Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 75

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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 75. Galaxy Martial God Hall – Fateful Encounter (5)

“This really does seem to be the Sword King’s secret space, doesn’t it?”
Even when I asked, Cheon So-yeon gave no response.
Seeing that she wouldn’t react, I closed my mouth.
While she normally possessed strong concentration, now she had transcended that level entirely, entering a state of complete absorption where the self dissolves into the art.
Disturbing such a state carelessly could cause her inner energy to reverse and inflict internal injuries, so I decided to wait patiently.
The sword marks scattered around held no meaning I could decipher, so after photographing and recording every trace, I observed her while waiting for her absorption to end.
Cheon So-yeon remained motionless, yet her inner world was dynamic.
She made no effort to conceal the flow of energy coursing through her body—in fact, she was so absorbed that she hadn’t even thought to hide it.
Watching how she wielded her energy, I too gradually became absorbed in observing her cultivation technique.
The sword marks left by the Sword King were merely carved grooves to me, but to Cheon So-yeon, they were a fateful encounter.
And she, in turn, became my fateful encounter.
Such violent yet delicate and beautiful energy flow—I had never witnessed its like.
It was the ultimate art visible only through energy perception, and it struck me with both shock and enlightenment.
I unconsciously began to mirror the way Cheon So-yeon manipulated her energy.
Had I been anyone else, this would have been tantamount to suicide.
An unfamiliar path of energy required movement as cautious and deliberate as a blind person feeling their way along a road.
One misstep could result not merely in demonic possession, but in the body’s deformation or even explosion.
Fortunately, I possessed a talent in inner energy cultivation that even Cheon So-yeon, a natural prodigy, would have marveled at.
Following her cultivation technique, I too cultivated my energy, awakening the subtle meridians throughout my body.
As Cheon So-yeon’s energy movements gradually slowed and ceased, I too slowly brought my energy to stillness.
Observing my own body, I found that my overall energy meridians, blood vessels, and dantian had all become vastly more expansive and robust than before.
This was far too great a gain to attribute merely to enlightenment.
Such growth without foundation should have been impossible.
I soon understood what had happened.
The latent medicinal properties of all the elixirs I had consumed since infancy were suddenly absorbed into my dantian, meridians, and blood vessels at once.
What should have remained dormant as potential over a decade, gradually utilized for physical growth, had instead been entirely consumed by my inner energy cultivation.
Realizing this fact, I broke into a cold sweat.
“Damn it.”
Siu had been working hard to balance my mind-energy-body trinity, and now my energy had developed far too rapidly.
This was a fateful encounter for me, yet simultaneously a poison.
Opportunity had become crisis.
The balance of the mind-energy-body trinity was crucial because its disruption risked falling into demonic possession.
But the silver lining was that a crisis born from opportunity could itself become opportunity once more.
When one aspect develops excessively, the other tends to grow in compensation.
If I now sealed my inner energy cultivation and focused on physical growth, I could induce rapid bodily development.
Of course, to do so, I would need to consume elixirs equal to or exceeding the latent medicinal reserves I had depleted.
I would need to fill in the potential I had missed in order to grow.
To use an analogy, it was like giving nutrients to a potted plant.
Fortunately, I had the inheritance my parents left behind, and the Club had resources overflowing.
Cheon So-yeon said basic nutritional supplements were more than enough, and since she didn’t use those things anyway, I could ask her permission and consume them myself.
I was about to speak to Cheon So-yeon with good intentions when her enlightenment hadn’t ended yet.
Cheon So-yeon slowly rose and drew her sword.
It was a practice blade without an edge that the school provided.
But once the blade was sharpened, it would be no different from a real sword.
Lost in her enlightenment, Cheon So-yeon began to dance, swinging her sword through the empty air.
Like a dancer’s beautiful movements, I stared blankly at the flowing lines of her form.
As Cheon So-yeon danced with her blade, at some point she began displaying the movements of the inner energy she had been using just moments before, and a vivid, powerful sword aura formed on her blade.
As she swung her sword, the sword aura traced an arc through the air.
The countless sword auras that flew struck the wall and landed precisely where the sword marks were already carved.
The dance Cheon So-yeon was performing now—or rather, the swordsmanship—was the very swordsmanship that Sword King Cheon Ja-su had left behind in this place.
New sword marks carved perfectly over the existing ones as the dance came to an end.
I realized that the recording button on my mobile phone was still pressed and smiled as I turned off the recording.
This was an opportunity beyond what I deserved to obtain right now.
But I was certain that in the distant future, this video would become the greatest opportunity for me.
Of course, even without such a video, I could just ask Cheon So-yeon later, but still.
“Phew….”
Cheon So-yeon exhaled deeply and meditated for a moment to consolidate her enlightenment.
Though she was no longer in an enlightened state, this was still an important moment, so I decided to wait a little longer.
Crack!
At that moment, the wall where Sword King Cheon Ja-su’s sword marks were carved developed a fissure and made an ominous sound.
It seemed the cave, which had barely been holding together, could no longer withstand Cheon So-yeon’s sword strikes and was beginning to collapse.
“So-yeon!”
At my urgent cry, Cheon So-yeon, who had been meditating, slowly opened her eyes.
Wondering what was wrong, she looked at me, and I urgently gestured toward the wall.
Seeing the cracks in the wall, Cheon So-yeon’s complexion turned pale.
“Oh no! Run!”
“Wait! I can’t use my inner energy right now!”
I was like a dam on the verge of bursting.
