Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 52

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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 52. The Tower – Silver Sanctity (1)

Upon arriving at Floor 16, I spotted the entrance to a cavern that resembled an ancient ruin.
The area surrounding the ruin was dense with tropical rainforest vegetation, and the air hung thick and humid.
And most notably, there was a third person present—not just Lee Su-young and myself.
For someone who had supposedly prayed to The Tower for a wish to be granted, her attire was decidedly unbalanced for a climber: denim jeans, a thin t-shirt, leather armor draped over it, and a mace gripped in her hand.
“Are you a climber?”
At Lee Su-young’s question, a strikingly beautiful woman—Black, possibly mixed race—asked in surprise.
“Are you both climbers as well?”
Thanks to my translation ability, it sounded natural, but it was English spoken with a British accent similar to William’s, whom I’d met on Floor 14.
Was she a celebrity?
I’m not well-versed in foreign celebrities, but with looks like hers, she’d have to be incredibly famous. I glanced sideways at Lee Su-young.
But she seemed equally clueless.
“Yes, that’s correct. I’m Han Ji-woo, and this is Lee Su-young. We’ve formed a party and are climbing The Tower together.”
“A party? That was possible?”
“…Yes? Didn’t the Climbers’ Association explain that to you?”
At my question, the British woman spoke awkwardly.
“I only entered The Tower today, so I haven’t had much time to….”
She entered today and went non-stop directly to Floor 16?
Normally, wouldn’t climbers take their time gathering information starting from Floor 10?
And more importantly, it’s still morning—how fast did she climb?
She showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever, which made me wonder if she was lying, but then I questioned why she would tell such a lie.
“Then you haven’t read the Community or WPTO guides either?”
“Oh, I did read those. I expanded my inventory according to what was written there.”
As she said this, she seemed to realize she hadn’t introduced herself yet and hastily did so.
“I’m Diana Violet. I’m from England.”
Just as I’d guessed from her accent, she was indeed from England.
“We’re from Korea.”
Diana said she’d only just learned while climbing The Tower that it was possible to ascend alongside other climbers.
Well, that made sense—she’d entered The Tower today and climbed without gathering information, so of course she wouldn’t have known.
“Well, we don’t know much either. This is only my fourth day.”
“I see.”
Diana smiled and checked the Quest for Floor 16.

[Reach the end of the Ancient Ruin.]

