CTWMA 10

Chapter: 10

The legent of the Galaxy Martial God Realm – Reincarnation (1)

When I came out of the library, the sun had already sunk quite a bit.

I checked the clock tower and saw that it was a little past 5 p.m.

According to summer standards, the sun should have still been shining brightly at this hour, but it was already setting. Was the time period here closer to early spring or late autumn?

No wonder it wasn’t hot at all.

I hadn’t really thought about the climate, but it felt like I had discovered something new.

No, maybe assuming that the tower had seasons was just my own prejudice.

Was each floor of the tower a planet?

Or was it a dimension with only a specific space, like the flat earth theory?

As for gates, they were said to be surrounded by walls of mist, as if there were invisible barriers inside, and you couldn’t cross beyond them.

The 10th floor might also be a space similar to a gate.

It was just an unimaginably larger space compared to a gate.

According to the community information, the 10th floor had many cities scattered far apart.

There were monsters outside the cities. Near the cities, monsters around the level of horned rabbits and goblins appeared, but the farther away from the cities you went, the stronger monsters that could be seen in the late 10th floors appeared.

Apparently, it was possible to travel to other cities, but just like servers being separated, the nearby cities of this one were mostly filled with climbers who had been invited from Korea.

Climbers from other countries were in more distant cities, so you were more likely to meet foreigners on the 20th or 30th floors than on the 10th floor.

As the number of people decreased the higher you climbed, it seemed that people from multiple countries gathered into one city, like a server merge.

“I was thinking of earning some shop points outside the city, but I guess I’ll have to do it tomorrow.”

I didn’t have good night vision, and I had no desire to get ambushed again, have a hole punched through my heart, or get my head smashed open.

I looked through the guidebook and found accommodation that wasn’t too cheap.

It cost 600 credits per night (about 60,000 won), and since it also sold cheap meals, I bought two portions of packaged sandwiches and went up to my room.

The room was a clean three-pyeong studio with a bathroom and a reasonably comfortable bed.

I threw off my combat boots and clothes and lay down on the bed.

“Ah, this is nice.”

My physical body had been newly created after arriving on the 10th floor, so I had almost no fatigue, but strangely enough, I felt tired.

Maybe it was because I was mentally exhausted.

I considered taking a short nap, but instead I put one portion of the sandwich into my inventory and returned to my main body.

As the time of my 10th-floor clone stopped, I opened my eyes in my main body.

While eating the sandwich I took out from my inventory, I checked the second slot of “Multi-Dimensional Avatar.”

[Warning!]

[This dimension is connected to the first slot in terms of time and space. If you spend time in this dimension, time will also continue to flow for the avatar in the first slot. Would you like to create an avatar in this dimension?]

If I chose Earth for the second slot, time would also flow for the first slot clone.

However, since I had already rented a room and locked the door, it wouldn’t matter for a short while.

Even if something happened, it was still just a clone. I could simply make another one.

After finishing the sandwich, I chose Earth.

“The sandwich tastes good.”

My consciousness moved to the second clone.

When I opened my eyes, I was standing at the familiar entrance of Dong Seoul Terminal.

It was the place I had visited every vacation, and the exact same place where I had been invited to the tower.

I took out my smartphone from my pocket and checked the time. It was close to 1 p.m.

I had spent about seven hours in the tower, but less than three hours had passed in reality.

Looking at my ability window, the time of my main body was stopped, while the time of my 10th-floor clone was flowing quickly.

The higher I climbed the tower, the larger the difference in time would become.

Still, would I be able to have such a fascinating experience outside the tower while keeping myself safe?

Well, leaving the tower didn’t mean I would lose my abilities, so it wasn’t impossible.

But even so, didn’t the old librarian tell me to come find him once I reached the upper floors?

If someone had done me a favor, wasn’t it only right as a human being to live up to their expectations?

“It’s all just an excuse. Since when have I ever lived worrying about what other people think?”

