Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 150

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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 150. Galaxy Martial God Hall – School Trip (4)

As befitted a luxury resort, the food served was absolutely delicious.
True to a school that gathered only athletic students, the meal portions were enormous and operated as a buffet, with mountains of food vanishing in an instant.
Those who finished eating first enjoyed free time within the resort grounds, and when lunch ended, the students gathered by homeroom in the Central Hall First Floor.
Once all the students were seated in the hall, the Vice Principal explained the treasure hunt.
“Now then, from this moment on, each team will search for treasures that the teachers have hidden throughout the resort. We haven’t hidden anything in your guest rooms, so please don’t enter other students’ rooms.”
The Vice Principal held up a ball no larger than a child’s fist in one hand.
“These lottery balls are the treasures you’ll be searching for. Inside each ball is a coated paper slip written with information like this.”
The paper bore a score of “1 point” and “Teddy Bear” written on it.
“The score written here determines the ranking in the treasure hunt competition. Balls located in easy-to-find places have lower scores, while those in harder-to-find locations have higher scores.”
Rankings were assigned based on scores in descending order, with rewards given to the top 10 teams—forty students total.
The first-place team received an Inner Energy Enhancement Elixir, the second-place team received a 20-year usage right to premium combat suit tailoring from a renowned specialty apparel brand, and the third-place team received a true sword forged from Titanium Gold.
From fourth place onward, points redeemable at the Points Mall were distributed on a graduated scale.
The amount of points being given away was almost excessive.
Would there really be that much to spend points on in middle school?
“First place! Let’s definitely take first!”
Cheon Ha-sung spoke with palpable excitement.
Despite Cheon Ha-sung’s enthusiasm, my goal was second place.
The Inner Energy Elixir was utterly unnecessary for me.
Beyond unnecessary—it would be nothing short of poison.
With the second-place prize, I wouldn’t need custom tailoring; I could send my own measurements and they’d craft it exactly to specifications.
In other words, they’d make clothes wearable in The Tower without asking questions or raising objections.
Premium combat wear would surely be at least as good as, if not superior to, the Lizardman King’s Coat.
For reference, the Points Mall also sold custom combat suits, but what could be purchased was at best mid-grade quality.
Compared to the lowest-grade combat suit I’d bought with pocket money, it would be incomparably better, but since the Points Mall was linked with the school, they’d come in person to take measurements.
Top-ranking students burned with motivation upon seeing the prizes, while lower-ranking students had no drive, viewing it as an activity for the higher-ranking only.
The Vice Principal smiled and spoke.
“As you all know, our school encourages competition among students. However, we don’t hope to see competition spoil the memories of an occasion where everyone can enjoy themselves together. See this teddy bear written here? Besides points, the treasures also contain various other prizes.”
According to the Vice Principal, there were items like teddy bears and workbooks, but there were also expensive gaming consoles and home virtual reality devices.
What goes where is completely random.
A virtual reality device could be written on a 1-point ball, or wet wipes could be on a 10-point one.
The items listed here would be distributed once students returned to school.
It made sense—carrying prizes now would be a burden regardless.
Incidentally, teachers would be stationed throughout the resort for supervision, so no fighting over treasures was permitted.
True to the Vice Principal’s words, it was a recreation game meant for final memory-making.
“All right! Current time: 1:20 PM! Starting now, you have until 4:50 PM—three hours and thirty minutes—for the treasure hunt!”
The Vice Principal pressed the timer.

* * *

The man disguised as a janitor watched the students moving about the resort and kept himself hidden.
His task and that of his colleagues now was not to map out the movements of these trivial children or attack them.
That could be done anytime once the operation began.
What needed doing now was to seize control of the resort’s defense systems and those of this asteroid as prepared beforehand, and to locate the Cheon Family’s hidden bodyguards moving about in concealment.
Of course, simultaneously, he didn’t forget to keep close watch on his primary target: Cheon So-yeon.
There was still plenty of time.

* * *

Cheon Ha-sung said he’d had a good idea and told me, Cheon Gong-hu, and Cheon Bu-hyeon about it.
“Let’s scatter and regroup!”
At Cheon Ha-sung’s suggestion, Cheon Gong-hu spoke cautiously.
“Wouldn’t it be better if we stayed together and checked places we might’ve overlooked?”
Cheon Bu-hyeon shook his head at Cheon Gong-hu’s opinion.
“No, with limited time, spreading out to search separately would let us collect more. Plus, we can make ownership of individual treasures clear.”
The team score would be combined, but individual prizes would belong to whoever found them.
Logically, whether figurines or game consoles, since they couldn’t be divided, there was no dispute if the finder kept them.
I nodded in agreement at Cheon Bu-hyeon’s words.
“Then we’ll split up and search for three hours, and when thirty minutes are left, we’ll gather back here and figure out places we might’ve missed or where things could be hidden.”
The moment I backed the idea of splitting up, Cheon Gong-hu’s expression fell slightly.
“Then I’ll see you all in three hours!”
Cheon Ha-sung immediately took off running.
We watched his retreating figure before dispersing in different directions.
Once I was alone, I paused to think for a moment.
Should I teach my teammates the treasure-hunting tricks right now?
Though most hadn’t noticed, there was a faint trace of Inner Energy clinging to the capsule the Vice Principal had been holding.
A handful of people with keen Qi Sense probably caught on, but it was so subtle that if someone hadn’t developed their sense as far as mine, finding it wouldn’t be easy.
Besides me, probably only Cheon So-yeon would manage to find it properly.
Though Cheon So-yeon seemed too distracted by other things to care much about the treasure hunt.
So maybe I should put in genuine effort to just secure second place.

