The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 122

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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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The Return of an EX-Rank Mage Episode 122
Choi Kang-mok was at a loss for words.
Well, that’s what happens with the Golden Labyrinth’s ‘Special Stage’.
‘But this is a regular floor of the Tower.’
I never expected the Dragon Palace on a regular floor to become ‘fundamentally destroyed’.
Choi Kang-mok recalled a dream he’d had a few days ago.
42nd Floor – Complete high-ranking spirit meteor transformation.
43rd Floor – Repeated mastery.
44th Floor – Wide-range sniping with energy field meteor transformation.
It was a real dream.
A completely useless one at that.
‘If there’s no challenge, there’s no clear either?’
Then what about exiting?
If all else fails, I might have to use a physical breach spell to punch a hole through the Tower’s side and escape.
-Whether that can truly be called a magical method is somewhat questionable… but since there’s a senior who insists physical anesthesia counts as anesthesia, the user’s argument has merit 🙂
Fortunately, such a situation didn’t occur.
[Since no challenge exists, you are exiting the Tower.]
This wasn’t part of the plan, but it was acceptable.
Plans always encounter unexpected variables.
Rather than obsessing over a single variable, one must see the bigger picture.
‘If it doesn’t work on the 41st Floor, I’ll just do it on the 42nd.’
Two hours later.
[Using skill, ‘Tower Entry +1’.]
[Entering Seoul Tower 42nd Floor.]
I entered the 42nd Floor believing things would be different.
But there was no water. No current. Just darkness.
It was identical to the 41st Floor.
[Challenge: ■■■]
“What?”
[Since no challenge exists, you are exiting the Tower.]
[First entry confirmed!]
[Clear rank is… ■■■]
Noise began to fill the space.
Even in the darkness, I could see an alien current spreading like diagonal lines.
[Confirmed possession of ‘High Pass’ related title]
[Title, ‘High Pass Player’ affects rank records.]
The 42nd Floor also reflected my 41st Floor clear record as is.
[Clear Rank: EX+]
Clear achieved through challenge destruction.
World ranking 1st place was updated.
–
Our
plan has aligned perfectly once again. As expected, it’s all about momentum.
The primary objective of the first clear is to achieve an EX-rank completion.
Since I’ve accomplished EX+ rank, the plan is proceeding as intended.
[Exiting the Tower.]
Up to this point, everything had gone smoothly.
However, there was one peculiarity.
‘My level didn’t increase.’
With each repeated EX clear, experience accumulates exponentially.
Until now, whenever I entered the Tower, my level would naturally rise to that floor’s maximum threshold.
But this time, it hadn’t.
[Current Level: 80]
───────
LV: 80 (+)
───────
[Would you like to level up using Experience and Orbs?]
A (+) symbol had appeared next to my level.
From this point onward, a different growth currency called ‘Orbs’ was required.
For Choi Kang-mok, this was an exceptionally fortunate development.
“Excellent.”
-It truly seems everything is proceeding according to plan. 🙂 The more the user grows,
the more
we can permeate deeper into their being.
–
We
are quite satisfied at this moment.
-We support the user’s growth.
Right by your side
.
Now I didn’t need to worry about the exponential damage increase from leveling up.
I could maintain Level 80 for the time being.
By postponing level-ups, I gained the freedom to invest in skill proficiency instead.
For Choi Kang-mok, this was an exceptionally positive shift.
Two hours later.
‘Floor 43?’
Floor 43 cleared at EX+ rank.
Floor 44 cleared at EX+ rank.
In half a day, three floors had been conquered in rapid succession.
‘Floor 45 will be different, though.’
The 45th Floor features the mid-boss: the Carnivorous Siren.
A colossal mermaid wielding razor-sharp teeth and a trident.
It occasionally employs lightning-attribute magic as well, making it a notoriously troublesome mid-boss.
‘Let me rest for a moment.’

