Chapter 415

Taesan examined the sea-urchin-like objects densely filling the sky.

First, the sea urchins weren’t living creatures.

They were the remnants of the now-vanished demon Belial, functioning more like automatic devices. They were merely tools designed to respond to enemies who trespassed into the domain.

The spikes launched from the sea urchins seemed to activate automatically whenever an intruder got close enough.

Taesan continued his investigation, and Belial’s attendant, who was watching, couldn’t resist asking,

“What exactly are you doing?”

“Nothing you need to worry about. Mind your own business.”

Taesan replied indifferently. The attendant fell silent.

The ghost realized what Taesan was up to.

[Trying to get a skill?]

Taesan nodded. The ghost wasn’t surprised.

Taesan had always worked to acquire skills no matter the situation. This was the dead world of Belial. With such an unusual environment, it was only natural that Taesan would attempt something.

[I’m curious. What kind of skill this time?]

“I don’t know.”

[…You don’t know?]

“I’ve never gotten it before, and I’ve never even thought of it.”

Taesan spoke calmly.

He’d calculated the conditions for countless skills and actually obtained them.

But in his previous life, he was only a [Easy Mode] player. The environment and situations were very limited.

At the very least, a place like this never existed in [Easy Mode].

So Taesan had no idea what skill, if any, could be obtained under these conditions. All he could do was experiment and fail repeatedly.

Taesan organized his thoughts.

The sea urchins above rained spikes down every time Taesan moved.

It was an attack that engulfed the entire space, leaving almost nowhere to dodge.

‘It’s not hard to block.’

He could stop everything with a single [Word of Command]. But that wouldn’t yield anything.

Taesan ran several experiments.

First, he tried to suppress the manifestation of the sea urchin’s power itself, gathering his rank to crush it outright. The spikes couldn’t shoot out because Taesan’s rank blocked them.

But he gained nothing from it.

He hadn’t expected to succeed on the first try, so he wasn’t discouraged and tried something else.

Next, he tried negating all manifested power. He used magic separation to surround the sea urchin, blocking every trajectory of the incoming spikes. The spikes stopped right in front of the sea urchin.

Still, there was no system message for acquiring a skill.

Taesan wasn’t disappointed. Countless trial and error was only natural when trying to acquire skills.

He continued testing, and the ghost asked curiously,

[Can you really get a skill with such a big gap in power and rank?]

“There are some skills you can obtain regardless of power or rank.”

If it was a skill with truly fundamental conditions, it was possible, though unlikely.

The best example was Addition.

Addition required facing countless enemies and consistently making the same attack without ever breaking form to increase damage. The opponent’s strength hardly mattered.

What Taesan wanted now was that type of skill.

After thinking for a while, Taesan quietly moved forward. At the same time, spikes rained down from the sea urchins above.

Taesan lightly waved his hand. The spikes shattered as they touched him and scattered.

Taesan studied the sea urchins.

He didn’t just look at them—he focused his mind and observed.

Then he began to sense something akin to will within the sea urchins.

[Will of All Things] wasn’t just about sensing the will and emotions of living things. If he focused his mind and expanded his senses, he could literally read the will of everything in existence.

Simply put, he could now do things like this.

Taesan stepped forward.

At that moment, the will within the sea urchin changed rapidly.

The surge of will being released. And the spots where that will was concentrated.

He read all of it.

Taesan took a step. As he did, spikes rained down all at once.

Taesan didn’t dodge or block. He simply stood there and waited.

Rumble!

The spikes tore through the ground.

[…Huh?]

The ghost was surprised.

Amid the tightly clustered spikes,

Taesan stood there without a scratch.

It looked as if the spikes were deliberately avoiding him.

[How?]

“Not movement, but will. So it’s possible.”

Reading movement meant reading the transfer of force and dodging accordingly.

But will was the step before force manifested. Taesan read the will of the sea urchins, predicted where the spikes would fall, and then moved into the places without spikes.

He’d done something similar before against a Fallen Apostle, but that was only possible because the Apostle had lost its mind and only had power and instinct left after falling in Spirit Rank. More importantly, this was the first time it had worked on something non-living.

“So I can read the will of inanimate objects too?”

Maybe because it was a skill of the world itself, it was hard to understand in many ways.

He also discovered something else from this attack.

The sea urchins weren’t perceiving Taesan and attacking.

It was more like a reflex. If an intruder got close enough, they spread their power and attacked in all directions.

Dozens of possible conditions and the skills that could match them flashed through his mind.

And finally, Taesan found an answer close to the truth.

‘A barrage of attacks.’

If, amid that, he strolled forward as if taking a walk—without dodging, blocking, or taking any damage—what kind of skill could he obtain?

“Let’s try it.”

He was confident this would work. Taesan continued to experiment.

How much will could he read? How accurate was it? How much space was there between the spikes? How did the sea urchins react to his every movement? He began to analyze it all.

Step.

Taesan moved. A strong will surged from the sea urchin. The direction and trajectory of the spikes became clear.

This time, he realized that simply walking forward wouldn’t let him dodge the spikes.

What was needed was to walk as if strolling—not to make evasive maneuvers. He had to guide the opponent’s attacks.

