Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 194

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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 194. The Tower – Avatar Stacking (1)

We returned to the 20th Floor City and clapped our hands together.
Having rushed here, we’d come back to the familiar 20th Floor rather than the new 30th Floor.
“Escape successful! Did you all see the prince’s expression at the end?”
At Lee Su-young’s question, Diana laughed but seemed to feel a twinge of conscience as she apologized to Megroleta.
“It’s fortunate that the princess gets to be with the person she loves, but I think we may have been a bit too hard on the prince.”
Lee Su-young shrugged at Diana’s words.
“Still, a love-struck escape with an enemy prince—it’s romantic, like Romeo and Juliet.”
At Lee Su-young’s words, Rachel laughed bitterly.
“Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, though. Well, no matter how much protection the prince provides, a harsh life awaits them, so it’s not an inaccurate comparison.”
Rachel spoke cynically, then turned to me.
“Anyway, for you to come up with a double contract in that situation—impressive.”
At Rachel’s praise, I chuckled.
“It’s thanks to you.”
Even if we call ourselves a party, we only know the main branches of each other’s abilities, not the detailed mechanics.
If Rachel’s subordinate ability—the Magic Contract—hadn’t squeezed Megroleta dry, and if Lee Su-young hadn’t explained it to me through Community Messages, I never would’ve thought of it.
I cast magic to prevent sound from leaking and asked a question.
“How should we split the earnings we got from the 29th Floor? We obtained quite a bit of loot from the fortress.”
Lee Su-young replied to my question.
“What you got from the fortress is yours. Not all of us risked our lives and charged into enemy territory like you did.”
Diana and Rachel nodded in agreement at Lee Su-young’s words.
“Personal gains should be excluded from distribution.”
That made sense—if my earnings were to be distributed, then the money Rachel extracted from Megroleta in exchange for using her magic would also need to be distributed.
For Rachel, whose abilities hinged on spending money, it was necessary to clarify these boundaries for future reference.
“What about the profit we gained from the Magic Contract?”
Without Rachel’s Magic Contract, we wouldn’t have been able to extract—or rather, negotiate—the royal assets from the princess and the demon-kin prince.
Above all, Rachel’s Magic Contract had binding power proportional to the money she spent, as befitted her ability.
Rachel thought for a moment before answering my question.
“I’ll take a 10 percent cut of the contract fee and the Credits we gained. Since the Wish Token was personal compensation anyway, that much seems fair as a contract fee.”
One contract cost 1 million Credits—10 billion won in total, 2 million Credits.
We’d agreed that half their assets would prioritize Credits according to the contract, but if Credits were insufficient, we’d take goods instead.
Since the princess and the demon-kin prince were both nobility with unclear personal fortunes, we could potentially take a loss.
If the contract consumed 2 million Credits but half their personal assets fell short of that amount, we’d be out money.
If not for the baby in my belly, I wouldn’t have gambled like this at all.
With a slightly trembling heart, I checked the transaction list for the Tower Shop’s personal bank account.
“Insane… they really are royalty.”
The amount collected through the Magic Contract’s binding power was 150 million Credits—150 billion won—and an uncountable quantity of various gems, accessories, and miscellaneous treasures had flowed in.
I’d need to confirm with the Appraisal Glasses, but the gems and accessories were likely quite expensive items.
So doing good really does bring blessings.
I shook hands with Rachel and transferred the money. Rachel looked at me in surprise.
“…I really made the right choice joining this party.”
Rachel’s eyes gleamed dangerously—like a predator tracking its prey.
Just then, the Crystal glowed, and the climbers who had been ascending the Tower returned.
This was my first time seeing climbers return; they really do glow like that.
Climbers pouring out of the Crystal were being carried by several blood-soaked Wolf Men.
“Oh, Bogard?”
At the sight of the familiar Wolf Man, I released the Sound Blocking Magic and called out to Bogard.
Recognizing my voice, Bogard spotted me and looked around.
“Healer! Please save these people!”
Before Bogard could even finish his plea, Diana had already noticed the injured climbers and began preparing to use her Holy Power, immediately healing them with radiant light.
The wounds visibly knit themselves together in real time, but those missing limbs didn’t regrow their arms and legs.
“Phew, I thought they’d all be dead before we could get them to the Holy Temple. Looks like we got lucky.”
Bogard released his transformation, wiping the blood from his face with his sleeve.
Seeing the suddenly blood-soaked people, the reality of risking our lives to climb the Tower hit home.
Bogard surveyed the injured and clicked his tongue.
“Some are missing. They must’ve gone back to another city. Well, let’s hope they got lucky too.”
“What happened out there?”
Bogard drew a deep breath at my question.
“It’s something and nothing all at once, depending on how you look at it. We hit a snag while climbing the Tower, that’s all. By the way, do you remember Quan from the 26th Floor? His ability was terrifying.”
Quan’s ability?
Ah, the Lucky Dice, right?
A twenty-sided die—roll a twenty and you get a buff powerful enough to completely flip the situation, roll two through nineteen and you get a buff corresponding to the number, roll a one and misfortune finds you.
