Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 101

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 101. The Sephiroth Magician – A City in a Dying World (4)

[Name: Han Ji-woo (3-Slot Avatar) / Age: 21]
[Strength: 14 / Agility: 15 / Stamina: 15 / Intelligence: 39 / Mana: 25+]
[Status: Normal, Dual Mana Manifestation (25/19)]
[Abilities: Multidimensional Avatar Lv 25, Martial Arts Lv 20, Magic Lv 15]

My intelligence climbed slowly with each use of my mind, and by forming a dantian while creating an Astral Body to cultivate mana, a plus sign appeared next to my mana stat.
The numerical stats on my status window and ability levels were merely indicators of which floors of The Tower I could navigate.
The mana stat wasn’t a simple measure of mana quantity alone—it was a comprehensive evaluation that included my maximum output capacity.
That’s why my status displayed dual mana manifestation.
My output was roughly 25, the inner qi stored in my dantian, but my actual total mana reserves exceeded that.
I could use my dantian and Astral Body simultaneously, but merging them together remained impossible.
The fundamental nature of inner qi from my dantian and mana from my Astral Body were simply too different.
Still, when my dantian’s inner qi depleted, I could convert my Astral Body’s mana into inner qi to replenish it, and vice versa.
So in essence, I’d gained a parallel battery system while maintaining the same output ceiling?
That explained the plus sign beside my mana stat.
“I should stop dantian training now.”
With only 25 mana stored in my physical body, I still had considerable leeway before my mind-body-spirit balance collapsed.
However, each time I drew upon my Astral Body’s mana, my physical body’s mana reserves temporarily increased, causing my balance to fluctuate slightly.
If I trained my body in parallel and increased my strength, agility, and stamina, it might work—but considering my physical talent, pushing my Astral Body further could eventually strain me beyond my limits.
Eventually, I might even need to reduce my dantian’s size.
Of course, all of this would be solved if my physical abilities grew alongside everything else.
The real problem was that I possessed virtually no physical talent whatsoever—I was a complete dullard in that regard.
Using avatar points to compensate was also uncertain, since I still couldn’t estimate when I’d be able to absorb my reincarnation clone.
While wrestling with these concerns, I succeeded in growing my Astral Body to match my adult physical form perfectly.
“Using magic through my Astral Body is definitely much more convenient.”
I snapped my fingers to conjure flames, and I could now create larger flames with less mana and far greater ease than before.
I finally understood why there existed specialized mana accumulation and mana manipulation techniques for magic.
It felt like I’d been carrying a weighted vest while trying to fly through the sky, and I’d finally removed it.
Until now, I hadn’t even realized the inner qi cultivation method was a weight around my neck when using magic—I’d felt no inconvenience. But now I did.
I attempted to use magic drawing from my dantian’s inner qi instead.
“Ugh, this is completely unusable. This is what they call reverse incompatibility.”
What if I tried the opposite—using my Astral Body’s mana for martial arts instead of inner qi?
I stood up, reinforced my body, threw a straight punch, and moved around experimentally.
Unlike when I wielded magic through the inner qi method, the mana was too light—the qi wouldn’t settle inside my body and kept trying to escape outward.
It was like trying to dive deep into the ocean while my body’s buoyancy kept pushing me toward the surface.
“Ugh, the efficiency is catastrophic. I’d struggle to even reach third-rate with this, let alone second-rate.”
Now I understood why Hybrid would covet my martial arts.
A company that manufactures body-modified soldiers trying to create enhanced soldiers based on the Astral Body—of course the efficiency would suffer.
“Hmm, what if I blend this properly with Lightness Technique?”
Lightness Technique was a martial art that created lift and buoyancy.
Of course, the physical enhancement and the mysteries of circulating energy through meridians would need to be based on cultivation methods, but if I made the body lighter and the mysteries of emitting Lightness Force based on the Astral Body….
“Ahahaha! It’s like experiencing zero gravity!”
With just the smallest movements, my body drifted upward effortlessly.
But my body had become so light that it actually reduced practical combat effectiveness.
While manageable weight produced destructive power, if I crossed swords with someone in this state, I’d simply be blown away.
