Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 9

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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 9. The Tower – Residential Floor 10 (4)

I was taken aback by the Librarian Elder’s words, but I couldn’t afford to be rude to someone who had helped me, so I swallowed my true thoughts.
“Well, you’re still young, so it must feel burdensome. Just think of it as advice from a senior who walked the path of magic before you.”
“I understand. My next question is….”
“Is there anything else you’re curious about?”
Standing before the elder, I posed a question that had been nagging at me.
“I noticed the Tower Shop sells credits, which suggests climbers can earn money easily, yet the prices are abnormally inflated.”
“Ah, it certainly is abnormal. The Tower’s economic system follows capitalism on a microscopic level, but resembles communism on a macroscopic scale.”
Communism—a distribution economy?
No, not just distribution, but rather a tightly controlled economy.
“The flaw of communism is that it failed to account for human greed. The desire to become wealthier, the base avarice of those in power to exploit their people for wealth and glory—The Tower resolved both issues, resulting in its current system.”
“Resolved? Is such a thing even possible?”
“First, those in power. The Tower has no rulers. Without rulers, their base avarice cannot exist.”
“Isn’t The Tower like a nation? How can it exist without those in power?”
The Librarian Elder smiled wryly at my question.
“If you climb higher in The Tower and are fortunate, you’ll learn this information, but since there’s no information restriction on it, I’ll answer. The Tower is like a nation, but it is not a nation.”
I sensed I was beginning to understand what he meant.
“And the desire to become wealthy originates from ‘knowledge.’ Using your homeland as an example… it’s like the skull water of the Great Master Wonhyo.”
“You mean that without knowing a wealthier life exists, the desire for wealth never arises.”
Certainly, as I wandered through the City, I observed the general lifestyle. While some public facilities rivaled modern urban infrastructure, the overall era felt trapped in the Renaissance.
Information from beyond the City came only through letters or newspapers, and other cities likely differed little from this one.
“Climbers speaking of their world verbally would be meaningless. Information not experienced firsthand is inevitably distorted by the receiver.”
The Restaurant Owner had marveled at airplanes, but the aircraft in his mind was surely different from the one I knew.
That all my electronic devices, including my smartphone, became useless upon entering Tower Floor 10 was The Tower’s intention.
It prevented the outside world from feeling real through videos or photographs.
“The Tower’s native inhabitants have no severe wealth gap, and a solid welfare system sustains their lives without their knowing.”
“It sounds like a utopia.”
“But utopia and dystopia are two sides of the same coin. A little information can turn utopia into dystopia. The water in a skull preserves life, yet the skull containing it feels horrifying.”
“The Tower is essentially a massive iron cage.”
The native inhabitants were completely unaware they were oppressed, yet they suffered the most powerful oppression imaginable.
“It’s like The Truman Show, or perhaps Animal Farm.”
Or maybe 1984.
The Librarian Elder laughed bitterly at my assessment.
“Whether an Animal Farm where all are equal or a wilderness with severe inequality and discrimination is better, I couldn’t say. Honestly, I’m closer to not caring. Why? Because it’s not my concern.”
Not my concern.
Those words might touch upon something fundamental about human nature.
Most people don’t care about misfortune occurring beyond their awareness.
But does that make it right for me to teach them of misfortunes they don’t perceive, to make them unhappy when they’re living peacefully?
Can my irresponsible words truly stir their lives toward improvement, or do they only create turbulence without resolution?
Isn’t it merely dissecting and displaying their misfortune without any means to solve it?
Come to think of it, there was once a statistic showing that a certain impoverished nation had the highest happiness index in the world.
But that was a miracle born from poverty so severe that communication media couldn’t penetrate it—they simply didn’t know of better lives than their own.
As communication technology became cheaper, the internet reached even the poorest nations, and their happiness index plummeted once they glimpsed the outside world.
“Well then, don’t feel pity for their lives. Entering within The Tower’s walls was their choice—or rather, their ancestors’ choice.”
“So you’re saying a lion born in a zoo wouldn’t be happy returning to the wild. But is it really alright to tell me all of this?”
I sensed that the Librarian Elder was answering my previous questions through this response.
At my confused expression, he merely shrugged his shoulders.
“I simply answered because you asked a question I could answer.”
“I see. But then, why are the credits sold at the Tower Shop so remarkably cheap compared to what you’ve explained?”
Even if prices were controlled by The Tower, there was no reason climbers should become wealthy.
Of course, it wasn’t my place to complain when I was the one benefiting from it.
“The Tower wishes for climbers to ascend. If they’re too worn down by daily life to climb, then The Tower’s invitation to them would be meaningless, wouldn’t it?”
“But wouldn’t giving so much actually make them complacent?”
“Anyone complacent over such trifles would be complacent regardless of circumstances.”
Well, that was a fair point.
“Then why does The Tower wish for climbers to ascend?”
“Because that is The Tower’s reason for existing.”
The Librarian Elder gestured for another question, as if he couldn’t elaborate further.
I’d gathered enough hints to satisfy most of my accumulated curiosity.
I paused to consider what else to ask, then remembered my original question for the librarian.
