Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 74

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 74. Galaxy Martial God Hall – Fateful Encounter (4)

The Elementary School consisted of six major buildings.
Ren Yi Hall, where the first and second-year classes gathered.
Wisdom Hall, where the third and fourth-year classes gathered.
Reduction Heaven Hall, where the fifth and sixth-year classes gathered.
Cheonmu Hall, a massive gymnasium.
Silver Harmony Hall, which stored various sparring equipment and allowed for individual training.
And finally, Teaching Alliance Hall, where various administrative facilities were concentrated.
Beyond these, there were other minor facilities like purification systems, warehouses, parks, outdoor training grounds, arenas, parking lots, and administrative offices, but none of them seemed particularly important.
Looking at the map, I found myself wondering why an elementary school needed to be this expansive.
Were all these facilities actually being used?
“But do you know where the training hall is located?”
“Um… my brother said… it was a red building.”
At Cheon Gong-hu’s words, Cheon So-yeon glanced around and spoke.
“A red building? There’s no red building here?”
In the history room of the administrative building that showcased the school’s history, there were photographs and videos of buildings across different time periods, but there had never been a red building in the school’s history.
“Huh!?”
A red building, he said.
I glanced around before looking up at the sky.
The planet we lived on was approximately 1.831 percent larger than Earth, and its rotation period differed from Earth’s by about 21 minutes, while its orbital period differed by only about 13 days.
To be precise, the planet originally had a rotation period where day and night changed three times daily, but when we terraformed this planet, we slowed it through a special process to make it similar to Earth.
A drastically different rotation period would have had significant effects on human habitation.
Therefore, the calendar system used on this planet was essentially a modified version of Earth’s calendar, so July—being now—felt like the height of summer.
As I gazed up at the blue sky, indistinguishable from Earth’s, something suddenly occurred to me.
“Wasn’t it during sunset when I entered?”
During terraforming, we had configured the planet’s atmospheric ratio and composition similarly to Earth’s.
That meant when the sun set, the sunset would appear exactly as it did on Earth.
Moreover, as someone of my status—not on any official inspection or audit—I had simply come here to indulge in nostalgia, so I wouldn’t have visited during hours when students and teachers were present.
“Ah! Then it must be a building where light reflects easily!”
Cheon So-yeon pointed to Cheonmu Hall.
Our school, befitting an elementary school, had its exterior painted in various bright colors, but Cheonmu Hall was pure white.
“Did your brother not mention what kind of building it was?”
“Well, I heard about it when my brother smelled of alcohol…”
So he had rambled about things from long ago while drunk.
I had found it strange that Cheon Gong-hu would know about something that happened decades ago, but it seemed his older brother had grabbed his younger sibling while intoxicated and boasted about being close to a celebrity.
Someone like Cheon Ja-su was far beyond mere celebrity status—certainly worth bragging about.
But words spoken while drunk lacked credibility.
“Then let’s say it’s Cheonmu Hall for now. Did you hear anything else?”
At my question, Cheon Gong-hu groaned and struggled to retrieve the memory.
“That’s… oh! He said he saw a cat jumping down from a building.”
A cat jumping down from a building?
No matter how agile a cat is, it won’t jump from a height that’s too great.
So the building couldn’t have been very tall.
But Cheonmu Hall was only three stories high, and its exterior had no footholds a cat could climb.
Then the cat didn’t jump from Cheonmu Hall—it jumped from a nearby building.
The buildings around here tall enough for a cat to jump from would be the Substation behind Cheonmu Hall or the Sewage Treatment Facility.
“Then it’s one of these two. Should we check them out?”
When we went to the rear of Cheonmu Hall where the Substation and Sewage Treatment Facility stood, we hit a dead end.
“There’s no entrance to Cheonmu Hall from here?”
“Uh…”
As Cheon So-yeon and Cheon Ga-ryeong stared at Cheon Gong-hu, he panicked and rolled his eyes.
“He said it when he was drunk. He just said the red building was impressive—he never said he actually went inside it.”
