37 – Position Test

"The test you're taking this time is the Position Test!" Lero Ro explained after gathering all the Regulars together. "I think a lot of you have noticed already. The fighting in the Tower usually happens in a team. The Position is the role that you play during these battles. There are a lot of different positions, but basically…"

He briefly summarized each of the basic five.

Fisherman – Disarms the enemy using the Reel inventory, and is active in the heart of battle. Can also carry out independent activities.

Spearbearer – Uses spears to target enemies from behind or finish off what the Fisherman started.

Lightbearer – Lights up the dark Tower, collects battle data, and sends it to the scout.

Scout – Observes enemy movements at the forefront using the observer and helps the Fisherman when he charges.

Wave Controller – Controls Shinsoo to assist in battle or overpower an opponent. They are known to dominate the battlefield.

Some of these were obvious based on the name, but others were rather strange and used devices and tactics that were unique to the Tower.

"…and there are more positions beyond these five, like the Guide, but it doesn't have much to do with you," said Lero Ro.

To sum up, we were all assigned to a specific position among the five, and we would be trained for a month in it. We'd also be given scores for our performance in various tests the instructors would give us, and our class attendance. Only a limited number of Regulars would pass per position.

Then Lero Ro showed us a large board with the assigned positions and number to pass.

Beside certain names at the top of the assignment lists, there was a "Best Seed" label.

Hatsu asked what it meant, and received the explanation that one person per test from the previous tests were chosen to receive bonus points because they did well.

Lero Ro offered no explanation as to why each Regular got the best seeds, only that they were chosen fairly.

The Regulars predictably started complaining loudly, while I observed the lists closely, glossing over the Regulars that were of no interest to me.

Fisherman (4): Axion (Best Seed), Anak (Best Seed), Androssi…

Spearbearer (4): Rak Wraithraiser…

Lightbearer (2): Michelle Light (Best Seed), Khun Aguero Agnis…

Scout (3): Ship Leesoo (Best Seed), Hatsu…

Wave Controller (2): Phonsekal Laure, Hwaryun, Hoh…Baam.

Only four best seeds had been chosen, one for each test, and the two cohorts hadn't been separated.

Rachel, under her alias Michelle Light, received a Best Seed, probably for gathering the best team in the deathmatch test which was its real purpose.

Ship Leesoo probably got his best seed for figuring out the Door Test through deduction alone.

I received a Best Seed myself, though I wasn't sure which test. If Rachel got it for the first test, that only left the barrier test and the Crown game. Either was possible.

In the story, Khun would have gotten the best seed for the Crown game, because he won two rounds for his team using his own skills and the Regulars he smuggled in.

But we messed up his plan and he never got a chance to show off with the Regulars he smuggled in. I thought he still had a decent chance at it though, the way he negotiated with us to help his team go up. Of course, it failed in the end because of me and Hwaryun, so maybe that was why he didn't get it.

I might've gotten it for the Crown game instead for my battle performance and acquiring the Black March/Green April for Androssi.

Anak's best seed was the most puzzling one of all though. She couldn't have gotten the Crown game best seed, as she disqualified her own team. So, hers must have been the barrier test.

But that made no sense. Lero Ro could call Baam a fluke because he never even got pushed by the barrier, but what about Rachel and Androssi? They also didn't get pushed. Once is a fluke, but 3 times, especially with a princess of Zahard? Doesn't the guy know that Yuri has the same kind of Shinsoo resistance? I thought Lero Ro knew Yuri from his own Regular days while climbing up the Tower, but maybe I remembered wrong.

Anak had the easiest time crossing, but her actual Shinsoo resistance was definitely lower than either of the two other Irregulars or the true Zahard princess. And then there was me, who absorbed the whole barrier.

Did Lero Ro simply get pissed at us and refuse to give any of us the best seed for his test out of pettiness?

Given the way he kept altering the Crown game rules, I could certainly see that. Of course, with me and Rachel, it might just be because we couldn't double up on best seeds, we could only get it once each.

Well, actually, figuring this out wasn't all that important, except to explain to Androssi, who looked ready to murder Anak to wipe that smug expression off her face.

The important part was understanding what the assignments meant.

My position was pretty secure, despite competing with the princesses, simply because there were four spots, and I was best seed. Androssi might have some trouble if she messes up the way she did in the story. That was especially true with me being assigned to Fisherman because Akryawng or whatever, that guy Headon had sent, whom I'd replaced, had been assigned to Spearbearer instead in the story.

All of the other main characters were assigned to the same positions as their story counterpart, and I only included Hoh because he was part of Hwaryun and Yu Han Sung's plan, although as a mere pawn who didn't know he was being used.

