Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 138

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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 138. The Tower – Golden Market (1)

After defeating Yong-a Byeong, I collapsed onto the floor, utterly exhausted.
“Ugh~! This is brutally difficult.”
The difficulty of fighting Yong-a Byeong was honestly as high as—if not higher than—the Lizardman King.
While his raw power fell short of the Lizardman King’s, it seemed Yong-a Byeong had never been weakened to this degree before; early on, he appeared to struggle with controlling his own strength.
But his overwhelming technique and that peculiar swordplay—attacking head-on while simultaneously hunting for blind spots—was unlike anything I’d faced before.
Of course, it’s possible I found it harder because I wasn’t using magic, but even if I had, Yong-a Byeong wouldn’t have fallen for it as easily as the Lizardman King did.
Yong-a Byeong’s origin is a dragon’s fang—literally a fragment of a dragon’s body.
Dragons are said to be the progenitors of magic itself and are deeply versed in it, so Yong-a Byeong, as the dragon’s subordinate, must have been well-prepared against magic.
Given that, wasting mana on spells made no sense; fighting purely with martial skill was the better choice.
At least that way, I had something to learn from Yong-a Byeong.
Admittedly, if I’d focused on magic throughout the fight, it probably would’ve been easier than relying solely on martial technique, but then there’d be no point in challenging the trial alone.
I came here to use Yong-a Byeong as a teacher and hone my skills—not to brag that I fight so well on my own.
Honestly, the battle with Yong-a Byeong taught me a great deal.
Though my skill level was still only at the threshold of the first tier, I’d grown more adept at wielding Sword Qi, and the experience of fighting a true martial master in genuine combat was invaluable—something not easily obtained.
When the trial ended, Diana, freed from the barrier, looked down at me with furrowed brows.
“You could have dodged and escaped plenty of times at the end. Why didn’t you?”
I nearly answered: because where’s the romance in that?
“…It was a matter of respect. I could see that Yong-a Byeong was trying to teach me something. I learned a great deal from him.”
I managed to come up with a plausible excuse after some quick thinking.
Diana looked down at me with a cold gaze, then sighed.
“I said this on Floor 22 already—think about the people who are watching.”
“…I apologize.”
I wasn’t foolish enough to argue with sincere worry wrapped in a scolding.
Lee Su-young, however, gave me a thumbs up and spoke.
“I think it was cool, honestly. If you’re already winning, you might as well indulge in a little romance at the end.”
Ahh~! That’s Lee Su-young for you.
She truly understands my heart!
Diana countered Lee Su-young’s remark.
“Must you fulfill this ‘romance’ while covered in blood?”
At Diana’s question, Lee Su-young shrugged.
“It’s not me who’s in pain.”
At her words, I let out a hollow laugh.
“Wow, that’s ruthless.”
“Honestly, at that point, aren’t you just enjoying the pain?”
“I’m not! If you circulate your Inner Energy properly, there are tricks to suppress minor aches and—wait. Did I just gain Pain Tolerance?”
“Pain Tolerance Lv2” had appeared in my ability list.
Can a resistance develop like this, separate from martial techniques or magic?
It seemed like the trick was that rather than enduring pain directly, I’d used Inner Energy techniques to avoid feeling the pain altogether—and the system had recognized this technique as an actual ability.
Now that my trick had been codified as a skill, somehow the pain felt less intense.
If I master this, I might be able to apply it to others as well.
After the two of them lifted me up and I used a Cleansing Mana Tool to wash away my blood, the Golden Dragon approached us.
“Congratulations on overcoming the trial. Had I known, I would’ve put down a bit more gold.”
The Golden Dragon looked at my relatively unscathed state and smirked.
“No, I nearly died multiple times.”
“You nearly died fewer times than I predicted.”
Wow, this dragon is also really something else.
The Golden Dragon snapped its fingers, sending the gold that had been sitting on the scale somewhere else.
“Now then, it’s time to receive your reward for the trial. You’ll be putting all that gold up, yes?”
At the blatant greed in its voice, I nodded.
If I said no here, I feared I’d earn not the Golden Dragon’s favor but its enmity.
“Good judgment.”
The Golden Dragon promptly placed nearly four tons of gold onto the scale.
Then it displayed a large screen before us.
The screen looked strikingly similar to the Tower Shop.
“By defeating my subordinate, you’ve earned access to the Golden Market as your reward.”
Now I understood why gold had to be used as payment for rewards as well.
If the reward for the Trial was a special Shop privilege, then paying a price to use the Shop was only natural.
Had I not known this and spent all my Gold Points fighting Yong-a Byeong, even the Trial I’d endured would have been rendered meaningless.
The Golden Dragon’s favor was a crucial element in this Trial.
The Golden Dragon had looked favorably upon us Lower Floor Climbers reaching a Trial that should have been faced only by those in the Middle Floors standing on the threshold of the Upper Floors.
If we’d been ordinary Middle Floor Climbers, would the Golden Dragon have explained that Gold Points were necessary even when distributing rewards so readily?
Yong-a Byeong had used a Cognitive Trap, and it seemed the Golden Dragon was employing one too.
Had I known nothing of this, it would have seemed natural to spend every last Gold Point to defeat Yong-a Byeong effortlessly.
“Ordinarily, only those who’ve undergone the Trial can see the rewards, but I’ve made a special exception using my authority to let your companions view them as well. Of course, only you can actually make purchases through the Shop window.”
The Golden Dragon smiled, pressing my chest with a single finger.