“Ah! So he went into that one or the smelly one? He didn’t say which one he entered?”
At Cheon Ga-ryeong’s question, Cheon Gong-hu rolled his eyes again.
“That’s…”
“Never mind which one he went into. Just tell me what your brother said when he was drunk.”
“Uh… he said at the time there was wind blowing and dust was flying…”
Dust? Our school had brick pathways laid down in the main passages and grass planted elsewhere, so there was no way dust could fly just from the wind.
“Dust… dust… ah.”
“Did you figure something out?”
“Wait a moment.”
I searched the school’s history on my phone.
“Thirty-eight years ago… thirty-eight years ago… found it. They did drainage construction in this area from thirty-nine years ago to thirty-eight years ago.”
The drunk testimony suddenly gained credibility.
“Do you know which direction the dust was blowing?”
“Uh… I don’t know.”
“Just say whatever comes to mind.”
“He just complained that his brother bothered him late at night…”
I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that.
“Oh! Now that I think about it, he said the dust kept blowing so he put on a hat.”
A hat? He put on a hat because dust was blowing.
With dust flying, he probably didn’t wear a baseball cap or anything like that. Maybe he wore a hoodie to shield himself from the dust with the fabric?
A hoodie would narrow vision and seem to hinder protection, but at a high level of cultivation, one perceives through ki-sensing rather than sight, so one could wear clothes with a hood.
In fact, since it could protect the head, combat uniforms were even deliberately sold with hood-attached types.
I purchased one without a hood since it obstructed my vision, but if Cheon Gong-hu’s brother had a high cultivation level, he might have purchased or been issued one with a hood.
Cheon Ja-su, who had been the escort, came for a nostalgic trip, so his protection detail would have been a nuisance—he probably had them wait outside.
Usually when a protection detail is nearby, you stand with your back to them, but when they’re far away, you position yourself to keep watch over them.
Since I’d pulled my hood up to block the dust, the dust typically came from behind my back or from the side.
Comparing the positions of the two buildings, when wind blew from the construction site, the location where dust would hit my back was—
“The Sewage Treatment Facility.”
“What? Why?”
In response to Cheon Ga-ryeong’s question, I explained my reasoning.
Cheon Gong-hu and Cheon Ga-ryeong seemed surprised without fully understanding, but Cheon So-yeon appeared genuinely astonished.
“Wow, Ji-woo. You’re like a real strategist.”
“No, it’s embarrassing to be called a strategist for something this simple.”
I tried to open the door leading into the Sewage Treatment Facility.
It was naturally locked to prevent students from entering.
“It’s locked. What do we do?”
The Substation was probably locked too.
Since the Substation was more dangerous, it would be locked even more securely.
Cheon So-yeon stepped forward at my question.
“Just wait a moment.”
Crash!
“It’s open!”
Cheon So-yeon had smashed the door handle and laughed brightly.
She’s going to get in trouble later.
Well, that’s a problem for later. Since it’s open, let’s go inside first.
As I stepped in, the smell was stronger than the faint odor from outside.
Cheon Ga-ryeong and Cheon Gong-hu pinched their noses.
“But why would someone as accomplished as a Family Head come to a place like this for memories?”
Cheon So-yeon tilted her head in confusion.
“The destination probably wasn’t here.”
Everyone looked at me at my words.
“To properly organize an enlightenment, she might have needed to move her body, but there’s no space for that here.”
“Then?”
“There might be a secret passage here. The Family Head is an alumna of this school and worked as a teacher here. She could have prepared a secret space in a place like this.”
A secret base made in childhood.
Isn’t that the perfect place for memories?
At my speculation, Cheon Ga-ryeong asked in a nasal voice.
“Why specifically such a place?”
“Precisely because it’s such a place. The smell keeps people away, so it’s perfect for setting up something like this.”
At my words, Cheon So-yeon immediately deployed her aura and examined every corner.
Then she pointed beyond a massive purification tank.
“There seems to be a secret space over there.”