After fielding numerous questions and responding to complaints, Lero Ro wrapped up the explanation, telling us to follow the assistant test guides to our instructors and that the Wave Controller instructor would start 3 days later.

I raised my hand.

"Oh, how polite of you, Mr. Axion, raising your hand patiently like that. The rest of you should learn from him instead of interrupting me," said Lero Ro, giving the other Regulars looks, especially the ones who inundated him with questions earlier. "Yes, Mr. Axion, what is your question?"

"Can we choose to attend a different instructor's class from our assigned position?"

"You want to change positions?" He raised an eyebrow. "Well, all of us test administrators evaluated you carefully. The position we assigned is the one we think is best for you. But if you insist, for example, if you deliberately hid your true abilities during the previous tests," he said with narrowed eyes, "…then you can take an extra qualification test for the position you want and we will re-assign you. But I caution you, it will not be easy. You will be required to demonstrate some proficiency in the position you choose. If you fail this test, you will fail the Floor as well, and you will not be allowed to continue in the position we originally assigned either. That is the price of demanding a re-evaluation."

Everyone looked at me as whispers started. Some of the Regulars also had contemplative looks, as if they might consider the option themselves.

Rak looked at each of the Fishermen candidates, before Khun nudged him. "Crocodile, look at that competition, don't be stupid. You can always change positions later, just get through this test."

"Don't you understand the pride of a Fisherman!" Rak said, puffing his chest out.

Khun sighed and shook his head. "I warned you…"

Ship Leesoo was sweating nervously, when Hatsu put a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry so much, Ship. Even if he switches to Scout, I'm sure you'll do fine. You've got the best seed, after all," said Hatsu.

"Ahahaha…thanks Hatsu. Was I that obvious?" Ship rubbed his head.

"That will not be necessary, Mr. Lero Ro. I am happy with my position. I only meant to ask if I could attend some different classes to learn from them. As we climb up the Tower, it would be useful to be able to learn how the other roles function too, right?" I asked.

"That is an unusual request…it would be up to the instructor whose class you wish to attend. Do bear in mind that it will mean your attendance in your assigned class will suffer, and you will lose points for it," said Lero Ro. "It's also just as likely that if you don't attend consistently, you won't be able to follow along with the lessons either."

"I see, thank you."

Finally, we started to follow the guides to our instructors. Apparently Rak changed his mind after seeing that I wasn't actually switching, and he went with the Spearbearers.

"Are you really going to other classes?" Androssi asked from beside me as we walked.

"There's one in particular I want to attend, if the instructor allows me," I said.

For most of them I could simply have Agate spy on their lessons for a little. Although I could no longer split my consciousness so easily to pay attention to different things at the same time without Agate's mind spell, I could still record the sessions for later viewing.

My wand couldn't be in multiple places at once, but most of them didn't interest me all that much. Getting a quick look to understand the basics of how their role functioned was good enough.

"Let me guess…Wave Controller?" She asked with a knowing look.

"Haha…yes," I said.

But the Wave Controller position was all about manipulating Shinsoo, and I wanted those lessons in their entirety. I wanted the practice and the opportunity to be directly tutored by the instructor as well.

"You're lucky that the instructor's starting 3 days late then. You can come to the first few Fisherman lessons with us, and still start at the same time at the beginning with the rest of the Wave Controllers," said Androssi.

"Too bad you're not a best seed, or you could afford to join your boyfriend without worrying about your points," said Anak, butting into our conversation.

"Too bad you lost the Green April, I'll make great use of her as a top quality hook in the Fisherman position," said Androssi. "And we aren't dating. Don't you know princesses of Zahard aren't allowed to date? Oh, I almost forgot, you're a fake."

"Was there ever a real princess of Zahard? You're also a fake, Androssi Zahard," said Anak.

"An-androssi Z-zahard? You're a princess too, Miss Androssi?" Some other Regular with us in a white sweater with grey hair asked. All the Fishermen candidates had varying degrees of shock on their faces.

"That's absurd, you're calling me a fake?" Androssi said, completely ignoring the other guys. "Guess you don't know the difference between a fake and a real one. I'd teach you the difference, but not now. It would be disrespectful to our instructor to fight here on the way to our first class. But you don't know anything about respect, either, do you?"

"Big talk for somebody who needs her boyfriend to fight her battles," said Anak.

"He's not my boyfriend. And so what? People actually like me, unlike you. Your teammates surrendered as soon as you were out of sight," said Androssi.

"Yeah! We love Miss Androssi!" The same Regular with the grey hair cheered. Despite his grey hairs, he didn't appear to be all that old. Maybe in his late twenties, in terms of physical age. You could never tell with residents in the Tower though, but nobody really cared for real age either, only the physical age.