“It seems abilities have a rarity rating. Is it determined purely by rarity? I noticed the bookshelf only has rarity 1 books, but nothing from rarity 2 onward.”
The Librarian Elder answered my question casually.
“From rarity 2 onward, you’ll need to go to the 20th Floor and visit the Library there. The knowledge permitted on the 10th Floor is limited, after all.”
“I understand.”
As I nodded in acceptance, the Librarian Elder smiled faintly and began to add more.
“And regarding rarity itself—it’s not determined by the ability’s rarity alone. It’s determined by including the ability’s growth speed and the difficulty required to master it.”
The Librarian Elder created a small sphere of light at his fingertips.
“Is that a mass of congealed mana?”
I could instinctively tell that this sphere of light was made from the same force I’d felt flowing through my body.
The Librarian Elder nodded with satisfaction.
“Correct. Try mimicking it once.”
I raised my fingers and attempted to follow the mana flowing through the Librarian Elder’s hand.
Since I’d only just felt mana for the first time moments ago, it felt somewhat awkward and difficult.
“There, that’s enough.”
But after struggling for several minutes, I succeeded in creating a small sphere just like the Librarian Elder’s.
“Check your status window.”
At the Librarian Elder’s words, I opened my ability window to check.
“What?!”
Next to my ability, I saw ‘Magic Bullet Lv1’ written there.
“Magic Bullet is the most basic of basic spells. The status window merely displays information—abilities can be learned and mastered without ability stones. Magic Bullet is such a simple spell that anyone without catastrophic magical talent can learn it, regardless of whether they’re a mage or not.”
The Librarian Elder cast Magic Bullet at an empty wall, and I followed suit, launching my own.
The Librarian Elder’s Magic Bullet vanished upon contact with the wall, but mine traveled barely a meter before dissipating in mid-air.
“So a Rarity 1 ability amounts to roughly this level of power.”
The Librarian Elder drew lines in the air, constructing a graph.
“Let the vertical axis represent strength level, or what we call Level.”
He elaborated that Level roughly indicated which floors the ability would be viable on.
“The horizontal axis represents the time required to train the ability. Rarity 1 abilities typically follow this pattern.”
The graph rose steeply at first like a logarithmic function, then gradually flattened before eventually becoming a flat horizontal line.
“Learning and growth come easily at first, but as you progress, the ceiling becomes increasingly apparent. Rarity 5 and Rarity 9 abilities, however, follow different growth curves.”
The Rarity 5 ability traced a straight diagonal line like a linear function, while the Rarity 9 curve followed a quadratic pattern—slow growth initially, then accelerating sharply as it progressed.
“Are there low-Rarity abilities obtainable within The Tower?”
At my question, the Librarian Elder chuckled softly.
“Of course there are. In fact, quite a lot. Most people receive Rarity 1 abilities. Out of every ten climbers, nine likely obtained Rarity 1.”
“Then doesn’t that mean people who receive low-Rarity abilities are at a disadvantage?”
The Librarian Elder shook his head.
“No, The Tower is fair. When you reached the 10th Floor, didn’t The Tower grant you a new ability or strengthen an existing one? If you have a summoning ability, you gained an additional summoning slot. If you have a martial ability, you received new techniques that complement your existing skills, like breathing methods or movement techniques.”
He was right. My Multidimensional Avatar gained an additional slot as well.
“But doesn’t that mean people with high-Rarity abilities are disadvantaged? With such slow early growth, wouldn’t most of them fall behind before reaching a certain point?”
“That’s precisely why ability stones exist in The Tower. Beyond that, there are places where you can learn magic and martial arts within The Tower. Just as you learned Magic Bullet here, you can acquire low-Rarity abilities in such locations.”
The Librarian Elder then pointed out the Magic Tower Branch in this city.
The Magic Tower Branch wasn’t even listed in the guidebook—was this hidden information?
“Early on, climb The Tower using easy, low-Rarity abilities. Later, ascend using high-Rarity abilities. Understand?”
The Librarian Elder tossed me a crimson magical stone.
“It’s an ability stone. You can consume it or simply think of it as absorbing it.”
“Are you sure you can just give this away?”
“Consider it a reward for discovering me. You may not realize it, but finding me is worth at least this much.”
“Then I’ll gratefully accept it.”
Following the elder’s generous words, I absorbed the ability stone. Immediately, ‘Spirit Magic Lv1’ appeared next to ‘Magic Bullet Lv1’.
When I selected Spirit Magic, I found it had a single slot, just like Multidimensional Avatar.
I summoned a fire spirit, and a tiny flame spirit the size of a fingernail materialized, filling the slot.

[Spirit Magic]
[Slot 1: Fire Spirit Lv 1]

“Most summoning abilities are rarity 5 or above, but spirit magic is a rarity 7 ability. It’s quite talent-dependent, but thinking of the distant future, it’s an exceptionally valuable skill. Nurture your spirits diligently.”
“Thank you.”
The Librarian Elder explained that abilities obtained through ability stones were merely supplementary in nature—The Tower wouldn’t provide anything additional simply because they grew stronger.
“Well then, it seems we have nothing left to discuss. Let us part ways here.”
The Librarian Elder slowly enveloped his body as if grasping at the very fabric of space itself.
I asked him one final question.
“What is your name, sir?”
To my last inquiry, the Librarian Elder smiled faintly and answered.
“Come find me when you reach the higher floors. I’ll tell you my name then.”
With those words, the Librarian Elder vanished completely.

(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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