Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 50

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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 50. The Tower – Skeleton Gladiator (1)

As April drew to a close, our Club was finally granted a dedicated room.
The school building was so sprawling and massive that I questioned whether this was truly an Elementary School—the space allocated to us was far too large for just two people.
Though we hadn’t met the minimum membership requirement mandated for Club establishment, the administration approved our founding anyway, perhaps preferring to avoid unnecessary disputes.
To ensure the Club’s continued existence, we would eventually need to pad our roster with phantom members, but the Principal granted us an extraordinarily generous grace period.
The grace period was so generous—seven years—that even if I repeated a grade, the Club would remain active until our graduation.
It was essentially the Principal’s way of saying he didn’t care whether we recruited additional members or not.
“Wow! Our secret base!”
Cheon So-yeon darted around the empty classroom.
Kim Do-hwa, our newly appointed Club advisor, spoke up.
“As this is the Elixir Club, we’ll be bringing in basic equipment for handling elixirs, and we’ll be inviting an external instructor to teach the fundamentals of elixir crafting.”
I could already manufacture elixirs at the Initiate and Third-Rank levels.
But with an external instructor coming, I might have the opportunity to learn how to craft First-Rank, Peak, or even Transcendent-Rank elixirs.
The instructor the school hired would almost certainly be a pharmaceutical expert from one of the great families.
“As for ‘Versatile Martial Arts,’ one of our Club’s stated objectives, I and the Principal will oversee that personally. While finding experts in individual fields isn’t difficult, finding someone proficient across multiple disciplines is another matter entirely.”
As Kim Do-hwa spoke with a hint of excuse-making, I chuckled knowingly—exactly as I’d anticipated.
The Club’s objectives were martial arts and elixir crafting.
The Principal would naturally want to personally oversee teaching Cheon So-yeon, but lacking immediate justification, he was creating one.
Outwardly, all students had to be given equal opportunities, after all.
I had simply dangled bait before the Principal to smooth the Club’s establishment.
Kim Do-hwa transmitted data to me.
“And this is the secret manual for Blade Techniques you said you wanted to learn. Reference it when you review later. Cheon So-yeon is rather technically challenged, so help her during review sessions.”
“Thank you so much!”
I’d felt like an afterthought to Cheon So-yeon, but with only two Club members, my requests were being fulfilled immediately.
“Normally, today would be the Club’s first official meeting—learning about our history and planned activities. But since we’ve just been established, there’s nothing to learn. So let’s just train instead.”
Hmm, that might not be ideal.

* * *

After school, I underwent training with Siu again.
“Perhaps it’s time we stopped the internal energy cultivation training, Master.”
“Again? How many months has it been since we restarted?”
Siu spoke soothingly to appease my frustration.
“It simply means you possess exceptional talent in internal energy cultivation, Master. At least until you reach the peak of the Transcendent realm, you’ll need to maintain balance between your physical body and internal power.”
Hmm. I should focus on advancing my cultivation level faster.
Internal energy cultivation training was my favorite because nothing grew as rapidly as my internal power, so it was unfortunate to pause it.
Still, since I could continue training in manipulating my internal energy while only stopping the expansion of my dantian, I’d have to accept this reluctantly.
“Are you enjoying school life?”
“Well… I’m not bored since I’m learning various things, but enjoyable? Not particularly.”
Especially the afternoon classes were almost entirely focused on strength and endurance training, so there was barely any difference between training at home and training at school.
The only advantage was that the school’s facilities were far superior.
But for endurance training, such facilities weren’t really necessary.
Training with Siu was more comfortable and preferable.
Though I must say, learning proper throwing techniques has dramatically improved my accuracy.
I still miss the target two or three times out of every ten throws, but compared to when I could only land one or two hits, it’s remarkable progress.
Siu smiled brightly and spoke.
“I’m glad you’re adapting well to school.”
Siu exchanged frequent communications with my homeroom teacher, Kim Do-hwa, and was well-informed about my school life.
I wondered if she’d become an overly devoted parent, but it seemed Kim Do-hwa was actually the one inquiring about my training.
“That concludes today’s training. Rest is as important as training itself.”
My day’s schedule was complete.
It was time to return to The Tower soon.

* * *

I opened my eyes at the Inn on Tower Floor 10 and checked my body’s condition.
“My mana reserves have shrunk considerably.”
It felt like I’d lost nearly nine-tenths of my inner energy.
There was no helping it. While accumulating inner energy was one thing, expanding my dantian required physical time.
Still, with elixirs at my disposal, obtaining enough inner energy for immediate martial application wasn’t difficult.
At least until I could absorb the reincarnated clone, I’d have to tolerate the imbalance between body and inner energy.
The disadvantage of this imbalance was that as one’s cultivation level rose, breaking through became harder and one fell more easily into demonic possession—but at the third-rate and second-rate levels, it wasn’t a concern worth worrying about.
The immediate problem I had to manage was merely the strain on my blood vessels and meridians.
The imbalance between body and inner energy was like the relationship between blood vessels and blood.
Just as narrow blood vessels with thick, viscous blood could cause arteriosclerosis or vessel damage, problems arose when the body couldn’t withstand the inner energy.
Though they said once I reached the Hwagyeong stage and underwent rebirth transformation, I wouldn’t need to worry about it.
“Then let me try becoming second-rate first.”
I retrieved an elixir and a sword from my inventory.
Second-rate was the cultivation level for strengthening weapons and objects.
It was closer to a sense of controlling inner energy than an actual cultivation stage.
Since Cheon So-yeon, who possessed the Heavenly Martial Physique, acknowledged my sense of controlling inner energy, reaching second-rate wasn’t difficult.
“Ah, I’m running low on inner energy.”
However, as I strengthened the sword, my inner energy depleted rapidly.
I consumed an elixir and began circulating my energy through breathing exercises.

