Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 121

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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 121. The Tower – Jungle (1)

Returning to the 20th Floor District and checking the Central Clock Tower, I found it was approximately 8:30 in the morning.
I had spent roughly 55 hours on the 21st Floor, but only 19 and a half hours had passed on the 20th Floor and the lower Common Floors.
I already knew that time moved differently on each floor. However, when I was climbing through the 10th Floor range, I hadn’t spent that much time on any single floor, so even though I was aware of it, I hadn’t truly felt the difference.
But with such a stark disparity now, the reality hit me hard.
“It’s morning. What should we both do?”
If we had returned immediately after completing the Quest yesterday, I would have been thinking only of sleep. But fortunately, we had slept well and even enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
Diana answered my question.
“We could just resupply and challenge the 22nd Floor right away, couldn’t we? Or we could take on a few commissions from the Climbers’ Association to earn some merit points.”
When I looked at Lee Su-young, she nodded in agreement.
“To be honest, I’ve slept so much that I feel a bit stiff. Moving around would be nice.”
“Since we have enough merit points and Credits, should we just gather supplies and head up to the 22nd Floor?”
What we needed was mainly water, food, and potions.
Potions were almost the only item that was cheaper to buy from the Tower Shop, but since we hadn’t earned Shop Points on the 21st Floor, it was better to buy potions made by the Magic Tower even at a higher price.
Credits were ultimately currency that would be useless once we left the Tower.
Even if Magic Tower potions were more expensive, they only cost 20 to 50 percent more, so the price wasn’t that burdensome.
While we had plenty of Shop Points, Credits couldn’t be used in emergencies, but Shop Points could, making them far more precious.
“Still, the environment differs so much from floor to floor that I’m not sure what else we should prepare.”
Diana’s words resonated with both Lee Su-young and me.
When we were in the 10th Floor range, a few hours would suffice, so there was no problem. But the 20th Floor range might require us to spend more than a day, necessitating more preparation.
Before ascending to the 21st Floor, I thought we might need to camp, so I had obtained a tent and rope. But they fell into the Airship’s Control Room and proved completely unnecessary.
At least the calorie bars I had prepared were useful since we had to eat quickly in that situation.
Yet I couldn’t afford to go unprepared, as I had no idea what environment awaited us on the next floor.
“Since we have enough money, let’s just buy everything we think we might need.”
During the 20 hours of continuous combat, I had eaten through the prepared food in between, leaving almost nothing.
Lee Su-young nodded at my words.
“Food, especially water, should be gathered in excess, I think.”
Lee Su-young had initially packed light to save inventory space, but ended up needing to receive water and calorie bars from me.
Another party would have agonized over inventory capacity limits, but with me in our party, such concerns were far removed from us.
We discussed what else we might need in the future besides food and camping equipment, then headed toward the Market to stock up on supplies.
As we passed near the Cathedral where we had first arrived on the 20th Floor, a familiar voice called out to us.
“Lee Su-young! Ji-woo! Diana! You’ve come up early.”
I turned around at the voice calling us, and saw a familiar face.
“William!”
Lee Su-young waved her hand with a smile, clearly delighted.
William had apparently just arrived, his clothes torn in places and covered in dirt and dust.
“Did you come up today?”
“Haha, I heard the 19th Floor was quite challenging, so I prepared carefully. It certainly lived up to its reputation. It seems you all ascended much earlier than I did?”
Lee Su-young answered William’s question with evident pride.
“Of course. We just cleared the 21st Floor and are on our way back.”
“Is that so? Remarkable indeed. I must work harder to reunite with my family as soon as possible.”
William had mentioned earlier that his family had entered The Tower before him.
“Are your family members in this City?”
“Unfortunately, I checked through the Community, and it doesn’t appear they’re in this City.”
Even those from the same country could be scattered across different cities.
Still, there was a higher probability that people from the same nation would end up in nearby cities.
“So you’ll be traveling to another city?”
“Not immediately. Having just reached the 20th Floor, venturing far from the City carries too much risk.”
Weaker monsters inhabited areas closer to the City, while stronger ones lurked in distant regions.
The Lake near the City held bipedal fish and frogs, but hadn’t we encountered Gung-gi subspecies in the Back Mountain further away?
Though to be precise, it would be more accurate to say we stormed into a Gung-gi den rather than merely encountered them.
“My family arrived at The Tower before me, and they’re all stronger than I am, so I expect them to come here. When my younger sister Liz arrives later, I’ll introduce her to you all.”
I smiled and responded to his words.
“If she’s William’s sister, she must be quite beautiful.”
“Beautiful, yes. Though she’s rather tactless and arrogant.”
From the way he spoke, they were clearly true siblings.
“But wouldn’t it be difficult to maintain a party together if they’ve been in The Tower much longer than you?”
One could form a party across different floors, but it served no practical purpose.
The whole reason for forming a party was to stay together and climb The Tower as one, and if you weren’t on the same floor, a party bond wouldn’t allow you to progress to the same floor anyway.
William nodded at my question.
“That’s why I’ve decided to form a temporary party with Retihoa and Jonathan for now. I could ascend alone without issue, but it’s more reassuring to have people to rely on.”
Retihoa was a Vietnamese necromancer, and Jonathan was a dark-skinned warrior in heavy armor whose nationality I still didn’t know.
“Jonathan also made contact with a friend who entered The Tower earlier and decided to join them, so a temporary party between us is quite fitting until we all reunite.”
Since the three of us seemed likely to continue as a party, we declined, but it appeared William would form parties with individuals like Retihoa who lacked a party, or people like Jonathan who were well-suited for temporary arrangements.
“Jonathan has such a good personality.”
“He’s personable, and as a vanguard, he’s incredibly reliable.”
Jonathan was that rare tank.
In a game, it might be different, but within The Tower where actual combat was necessary, even those who received abilities suited to tanking generally avoided the tank role.
I didn’t treasure Diana without reason.
She was already a noble healer, but with such a sturdy body that she had no qualms about taking on a tank’s role—a healer of healers.
Truly the rarest of the rare.
“But what about Bogard Dellington? With his tough personality, he seemed like someone who’d be good in a temporary party.”
“I suggested it once, but Bogard Dellington declined, saying a wolf must remain solitary.”
Weren’t wolves pack animals?
Well, how could I possibly understand that man’s thinking?
Only Bogard Dellington would know whether he genuinely believed that or simply used it as an excuse to avoid the party.
“Then I should rest for a while. Retihoa and Jonathan are still challenging the 19th Floor, so I need to wait for them anyway.”
“Of course. Rest well.”
After William departed, we finished restocking supplies at the Market and stopped by the Bank to store everything we’d obtained on the 21st Floor.
Though my condition was perfect, I hadn’t rushed straight to Floor 22—partly because I needed to visit the Bank.
I couldn’t keep carrying all these items indefinitely.
Naturally, I deposited most of the Credit and kept only what I’d need, storing the rest at Tower Floor 1 for easy access.
“Then shall we challenge Floor 22 right away?”
At Diana’s suggestion, we returned to the Central Clock Tower and headed toward Floor 22.