“I ended up paired with him again on the 29th Floor, and near the end we were in serious trouble. That bastard suddenly threw the die and it came up one.”
“…It came up one, and that’s how this happened?”
“Catastrophic disasters swept down on us. Because of them, indiscriminately, the residents we encountered on the 29th Floor were slaughtered en masse. But if you can call it luck, because the enemies got caught up in the disaster too, we managed to complete the Quest just before failure and barely escaped alive.”
I couldn’t close my mouth at Bogard’s words.
King Kong had been right to warn Quan not to use his ability on him without consequences.
Bogard did sustain some injuries, but nothing critically serious.
Even those wounds were quickly healed by Diana’s Holy Power.
The more I looked at him, the more he seemed like a truly flawless tank—but it felt awkward to suggest joining the party again so soon after he’d turned us down.
“If Quan had survived the disaster, he’d probably leave the Tower—he lost his left arm to it—but if you ever find yourself moving alongside him, just abandon the Quest. It’s better for your health. That bastard’s a gambling addict drowning in dopamine.”
“I’ll remember that.”
At my response, Bogard smiled and then wiped his face with a dry hand, looking exhausted.
“I’m beat. Everyone’s recovered now, so you’ll all manage on your own. I’m heading back to my lodging to wash up and rest. Stay careful, and we’ll catch up later if the chance comes.”
Bogard waved goodbye and trudged away.
Diana, who had treated the injured, spoke with evident concern.
“Now that I think about it, what happened to the other Climbers who climbed the 29th Floor with us?”
I don’t know what became of the other Climbers tackling the 29th Floor, but given their respective abilities, they should manage to return one way or another.
At least Owell and Na Cheol-min must have learned that the princess was rescued thanks to party members who stayed back at the military encampment, so they likely returned immediately via Space Movement.
As for Gillen, I’m less certain, but since the Demon-kin said he only detained him briefly, there shouldn’t be any serious problem.
“Unless something major goes wrong, everyone should be safe. The people who infiltrated the Tower all had trump cards up their sleeves, so they wouldn’t have ventured into such dangerous enemy territory otherwise.”
Since we’d spent less than eight hours on the 29th Floor, only about two hours had passed on the Lower Common Stairway.
I was about to ask what we should do next when Rachel stared in the direction Bogard had gone, contemplating something intently.
“What is it?”
“Oh, it just occurred to me that this Bogard might be someone I know.”
You know Bogard? Even if he’s an American like you, the United States is so vast that you wouldn’t easily know each other.
“Mm, probably just a namesake. The person I worked with alongside my older brother didn’t have such a kindly appearance—he was much sharper and quite a frightening person. He was Wall Street’s demon hunter, after all, the one who hunted the City’s demon.”
Wall Street? As in Wall Street?
“Is the City’s demon you’re referring to William? The one they call the City’s sun?”
Rachel looked slightly surprised at my words.
“It’s not something a soldier would typically know about unless they work in finance. How do you know about him?”
Lee Su-young asked at my and Rachel’s exchange.
“Do you mean that William?”
Rachel looked between me and Lee Su-young at her question.
I nodded at Rachel.
“I got matched up with him a few times while climbing the Tower and worked with him. I even added him as a Community friend. William should be in this City too. Come to think of it, he mentioned his sister was coming to the City as well, though I don’t know if they’ve managed to meet.”
Rachel looked startled at my answer.
“Liz—I mean, Elisabeth is coming to this City?”
“Yes, do you know her?”
William had called his sister “Liz.”
“…I’m an alumna of the same university as Elisabeth K. Benberton. We crossed paths a few times when I was very young through family connections too.”
At Rachel’s words, I thought the world was truly small.
Or rather, was the Tower small?
“Now that you mention it, I’ve heard that Bogard also worked in Wall Street and now works as an accountant. But I’m hearing about him being a demon hunter for the first time.”
“It’s a famous story on Wall Street. The demon hunter hunted the City’s demon and retired in spectacular fashion. My older brother, who worked with him, was quite sorry to see him retire.”
Now I understood why Bogard seemed well-acquainted with William—there was history there.
Now I understood why Bogard had turned down William’s party proposal.
Beyond the matter of distance and proximity, working alongside someone who’d earned the nickname “hunter” after such a spectacular display wasn’t an easy thing to do.
At that moment, Lee Su-young—not focusing on what party members had done before entering the Tower—asked about our floating schedule for today.
“But we came down in such a rush that we ended up on the 20th Floor instead of the 30th. Should we head to the 30th right away?”
Lee Su-young had asked the question I’d been about to pose.
Diana answered it lightly.
“We can go right away. There’s nothing more to do on the 20th Floor anyway.”
Rachel nodded in agreement.
“I’m fine with going right away too. There’s no reason to linger in the 20th Floor City. The only problem would be that I’m a bit hungry.”
It was true—although less than two hours had passed on the Lower Common Stairway, we’d spent nearly eight hours on the 29th Floor, so hunger was setting in.
We decided to eat something—it was too ambiguous to call it dinner—and then head for the 30th Floor.
I’m more familiar with the 20th Floor anyway, so I know where the restaurants are.

