Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 153

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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 153. Galaxy Martial God Hall – School Trip (7)

Snow fields, snow fields, snow fields everywhere.
The surroundings held nothing but endless white.
“I suppose I should be grateful it’s not actively snowing?”
For a celestial body of typical planetary size—or even a satellite—natural phenomena weren’t suppressed in order to maintain the ecosystem.
Though truthfully, if the planet were that large, controlling the weather would be impossible anyway.
But this place was an asteroid, smaller even than a satellite.
Barely the size of a continent.
So small, in fact, that it didn’t even hold a spherical shape.
Planets achieve their sphere because of their own gravity, but this terraformed asteroid lacked even that degree of pull.
I undid the bindings that locked my skis to my feet and jumped lightly upward.
“Seems we’re pretty far from the gravity device.”
At standard 1G gravity, a jump like that would lift me barely twenty centimeters—but here I rose nearly sixty.
An asteroid of this size couldn’t hold an atmosphere with its own gravity, so the inhabited areas were equipped with gravity devices to keep the air in place.
Strengthening gravity across the entire planet would waste enormous energy, so the devices ran only in the zones where people actually moved about.
That’s why, the further you traveled from the resort, you felt lighter and the air thinned, just as now.
Of course, air only flowed near the gravity devices, so natural weather was effectively nonexistent.
At a third of the resort’s gravity, I’d probably traveled nearly ten kilometers out.
“This really is a problem—getting stronger makes it so easy to go too far.”
Before entering the Tower, I’d have collapsed after just a kilometer or two of skiing; now, with my improved stamina, I’d covered the distance without effort.
I should have spotted warning signs by now. Where were they?
Of course, there’d be barriers further out to prevent anyone from going beyond.
Past those barriers, there’d be no air to breathe.
Still, for safety, they ought to have posted warning markers long before—it was strange I hadn’t seen any.
“Well, I should head back.”
I lifted my mage’s eye high into the sky, searching for the resort.
Even at full concentration, I could barely push it a hundred meters straight up.
But the resort was painted red, so finding it wouldn’t be difficult.
Once I spotted it, I could cover ten kilometers in ten minutes.
If I’d possessed an Astral Body, I could have used the Zero-G Lightness Technique to make it in five.
“Found it. That bright red really does stand out, even from a distance.”
But looking down at the resort from above, I saw something that hadn’t been visible from ground level.
“Well, well. This is quite the dynamic martial world.”
I turned slowly back toward the resort.
It looked like I’d need to take the long way around.

* * *

Cheon So-yeon had unfurled her Qi Perception the moment she returned from the slopes to the resort.
Covert Guard was a duty that couldn’t afford to be discovered by its target.
On open snow fields like the slopes, it was easier to maintain distance and watch from afar, which made following a Covert Guard difficult.
Back at the resort, the target closed the distance of their own accord.
The hostile gazes watching her from even farther away remained beyond her detection, but the Covert Guards themselves she could sense.
Not long after returning to the resort, one of those guarding her was caught in Cheon So-yeon’s perception.
She moved swiftly and caught the man in his hiding place.
“Come out. I know you’re there.”
The man made no move, maintaining his Stealth Art.
Cheon So-yeon drew a scarf from her pocket, infused it with Qi, and thrust it directly past the man’s face.
“If you don’t come out, I’ll treat you as a kidnapper and attack.”
At her warning, the man finally released his concealment.
“Student Cheon So-yeon, this puts me in a difficult position. If word gets out that you found me, my superiors will have my head.”
The Covert Guard’s expression betrayed his predicament—he couldn’t very well scold his charge.
Seeing his dilemma, Cheon So-yeon withdrew the Qi from her scarf and tucked it away again.
“I apologize for that. But I need your help—all of your help—so I had to let you know I was aware.”
As she spoke, Cheon So-yeon looked deliberately at each hiding place where the guards remained concealed.
Realizing their positions had been compromised, they dropped their Stealth Arts and revealed themselves.
“Truly impressive. You’re the sort of talent the Family Head takes notice of.”
The covert guards grew interested in Cheon So-yeon’s talent, beyond the mere fact that she’d summoned them so abruptly.
Assessing the covert guards’ strength now that they’d dropped their concealment, Cheon So-yeon’s brow furrowed. No Fire Realm.
All five who’d revealed themselves were Transcendent Level.
By her past-life standards, Transcendent Level meant at least an elder of the Nine Schools and One Sect.
Five such masters would be more than enough to erase an entire sect from existence in her previous world—but by the standards of the Galactic Martial Arts of the 50th century, they amounted to little more than a single squad of elite military force.
In the 50th-century Galactic Martial Arts, to reach the rank of Nine Schools and One Sect elder required at minimum the Mysterious Realm.
Even then, one had to accomplish great deeds—either bringing substantial benefit to one’s sect or preventing disasters of Sect-Sealing magnitude—to earn the title of elder in the Mysterious Realm; generally, one needed to reach the Life-Death Realm just to qualify for eldership at all.
Were these all of them? Would they truly suffice?
In her past life, such a force would have been reassuring beyond measure, but the martial arts of this era had advanced so far that she couldn’t be certain.
“So what is it you need our help with—something even your teachers can’t handle, Cheon So-yeon?”
At the covert guard’s question, Cheon So-yeon hesitated for a moment before speaking as if she’d made a decision.
“I think there are people targeting me hiding somewhere in the resort. Please help me find them.”
At Cheon So-yeon’s words, the covert guards blinked at each other and then burst out laughing.
“Aha! It seems your nerves are a bit frayed from being in space for the first time. We’ve already patrolled this resort before you arrived, and we’ve been keeping watch since—but we haven’t found anyone like that.”
“What about the staff?”
“Every staff member here has worked diligently for at least two years. Surely you don’t think we’d fail to verify even that much.”
At the covert guard’s answer, Cheon So-yeon’s expression darkened.
“You’re dismissing suspicion just because someone worked for two years?”
“Just two years? Two years is a considerable length of time.”
At the words that two years was a considerable length of time, Cheon So-yeon felt her hope sink, and she pressed her hand to her forehead.
These people were high in cultivation but naive as greenhouse flowers.
True assassins would consider ten years of infiltration short for eliminating a top-priority target.
The martial world of millennia past had been that vicious; the martial world of thousands of years hence could only be more so, never less.
As martial arts advanced, the methods assassins employed had evolved infinitely in their ingenuity.
The covert guards grew displeased at Cheon So-yeon’s expression.
“And the location for this year’s school trip was only decided a month ago—not by the school, but by the family itself, specially chosen for your safety. For you alone.”
That changed nothing.
If necessary, true assassins would invest years in the smallest possibility.
But Cheon So-yeon found no words to convince them.
She was young, hadn’t yet recovered her past-life cultivation, and had no evidence beyond her own instinct.
“Won’t you help me?”
“Our duty is to protect you and the other students from danger—not to indulge your whims.”
At the stern covert guard’s words, Cheon So-yeon checked that the recording she’d set up as Cheon Ji-woo had taught her was capturing properly, then made her request.
“Then report to the family that more guards are needed.”
The instinct honed by long years traversing the turbulent rivers and lakes of her past spoke to her.
These people were insufficient.
Then she had to make certain where the responsibility lay.
She was tired of being the sole target of someone’s resentment.
Cheon So-yeon was exhausted.