Some other Regulars cheered with him, chanting Androssi's name.

"See? Everyone likes me. But even your own team abandoned you. How sad," said Androssi, having noticed that Anak was always alone, while Ship Leesoo and Hatsu continued hanging out together. Androssi herself sat in the cafeteria with me, but at other times she also mingled with the other Regulars and gave friendly smiles or engaged in polite conversation, such as during Lero Ro's explanation today. With her good looks, it was no wonder that many of the male Regulars liked her.

The assistant announced our arrival before the argument could go any further, and we entered a classroom almost like a miniature lecture hall with our instructor waiting at the front in front of the white board. The seats were organized in rows with long wooden tables to take notes on.

We filed in and took seats.

The instructor was a thin woman who wore a blue blouse and a pink and white striped dress. Her hair was bunched into twin tails by her helmet that covered her whole head, revealing no features, giving the appearance of a reflective metal ball.

"My name is Hax, and I'll be your instructor for the Fisherman position," she said from the podium. "Congratulations on making it this far. Today, we'll just do some introductions and cover a little bit of theory. First, I'm going to explain what Shinsoo is and why it's important for all positions, not just the Wave Controllers…"

She gave a pretty basic and bland lecture on Shinsoo, without adding anything I didn't already know from my own experimentation.

It wasn't necessary for the Fisherman position to delve deeply into it, only to know that it was necessary for combat, especially as we progressed up the Tower, and to know what kinds of things to expect from other users of Shinsoo.

"The most important part you must remember is that in order to use Shinsoo without the aid of items, unless you are a member of a Ten Great Families or a princess of Zahard, you need permission from the Floor Administrator. You can use items without permission because they were already permitted by the Administrators at the workshop after they were made, for a specific range of Floors. Whereas, if you're using more than a specific amount of Shinsoo, you need a contract with the Administrator, or you'll be restricted. And you'll need to make the contract the same way on each Floor with each of the Administrators. The E-grade Pocket you received when you first entered the Tower will allow you to make the contract. It is also an item that was permitted by the Administrators, so it only works up to the 40th Floor. To contract with Administrators above that, you'll need to buy a higher rank Pocket. By the way, it's very expensive, so don't wait until you're at the 40th Floor to save up. Now take out your Pockets and we'll learn to make the contract."

Everyone did so, even Androssi and Anak, and we followed her instructions to make a contract.

O O O

I found myself in a dark space, with a massive eye looking at me. Glancing around, it seemed to be a reptilian creature of sorts. I could only see as far as its angular face, it was that massive.

"I'm the Administrator of this Floor. Are you here for a contract? Don't you already have one? Or do you want to fight?"

"No fight, thanks, I'm just learning how to make a contract on my own. I didn't even realize I made a contract with Headon until somebody told me about it," I said.

"OK. I don't mind making another contract with you."

"So how does this work?"

"You ask for a contract, I give you one. Then you can use Shinsoo on my Floor."

"What about the terms? My obligations and responsibilities?"

"What? You want to do something for me? Are you an 'adventurer' like that other kid with the red cape that came in a long time ago? Sorry, I don't have any quests for you."

Was he talking about Zahard? My capes were red too, but that was just a coincidence.

"Uh…no, thanks. I mean…are you just letting me use Shinsoo however I want, for nothing in return?"

"What now? You want some restrictions? Those are for the ones who've gone up already, the ones you people call Rankers," it said. "Or if you want to fight me. Are you sure you don't want to fight me?"

"Oh…I see. No, I don't want to fight you."

"Let's make a contract then."

"Wait, one more question. After making the contract, can I cancel it or make a new one with you later?"

"Ah, have you realized it then? Yes, for you, climber of the Tower, this contract is not a strength. It is shackles. But you may come to me to cancel it whenever you wish."

How could that be? The Administrator had told Baam the same thing in the story, but that was because as an Irregular he didn't need the Administrator's permission to use Shinsoo.

That might have been true for me as well, seeing as I was able to absorb and convert Shinsoo to mana even on the first Floor before contracting with Headon, but if there weren't any contract terms, what did it matter?

Perhaps the contract would make things easier for me, and become a crutch if I ever needed to fight without it. But that wasn't really a serious concern for me at the moment.

The more immediate concern was to ensure that my status as an Irregular was not exposed, and have a contract like every other Regular. Test administrators and other individuals with sufficient authority could look up whether people had contracts for each floor based on the status recorded in their pockets. I had verified this with Yu Han Sung, so if I refused to get a contract, I would be either forced to never openly use Shinsoo, or face assassins from Zahard.

There was no real choice but to continue making contracts with each Floor Administrator if I wanted to climb the Tower, seeing as Headon's contract was only temporary and applied up to the 2nd Floor.

