Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 20

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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 20. Galactic Martial Arts World – Amusement Park Abduction Case (3)

The Amusement Park was exhilarating.
Overwhelming technology utilizing various holographic devices was deployed solely to extract dopamine, so there was no way it could be boring.
Adventures through holographic stages that felt like stepping into actual animations and characters that moved like living beings rather than mascot costumes thrilled even me—a body of a child but a mind of an adult.
Given the era, realistic virtual reality games existed, but no matter how much electronic signals deceived the senses, they couldn’t compare to actually moving one’s physical body.
In fact, realistic virtual reality technology that deceived even genuine sensations was evaluated to have been perfected approximately 1500 years ago in the 35th century.
However, due to legal restrictions imposed through various incidents and accidents, the modernized and popularized virtual reality technology fell behind reality.
I became curious about what incident that was and looked it up—indeed, the mass shock death incident that occurred in high school or the case where a child, unable to distinguish between reality and virtual reality, jumped from a high-rise building were incidents significant enough to warrant legal restrictions on virtual reality.
Of course, in Heterodox Faction territories where international law means nothing, one could supposedly experience truly realistic virtual reality.
The problem was that the risk of becoming addicted to electronic drugs while searching for realistic virtual reality was substantial.
“Phew, I’m exhausted.”
I’d grown a bit tired from playing so enthusiastically.
Since most people learned martial cultivation techniques through mandatory education, a considerable number of the rides were physically demanding.
There were rides where one could simply sit and enjoy the thrill, but most of those had height restrictions.
Carousels weren’t my taste either.
So I chose rides without height or age restrictions, and most of those required moving one’s body.
As I sat down on a bench beneath the enormous mouse statue to rest, Siu spoke.
“I shall fetch an ion drink for you. Please wait here.”
“Sure, I’ll rest here.”
I sat on the bench and drew inner energy from my dantian to recover my stamina.
Breathing exercises that absorbed surrounding qi to fill the dantian had to be performed in places with few people and good safety, but simply using stored inner energy to recover stamina was harmless.
Martial arts existed fundamentally to draw inner energy and fight, so there was no way it could be dangerous to draw inner energy from my dantian with some people around.
If it were dangerous, I wouldn’t be able to fight using inner energy either.
As I sat resting, a cute child approached me.
She looked like she would become a stunning beauty when grown.
If she were that pretty, wouldn’t it be dangerous for her to wander alone like this? What if she got kidnapped?
While I was thinking such thoughts, the child spoke to me.
“Hey, did you learn the Azure Wood Technique too?”
The child asked me nervously, glancing around with anxious eyes.
“…I did learn it. But how did you know that, little one?”
“Little one?! You’re the little one!”
The girl child bristled at my words.
Right, I was a little one too.
Since Siu didn’t treat me as a child, I often forgot the natural fact that I was at an age where being called a child rather than a young person was fitting.
Of course, that was probably because I didn’t act like a child.
“You’re right, I’m a little one too. So how did you know I learned the Azure Wood Technique?”
“Because you’re leaking your qi so openly like that.”
Ah, I suppose that’s because I used my inner energy to recover.
Since I’m still clumsy at containing my qi, it seems to have leaked out of my body.
But to sense that in this crowd of people? What kind of child is this?
“Did you get lost, little one?”
At my question, the little girl flinched.
“I’m not… lost.”
Not lost, she says—but anyone could see she was an anxious, lost child.
“The Lost Child Protection Center is about 300 meters that way….”
I couldn’t very well tell a child who looked barely three years old to go alone.
“I’ll take you to the Lost Child Protection Center, so sit here and wait a moment. I have companions nearby.”
“Huh? Um….”
The little girl hesitated before sitting down beside me.
The bench was tall enough that it reached her chin, but she nimbly hopped up onto it as if she’d already mastered martial arts.
“Do you know your parents’ names and phone number?”
“I know my parents’ names! …But what’s a phone number?”
“Do you know what a phone is?”
The little girl shook her head at my question.
Ah, at three years old, she wouldn’t know what a phone is?
Well, phones in this era weren’t shaped like 21st-century smartphones, so even if she’d seen her parents using one, she might not recognize what it was.
Most electronic devices were embedded as holographic IoT systems, and smartphones were often set so that only the owner could see the screen for security purposes.
“That bracelet on your wrist is your phone.”
The little girl wore a small band-shaped bracelet on her wrist.
“It’s the same model as mine.”
I showed her the band-type smartphone on my own wrist.
By the way, Siu had disabled all internet services on my smartphone except for calling and texting.
It meant I should only use the internet in visible places—the Living Room—so I wouldn’t wander into strange websites.
I wasn’t happy about it, but it was wise parenting in practical terms.
A normal three-year-old lacked the knowledge and experience to judge what was wrong anyway.
Besides, a typical three-year-old would only watch children’s animations on a smartphone, not browse the internet or shop.
She’d promised to unlock internet services once I started Elementary School, so I just had to wait another three or four years.
“Now, press this part of the bracelet briefly.”
