Ascension Through Skills

[What the!]

The ghost, who had been quiet, suddenly made a fuss.

[You won! You actually won!]

Taesan sat down on the ground.

He had no strength left in his entire body. It was even hard to move a finger.

Although his physical condition returned to optimal with the level increase, his mental fatigue remained.

[How, how did you…]

The ghost was a mix of amazement and confusion due to Taesan’s performance in the battle.

Taesan raised his hand.

“Let’s talk about it later.”

He needed to rest.

Realizing this, the ghost belatedly closed its mouth.

Taesan leaned against the wall.

And closed his eyes.

Sleep came instantly.

When Taesan opened his eyes again, he asked.

“What time is it?”

[About twelve hours have passed.]

“That’s a long time.”

It was the first time he had slept this long.

Taesan first checked his physical condition.

He was in perfect shape. After all, the body is restored to its best state when the level goes up. There couldn’t be any problem.

[Wow, you actually defeated it. Honestly, I thought you'd fail.]

“What would you have done if I had?”

[Well, I guess I would have been thrown back for failing the quest. I wasn't too worried about you.]

Many gods showed interest in Taesan. If Taesan died, they would try to capture his soul to make a contract with him and make him their Apostle.

Besides, Taesan had a skill obtained by clearing a trial given by the god of proof, Pavsha.

[Special Constant Activation Skill: The Proven One's Soul] [You have won against another version of yourself. When you are on the brink of death, your soul will undergo Pavsha's trial.]

This skill was obtained when clearing Pavsha’s trial of proof.

However, he didn’t know the exact effect of the skill. The trial could be almost impossible to clear, and he might not be resurrected in the worst case.

Finishing the fight without using the skill was the best option.

Anyway, he had won.

Taesan looked down at his clenched fist.

A stronger power was now residing in his body.

A smile appeared on his lips.

[Can I ask now?]

Unable to contain its curiosity, the ghost spoke.

[How did you dodge it? You were moving even before the monster attacked.]

The ghost had predicted Taesan would die before the monster’s collapse ended because it seemed impossible to perfectly avoid its attacks.

The aftermath alone was inflicting non-negligible damage, slowly wearing him down. The ghost thought Taesan would fall before the monster collapsed due to the slower depletion of his health.

However, Taesan gradually reduced the damage and eventually even perfectly dodged the aftermath.

Above all, the ashen blades created by the monster at the end.

Taesan dodged all dozens of blades thrust at him simultaneously.

[Future prediction? Or did you attain a higher rank?]

“It’s not that.”

Taesan shook his head. It was fundamentally different.

“Just… I saw it.”

[What did you see?]

“The monster’s intention.”

He could sense the intention behind each attack and its location.

The ghost fell silent.

[Is it that skill?]

“Probably.”

Taesan opened the skill window.

[Concept Skill: ???] [Proficiency: 36%] [The power of will descends with ???. Synchronize to see and feel the will of all things. ??? is obtained.]

The proficiency had increased tremendously.

Moreover, ‘seeing and feeling the will of all things’ was added to the description.

This experience and the change in the skill description confirmed it.

The ??? skill enabled him to sense the will of all things.

“I never thought this skill would be so useful.”

He could sense the will before, but it was almost negligible. The difference between recognizing the will and the speed of action made using it impractical.

Even though it had helped a bit in avoiding traps before, it was more of an intuition than a direct perception.

But this time was different.

He could perfectly dodge the attacks from the middle of the battle by reading the Apostle’s will before it even moved.

The ghost, pondering with a hand on its chin, said.

[It could be because it was a Fallen Apostle.]

“What do you mean?”

[The Apostle of the Forgotten Goddess you fought transformed its rank into power through Soul Descent. Its strength became incredibly powerful.]

Indeed, that was the case. Even though Taesan took a hit on purpose at the end, the damage was close to 9000.

Even in his best condition, it was nearly a fatal blow.

[Left with only strength and instinct, devoid of intelligence, its will intensified. Plus, your proficiency increased as you focused more during the fight.]

“So it was a combination of various factors.”

[Seems like it. Such specific conditions had to be met to read it? That's really hard to use.]

If the ghost was correct, it was a skill with demanding conditions and limited applicable targets.

Still, thanks to it, he won against an enemy he would never have beaten otherwise.

That alone proved the skill’s worth.

Taesan opened his status window.

[Kang Taesan] [Level: 80] [Shield: 1029/1029] [Health: 12220/12220] [Mana: 1915/1915] [Magic: 186/186] [Strength: 3433] [Intelligence: 2973] [Agility: 3298] [Attack Power + 482] [Defense Power + 343] [The target is in the best condition.]

Taesan smiled.

The labyrinth provided rewards proportional to the difficulty. The status window before his eyes was proof of that.

His health, which had never surpassed ten thousand, had now easily exceeded it due to levels, skill rewards, and victory over formidable enemies. His strength and agility also surpassed the figure of 3000.

The ghost couldn’t help but marvel.

[How can the stats of someone who hasn't even descended to the 50th floor be like this?]

Even the ghost found the stats unprecedented.

“Let’s go back for now.”

[That sounds good. It's scary what might come out next.]

The ghost agreed. Before leaving the enemy’s territory, Taesan approached the statue of the goddess for the last time.

Despite the monsters rampaging, the statue remained undamaged.

It was unclear if the monsters instinctively protected the statue even in their mindless state.

Taesan prayed to the statue of the goddess.

The statue crumbled into dust and disappeared.

