Chapter 144: 32nd Floor, Advanced Swordsmanship. Ability Sword (1)

While moving to the next room, the ghost asked Taesan curiously.

[“You were deep in thought for about an hour earlier. What were you thinking about?”]

“Nothing much. I was just reconsidering my basics.”

The foundation of his strength lay in his skills. Swordsmanship and stats were secondary.

But this trial was a trial of swordsmanship. He couldn’t use his skills.

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

But soon, he had a realization.

‘Skills are essentially abilities I’ve manifested with my body.’

He had used them all before learning the skills.

Therefore, there was no need to obsess over skills. If he couldn’t use the skills, he would directly manifest their effects.

With this thought, he started the fight and naturally found himself able to use a few skills.

[“That’s… quite an interesting idea.”]

The ghost chuckled. It was a kind of paradigm shift. The ghost had never thought in such a way.

Clang.

As they were talking, a monster appeared.

Taesan faced a knight in armor.

Clang.

The knight raised his sword. The ghost spoke in a frustrated tone.

[“Hurry up. It’s killing me with anticipation.”]

“Let’s take our time.”

Taesan drew his two swords.

He rushed towards the knight.

Clang!

The swords clashed. Taesan’s movements were rougher than before.

[“Your swordsmanship has changed. It’s cruder and rougher than mine.”]

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

But Taesan’s movements now were rougher and had visible weaknesses.

[“But it’s not bad.”]

“This is my swordsmanship.”

It wasn’t something he received from someone else but his own swordsmanship, created by Taesan himself.

As he improved his proficiency, its completeness would increase. Once he reached mastery, it would be a skill that suited him better than the Sword of Storm Scars.

[“This can be solved with more practice.”]

“This is fine.”

From now on, it was the real deal.

The ability sword he created was a swordsmanship linked with skills. Naturally, some skills changed.

One of them was the first to activate: acceleration.

[Special Activation Skill: Acceleration]

[Mana Consumption: 5]

[Proficiency: 21%]

[Accelerates towards the target faster.]

[Condition: Advanced Swordsmanship, Ability Sword]

[It not only accelerates the body but also the speed of the sword. If the timing is right, it consumes additional mana and continues to activate.]

[“Wow.”]

The ghost couldn’t hide his admiration.

[“It’s really changed. It even has the condition of Ability Sword attached. This is really extraordinary.”]

The ghost read the next line with great interest.

[“It keeps activating if you time it right?”]

“That seems to be the condition. I have a rough idea of how it feels.”

Clang!

Taesan put more force into his sword and kicked the knight that was pushed back.

[You activated acceleration.]

His body sped up. Moreover, the speed of his sword increased as well. Taesan swung his sword at the knight.

Clang!

The knight blocked it. At the same time, Taesan moved his other sword.

Slash.

He pierced the knight’s body.

[“This is truly impressive.”]

The ghost laughed in disbelief.

Doubling the speed of swinging the sword meant that agility was effectively doubled. If there were no other restrictions, this skill was unmatched.

Taesan didn’t stop attacking. The ghost, who was watching quietly, noticed a certain rhythm in his movements.

[“You have to perfectly match the timing of each strike?”]

“It’s quite tricky to activate.”

Each strike had to connect or be blocked at the right intervals. Compared to learning addition, the judgment was relatively lenient, but unlike addition, the conditions changed according to the opponent’s response, making it not so easy.

[“Since you have to match the timing, it’s hard to introduce any changes… The pattern will become predictable.”]

“Probably.”

Taesan deliberately slowed down his sword strikes. The acceleration immediately dissipated, and his speed returned to normal.

He raised his sword towards the knight, who was barely managing to get back into position.

[You activated a strong strike.]

Clang!

The knight was knocked back far away.

Like acceleration, a strong strike also had a timing condition. Since the knight was knocked back, he couldn’t continue the attack, and the activation of the strong strike ended.

The ghost evaluated calmly.

[“It’s certainly powerful, but the drawbacks are clear.”]

Drawing the effects of skills into swordsmanship. Just that fact alone was extraordinary. Even looking at just the strong strike and acceleration, it meant nearly doubling strength and agility.

But the restrictions were too severe.

[“Whether it can be activated or not depends on the opponent’s response. It’s a reactive swordsmanship, so it will be significantly affected by compatibility.”]

If the opponent used magic, it couldn’t be activated properly. Approaching was difficult in the first place.

The same went for strong monsters like giants. Timing an attack against such powerful enemies was challenging.

It was also difficult to use against opponents like ghosts or spirits who wielded natural forces.

[“Are other skills similar?”]

“They all have their own conditions.”

Even the case of Holy was similar. The opponent’s attacks had to be swung at Taesan’s sword within a certain cycle for it to activate continuously.

Leap, continuous attacks, and others all had their own conditions.

[“It’s tricky.”]

“But it’s a useful swordsmanship.”

[“It’s a good swordsmanship.”]

The ghost agreed. Despite the tricky and reactive nature of the swordsmanship, it was still a very good one.

If the conditions were met, it could nearly double his stats.

Moreover, the opponent wouldn’t know what skills Taesan had. When faced head-on, they would be bewildered, as the ghost had been.

