Chapter 8. Lero Ro and the Shinsoo veil

[This person is a monster!] Mordred immediately warned.

And Isaac immediately recognized that man as the owner of the voice that administered the previous test, even though his voice sounded a little different in person.

However, the furious one-armed man seemed to be unaware of this as he snorted at the intervening person. "Who's this guy? He looks like a cricket. Do you wanna die, too?! Want some pesticide?"

As Isaac wondered if the one-armed guy seemed to have lost some brain cells during the last test together with his arm, he watched in amusement as a large humanoid chicken that seemed to be the man's teammate grabbed his shoulder with a panicked expression as he tried to calm him down: "S-stop! I think he's-..."

"I'm the test administrator... Lero Ro," the blonde man said cooly, smoothly finishing the giant chicken's words.

The armless man's expression slightly sobered when he heard this. "Test administrator? Then you are a Ranker."

"Yes, I'm a Ranker of the Tower," Lero Ro nonchalantly replied.

"A real… Ranker!" The armless man's expression turned even more startled at those words. He then turned toward the person that he argued with and spat out: "Damn it! I'm only backing down because a Ranker is here. But remember! I'll be the one to kill you!"

Isaac looked at this scene with mild interest as the Ranker began walking back. 

"Wow, he's good. He only said a few words, but stopped them from fighting!" Bam said.

"Yeah, of course. He's a Ranker and the Test Administrator," Khun commented.

"A Ranker…? What's a Ranker?" Bam asked Khun seriously.

"...What? You don't even know about Rankers?" Khun looked at Bam weirdly. He then looked at Isaac, but saw him staying silent and expressionless, so he was the one to explain, "Rankers are people who've reached the top of the Tower. They are assigned a Ranking every season in the Tower. And that's why they are called Rankers."

"To-to the top of the Tower?!" Bam exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, they're amazing. Only one or two out of thousands of Regulars get to become Rankers. Quite frankly, they are monsters. They've got crazy strength."

'One or two out of thousands of Regulars?... Regulars are already said to be the chosen ones, so becoming a Ranker is really a great accomplishment,' Isaac thought inwardly.

At that time, Lero Ro's voice sounded out again, but this time louder and clearer.

{Mic test... Regulars, over here! Please focus! I will explain the next round.}

"Hm, already?" Isaac muttered under his nose.

As Isaac and the others looked toward Lero Ro that could be found standing before them, the Ranker continued, {Before that, to give you some brief information about myself. I'm your test administrator, Ranker Lero Ro! Nice to meet'chiu!}

Seeing the Ranker greet them while attempting to imitate a 'cute voice', the gathered Regulars sent him weird glances and cringed.

'Meet'chiu!?'

'What the hell?'

[Does that guy cosplay as Pikachu?] Even Mordred commented.

'Cosplay, Pikachu… Right, Mordred still has memories from Earth that she received from the Grail,' Isaac reminded himself, being slightly amused.

Lero Ro was unperturbed by these reactions and excitedly proclaimed: {Now that you've had some time to rest, let's move on to the next test!}

{But before that, there will be a little pre-test!}

{F-Y-I, those who don't pass this pre-test... cannot take the next test!}

At this, there was a disturbance among the crowd.

"What?"

"That means... It is another elimination test!"

"What is he testing?"

Among them, Bam and Khun were also startled.

Meanwhile Isaac also became somewhat nervous - his Shinsoo Resistance was at A rank, but would it still be as good as Bam's?

This test should probably decide his potential for handling Shinsoo inside the Tower in some way. He received his powers and was transported to this world thanks to a wish from a Holy Grail, so his potential better be good!

{Ha, ha! Don't worry! It is a really simple test! Relax.}

{Alright, let's begin... the pre-test.}

Lero Ro then raised his hand and pointed near him to make the Regulars come closer. {Come here. Closer, closer, here, here…}

As the Regulars gathered, the Rankers at one point suddenly pushed out his hand forward. {And boom!}

With a loud sound of wind, a wave of semi-transparent light-blue energy gushed out from Lero Ro's direction as the crowd was blown away, flying backwards like kites.

"Arrrgh!"

"Ugh!"

"Aaah!"

"Damn it!"

"Argh, what is this?"

Among the people blown off were also Khun, Rak, Anak and Hatsu who hurriedly tried to regain their balance upon landing.

"Is this... Shinsoo?" Khun spoke up as he looked up.

{Yep, I created a barrier of Shinsoo. I compressed the Shinsoo... to make a barrier that pushed you all… out-}

At the end of his speech, Lero Ro's voice gradually trailed off as he noticed that two Regulars were actually not 'pushed out' at all - the two remained standing in place as if nothing happened.

Perhaps if it was only the little ordinary boy that emitted no aura of Shinsoo whatsoever, then he would have been missed, but when a powerful Regular also stood next to him, clad in heavy bulky armor, then the two simply stuck out way too much!

As Lero Ro stared at these two, a ghastly expression formed on his face as if he had seen something unholy.

With the attention that he was receiving, Isaac looked back at Lero Ro somewhat awkwardly. However, he felt a lot of relief in his heart.

He was not pushed back! He really felt nothing!

Meanwhile, under the test administrator's strange glare, Bam became extremely nervous as he started sweating profusely. 'Did we do… something wrong?'

[Uh, are we in trouble, Master?]

Isaac didn't reply, feeling that things will be sorted out eventually.

Following the administrator's gaze, the crowd also turned to look at Isaac and Bam. They all had similar thoughts: 'What the hell? Why were these two not pushed back?'

Lero Ro continued staring at these two silently, being lost for words.