* * *
Bessius, the Grand Mage of Real Madrid, smiled with profound satisfaction.
It was that unmistakable expression of ‘I’ve finally done it.’
“I’ve finally grasped how to properly use the Tears of Cyan!”
The artifact he’d painstakingly obtained over six weeks.
Though its value had plummeted in East Asia due to that ‘clickety-clack’ phenomenon… he remained the original.
As the original, he had to wield this artifact with the dignity it deserved.
After countless rounds of research, he’d discovered the truth.
“It’s not magical amplification. It transforms the water attribute of the Water Layer itself! Hehehehe.”
Antonio, the Real Madrid lord, remained unmoved.
‘Self-aggrandizing again?’
He was honestly growing tired of it.
“That’s something we already knew, isn’t it?”
“When combined with my Sylphid’s Melody, the situation changes entirely. Using this distorts the flow of water.”
Flow distortion.
When the Tears of Cyan were applied to that, the entire Water Layer underwent transformation.
“The Dragon Palace undergoes partial remodeling.”
“Partial remodeling?”
“With this, a first-time clear guarantees at least an SS-rank rating. The difficulty increases, but.”
“!”
Antonio’s eyes widened.
A higher clear grade in exchange for increased difficulty?
‘It carries some risk, but this is Real Madrid.’
Real Madrid, where the world’s elite players converged like clouds.
It meant Real Madrid could monopolize the upper echelon of the 40s Floors.
Just like Naples in Italy.
Around that time, shocking news arrived.
41st Floor cleared at EX+ rank.
Antonio became busy.
He had to accept yielding the unrivaled first place.
An EX-rank Awakener was beyond standard classification.
But Tower dominance wasn’t determined by ‘1st place’ alone.
If one monopolized everything except first place, that was essentially dominance.
[Breaking News: Real Madrid discovers hidden function of Tears of Cyan for the first time!]
[Breaking News: Is the era of Real Madrid’s supremacy beginning?]
Real Madrid immediately made the combination usage of “Sylph’s Melody” and “Azure’s Tears” public to the entire world.
Bessius stated confidently at the press conference.
“This is philosophy regarding magic. Flow, attribute, and human intervention. It’s art.”
While somewhat verbose, the conclusion came across clearly enough.
This elevated the pride of Spain and, by extension, Western Europe.
[That’s right, this is Europe]
└The ‘first’ ultimately belongs to Europe.
└Latecomers have no choice but to be at a disadvantage
└Just thinking about how they’ll twist things around and claim ‘we’re the best’ already makes my blood pressure spike
The price of Real Madrid’s “Sylph’s Melody” scroll began skyrocketing.
Azure’s Tears can be procured from Korea’s Story Gate.
The supply is abundant, so it’s easy to obtain.
However, the “Sylph’s Melody” scroll is in extremely limited supply, and Real Madrid’s version boasts the finest quality.
[LOL Even Korea can’t copy this]
└Uniquely first? Sure, that’s fine. But what about the rest?
└What else do you have to show besides first place?
└Without the EX-rank Awakener, you’re just Asia’s sidekick
Not to be outdone, the Seoul Guild also made an announcement.
[Sylph’s Melody has minimal distortion. Complete remodeling occurs only when combined with “Blue Signal”.]
└Seoul Guild: We actually knew all along
└What’s Sylph’s Melody?
└Even more accurate, actually
└??? : An empty cart makes the most noise
And one more line.
[Blue Signal, priority supply to London, Saudi Arabia, and New York. Rental basis for Naples. Coordination with EX-rank Awakener complete.]
Upon hearing the news, Bessius let out a scoff.
“Complete remodeling? Are they trying to kill off all the promising talents?”
Even partial remodeling causes Tower difficulty to spike dramatically.
“Our Real Madrid-tier prospects are already struggling….”
But complete remodeling?
The promising talents would perish before they could even sprout.
That was his magical assessment.
[Seoul Guild prospect Kim Ji-soo achieves Floor 40 SSS+ clear!]
[Seoul Guild Yang Su-hyuk achieves Floor 40 SSS clear!]
[Seoul Guild continues to update S-rank clears in succession]
“….”
Bessius looked down at his phone.
It seemed like the screen was making that ‘click-click’ sound again.
For some reason, his stomach hurt.
“…This is physically impossible?”
I ran through a few possible scenarios in my mind.
‘If an EX-rank Awakener’s scroll—one who neutralized the 50s Floors’ miasma—could be used?’
Then I could break free from the water’s constraints?
‘And if I combined that with an EX-rank Awakener’s energy bolt scroll?’
Then the monsters appearing in the Dragon Palace could be dealt with easily.
A slight sense of crisis crept over me.
I thought there was only one overwhelmingly dominant player, but the situation was unfolding in an oddly troublesome way.
The fact that the EX-rank Awakener happened to be a ‘mage’ was incredibly bothersome.
South Korea kept getting updated on the 41st Floor world rankings.
London, supplied with Blue Signal, was also climbing up.
Saudi Arabia and New York would appear soon after.
Bessius’s expression turned ashen.
“This… I think we’re screwed.”
I should have promoted it less.

* * *
Fortunately for Antonio and Bessius, the aftermath created by Seoul Guild’s announcement didn’t last long.
Soon after, a far greater issue engulfed the entire world.
[!Global Notice!]
[In 14 days,
Unified City Tower Vote
will be held]
[This event will only proceed in national regions that have completed ascents beyond Floor 40.]
Tower Civilization 2.0 era.
And now, entering 2.5. The world’s current was flowing toward one direction.
From city-states to a unified national era.
That current was beginning to accelerate rapidly.
[What? The city towers are merging into one?]
└What happens to the existing towers?
└We’re in Busan and you want us to trek to Seoul Tower…?
└Jeju Island residents are done for this lifetime
Before entering Floor 45, Choi Kang-mok also focused on this world-scale event.
‘This… doesn’t feel ordinary.’
───────
[City Tower Unification]
1. On a national level, towers will be unified into one.
City towers within national regions will disappear and be consolidated into a single ‘National Tower’.
The method will be determined by ‘Sovereign Vote’.
※ Unification proceeds only with consent from a majority of sovereigns.
※ If there is only one sovereign, unification is possible with their sole consent.
2. All activities of Lords and Guild members related to Tower integration are under system protection.
※State authority and legal intervention are prohibited.
───────
Choi Kang-mok’s eyes grew serious.
‘One Tower per nation. Assassination, murder—the system tolerates all actions.’
───────
3. Towers in nations that fail Tower integration will collapse.
※The affected nation will transform into a Monster Land.
───────
It was a message to succeed in the vote by any means necessary.
By whatever method possible.
───────
4. Towers in nations that fail to climb the 44th Floor before the city integration vote will collapse immediately.
※The affected nation will transform into a Monster Land (Infernal Species).
───────
Shocking conditions continued relentlessly.
Yet there was one more piece of news that captured Choi Kang-mok’s attention.

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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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