Ascension Through Skills

While Taesan descended the labyrinth, what progress had others made, and what events transpired?

First, Lee Taeyeon and Kang Junhyeok began to speak.

[Lee Taeyeon [Solo]]: "We’ve made it down to the 40th floor."

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "As expected, you’re fast."

[Amelia Aerin [Solo]]: "…Already?"

Amelia quietly expressed her astonishment. While she had been completing Earth’s quests, Lee Taeyeon and Kang Junhyeok had rapidly caught up to her.

[Kang Junhyeok [Solo]]: "The things you taught us have helped a lot in many ways. There were some dangerous encounters, but we managed to make it down without much trouble."

It seemed they had entered a stable phase. Unless they became overconfident or careless, they could likely continue descending without major difficulties.

[Kim Hwiyeon [Hard]]: "We’ve also made considerable progress. Some of the faster players have cleared up to the middle of the 60th floor."

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "Not bad."

[Kim Hwiyeon [Hard]]: "But things are starting to get tough. It seems like it’ll take quite some time from here."

Just as the deeper levels of Solo Mode were known for their sudden difficulty spikes, the same was true for Hard Mode. They were likely to be stuck for a while.

[Amelia Aerin [Solo]]: "I need to hurry. At this rate, they’ll catch up to me."

[Daniel Darmon [Hard]]: "We just got back, so it can’t be helped."

[Kang Junhyeok [Solo]]: "By the way, when do you think the next return quest will appear? It feels like it’s about time for one to show up."

[Oliver Khan [Hard]]: "But we’ve only just returned to the labyrinth. I doubt a quest will appear so soon."

[Lee Taeyeon [Solo]]: "Taesan, do you know anything?"

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "I have no idea."

Taesan didn’t know either. With so much having changed from his previous life, his memories were no longer as reliable.

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "It could come right away, or it could take a long time. Just be prepared."

[Lee Taeyeon [Solo]]: "Understood."

[Kang Junhyeok [Solo]]: "Oh, by the way, how far have you gone, hyung?"

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "The 77th floor."

[Amelia Aerin [Solo]]: "…Seriously?"

The community buzzed with excitement.

[Oliver Khan [Hard]]: "Wow. I can’t even imagine what that’s like. How strong are you at that level?"

[Lee Taeyeon [Solo]]: "Aren’t you close to clearing it?"

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "There’s still a long way to go."

The remaining floors might take even more time than everything he’d experienced so far.

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "But I’ll probably finish before you all."

[Lee Taeyeon [Solo]]: "So, will you return to Earth first, or wait for us at the 100th floor?"

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "Not sure."

Even Taesan was undecided about that.

After exchanging more words, Taesan closed the community.

If anyone could return quickly, it would be Taesan.

How would he bridge the gap in time?

And how would he revive the broken Earth?

The polluted air. The decayed land. The desolate ground and the dried-up seas.

In his previous life, he hadn’t cared much. Their sole purpose had been survival. Protecting a small area and surviving against the monsters was their goal. There was no need to worry about anything else. 𝐑ÄꞐò𝐛ƐS̩

But not anymore.

What Taesan now wanted wasn’t mere survival but to drive out the ancient gods from Earth and live there again.

Rebuilding civilization, cultivating the land, and having children.

That was the fundamental reason he had turned back time.

Players from the labyrinth could endure the polluted air with their enhanced bodies. While the decayed land couldn’t support large-scale farming, limited subsistence farming was possible. However, the newborn children wouldn’t survive in the polluted air.

Subsistence farming also wasn’t a perfect solution.

With no living animals, consuming meat was impossible.

To truly live on Earth again, not just survive, many issues needed to be resolved.

While labyrinth items could provide temporary solutions, they were only localized powers. With Earth’s very foundation destroyed, they couldn’t solve everything.

“What should I do?”

Taesan was lost in thought. He believed he might find answers as he descended the labyrinth.

Taesan reached the 77th floor.

[77th Floor Quest Initiated.]

[Stabilize a world driven to the brink of destruction by the ancient gods.]

[Reward: The Cruel One’s Bloodstained Hammer.]

[Secret Reward: Depends on your performance.]

“Hmm?”

Reading the quest conditions, Taesan narrowed his eyes.

A world on the brink of destruction.

After a moment of thought, Taesan nodded. As soon as he accepted the quest, his body leaped through space.

Thud.

Taesan landed on the ground.

What he felt was polluted air.

And the sensation of decayed land.

And the faces of people, deeply shrouded in despair.

Taesan realized this place was identical to Earth just before its destruction.

---

The polluted air pierced the lungs.

For someone of Taesan’s strength, it wasn’t a significant issue. Even for an ordinary human without any special powers, there wouldn’t be immediate harm.

