Ascension Through Skills
chapter-208

[Most beings tied here are twisted, but this one is especially so.]

The ghost spoke to Taesan, who was searching for the river.

[All who are bound here came seeking something. But I still don’t understand the gremlin's purpose.]

A hero who sought revenge. Lilis who sought magic. Ainzhar who was searching for his god.

Each had a clear and recognizable goal. However, the ghost could not discern why the gremlin had come to this place.

[They reject all others, immersing themselves in their own world, and desire to be like those who reside in the same place, even if it means strangling themselves. They won’t last long and will die, won’t they?]

There was no restriction against inhabitants of the labyrinth harming each other. For instance, Lilis felt fear and sensed death when she was forcibly moved to a room with an orc.

This meant the residents of the 51st floor could very well kill the gremlin.

[What exactly does it desire?]

“I think I know.”

The ghost tilted its head at Taesan’s response.

[You know? The mind of that madman?]

Even though the ghost had cleared the 51st floor and passed the gremlin’s quest, it still didn’t know what the gremlin desired.

Taesan muttered.

“It’s all about doing it right.”

Lee Taeyeon.

Having cleared the 51st floor, she had learned much about the gremlin.

Because she had told Taesan everything in her previous life, Taesan knew why the gremlin had come to this place.

“The gremlin’s alchemy is exceptional, isn’t it?”

[Well... honestly, there’s no one to match it. With the right materials and intent, it could survive even in the depths. That such a talent belongs to the gremlin, truly it’s the end of days.]

The ghost clicked its tongue, its voice subtly filled with contempt for the gremlin.

[The gremlin is a lowest-tier monster without any particular intelligence. Worse than a goblin. That's what makes it quite unique.]

“That’s the problem.”

The conversation came to an abrupt halt when they stumbled upon a vast, endless river.

“Is this the place?”

[You have activated the Searing Orb.]

Flames erupted one after another into the river, causing the temperature to boil fiercely in an instant.

Kurururu.

The water trembled, and soon, a massive being emerged.

It was a snake, adorned with sky-blue, luminous scales.

[A Blue Snake has appeared from the deep river.] [Human.]

The snake flicked its tongue, glaring at Taesan.

[This is a sacred realm. Not a place for humans like you to enter. Leave at once.]

“That’s not for you to decide.”

Taesan drew his sword, causing the snake’s pupils to narrow.

[You hasten your own death!]

Kuuuuung!

The river surged violently in response to the snake’s anger, threatening to engulf Taesan and break through the forest.

[Sha Aaah!]

The snake opened its mouth wide at Taesan, who countered with his sword.

Kaaaang!

With a loud noise, Taesan was pushed back. The snake had enough force to repel him in a direct confrontation.

[You have activated Flow.]

Dodging the snake’s attack, Taesan swiftly moved his feet.

[You have activated Frozen World.]

Crackling sound!

The overflowing river froze over instantly. The sudden chill unsettled the snake.

[How can a mere human possess such power!]

Taesan kicked off the ground and charged at the snake.

A beautiful snake with sky-blue scales.

Its power was immense, and its scales were so hard that the only way to attack was by targeting the reverse scale above its forehead.

The snake, aware of this, did its best to protect its forehead.

But to Taesan, that wasn’t much of a concern.

[You have activated Strong Blow.] [You have activated Addition.] [You have activated Acceleration.] [You have activated Continuous Attack.]

Putting force into his sword, Taesan struck the side of the snake. With a loud noise, the massive body of the snake staggered.

[The Blue Snake from the deep river takes 503 damage.] [How, how!]

The snake’s defense was indeed solid, but only at the level of the 51st floor. Taesan’s power, far surpassing it, could penetrate it.

Kukukung!

The snake thrashed about, devastating everything in its path. Taesan, avoiding the attack like a rapid current, thrust his sword into the snake’s tail.

[Shaaa!]

The snake screamed. Taesan pulled out his sword, splitting the tail and splattering blue blood.

[You, human!]

Struggling, the snake flew into the river. Taesan followed into the river as well.

[Foolish! This is my realm! Ugly terrestrial life cannot survive here!]

Thinking it had an advantage, the snake bared its teeth again, but Taesan moved as if he’s not resisting the water, with the same speed as on land.

Crack.

[Kyak!]

Forced action. And Breathless Attack. With these two skills, being underwater didn’t pose a restriction.

The snake desperately tries to survive but is ultimately crushed. Soon after, the snake dies.

[Shaaa……] [Your level has increased.] [Your Soul Ascension has been activated.] [You have obtained the Blue Scales of the Snake cradling the river.]

The second quest was also cleared.

Taesan returned to the gremlin with the scales. The gremlin couldn’t contain his laughter.

“That arrogant snake! The one that mocked me every time I fetched water is dead, this beggar!”

