Chapter 111
Chapter 111
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Those Climbing the Tower
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Some dozens of days prior, while ordinary students were raising their glasses in celebration upon hearing that the mad wizard had set off on a long business trip, crying, "We're finally free from the tentacles!", some students grew curious about just what this Tower of Trials was that he'd left behind as a substitute for classes.
The representative of the Three Heroes faction, Bennett.
The leader of the Golden faction and direct disciple of the Golden Magic Tower Master, Gordius. Nicknamed Goldie.
The ordinary students faction... or rather, just some random leftover kid who stepped up, Envers Redburn.
The spiritual leader of the Rose Emblem faction, the Pale Princess... and her twenty loyal noble followers swarming behind her.
Bennett asked politely.
"Didn't we agree that just one representative from each group would check it out?"
"I-I was planning to come alone..."
As the Pale Princess mumbled awkwardly, the Rose Emblem members standing in a horde behind her erupted like dry grass catching fire.
"Does that mean you're telling us to leave Her Ladyship alone right now?! Who knows what you lot might do to her! Grrrr!"
"We will not back down! We swore on our shields to carve through any path for the one we serve!!"
"Our oaths of loyalty take precedence over any etiquette or law!"
These guys are insane.
Bennett looked at the Pale Princess with a pitying expression. Their overzealous loyalty wasn't a one- or two-day thing. The princess signaled back that she appreciated their concern. Aside from her, that faction was full of nutjobs.
One of her followers caught that eye contact and leaped forward to block her path.
"Where are you looking?!"
"I wasn't looking anywhere."
"You were clearly eyeing Her Ladyship's generous heart, you shameless cur!"
"With Niore right here, what reason would I have to steal a glance at the princess's generous spirit?"
"...!!"
A torrent of boos poured from the princess's followers at Bennett's retort. Looking closer, Tara had somehow wormed her way into the mix, spewing trash talk like "Die, Bennett!"
She must've gotten pissed about the chest talk.
The Golden Magic Tower Master's disciple clicked his tongue at the farce and pointed irritably at his wristwatch.
"Do you know that every minute you waste on that lame banter costs the gem exchange 30 gold? I can't stand it! If we're just gonna keep wasting time like this, I'm out—"
"Here's 100 gold, Sir Gordius."
"I can wait forever, Your Ladyship. Take your time chatting."
That one's head wasn't screwed on right either. Rumor had it he had this wild ambition to build a giant—rideable—powered armor bigger than an academy dinosaur, but it guzzled research funds like crazy, so he skimped even on food.
Bennett read through the sign labeled "Instructions" and summarized it neatly.
"You can go solo or in a team. Step onto the magic circle and chant the activation phrase to enter the Tower of Trials. However, while one team is using it... others can't."
"What kind of trials are they?"
"I heard it's to test combat ability. The tower has a standard 10 floors, and clear records get engraved on the dashboard next to it. And for students who break through the 10th floor... they get a Wish Voucher."
"How valuable do you think a Wish Voucher is, Bennett? Do you reckon this thing's worth the money?"
Bennett thought of the Violet Magic Tower Master usage ticket he still kept precious in his pocket. The mad wizard was a man who handed out compensation like that without batting an eye. A right to wish from someone like him...
"If it were me, I wouldn't sell it."
"Intriguing. If someone of your caliber says that, it's definitely worth challenging. I'll be the first into the Tower of Trials!"
"Grrrr! With Her Ladyship glaring daggers, what makes you think it's safe to waltz in?!"
"...I'd be fine if you went first."
While the princess's team ignored her wishes and the Golden faction's direct disciple spouted his lone-wolf nonsense in a shouting match, Tara—who'd been grabbing Bennett's collar and shaking him—muttered casually.
"Hasn't that kid already gone in? The grubby one from a duke's family. Redburn's."
"...?!"
"H-He got the jump on us...!!"
"Then next turn, we do rock-paper-scissors peacefully..."
The students scrambled chaotically in front of the magic circle to decide the order.
10 minutes later.
Envers Redburn staggered out of the magic circle, charred white as a ghost. The waiting students' eyes locked onto him.
As he was ejected, letters slowly began to appear on the floating stone tablet beside the magic circle.
"...So it displays like this?"
"The time flow inside and out... is different."
"Get up, Envers Redburn. Cough up some useful info quick! I'll give you a full 10 gold."
"...Isn't that the gold coin I gave you?"
Envers Redburn, groaning on the floor, took a swig from a canteen and barely regained his senses. He then testified about what happened inside.
"Floor 1 was a wide circular arena, and an orc came out. Not your average one. Muscles so huge you couldn't call it an orc anymore, and that axe was heavy. Slow movements let me win."
"An orc..."
"Floor 2 was a forest, and an ogre appeared. There were unloaded ballistae scattered around. Embarrassingly, I used them to take it down. If only I'd been a bit stronger. Or hadn't used up so much strength on the orc..."
"...? You'd use siege weapons on an ogre, what else?"
