Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 178

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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 178. The Tower – Ancient Ruin (3)

In the notebook I’d copied from, there was a map and written information about this Ancient Ruin.
It appeared to be a military base and magical research facility belonging to some race or nation.
More precisely, the first floor served as a military supply warehouse and base, while the underground levels were dedicated to military magical research.
The various ingots—silver and others—that I’d swept up wholesale were essentially military funds.
It was unusual to store silver as military funds when gold was the norm.
This text was both an explanation of the facility’s purpose and a warning to prevent soldiers from carelessly descending underground.
“Does this mean Golems and other weapons designed to combat monsters appear from the underground levels?”
I nodded at Lee Su-young’s question.
“If what’s written here is true, that would be the case.”
Rachel studied the map I’d copied as she asked.
“What do these marks mean? Are they the stairs going down?”
The map I’d copied had several different markings on it.
“I’m not certain. Some portions have faded with age, so I can’t make them out clearly.”
A lie. The map had grown hazy over time, but nothing was actually erased.
It simply showed the locations of military supplies, just like beyond that cliff trap.
I’d deliberately omitted the exit location. And of course, I’d left out the explanation that they were military supplies.
That’s when Rachel asked.
“But what was that loud noise from before?”
“There was a suspicious room that was locked, so I broke it open.”
I lied without hesitation.
Well, since there actually was a Golem and ingots in the room, was it really a lie?
“Would you like to take a look? I can set up a rope for you.”
I’d already erased the warning and parts of the map from the wall—the same way I’d copied them into my notebook.
I’m thorough about things like this.
Rachel shook her head at my offer.
“No, I’m fine.”
Thinking rationally, since they didn’t know I possessed a Subspace, they couldn’t suspect I’d stuffed items into a separate pouch.
Even if I’d taken good things for myself first, they couldn’t open anyone else’s Inventory—so if I kept quiet, there’d be no way for them to know.
It was somewhat selfish, but I had no obligation to share gains with someone who wasn’t even a party member.
They hadn’t provided significant help getting here, after all.
Other people were limited by their Inventory capacity in what they could carry, while if I alone took endless amounts, it could breed resentment or cause conflict.
Human greed is the driving force of life, but it also brings ruin.
“Well then, let’s head to the nearest place first.”
I took the lead as I had before coming here.

* * *

Mano followed behind me and Diana, speaking as we went.
“There are traps even when following the map.”
“The map was old and worn, so portions were inevitably faded. I couldn’t help it.”
The path I was leading us on was the shortest route to the next destination.
Naturally, the original owner of this base would have used secretly hidden passages, but I didn’t have any map of those.
Or rather, perhaps the various symbols marked on the map did indicate secret passages.
It’s just that I couldn’t decipher them.
The marks I was heading toward matched the same symbols marking the location where the ingots had been stacked.
At least if the map symbols were consistent, there would be military supplies there.
So, following the map I’d drawn, I cleared several military supply warehouses.
The warehouses were full of structures and traps designed to make access difficult without knowing where the regular entrance was—nearly impossible to approach unarmed.
Naturally, I alone had broken through those structures and traps, dealt with the Golems guarding the warehouses, and secured the supplies.
Fighting Golems, I’d learned the method of extracting their cores before they fully activated.
Since they appeared to be mass-produced units with identical core insertion points, I could dispatch them with ease.
The military supplies varied in type—not just silver ingots, but weapons like Silver-coated Swords and Spears, Silver Arrows, Crossbows, Magical Stones, Magic Staffs, and more.
This time too, I’d reached another dead end.
Rachel muttered as she looked up at the ceiling height.
“Do we have to climb a cliff this time?”
Before, it had been a thirty-meter-wide chasm; now there was a thirty-meter-high wall with open space above it.
“Diana, let’s do it this way.”
I outlined a simple plan.
I would climb onto Diana’s Mace.
Diana would swing it with all her strength and launch me upward.
Once airborne, I’d land on the ceiling.
It was straightforward, really.
Diana nodded in agreement with the scheme.
“Let’s do it.”
Diana channeled both Holy Power and Internal Energy simultaneously, amplifying her strength to its maximum.
I used the Weightless Light Footwork to settle lightly atop Diana’s Mace.
“Here we go!”
Whoosh—!
The Mace cut through the air with a sharp whistle as it launched me skyward.
As I approached the ceiling, I used the Double Jump Magic Tool to create a foothold and pivot smoothly sideways.
Once I’d climbed up and entered, I found another chamber.
Like before, it contained military supplies—but this time, wooden crates were stacked everywhere, brimming with Magical Stones.
And as expected, the moment I stepped inside, a Golem rose to its feet.
Before the sluggish creature could properly mobilize, I moved swiftly and extracted its core.
I collected the spoils at my leisure, then examined the walls.
Here too, the same warning message and a map of Floor 1 had been drawn.
Seeing it left untouched like this, I thought it couldn’t be much of a military installation, and I was turning to leave when my senses caught a hollow space in the wall.
“What’s this? Could it be where they kept military secrets?”
Perhaps there was more information to be found about this Ancient Ruin.
I ran my fingers over the wall, located the spot, and simply smashed through.
Crash!
In the hidden space beyond lay various documents, and mechanisms that seemed to connect upward and downward—something like an elevator.
I examined the documents first, then returned to where the others were waiting.
“I think it would be worth climbing up here to check this out.”
At my serious expression, they all nodded in puzzlement, and I drove a Camping Ground Pin into the floor, tied a Rope to it, and lowered it down.
Diana, with her excellent athletic ability, climbed up with ease, and Lee Su-young, who had studied Martial Arts under me to some degree, managed to climb up alone using the Rope.
But Rachel and Mano, both being rear-line ability users, seemed to lack the strength to climb while carrying all their gear—unarmored, perhaps, but not like this.
I had no choice but to tie each of them to the Rope one at a time and pull them up from above.
Once they’d climbed up, they entered the chamber and saw the warning message and Floor 1 map on the wall.
“It appears to be well preserved.”
Rachel compared the contents of my notebook with what was written on the wall.
Since I’d filled in the missing sections while passing through multiple supply warehouses, the completed notebook and the wall’s contents didn’t differ much.
I pulled out the documents and spoke.
“This place seems to be where military supplies were once stored. It looks like someone took the supplies, but they missed the documents in this hidden chamber.”
Of course, I was the one who’d taken the supplies, but I kept that to myself.
“Let’s examine this first.”
We each grabbed whatever documents we could and started reviewing the contents.
As we read, everyone’s expressions darkened.
“Wait—they weren’t developing Golems to fight monsters down there. They were creating Biological Weapons using the monsters themselves?”
“Such unethical research.”
From the documents, it became clear that this world was at war with creatures called Immortals—monsters much like Vampires.
This place served as both a military stronghold and a research facility where they studied the monsters’ weaknesses and developed Biological Weapons to counter creatures like Vampires.
The reason I say “creatures like Vampires” is that according to the records, these monsters didn’t drain or control blood—they drained life force or souls.
They seemed to be entirely different creatures from Vampires, yet they were called “Vampire-like” because, like other Vampires, they drained life force to create living hosts, and their weaknesses were silver, flowing water, Holy Power, and sunlight.
So that’s why there had been stacks of Silver Ingots in the warehouse.
The silver wasn’t military funding after all—it was weapon material.
No wonder the swords, spears, and arrows I’d acquired all had silver coating.
The traps must have existed to counter Vampire-like creatures rather than people, which is why they too had silver coating.
Rachel examined the documents, then looked at Diana and Mano.
“The Tower sent two Climbers who can use Holy Power here for a reason.”
Since the Biological Weapons being experimented on in this military research facility weren’t independently developed chimeras from the start, but rather weapons based on Vampire-like creatures, their weaknesses were similar.
“And I can use Sunlight Magic, so I can exploit those weaknesses.”
Rachel smiled with confidence.
At that, Lee Su-young sent a Community Message to me and Diana.

