Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 106

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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 106. The Sephiroth Magician – Andromallius Family (4)

As I stepped forward into the center without hesitation, the crowd erupted in cheers, their eyes gleaming with curiosity and anticipation.
I had already heard about the ability test from Andromallius and Heidi beforehand.
Andromallius had mentioned that he rarely intervened in sparring matches unless they became dangerously overheated or life-threatening.
“Who will be my opponent?”
At my question, all eyes immediately fixed on a single man, as if it had been predetermined.
Since I hadn’t arrived on time and Andromallius had taken nearly an hour for his detailed inspection, there had been plenty of time to arrange my opponent in advance.
“You’ve already introduced yourself twice, haven’t you?”
The man who stepped into the center was Raphron, a former enhanced soldier.
The notable feature was that he had inscribed mana circuits on both his arms.
Typically, if someone were to inscribe circuits, they’d cover the entire body, so I wasn’t sure why he had only laid them on both arms.
Perhaps it was related to the unusual mana flow in his torso and legs?
Among the unit members, there were quite a few who used body-based mana systems, and most of them were former enhanced soldiers—likely due to the balance of their spiritual bodies.
Still, his level didn’t seem particularly high.
After all, if someone accumulated fifth-class or sixth-class level mana in a frail body, even with rigorous physical training, mental issues could arise.
Much like how I had accumulated near-transcendent inner power in my reincarnation clone’s young body, leaving me on the brink of qi deviation at any moment.
Now that I think about it, the Astral Body is a truly peculiar magical system the more you master it.
At least for me it isn’t, but the Astral Body made it difficult to increase mana density compared to the physical body.
Perhaps it was the difference between whether mana accumulated in a tangible form or an intangible one.
If we’re only talking about accumulating mana, building it in the physical body was faster and more efficient.
Just considering how accumulating inner power in the dantian reached seventh-class level at the Hwagyeong stage, it was all the more so.
Of course, theoretically speaking, considering the Astral Body’s infinite expandability, its ceiling was clearly much higher, and it was undoubtedly a system with far more advantages, such as the balance of the spiritual body.
But the more I mastered the Astral Body, the more questions arose about it.
Among mages, those who had reached the so-called dream realm of seventh-class numbered no more than fifty across the entire city.
Most mages were stuck at third-class or below, so wouldn’t it make more sense to accumulate mana in the physical body where they could build more of it?
If it were martial arts that confined inner power within the body, that would be one thing, but with magical systems that release mana outward, even a weak body wouldn’t lose spiritual balance at third or fourth-class levels.
So why did the person who first created the Astral Body do so, and how did they even develop it?
With pufferfish cuisine, at least you have the pufferfish right in front of you to trial-and-error your way to removing the poison, but with the Astral Body—where did the concept originate, what did they observe, and how was it developed?
“What are you thinking so intently about?”
“Oh, I’m just nervous.”
As I brushed off the question, Raphron narrowed his brow.
“Credit. You should know this, but three months ago, a traitor emerged within our family.”
His eyes held a golden gleam.
Ah, he’s activated his ability.
“Whether you know it or not, the most famous of Andromallius’s abilities is ‘Lie Detection.’ After the incident three months ago, unit members who received this ability have kept it activated at all times, more or less. It’s unfortunate, but it’s to prevent a similar incident from occurring again.”
At his words, Andromallius wore a bitter expression.
It seemed that constantly keeping Lie Detection activated was not his intention.
Perhaps those indebted to Andromallius and fond of him were acting of their own volition, even without his request.
He’d brought up this topic because I had lied.
I laughed awkwardly at his words and replied.
“I was just lost in idle thoughts.”
“Could you tell me what they were? Of course, if you’d rather not speak, that’s fine too. Everyone has secrets they prefer to keep. I was simply curious what could occupy your mind so deeply during a gathering meant to demonstrate everyone’s abilities.”
“It’s nothing particularly worth hiding, but it might be tedious.”
