The Ascension : A New Beginning (Solo Leveling x Tower of God) [ON A HIATUS]

Chapter 9 : This Means War

"Hey, Jinwoo. Do you mind if I ask you something?" Shibisu asked him from across the table.

"What is it?"

"Every day I see you leaving our building early in the morning. Are you secretly training or something?" 

Currently, the teams of Jinwoo, Khun and Shibisu, minus Anak, were having their breakfast. It has been two weeks since the training began and the groups were mostly on friendly terms with each other. 

One of the assignments for the scouts training was making a friends list. Seeing no reason to decline it, Jinwoo had signed it. After that, the two groups began interacting more with each other and others who were on the list. 

Despite being the reason for his defeat in the crown game, Hatz didn't bear any kind of animosity against Jinwoo. In fact, he had actively voiced his wish to spar against him in the future to improve himself. 

"Yes. I train daily if that's what you are asking." He confirmed. "To be more precise, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats and running 10 kilometres." 

"Wait. THAT STUFF ACTUALLY WORKS?!! I thought it was just some rumour seen in comics!" Shibisu was shocked, to say the least.

'They have comics here in the tower? Oh, wait. Why am I even surprised?'

"It works for me." He shrugged it off.

"Then mind if I join you from tomorrow?" Shibisu was determined.

"Dude. Did you forget that from tomorrow, we have extra tasks early in the morning for the scout training?" Hatz intervened.

At this Shibisu broke down into tears, complaining about overworking while the rest of them were amused by his antiques. It was then Jinwoo noticed that Ho was in a dazed state. He was staring off into space and had yet to touch his food.

"Ho?"

"Hmm?" He broke out of his trance. "What is it?"

"You... Still haven't touched your food. Are you okay?" 

"Oh. I was... Thinking about something. Don't worry." He quickly began eating as if nothing happened. Jinwoo was a little concerned by his teammate's behaviour.

But it wasn't only Jinwoo who noticed this. From his side, Khun also saw the behaviour of Ho and noticed the difference from a week ago.

'That guy is becoming more and more aloof. Could it be.... She was telling the truth?'

_________________________________________________

<One week later, in the Fisherman Training Arena>

Currently, all the regulars who were selected for the fisherman position were in an open area. Multiple tall cylindrical blocks were present in the area, and each regular was placed on different blocks. Their instructor was floating in the air, observing the situation from above.

"Greetings, regulars. My name is Deco and I'm your new instructor for the fisherman position. You see, due to circumstances your old instructor, Hex, had to leave the test floor to attend to some matters. So from today onwards, I'll be the instructor in her stead. Is that clear?"

Jinwoo sized up the new instructor and his outfit. He was a tall guy wearing an ankle-length black overcoat, a white plague doctor mask, black gloves and boots.

For a second, Jinwoo could have sworn he saw the ranker glancing at him. Then he continued talking.

"For this test, your aim is to be the last one standing. You have to jump from pillar to pillar, knocking the others down from the block, at least till only eight of you remains. Also, you cannot use any weapon other than the needle that was given to you. Remember, the result of this test will have a major impact on the final test. Any questions? "