Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 23

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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 23. Galactic Martial Arts World – Amusement Park Abduction Case (6)

While the kidnappers were caught off guard, I kicked the one with the blade embedded in his abdomen, pulled the sword free, and swung it at the remaining Kidnapper A.
Clang!
The unarmed Kidnapper A pulled a fountain pen from his pocket, formed a blade aura, and blocked my strike.
If he could manifest a blade aura, Kidnapper A’s cultivation level was first-rate.
In other words, he was an opponent I couldn’t handle.
Sure enough, the Kidnapper A who blocked my blade grew furious and kicked me.
I barely managed to block it with the flat of my sword, but the force of a first-rate master sent me flying backward into the wall.
The impact knocked the sword from my grip, sending it flying far away.
Whether enraged by his fallen comrade or by my attacks, Kidnapper A’s eyes blazed red as he wrapped one hand around my throat and clenched his fist, clearly intent on killing me without mercy.
“You damn brat! How dare you!”
“Gack! Gack!”
My throat constricted, and I thrashed about, unable to breathe properly.
Just as Siu had said, with my breathing disrupted, I couldn’t properly control my inner energy.
Well, I suppose I should hope for a painless death.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I saw Cheon So-yeon’s murderous eyes from behind the Kidnapper A as she leaped high into the air.
My lost sword was in Cheon So-yeon’s hand, and a vivid blade aura shimmered along its length.
Sensing the chilling force of the blade aura, Kidnapper A turned in alarm, but before he could fully turn his head, Cheon So-yeon’s sword severed his neck, and his head fell to the ground.
Squelch! Thud! Thump-thump-thump. Splooooosh!
A powerful fountain of blood erupted from the severed neck.
Wow, you know about the Roller Coaster Murder Case!
From the first episode, heads rolling and spraying blood like Ichi the Killer—how did you know to recreate it so faithfully?
Though this is an amusement park, it’s not actually on a roller coaster.
And the killer used a necklace, not a sword, to murder the victim.
Lost in surreal thoughts about a surreal situation, the overwhelming stench of blood suddenly jolted me back to reality.
“Bleegh! Bleeegh!”
I couldn’t help but vomit at the gruesome sight.
This was the first time in my life I’d witnessed a human being murdered.
Even though it was the trash who’d kidnapped me, the physiological revulsion was unavoidable.
If I were truly three years old, this would be a trauma that would haunt me for the rest of my life.
Fortunately, I’d already sliced up a Horned Rabbit and goblins, so I was spared the worst of it. Otherwise, I don’t know what would have happened.
Honestly, this sight would traumatize even an adult.
As I retched, Cheon So-yeon moved to check on me, then hesitated upon realizing her hands were covered in blood.
I gestured to her reassuringly.
“It’s fine. It’s just the first time I’ve seen this much blood. The smell is far more revolting than I expected.”
It was like the metallic scent of iron, yet something distinctly different.
Scientifically speaking, it was likely due to metabolic waste and fat in the blood from living processes, or psychologically speaking, the shock of witnessing a fellow human die so brutally.
Whether it was the future era or the medieval age, I had steeled myself for bloodshed in a martial arts world.
The only problem was that this reckoning arrived far sooner than I’d anticipated.
I retrieved the sword from Cheon So-yeon’s hand and gave it a light flourish.
“Tada—the disappearing sword illusion.”
As I swung the blade, I released qi energy to disrupt Cheon So-yeon’s perception while shielding the sword with my arm and body, then stashed it in my inventory.
“Huh?! Where did the sword go?!”
Cheon So-yeon was startled.
I pressed my index finger to my lips in a gesture of secrecy.
Then I bound the Kidnapper A—who was writhing on the ground with a punctured dantian—using the rope scattered across the floor.
“Should we just leave? I’d like to wash up.”
I was standing right in front of the kidnapper, completely drenched in blood.
“No, wait a moment. People are coming this way.”
Just as Cheon So-yeon said, the rescue team burst through the door moments later.
What the rescue team saw was one kidnapper with his head severed and rolling across the floor, another kidnapper bound and crawling on the ground, and two three-year-old children.
The rescue team’s expressions were filled with bewilderment at the sight.
This was going to be troublesome.
Time to deploy a divine technique.
“Waaaaaahhhhh—!!”
The divine technique of a small child: crying.
This alone could get me through most difficult situations.
As I cried and gave Cheon So-yeon a meaningful look, she caught on and began crying as well.
“Waaahhh!”
“Waaahhh!”
Faced with two blood-soaked three-year-olds suddenly wailing, the rescue workers could only stand there bewildered.
Everything was going according to plan.