But over time, as the pollution accumulated, the body would deteriorate, and the mind would become corrupted.

[Is this the quest?]

“You know about it?”

[You know the high gods want to destroy this world, right? And that many planets with life were destroyed as a result.]

Taesan nodded. After clearing Vekveta’s quest, the demon god had mentioned this to him. A total of 258 worlds had been destroyed by the ancient gods.

Time had passed since then, so the number was likely even higher now.

[The gods don’t sit idly by during the high gods’ attacks. They try to protect the attacked worlds and drive out the ancient gods. You've done a similar quest before, haven’t you?]

The quest from Zelbando, the god of magic. The world of the arrogant giants.

That world had been invaded by the high gods.

[That’s how the gods protect each world. Sometimes they succeed without issues, and other times they fail, resulting in the destruction of the world. And occasionally, they manage to protect the world, but it remains desolate and devastated.]

“This place is one of those, then.”

There wasn’t a hint of hope on the faces of the people roaming about. The ghost confirmed it.

[This quest isn’t focused on combat. The goal is to restore and stabilize this broken world.]

Taesan gathered his magic and activated Leraje’s Territory Detection. Information about the planet flowed into him.

The land where people lived was about the size of a single city. A significant number of people were residing there.

The detection extended beyond the city.

No creatures of the ancient gods were detected. Considering his substantial detection range, it was safe to assume they didn’t exist nearby.

The quest’s objective was to stabilize this place.

How should it be done?

While pondering, someone called out to Taesan.

“You there, young man.”

An old man waved at Taesan from a shabby tent.

Following the gesture, Taesan approached the old man.

“Who are you? I don’t recognize your face. Did you come from another city?”

“Another city?”

“…You don’t know?”

The old man’s eyes widened.

“Don’t tell me, are you someone who came from outside?”

He was likely asking if Taesan had survived outside the city and arrived here. Taesan nodded.

The old man chuckled and stroked his beard.

“Ha. I thought all survivors outside the city were dead, but there’s still someone alive. Meeting you must be fate. Come with me. I’ll tell you about this place.”

The old man led Taesan to a tattered shack.

“Will you eat?”

The old man handed Taesan a rusty bowl filled with a murky broth containing unidentifiable chunks.

Taesan shook his head. The old man chuckled and sat on a broken chair.

“You must be a rare survivor. But you’re unlucky. After all that struggle to survive, you ended up in this broken city.”

“There are multiple cities?”

“Yes.”

The old man ate a spoonful of the broth and continued.

“This is one of humanity’s last cities. A gathering place for the forsaken—Bereziak. A city where people survive because they can’t die.”

The old man spoke bitterly. From his words, Taesan understood.

“So the other cities are in better condition?”

“There are five cities in total.”

The old man slowly began explaining.

“Each city is controlled by a different group, and they’re all at odds with one another. The strength of the four is nearly equal—except for us.”

As the old man spoke, faint footsteps approached. A young boy entered the tattered tent.

“Grandpa! I’m back!”

The boy widened his eyes when he saw Taesan.

“…Who’s that?”

“A visitor from the outside.”

The boy’s eyes widened even further.

“An outsider? There’s a survivor outside?”

“I was surprised too.”

“Why’d they come to our city? If they had to come, why not go to another city? Such bad luck.”

The boy opened a bag, revealing a moldy piece of bread.

“Here, Grandpa. I was lucky today and found some bread buried deep underground.”

The boy handed the bread to the old man as if it were a great fortune. The bread was so thoroughly covered in mold that it was hard to find an edible part.

“Sorry, but I can’t give you any of this,” the boy said, glaring at Taesan. His stance was firm, as if losing this bread would threaten his future.

Taesan spoke.

“You’re a group cast out by others.”

“Old people and children are useless to them. So we were abandoned. Even those who resisted and rebelled against them were all exiled here.”

The old man rubbed his back.

“We have no power. But we can’t let the lives we barely held onto go to waste. We’re doing our best to survive.”

Taesan quietly listened to the old man’s words.

---

Taesan parted ways with the old man and began exploring the city.

The state of the city’s interior was more dreadful than he could have imagined.

There was no proper food, clothing, or shelter. People were merely scraping by, trying to survive day by day.

It was hard to find intact land. Without the ability to produce proper food, they were barely holding on by consuming the remaining supplies they had.

“How should I go about this?”

Taesan contemplated silently.

His quest was to restore stability to this place.

Stability didn’t simply mean surviving day to day.

It meant being able to produce sustainable food, raise children, and dream of a better future.

To achieve this, Taesan realized he would need to take the lead in managing the city.

He would need to figure out how to expand their territory, cleanse the polluted air, and create livable land.

Taesan came to a realization.

This quest wasn’t just about stabilizing the current situation—it was also a test to determine how he would go about restoring Earth after everything was over.