Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 154

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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 154. Galaxy Martial God Hall – School Trip (8)

At my words, Teacher Kim Do-hwa fixed me with a long, measured gaze.
“You’re not joking, are you?”
“Would I joke about something like this?”
True, I joked around constantly in ordinary circumstances.
But never about serious matters.
“What’s your evidence?”
“I found it while we were doing the treasure hunt—there’s an Imprisoning Prison Sealing Array set up inside this resort.”
Teacher Kim Do-hwa’s brow furrowed, clearly unfamiliar with the formation technique by that name.
“Does the Sealing Demon Cave formation technique ring a bell?”
At my words, Teacher Kim Do-hwa’s eyes widened in shock. He slammed his hand on the table and shot up from his seat.
“The Sealing Demon Cave? That’s a high-security prison run by Shaolin for dangerous criminals at the Fire Realm level and above!”
“Exactly. It’s the same type of formation as the one installed at the Sealing Demon Cave, but the version here is simplified—it can only trap monsters at the Natural Realm level and below. Even the Life Death Realm would be difficult; at best it could hold someone at the Current Realm level.”
The Sealing Demon Cave was the Galaxy’s largest and most notorious prison, housing dangerous criminals at the Fire Realm level and above, with capacity for Martial Masters up to the Stellar Achievement Realm.
Of course, the Sealing Demon Cave wasn’t fitted with only the Imprisoning Prison Sealing Array, but it was the most representative and powerful formation technique there.
For reference, the ranks of Martial Masters progressed as follows: Fire Realm, Current Realm, Life Death Realm, Natural Realm, and Stellar Achievement Realm.
“Current Realm? Someone at that level would have the strength to command a battalion in an elite Military Force Unit or lead a standard unit.”
A family’s armed forces were fundamentally organized as follows: ten soldiers to one squad, five squads to one platoon, twenty squads to one company, five companies to one battalion, forty companies to one regiment, and five regiments to one division.
That was the standard organization, though adjustments were always possible depending on circumstances.
I’d heard that special operations units or elite Military Force Units sometimes used five soldiers to one squad, or in extreme cases, two soldiers to one squad.
“It’s certainly odd to find something like this in a resort, but since outer stellar facilities can be used for military purposes, it’s not incomprehensible. The Golden Shadow Prison Sealing Array, a variant of the Imprisoning Prison Sealing Array, was installed by the Martial Alliance on the Demonic Cult front lines to protect command posts. It’s virtually an undefeatable defense unless the Demonic Cult Master himself shows up.”
The Demonic Cult Master, Ma Gyu, was both the current sect leader of the Heavenly Demonic Divine Sect and, like the Sword King Cheon Ja-su who was the Family Head, one of the Ten Kings Within Heaven—a master at the Stellar Boundary Realm.
“So what?”
“Well, this afternoon while I was skiing, I accidentally went far off the slope, and I noticed a formation technique surrounding the resort that cuts off external communications. I decided to check it out, so I made a wide loop around the resort to investigate, and that’s how I just got back.”
“A formation that traps people inside and another that cuts off outside contact. This is definitely a problem.”
Teacher Kim Do-hwa nodded and spoke to me.
“The fact that I haven’t sensed anything unusual means the formation isn’t active yet, and you want me to inform the family about this, right?”
“Yes, I’m only twelve years old after all. My credibility is different from yours.”
At my shameless answer, Teacher Kim Do-hwa let out a soft chuckle.
“All right, I’ll go contact them right away.”
Teacher Kim Do-hwa stood up immediately.
“You’re trusting my word that quickly?”
At my question, Teacher Kim Do-hwa spoke as if it were obvious.
“How could I call myself a teacher if I didn’t trust my own student? Your usual conduct convinced me.”
“Haha, I’m actually a bit touched.”
“If you’re lying, just know I’ll cash in the debt you owe from fourth grade and add more on top of it.”
“Lucky there’s no debt to add then….”
Boom—!
Then came a tremor as if an earthquake had struck, and a suffocating sensation gripped the entire atmosphere around us.
“Wow, is this what the Imprisoning Prison Sealing Array feels like? Non-Martial Masters would be crushed just by existing in this?”
“This isn’t the time to be impressed!”
Teacher Kim Do-hwa and I immediately checked our phones’ signal status.
The screen showed we were outside the reception area—our phones were half dead.
“Damn it! Should I have run straight to my room?!”
“No. If they’ve already set this up, they would have secured the special communications equipment room from the start.”
As I spoke calmly to reassure him, Teacher Kim Do-hwa looked even more flustered.
“You have a way to solve this?”
“Well, not nothing.”
The moment the crisis began, I’d been quietly tapping away at my phone’s keyboard in mid-air, processing the security program authentication procedures.
“Tsk, this authentication protocol from Teacher Riven is annoyingly strict. …There we go!”
As I mentioned before, Teacher Riven gave me lectures not just on formation techniques each break, but also on modern strategic tactics.
The foundation and core of modern strategic tactics—the alpha and omega—were Radio Wave Warfare and Hacking Warfare.
Just as a Martial Master always carries a sword, I had to carry the hacking tools program that Teacher Riven created as a counter to Hacking Warfare.
Of course, since a child wielding a sword carelessly would be dangerous, Teacher Riven had plastered the program with security measures in the name of safety.
I completed all the authentication procedures as quickly as possible, then scanned the surroundings, spotted a kiosk, and rushed over to connect my phone to it.
Through the kiosk, I hacked into the control system and called up the resort’s management AI.
“Protector Call, Riven. Blue Prize Resort’s comprehensive management system, respond.”
At my words, the dinner buffet menu on the kiosk screen vanished, replaced by a male AI with blue eyes.