* * *

Cheon So-yeon and I, still crying, were handed over to Siu and Cheon So-yeon’s Parents.
Siu and Cheon So-yeon’s Parents, who had heard the situation over the phone, berated the rescue team for doing their job poorly, and the rescue team—composed of those at the Pinnacle and Peak stages—trembled under the aura emanating from the three Transcendent realm cultivators and retreated.
So both of Cheon So-yeon’s Parents were Transcendent realm cultivators.
I’d heard that Transcendent realm cultivators in the Cheon Family Clan’s Military Force Unit would at least reach the rank of Major, if not higher.
Of course, in the elite units, a Major needed to be at the Celestial realm level, so Transcendent realm was considered squad leader rank, but there’s a reason the elite are called elite.
They’re elite precisely because their numbers are small.
Later, I learned that Cheon So-yeon’s Parents were each Majors commanding their own Military Force Units.
Safely rescued? In any case, Cheon So-yeon and I weren’t subjected to a formal victim investigation due to being children.
They said they would investigate once things settled down, but since I had shattered the dantian of one of them, we would be able to capture the remaining accomplices through him.
After returning home and washing away the blood, I fell asleep in Siu’s embrace without even greeting Cheon So-yeon properly.
It had been an exhausting day.

* * *

A day after the kidnapping incident, Siu received a summons from Cheon Gyeong-ho.
Since Cheon Gyeong-ho was busy as the External Patriarch, they didn’t meet in person; instead, they conducted a video call while he traveled by car.
-I heard you overstepped your authority.
“…I apologize.”
Cheon Gyeong-ho remained silent for a moment before responding to my apology.
-No, you did well. The Heavenly Martial Physique is something the Patriarch himself takes interest in, so preventing the kidnappers from obtaining it is hardly a trivial matter. You’ll likely receive a reward for this.
I answered Cheon Gyeong-ho’s words expressionlessly.
“Thank you.”
Cheon Gyeong-ho seemed entirely indifferent to his grandson’s wellbeing.
After all, providing the emergency code was merely to prevent me, as a candidate for Secondary Patriarch, from creating a liability.
In an ordinary civilian society, a high-ranking politician’s private misuse of state systems would be problematic, but the current world operated under a constitutional monarchy dominated by the Major Sect.
While sects where succession was determined purely by merit operated differently, family clans like the Cheon Family Clan could be considered individual galactic empires given that positions were inherited through bloodline.
Below the Major Sect existed multiple planetary autonomous governments.
Naturally, in families bound by blood relations, neglecting to protect one’s own bloodline was a far greater transgression than an individual exploiting social systems.
To Cheon Gyeong-ho, who had children, grandchildren, and descendants spanning several generations, posterity was merely a bothersome existence.
Of course, family society didn’t demand that one personally attend to descendants several generations removed, but at minimum, one needed to demonstrate care for minor children and grandchildren.
The emergency code given to me was nothing more than a theatrical performance showing that he concerned himself with his descendants.
Cheon Gyeong-ho had never actually expected it to be used.
Knowing this truth, I found Cheon Gyeong-ho distasteful.
-I have two matters to convey. First, you’ll receive a new emergency code.
An emergency code that had been used once was automatically reissued since it had been exposed externally.
I found this unexpected, but the second matter explained the reason.
-A child with the Heavenly Martial Physique will be moving into the Neighboring House. If anything happens, use the emergency code. You may overstep your authority as you did this time. Or rather, since it’s now an authorized right, it’s no longer overstepping.
He was instructing me to use the emergency code for Cheon So-yeon, not for my grandson.
Giving this to me rather than Cheon So-yeon’s Parents was a matter of justification.
Cheon So-yeon was a descendant of the Patriarch’s firstborn child, not a descendant of Cheon Gyeong-ho.
Yet remaining passive would mean protecting the Heavenly Martial Physique was an excellent achievement as a Secondary Patriarch candidate.
Since there was already precedent for me protecting Cheon So-yeon once, this method was being employed.
“Understood.”
I bowed my head.
I was displeased that a treasure like the Heavenly Martial Physique, which stirred greed, would be nearby, but I couldn’t object.
Objecting would only result in Cheon Gyeong-ho casually dismissing me and nullifying his promise to overlook my overstepping, so I decided to accept it quietly.
Since the code was in my hands, how I used it was my decision.
I was the nursemaid of Cheon Ji-woo, not of Cheon So-yeon.
Of course, Cheon Gyeong-ho knew this fact as well.
That’s why he arranged for me to move to the Neighboring House next to Cheon Ji-woo so I could use the emergency code for Cheon So-yeon as much as possible.
The fact that a child with the Heavenly Martial Physique had been born into the family was classified, but the kidnapping attempt that had already occurred meant classified information had leaked.
Therefore, they planned to relocate to a safer neighborhood and assign covert protection.
-Well done.
The screen went dark, and a message arrived with the reward details.
A substantial sum of money, a contract, and android equipment all came down under Cheon Ji-woo’s name.
Since Siu’s owner was Cheon Ji-woo, Siu’s accomplishments were Cheon Ji-woo’s accomplishments.
Siu pondered as she reviewed the reward details.
“Young Master would be delighted to hear this. But if this were to foster wasteful spending habits, that would be troublesome indeed.”
Siu was always worried about Young Master.
She rose from her seat, contemplating whether it might be wise to cut off his internet access now for the sake of proper moral education.