This was purely an escape technique—or rather, a mobility-focused Lightness Technique.
As I floundered in midair, Andromallius returned after finishing his business.
“…What are you doing right now?”
“Oh. Just a moment.”
I struggled to find my center in the air, then realized I was still too inexperienced to maintain balance, so I simply withdrew my mana and inner energy slowly, descending like a falling feather.
“I was just experimenting by combining the body enhancement magic I’d been learning with the new mana circulation method from the Astral Body. That’s why I temporarily achieved a near-zero-gravity state. Fascinating, isn’t it?”
“How is that even possible… No, never mind. That’s truly remarkable.”
Andromallius looked at me in disbelief, then seemed to give up trying to understand and simply accepted it.
“It seems you’ve finished your business?”
A thick fragrance emanated from his body, sharp enough to sting my nose.
It appeared he had returned after handling matters related to the poisoning incident.
Either he’d attacked enemies, or he’d found and eliminated internal traitors.
This pungent fragrance was meant to mask the smell of blood.
“Yes, everything concluded safely.”
As he nodded, he appeared mentally exhausted.
“You look tired. Why don’t you get some proper rest? When you’re exhausted, soaking in hot water and then sleeping is the best remedy, isn’t it?”
At my words, Andromallius nodded and answered, “That’s true,” before studying me intently.
“…Have you perhaps mastered the 1st Class?”
“Huh? You could tell? The Astral Body is hidden within the Astral Dimension—how did you know?”
“Even if it’s concealed within the Astral Dimension, the mana output and aura that manifest externally are visible. I’ll teach you how to hide both later.”
With those words, Andromallius retrieved several books from his spatial magic tool.
“Before you rest, let me first teach you how to fill the Astral Body with mana in preparation for 2nd Class entry. These books contain 1st Class spells—you can read them slowly when you have time.”
The Astral Body was literally a vessel.
Mana had naturally infused during the process of creating the vessel, but a specialized process of filling that vessel with mana was necessary—and that was precisely the 2nd Class and school initiation.
Andromallius taught me how to establish mana circuits within the Astral Body and fill it with mana.
Filling the mana itself wasn’t particularly difficult, but establishing the circuits seemed like it would take considerable time.
Once I grasped the basics and began attempting it, Andromallius murmured thoughtfully.
“By the way, I’m becoming curious about that body enhancement magic you mentioned. I’d like to learn it myself.”
“Would you like me to teach you?”
“…Pardon?”
Andromallius had merely spoken in passing, but when I readily offered to teach him, he was taken aback.
“Ah, no. Isn’t that magic a secret technique?”
“Well, is it a secret technique? It doesn’t seem to be at that level.”
Even if I taught it, it would only be beginner-level—hardly a secret technique.
I myself have never learned martial arts at the secret technique level.
“Besides, Andromallius has been teaching me magic and providing various conveniences.”
“That’s simply my natural repayment since you saved my life.”
“Come now, isn’t it natural for people to help one another? If you keep giving so much, it becomes burdensome for me. Of course, even if I said I wouldn’t learn body enhancement magic from you, I wouldn’t refuse what you offer. If you’re giving without asking for anything in return, well, I’m certainly not complaining.”
At my words, Andromallius let out a hollow laugh before breaking into genuine, cheerful laughter.
“Ahahaha! Truly, meeting you has been incredibly fortunate.”
After laughing heartily, he seemed to have shed some of his mental fatigue.
“Let’s take the magic lessons slowly. I’m quite exhausted from recent events and was planning to rest anyway, so this works out well. Credit, you should rest today as well. Rest is one of the important methods of training.”
With that, Andromallius handed me a card—the key to my room—and left.
Left alone again, I pondered what to do before deciding to wash up and sleep.
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot to tell Andromallius I’d join the Andromallius Family.”
Well, I could mention it tomorrow.

* * *

The morning of my second day in this world—a blend of apocalypse and dystopia—had arrived.
At the sound of a knock, I went to the door and found Andromallius holding out a small navy card.
“Your new identification. You’re now free to move about outside without concern.”
The ID bore my alias and photograph.