He hastily gathered the scales and the fairy wings together.

“With this, I can also become one of them! I’ll be a companion too!”

[Really?]

The ghost smirked. The forest beings wouldn’t like the gremlin who made them kill their own kind.

But the gremlin laughed.

“I’ll become a companion. Because they mocked me for being a gremlin. And they laughed at my wretched appearance. So, when I become like them, they will accept me too.”

[Madman.]

The ghost shook its head as if it couldn’t understand.

Taesan, who had been quietly observing the gremlin, opened his mouth.

“Do you think they will accept you?”

The gremlin’s face, which had been smiling, hardened.

“You won’t gain anything by doing so.”

“Shut up!”

The gremlin yelled loudly.

“You don’t know anything! What I want! Why I’m here! Why I give quests to you guys!”

[Oh?]

The ghost showed surprise. It had never seen the gremlin explode in anger like this before.

It meant that something in Taesan’s words had touched a nerve in the gremlin.

The gremlin growled and swung its hand wildly.

“Just mind your own business and bring me the next quest. A leaf from a flower settled in deep green. Bring me that.”

“Alright.”

Taesan willingly backed down.

As he left, the gremlin sent a complicated look towards his back.

[He reacts like that? It's a first.]

Taesan roamed the forest searching for the location the gremlin mentioned.

There, a giant flower was emitting poison and encroaching in all directions.

“Rafflesia.”

[You have activated Breathless Attack.]

Taesan stopped his breathing. The Rafflesia moved its stem trying to capture Taesan.

Crack.

He moved his sword to cut all of it and consecutively activated the searing orb, hitting the Rafflesia.

The petals of the Rafflesia began to scorch.

The emitted poison became even denser.

Not just affecting breathing, but now starting to affect the skin directly. Attack nullification wore off quickly, and health began to slowly decrease.

Dragging this out would not be good.

[You have activated Adventurer's Will.]

Taesan twisted his body to dodge the flying stems and deeply embedded his sword into the flower’s core.

[You have activated Critical Point.] [You have activated Wedge.]

He activated Frozen World to hold the stems and harshly drove his sword into the designated critical part.

[Rafflesia takes 4589 damage.]

The body of the Rafflesia trembled.

Taesan crushed the resistance and finished it off.

[Your level has increased.] [Your Soul Ascension has been activated.] [You have obtained the leaf from a flower nestled in deep green.]

He completed the third quest at an astonishing pace.

Through this series of quests, Taesan came to a realization.

“It’s a sort of test.”

The first quest: Suppress the fairy that attacked from a distance, beyond your reach.

The second quest: Obtain scales from a snake moving in water, not on familiar terrain.

The third quest: Win against an enemy that continuously inflicted harm just by breathing.

Even if they couldn’t defeat them like Taesan, obtaining scales or leaves meant they had to succeed in their strategy. It meant strategizing against enemies in various environments, utilizing everything they had built up and the experiences they had gained so far.

“Why they stay in the village, I now understand.”

Lee Taeyeon also mentioned that it took her nearly a year to clear this place.

As Taesan began his journey back to the gremlin, he muttered,

“The Guides were in the village.”

[Did you notice?]

“There’s no way they could survive here.”

The Demon God said that the Guides of the 50th floor were waiting on the 51st.

So, when Taesan first saw the village and didn’t find the guides, he assumed they were waiting for him in the forest. It was the optimal environment to target him.

But having experienced the forest firsthand, Taesan realized,

This was not a place to hide.

For adventurers of the 50th floor, even immediate survival was not guaranteed in such a place. Meaning, they were hiding in the village, waiting for Taesan to pass by.

Why they were hiding, he didn’t know, but it was something he could find out by going there himself.

Upon his return, the gremlin didn’t explode in anger as before.

He simply gave a complicated look.

“…So you’ve caught that damned plant too. Quite fast. Good. It’s over. It’s all over now.”

“Is it the unicorn now?”

“Yes. Just that damned beast left to catch, and it’s done.”

The gremlin said, handing over a small powder.

“Take this.”

[You have obtained the Enchanting Powder of Temptation.]

“Sprinkle this on your body and roam the forest; then you’ll be able to find the unicorn.”

“Do you know when it will show up?”

“I don’t know. That beast is too whimsical. But it should be within a few days.”

Taesan sprinkled the powder on himself. A rainbow hue began to envelop his entire body.

“It’s too bright.”

“That’s what it likes, so there’s no helping it.”

After handing everything over, the gremlin quietly watched him and then spoke.

“…You said you know why I came here.”

“Yes.”

Taesan nodded. The gremlin asked gloomily.

“Then tell me. What should I do? What must I do to achieve what I desire?”

“I don’t know that. But I can tell you this much. What you’re doing now, you won’t gain anything from it. You know that yourself, don’t you?”

Taesan’s answer made the gremlin’s pupils shake.

