Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 147

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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 147. Galaxy Martial God Hall – School Trip (1)

The exchange gathering with the branch families had ended, and I was settling back into my ordinary routine.
The one thing that differed from my usual days was that everyone in the class had learned I’d gotten Cheon Da-rim’s contact information, and the girls starved for gossip had grown rather loud about it.
“Exactly—it’s all about looks, isn’t it? Look at Cheon Ha-sung. A few years ago he was a cheerful pretty boy, but now he’s basically a gorilla.”
“Right, right. All muscles, all that rough aging, and smelling stale too. I wish he’d wash up more.”
Excuse me? They’re badmouthing—well, actually, since Cheon Ha-sung and the other boys are right there, it’s more like frontmouthing, isn’t it? Anyway, why are they surrounding me to do it?
Of course, it was undeniable that all the boys in our class—in our entire school—had become somewhat muscular and aged-looking.
But that was merely a temporary side effect from the Spirit Elixirs consumed for physical growth since childhood and the school’s training curriculum.
Even if they stopped taking the elixirs, the imposing frame built by them and training wouldn’t disappear, but the aged appearance would improve once the period for taking elixirs had passed.
The reason I didn’t have an ape-like appearance unlike the other students was purely because of my constitution—one bordering on Dull Talent.
While the other students absorbed the Spirit Elixir at one hundred percent efficiency, I could only absorb about half, so there was nothing to be pleased about.
In reality, the male students in the lower-tier classes where those with Dull Talent like me gathered looked ordinary, just like me.
Of course, the problem of low absorption rates was being compensated for by consuming many different kinds of Spirit Elixirs.
It was inconvenient because the efficiency was poor and I had to meticulously calculate medicinal effects before consuming them, but there was no helping it.
As a side note, there’s also the Beauty Arts to solve appearance problems if it doesn’t improve, and anyone who wishes can apparently learn it.
In fact, looking at the graduation album of Cheon Cheol-young, the otaku senior I’m friendly with, the male classmates all looked like gorillas until middle school, but once they entered high school, they’d become presentable.
Though even learning the Beauty Arts has limits if the original material is problematic, or so they say.
“So! Have you contacted that kid Cheon Da-rim?”
“Did she reply?”
“What did she say in her reply? Did she ask to meet up? Tell us quick!”
Wait, you all never cared about me at all before this.
Why are you suddenly showing such eager interest?
At that moment, an icy chill swept across the entire classroom.
“That’s my seat. Would you mind moving?”
When Cheon So-yeon spoke in that cool voice, the girls hurriedly vacated the space.
I thought it would end with them backing away, but they clustered together and gossiped about love triangles and such, squealing excitedly.
Really, even accounting for how starved for gossip we are at a boarding school, this is too much toward a classmate.
“You’re not upset, are you?”
“I’m not.”
Cheon So-yeon answered in a sullen voice.
In the end, I had to apologize to the offended Cheon So-yeon for pawning her off on Cheon Myeong-tae, and I spent the entire weekend playing with her.
She usually seems so mature, but when she’s like this, she’s just a kid.

* * *

As I passed my days filled with constant schooling and training, coming and going, it seemed that two and a half years had slipped away in an instant.
Before I knew it, I had become a sixth-year student—graduation year—and Cheon So-yeon’s younger sister, Cheon Ho-yeon, had enrolled and become a first-year student.
Cheon Ho-yeon was distant from the Martial God’s Physique, but unlike someone with Dull Talent like me, she received a top-grade rating on her Aptitude Evaluation.