Envers Redburn looked crestfallen. Relying on tools instead of a fair one-on-one fight—how could he not be ashamed?
"And Floor 3... chain sickle, the chain sickle Jenny...!"
"Chain, what?"
"Panicked at the unfamiliar weapon and lost my rhythm. A sickle on a chain—it wrapped my weapon and yanked it away. But its raw strength wasn't that great. It multiplied power with centrifugal force. If we fought again, I'd watch the low sweeps..."
Muttering as he reviewed the fight, Envers Redburn seized the moment while the students mulled over the info and dove back into the magic circle for a rematch.
"...!!"
"Hey, you bastard, hogging back-to-back turns?!"
"Get the ropes ready. Tie him up when he comes out!"
Another 10 minutes later.
"...Kuh! Targeting the ankles, huh. But this time..."
"Grab him!"
Envers Redburn got trussed up tight.
And amid the commotion, the Golden Magic Tower Master's disciple dove into the magic circle.
"...!!"
In retrospect, the first day was pure Wild West. Everyone tying up whoever came out of the circle to jump in first themselves.
Word spread, drawing in even unaffiliated ordinary students, turning the Tower of Trials courtyard into an even hotter mess.
With limited time and everyone else a rival, the carnage mindset bred tragedy. The classroom buzzed with schemes, betrayals, and dirty tricks.
Who quelled that chaos? Not Bennett, not the Pale Princess, but Professor Alexon, who comet-like burst into the room.
Hearing the rumors, Alexon had rushed over barefoot, unwilling to let students hog such prime entertainment.
Professor Alexon monopolized it for a real-world 3 hours.
Students waited, sucking their thumbs like elementary kids who'd had the arcade machine snatched by their middle-school bully brother, clinging to hope that law and order would bloom someday...
Afterward came the era of peace and order.
Professor Alexon, blocked by the 10th floor wall, stopped hogging the dawn hours and fairly distributed the rest. Students gained equal challenge rights regardless of skill.
Of course, trading challenge slots happened too. Kids who preferred slacking over fighting or self-improvement sold theirs without hesitation.
Or teams climbing together would hit a "wall" and lose interest. After nearly half dropped out, students split into major groups like this:
※The lead assault team grinding to break into leaderboard floors.
"Bennett, how about recruiting one more party member? We're short on firepower."
"True. The Sleeping Princess in the Woods on Floor 7 drains too much mana. A flame mage in training would fit."
[Ah, I know a friend for that. Selvia, my roommate...]
※Chase teams following the assault team's intel.
"Your Ladyship, according to info I bought... Floor 8 has a beggar. Bribeable with money?"
"...No word on fighting style or special strengths...?"
"Ah, no. Just that it's a beggar."
"Hmm, I think we shouldn't blow money like that..."
※Challenge teams purely climbing to boost personal/party strength.
"I'll settle it one-on-one with Jay of the Draw. Don't interfere."
"Please, Envers. You get shredded every climb—why keep forcing it?!"
"Hey, let him. Treat him as a ticket to Jay. Check tactics first. When Envers gets bisected by Jay, we block the follow-up with ice walls..."
And then, unclassified from the rest, students who suddenly started appearing... twisted ones.
"That Floor 5 boss."
"The guy called Jay of the Draw?"
"Doesn't that seem... practical?"
"?"
Training teams, deeply inspired by the Tower of Trials' enemies one way or another!
"Gun kata's doable—just dual-wield artifacts with built-in magic missiles. Plenty of 'style' there...!!"
"Switching to iaijutsu training from now on. Can't forget that romance."
"I-I love getting owned by the Whip Witch... One more Floor 4 run, and she'll trample me good. So happy."
"Snap out of it, you idiots!!"
The mad wizard had unleashed poison into the academy.
In that chaos, Redburn's bastard son Envers kept training relentlessly.
Never properly cared for, raised in a sunless closet, tossed the Redburn name like table scraps—he saw martial power as both means and end.
Grow strong. Get strong enough to prove it to his sneering siblings and family, his father who discarded him as "utterly useless."
And make them regret it. Regret abandoning him, abandoning his mother.
That drive brought him to the academy. He never skipped a day of training. Focused solely on growing stronger.
No talent. Even with palms torn bloody, progress crawled. Bloody effort barely kept him mid-to-lower tier.
Then, a shining star appeared.
In a run where the Golden Tower faction declared a numbers-blitz strategy, rallying as many academy students as possible, Envers climbed alongside them.
On Floor 8, they met a beggar in ragged clothes.
He subdued charging students with a single wooden staff. Simple path, yet profound. Each gesture held a thousand subtleties, yielding amazing results with minimal force.
Envers watched the beggar's dance, breathless.
After all other students wiped, Envers asked what it was. The beggar said it was a speck afloat on the great sea of martial arts, named Dog-Beating Stick Technique.
He gave Envers 3 seconds. After three exchanges, a staff to the head sent him flying from the Tower of Trials.
Martial arts.
Those two words branded into his mind.