Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 5

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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 5. The Tower – Tutorial (4)

The 8th Floor was a vast cavern like the 2nd and 3rd Floors, but there were no monsters.
Instead, there was a stone tablet with grooves carved into it, and square bricks laid out in front of it.

[Complete the puzzle to finish the picture.]

“…Really, what is this, some kind of console game?”
It was better than constant combat, but I couldn’t understand what The Tower was supposed to be.
The fact that something like this existed in the tutorial probably meant I’d encounter puzzles like this while climbing higher.
Now that I thought about it, I’d seen interviews mentioning that The Tower contained various ruins and dungeons inside, where you had to solve puzzles to break through treasure rooms or trap rooms.
Maybe it was like solving a door lock’s password?
Right now it was just the tutorial, so it was meaningless, and they were giving hints outright, but as I climbed higher, I suspected it would be faster and easier to just smash through doors rather than solve puzzles like this.
“Done.”
I filled in the empty spaces with bricks, and as they moved along the grooves, the picture carved into the bricks was completed.
It wasn’t an especially difficult puzzle, but I thought someone who couldn’t do this sort of thing would take several hours.
After completing the puzzle, I rested briefly and climbed higher.

* * *

9th Floor, the final floor of the tutorial.
When I arrived at the 9th Floor, a vast cavern opened up just like the 3rd Floor.
Tower returnees commonly said that floors ending in 9 were particularly difficult.
There was speculation that every 10 floors something changed in quality, and that floors ending in 9—like the 9th, 19th, and 29th Floors—were transitional periods between these tiers, which made them harder.
A Quest appeared before me to advance to the next floor.

[Hunt Hop Goblins.]

A Hop Goblin—a mutant specimen standing nearly two meters tall, utterly unlike the elementary school-sized goblins I’d encountered before.
Or perhaps goblins were mutations that had devolved from the Hop Goblin species.
Evolution was the product of biological mutation and environmental selection, yet the direction of mutation wasn’t something a creature could control.
The Hop Goblin naturally possessed greater strength and stamina proportional to its massive frame.
But what were the odds that an ordinary citizen like me would ever encounter a monster, even with such knowledge?
Of course, since the Gate appeared, the Military had begun training in monster hunting.
Yet how much could the Military truly evolve when they had soldiers march around training grounds making “bang bang” sounds with rifles, calling it individual combat drills?
At best, only a handful of elite units borrowed KCTC’s MILES equipment and training grounds for serious exercises, or set up monster dummies at shooting ranges instead of human targets for marksmanship practice.
Just as before, the wall split open and the Hop Goblin emerged.
The green-skinned creature, a full head taller than me, wielded a machete in its grip.
“Kerrruk!”
The excited Hop Goblin charged at me without hesitation.
I pulled a hand axe from my ration pouch and hurled it at the Hop Goblin.
Clang!
The Hop Goblin deflected the hand axe with practiced ease.
An ordinary goblin would have staggered from the recoil, but this one didn’t even flinch.
The Hop Goblin brought its machete down hard at me, and I raised my shield to block.
“Ugh, my arm.”
More shocking than the impact transmitted through the shield was the small hole the machete had punched through it.
Ah, so there was a thin iron plate inside the shield.
With the hole revealing the shield’s construction, I could finally see its structure clearly.
Wooden planks on both sides of a thin iron plate, secured by an iron rim.
No wonder it felt somewhat heavy.
The outer wood was riddled with holes from blocking hand axes and arrows, its durability significantly worn down.
Still, I could use it a few more times. The moment I thought this, the Hop Goblin’s relentless assault forced me to raise my shield again.
Part of the shield splintered, and some of the outer wood broke away.
Before the shield could be destroyed further, I blocked the Hop Goblin’s machete with my sword.
Clang!
As the one-handed sword and machete collided, I instinctively relaxed my arm slightly and angled the blade diagonally.
Screech!
“Huh?”
“Keruk?”
As I smoothly deflected the Hop Goblin’s machete, both the creature and I froze in surprise.
I seized the moment, striking at the Hop Goblin’s neck as its posture crumbled.
But the Hop Goblin leaned back, evading my blade, and my sword instead cut across its left forearm.
“Kavi!”
I could have ended it with that last attack.
That deflection was the true technique of the Greenwood Sword.
The Greenwood Sword was originally a sword technique meant for fighting with only a blade, no shield—I couldn’t fully employ it while holding one.
Yet abandoning the shield required courage I wasn’t sure I possessed.
The absence of fear toward death didn’t mean I was free from the fear of pain.
The Hop Goblin’s forearm was cut quite deeply, and it became even more frenzied, charging at me with renewed fury.
I blocked the first attack with my shield, but the wood inside the metal plate cracked.
Bloodshot eyes, a muzzle dripping saliva as if afflicted with rabies, and clearly greater strength.
I could sense it instinctively.
The Hop Goblin had activated some kind of ability.
“Kerrrgh!”
The Hop Goblin shrieked with a phlegm-laden voice and swung its sword at me like a madman.
Clang! Clang! Crash!
As my shield became tattered, I countered with my sword.
At least the blade was made of iron, not wood, so it was quite durable.
When my shield finally became completely useless, I faced the Hop Goblin with my sword alone.
Clang! Clang! Crash!
As I fought while swinging my blade, a strange sensation washed over me.
I’d never trained with a sword, yet somehow I was deflecting and blocking the Hop Goblin’s strikes.
It was thanks to the Hop Goblin’s clumsy sword strikes—half-crazed as it was—but I never knew I had such talent for combat.
No, I’d never fought anyone in my entire life except for some local thugs back in my neighborhood.
If I were truly talented, I would have severed the Hop Goblin’s neck long ago.
Then was this the power of the Green Wood Sword I obtained from the ability stone?
Indeed, even seemingly useless minor abilities are worth at least tens of millions, so this must be proving its value.
I dodged the Hop Goblin’s strike and swung my sword at its abdomen.
But the Hop Goblin, though half-crazed, hadn’t completely lost its senses—it stepped back, and my blade only managed to deeply cut its thigh.
“Kergh!”
Crash!
“Ugh!”
The enraged Hop Goblin brought its sword down with all its might, and I blocked it with my half-shattered shield.
Despite clearly being wounded and bleeding profusely from its forearm and thigh, the Hop Goblin’s strength had somehow grown even greater.
As a result, my shield split completely in two and shattered, and my left arm felt like the bones had fractured.
The impact on my left arm was severe, but strangely the pain was minimal.
The adrenaline surging through me from the excitement of combat seemed to numb the pain and activate my sympathetic nervous system.
I swung my sword at the Hop Goblin, which staggered backward momentarily from the force of its own overhead strike.
“Shwip!”
I cut its chest, but failed to break its ribs, so the damage was less than expected.
The Hop Goblin, reeling from massive blood loss, swung its sword to kill me.
I threw my body forward, evading the Hop Goblin’s attack.
“Ugh!”
As I rolled across the ground, sharp pain flooded my fractured left arm.
No matter how much adrenaline numbed the pain, it couldn’t protect me from the agony caused by such violent movement.
Rolling across the ground, I moved behind the Hop Goblin, quickly pivoted my body, and severed its Achilles tendon.
“Kergh!”
As the Hop Goblin staggered and twisted to turn, I stepped back, clamped the sword between my teeth, and drew a hand axe from my hardtack pouch, hurling it at him.
I’d aimed for the heart, but pain and the stumble from my retreat caused it to lodge in his back instead.
It was fortunate we were close—otherwise, the trajectory would have sent it flying somewhere entirely different.
I’d have to remember not to throw projectiles from a distance if I could help it.
I seized the sword from between my teeth with my right hand and rushed forward.
The Hop Goblin, now bearing the axe wound, swung his jungle sword at me in an awkward stance.
Because of his poor positioning, deflecting the jungle sword proved effortless.
Clang!
After deflecting the jungle sword, I drove my blade straight through his chest.
With a hole pierced through his heart, the Hop Goblin coughed blood—his lungs and stomach must have been severed too—and collapsed.
“Aaaargh! Damn it! This hurts like hell!”
To ease the pain, I opened my ability window and selected Absorption.
Fortunately, enough time had passed that the Absorption cooldown had expired, making it available again.
If it hadn’t, I would have either waited with a broken arm or wasted precious high-grade recovery potions from the shop.
As I created a new avatar, my injuries vanished, and my body—which had been filthy with the Hop Goblin’s blood and dust—became clean again.
Upon absorbing this avatar, my Multidimensional Avatar reached level 10 along with the Avatar Points.
Simultaneously, a notification window appeared.