However, when April came, Cheon Ho-yeon wanted to join the Sword Arts Club that Cheon So-yeon and I were in, but Cheon So-yeon opposed it.
Since we would graduate next year and advance to middle school, she reasoned that the school would never provide proper support to a club without her.
The logic was sound, so I agreed as well, and Cheon Ho-yeon gave me a betrayed look.
Wait—your older sister is Cheon So-yeon, not me. Why are you giving me that betrayed expression?
There was a moment when my heart wavered, seeing a look that said she’d believed an older brother figure would take her side, but it couldn’t be helped—this was for Cheon Ho-yeon’s own good.
And so Cheon Ho-yeon ended up joining the Sword Arts Club.
Cheon So-yeon made what wasn’t quite a request to Cheon Ha-sung, who had become the club’s captain, to look after her younger sister, and she pressed one of the Spirit Elixirs I’d made into his hands.
With just that one elixir, I’d have to visit the club from time to time even after graduation to check on Cheon Ho-yeon’s progress, but for the value of the elixir, it was trivial effort.
Cheon Ha-sung came to me and showed me the Spirit Elixir I’d made.
He marveled that even those with the Martial God’s Physique received such elixirs, then rationalized that the reason he couldn’t match Cheon So-yeon was because of support like this.
It wasn’t as though he couldn’t understand that such support came precisely because he could digest elixirs of that caliber, so it was half-joking.
Well, the Spirit Elixir I’d painstakingly made for Cheon So-yeon was formulated for Peak Mastery Level, so amazement was warranted.
On the side, I’d also made extras and stashed them away, planning to consume them myself once my Inner Power Seal was lifted.
Now a sixth-year student, Cheon Ha-sung had only recently ascended to 1st Class Level, but his Inner Power still fell short of 1st Class, so the elixir Cheon So-yeon gave him would be of tremendous help.
Of course, with someone who’d just reached 1st Class, the elixir wouldn’t be properly absorbed and most of it would be wasted.
Still, if you pour a basin of water into a small soy sauce dish, it helps the dish grow to the size of a rice bowl—so it was worth something.
I quietly took a look at Cheon Ha-sung with my Appraisal Glasses (S).

[Name: Cheon Ha-sung / Age: 12]
[Strength: 44 / Agility: 41 / Endurance: 43 / Intelligence: 17 / Mana: 23]
[Status: Normal]
[Ability: Martial Arts Lv 40]

Unlike me, his intelligence and mana were low, but his physical stats were excellent.
This was the typical state of a promising elite late-stage prospect.
I’d wondered why he used his Inner Power so sparingly when it wasn’t sealed like mine, but after obtaining the Appraisal Glasses, I understood the reason.
These kids were consuming Spirit Elixirs but still failing to build their Inner Power.
And at the same time, I could see just how hopeless my martial talent was.
Martial arts really does favor those with superior bodies.
Over the course of a year and a half, I’d reached 1st Class Level in my physical form as well, bringing my average physical stats to 41 in the status window.

[Name: Han Ji-woo (2-Slot Avatar) / Age: 12]
[Strength: 40 / Agility: 42 / Endurance: 41 / Intelligence: 55 / Mana: 15 (-45)]
[Status: Mana Seal]
[Ability: Multidimensional Avatar Lv 29, Martial Arts Lv 45]

Even after reaching a mature 1st Class Level, my physical stats had plateaued entirely—the growth had slowed to a crawl.
I wish my Physical Stats rose as smoothly as my Intelligence.
If they did, I’d have broken the Inner Power Seal by now.
Though I admit, lately what I’m learning from Riven is so difficult that my Intelligence does seem to climb steadily.
You grow as much as you push yourself.
Still, graduation’s not far off—soon I’ll be free of Riven.
But even though I haven’t been able to reabsorb or regenerate my clone because of the imbalance in my essence, the Multidimensional Avatar’s level still advanced in sync.
Maybe it’s because that ability forms the foundation of the avatar?
I was lost in idle thoughts, staring at the status window, when Cheon Gong-hu, the class representative, handed me a piece of paper and asked a question.
“What are you thinking about?”
His voice was still timid and small, but after six years in the same class and doing club activities together, he spoke to me with ease.
He was probably my closest friend aside from Cheon Ga-ryeong.
Looking purely at aptitude, Cheon Gong-hu should easily surpass Cheon Ha-sung, but his timid nature held him back.
The fact that despite his timidity he’d never dropped below fifth place in the Ranking Battles proved his talent was at least on par with Cheon Ha-sung’s, if not greater.
For the record, my rank was still third.
Because I appeared easy to underestimate, kids in the late twenties often requested Ranking Battles against me, and I won by giving the impression I’d barely scraped by.
If I seemed weak, the weaker ones would keep challenging me.
“Just wondering when I could break the Inner Power Seal.”
I’m already pushing my body three or four times harder than anyone else, yet my physical growth has stopped.
Will my body grow again once I start serious Outer Power training?
In any case, having Dull Talent was always a curse.
“You’ll break it soon enough, I’m sure of it.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
While I’m at it, should I appraise Cheon Gong-hu’s status too?