It was the result of my greed exceeding my talent.
At my words, Cheon So-yeon didn’t immediately understand what I meant, but she still trusted me and immediately offered me her back.
Without hesitation, I climbed onto Cheon So-yeon’s back.
With me clinging to her back, Cheon So-yeon scaled the cliff-like exit rapidly, like a human spider.
Crack! Rumble…!
The walls of the cave began to crumble, and a massive fissure opened in the ceiling.
“Can’t you go a little faster?”
“I’ve consumed too much inner energy.”
Cheon So-yeon seemed to be struggling somewhat to carry me on her back.
It was understandable—after demonstrating the Sword King’s swordsmanship at full power, her inner energy was naturally depleted.
I considered jumping down from her back but decided against it.
I could die and be reborn, but Cheon So-yeon could not.
However, my death would inflict severe trauma upon her.
Besides, there was a better solution.
“Drink this. It’s an elixir.”
I retrieved a mana recovery potion from my inventory and brought the bottle to Cheon So-yeon’s lips.
Startled by my sudden action, she hesitated for only a moment before gulping it down without reservation, trusting that I would never give her anything harmful.
Then she gasped in astonishment.
“My inner energy?!”
She marveled at how her dantian filled without any cultivation technique.
Similar elixirs existed in the Galaxy Martial Arts World, but they were absurdly expensive.
Surprisingly, potions that restored inner energy without cultivation were far more costly than those that increased total reserves—because they were damnably difficult to produce while demand remained high.
An elixir that restored inner energy merely by consumption was essentially a life-saving treasure in desperate combat situations.
Why do countless martial artists in martial history fall into inescapable nets and perish?
From accumulated injuries?
No. From depleted inner energy.
Injuries were merely the consequence of insufficient inner energy.
“Such an expensive item….”
“Stop talking and climb faster! It’s collapsing!”
At my shout, Cheon So-yeon climbed with all her strength.
Despite the considerable height, she ascended rapidly with her inner energy restored. The problem was that the cave began collapsing completely before we could fully escape.
“Oh no! The entrance!”
The cave collapse’s shockwave affected the Sewage Treatment Facility, and the entrance was blocked by debris from collapsed structures.
Cheon So-yeon gritted her teeth and unleashed her inner energy at full force.
Then, while still carrying me, she planted her feet against the wall and threw a straight punch.
Powerful fist energy erupted, shattering the blocked entrance.
Cheon So-yeon seized the opening and leaped upward with explosive speed.
Beyond the exit, fresh air greeted us.
“Phew! We’re alive!”
“I really thought we were done for.”
Cheon So-yeon and I exchanged a high five.
But I felt piercing gazes from all around.
“Oh….”
We were surrounded by teachers.
Among the group of teachers was Kim Do-hwa, who already had Cheon Ga-ryeong and Cheon Gong-hu in her custody.
It was only natural that the teachers arrived so quickly.
Martial artists had developed sensory perception—no teacher could have missed the signs of such a massive sinkhole.
Sensing the tremors and rushing over, they found the Sewage Treatment Facility and part of Cheonmu Hall collapsed with a massive sinkhole formed, so seeing us burst from the rubble naturally filled their eyes with suspicion.
The reason it remains mere suspicion is simply because we’re still children.
“Cheon So-yeon, Cheon Ji-woo. Come with me for a moment. The rest of you teachers, please prevent the students from entering this area and set up barricades.”
Teacher Kim Do-hwa, holding Cheon Ga-ryeong and Cheon Gong-hu in one hand, led Cheon So-yeon and me toward the Principal’s Office.
Why the Principal’s Office and not the Counseling Room?
We were greeted by the Principal’s sigh as we entered his office.
“Sigh… Tell me the truth. Did you do this?”
At the Principal’s question, I maintained an expression of complete bewilderment, but unfortunately, the other three lacked any talent for acting.
When I alone played dumb with shameless composure, the Principal regarded me with a look that seemed to ask, ‘What is this kid?’
Tsk, applause requires two hands clapping to make a sound.
I couldn’t simply evade responsibility by feigning ignorance alone.
“While I cannot claim we bear no responsibility for the sinkhole incident, I also cannot definitively say it is entirely our fault, can I?”
At my evasive response, veins suddenly bulged across the Principal’s forehead.
“Teacher Kim Do-hwa. Did you teach him to speak like a politician?”
“…That couldn’t be.”
“Then is it Teacher Riven?”
Teacher Kim Do-hwa answered with silence.
At that moment, a knock sounded at the Principal’s Office door, and Teacher Riven entered.
“Haha, did you call for me?”
“I didn’t. Moreover, I never gave you permission to enter—what kind of behavior is this, opening the door and walking in?”
To the Principal’s words, spoken in anger over the sinkhole incident, Teacher Riven smiled brightly and spoke.
“Everyone, please be quiet. You will now have a call with the Family Head.”
The Family Head? Suddenly?
“Oh~my~! Do you perhaps have some complaint about the Family Head’s event, Principal?”
At Teacher Riven’s playful question, the Principal was flustered.
“Ah, no! Of course not! The Principal’s Office is always open—please enter whenever you wish!”
Backed by the Family Head’s authority, Teacher Riven’s words caused the Principal to immediately capitulate.
“I will now begin the call, so please show proper courtesy.”
Teacher Riven produced a display roughly twenty inches in size and connected the call. On the screen appeared only the family crest against a white background.
-Is the connection established?
At the sound of a deep, measured voice, the Principal and Teacher Kim Do-hwa immediately rose from their seats, knelt, and prostrated themselves.
“Yes! Cheonmu Elementary School Principal Cheon Ja-o respectfully greets the Family Head!”
It was only natural, as the camera attached to the display would transmit our current appearance to the Family Head.
Was I finally meeting my great-grandfather, whose name I had only heard spoken?
Though it was only his voice, of course.

(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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