[You have prayed to a forgotten goddess. You have received the divine blessing [Blessing of the Soul of the Nameless Goddess].]

With this, everything was over.

Taesan got up.

“Let’s return.”

As they passed through the passage and returned to the labyrinth, Halfran was waiting with an anxious face.

“Oh! You’re back!”

Seeing Taesan, he was delighted.

“I was worried when you didn’t come back for a while. With your skills, there shouldn’t have been a problem.”

“I almost died.”

“Almost died?”

Halfran’s pupils shook.

“The strength you’re feeling from outside… you should’ve been able to win easily, right?”

“That was the case until halfway.”

Neither he nor the ghost had known that the apostle possessed the ability of ‘Soul Strike Drop.’

“Anyway, I found what I was looking for.”

Taesan took out a materialized ashen aura from his inventory.

[Apostle's Origin] [The core containing the origin of a God's Apostle. Materialized by the eternal soul.]

“Ohh.”

Halfran couldn’t hide his admiration.

He took the Apostle’s Origin with trembling hands.

“This is beyond my imagination. With this, it’s definitely possible.”

His eyes shone.

Halfran opened a space and put in the Apostle’s Origin, then asked Taesan with flickering eyes.

“So, what kind of equipment do you want?”

Taesan began to think.

Normally, one would think of a weapon. It directly affects the damage output.

However, Taesan, who possessed the Airak weapon technique, was a bit different.

The attack power of all parts was integrated, and damage was dealt with regardless of which part was used to attack. For him, the value of a weapon was lower than for others.

Of course, even so, a weapon was one of the priority choices since it was the equipment with the highest attack power.

The ghost spoke to the pondering Taesan.

[Instead of a weapon, I recommend another part.] [There's something you can obtain from below. If no one has intercepted it, you'll be able to get the weapon I used to use.]

Influenced by the ghost’s words, Taesan made his decision.

“Make it an accessory. Specifically, a ring.”

It was a safe choice since he could wear it immediately without any loss.

“What effect do you want for the ring?”

“Obviously, attack power. Make that the top priority.”

“The Airak martial technique… it’s a fascinating skill. Got it. With these materials, I might be able to make a pair.”

Halfran seemed genuinely excited.

“How long will it take?”

“At the very least, it’ll take a month.”

Given the quality of the materials, it wasn’t equipment that could be completed quickly. Taesan nodded, understanding that it was actually a short time, thanks to Halfran’s skill.

“I’ll come back later, then.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it.”

Halfran picked up his hammer with a face full of enthusiasm.

Leaving the sound of the hammer ringing behind, Taesan left the forge.

The quest was completely finished.

Now, it was time to check what he had gained.

[Divine Blessing: Blessing of the Soul of the Nameless Goddess] [A blessing of the goddess. Your soul has ascended to a higher status with the goddess's blessing. It's still in a very weak state to be called a divine blessing.]

Another blessing of a goddess obtained by praying to the Statue of the Goddess.

This time, it was a blessing for the soul.

“Does an ascension in status mean I can damage apostles even without Apostle Transformation?”

[It's possible. After all, apostles are entities elevated by gods.]

If so, it was a very useful skill. The duration of Apostle Transformation was extremely short, imposing a constraint to defeat the opponent within a limited time.

This was alleviated by the goddess’s blessing. It would be useful as he faced more high-level enemies in the future.

And the proficiency of several skills had improved, changing their content.

It was hard to find skills that changed content as their proficiency increased, but several skills changed after one battle.

Firstly, the proficiency of the Airak martial technique finally increased.

[Top-tier Skill: Airak Martial Technique] [Proficiency: 20%] [A skill in handling weapons and the body. You have become skilled enough to transfer power without loss.]

“It seems like the restriction on damage is gone.”

[...It seems so. This is insane.]

It meant that whether he used his feet or fists, 100% of the damage would be dealt. Taesan curled the corners of his mouth upwards.

The change was significant, with just 20% proficiency, making him excited about the potential changes with higher proficiency.

Proficiency became harder to increase as it got higher.

Taesan set a goal to reach 40% proficiency before reaching the deeper layers.

The Sensory Enhancement skill also changed.

[Special Continuous Activation Skill: Sensory Enhancement] [Proficiency: 80%] [Senses are enhanced, allowing one to feel even invisible things better. You perceive everything within a certain range centered on yourself.]

True to the updated description, Taesan could feel everything happening within 2 meters of himself as if he were touching them.

“It rose faster than I thought.”

It hadn’t been long since sensory enhancement reached 60%, but it had already reached 80%. It seemed that most of his recent battles relied on sensory enhancement, which was why it increased rapidly.

And the proficiency of Ability Sword also increased.

[Advanced Swordsmanship: Ability Sword] [Proficiency: 22%] [A unique swordsmanship created by a maze explorer. Based on the maze system, it was created from the swordsmanship used by the prince of a world that has perished. It can be used by seamlessly combining several skills with swordsmanship.]

The content was the same as before. However, Taesan could notice the changes.

So far, the skills that met the conditions of Ability Sword were acceleration, intensity, leap, dodge, counterattack, and continuous attacks. In fact, these skills had the condition “Ability Sword” in their descriptions.

Now, there were even more skills with conditions attached to them.

He would have to check the detailed effects himself, but judging by the skills he had used so far, they should be quite valuable.

And one more skill.

“I don’t know about this one.”

The monster had triggered a Soul Descent.

Taesan obtained Soul Descent by killing the monster.

And that skill had transformed into an entirely different skill due to Soul Ascension.