[Multidimensional Avatar has reached level 10. New functions are being activated.]
[Third-Person Avatar is activated.]
[Rebirth is activated.]

Thanks to the Jade Sword reaching level 15, my Multidimensional Avatar rose by three levels in tandem with its growth.
But the Jade Sword is already level 15, and I only gained three levels? That’s meager.
Well, considering the ability creates clones and uses them like a real body, perhaps it’s only natural.
Now that I think about it, the shield actually hindered my sword technique development.
Without the shield, my movements felt far more natural.
I discarded the tattered shield and looted the mana stones and weapons.
“Wait! Is this another ability stone?”
Beside the Hop Goblin’s mana stone lay another green mana stone.
What’s this? I was told ability stones were extremely rare.
I considered absorbing it immediately but decided to hold off for now.
I had to account for the possibility that these metal scraps wouldn’t generate immediate living expenses.
When I obtained the ability stone from the Horned Rabbit, I was so weak I nearly died to it, so I used it thinking I needed every ability I could get—but now I’m on the 9th Floor, not the 10th.
Once I reach the 10th Floor, I should consider equipping myself with proper gear.
The one-handed sword served me well, but its edge is already chipped in places, and the Hop Goblin’s bizarre strength warped the blade slightly.
“Still, if the ability is good, I should use it.”
I opened the shop window and converted all the mana stones into shop points.
I’d collected 22 mana stones.
In other words, I’d hunted 22 monsters.
Both the Horned Rabbit and Hop Goblin gave 1 point from hunting, and the shop exchanged each mana stone for 1 point regardless of which monster dropped it.
“Goblins are one thing, but shouldn’t Hop Goblins be worth more?”
I grumbled while checking my remaining 50 points—after deducting the 4 points I’d spent buying a sword and shield twice.
Then, to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances, I reserved 10 points and spent the rest entirely on Superior Recovery Potions.
Forty bottles of Superior Recovery Potions would become my emergency fund.
If the ability stone doesn’t sell or I end up using it, I’ll sell these to cover my living expenses.
From what I heard, the shop window is currently running a tutorial discount anyway.
Even if I got scammed, I could always leave The Tower and sell them outside—no problem at all.
If the rumors are true, I might regret not spending those 10 points now.
Even if the purchase price becomes 10 points, that’s only a tenfold loss.
I placed my hand on the crystal and headed to the next floor.

[You have reached the 10th Floor. Multidimensional Avatar ‘Slot 2’ is now active.]

(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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