Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 87

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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 87. Public Dungeon Subjugation (2)

It was curious that they contacted me almost simultaneously.
Checking the time on my wristwatch, it was already approaching 4 PM.
I had been wrestling with maps for nearly four hours.
I’d eaten bread and drinks I’d procured through my Reincarnation Clone in the meantime, but enough time had passed that my stomach felt hollow.
After paying the usage fee and returning the books, I placed the world map I’d purchased into my inventory.
Leaving the Library, I headed straight to the Cathedral where I’d first arrived when I reached the 20th Floor District.
At the Cathedral entrance, Lee Su-young and Diana were conversing.
“What were you two discussing?”
“Oh, you’re here?”
“We were just talking about the 19th Floor. It was incredibly difficult.”
Both of them appeared to have struggled considerably—their clothes were soiled with dust and dirt.
“Still, I’m relieved you both arrived safely without injury. Would you like to borrow a Cleansing Magical Tool? I still have two more uses left.”
Both shook their heads at my suggestion.
“No, we’d rather wash up first.”
“Me too. I want to bathe and rest thoroughly.”
It seemed they’d found it far more exhausting than expected.
“Climbing the 19th Floor really made me appreciate how dependable a vanguard truly is. I kept thinking how easily we’d ascended the other floors.”
As Lee Su-young expressed her exasperation, I chuckled in response.
“Ha ha, once you understand, you’ll do better. That direction is where the Inns are clustered.”
Lee Su-young and Diana consulted the Inn guide page in the information booklet.
I’d chosen a room for about 1,000 Credits per night, but Lee Su-young selected an Inn that cost at least 2,000 Credits per night.
Diana pondered for a moment, then turned her attention to a more affordable Inn than mine.
“Just book the same Inn as me.”
“I’m worried that if I indulge unnecessarily and later have to leave the Tower, things will become difficult.”
Diana seemed to share my thinking.
“Still, saving money on lodging isn’t the answer….”
Lee Su-young murmured regretfully about choosing a different Inn, then brightened as a good idea occurred to her.
“Oh! What if we get a double room together? Then we’d save even more money! They said we can upgrade to a double room for just 400 Credits more! You only need to pay 400 Credits!”
No, regardless of forming a party, sleeping in the same room with someone I’d only met yesterday was….
“Then I’d feel sorry. If we’re sharing a room, we should split the cost equally.”
Diana didn’t seem concerned at all. Was I the strange one?
When Diana agreed to get the double room with her, Lee Su-young became excited and chattered about what they’d do together at night.
“You said you were tired. Just sleep tonight. Or rather, practice cultivation techniques and then sleep.”
At my words, Lee Su-young pouted.
“Still, we should be allowed to have a little fun.”
“Oh, then please teach me martial arts when you have time.”
Diana also agreed to learn martial arts in exchange for a share of the ability stones that would come in the future.
“Then let’s head to the Inn and I’ll teach you right away. Since Diana is a vanguard, I’ll teach you staff techniques so you can handle the mace more effectively.”
Staff referred to a wooden cudgel. The weapon Diana wielded was a mace, a type of heavy club, but the fundamental principles of the weapon were similar.
Staff techniques differed from spear techniques in that they involved flashily shifting the grip between the front, back, and middle sections for attacks and defense, but there were many techniques that utilized the weight at the end.
Within the Cheon Family Clan, staff techniques were minor among minors, but across the entire Galaxy Martial Arts World, they were quite mainstream.
And for good reason—Shaolin was famous for staff techniques, after all.
Shaolin rarely used bladed weapons, so fist techniques, spear techniques, and staff techniques were the mainstream martial arts.