That was right. I had always lived doing what I wanted.

I was the type who couldn’t stand not knowing something, and there were many things I wanted to learn.

Because of that, I was often called a weirdo.

Now, I was simply curious about the tower, what existed above it, and the purpose of the tower’s existence.

My conversation with the old librarian hadn’t completely answered my questions.

Instead, it had only increased my curiosity.

What exactly was magic? I wanted to learn martial arts too.

I wanted to explore the mysteries of this world.

If I had never experienced it from the beginning, I wouldn’t know any better, but now telling me to return to a peaceful and monotonous daily life?

Was the tower trying to throw me into hell?

I was beyond excited.

Returning to a familiar place made the mystery that had come to me feel real.

Delete Earth from slot 2 and travel to a new dimension.

I could always return home anytime.

Of course, before that.

[I’m going to stay at a college friend’s house after discharge and do an internship in Seoul. I’ll be busy for a while, so I probably won’t be able to contact you often.]

I sent at least a message to my parents. It was better than suddenly disappearing.

Just as I was about to erase the clone again, my phone rang.

It was my mother.

“Hello.”

—Son, did you get discharged? But suddenly an internship?

“Ah, my college friend asked me if I wanted to try an internship, so I applied just for fun during my last vacation and ended up getting accepted.”

She replied with a worried voice.

—Still, you just got discharged. You should rest for a while.

“I need to build up my qualifications if I want to get a job later, so this is actually a good thing. I can’t just abandon my friend.”

—What kind of place is it?

“A place connected with my university. It’s not a major corporation, but it’s a fairly solid mid-sized company.”

Being at a prestigious university made it easier to tell lies like this.

—Okay. Are you coming home before starting the internship?

“No, my home is in Jeju. How could I go back? It starts tomorrow. Originally it was supposed to start today, but since I was discharged today, they understood and let me start tomorrow instead. But according to the seniors, I’ll probably be busy because I’ll have to go in early and leave late.”

My mother accepted it and told me to take care of myself. I laughed and said it was only going to be a few months, so there was no reason to worry, then ended the call.

I looked up at the sky for a moment. The weather was clear and hot, typical summer weather.

“Well, a few months isn’t a lie.”

For me, it might become several years, but in Earth’s time, it would probably only be a few months.

Looking at the tower shimmering like a mirage in the sky, I erased the clone.

After returning to my main body, I deleted Earth from slot 2 without hesitation.

Then I thought about what dimension I should create my next clone in.

“Huh? There are more dimensions now?”

Although the names of the dimensions were all just numbers, the number of searched dimensions had increased.

It was probably because of the connections I had created after learning new abilities like magic bullets and spirit arts.

Or maybe it was because of my connection with the old librarian?

Even though they were only dimension names, I could roughly tell what kind of connection each dimension was related to.

“Martial arts or magic.”

Since spirit arts required talent and took a long time, I decided to postpone it until later.

My hesitation didn’t last long.

“To reach great mastery in magic takes 1,000 years. If I want to climb the tower, I should probably train my body first, right?”

To a dimension where I could learn martial arts.

Since I had learned the Blue Wood Sword, I should go to the dimension with the strongest connection to it.

I placed dimension #33669, the one most closely connected to the Blue Wood Sword, into slot 2.

Before creating a clone in slot 2, I thought about the new ability “Reincarnation” that appeared when Multi-Dimensional Avatar reached level 10.

“Reincarnation. Come to think of it, weren’t martial arts easier to learn the younger you were? But I won’t actually be reincarnating, right?”

No way. It would probably just create a birth record in that dimension or something.

Even if it was a medieval China-like martial arts world, wouldn’t a clone with no connections or background be restricted in its actions?

My guess was that when I created a clone, memories would be implanted into the people nearby, making them believe I had always lived in the same village.

Wouldn’t something like that be necessary for it to be considered a superpower?