* * *

The moment we arrived on Floor 22, a suffocating humidity and scorching air enveloped my entire body.
Towering trees and vines that seemed plucked from an Amazonian jungle sprawled in every direction, and before us lay the corpse of an explorer—already beginning to decay—slumped against a wooden pillar.

[Explorer Brem’s Wish: Discover the Tansa Ruins and activate the signal beacon.]
[The destination has been marked on your mini map.]

Tansa Ruins? A signal beacon?
“Huh? Something just appeared on the mini map.”
At Lee Su-young’s words, I activated the mini map and saw a single yellow dot against a black screen.
Why was the screen black?
As I repeatedly zoomed in and out like I was using a smartphone map app, the reason for the black screen became clear.
The black areas represented spaces I hadn’t yet explored.
Unmapped territory on the mini map.
As proof, when I zoomed in on the green dot marking my position, the surrounding map materialized.
I’d never really needed the mini map before and rarely activated it, but upon acquiring the Tower’s common ability, I’d memorized its basic functions thoroughly.
On the mini map, the green dot represented me.
Blue dots were party members.
Red dots were hostile creatures I’d detected.
Yellow dots indicated destinations of sorts.
Orange marks were ones I’d placed manually.
Purple dots were creatures I’d detected.
Navy dots were climbers I’d added as Community friends.
Red and purple dots only appeared on the mini map if I detected them; if I lost track of their location, they vanished from the display.
Party members and added friends, however, didn’t require active detection—if they were on the same floor, I could see their approximate location, just as the destination had appeared now.
“The expanded mini map’s range was roughly twenty meters in radius, wasn’t it?”
I reduced the screen diameter displayed on the mini map to about one centimeter and estimated the distance to the destination.
The distance was too great to judge by eye alone, but fortunately, I possessed a distance-measuring spell, making calculations simple.
The distance-measuring spell was essential for sniping, a technique Andromallius had taught me directly.
“Based on my calculations… approximately 256 kilometers?”
Comparing the yellow dot glowing on the black screen with my current position on the mini map, I determined we were separated by roughly 64 meters.
Sixty-four meters equals approximately 6,400 centimeters.
If I set one centimeter as forty meters, that’s 256,000 meters.
Even accounting for margin of error, the destination lay roughly 256 kilometers away.
“Insane! You’re telling me to navigate through this jungle with only a direction and traverse over 250 kilometers?!”
“What did you say?!”
Lee Su-young was horrified by my calculations.
“Seriously?! The distance is 253 kilometers and 853 meters?!”
“Huh? Why so precise?”
At my question, Lee Su-young looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“If you manipulate it this way, you can also determine the distance to the target.”
Following Lee Su-young’s instructions, I manipulated the controls and a yellow arrow appeared on the mini map pointing toward the destination, displaying the distance.
I laughed awkwardly, and Lee Su-young asked in bewilderment.
“You didn’t know about this function? Then how did you figure out the distance?”
“I just calculated my position and the destination that came to mind using the scale ratio.”
At my answer, Lee Su-young looked at me like I was insane.
I mean, there’s no reason to look at me like that.
Anyway, 253 kilometers—even walking forty kilometers a day would take nearly a week.
And if there were obstacles in between, it could take even longer.
“This is practically a thousand-li march.”
I rinsed my face with my hands and stared at the dead explorer.
What possessed this madman to try crossing a tropical rainforest with nothing but his bare hands? Was he suicidal?
Ah, so that’s why he died.
Looking closely at the corpse, the bluish complexion and prominent veins suggested he’d been poisoned.
Now I had to traverse a jungle teeming with toxins?
Since I couldn’t just leave the explorer’s body, I examined his clothes and belongings to give him a proper burial, then asked the two of them.
“This is dreadful. Should we just give up and challenge a different world instead?”
Both of them nodded at my suggestion.
“That sounds like a good idea. I want to leave this hot and humid place as soon as possible.”
“Since no one dies from giving up, I don’t mind either.”
The person who had made the wish that summoned us was already dead and a corpse—we had no obligation to attempt this Quest.
Failing a Quest did carry the risk of a three-day cooldown before retrying, but that was manageable; we could simply spend the time on personal maintenance or grinding public quests without worry.
While I was thinking this, I discovered something in the explorer’s possession that I couldn’t ignore.

(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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