—Blue Eyes, the comprehensive management system AI of Blue Prize Resort. I respond to the summons of Riven, the auxiliary administrative android of the Cheon Family.

When the system AI suddenly appeared on the kiosk, Teacher Kim Do-hwa looked startled and glanced at me, but he didn’t waste time with unnecessary questions.
“Blue Eyes. Do you have any information about the current situation?”

—My apologies. The central control computer of Blue Prize Resort has been seized by an unidentified hostile group, and I cannot access information about the current circumstances.

“Can you send an emergency rescue request to the Family?”

—My apologies. With the central control computer seized, I have lost access permissions to the communications system. Additionally, jamming signals are blanketing the resort, making external communication impossible.

Upon hearing Blue Eyes’ response, I immediately pulled out a Detonation Device from my inventory and activated it.
The sound didn’t carry this far, but I could sense through my magical perception that the Magical Bomb had detonated properly.
Simply circling the resort would be a pointless waste of time.
I despise actions without purpose or merit.
So before coming, I’d drawn magical circles around the Formation Technique’s core and the signal jamming device—circles that could be detonated at any moment—and embedded Magic Stones within them.
Otherwise, there’s no way a single lap around the resort would have taken this long.
“The jamming signal is gone now, right?”

—Yes… I’m uncertain of your methods, but the jamming signal has vanished. However, without regaining access permissions to the communications system, contact remains impossible.

At Blue Eyes’ response, Teacher Kim Do-hwa spoke up.
“I’ll retrieve the communications device one way or another and contact them. With the jamming signal gone, communication should be possible.”
“Never mind. You’ve probably destroyed it anyway.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
“There’s obviously a way.”
If lower-level access permissions are gone, I simply access through higher-level permissions.
“Blue Eyes. Emergency Protocol, command code ‘Lollipop 001’. Sender: Cheon Ji-woo, Recipient: Family Head Cheon Gyeong-ho, Message: ‘Class One emergency. Blue Prize Resort seized by hostile group. Imprisoning Prison Sealing Array activated by enemy confirmed. Combat imminent. Emergency rescue requested.’ Send the message.”

—Command code verified. The message will be transmitted per Emergency Protocol. Transmission successful.

Even when the central control system was disabled, certain command codes still worked.
Within the Cheon Family’s domain, this emergency command code took absolute priority—it would execute no matter what, unless every last one of the dozens of ‘auxiliary computers’ scattered throughout the resort and the dozens of ‘backup computers of backup computers’ maintained for contingencies was completely destroyed.
“Wait—how do you have the Family Head’s emergency code?”
“I’m his grandson.”
Of course, that Family Head had given the code to Siu for Cheon So-yeon’s sake, not mine.
But Siu naturally passed it to me, telling me to use it if I ever faced danger.
“The rescue team should arrive within three hours at most.”
At my words, Teacher Kim Do-hwa let out a sigh of relief.
Once the relief settled in, doubt seemed to occur to him, and he asked me.
“But how did you get rid of the jamming signal?”
I smiled wryly at the awkward question and answered.
“A secret.”
I couldn’t exactly tell him I was a walking bomb factory.
Sound dampening and fire-starter substitutes could be accomplished through martial arts well enough, but using thunderbolt bombs had always been treated as an enemy of the martial world.
Of course, in the 50th century Galaxy Martial Arts World where guns are standard issue and Martial Masters in the Fire Realm—walking nuclear weapons—reign supreme alongside planetary purification weapons and antimatter arms, it was unlikely anyone would call me an enemy of the martial world over a mere Magical Bomb.
Still, if an explosion accident occurred, I’d become the prime suspect.
“Well, it’s not immediately important anyway.”
The real problem was how to survive these three hours.
Hide? I could certainly manage to stay alive on my own.
But I wasn’t particularly attached to my life.
If I die, I die.
I’ll just come back.

* * *

The man in a janitor’s uniform who had activated the Imprisoning Prison Sealing Array removed the tedious uniform and changed into the black combat suit he preferred as a Martial Master.
“The entire area around here is white snowy plains. Isn’t black going to stand out too much, Captain?”
An engineer-clad man with missing front teeth approached the man, grinning as he spoke.
Behind the gap-toothed middle-aged man emerged three young men in concierge uniforms, two men in chef’s whites, and two women in janitor’s garb.
Combat uniforms were typically black for two principal reasons.
One was that battles often took place at night; the other was for combat in space.
In snow country like this, one had to wear white combat gear.
“The white uniforms were supposed to be brought by the rear guard, but since they can’t arrive, there’s no help for it, is there?”
The man called Captain answered, and a woman who had likewise shed her janitor’s disguise agreed, pulling on a combat uniform.
“Right. Combat could break out any moment now, so what does it matter if we’re conspicuous? Safety comes first.”
At her words, the man in chef’s garb chuckled.
“We’ve got the Imprisoning Prison Sealing Array we set up after years of grueling work—what’s there to worry about?”
The Captain shook his head at the chef-clad man’s remark.
“Don’t rely too heavily on formations. A Martial Master shouldn’t trust anything but his own martial prowess. Everyone, deactivate the restrictions. From this moment, we fight with full strength.”
At the Captain’s command, those hidden in the resort simultaneously withdrew the Golden Needles embedded in their solar plexuses.
“Ahhh! There it is—a Martial Master really does need Internal Force flowing through him.”
Each of them circulated peak-level Internal Force, savoring the relief it brought.
The composed Captain released the aura of the Fire Realm, a smile crossing his face.
“Now we go to claim the Cheon Family’s future.”

(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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