Among the Regulars, Khun, Anak and Laure, who were more knowledgeable and experienced, appeared very curious as they looked at the two that remained. They thought, 'Just who are they?'

Turning toward the crowd, Lero Reo coughed and resumed speaking:

{Uhm, it seems that I made a mistake... But for now let's just continue with the explanation.}

"..." The crowd looked at him blankly.

{So about Shinsoo, right?…} Smiling, Lero Ro continued as if nothing happened. {As you well know, Shinsoo is everywhere in the Tower, and it plays an important role because it allows us to breathe and provides water.}

{However, Shinsoo can also be... a powerful murder weapon depending on how it's used.}

{Highly concentrated Shinsoo is so strong that it can break an arm, so all the contestants in the Tower use Shinsoo to fight.}

{However, there are people who have adverse reactions to Shinsoo. In other words, those who can't deal with the Shinsoo... are not appropriate candidates to be in the Tower.}

{The people who can pass through this veil barrier... Don't have adverse reactions to Shinsoo at least.}

{The pre-test looks like this: the teams that pass through the barrier, pass the test as well, and those who don't, fail…}

{Alright then, everyone. Please come through.}

"Wait, did you say teams? What if... One of our teammates can't pass through the barrier?" a man with glasses among the Regulars asked.

{Isn't it obvious? Then that team fails.}

At those words, the crowd of Regulars protested.

"What?!"

"That's absurd! It doesn't make any sense!"

{Absurd? What is?} Lero Ro asked.

"We joined teams at the last minute! It isn't fair if I'm eliminated because of a teammate! That's just bad luck!" someone replied in an indignant tone.

{Hey, if you're eliminated, it's your fault for forming a weak team at the last minute! Why didn't you gather strong allies during the test instead? Instead of attacking each other without a second thought, like most of you did, you people should have been teaming up from the start.}

"..."

"Eh?"

The Regulars appeared dumb at this.

It was supposed to be a death match…

But was it really?

Actually, the test administrator was right.

If they thought about it before and were teaming up from the start instead of fighting, then wouldn't they have a much easier time when traveling in a group?

Lero Ro slightly smirked as he saw these reactions.

The Regulars here were all chosen by Headon from among trillions of citizens of the Tower. Upon being chosen from such a large crowd, one out of billions, most believed that they were extraordinary, that they were special and that they were destined to make a name for themselves in the Tower.

As such, having entered the Tower, they rushed forward with determination and slashed out with their blades during the first test, wanting to prove themselves.

But the harsh reality was that most of them were nothing but cannon fodder!

As Lero Ro thought about it, the only reason Headon sent so many of them here might be just to help nurture the true geniuses.

The truth is that in the end only a select few of the most outstanding Regulars would be allowed to ascend to the 3rd floor. The quota for those who can pass this floor is really quite small.

And that's also why the fairness of the tests didn't matter that much, because those who were supposed to make it, would make it regardless.

Lero Ro put those thoughts aside as he continued:

{Besides, do you know what is the most important to move up the Tower?}

He made a brief pause and then smiled.

{It's... luck.}

{The luck of being born with talent, the luck of having a strong body, the luck of being smart, the luck of being rich, the luck of escaping from death, the luck of getting a strong teammate. The only reason you got this far... is because you were lucky.}

{So you can't say that testing luck is absurd. Stop your jabbering and just take the test, you Regulars.}

As Lero Ro finished, Mordred commented, [He's just saying whatever he wants.]

'Yeah. It is absurd…' Isaac sighed inwardly.

Even if luck played a role for someone to make it up the Tower, shouldn't at least the tests be fair to not make things worse?

After all, the examiners were supposed to choose the strongest and most talented candidates, not simply those who happen to pass!

However, Isaac did not speak his thoughts out loud, since he felt there was no point.

"And what about these two?" Someone called out as he pointed his finger at Bam and Isaac.

Lero Ro gently smiled at this and said, {These two have already passed.}

"What?!"

"How could they pass just like this when we were all pushed back?"

"No, this is not right. How could they be that much stronger? That little kid looks like a stick!"

{Well... It seems that I made a mistake.}

"A mistake?"

{Yep. The barrier in that part was somewhat weaker than in other places, my bad.}

"What?"

"What bullshit!"

"What is this, they passed like this because of a mistake?"

"Did they bribe the administrator?"

The people grumbled while Lero Ro kept smiling, continuing to play the fool and smiling. He said, {This can also be considered as part of their luck.}

Khun's eyes were focused as he stared at Isaac and Bam. 'Part of their luck, it's obviously a lie. We all stood together, but I was still sent flying back just like everyone else. How can their Shinsoo Resistance be that much higher than mine?'

And Lero Ro also turned to look at Isaac and Bam. 'It seems that two monsters have appeared. One more monstrous than the other.'

***

***

***

(AN: MC's updated background explained: Isaac was a self-taught Magus faintly blood-related to the Ainsworth family. Somehow, he happened to join a Holy Grail War and thanks to wit and luck became the final winner, but at the cost of his Servant Mordred. After he received the Holy Grail, he realized that he made a wish subconciously, which resulted in the current situation.)

(Most of the new information is in Chapter 1 when MC first appears inside the Tower, if you want to read up on it. His Servant Status Window was also slightly updated.)

(The change is that Mordred and the MC knew each other before the Tower. MC gaining various powers, Mordred being restored and taking refuge in his sword, and both of them ending up in Tower of God world was the result of his wish to the Holy Grail. The MC has a regular Servant's combat strength, but Clarent has Rank A+++ (sealed), as the result of the wish and Mordred's soul being in it. When entering the Tower, the MC picked up the surname of Ainsworth, and now calls himself Isaac Ainsworth.)