I shared my thoughts with him as he nodded indifferently.
Most of those who heard my question about why the Astral Body was created regarded it as an odd tangent, but the three pure mages actually expressed admiration.
“Wow! Captain, where did you dig up such a gem?”
“A mage ought to engage in such contemplation. These days, youngsters just accept things as they are without any of this kind of reflection.”
“Agreed.”
At their words, Andromallius laughed proudly and boasted of his discerning eye.
“I discovered them.”
“Ah, not discovered—they rolled in on their own. Your luck really is something.”
I ignored the four of them chattering away with their somewhat pedantic remarks and withdrew a small magical staff.
“I primarily use pure magic.”
At my words, Raphron clenched his fist and took a stance.
“I normally use guns and swords, but since this isn’t actual combat, I’ll stick to my fists. Indoor spaces are cramped, which puts mages at a disadvantage, so this handicap should be fair.”
In confined spaces, it was difficult to maintain distance, putting mages at a disadvantage.
If someone rushed in and started pounding before a spell could be completed, the mage would inevitably lose.
Of course, as someone who had refined martial arts for about ten years, I could hold my own in hand-to-hand combat, but since I’d decided not to publicly display martial techniques, I resolved to face him using only magic.
Once Raphron and I finished our preparations, Kim Min-chae stepped forward and volunteered as the referee.
“Get ready. Match start!”
As the match began, I immediately deployed my magic.
Since this gathering was to assess my abilities, Raphron waited a moment before attacking.
Thanks to that, I had thirty spells ready for instant activation on standby.
“Here I go.”
After remaining still for about fifteen seconds, Raphron closed the distance and threw a light jab.
I created a small barrier to block the punch.
The force behind his fist was at least second-rate or higher.
However, since I’d made a small, thick barrier rather than a wide, thin one, I could block it with minimal mana.
When the light punch was blocked, Raphron nodded and threw his fist with full mana infusion.
Even without using mana, he possessed second-rate strength or higher; with mana, his punch carried at least first-rate power, perhaps even peak-tier.
So this is the bio-engineered enhanced soldier I’d only heard about.
His fists were difficult to follow with the eye, but their trajectory was simple.
From his stance and muscle movements before throwing, I predicted where his fist would land and created barriers accordingly.
Because there were no feints, blocking wasn’t particularly difficult.
“Are you only planning to defend?”
Raphron’s punching speed gradually increased.
“As if.”
Now it was time for me to counterattack.
I conjured a defensive barrier while striking his ribs with telekinesis.
As he twisted his body to evade the invisible telekinetic fist, I created a mana bullet in the blind spot and fired it.
If one’s proficiency with mana bullets were low, they could only be fired from the body or the tip of a magical staff, but with sufficient mastery, they could be created mid-air.
The alpha and omega of magical combat began with mana bullets and ended with mana bullets.
Flashy and powerful spells looked impressive and terrifying, but they took longer to calculate, making them surprisingly inefficient for killing.
According to doctrine, such grand magic was reserved for destroying buildings or barriers—when killing a person, only mana bullets should be used.
There was no need for flashy magic when taking a life.
Of course, since I had no intention of killing, I reduced the mana bullet’s power.
Raphron threw himself out of the way as the mana bullet fired from the blind spot hurtled toward the back of his head.
But he should have either taken the hit or blocked it.
By dodging through the air, the blind spot widened, and his balance was disrupted.
I created dozens of mana bullets and fired them all at once.
Raphron rolled across the ground in a circle, conjuring sword auras on both arms and deflecting every single one of my mana bullets.
Sword auras?!
No, that wasn’t a sword aura.
The density and quality of mana were different from sword auras.
That wasn’t martial arts—it was magic.
First-class magic: Mana Blade.
If a sword aura was a blade forged by striking steel, a Mana Blade was a hollow, fixed-form blade.
