Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 123

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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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Episode 123. The Jungle (3)

As Diana stepped out of the tent, a question seemed to occur to her. She turned to me with curiosity in her eyes.
“Now that I think about it, how did the explorer manage to bring all these supplies alone? They don’t have an Inventory like we do, and even a mage would struggle to carry all of this.”
Of course, I had only managed to gather everything because I had access to a Subspace separate from my Inventory—something no other climber could rely on.
In response to Diana’s question, I pulled out the Portable Wardrobe I had retrieved from the tent and retrieved it from my Inventory.
The Portable Wardrobe was secured by a frame, but aside from the frame itself, it had the structure of a bag made from quality leather.
Naturally, the Portable Wardrobe itself was quite light.
“It had a Space-Expansion spell cast on it. Given that the tent and all the items inside still left considerable space unused, it seems the explorer was planning to fill it with gold and treasure as they worked.”
Behind the tent there had been a cart; it was rigged so that a simple flow of Mana would set the wheels turning, which is how the explorer had likely brought everything this far.
Probably the reason they had established their Base Camp here was that the terrain no longer permitted wheeled transport.
The Jungle was dense with trees, and the ground was nothing but mud.
At my explanation, Lee Su-young’s eyes lit up.
“Then that’s the Space-Expansion Bag I’ve only heard about in stories?!”
In response to her question, I placed it back in my Inventory and spoke.
“That’s right. Though it doesn’t have a weight-reduction spell on it, so it’s not particularly useful to us.”
“Ah….”
Lee Su-young seemed disappointed.
If it had possessed a weight-reduction spell, it would have been a genuinely practical item for expanding Inventory capacity. As it stood, it was merely decoration.
It would be valuable for an individual storing personal items elsewhere, but the Common Floors had the Climber-Exclusive Bank, making such an item entirely unnecessary.
“Still, if you sold it Outside the Tower, you could fetch a decent price for it.”
Outside the Tower, such Magical Tools were rare.
Tower returnees rarely released items like this—potions, perhaps, but not artifacts of this caliber.
Or perhaps WPTO’s regulations prevented them from doing so.
If such things flooded the market, the potential for abuse in smuggling and drug trafficking would be enormous.
It was possible that crimes were already being committed with these items, just with no news coverage to alert me to it.
“What good is selling it expensive Outside if it’s useless for climbing the Tower?”
Lee Su-young lost interest in the Space-Expansion wardrobe and, seeking relief from the heat, pulled down the hood attached to her Cloak.
Though Lee Su-young seemed to love money, that was because it served her growth—she wasn’t simply greedy for its own sake.
Of course, with her meticulous personality, there was also the matter that she disliked unpaid labor.
Lee Su-young seemed pleased with the Cloak, humming contentedly.
“Mmm~! Nothing beats staying cool over dealing with the heat.”
Having left the explorer’s Base Camp behind, we set out toward our destination.