The gremlin quietly closed his mouth and went inside the house.

Taesan watched his back for a moment and then moved.

It was the last quest, but there wasn’t much to do. Just roaming around until finding the unicorn and following it was all that was left, so the purpose of going somewhere immediately disappeared.

Thus, Taesan began searching for the place Lee Taeyeon had mentioned.

The ghost asked as Taesan meticulously inspected each tree.

[Are you looking for the place that woman mentioned?]

“If I find it, I can gain a significant advantage.”

[Hmm… Is there really such a place? I passed through the 51st floor too but didn’t know it existed. So, I thought there were no secret rooms here.]

“She wouldn’t lie about it. I’ve also seen actual evidence.”

Lee Taeyeon said, “The 51st floor. There’s a very special secret room here.” And she said she obtained something quite good from it.

And she had shown what she had obtained.

[It seems worth searching for, but it will take quite some time.]

“I’ll have to check one by one.”

Taesan recalled the information Lee Taeyeon had mentioned.

‘Two trees. They overlap each other, and their color is ash.’

Taesan put strength into his legs and began to search the forest.

[You have activated Mental Acceleration.]

The scenery whizzed by all around him.

Even though it was too fast for a thorough check, Taesan grasped it all. He discerned the appearance of passing trees, the location of bushes, every single detail.

[Mental Acceleration proficiency has increased by 1%.] [Sympathy of the Eye proficiency has increased by 1%.]

He kicked off again, observing everything that passed by like an afterimage.

After moving for about 5 minutes, he found trees that matched the conditions.

Two ash-colored trees were intertwined with each other. In the colorful forest, it was easy to pass by without noticing anything strange, but for Taesan, who knew how the trees were shaped, it was definitely out of place. The ghost murmured in amazement.

[There it is… How did you find something like this?]

“I have a talent for this kind of thing.”

It was Lee Taeyeon who had discovered the ruins of the Forgotten Goddess.

She had a definite talent for discovering things hidden within confined spaces.

Taesan touched the tree.

He felt nothing. Knowing how to enter from what she had told him, Taesan exerted force with his hand.

Mana drained out. Like a thirsty beast, the tree absorbed the mana, regaining its color, and returned to its original form.

How much mana had it absorbed? The entangled trees separated from each other, creating a void.

A transparent passage appeared there.

Taesan stepped into it.

[You have found the Secret Realm filled with the mysteries of the 51st floor.] [First Discovery Bonus: Mana + 50, Intelligence + 50]

The secret room was very spacious.

It was so wide that he could barely see the other end with his eyes. It was distinctly larger than any secret room he had encountered before.

[Sub-quest start] [This place was created by a dragon that held mysteries as it traversed the enigmatic forest. The dragon wishes to bestow upon you a mystery for visiting this concealed place.] [Requirement: Use the Fairy's Wings to cross the chasm.] [Reward: Fairy's Wings] [A dragon that held mysteries?]

The ghost’s voice was filled with astonishment.

“Do you know who it is?”

[I haven't seen it but have heard about it. It's known to reside in the depths... But that thing created this place?]

“Probably out of boredom.”

Whether from boredom or some other purpose, there was a reward to be had. Taesan accepted the quest and received a skill.

[You have obtained the special activation skill [Fairy's Wings [Temporary]]] [You have activated Fairy's Wings [Temporary].]

Rainbow-colored wings unfurled behind Taesan. He muttered in dissatisfaction at the vibrant colors.

“It’s too bright.”

[And you're complaining about that? They're giving you Fairy's Wings?]

The ghost let out a hollow laugh.

[Damn. I should have discovered this.]

The ghost grumbled. This secret room was worth that much.

No skill allowed for free flight in the air.

Although he could potentially acquire it given the skill’s acquisition condition, even Taesan had not managed to obtain it until now. So, during aerial combat, he had to rely on jumps, mid-air jumps, landings, random blinks, and the like.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t respond, but it was extremely inconvenient and limiting. Even when facing the Fairy Queen, if she decided to flee and fly far away, there was no way to pursue her.

Among the monsters, those capable of flight were numerous, leaving players at a disadvantage against them.

But Lee Taeyeon was different.

With the Fairy’s Wings, she immediately moved to engage any flying monster. There were times when Taesan dealt with the monsters on the ground, and Lee Taeyeon focused on those in the air.

All of this was possible thanks to the Fairy’s Wings she had obtained on the 51st floor.

“I have to get this.”

Considering the ghost made no further comment, it seemed that even descending to the depths wouldn’t teach one the skill to float in the air.

[It doesn't seem free, though.]

The secret room was spacious, with a destination far ahead.

Yet, there was no way to reach it.

An endless chasm stretched out before them.

[First Quest.] [Use the Fairy's Wings to cross the chasm and reach the next point.]