Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Virtual Tower Survival Begins
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Bzzz.
A vibration rang out from her smart student notebook.
"...Who is it?"
She fumbled for the notebook and gripped it again.
One message had arrived.
As she read it without much thought, surprise flickered in her eyes for a moment.
[Lily, the kids from the Korean Wizard Academy just arrived at the British Wizards' Association.]
The Korean kids were at the British Wizards' Association?
Lily shot up from her seat.
The long tour of the British Wizards' Association had ended, and they now had thirty minutes of free time.
Of course, to ensure smooth scheduling and prevent students from wandering off, individual activities were prohibited.
In the end, it was me, Seojun, Youngjun, Ara, Hayoung, and Hyunjoo. The six of us formed one group.
Since it was just the core characters from the original story, I was quite satisfied with the group members.
"Seojun, check this out. Whoa, isn't this spirit magic so cool? How does it work?"
I glanced at Seojun, who was touring the association's interior in a great atmosphere with Hyunjoo, just the two of them.
And Youngjun was subtly hanging back behind them, giving them space with some nice consideration.
He might look simple, but he had a surprisingly delicate side.
"Sunwoo, look at this."
Then Hayoung came over to me and pointed at something with her hand.
At the tip of her finger was a small, transparent lump on display.
"They say it's a Glacial Crystal."
True to form as someone who handled ice magic, Hayoung looked amazed at the ice-attribute item.
"They say holding this makes the form of your ice magic even more solid, and ancient wizards used it for training. Isn't it cool?"
"Yeah, it is."
"What? Your reaction's so bland. Not that impressed, huh?"
Hayoung pouted.
I gave her a slight smile.
"Honestly, it's just okay."
I'd seen it once before regression.
"Tch. Fine. You're no fun."
She pretended to be mad for a second, then flashed a playful grin and ran off to Ara.
...
I was alone again.
Maybe I should hit the bathroom.
I'd drunk too much cola on the bus earlier, and now it was starting to hit me.
I looked around.
My group members were happily chatting and exploring the interior.
Normally, you'd tell someone before moving separately, but since I was just popping to the bathroom real quick, it shouldn't be a big deal.
I turned and started walking to find the restroom.
The association was so huge that it took a bit of a walk to get there.
As I strolled down the short hallway, I bumped into someone at the corner.
"Ah!"
"Oh, you okay?"
I said to the woman who'd fallen in front of me.
She had blonde hair. She seemed British—should I have spoken in English?
"Urgh... I'm fine."
The fallen woman replied in fluent Korean.
Her pronunciation was so perfect it startled me. She could almost pass for Korean.
"You speak Korean really well."
"Yeah, I've been studying it steadily because I'm really into Korea. But wow, you've got some strength. I don't usually lose out in a contest of power."
I reached out a hand to help her up. She grabbed it. I felt calluses on her palm. The hand of an enhancement wizard who wielded weapons.
Then she looked up.
The unexpected face made my whole body freeze.
"Huh?"
I wasn't the only one flustered.
The woman in front of me let out a startled voice too, staring at my face in a daze.
"Kim Sunwoo?"
What? How does she know my name?
Slap!
Lily Rose shook off my hand and stood up on her own.
She brushed the dust off her pants, then looked at me with a strange gaze. Then she grinned.
I could tell the emotion in that smile was mockery, which didn't sit well with me.
"You're the top theorist at the Korean Wizard Academy, right?"
"Yeah, that's me."
"You know me?"
"Lily Rose."
At my answer, Lily Rose smiled again, looking satisfied.
Her snarky tone aside, she was doll-like pretty.
"I saw your basic magic aptitude test on Mitoob. It was hilarious. How'd you do that?"
Why bring up old news...
"Sigh."
I let out a sigh. Answering her felt like a hassle.
"If you've got nothing else, I'm out."
With that, I turned and headed toward the bathroom again.
Then her voice called from behind.
"Huh? I'm not teasing. Good luck!"
Lily Rose stared blankly at Kim Sunwoo's retreating back as he walked away alone. He was ignoring her like she wasn't even a big deal in England.
"I'm seriously not teasing."
Sure, the video was funny, but... yeah, maybe I'd phrased it a bit meanly.
"Whatever."
She probably wouldn't run into him much anyway. Best not to dwell.
With that mindset, Lily started walking forward again to find Seojun.
But there'd been a subtle pain in her shoulder for a while now.
Looked like she'd gotten a light bruise from bumping into Kim Sunwoo earlier.
"...What gives? I almost never lose in strength."
Thinking about it, as far as she knew, Kim Sunwoo was a manifestation wizard.
And she was an enhancement wizard. Beating an enhancement wizard in a shoulder check as a manifestation wizard?
For a manifestation wizard, his body was way too sturdy.
"He must train his stamina hard."
Or maybe coincidence.
She'd been working hard on stamina training lately, so she'd probably picked up some minor injury without realizing.
With her thoughts sorted, Lily erased Kim Sunwoo from her mind completely.
She had only one reason for being here: to find Seojun.
"Where could he be?"
As she looked around, Lily spotted Seojun.
"There he is."
She walked toward him with poised steps.
And so time passed.
After finishing all the schedule, we arrived at a massive luxury hotel in central London.
The sign read 'Hotel Hanseong.'
It was the same five-star Hanseong Hotel I'd stayed at once in Korea.
Hanseong Group was a globally famous conglomerate.
Of course they had chain locations worldwide, including in England.
For a high school field trip accommodation, it seemed pretty extravagant.
But the Korean Wizard Academy was the richest school in the world, so students could enjoy perks like this.