It was a smile as brilliant and enchanting as Gold itself.
“I’m grateful for your kindness.”
In truth, by passing the Trial alone through this loophole, my companions could share in the benefits.
“Think nothing of it. The Shop’s price is in Gold Points. One Point per hundred grams of Gold, so what’s on the scale comes to 3,998,123 grams.”
Three tons, nine hundred ninety-eight kilos, one hundred twenty-three grams.
The Golden Market held 39,981 Gold Points in inventory.
“If I have more Gold, must I turn it over now?”
“More? You don’t have to turn it over right…now, never mind.”
It seemed he’d been about to demand I hand it all over immediately.
“Once you offer it, refunds could put us in an adversarial relationship, so be cautious.”
The Golden Dragon’s eyes, fixed on me, blazed with the desire to see every ounce of Gold I possessed surrendered at once.
For a moment I nearly asked whether he really loved Gold that much, but my admirable self-control kept my mouth shut.
You don’t press the panic button of someone wearing that kind of crazed expression.
Cold sweat broke out at the thought that I might end up listening to a tirade praising Gold for hours if I misspoke.
“Well, let me check the inventory first.”
Remarkably, the Golden Market’s stock included ‘finished goods’!
The Tower Shop’s policy was to sell mainly ‘raw materials’.
Want a Mithril Sword?
The Tower Shop doesn’t sell Mithril Swords, but it does carry Mithril Ore and Mithril Ingots.
Absurdly expensive though they are.
There were special pigments, magical materials, monster byproducts, and all manner of strange items whose purpose I couldn’t fathom, but finished goods were limited to bread, basic equipment suitable for the 10th Floor tier, Potions, and Appraisal Certificates.
The Golden Market, however, was selling finished weapons that looked quite special, spell books, armor—even figurines and mounts.
Yes, this is how a Shop should be.
The Tower Shop and the Golden Market differed as vastly as a raw materials wholesaler from a finished goods retailer.
“Wow, this really is a worthy Trial reward. Insanely expensive though.”
“It really is. Truly insanely expensive.”
Lee Su-young and Diana marveled at the Shop’s inventory and product descriptions.
The Golden Dragon then spoke to us.
“Ah, since you’re Lower Floor Climbers, receiving Trial rewards will impose certain restrictions on you. If you ascend the Tower with weapons or items that are too powerful, it creates balance issues with other Climbers, and it would hinder your growth.”
Leaving aside balance, there seemed to be some condition attached to killing monsters and absorbing their mana.
“Restrictions, you mean…?”
“The most common is a Seal on power.”
The Golden Dragon outlined three major types of restrictions.
The first type of restriction gradually unseals as the Climber ascends each Floor.
It’s the most common and the least problematic.
If restrictions are unavoidable, this is the best option.
Even if sealed, it still provides sufficient aid in climbing the Tower, and for essential items like weapons or armor, there’s no need to waste money and time periodically replacing them as you ascend.
The Mithril-blended sword I’ve been using, obtained on the 18th Floor, is so excellent that it’s hard to find anything better in the Lower Floors.
But once I reach the Middle Floors, it’ll become merely decent, ordinary equipment.
As I approach the Upper Floors, I may need to change weapons.
The coat I’m wearing now faces the same fate.
The second type of restriction is sealed completely and vanishes until a certain Floor is reached, then reappears in the Climber’s hands.
Compared to the first type, this is considerably worse.
A reward bearing the first restriction at least helps you climb the Tower, but this one is essentially useless until you reach that Floor.
Of course, even this restriction is better than the last.
The final restriction type is that a Curse takes hold until a certain Floor is reached, imposing a Demerit equivalent to the Merit.
Imagine, for example, a Magic Staff imbued with magic capable of destroying everything before your eyes in a single strike.
Using it lets you climb the Tower as if you’d activated cheat codes.
But what if it bears a Curse imposing a month of forced sleep as a Demerit?
Or worse—what if instead of sleep, it demands you use severed body parts as offerings?
A Curse imposing permanent disability, damaging your reputation, or twisting fate itself could render any Merit utterly irrelevant.
What made it worse was that the second constraint wasn’t even visible, so there’d be no temptation to use it—but the third constraint would haunt every dangerous moment in the Tower, every difficult situation, forcing me to resist the urge again and again.
Of course, if using a reward with the third constraint attached became the only way to survive, I’d accept that choice without hesitation.
“You can check which constraint applies by tapping the red arrow in the item description, so keep that in mind.”
At the Golden Dragon’s words, we nodded with cautious expressions.
“Could Diana and I each take one ton of gold and 10,000 Gold Points, like we discussed before the Floor 23 challenge?”
Now that I thought about it, there had been a conversation where Lee Su-young and Diana agreed that the two of them would take one ton each, and I’d keep the rest.
I’d been thinking we’d split everything equally, but they’d already worked it out between themselves and presented it to me.
I paused for a moment, then nodded.
“Sure. Take as much as you want—there’s plenty.”
The Golden Market was criminally expensive, but it made more sense to walk away with generous rewards than to accumulate gold we couldn’t use or eat right away.
“Diana, don’t worry about the points either. Pick whatever you need freely.”
“Then I’ll choose right away.”
We each focused intently on the shop window that materialized before us.

(To be continued in the next part)

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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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