.
"This'll do. Hoo..."
Hot water in my belly felt worlds better.
Pulled out my last rations from the pack.
Cup ramen.
Spicy Korean kind.
You might call it crap emergency food, but...
If you can't even boil ramen, you're already dead, right?
No water, no fuel.
Slurrrp!
Small cup vanished fast.
Ate it often when broke—did it always taste this good?
Drained the broth, poked a vent hole in the ceiling, unrolled my sleeping bag.
Felt way safer than before, temporary hideout or not.
Slept straight through without waking, checked the weather.
Blizzard dying down, dawn breaking.
Had to move.
Boiled more water, hit the road again.
No food left now.
If I didn't hit the village today, real trouble.
Heard people can last days on water alone.
Bullshit—I tried, doesn't add up.
Or maybe just lying still in a room.
Still, some good news.
Stealth Skill has risen to level 10.
Acquired upper skill: Shadow Walk
'...The hell?'
My Tower Escape knowledge betrayed me for the first time.
Normal skills max at level 10.
I knew that.
But an upper skill?
Never heard of it in the game.
Couldn't be a glitch.
Tower Escape was famous for paying active hunters for updates.
Perfectly recreated 7F landmarks—those devs were obsessed.
'Even the vet hunters from interviews didn't know?'
Made sense.
Standard tower runs were five-man teams.
I'm solo.
Hogging five times the exp.
'Still, unlocking an upper skill alone? Doesn't add up.'
Info blackout?
Makes sense—hitting level 10 ain't easy.
Only a handful of top hunters knew they existed.
New upper skill looked damn useful.
Hides you in shadows.
Forced March Skill has risen to level 3.
Didn't fix hunger, though.
Finally spotted a landmark trudging along: warehouse by a huge utility pole.
'Almost at the mining village.'
Right as I psyched myself up,
a bad feeling flashed.
Surface relatively safe, but still 6F.
Dangerous mobs spawn sometimes.
Detection Skill has risen to level 10.
Acquired upper skill: Perfect Sense
Skill-up alarms sounded like hell's gates cracking open now.
Boom!
A big-ass monster burst from the snow.
Snowfield Troll.
Smaller than regular trolls, but a pain—hides in snow, ambushes.
Regens like crazy; needed overwhelming firepower to drop.
"Quaoo!"
"Shii—"
My junk Soviet pistol? No chance.
Troll lunged with its long arm, aiming to grab and snap something.
Brain froze in the panic, but body moved first.
Shing.
Dagger out in a flash, stabbing the arm clean.
Damn, body kinda badass.
Yeah, wanna live? Gotta handle it yourself.
"Kiek?!"
Troll crumpled with a weird screech, but...
My arm wasn't unscathed.
"Gah!"
Didn't get grabbed, but that massive arm hit like a club.
Bone intact—miracle.
'D-dead?'
Troll dropped clean, like the goblin before.
This dagger had instant-kill.
Throb, throb.
Arm'd bruise black soon.
Stuffed snow inside my clothes for a compress—dunno if it'd help.
"Urgh..."
Martial Arts Skill has risen to level 3.
Hurt like hell, but loot time.
Troll dropped one pristine Snowfield Troll hide.
Huge and thick—valuable.
Sold for good coin in-game.
'One slip and I starve, now monsters too.'
21st-century Korean starving to death? Unique.
Social commentary material.
Clutching my aching arm, I reached the mining village.
Blizzard kicking up again, pried open an old house door.
Loot inside—decent.
Hadn't eaten since waking; cracked a fish can on sight.
"Ugh, tastes like ass..."
Picky in this situation?
Would've rage-posted a review vid if I'd bought it.
Not spoiled, though—scraped it clean.
Some chocolate, hardtack looked okay.
Grabbed max food while circling the house.
'No meds at all.'
No potions, fine—but bandages?
Then my senses pinged something off while looting leisurely.
Crunch, crunch.
Perfect Sense.
Didn't need eyes; knew roughly.
Someone approaching.
'Monster? Nah, no mobs inside village proper.'
Could be migrant, but unlikely.
Hunter.
Surface loot sucked, but shelter spots limited—bound to bump into others.
'Tch. Hiding anyway...'
Not huge place; five-man team would pick elsewhere.
Tried the new upper skill, Shadow Walk.
Crammed under furniture in a dim corner room—body went invisible.
Clunk.
Front door opened.
"Anyone here?"
"Tracks, but old."
Perfect Sense made it sound like they were right next to me.
More than that.
Knew their type roughly.
'Not the cabin crew. US or Europe vibes... full tactical kit, even night vision.'
English speakers.
Brit or Yank.
Better stay hidden.
"Door open here. He went that way. Snow piled up."
Fell for my fake tracks—hand-swept snow.
Not elite skills.
"Sure?"
"Trust me. Got A-rank basic Detection Skill!"
Basic skill.
The powerhouse you get from your first tower escape.
Even E-rank outstrips normal skills.
A-rank? No contest.
Still hadn't spotted me.
Was Shadow Walk that broken?
'Hell's Hood boosting stealth levels, probably.'
I wore it.
Listening more, pieced it together.
"Village's empty but us. Dead quiet."
Wide range—village-wide.
Sound-based detection.
Of course couldn't ping hiders like me.
Move, though? Busted.
'Play dead.'
They'd bounce soon anyway.
And sure enough.
"Sweet. 30-min break, then mine."
Yeah.
Night-vision full kit? Here for underground.
Stayed frozen till they dipped.
Bad news: left arm from troll was rough.
Swollen bad—even felt it through clothes.
Winter gear, no infection... probably.
Waiting anxiously, new ping.
Regeneration Skill has risen to level 1.
Status pretty serious.
Soon as they vanished into the mine, stripped the village clean.