Going to where Cheon So-yeon indicated and examining it closely, I found a rusted iron plate slightly warped out of place.
I used a metal skewer lying around to poke at the warped gap and leveraged it like a crowbar to pry it open.
“Oh! A ladder!”
There was a ladder descending beneath the iron plate.
Seeing it, Cheon Gong-hu spoke with a slightly fearful expression.
“Isn’t this… dangerous?”
I touched the ladder with a metal skewer.
Crackle.
“It does seem dangerous.”
The metal ladder had grown so old that even a light touch caused rust to crumble away.
“From the looks of it, it’s at least several decades old.”
If this was the ladder Sword King Cheon Ja-su used in his youth, it could be centuries old.
Remarkably, it still maintained its form.
Now that I thought about it, the iron plate had obscured it, but the ground here was granite.
Granite’s crystalline structure and composition aren’t uniform, and it doesn’t crack easily.
Unlike the concrete commonly used in construction, granite doesn’t deteriorate or crumble from moisture or thermal expansion and contraction, so if the level is correct, it can actually serve as a more stable foundation.
It seemed that when this place was built, rather than pouring concrete over the granite area for leveling, they had cleanly cut it with specialized construction machinery.
While I was thinking this, Cheon So-yeon spoke.
“This cross-section looks like it was cut by a sword, doesn’t it?”
“This? At this scale?”
It’s supporting the entire building.
“It’s just a feeling I have.”
Cheon So-yeon also seemed uncertain.
“If the ladder is like this, how are we supposed to go down?”
At Cheon Ga-ryeong’s question, I brought my palm to the iron plate.
Using my inner energy, I made the iron plate stick firmly to my palm and lifted it, causing Cheon Ga-ryeong and Cheon Gong-hu to watch in wonder.
“It’s a technique called ‘Adhesion.’ You’ll learn it later—it’s a type of inner energy technique used in martial arts that prevents an opponent from retreating when their weapon and mine are stuck together.”
This was also one of the applications of inner energy techniques used in lightness martial arts.
If lightness martial arts accelerates by expelling energy, then conversely, there was also a method of drawing energy inward to create suction.
Used well, it’s a technique that allows you to stick to walls or ceilings and walk around.
By the way, to learn this, you need to be proficient in meridian studies, so it’s at minimum a middle school level curriculum.
With advanced learning, you’d master it in upper elementary school.
“Since it’s dangerous, only So-yeon and I will go down.”
At my words, Cheon Ga-ryeong pouted her lips in displeasure, but Cheon Gong-hu looked relieved.
“I’ll go down first.”
Cheon So-yeon stuck to the wall and descended first. I held a flashlight in my mouth and followed after her, humming.
“Shwaiering~ Shwaiering~ Ooze aier a shwaiering~.”
With the flashlight in my mouth, my pronunciation was muffled, but crawling along the wall made me feel like a spider-man.
Even with great power, I had no intention of taking responsibility for anything.
As I descended while shining the flashlight around, I could tell that this small passage wasn’t artificially made but naturally formed.
If humans had carved it, it wouldn’t be this uneven.
When I reached the bottom, there was a natural cave beneath the granite area.
Surely Sword King Cheon Ja-su had discovered this cave by chance and made it his secret base.
Old scrawls marked the corners of the walls, and what appeared to be toys lay scattered about, completely rotted and broken.
“Wow, is this a ventilation system? This isn’t something an elementary school student would install?”
I suspected that I’d discovered this place during elementary school and used it as a hideout, then later converted it into a personal training space during my teaching days.
This ventilation system must have been installed back then.
But is it still functioning?
Ah, since I mentioned visiting often decades ago, it’s possible I replaced it during that time.
I swept my flashlight across the surroundings and recorded everything on my phone, just to be safe.
The cave walls were covered with countless sword marks.
To me, they were merely gouges in the stone, but Cheon So-yeon stared blankly at the cave wall as if seeing something entirely different.

(Continued in the next chapter)

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————