* * *

“Where have you been? Evening’s almost over.”
Cheon Ha-sung—or Goril, as he’d just been called—still damp from his bath, spotted me and asked.
I unfastened my ski suit slightly as I answered.
“Got lost while skiing. Everything’s snowy terrain, so finding my way back wasn’t easy. It’s still dinnertime though, right?”
“Yeah, go on.”
I hurried to the restaurant to find it nearly empty—all the students had already eaten.
Teacher Kim Do-hwa was the only one left, managing the remaining students while eating his own late dinner.
“Just coming back from playing around? We announced dinnertime on the PA a while ago.”
Convenient timing—I was planning to find you anyway.
“Haha, guess so.”
I picked up a plate and gathered food from the nearly emptied serving trays, then sat down across from Teacher Kim Do-hwa.
Then I created an invisible Sound Barrier using magic.
Teacher Kim Do-hwa stared at my magic in shock.
“When did you reach the peak?! No, even I’m Transcendent Level and I can’t do this easily!”
At Teacher Kim Do-hwa’s question, I ate the still-warm rice and replied.
“I’m still just First-Class. This is a shortcut method, so there’s no need to be so surprised.”
“A shortcut? No matter how much of a shortcut it is, something like this shouldn’t be possible.”
“Well, learning all sorts of different things is my hobby. I reconstructed this technique from the Heterodox Path arts that have fallen into disuse, in my own way.”
To be precise, I didn’t restore it so much as learn it from another world.
I suspect the reason Left-Path Forbidden Arts fell out of practice in this world is that the mechanism for handling demonic power simply doesn’t mesh well with magic.
“Would you like me to teach you? It’s not that difficult.”
At my words, Teacher Kim Do-hwa looked at me as if I’d said something absurd.
“If the Left-Path arts were easy to learn, they wouldn’t have fallen out of practice in the first place. Besides, isn’t Left-Path Forbidden Arts the same as Demonic Art—an evil, twisted technique?”
I chuckled softly at the concern in his question.
“What I’ve restored doesn’t differ from Formation Methods, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
In fact, magic and Formation Methods were fundamentally identical.
Formation Methods control Qi through the positioning of objects, channeling it in desired directions to produce specific effects, whereas magic creates effects by constructing Magical Texts through arithmetical calculation—the principle is the same.
Seeing he still looked skeptical, I offered a clearer explanation.
“Why do Demonic Cultivators learn Demonic Arts? Because it’s easy to master and grants power quickly. It’s the same here. Evil and twisted techniques are used because they’re swift and simple to employ. But when you’re born with this level of Qi Perception, you don’t need to walk the Heterodox Path—you can manage techniques like this one effortlessly.”
I conjured a flame the size of a candle at my fingertip.
Teacher Kim Do-hwa would know well enough that I haven’t reached a level where I can wield Samadhi True Fire, nor do I use Solar Yang Qi as my inner strength.
“I mentioned it before—I have better Qi Perception than So-yeon, who possesses the Heavenly Martial Physique. Do you really think So-yeon would resort to Demonic Arts just because she wanted power?”
Cheon So-yeon could learn any martial art as easily and quickly as if it were Demonic Art.
For her, Demonic Arts were garbage—neither particularly swift nor strong, burdened with pointless side effects that made them worthless even as a compromise.
“Hm.”
I blew out the flame like extinguishing a candle.
“So you’re saying you’re a Heavenly Martial Physique of the Left-Path arts?”
“Not quite to that degree, I’d say. It just means I happen to have a talent for certain fields. Otherwise, how could I use something like this?”
At my words, Teacher Kim Do-hwa paused in thought, then nodded.
“Well, if Riven’s willing to vouch for you that strongly, there’s little I can’t accept—though I never expected you could revive something that completely fell into disuse.”
Even as he said there was little he couldn’t accept, his expression remained full of doubt about how any of this was possible.
“So why did you cast the Sound Barrier?”
“It appears there may be infiltrators targeting our school.”

(To be continued in the next installment)

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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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