Honestly, once you surpass the first-rate realm and can use sword energy, you gain cutting power whether the weapon has a blade or not, so bladed weapons don’t necessarily have superior lethality.
“Ah, I want to learn that jumping technique that Ji-woo used—the method of moving incredibly fast.”
“Lightness skill?”
“So that’s what it’s called! Is it an ability gained from ability stones?”
I started to say no, then stopped.
“It’s an ability I received from The Tower, so it’s similar, right?”
For now, I was publicly claiming that I received my martial arts from The Tower.
“To learn lightness skill, you need to memorize the meridians of the human body thoroughly. I’ll teach you the anatomical charts and meridian locations later. Even after memorizing the meridians, you need to reach at least the third-rate realm to use them properly, which requires cultivating inner energy. To reach third-rate, you need to learn cultivation methods and martial arts to understand how to utilize inner energy.”
So I had to teach at least three things: cultivation methods, martial arts, and lightness skill.
“Um… you can teach all of those?”
“I’ll receive ability stone shares for each martial art technique.”
“Ah, then let’s do it that way.”
Diana, who rarely participated in Community activities, didn’t seem to realize how rarely ability stones dropped.
She probably thought she’d repay it quickly since one dropped from the Vampire and one from the red Goblin just yesterday alone.
But do ability stones really drop that rarely?
From what I’ve seen, one seems to drop on floors 2 and 3.
“First, let’s secure the Inn. There’s a lot to do besides learning martial arts.”
I sent the two of them to the Inn. After they bathed in their rooms, they needed to visit the Bank to open accounts and add party members at the Hunter Association.
I secured the Inn, stopped by the Bank and Hunter Association, then returned to the two’s Inn Room to discuss a rough plan for how we’d earn merit points on the 20th Floor and heard their opinions.
“I think it would be best if I just follow the plan you’ve made, oppa.”
“I agree.”
They seemed to find thinking troublesome.
Well, it was good that I’d mapped out the route anyway.
I then shared the Quest I’d received from the Old Witch Woman.
Even if we completed the request together, only I would receive the reward, but I could share the merit points I earned, so I asked if they would perform the Quest with me.
“Wouldn’t it be better to do it if you can receive more merit points?”
“If it’s just exploring one Ancient Ruin, it shouldn’t take that long.”
Both of them readily volunteered to do it.
I was slightly moved that they agreed so readily without me even offering separate compensation yet.
“I can’t promise to divide the Quest reward since I don’t know exactly what it is, but I prepared this instead.”
I took out the elixir pills I had made as compensation.
They were small pills no bigger than a fingernail, but they were quite valuable elixirs for martial arts beginners.
I had prepared them from the moment I thought both of them wanted to learn martial arts.
“How much is this?”
“Never mind. It’s compensation—I can’t accept payment for that.”
When Lee Su-young tried to offer points, I declined.
Diana spoke while examining the elixir.
“But if it’s a potion that increases mana, wouldn’t it be incredibly expensive? Wouldn’t it be better to accept it?”
“It’s not quite that expensive. If you’re uncomfortable, think of it as a loss leader. Once you feel the effects, you’ll naturally seek out more elixirs.”
Once someone consumed an elixir, training without it felt as slow as a tortoise, so they inevitably sought more.
Of course, their primary strength lay in divine power and summoning magic—martial arts were merely supplementary tools, so I wasn’t sure if they’d pursue more elixirs, but still.
At my half-joking remark, both of them laughed helplessly and swallowed the elixir. I guided them through the True Qi Circulation technique to help them form their dantian.
Once they grew accustomed to the cultivation method over the coming days, I planned to teach each of them martial arts suited to their individual strengths.
Even after learning the cultivation method, nothing changed immediately.
Just as one meal cannot satisfy hunger forever, even an elixir has its limits.