* * *

Using the Mini Map as a compass to navigate the dense Jungle, we decided to practice martial arts as we traveled.
I led the way, clearing away branches and vines that obstructed our path forward, while I practiced my Footwork Technique. The two of them followed behind, mirroring each step I took.
“Hmm, this Footwork Technique is harder than I thought.”
“The ground here is uneven and there are plenty of obstacles. For your leg length… try reducing your stride by about three centimeters when you plant your feet.”
“Oh! That feels a bit easier!”
Lee Su-young absorbed martial arts instruction with the swiftness of a sponge soaking water—a minimal explanation, and she’d grasp it immediately.
The only martial arts we could reasonably practice while walking was Footwork Technique, but Footwork was the foundation of all martial arts, and mastery of it would improve agility.
Diana possessed superior athletic instincts compared to Lee Su-young, executing techniques smoothly after a single demonstration.
Obstacle-filled terrain was an advanced course for Footwork training, but both of them had such natural talent that they handled it well.
“But is it alright if we go slowly like this while practicing?”
To Diana’s question, I shrugged.
“The destination isn’t running away, and there’s no urgency. Even if we take our time here, time below will pass at twice the rate, and since there’s no Aging in the Tower, there’s no harm.”
The Tower had roughly a ten percent difference in Time Differential per floor.
The time difference between the lower Common Floors at the 10th Floor and the 22nd Floor is about threefold; compared to our homeland of Earth, it’s about eightfold.
If we spent a full day on the 22nd Floor, about eight hours would pass in the 20th Floor District, and only three hours on Earth—which actually made it better for martial arts training.
And practicing Footwork Technique wasn’t slowing our pace that dramatically.
We’d move slower than if we simply walked without training, but the two of them already possessed physical abilities exceeding those of most professional athletes.
Even at a leisurely pace, we could cover at least thirty kilometers a day.
“That’s true.”
Diana accepted this and continued training her Footwork.
While instructing their Footwork, I deliberately drew on the Internal Energy of my Dantian to explain and guide them in the method of Body Strengthening.
Body Strengthening wasn’t easy at the beginner stage, but both of them already understood how to harness Mana thanks to the abilities granted by the Tower.
Whenever the Tower felled a monster, its Mana or life force accumulated in my body, strengthening it—so grasping the sensation wouldn’t be terribly difficult.
“Wait. Snake approaching from the left branch.”
While practicing Footwork Technique and training to reach 3rd-Class Mastery, monsters from the Jungle would ambush us just like this.
Each time, I’d halt the session briefly and dispatch the creature.
The attacks were a nuisance, but they were the Tower’s most reliable path to strength and a source of income—so monsters were actually preferable to their absence.
Everyone pretended not to notice while staying alert in the direction I’d indicated.
The snake lurking in the tree, waiting for its moment, suddenly lunged at Diana, and she swung her Mace, striking the serpent’s massive jaws as it rushed toward her with its mouth gaping wide.
“It seems like there are a lot of reptile-type monsters here.”
The snake’s head caved in under her Mace’s impact, and the enormous serpent died.
She was right—we’d encountered an unusual abundance of reptile monsters.
Among the creatures we’d met so far were colossal king lizards the size of a human body, anacondas large enough to swallow a human head in one gulp, colorful venomous snakes as thick as a forearm and blatantly poisonous, and massive crocodiles swimming through marshland.
We hadn’t seen so much as a common mammal.
Diana, who took interest in animal ecology, spoke with apparent fascination.
“A forest like this should have far more insects than reptiles. It’s strange.”
Lee Su-young made a face at Diana’s remark.
“Ugh, reptiles are bad enough, but insects are worse. If they’re insect monsters, they’d be absolutely massive.”
“This environment would certainly suit giant Tinkerbell breeding.”
“You don’t mean you call insects Tinkerbell, do you?”
At Lee Su-young’s question, I nodded.
“That’s what everyone in the Military calls them. Mostly moths, actually.”
“Why Tinkerbell of all things?”
“You’ve never seen the moths in Gangwon Province. They’re the size of a closed fist as a baseline, with wings and all—exactly Tinkerbell’s size from Peter Pan.”
“I don’t want to know!”
Watching Lee Su-young bristle and fuss, I laughed and harvested the Magic Stone from the snake before pressing ahead.
“Let’s go.”
The two of them followed, their Footwork Technique matching my pace.