When they clashed, a sword aura would always win, but a Mana Blade consumed less mana and was lighter, making it more convenient to maneuver.
Despite being first-class magic, a Mana Blade’s power was far from negligible.
By pouring mana into it, one could raise its power to match a sword aura’s level.
Of course, the efficiency was poor—doing so would require several times more mana than a sword aura, but it was possible.
“Is that also an enhanced soldier technique?”
Raphron dispelled the blades on both arms and nodded affirmatively.
“Yes. It’s a formula-inscribed weapon carved into bone. You said you’d fight bare-handed, so I can concede this as my loss for deploying a formula-inscribed weapon. Do you want to continue?”
“Shall we go a bit longer?”
My spirited answer drew cheers from everyone watching.
“Good. Then I’ll get a bit more serious too.”
Unlike before when he barely moved, Raphron now dashed at high speed, maneuvering to catch me in a blind spot.
Rather than tracking him with my eyes, I spread my ki perception to follow his position and movements.
By now, perceiving the world through ki sense was far more comfortable than seeing with my eyes.
When I remained perfectly still, Raphron lightly aimed for the back of my head, and I conjured a small barrier to block it.
Raphron let out a small gasp of surprise, then moved relentlessly, raining down punches like a flurry.
I focused intently, blocking his punches while counterattacking with mana bullets and telekinetic fists.
Concentrating, he no longer twisted his body to dodge as before but instead moved at high speed to evade.
Standing still like this while he circled frantically around me, I felt like a punching bag.
I had to admit that my proficiency with mana bullets was still insufficient to keep up with Raphron’s movements.
Of course, it wasn’t as if I had no options.
If it’s difficult to hit with a gun, then I can sweep them away with bombardment.
There were many spells used for situations like this.
However, using area-of-effect or wide-range spells would be problematic given the number of people around, and I still hadn’t mastered controlling their lethality.
That left me with only two options: fire mana bullets faster or impose restrictions on my opponent’s movement.
I scattered magical threads in all directions, gradually slowing Raphron’s movements.
The threads did more than just impede movement—they were infused with a debuff that dulled the senses as well.
As his movements grew sluggish and my mana bullets accelerated further, Raphron’s fist suddenly carried even more force behind it.
My defensive barrier, which had been holding firm against his punches until now, shattered, and his fist was about to make contact with my face.
“That’s enough.”
Andromallius bound Raphron with magical chains to stop him and disrupted the spell I had unconsciously constructed.
“You seem to be getting too heated. We’ve confirmed your abilities, so let’s call it here.”
At Andromallius’s intervention, Raphron withdrew his mana and apologized to me.
“Sorry. My movements became sluggish without me realizing it, so I ended up putting too much force into it.”
“Not at all. These things happen. I’m the one who should apologize.”
I was grateful that Andromallius had stopped it.
Cold sweat had soaked through my back.
Once the sparring match ended, everyone applauded.
As Andromallius had said, since the purpose was to assess my abilities, everyone viewed my performance positively.
“Captain, why do we have to wait three months before recruiting him? We could put him to full use right now.”
“It’s not just a matter of combat capability. Credit still needs to learn more about the City.”
At Andromallius’s response, everyone nodded in understanding.
“Ah, you mentioned he’s from Outside the City. Then there’s no helping it.”
“The captain really did find someone good. With that level of ability, he’ll have no problem handling missions Outside the City.”
“Besides, he’s from Outside the City anyway. Missions outside would suit him far better than those inside.”
As the members offered their various assessments, Andromallius approached me, patted my shoulder, and whispered.
“That spell you just used was extremely dangerous.”
“Ha, my apologies. I didn’t expect my defensive barrier to break, so my survival instinct kicked in without my conscious control.”
I had been far too inexperienced. Or perhaps careless would be the better word.
I was truly fortunate that Andromallius had stopped it.
I had nearly committed murder for the first time.
Drenched in cold sweat, I felt the urge to change clothes.

(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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