* * *

After finishing our meal, we made our way back to the City Center to head for Floor 30.
Before Rachel touched the Crystal, she spoke.
“We’ve completed the first Quest we promised. I’d like to keep this party going, but let me ask—what does everyone think about continuing together?”
Lee Su-young answered first.
“I’m in favor. Honestly, I saw Rachel’s spending spree on the 29th Floor, and I can’t really object after that.”
I hadn’t witnessed it myself, but Rachel’s magic strike against the City Wall must have left quite an impression.
“Of course, if she thinks of us as just fish to be caught and starts tightening her purse strings, I’ll have to reconsider.”
Rachel’s ability was essentially money manipulation, but hearing it stated so bluntly made her sound rather mercenary.
Lee Su-young usually came across as affable and personable, yet there was a sharp, unflinching edge to her at times—a quality that caught you off guard.
Still, there was nothing wrong with what she’d said.
We were people who’d gathered to climb The Tower, and as we climbed higher, the dangers only multiplied; we couldn’t afford to carry dead weight or free-riders.
Diana nodded in agreement and offered her own thoughts.
“Our party does lean rather heavily toward the front line, but Rachel’s ability, for all its costly price, is nearly versatile enough to cover most situations, so having her with us is valuable.”
I agreed with Diana’s assessment.
“Personally, while her ability is certainly important, I think Rachel’s external negotiating power is what our party needs most.”
Rachel seemed satisfied with our collective evaluation, though she looked slightly embarrassed.
“Being evaluated so directly like this is more awkward than I expected.”
We placed our hands on the Crystal and headed for Floor 30.

(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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