The thought of being potentially magically bound by a contract was a little disturbing, but given the lack of any obligations or restrictions, these contracts seemed to be just a way to request permission to use something that fell under the Floor Administrator's authority.

Unless there were specific terms to the contract, I felt that there was no need to overthink the risk involved. I was no stranger to loosely defined contracts already, given my bond with the water spirits, and this type of magic seemed to be vague by nature.

And if the "shackles" did turn out to be a serious problem, I could just cancel the contract, as he said.

"Alright, I'm ready. Let's make a contract," I said.

"Here you go," the Administrator said

Light flashed. What a loose "contract".

O O O

"…that concludes this morning's lesson. I will now hand out the schedule for upcoming tests. Be sure you don't miss those, or you'll lose a lot of points. After the lunch break, return here for the next lesson in the afternoon," said Hax. "You're dismissed."

"Did you make a new contract?" Androssi and I asked each other simultaneously, then laughed.

"Ladies first," I said.

"No, I just wanted to see what it was like and meet the Administrator. You?" She said.

"I did. The one from Headon was conditional and temporary, this new one isn't," I said.

The instructor walked over to us while the other Regulars started leaving the room.

"Mr. Axion. I heard from Mr. Lero Ro you want to attend some of the other positions' lessons? Are you unsatisfied with your position?"

"Not at all, Instructor Hax. I am happy to be in the Fisherman position, and I do think it suits me. I am merely interested in learning how the other positions work, and perhaps some of their skills," I said. "I think it is important to not only develop one's strengths, but also learn to improve one's weaknesses."

"Good. If you were unsatisfied with the Fisherman position, I'd be very disappointed. Did you know that Lero Ro tried to recommend you for the Wave Controller position? I don't know what he was thinking, but I saw the recording of the Crown game, and you're very obviously more suited to the Fisherman position."

Androssi looked at me while holding a hand to her mouth, trying to withhold laughter.

"Not only that, I had to argue with Yu Bok-Dol, the Spearbearer instructor, to get you in this class. Yu thought you were acting as a Spearbearer, supporting Miss Androssi's initial charges, rather than acting as a Fisherman yourself. But the way you disarmed your opponents and took their weapons for your own team, that was clearly a Fisherman's way of thinking. Luckily Yuga was not around to argue with us, and neither Lero Ro or Yu could outvote me by themselves, so eventually they gave up."

"Thank you for your efforts, Instructor Hax. I am flattered that you went to such lengths to support me, though I'm not sure I am worthy of such attention," I said politely. Inside, I was rather displeased this woman had stolen an opportunity from me. I wanted to be in the Wave Controller class, damn you!

"Don't think anything of it. It's my job as an instructor. Anyways, if you really want to go to some of the other classes, I won't stop you. But I'm sure Lero Ro already warned you, you'll lose points for attendance. Especially if you miss any of my tests. We'll also cover the basics of what all the other positions do in this class, so you understand how to fight them as a Fisherman."

"I understand, thank you very much for your consideration."

O O O

The next three days passed in a similar fashion. Taking classes in the morning and afternoon, shorter training sessions with Androssi in the early evening, while I continued meditating with the water stone on my own time.

On the fourth day the Wave Controller instructor finally arrived, and I skipped the Fisherman class, leaving Agate to record in my absence, to attend.

O O O

A/N:

Zerak: It's an interesting thought. Because Shinsoo works differently from the magic of the FoZ mages, it probably wouldn't translate the same way. But there could be alternative interactions.

Frescko: He didn't get the modifications from Panacea because the Bionanite Swarm and the Armoriont can do it for him, the way he made the water stone the center of a second heart. He hasn't gotten many redundancy modifications because most organs aren't that critical, and the Bionanite Swarm and Armoriont can subsitute for many functions in emergencies, then regenerate the organs quickly once out of combat. For example, backup lungs aren't necssary because the Armoriont can perform cutaneous respiration and the Bionanite Swarm can transport oxygen to blood cells. He does have many more nerves, which are used by the Bionanite Swarm and some of which he used for the new blood-based artificial circuits. Finally, although I haven't had him comment on it specifically, the MC is also wary of changing too drastically from human form so that it remains easy to blend in, even if he had to undergo body scanning procedures.

Dovar: Thanks for pointing that out. Just updated the tag.

Theorist01: That hasn't been covered before, but it comes up next chapter, sort of, in a small way. He can't learn new spells or other mystical techniques. It's just his nature as an artificial spirit. Even if he could, he wouldn't be able to learn spells from other magic systems, he would be limited to a small subset of elven spirit magic that does not require elemental spirits.