Ascension Through Skills
chapter-290

Hafran mumbled blankly.

“That’s a type of power that a mortal cannot possess…”

“I got this from your world.”

Taesan replied.

“So, I want to go back and check it out once more.”

“Hmm…”

Hafran stroked his chin. He touched his smooth skin without a beard and spoke.

“When I send you back to my world next time, I was thinking of after you have entered the depths. Because if you don’t have that level of strength, it’s clear you’ll meet your death.”

The star itself recognized Taesan. It was definitely trying to kill him with certainty.

Without the strength to step into the depths, survival was impossible.

“With that power, it might be possible…”

Hafran said after a moment of contemplation.

“But it’s dangerous. It’s amazing that you can wield your will, but you still can’t handle it perfectly. You could die.”

“That’s always been the case.”

There were hardly any memories of safety while descending into the labyrinth. The reason he gained this much power was always by risking his life in battles.

This time would be no different.

Hafran chuckled at Taesan’s answer.

“Indeed. Then I will do what I must as a resident of this place for an adventurer.”

[Sub Quest Start]

“At the deepest part of my world, there is a spring of purity in a cave. Go there and bring back the pure water.”

[Hafran wants the pure water from the spring existing in his destroyed world.] [Condition: Retrieve the water from the spring at the deepest part of the world.] [Reward: Equipment made from the pure water.]

Taesan nodded. The quest was accepted.

“If you bring it properly, I will make equipment with the giant king’s materials you brought.”

With Hafran’s last words, Taesan’s body moved.

He arrived in Hafran’s destroyed world.

He set foot on the vast land. At the same time, the world began to tremble.

Boom!

The sky roared and the ground creaked. The definite intent began to aim at Taesan.

Taesan stomped his foot. Simultaneously, the ground rose up.

Like a tidal wave, it tried to engulf Taesan.

Taesan punched at the wave of earth coming at him. The ground shattered into pieces and scattered.

Boom!

The sky pressed down on Taesan.

A huge pressure enveloped his entire body.

The remaining air gathered weakly, forming dozens of storms. They all rushed at Taesan.

It was time to test whether the power of will he had acquired could indeed affect the will of the star itself.

Taesan focused his mind.

The concentrated will projected into reality. Taesan willed the storms to collapse.

At the same time, followed by a massive headache, one of the storms distorted.

The distorted storm wobbled unstably. Taesan shouted with his will.

“Explode.”

With those words, the storm scattered.

This confirmed it. He could interfere with the will of the world itself.

But the cost-effectiveness was poor. Even though he only eliminated one of the dozens of storms, his head felt like it was splitting open.

It was hard to use it immediately. At least, it was a matter for after his proficiency increased or Taesan reached a higher level.

Taesan ran through the gap in the storms.

‘In the end, it’s about strength.’

He had to escape using physical strength, not willpower.

He couldn’t win. Even if he held out for a while, he would eventually face death.

So, he had to avoid the fight itself.

The most reasonable method was to run continuously to the quest’s destination. The star was now seriously trying to kill him, but he was much stronger than before. It was possible to endure until he reached his destination.

However, Taesan was considering another method of breaking through.

[You have activated Essence Perception.] [Will of the Star. It seeks to kill the living.]

Essence Perception. It revealed the essence of the opponent and also showed their weaknesses.

[The star seeks to find and kill those with will other than itself.]

The star was not directly observing and chasing Taesan with its eyes. It was reading Taesan’s will and tracking it to kill him.

An opponent with will.

And Taesan could project his will into the world.

‘Could this work?’

He dispersed his will.

He hid his will that maintained self-consciousness while influencing the world. It was an extremely contradictory statement: to maintain self-consciousness while abandoning the will to do something. Normally, it was impossible.

But Taesan could do it now.

Taesan spoke.

“Scatter.”

With those words, the will gradually became concealed. Then, a change occurred.

Boom!

The storm still raged. The sky pressed down on the ground, and the ground rose like a tidal wave.

But the direction of that force no longer pursued Taesan.

The tidal wave of earth passed right by Taesan. The storm raged at quite a distance and then disappeared.

As if it couldn’t pinpoint Taesan’s exact location, it only circled around him without targeting him.

“Hmm.”

Taesan’s eyes glowed. The star was failing to track his exact location.

To confirm it, Taesan stomped his foot and ran across the ground at high speed.

Boom!

The world still targeted him. The ground exploded, and the air burst.

But it didn’t hit him accurately.

Taesan realized the star was estimating his location, but it couldn’t pinpoint his exact position.

‘That’s right.’

Taesan smiled.

Dispersing his will didn’t seem to have a direct impact on the world, so the headache was less severe. He could endure this much.

And he started to understand how to use concept skills.

‘Declaration of Will.’

Simply gathering and concentrating will was not enough. A declaration to finalize it was necessary.

Upon reflection, all the gods did not simply resolve things with power alone but often declared their intentions verbally. This was true when the Demon God destroyed Vekveta and when that other god tried to kill him.

At that time, he didn’t give it much thought, but it seemed to be a necessary process.

Thanks to dispersing his will, the world’s will could not track him.