-Lee Su-young: I’m the only one without a way to exploit their weaknesses. What should I do?
—Diana: Couldn’t I simply imbue the slimes with Holy Power?
—Han Ji-woo: No, unless you’re planning to charge at them headfirst, the efficiency won’t be good enough. I’ve got Silver Arrows, so let’s use those instead.

Lee Su-young and Diana stared at me as if to ask where on earth I’d produced such a thing. I smiled wryly.
The two sharp-eyed women caught on immediately to where I’d obtained the Silver Arrows, and their grins turned knowing.

—Han Ji-woo: And flowing water is listed as a weakness too, so having Mul-poong spray it should be effective as well.
—Lee Su-young: Ah, that’s right.

Rachel noticed we were conversing secretly through Community Messages and spoke up.
“I see your party gets along well, but if it’s important, would you mind sharing with the group?”
Lee Su-young laughed awkwardly at Rachel’s words and replied.
“It’s nothing serious. We were just discussing what resources we have that might work against the creature listed here.”
Having explained it as a conversation about personal resources, Rachel accepted this and didn’t press further.
Lee Su-young withdrew Mul-poong from her Summon Subspace and said.
“I have a slime among mine that can spray water, so I think we can use the flowing water mentioned here as a weapon. And I have some Silver Arrows as well.”
“You have silver weapons?”
When Rachel posed the question, Lee Su-young hesitated for a moment on how to answer, so I spoke instead.
“I encountered a Vampire on Floor 16 once, so I prepared these just in case.”
Mano marveled at my words.
“You’re well-prepared. It’s not easy to stock up on miscellaneous items when Inventory space is tight.”
I smiled faintly and pulled out the Space-Expanding Crossbag I’d obtained on the 19th Floor.
I’d gone back to Tower Floor 1 and retrieved the crossbag from the Warehouse I’d built there, filling it with Silver Arrows.
“It’s a bag that reduces weight by just over half, so keeping things in it lets you use about 2.5 kilograms more of your Inventory than other people.”
Mano was taken aback by this.
“Such a clever trick!”
Rachel also looked at me in admiration, and Lee Su-young protested through Community Message.

—Lee Su-young: Oppa! If you knew a trick like that, you should have taught us too!
—Han Ji-woo: I have something I can carry almost infinitely, so why would I need it?
—Lee Su-young: Ah, I suppose that’s true.
—Han Ji-woo: If you want, I’ll make you a weight-reducing bag later.

Space-Expanding Magic requires materials to back it up, so it was beyond my current skill with Magic Engraving, but simply reducing weight was not difficult at all.
I pulled out a bundle of Silver Arrows from the bag and handed them to Lee Su-young, saying.
“This method is good for expanding Inventory capacity, but the downside is you can’t pull out only what you want—you have to take everything out at once, so it’s rather inconvenient.”
Mano nodded in understanding.
“Ah, that makes sense. The bag would be treated as a single item.”
Rachel thought for a moment, then spoke.
“Then using several pouches with weight-reduction magic cast on them would work better. That would reduce the inconvenience. Of course, acquiring or crafting such things would require substantial funding.”
It was a sound idea, given she was thinking about Magic.
Rachel pointed to the center of the map drawn on the wall and said.
“The real question now is whether we take the main entrance shown here on the map, or whether we descend using the elevator rope hidden in that secret chamber.”
This Ancient Ruin, which had once served as a military installation, was uncharted territory.
No one knew which route—the main path or the detour—would be better or more dangerous.
Rachel and I spoke at the same time.

(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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