"Kim Sunwoo! Over here!"
As I looked around the hotel lobby with wonder, Youngjun called me from afar.
I walked over to him slowly.
For the field trip rooms, it was triples, and I was rooming with Youngjun.
"Hey, hey, Sunwoo. You bring any snacks?"
"Nope."
"Tch. Too bad."
Youngjun muttered disappointedly and turned his head.
"Here he comes. Hey! Hurry up!"
Youngjun waved his hand. Seojun was walking toward us from afar, holding the hotel card key.
It made sense since he was in our group, but Seojun was with us too.
"Oh yeah, Sunwoo. You miss her earlier? Lily Rose came looking for you."
Youngjun said to me with a sly grin.
"I know."
"No way... You knew?"
"Saw her on the way to the bathroom."
"Oh."
Youngjun muttered, his excitement deflating.
"But damn, she really is pretty. Way better in person."
I nodded, agreeing to some extent.
She definitely didn't look like anyone from this world.
The short first day of the field trip ended uneventfully, and day two began.
Since today was the last group tour day, the packed schedule started early in the morning.
Following the school's guidance, we toured various landmarks and ruins.
I'd seen them in my previous life too, but myth-related sites were always fascinating.
6 PM. After finishing the tour, we returned to London.
The remaining schedule was just taking the final exam tonight.
As expected, strong complaints erupted among the students upon hearing the trip was over.
"What kind of field trip is this?!"
"We barely did any actual traveling. Is this real?"
"Wow, this is too much."
The teachers, having anticipated the backlash, placated the students by promising some free time on days four and five after the exam.
Of course, the students' anger didn't subside easily.
"Alright! Everyone gather up!"
And at 7 PM, when the exam began.
We assembled at the external exam portal gate in front of the British Wizard Academy.
Next to us were 150 second-year students from the British Wizard Academy.
Glancing around, I spotted a few familiar faces.
Especially the two guys and girls at the front seats.
Lily Rose, England's number one who'd stirred up SNS controversy recently, and number two, Louis Brown.
"The exam will start soon. Before it does, I'll briefly explain the rules."
The exam we were about to take lasted a whopping three days.
Called 'Virtual Tower Climb Survival.'
The stage was a special training tower built fifty years ago with massive investment from the World Wizards' Association, created through collaboration between countless tower experts and wizards.
It was the world's best virtual tower climbing training system.
For reference, the reason this special tower was so highly praised was separate.
It was due to its unique life-protection system powered by holy relics.
Even if someone took a fatal wound in combat, it wouldn't affect their real body.
In simple terms, the tower's interior was a mystical space where reality and virtual overlapped.
"As announced beforehand, you'll live inside the tower for three days. Scoring is based on two things: reaching the top floor, layer 30, within those three days. Or acquiring as many points as possible."
Murmurs rose among the students at Jang Ancheol's words.
"...Can you even reach layer 30?"
"Of course not."
"No one's reached layer 30 in three days in fifty years except one student, right?"
"Exactly. They're just telling us to rack up points."
Even amid the students' commotion, Jang Ancheol continued.
"There are many ways to earn points. Combat, plundering, scavenging, events—you can get them from all sorts. Check your smart student notebook for detailed rules after entering the tower."
Jang Ancheol looked around at the students and shouted again.
"Then, let the final exam begin!"
Flash!
Riding the training portal gate, we arrived in an unfamiliar space amid a massive burst of light.
A round room with pure white walls.
It was the tower's first floor.
At a glance, it resembled the stage escape exam room from the midterm.
[You have entered the tower's 1st floor.]
The 'Will of the Tower' after so long.
The Will couldn't be artificially created, but this manmade tower perfectly mimicked a real one, naturally infusing it with mystical power and birthing a 'Will'—a very special case.
I felt a sense of wonder, then pondered my direction forward.
"Hmm..."
As Jang Ancheol had said, there were basically two paths.
Climbing to the tower's summit, layer 30.
Or accumulating points.
If I could reach layer 30, it'd secure the top rank regardless of points, but it was probably impossible with my power alone.
Naturally so, since only one person had reached layer 30 in three days over fifty years, due to its brutal difficulty.
Plus, layer 28's 'Room of Endurance' required surviving three hours in a device that absorbed mana, impossible for someone like me with innately low mana.
...In the end, all I could do was accumulate points.
There were various ways to farm points.
The most basic was hunting the monsters hiding in the tower.
It was the safest and most fundamental method, but it had the drawback of not yielding massive points.
To aim for top ranks, I needed something beyond hunting.
"The best is plundering."
Plundering meant battling another student, winning, and taking half their points.
Stealing from others allowed for enormous point gains.
But plundering had penalties.
You'd be registered as a 'Red Player,' and your location would be revealed in real-time on the tower-linked smart student notebook.
Then you'd become everyone's target, and losing a fight could mean losing half your points and respawning from layer 1.
Obviously, that situation had to be avoided.
"Hmm."
As I mulled over my direction.
The Will of the Tower spoke again.
[All students have entered the tower.]
[First event, 'Placement Exam,' will begin shortly.]
"It's finally starting."
Placement Exam.
The theme of this first floor and the initial point-earning event.
Depending on the results, you could jump straight up to layer 20, making it crucial for anyone aiming for layer 30.
[5, 4, 3, 2, 1... 'Placement Exam' has begun!]
Mana filled the room.
Soon, multiple doors surrounding the room opened, and dozens of monsters poured out.
-Kraaaargh!
[Defeat the monsters.]
[Rankings will be determined by the number of monsters defeated.]
As expected, the first event was a monster extermination event.