Ascension Through Skills
chapter-144

While Taesan was moving to the next room, the ghost asked with curiosity.

[You were deep in thought for about an hour earlier, weren't you? What were you thinking about then?]

“Nothing special. Just reconsidering my basics.”

The foundation of his strength was his skills.

Swordsmanship and stats were all secondary.

But this trial was about swordsmanship. Skills could not be used.

So, Taesan naturally thought he couldn’t use his skills.

But soon after, Taesan had a realization.

‘Skills were initially mine to harness physically. That’s why I could use them.’

All these were used even before he learned the skills.

So, there was no need to be fixated on skills.

If he couldn’t use skills, he should draw out their effects himself.

Thinking this way, he naturally could use a few skills when he started fighting.

[That's quite... an ingenious creation.]

The ghost chuckled upon hearing Taesan’s story. It was a kind of paradigm shift. The ghost had never thought in that way.

Clank.

While they were having this conversation, a monster appeared.

Taesan faced a knight in armor.

Clank.

The knight drew his sword. The ghost spoke in an anxious tone.

[Hurry. It's so frustrating I feel like dying.]

“Let’s check slowly.”

Taesan drew two swords.

He charged towards the knight.

Clash!

Swords collided. Taesan’s movement, as he overwhelmed the knight, was rougher than before.

[As expected, even the swordsmanship has changed. It's rougher and cruder than mine?]

The ghost’s swordsmanship was perfect. It had almost no weaknesses and was very precise.

However, Taesan’s movements were cruder and rougher, and weaknesses were noticeable here and there.

[Still, it's not bad.]

“This is my swordsmanship.”

It was his own swordsmanship, not something he received from someone else.

As he improved his proficiency, its perfection would only increase. Once he reached a certain level, it would become a skill that suited Taesan better than the Stormscar Sword.

[This is a problem that can be solved by increasing proficiency.]

“That aside.”

Now was the real deal.

The Ability Sword he created was a swordsmanship connected to skills, as its name suggests. Naturally, the contents of a few skills changed.

One of them was the first activated Acceleration.

[Special Activation Skill: Acceleration] [Mana Consumption: 5] [Proficiency: 21%] [Accelerate faster towards the target.] [Condition: Advanced Swordsmanship [Ability Sword]] [It accelerates not only the body but also the speed of the sword. If the timing is right, this effect continues to be activated after consuming additional mana.] [Wow.]

The ghost couldn’t hide his emotions and burst out in admiration.

[You've really changed. There's even a condition called Ability Sword. This is really out of the ordinary.]

The ghost, reading the content fervently, read the next sentence.

[Does it continue to activate if the timing is right?]

“That must be the condition. I roughly grasped what it feels like earlier.”

Clang!

Taesan exerted force on his sword. He stomped toward the knight, who was flung backward.

[You activated Acceleration.]

His body sped up. And so did the speed of his sword. Taesan swung his sword down at the knight.

Clash!

The knight blocked it. At the same moment,

Taesan moved the sword in his other hand.

Crunch.

It pierced through the knight’s body.

[This is really amazing.]

The ghost chuckled.

Essentially, the speed of swinging the sword doubled, which meant that the agility itself had doubled. Without any specific restriction, it was a skill that defied comparison.

Taesan did not stop his hand and continued to attack. The ghost, observing quietly, realized there was a certain interval in his movements.

[Do you have to time the sword strikes perfectly?]

“It’s quite tricky to activate.”

The interval when each sword strike hit or was blocked by the opponent. Both had to coincide. Compared to when he learned Multiplication, the judgment was relatively lenient, but unlike Multiplication, the condition changed depending on the opponent’s response, so it wasn’t easy.

[Since you need to time it, making any significant changes is hard... The pattern will become predictable.]

“Probably.”

Taesan intentionally slowed the speed of his sword strikes for a moment. Then, the Acceleration immediately ceased, and his speed returned to normal.

Taesan raised his sword towards the knight, who barely managed to regain his stance.

[You activated Strong Blow.]

Kaboom!

The knight was sent flying far away.

Strong Blow, like Acceleration, had a condition of timing. Since the knight was thrown backward and couldn’t be attacked, the interval of attacks was missed, and the activation of Strong Blow ended.

The ghost judged coldly.

[It's certainly powerful, but its drawbacks are clear.]

Drawing the effects of skills into swordsmanship. Just that was an unbelievable level. Strong Blow and Acceleration alone meant almost doubling the power and agility.

But the restrictions were too severe.

[It changes whether you can activate it or not depending on the opponent's response, right? It's a passive sword technique. It seems to heavily depend on compatibility.]

If the opponent used magic, it could not be properly activated. Simply because approaching in the first place was difficult.

The same was true if the opponent was a monster with strong physical strength, like a giant. It was hard to time the attacks against an enemy whose single blow was powerful.

Also, it seemed difficult to use in various situations, like against ghost types or spirits using natural forces.

[Are other skills similar?]

“They all have one condition or another.”

Flow was similar. The opponent’s attack had to be swung within a certain cycle to Taesan’s sword for it to continuously activate.

Leaping, continuous attacks, etc., also had their respective conditions.

[That's tricky.]

“But it’s a useful sword technique.”

[It's a good sword technique.]

The ghost affirmed. Although it was a tricky and passive sword technique, it was still an excellent one.

It was a skill that nearly doubled his stats if the conditions were met.

Moreover, the opponent wouldn’t know what skills Taesan had. Just like the ghost, they would be flustered when facing him.

That naturally limited their movement, and Taesan could take control of the flow.