* * *

“Hm?”
As the sun began to set, Diana, who’d been walking steadily, made a surprised sound.
“What is it?”
Lee Su-young turned to ask Diana, who was following close behind.
Our formation was me in front, Lee Su-young in the middle, and Diana in the rear.
In terrain like this, attacks from behind were more dangerous, so our sturdiest tank, Diana, held the rearmost position.
“I think I’ve succeeded at Body Strengthening?”
Diana lightly channeled her Internal Energy, reinforcing her fist, and struck a tree.
Crack!
Her punch produced a sound that shouldn’t have come from a tree, splitting it deeply.
“You didn’t strengthen yourself with Divine Power, did you?”
Diana’s Divine Power had applications beyond solidifying things and treating wounds—it could buff like a spell.
When we’d fought Gung-gi, that power made combat much smoother, so I knew its effects well.
“No, I deliberately excluded that force. But this martial art is far more efficient at strengthening the body.”
Diana expended Internal Energy, feeling the vitality that permeated her body and the enhanced strength with fascination, moving her limbs about to test it.
For all her talent, I hadn’t expected her to grasp the sensation in just one day of serious training.
“How did you master it?”
At Lee Su-young’s question, Diana considered thoughtfully before answering.
“I used the sensation of applying buffs with Divine Power as a reference. Oh, and the feeling of fighting with Divine Power on the 21st Floor helped tremendously too.”
These were sensations Lee Su-young hadn’t experienced.
I thought for a moment at Diana’s words, then offered advice to Lee Su-young.
“Why not reference your sense of handling Slime? You have the ability to strengthen Slime, right? It’ll probably be quite different from strengthening a human body, but the act of strengthening should be similar, shouldn’t it?”
“Oh! That’s true!”
“And when you use techniques that consume Mana, try to control the flow of Mana itself. Turning that control into sensation could work well too.”
At my suggestion, Lee Su-young nodded.
“Besides, I only taught you martial arts as an auxiliary tool to begin with. Don’t get obsessed with it. Diana needs to do close combat, so it’ll be half her main skill, but for you, just being able to strengthen your body would already be a success.”
“Got it!”
What a ranged dealer needs is the ability to burst away quickly from approaching enemies.
Lee Su-young’s already excellent at archery, so learning Archery wouldn’t hurt either.
Wait—does that mean I need to learn Archery?
If I’m going to teach it, I should master it first, right?
I’d been learning the Cudgel Technique from Diana, and the Hammer Technique—which I planned to teach her later—under the guise of Club activities.
The Club I’d created was, frankly, a convenient vehicle for funneling support wherever I needed it.
I’d set it up precisely for that reason, and I was making good use of it.
At this rate, I wondered if I’d end up mastering all eighteen martial arts.
“We should probably start setting up camp soon.”
The sky was beginning to flush red as I looked up at it.
“There’s a good spot for camping just ahead. Let’s move.”
A good campsite depended entirely on circumstances.
In a space like this—cluttered with obstacles ideal for concealment, with few people to watch—a cave where only one side needed guarding made for the best campsite.
Fortunately, we still had the Explorer’s legacy with us.
It wasn’t a copy of some ancient map written in old characters; it was a map made by an explorer who’d burned through his entire fortune thirteen times over, scouring the Forest to create it—so its reliability was high.
In reality, the ancient map had been wrong about everything except mountain locations, whereas the Explorer’s map proved quite useful.
I wish it had mapped the entire Jungle, but I couldn’t ask for much from a map made in just thirteen expeditions.
Still, the southern Jungle was fairly detailed, and since Tansa was located in the north-central region, we could rely on the map up to about two-thirds of the way there.
Following the map, we found a natural cave formed at the foot of a mountain.
“Looks like this place has an owner.”
I drew my sword, and Diana and Lee Su-young each produced a Mace and a Slime.
I apologized to the landlord in my head, but the place would have to be ours tonight.
The landlord—a snake that seemed to be about fifteen meters long—came to an abrupt end to its short life today.
Snake meat tastes like chicken if you prepare it right, or so I’d heard, but I had no confidence in my butchering skills, so I decided to return it to nature instead.
Honestly, how was I supposed to know if the thing had poison in it?
Even without poison, there were often cases where something could act as poison anyway.
Take the polar bear, for example—a polar bear’s liver contains highly concentrated fat-soluble vitamin A.
Vitamin A is an essential nutrient our bodies need, but because it’s fat-soluble it doesn’t get excreted in urine like other vitamins, so overdosing on it can be fatal.
A polar bear’s liver contains lethal doses in just thirty grams.
And even without poison, there was the problem of parasites.
“Well then, let’s say a prayer for the landlord who’s vacated the premises for us.”
After harvesting the Magic Stones from the snake, I buried it deep underground with earth magic so no blood scent would linger.

(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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