* * *

The next morning arrived after we reached the 20th Floor District.
After breakfast, I sought out the Old Witch Woman who expanded inventories.
Upon spotting me, the Old Witch Woman asked curtly.
“Why are you here again? You received the map yesterday—you couldn’t have already explored the Ancient Ruin.”
“Ah, it’s not that I have business. My party members just arrived yesterday, so I came with them.”
“Is that so? Then have both of them bring me sunrise flowers that bloom at the peak of Behir Mountain.”
I was slightly surprised by the Old Witch Woman’s inventory expansion quest.
“Thank you for the consideration.”
Behir Mountain was located behind this city—a roughly 1,200-meter peak that was one of the routes I’d planned after reviewing the Guild’s standing commissions.
In fact, it was the location with the most commissions among all the routes, so I’d been thinking of visiting it at least once.
Of course, I knew Behir Mountain’s difficulty level was quite high.
“Now get out of here.”
“Yes, ma’am! We’ll be going!”
I bowed respectfully and departed with Lee Su-young and Diana.
Once Lee Su-young had put some distance between herself and the Old Witch Woman, she asked curiously.
“But you said she was a grandmother? No matter how I look at her, she appears to be in her twenties?”
“Right? If that face makes her a grandmother, then I’m a grandmother too?”
What?! That Old Witch Woman actually looks like she’s in her twenties?
Before I could respond in shock, something struck the back of my head hard.
“Ow!”
Rubbing the back of my head and turning around, I saw the Old Witch Woman glaring at me.
Unbelievable—she’d heard our conversation from that distance?
“I’m so sorry! Sister!”
I shouted with all my might, grabbed both their hands, and fled.
She really is a terrifying grandmother. From now on, I decided to simply watch my tongue.

* * *

I headed to the Climbers’ Association and immediately accepted a commission that could be completed near Behir Mountain.
Among the commissions, there were those where I only needed to bring back items without officially registering with the Association, and those that required official registration to be recognized.
The former were typically standing commissions available anytime, while the latter were commissions posted by the locals through the Association.
Standing commissions could be completed multiple times by different climbers without issue, but duplicate local commissions would be problematic.
It was like having one package to deliver but two delivery workers—that created a problem.
We were scheduled to complete a total of 17 commissions.
Of those, 9 were collection tasks, 3 were subjugation quests, 3 were delivery missions, and 2 were observation records.
Lee Su-young clicked her tongue when she saw the stack of commission contracts.
“You’re taking on this many?”
“We need to split the merit points among three people anyway. Better to pile them up while we have the chance—makes things easier later.”
“I suppose that’s true, but…”
“Each one individually isn’t much of a commission. I meticulously combed through that densely packed commission board over there and planned the optimal route. If we leave now, we’ll be back before dinner, so don’t worry.”
I swallowed the word “probably” that nearly escaped my lips.
I spoke while gauging Lee Su-young and Diana’s reactions.
“There’s no harm in trying first and complaining later, right? Let’s give this a shot, and if it feels like too much, I’ll reduce the number of commissions next time or pick ones with higher merit points.”
“No, I’m not complaining. Like you said, doing several small ones at once might actually be more convenient.”
Higher merit points naturally meant higher commission difficulty.
Even if it took a bit longer, completing commissions safely and smoothly was better than facing danger.
Of course, as a climber, given the Tower’s structure, defeating stronger monsters was better for growth than handling trivial commissions.
But right now, we were here to earn merit points.
I took out a map of the area around the City distributed by the Association and drew a line with a pen across it.
“Behir Mountain is about 9 kilometers from the City. We’ll pass through here, here, and here to climb the mountain. On the way down, we’ll stop by here, here, here, and here before heading back like this.”
“That’s quite a detour.”
“It’s still one loop though. The more Sunrise Flowers we gather, the better. We’ll collect as many as we can—at least two or more for sure.”
The “Sunrise Flower Collection” commission given by the Old Witch Woman was a standing commission that the Association maintained at the Magic Tower’s request.
Apparently, no one knew the natural habitat of Sunrise Flowers, so they were only discovered occasionally when climbers happened upon them by chance on the road or encountered them while ascending the Tower, resulting in occasional large hauls.
But since the Old Witch Woman kindly told us where the flowers were blooming, we just had to go and come back.
“Alright then, let’s depart.”

(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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