If things went as planned, meeting the conditions wouldn’t be that difficult.

And the stronger the opponent, the harder it would be for them to counter Taesan’s skills.

Those with Acceleration, Leaping, and continuous attacks knew the effects of those skills.

They tried to respond based on the information they had, but they would undoubtedly get entangled in Taesan’s skills, which had entirely different effects.

“Satisfying.”

Crunch.

Taesan took down the knight and smiled.

This was more than what he initially anticipated.

It was still immature. His swordsmanship was crude, and the activation of skills was not yet second nature.

But it would improve over time.

As proficiency increased, the conditions would become more refined.

The effects of the skills would grow stronger and influence more skills.

As Taesan became stronger, many things would change. Eventually, it had a good chance of becoming his main skill, as perfect as Addition and Multiplication.

“Good.”

He was very satisfied.

Taesan continued to hone his swordsmanship while breaking through the Labyrinth.

Despite the large stat difference with the monsters, he was still quite inexperienced in swordsmanship, so even such light real combat allowed him to gradually improve. Thus, he gradually increased his proficiency while conquering the 32nd floor.

[Mana Stone Crushed by Strength] [Magic + 30] [A mana stone crushed by those who despise magic. Yet, the magic power within has not disappeared.]

“Great.”

He received magical equipment as a reward from the secret room. He planned to offer it to Lilis as a tribute and learn magic.

Taesan continued forward and reached the boss.

The boss was a knight in black armor. He had the intelligence of a beast, with very aggressive and fast movements. A formidable enemy for those facing him for the first time.

“A perfect practice opponent.”

[You activated Strong Blow.]

Kaboom!

The knight was flung away, and Taesan immediately followed up with another sword swing. Since the attack interval was matched, Strong Blow was activated consecutively.

With several attacks, he defeated the 32nd-floor boss.

[Proficiency of Ability Sword increased by 1%.]

Taesan succeeded in continuously activating Strong Blow until the boss was defeated.

[You're getting used to it quickly. Is it because it suits you well? It's incomparably faster than when you used Stormscar, right?]

“Very good.”

It was a sword technique that only made him laugh.

Another advantage was that it was fun. The process of meeting the conditions and then activating and maintaining them was enjoyable.

It was an emotion he hadn’t felt in quite some time.

Taesan checked the rewards for clearing the 32nd floor.

[Bloody Armor] [Defense + 40] [Armor worn by a forgotten one until his death. It was brought here after his demise.]

Defense 40. A high number. Taesan murmured as he wore the armor.

“This isn’t too surprising anymore.”

40 was similar to the sum of all the additional effects of the equipment he had when clearing Easy Mode.

That a single piece of equipment now gave the same benefits compared to a sum of many. It felt like a long time since he’d experienced such a gap.

[Used ???.] [Obtained Red Rose Thorn.]

“Is this a material item?”

It didn’t seem like equipment.

[Red Rose Thorn] [A thorn detached from a red rose guarding the witch's garden. It seems it would become very sharp if attached somewhere.]

“It is a material.”

If he took it to a blacksmith, it could be made into equipment. As Taesan was about to collect the thorn, the whip on his wrist slapped his arm.

“…You want this?”

As if affirming, the whip wrapped around Taesan’s arm. Taesan reluctantly threw the thorn to the whip, which suddenly sprang up and swallowed it.

[The wrist guard, with murderous intent, swallowed the Red Rose Thorn. Attack Power + 20]

“Wow.”

With a significant increase in attack power, sharp thorns appeared on the whip. The whip slapped his arm as if pleased.

“It’s prickly.”

Though it didn’t damage him, the thorns poked his skin.

“What is this?”

Equipment that swallowed items on its own. He had never heard of such a thing. The ghost also seemed to be experiencing it for the first time and spoke uncertainly.

[Self-enhancing equipment? This is new to me. Quite good, isn't it?]

No need to visit a blacksmith and a high enhancement level. It was definitely useful. He was just curious about what it was.

“I’ll have to ask later.”

The shop owner might know the secret. After finishing up, Taesan decided to head up again before descending the floors.

On the 33rd floor was the battlefield of the gods, as Vargan had mentioned.

He planned to be thoroughly prepared before going there.

Taesan returned to the 31st floor to find Lilis. She greeted him with a bright face.

“Came back? I thought you abandoned me since you hadn’t come for a while!”

“I didn’t find anything worthy to offer as a tribute.”

Taesan handed over the mana stone. Lilis, grinning broadly, took it and began to pray.

Soon, the aura of the magic god began to be felt.

Taesan watched this energy intently.

‘It feels different from before.’

The ??? skill evolved in the world of Halfran.

Its identity was still unknown, but the ghost had said it was possible to feel its intent.

Perhaps because of this, the power of the gods, which felt distant before, now seemed a bit closer.

While Taesan was gauging this power, Lilis finished and took a deep breath.

“It’s done.”

[You have learned the basic magic [Seal].]

“It’s still basic magic.”

“Ah, I have something to tell you about that.”

“What is it?”

“This is kind of tricky.”

Lilis looked ambiguous. Her expression was a mix of happiness and fear.

“I don’t know if the god was joking or serious, but it seemed like a joke to me? It doesn’t make sense. We’re still on the 30th floor.”

“Explain properly. What are you talking about?”

She spoke with a very vague expression.

“The god of magic said while accepting this offering that soon you’ll be granted more advanced magic.”

“Magic more advanced than basic?”

Then, there was only one possibility. Lilis nodded.

“You’ve been granted permission for intermediate magic!”