In such a case, the opponent’s movements would naturally be restricted, allowing Taesan to control the flow.

If everything went as planned, meeting the conditions wouldn’t be too difficult.

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

Those with acceleration, leap, continuous attacks, and similar skills knew the activation effects.

They would try to respond based on their knowledge, but they would fall into the trap of Taesan’s different effects.

“I’m satisfied.”

Crack.

Taesan defeated the knight and smiled.

This was more than he initially expected.

It was still immature. The swordsmanship was rough, and the activation of the skills wasn’t familiar yet.

But with time, it would improve.

As proficiency increased, the conditions would become less stringent.

The skill effects would also become stronger and affect more skills.

As Taesan grew stronger, many things would change. Ultimately, it had the potential to become a perfect main skill like addition and multiplication.

“Good.”

He was very satisfied.

While clearing the labyrinth, Taesan continued to refine his swordsmanship.

The gap in stats with the monsters was significant, but as his swordsmanship was still immature, even light practice was enough to gradually improve. He cleared the 32nd floor by steadily increasing his proficiency.

[Shattered Magic Stone of Power]

[Magic +30]

[A magic stone crushed by one who loathes magic. However, the magical power within hasn’t disappeared.]

“Nice.”

He received a magic equipment reward from a secret room. He planned to visit Lilith to offer it as a tribute and learn magic.

Taesan kept moving and reached the boss.

The boss was a knight in black armor. It had the intelligence of a beast and moved aggressively and swiftly. It was a formidable opponent for first-timers.

“A perfect practice partner.”

[You activated a strong strike.]

Clang!

The knight was knocked back, and Taesan immediately closed in and swung his sword again. As the timing was right, the strong strike activated consecutively.

With a few more strikes, he defeated the 32nd-floor boss.

[Ability Sword proficiency increased by 1%.]

Taesan successfully activated strong strikes consecutively until he defeated the boss.

[“You’re getting used to it quickly. It’s probably because this swordsmanship suits you well. The speed of improvement is incomparable to the Sword of Storm Scars.”]

“Very good.”

The swordsmanship made him smile.

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

It was a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a while.

Taesan checked the 32nd-floor clear reward.

[Blood-Stained Armor]

[Defense +40]

[An armor worn by a forgotten person until their death. It drifted here after their demise.]

The defense was 40. A high value. Taesan donned the armor and muttered.

“This isn’t surprising.”

A defense of 40 was similar to the combined value of all equipment bonuses when he cleared Easy mode.

Now, a single piece of equipment provided that much. He felt the gap again after a long time.

[You used ???.]

[You obtained the Thorn of a Red Rose.]

“A material item?”

It didn’t look like equipment.

[Thorn of a Red Rose]

[A thorn plucked from a red rose guarding a witch’s garden. It will become very sharp if attached somewhere.]

“It is a material.”

If he took it to a blacksmith, it would be made into equipment. As he was about to store the thorn, the whip attached to his wrist slapped his arm.

“…Do you want it?”

The whip wrapped around his arm as if agreeing. Taesan reluctantly threw the thorn to the whip, which immediately sprang up and devoured it.

[The Wristguard with Malice devoured the Thorn of a Red Rose. Attack +20]

“Oh.”

His attack power increased significantly, and sharp thorns appeared on the whip. The whip slapped his arm happily.

“It hurts.”

Though there was no damage, the thorns pricked his skin.

“What is this?”

A piece of equipment that devours items by itself. He had never heard of such a thing. The ghost seemed unfamiliar with it as well.

[“Self-enhancing equipment? I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s really good.”]

There was no need to bother visiting a blacksmith, and the enhancement value was high. It was definitely useful. He was just curious about what it was.

“I’ll have to ask about it later.”

The shopkeeper might know the secret. Having finished up, Taesan headed back up before moving down to the next floor.

The 33rd floor had the battlefield of gods mentioned by Bargan.

He planned to prepare thoroughly before going there.

Taesan returned to the 31st floor to visit Lilith. She greeted him with a bright smile.

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

“I didn’t find anything worthy of a tribute.”

Taesan handed her the magic stone. Lilith, with a beaming face, accepted it and began praying.

Soon, he felt the presence of the god of magic.

Taesan watched the aura quietly.

‘It feels different from before.’

An evolved ??? skill from Harpran’s world.

Though its true nature was unknown, the ghost had said he could feel a sense of will from it.

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

As Taesan assessed the power, Lilith finished and let out a deep breath.

“It’s done.”

[You have learned Beginner Magic [Brand].]

“It’s still beginner magic.”

“Oh, I have something to say about that.”

“What is it?”

“This is… quite something.”

Lilith’s expression was ambiguous. It seemed both joyful and fearful.

“The god said something while accepting the tribute. I don’t know if it was a joke or serious, but it felt like a joke to me. Since we’re only on the 30th floor, this doesn’t make sense.”

“Explain properly. What do you mean?”

With a very uncertain expression, she spoke.

“The god of magic said that soon, higher-level magic will be granted.”

“Higher than beginner magic?”

There was only one answer. Lilith nodded.

“We’re now permitted to learn intermediate magic!”