* * *

After returning from the Amusement Park, I trained in martial arts as usual and gathered information online.
Upon reaching the Third-Rate realm, Siu forbade me from using inner energy during training, saying it was still too early.
Just as Cheon So-yeon had said, it seemed I was still laying the foundation.
Instead, upon reaching Third-Rate, I learned new martial arts—Yoga Breathing Technique for flexibility and Bone-Muscle Compression Technique to prevent muscle hypertrophy while compressing bones and muscle fibers to make them stronger.
And now that I could handle weapons, I finally began learning the Azure Wood Sword Technique.
While physical training prohibited inner energy use, I separately learned proper inner energy application techniques.
A few days passed like this, when someone from the Neighboring House moved in and came by with rice cakes.
“Huh?”
“Hello!”
It was Cheon So-yeon, the little troublemaker with the heavenly martial arts physique who had dragged me into that mess at the Amusement Park, visiting with her mother.
“I didn’t get a chance to properly thank you last time. I’m Kang Seo-young, who just moved in next door.”
“Not at all. Let me prepare some tea. Please, come inside.”
Siu ushered the two women into the house.
Cheon So-yeon approached me with a bright smile and asked.
“Come to think of it, you introduced yourself at the Amusement Park, but I never caught your name. What is it?”
In response to Cheon So-yeon’s question, I casually told her my name.
“Cheon Ji-woo.”
Originally I was Han Ji-woo, but in this world, having been born into the Cheon Family, Cheon Ji-woo was my name.
“Really? Ji, Ji-woo. Will you be my friend?”
Watching Cheon So-yeon blush slightly on both cheeks and extend her hand, I let out a soft laugh.
“Sure, what’s so difficult about becoming friends?”
I shook hands with Cheon So-yeon and we became friends.
“Oh, I’ll keep it a secret that you’re hiding your realm as a friend.”
“Oh! Um, yeah. P-please do.”
Cheon So-yeon showed an amusing reaction to my words.
She had already forgotten that she had used sword energy in front of me.
Her memory span might be that of a three-year-old.

(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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