* * *

Cheon So-yeon dispersed from her teammates Cheon Ga-ryeong and Cheon Gu-young.
Cheon Ga-ryeong had complained that their smaller numbers put them at a disadvantage and insisted they split up, even going so far as to map out their route by checking the resort building blueprint.
Once Cheon Ga-ryeong—energetic as ever—and the taciturn Cheon Gu-young had left, Cheon So-yeon extended a faint Qi Sense with a calm expression.
She had noticed that the capsule the Vice Principal held contained a faint trace of Inner Energy, but that wasn’t why she was extending her Qi Sense now.
Though she felt sorry toward her two teammates, the school’s rewards held no appeal for her whatsoever.
Even if they had, she had no intention of genuinely participating in the treasure hunt.
Those treasures were meant for real children who could build precious memories—not for someone like her, a phantom from the distant past and a counterfeit child whose outer shell was worn down by the mortal world.
The reason Cheon So-yeon extended her Qi Sense wasn’t to pinpoint exactly where things were, but rather because she felt a malevolent gaze directed toward her, and she wanted to find its source.
Having received countless hostile gazes and emotions—danger, malice, envy, jealousy—since her previous life, Cheon So-yeon could detect even the faintest ill intent.
For a moment, she considered asking her friend—who was anything but childish, sharp and wise as she was—for help, but she shook her head.
For some reason, Cheon So-yeon felt that this malevolence wasn’t directed solely at her.
So she decided to handle it alone, before any commotion arose, when no one was watching.
Her friend was still too young to face the brutal, merciless malice of the Martial World.
Cheon Ji-woo, too, was a child she needed to protect.

* * *

I hurried through the resort, hunting for treasures.
Worried that some annoying person might be lurking to exploit the situation, I used both the Concealment Technique and Invisibility Magic as I prowled about hidden.
My Inner Energy, with its tendency to gather densely and circulate, wasn’t naturally suited to magic, but once you grasped the trick, even complex spellwork became possible.
Magic, after all, was simply spreading your mana into the world and using the world’s mana to change that world.
“Let’s see… found one.”
I retrieved a capsule hidden inside a metal toilet paper dispenser mounted beside a restroom sink.
-3 points, children’s snack set.
“Tch, a dud.”
The points were decent for how well-hidden it was, but the prize was mediocre.
That made four children’s snack sets.
I’d found over thirty total so far, but none of them were particularly worthwhile.
Wet wipes, stationery sets, notebooks, fountain pens, backpacks, first-year middle school study guides, practice wooden swords, premium training robes…
The kind of stuff you’d only use at school—though come to think of it, we attend classes in Virtual Reality anyway, so why would we need any of this?
We don’t even use our textbooks; nobody brings backpacks.
I suppose the training robes and practice wooden swords might be usable.
Besides those, the only remotely useful prize seemed to be Points redeemable at the school Points Mall.
The amounts listed—30,000 or 50,000 Points—were realistic figures, though.
Honestly, I didn’t need Points all that much.
Just then someone let out a cheer.
“Whoa! War God Legend 14! Gold Edition!”
Someone had pulled a famous console game package.
It wasn’t an outrageously expensive game, but it was a fairly recent release from a major publisher last year.
Everyone around them made little effort to hide their envy at the news of the game.
The students had sheets of coated paper in hand, and from what I could glimpse, they all seemed to have snagged things like stationery or snack sets, just like me.
With so many treasures hidden around, it looked like everyone had found at least one or two.
I searched more earnestly and headed toward places where student traffic wouldn’t naturally reach.
Even if I didn’t pull a good prize, I had to rack up points to land second place.
I spread my Qi Sense as far as I could and continued finding capsules scattered about as I searched for treasures.
“Fifty thousand Points, a school bag, a vacuum cleaner, a solid wood desk, a science kit, a two-hundred-thirty-liter refrigerator….”
Despite my diligent searching, some of the listed items were admittedly pricier, yet they remained largely useless to me.
As I wandered about, I noticed something odd.
“…The Qi appears to be flowing in a directed pattern?”
It seemed there was a massive Formation Array enveloping the entire resort.
Well, even in this space age, this place is still the Galactic Martial Arts World.
Martial tales wouldn’t be complete without Formation Arrays, so using them to maintain a pleasant environment was certainly possible here.
“Hmm, if I’ve collected this much, I should at least place second, no?”
The treasures I’d gathered had somehow reached roughly fifty pieces.
Since items discovered in difficult-to-reach spots like the ceiling or inside fire extinguisher boxes carried higher points, it felt safe to stop searching now.
Even without full concentration, Cheon So-yeon’s Qi Sense would likely find thirty more within the remaining time, so stopping here seemed the smart move if I wanted to secure second place.
With so much time still left, should I just study the Formation Array’s structure and its core?
“Goodness, I really can’t help myself when I come across something fascinating.”
I hummed tunelessly to myself while wandering through the resort to decipher the Formation Array.

(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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