Thus, he decided. Taesan stomped his foot.

His direction was not towards the deepest part of the world.

It was towards the forest spread out in the distance.

The forest where he first visited Hafran’s world and brought back the root of chaos.

Taesan reached near the forest, but still, the star could not target him accurately.

He joyfully entered the forest.

[Soaked Wooden Fragment] [An item from the destroyed world. It is useless alone. If planted in the ground, it seems it will grow into a distorted tree.] [Dried Soil in Decay] [An item from the destroyed world. It is useless alone. If something is planted in this soil, it seems it will grow distorted and lose its original form.]

Taesan happily collected the materials.

He didn’t know how to use them, but Hafran would. He would make excellent equipment from the materials Taesan brought.

“Good.”

Boom!

As Taesan chopped the trees and collected the soil, the force that swelled became stronger. Taesan dodged the surging force and gathered the materials.

After collecting enough, Taesan moved again.

This time, he did not head towards the depths. He headed to the ruins of the dead king, which he visited on his second visit.

At that time, he was only focused on the Crimson Jewel, but recalling it again, there were several items that seemed to be materials. He intended to check and collect each one.

Taesan sprinted.

The star manifested its power, chasing him.

Boom…

The ground split in half. The sky drew closer to the earth, and the air swirled even more violently.

The star clearly recognized Taesan and intended to kill him, but it could not pinpoint his exact location.

“Do you know why?”

Taesan asked. The answer did not come immediately.

“Hey?”

[Oh?]

The ghost responded belatedly.

[Were you talking to me?]

“Who else is there?”

He had unsummoned the spirit since its position would be revealed in this place. It was just Taesan and the ghost now.

The ghost seemed somewhat absent-minded.

“Since meeting Arrogance, you’ve been quiet without any answers. Do you have something to think about?”

The reason was easy to guess.

Arrogance had told the ghost about the three choices. The time was approaching.

[I am a dead being. It’s over for me.]

The ghost quietly affirmed.

[I'm tied to the labyrinth by a contract with the wizard, and I will leave this world once my wish is fulfilled. That’s all I am. But the fact that I have three choices, what does that mean?]

The ghost’s voice was filled with complex emotions.

[And the things that could be called choices for me are already decided.]

The ghost’s wish was simple: revenge against the one who killed it.

For such a ghost to make a choice meant something more important than revenge had arisen.

There was only one such thing.

Resurrection.

Escaping death and returning to the labyrinth.

If his assumption was correct, it was something the ghost never wanted—to be resurrected and to descend the labyrinth again.

Depending on the type of resurrection, the ghost could attack the labyrinth and achieve his original wish.

To attack the labyrinth and save his destroyed world.

[But the gods have no reason to do such a thing.]

Resurrection of the dead was something the gods seldom did.

Even if Taesan died right now, no god would try to resurrect him but rather claim his soul.

So, the one who would try to resurrect the ghost must have substantial benefits to gain from it.

Then, what was that entity aiming for?

That thought complicated the ghost’s mind. Taesan spoke.

“It’s a matter for later. Worrying about it now is useless. Just keep it in mind and choose what you want when the time comes.”

[Yes, I will.]

The ghost sighed deeply. He knew it too, but he just couldn’t make a conclusion on his own.

As the worry faded slightly, he spoke brightly.

[By the way, that’s quite an incredible power. It prevents the world itself from recognizing you properly.]

“Still, it seems to know my approximate location.”

Boom!

The ground still trembled around Taesan. While it didn’t know his exact position, it seemed to understand where he was roughly.

[To put it simply, what you’ve hidden now is akin to a human's vision. It's like trying to catch a fly with closed eyes. You can hear the fly buzzing around and know its location, but accurately targeting and catching it is difficult, at least for ordinary people.]

“Is that so?”

[I can't be sure, but seeing that it can't target you accurately, it seems to be the case. Of course, if it gets really angry, things could change, but it doesn’t seem to be that way yet.]

Then there was no problem. Taesan arrived at the ruins of the dead king.

As he entered, he saw things he hadn’t noticed before.

[Mask of Paranoia] [An item from the destroyed world. It was used by a legendary dancer. No one, not even the king, saw her face. Her face became a mystery known to no one due to the destruction of the world.]

He collected each of the material items.

Though they weren’t directly requested by Hafran and thus were less valuable, they were essentially free materials, so he was quite satisfied.

[This quest wasn’t originally designed this way...]

The ghost chuckled.

The quest for Hafran’s destroyed world required strength surpassing the layers.

The rewards were equipment made from materials existing in Hafran’s world.

Each one was difficult to obtain even in the labyrinth. They were rewards matching the difficulty. The deeper he went into Hafran’s world, the more equipment he could make.

But the deeper he went into Hafran’s world, the stronger the star’s killing intent grew. If one couldn’t withstand the star, they had to barely escape with only the quest materials.

In other words, the materials that could be obtained in Hafran’s world, excluding the quest materials, were rewards that could only be gained by defeating the will of the star itself.

Planetary-scale materials.

Rewards that could be obtained only by reaching a level where one could face and win against the will of the star.

Taesan was obtaining them through an underhanded method.