When I pressed the button on the band, the little girl copied me, and suddenly gasped in surprise.
“A screen appeared in front of your eyes, didn’t it?”
The brooch attached to the chest, paired with the band, must have displayed a holographic screen visible only to its owner.
I disabled the invisible-to-others mode and showed her the screen.
“See that phone icon there? Press it. No, use the hand wearing the bracelet.”
The band was a controller for the holographic screen and hand to interact with each other.
“Once you press it, a contact list should appear, right? What does it say there?”
“Mom, Dad.”
“Press the person you want to call. No, use the hand wearing the bracelet.”
“I pressed it. Huh?! That’s a strange sound!”
The little one startled at the sudden beeping noise.
Of course, I couldn’t hear it.
“Huh?! Mom? Where are you? Where are you calling from?”
The child looked around frantically, wondering if the call had connected.
I spoke to the little one.
“Tell her our location is at the G Zone Molly Mouse Statue Bench.”
No need to bother taking the child all the way to the Lost Child Protection Center.
The little one repeated what I said, and relayed that the parents were coming here.
“Thank you! A telephone—what a fascinating contraption!”
“Well, is there anything unfamiliar at our age? Did you hang up the call?”
“Huh? Hang up the call?”
“…No, wait. Since you’re lost, it’s better to keep the call going.”
At my words, the little one bristled.
“I’m n-not lost!”
“Right, right. Of course not.”
When I brushed it off casually, the child pouted and laughed to themselves in a huff.
“Fine, since I’m an adult, I should show some generosity.”
“An adult?”
At my incredulous gaze, the little one pouted again.
This child wears every emotion plainly on their face.
Come to think of it, for a three-year-old, they speak quite logically.
Shouldn’t a normal three-year-old not know difficult words like “generosity”? Or am I wrong?
I’ve never been around a three-year-old before, so I wouldn’t know.
I do have a younger sibling with the physique and intellect of a gorilla, but even if that paint-faced triceratops of a brat is intellectually deficient, being a high schooler means they’d use their brain more than a three-year-old would.
…Or would they?
“But you said earlier you felt my qi aura. How did you pick out my aura among all these people?”
Since learning martial arts, I’d discovered that everyone unconsciously emits qi aura as they live.
Even though today was a weekday, this was an amusement park with countless people wandering about, and there were also workers practicing martial arts, making the qi auras feel chaotic.
At my question, the little one spoke as if it were nothing special.
“The inner energy attribute differs depending on the person and their martial technique. You just have to distinguish between them.”
The child gathered inner energy in their hand and released their qi aura.
“I also learned the Azure Wood technique like you, so I emit this clear energy. See that martial artist doing acrobatics? They learned the Daoist techniques, so their aura is calm. That person learned Buddhist techniques, so theirs is heavy. And that woman learned the Glacial Ice technique, so hers is cool.”
The chattering child suddenly paused.
“Oh, I guess that explanation doesn’t help. Hmm, how should I explain this….”
“No, I understand. That person has a hot and vibrant qi aura, so they must have learned the Solar Heat technique?”
As the child pointed out each person and explained the nature of their flowing qi aura, I began to grasp it.
There were still too many people, making it difficult to sense the auras, but when I concentrated on each person individually, I could distinguish them.
At my words, the little one stared at me with astonished eyes.
“How is that possible?! Your bones and muscles are clearly ordinary, even dull…!?”
What?! This disrespectful brat! There’s nothing they won’t say to their benefactor!
It was true, though! Even Siu, who was teaching me, had sighed in secret!
Did I really have to hear such words from a disrespectful brat I’d just met?
When I narrowed my brow, the child seemed to realize their rudeness and apologized.
“I-I’m sorry. I was just so surprised.”
“It’s just that my qi sensitivity is acute, but it’s true I lack talent.”
“No, that’s not it. Looking at you, you’re building a remarkably solid foundation for your age. Bone resonance is merely a talent that allows you to reach a certain level quickly—it’s not what truly matters. In fact, those who rely solely on innate talent and neglect their foundation plateau at a certain stage, but those with poor bone resonance who build a solid foundation never stagnate.”
The child, who had been making what sounded like excuses, suddenly studied me intently and marveled.
“But who’s your master? You seem young and still building your foundation, yet your foundation level feels like you’re constructing a fortress. You should have advanced to the next stage long ago, yet you’re still reinforcing your basics.”
“…You can tell that just by looking? Are you some kind of master who’s practiced the Reverse Cycle Technique?”
Bewildered by my question, the child panicked.
“Ehehe! W-well, how would I know? It’s just intuition, intuition.”
Something felt off about their flustered reaction.
Could they be a reincarnator like me?
No matter how I thought about it, this wasn’t the behavior of a three-year-old.
The flustered child quickly changed the subject to gloss over their earlier words.
“Seeing that you’ve learned the Azure Wood Technique, you must be from the same clan. What’s your name? My name is Cheon So…!”
“Ugh!”
Suddenly, two men wearing hooded hats and cute headbands and character masks—as if enjoying themselves at the Amusement Park—emerged and gagged both the child and me with handkerchiefs.
The handkerchief was soaked with anesthetic, and drowsiness washed over me.
When I awoke, I found myself in a dark place that resembled a Boiler Room.

(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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