There was no way I would really reincarnate as a baby.

That wouldn’t even be a clone anymore.

“Well, I’ll only know after I try it.”

Honestly, I was a little uneasy, but I couldn’t resist my curiosity.

I selected reincarnation.

[Slot 2 – Galaxy Martial World]

“Mother! Wake up! Mother! Mother!”

“Defibrillator! Hurry!”

“Charge 200 joules! Shock! Again!”

The obstetricians in the operating room moved urgently.

However, the woman on the operating table eventually stopped breathing.

The doctors sighed deeply in despair.

“…What about the baby?”

“The baby is safe. It cried until it became exhausted and fell asleep.”

At the nurse’s answer, the doctors let out sighs of relief.

They had tried their best to save the mother, but at least it was fortunate that they had saved the baby.

“Don’t worry. It was a pregnancy where both the mother and baby were likely to die. The fact that the baby survived is a miracle. We did everything we could.”

At the surgeon’s words, the assistant professor who had been assisting asked in a worried voice.

“But isn’t this child a direct descendant of the Cheon Family? I heard the baby’s grandfather is even a candidate to become the family head…”

“We advised termination several times for the mother’s safety. Even the mother herself knew that continuing the pregnancy would kill her, but she stubbornly refused. There are medical records, so there shouldn’t be a problem. Rather, the fact that the baby survived like this is a miracle among miracles. No matter how powerful someone from the Cheon Family is, they cannot blame us.”

As he spoke, the surgeon recalled the time from when the mother had first been admitted in the very early stages of pregnancy until now.

At first, the mother had rapidly weakened, but suddenly, as if she had received a miracle, she began maintaining the minimum level of health.

Because of that, they had held onto hope, but in the end, the mother died on the operating table.

No matter how many times he experienced a table death, he never became used to it.

Even so, the surgeon had tried his best to fulfill his duty.

“Who are the guardians of the mother and child?”

The nurse answered the surgeon’s question.

“According to the records, the baby’s father is deceased, and the current legal guardian of the baby is the grandfather, Mr. Cheon Gyeong-ho.”

“…I see. Then contact Mr. Cheon Gyeong-ho and connect the mother with the funeral home. What about the mother’s family?”

“According to the records, she has no biological family, and in the family registry, she is registered under the Cheon Family as a daughter-in-law.”

“The funeral will be lonely.”

The surgeon missed the cigarette he had quit after a long time.

It had been several centuries since humanity had advanced into space.

It was an era where martial artists rode spaceships and pioneered stars.

Yet, ordinary humans were still far from overcoming death.

I cried from the extreme cold.

I kept screaming “Fuck, it’s so damn cold!” but a baby’s mouth structure couldn’t pronounce such strong and accurate words.

Only after a warm blanket wrapped around my body was I finally able to stop screaming.

As I suddenly became warm, I couldn’t even think about returning to my main body and had no choice but to surrender to the overwhelming sleepiness.

When I regained consciousness, I was finally able to understand the situation.

I really had reincarnated.

Tower, you crazy bastard! What are you going to do if you actually make me reincarnate with a reincarnation ability?!

A newborn baby had poor eyesight immediately after birth, making it extremely difficult to see the surroundings.

On top of that, wrapped in a blanket, my arms and legs were not free, so I couldn’t move.

Actually, even without the blanket, I had no strength to move. A baby’s body was powerless.

I recalled the “3D Avatar” ability and tried using it.

[Unable to use while inside the body of this avatar.]

Seeing that notification, I returned to my main body.

“If it’s impossible while I’m inside the clone, then it should be possible when I’m not, right?”

When I used the 3D Avatar ability, an image of myself in the form of a baby appeared in front of me like a video.

When I was in the 3D Avatar state, I could clearly see my surroundings.

I looked around and was shocked.

“Huh? This isn’t a martial arts world?”

The place I was in was a hospital, and it looked like a very modern hospital.

(To be continued)