* * *

After circulating energy through the night and expanding my dantian with the Windflow Technique, my mana had climbed close to 30.
Everything else hovered around 10, but mana stood out distinctly.
“Huh? When did my intelligence rise this much?”

[Name: Han Ji-woo (1 Slot Avatar) / Age: 21]
[Strength: 10 / Agility: 11 / Stamina: 10 / Intelligence: 23 / Mana: 29]
[Status: Normal]
[Abilities: Multidimensional Avatar Lv 13, Martial Arts Lv 17, Magic Lv 1, Spirit Arts Lv 1]

Could it be that my intelligence increased because I overworked my mind while learning from Riven?
Other stats don’t transfer between bodies, but intelligence does?
Or does it naturally expand as I think while inhabiting my clone’s body?
Multi-dimensional Avatar was my ability, but I didn’t know everything about it.
Well, that’s what makes discovering it fun.
As dawn broke, I stretched and headed outside the City to acclimate myself to my Tower clone’s body.
I couldn’t exactly swing a sword in the middle of the City, after all.
By the time I finished warming up against the Blade Roosters and Goblins that attacked me outside the City, it was already time to meet Lee Su-young.
When I arrived at the Climbers’ Association, our meeting place, Lee Su-young greeted me looking slightly gaunt.
“Are you okay? Did something happen?”
“No, it’s just that I must have overdone it yesterday—I have muscle soreness. I was groaning about it all last night, remember?”
Clearing Floor 14 felt like ages ago to me, but for Lee Su-young, it was just yesterday.
“Should we take it easy today?”
“No, I slept well and woke up feeling healthy with no pain. If anything, I slept in too long and have a slight headache.”
Lee Su-young joked and then whispered to me.
“When I checked my status window this morning, my stats suddenly shot up. Why did that happen all of a sudden?”
She hadn’t been in The Tower long, and hadn’t experienced significant growth until now, so this sudden surge seemed to unsettle her.
“Oh, that’s probably because you killed a lot of monsters yesterday.”
“Monsters?”
Lee Su-young looked puzzled at my words.
She might hesitate if she knew the truth, but eventually she’d learn it as she climbed higher, so I decided to explain the growth mechanism of Climbers.
“I discovered this because I’m sensitive to mana. When you kill a monster, some of its mana disperses into the air, and some gets absorbed by the Climber who killed it.”
“Like experience points in a game?”
I nodded.
In truth, it felt less like experience points and more like draining the life force from sacrifices, but I kept that thought to myself—she’d probably find that disturbing.
“I see. So that’s why Tower returnees say they grew stronger without realizing it as they climbed.”
Lee Su-young must have seen interviews with Tower returnees before.
Ah, didn’t she mention her mother works for WTPO?
Since one of WTPO’s duties is managing Tower returnees, it made sense that Lee Su-young would know these things.
“If you’re feeling up to it, should we head up right away?”
“Sounds good!”
Lee Su-young could have rested for a day after yesterday’s ordeal, but she chose to ascend immediately.

* * *

Upon ascending to Tower Floor 15, I arrived at the crumbling arena of the Colosseum.
The arena held no spectators—only two towering Skeleton Gladiators, each standing well over two meters tall, positioned side by side.
-At last, The Tower has granted our wish.
The spear-wielding Skeleton Gladiator spoke with measured calm.
They appeared undead, yet possessed reason?
“Did you make a wish to The Tower?”
The spear-wielding gladiator answered my question.
-We did.
“What is your wish? All we know is that we must fulfill your desire and grant you peace in the afterlife.”
The Quest on Floor 15 was straightforward.
Fulfill their wish and grant them eternal rest.
It mirrored Floors 11, 12, and 14.
-Our wish is simple: to meet death in an honorable duel befitting a gladiator.
“Honorable?”
-Yes, honorable. We fell victim to shameful match-fixing and never received a warrior’s death. Without dying as true warriors, we cannot reach Valhalla.
Thanks to my translation ability, the word reached my ears as Valhalla, though the skeleton spoke of a different paradise with a similar name.
These two dead gladiators’ wish was for us to defeat them in a fair two-versus-two battle.
Unlike the composed spear-wielding Skeleton Gladiator, the axe-wielding one bellowed loudly.
-We demand honorable combat! If you are cowards who fear death, then leave!
The spear-wielding Skeleton Gladiator nodded, sharing the same sentiment.
Yet he added in his measured tone:
-Before we died, we hid the Colosseum master’s treasures and riches as both revenge and insurance. Should you defeat us, you may claim them.
At those words, Lee Su-young’s eyes gleamed as she asked.
“Treasures? But won’t we be unable to hear you once we defeat you?”
-We shall tell you the general location. It lies hidden in one of the rest chambers the gladiators once used.
The Skeleton Gladiators watched us without attacking, as if waiting to see what we would do.
Were they allowing us time to prepare for a fair match?
I whispered to Lee Su-young like we were holding a tactical meeting.
“Even with just bones, they’re enormous. They must have been formidable in life.”
“Right. Arrows probably won’t work. And without eyes, light-based skills seem useless too.”
The Skeleton Gladiators were half-naked, though it seemed to be their original attire rather than decay from age.
Judging by the weapons they held—slightly rusted but well-crafted—they had been skilled warriors.
“Ready?”
“Let’s do this.”
I drew my sword and Lee Su-young summoned her slime, while the massive axe-wielding skeleton and the spear-wielding one took their stances, preparing for battle.
Without anyone signaling, the two Skeleton Gladiators and I charged toward each other.

(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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