Depending on his movement, the trajectory of the automatic spikes changed.

In that case—

Taesan moved, flicking his fingers as he walked.

The will within the sea urchin fluctuated accordingly.

Not just moving forward, but by moving his whole body, he could to some extent guide the trajectory of the spikes.

He figured out every condition and solution. He kept trying to see how to guide the spikes and how to make it look natural.

After two hours—

“Let’s go.”

Having finished his preparations, Taesan expanded his senses. He read all the wills around him and took a step.

Immediately, he felt the will from the sea urchin.

It prepared to fire spikes to repel the intruder. Taesan read all their trajectories and directions before moving.

Rumble!

Spikes pierced the ground.

But none touched Taesan.

It looked as if the spikes were avoiding him.

Taesan took another step. Again, he sensed the will from the sea urchin.

He read it.

Thousands of branching wills and their trajectories and paths, all before the power even manifested.

He realized he couldn’t dodge this one.

But it didn’t matter. Taesan lightly swung his arm. Not to defend or evade, but just a meaningless movement.

Even that changed the will from the sea urchin.

The sea urchins were automatic defense devices, responding to movement. Even meaningless motion, they tried to read all of it.

After two hours of experiments, Taesan knew exactly how to change the trajectory.

Confirming the change, Taesan stepped forward. Spikes rained down again. But once more, none touched him.

Step.

He advanced.

Rumble!

Spikes shot out.

But none touched Taesan. By moving his arms, legs, and body, he twisted the trajectory.

[…Wow.]

The ghost let out an exclamation.

Dodging the spikes itself wasn’t surprising—he’d seen Taesan do it before.

But this time, Taesan’s movements were completely natural.

Rumble!

Spikes rained down, filling his entire field of vision. There seemed to be no space left.

In the midst of it all, Taesan walked onward, as if taking a stroll.

It looked as if the spikes were deliberately avoiding him.

It was an astonishing sight.

And after twenty steps—

[You took no damage without attacking, dodging, or defending against the attacks directed at you. You have obtained the special always-on skill [One Who Hides in the Shadows].]

The moment he acquired it, the spikes raining down naturally missed Taesan.

Taesan hadn’t dodged the spikes by reading their will. The spikes simply missed him on their own.

It was easy to guess what kind of skill he’d acquired.

[You activated Zepar’s Black Storm.]

Crack!

Taesan destroyed all the sea urchins. Spikes rained down, but the black storm devoured and swept them all away.

“Waaah!”

“What the—!”

The other contractors advancing through the domain screamed in fear, backing away from the direction of the storm.

Taesan sensed it, but it didn’t matter to him, so he ignored it and opened his skill window.

[Special Always-On Skill: One Who Hides in the Shadows]

[Proficiency: 1%]

[Attacks that do not recognize you will not hit you.]

The ghost gave a wry smile.

[You really get all sorts of skills. What’s this one?]

“Attacks that don’t recognize me, huh.”

It was easy to guess the effect. If something like the sea urchin attacked without being aware of Taesan, the attack wouldn’t land.

“This is about the limit.”

The ghost, after reading the skill details, understood what Taesan meant.

[It comes with a condition.]

From now on, all of Taesan’s opponents would be at least immortal level. Losing track of an opponent like that was almost impossible.

To use this skill properly, he’d have to hide himself from the enemy—a rather tricky task.

“It doesn’t matter.”

But Taesan spoke calmly.

“This is a jackpot.”

He’d gone through countless trials and challenges to acquire skills.

There were times he finally got a skill after years of effort, only for it to be useless in real combat.

The skills he stuck with, after all that, were things like Copy.

If a skill he hadn’t even anticipated or tried for was this good, he was satisfied.

[That’s true.]

In fact, One Who Hides in the Shadows was not a low-level skill.

It was an always-on skill that consumed no mana, and as long as he hid his presence, he could easily avoid attacks from even higher-ranked foes. If the ghost had gotten this skill in life, he would have been thrilled.

It was just that the skills Taesan had acquired so far were simply on another level.

[My senses must be dulled.]

The ghost groaned.

Taesan thought about how to use the skill.

‘Stealth.’

Stealth would change with [Ability Sword], making him undetectable for one second. That could satisfy the condition for the new skill.

‘I could also use partial world alteration to hide my body.’

If he decided to make use of it, there were many possible applications. He resolved to figure out its efficiency over time.

Satisfied, Taesan moved forward.

He advanced without hesitation. Then, another obstacle appeared.

This time, it wasn’t sea urchins, but small creatures.

They had wings and grotesque eyes.

They were so small they were nearly invisible and swarmed like locusts. To kill the intruder who trespassed into their master’s domain, they began attacking Taesan.

Taesan simply clenched his fist.

Crunch.

Thousands of creatures were instantly crushed and vanished.

[Not trying to get a skill this time?]

“I’ve already tested all the conditions for this.”

Taesan replied calmly. Tiny, invisible creatures. He’d already investigated what skills could be obtained from them in his previous life.

And most of the skills acquired back then were utterly useless.

[You already did?]

The ghost laughed wryly. Taesan pressed on toward the powerful force he sensed in the distance.