-Name: Credit / Age: 20 / Citizen Registration Number: 3-0* * ***-1* * ** * *** / Address: **District * * *-**

“There’s censorship on the registration number and address?”
“Ah, that’s because it’s a Grade 3 citizen ID. The citizen registration number and address are personal information, so they’re restricted. Of course, if a government official or Magic Tower inspector scans it, the censorship records will appear. For now, we’ve set the address to this Safe House.”
So a citizen registration number starting with 3 means Grade 3 citizenship.
Citizen IDs are distinguished by color—Grade 1 is white, Grades 2 through 8 follow the reverse order of the rainbow: violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red, while Grade 9 is black.
True to form for a dystopia, they’ve made the distinctions painfully obvious.
“And this is a magical phone. I’ve activated it under Credit’s name, so feel free to use it however you like.”
Andromallius handed me a device that resembled a smartphone.
“I’ve saved my number in it, so contact me if you need anything. For now, it only works within the City, but since it’s a specialized communication device, you can still make calls from the Underground City.”
Does the signal really not work in the Underground City?
So everyone down there uses landlines?
“And this is a debit card linked to Credit’s bank account. I’ve deposited more than enough, so you shouldn’t have to worry about money for a while.”
“Oh! Thank you so much.”
I checked the account balance and saw plenty of zeros.
One, two, three… twenty million?
Is twenty million a lot?
The City’s currency is Magic Tower dollars.
While I’m familiar with the dollar unit, its value fluctuates wildly depending on whether it’s US dollars or Zimbabwean dollars, so I couldn’t tell if this was a substantial sum.
Since Andromallius said he’d deposited generously, I figured it was at least enough to cover a month’s living expenses.
As I stared at the account balance in contemplation, he spoke with a smile.
“That’s our Family’s average ten years of salary.”
Don’t mercenaries typically earn at least five million won per month with hazard pay and various bonuses?
So ten years of salary would be… roughly a minimum of six hundred million?
“Wait! Is it really okay to give me that much?”
I’d heard that veteran mercenaries could earn ten million won per month, which would make this amount around one point two billion won.
Of course, since he said it was an average, the actual figure was somewhere in between.
“I told you—my life is expensive. I actually wanted to give you more, but the citizen ID turned out to be far more costly than expected. What I’ve given you required dozens of times that amount.”
What? This little navy-colored scrap was that expensive?
Then again, in a dystopian world, a citizen ID isn’t something you can just obtain whenever you want, so the price is whatever the seller demands.
“I really don’t know what to say except thank you. Just providing room and board and teaching me magic would be more than enough.”
“This is all part of my persuasion, so don’t worry about it.”
“About that—I’ve given it thought, and I think I’ll aim for around Class 3. At that level, I should have the strength to fight anyone.”
I could take on mercenary work right now if I wanted to, but I needed time to understand this world better.
At my words, Andromallius broke into a wide smile.
“Really? That’s wonderful news. Ah, how old is Credit? Your appearance looks quite young, so I put down 20 years old when issuing the ID.”
“I’m 21.”
As for my physical age…
If I count the time I’ve lived as a reincarnated avatar, I’m probably around thirty.
“I judged well then. I’m 43 years old.”
“With that face?”
He looked like he was my age, yet he claimed to be twice as old?
“Haha, I hear that quite often—that I look young for my age. It’s partly due to the magic I’ve cultivated.”
Does contracting with Andromallius mean you stop aging?
“With an age difference like that, we’d practically be uncle and nephew. Please, speak comfortably with me.”
At my words, Andromallius smiled and shook his head.
“No, I prefer formal speech.”
As I nodded, Andromallius laughed and spoke.
“Now then, wash up quickly and let’s head out. We need to buy necessities. Even though you’re not Class 3 yet, if we count you as a provisional member, it would be good to prepare the equipment you’ll need during your time with Shadow.”
He seemed genuinely delighted that I’d agreed to join the Family, practically bouncing with excitement.
He was like someone buying baby shoes before the child was even born.
It takes at least a year from birth until the child can walk, after all.
“If it’s Credit, he should be able to challenge Class 4 within six months at most, so we’ll need to keep that in mind when selecting equipment.”
I was led out of the Safe House by Andromallius.

(To be continued in the next chapter)

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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