This time, unlike the 13th Floor, it didn’t appear to be a form where the indigenous people had made a wish.
“It seems we’ll need to go inside this place.”
Diana Violet pointed toward the dark entrance of the Ancient Ruin, and I nodded in agreement.
“Before that, let’s first share our general abilities. We don’t know what might happen inside the Ancient Ruin.”
Diana Violet readily nodded at my suggestion.
“Ah, that’s a good idea. My ability is… hardening.”
Diana Violet stated her ability before hearing mine or Lee Su-young’s.
“Hardening?”
“Yes. Like this.”
Clang!
Diana Violet swung her mace forcefully against her own leg.
Yet the sound of metal striking cloth rang out, and she appeared completely unharmed.
“Besides that, I don’t get tired and….”
“Wait! There’s no need to be so detailed.”
“Hm?”
Diana Violet paused momentarily at my interruption.
Then she nodded as if understanding.
“Ah, I see. If I explain too much detail, you two would need to do the same. I apologize.”
Her indifference to having her ability revealed was somewhat surprising.
Well, if it were the type of ability that didn’t matter if exposed, it could happen.
I shook my head at Diana Violet’s apology.
“No, it’s fine. We’re cooperating, after all, so it’s good to know each other well. However….”
“I understand. I was indeed careless. Thank you for stopping me. This is my first time meeting another climber like this, so I got a bit excited. I hadn’t encountered any climbers even in the Floor 10 City.”
Diana Violet laughed adorably, embarrassed by her mistake.
She seemed to have a slightly clumsy side.
It appeared she hadn’t visited the Library or the Climbers’ Association.
There were always a few climbers there.
“My ability is martial arts. I primarily use swordsmanship.”
“I use slime summoning. I can attack from range, and I mainly use a bow as my weapon.”
After our brief introductions, we checked our equipment and decided to enter the Ancient Ruin.
“The inside of the Ancient Ruin seems dark. Should we buy a lantern from the Tower Shop?”
Lanterns cost only 1 point, which was cheap.
“No, I have flashlights, so let’s use these instead.”
I pulled out three flashlights I’d obtained through my clone body.
Even with 50th-century technology, civilian flashlights weren’t much different from those of the 21st century.
They simply used two AAA-sized batteries with a capacity of around 40,000 amperes, and the flashlight output reached a maximum of about 100,000 lux—roughly the visible light spectrum level.
Light Breeze, Lee Su-young’s slime, could emit light dimly, but generating light itself consumed mana.
“Does the Tower Shop sell flashlights?”
“I’ve had these since before we entered. Since we’ve met like this, I’ll give them to you as a gift.”
There was no point in carrying multiple flashlights anyway.
The price wasn’t steep, so I could always buy another one if needed.
“Really? I’m not sure if I should accept something like this. I don’t have anything to give you right now….”
“It’s fine. I’m giving it to you as a gesture of goodwill.”
At my words, Diana tapped her chest as if to say I should trust her.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll protect both of you!”
Naturally, Diana—the tank based on her abilities—took the lead, I—the dealer—positioned myself in the middle, and Lee Su-young—the ranged dealer—stood at the rear.
“It’s small but incredibly bright.”
A single flashlight was more than enough to illuminate the cave-like Ancient Ruin.
The interior of the Ancient Ruin was decorated with ancient murals, but the murals weren’t text, so they couldn’t be translated.
It was possible the vines had grown over them and time had erased parts of them.
Lee Su-young, who had good affinity with others, struck up a conversation with Diana.
“By the way, you said you entered The Tower today. Shouldn’t you rest a bit?”
“I’m fine. The climb up wasn’t that difficult.”
Diana recounted her journey up, and true to her word, the Quests hadn’t been that challenging.
When facing monsters, her hardening ability prevented her from taking damage, so she could dispatch them quickly—and there were only about a dozen of them at most.
At her words, Lee Su-young and I exchanged glances.
Haven’t we been taking on way too difficult Quests all this time?
Even William and Retihoa, whom we met on Floor 14, didn’t have such a hard time climbing.
“But Floor 15 wasn’t that difficult either.”
“Right? It was probably just a coincidence.”
Well, difficulty wasn’t entirely a bad thing.
Hardship forges strength.
Given how The Tower’s growth structure worked, the more enemies there were, the faster one became stronger.
And thinking about it, if the difficulty was higher, it seemed like items were easier to obtain as well.
We continued our conversation as we slowly ventured deeper into the Ancient Ruin.
I felt a presence from above, lifted my head, and extended my perception.
“What’s up there?”
“Wait!”
Before I could even stop her, Lee Su-young raised her flashlight above her head.
The swarm of bats hanging from that high place was startled by the light and suddenly began flying down at us.
“Diana! Close your eyes! Su-young! Light Breeze!”
“Yes!”
Fortunately, Diana followed my instruction and squeezed her eyes shut, while Lee Su-young summoned Light Breeze and triggered a flash grenade.
The bats shrieked and thrashed about, their bodies colliding with the walls around us.
Checking with my perception, Lee Su-young had deployed a protective barrier around herself, and Diana had hardened her body for protection.
I swatted away the bats flying at me with my sword.
Even with my eyes closed, extending my perception allowed me to sense my surroundings reasonably well.
It felt similar to the echolocation of bats or dolphins.
Light Breeze’s light lasted about five seconds—it seemed I’d leveled up in the meantime.
As the light faded, I slowly opened my eyes.
Piles of bats lay scattered against the walls, dead or unconscious from their collisions.
Bats hadn’t completely lost their eyesight despite their degenerated eyes.
Rather, since they lived only in darkness, they were exceptionally sensitive to light.
“I’m sorry. I was careless.”
Diana smiled at Lee Su-young’s apology and spoke.
“Not at all. You handled all of them, so what’s there to apologize for?”
Diana’s clothes were torn in several places as if slashed, yet her smooth skin bore not a single scratch.
The bat wings were sharp as blades, but apparently they couldn’t leave even a mark on Diana’s body.
“We should collect the magic stones, right?”
The bats were roughly the size of large birds.
The three of us extracted magic stones from the chests of one hundred fifty bats on the spot.
With three people working and gaining experience, the magic stone extraction didn’t take long.
Since Lee Su-young had contributed the most, she deserved to take most of the stones, but she only took half because her carelessness had provoked the bats.
Diana tried to refuse her share, claiming she’d done nothing, so I forced half of the remaining stones into her hands.
“Make sure to take your fair share. You never know when you’ll need points to survive in The Tower, and if you acquire magical tools later, you’ll need magic stones.”
Magical tools came in two forms: those powered by the user’s mana and those that used magic stones as batteries.
Output-wise, tools that consumed the user’s mana were fundamentally superior, but the magic stone type was certainly more convenient.
I headed back into the Ancient Ruin and asked Diana a question.
“Do you have any Credits?”
“Credits?”
“It’s the currency used by the native inhabitants in The Tower.”
From her reaction, it seemed she’d only glanced through the guidebook distributed by WPTO.
A typical case of someone who doesn’t read instructions and suffers for it.
She could buy food on Floor 10 with Credits, but since the Tower Shop sold bread and water, she’d just bought those instead.
“You can buy Credits at the shop. The Tower Shop won’t accept other items, but it will exchange magic stones for Points, so it’s good to keep some on hand.”
Whether it was overstepping or not, I taught Diana everything I knew about surviving in The Tower, worried that continuing to climb without knowing anything would eventually lead to a serious mistake.
What I knew came from conversations with native inhabitants or information from the Community—things anyone could learn with minimal effort—but Diana seemed like the type who wouldn’t make that effort until she made a serious mistake.
Diana smiled after listening to my explanation.
“You’re very kind, Ji-woo.”
“Ha ha, I’m just being a busybody.”
“A busybody? It really helped. I’m slow with machines—or rather, new technology—so I’m not comfortable using the Community yet.”
Was she trying to say she was bad with technology?
She didn’t seem that much older than me, yet she was talking like an elderly person.
I searched every corner of the first floor of the Ancient Ruin looking for the end, but couldn’t find the “end of the ruin” that was my destination.
Presumably, there would be a crystal at the end of the ruin that allowed passage to the next floor.
Still, while examining the first floor, I discovered several objects with magical properties.
Since no one else knew about them, I quietly pocketed them, deciding to use them later if needed or distribute them otherwise.
“Look here! There’s a staircase going down behind this stone tablet!”
Lee Su-young discovered a downward passage.

(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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