[Name: Cheon Gong-hu / Age: 12]
[Strength: 41 / Agility: 47 / Endurance: 39 / Intelligence: 16 / Mana: 27]
[Status: Normal]
[Ability: Martial Arts Lv 44]

This kid is definitely stronger than Cheon Ha-sung.
He was hiding his true strength.
Or maybe he’s just embarrassed by the attention?
If I fought him at full power, I might actually lose.
I smiled wryly and took the paper Cheon Gong-hu offered.
The paper contained information about group composition for a school trip and a consent form.
“The teacher wants you to get a signature on the consent form.”
“Is it already school trip season?”
“It’s the second semester.”
Once summer break ended and autumn truly arrived, the school trip took place.
Though it was called a school trip, it was essentially a graduation trip.
I signed my name on the form and skimmed the description of the trip destination.
“Looks like the field trip is taking us to a completely different planet.”
The destination was a small terraformed asteroid in the Asteroid Belt, located on the outer edge of the Martial God 3-Star System.
Technically it was more of a colony than an asteroid, though its size rivaled an entire continent.
Space colonies were usually no larger than a nation or province at most, and most were city-sized, so this qualified as genuinely vast.
Looking at the itinerary, there was a faint whiff of marine corps camp about it—but that wasn’t unwelcome.
Besides, the Martial Arts training at this school was harder than Navy SEALs drills, not just marine conditioning.
For these students, this was nothing more than a light stroll or warm-up exercise.
“It’s a winter planet that receives little starlight, so they can run the ski resort year-round.”
The Asteroid Belt primarily functioned as a mining operation for resource extraction, making leisure resort planets like this exceedingly rare.
Most terraformed planets in that region were created as resource development hubs or logistical waypoints.
Naturally, the environments were harsh, and habitable zones rarely exceeded city size.
But our destination seemed deliberately terraformed with tourism in mind—its location was just positioned perfectly for it.
“Here you go.”
I handed the signed consent form back to Cheon Gong-hu and checked the guide to see which group I’d been assigned to.
Number 2: Cheon Ha-sung, Number 3: Cheon Ji-woo, Number 4: Cheon Gong-hu, Number 11: Cheon Bu-hyeon.
With twenty students total in the class, we were divided into five groups of four.
Seven girls and thirteen boys meant one girls’ group had only three members, and one boys’ group had five, but the distribution worked.
Teacher Kim Do-hwa had grouped me with students I was close to for my convenience—or perhaps his own—and assigned Cheon Myeong-tae to a different group entirely.
A remarkably wise decision.
As for Cheon So-yeon, she’d been grouped with Number 12 Cheon Ga-ryeong and Number 7 Cheon Gu-young as a three-person team.
Cheon Ga-ryeong got along well with Cheon So-yeon, and Cheon Gu-young was quiet enough to cause no problems.
The group assignments showed Teacher Kim Do-hwa had given this considerable thought.
“You’ve even limited snacks per person? What kind of…well, they’re still kids, aren’t they.”
Even though they were senior year students, they were still young.
They looked like gorillas, but children nonetheless.
Of course, with an Inventory, any luggage inspection was meaningless to me.
We’d done several day trips and study excursions through the school before, but this was our first overnight trip, so the precautions list was exhaustive.
I nearly rolled my eyes at some of them, then recalled that old saying about rules being written in blood—realizing that the seniors must have done every single thing on this list.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have felt the need to explicitly forbid spacecraft from being brought aboard, or warn against bringing pets or holographic devices for horror film shoots.
The school had nearly a thousand years of history, so it had accumulated every conceivable precaution imaginable.
And then, in due time, the day of departure arrived.

(To be continued)

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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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