Foundations of the First Path

"I knew the war with the Greenskins was close at hand. But that was all it was—something I knew in my head."

The old warrior, Vartus, began without warning.

"I was a boy, and I couldn't bear being shut in. Running wild in every direction around the castle was simply how I lived."

"When those stifling days dragged on, I had a foolish thought. If the quiet held like this, surely I could slip out for a little while and come back."

"So I talked my escort, Charr, and my younger siblings into it, and we stole out beyond the walls... and I forged the regret of my entire life."

As he spoke, old Vartus's face twisted into something wretched.

The escort's name really was Charr?

My surprise did nothing to slow him. The story went on.

"A Greenskin detached force found us. I left my siblings behind, and only I crawled back alive, on Charr's sacrifice. I thought that alone was disaster enough. It was only the beginning."

"My father, the margrave who held the border, gave up our house and our castle to save the two siblings taken hostage."

"Even then, Grash, great warrior of the orcs, did not keep his word. Once the castle was his, he sent our house nothing but my siblings' bones—along with word that the meat had been soft, and delicious."

"My father, in his rage, eventually smashed a thousand Greenskin elites. He could not take the castle back. All he managed was to get me out before he met a horrific death."

"And so our house was branded traitors to humankind, and we lost the castle, our traditions, our honor, and our bloodline. All of it."

"All of it, because of one thoughtless child. Me."

The words came out raw, steeped in a bitterness too deep for any comfort I could have offered.

"That regret did not leave me, not even after I grew and drove the Greenskins out again and restored my house's lands."

"I spent my life unable to shake the thought that it would have been better if I had died then. That Father and my siblings might still have been living well, if I had."

"What if I had done this. What if I had done that. I turned those thoughts over without end. But I knew, honestly, that they were meaningless."

"The only real possibility was that I never left the castle in the first place. That was the only one, I thought. And yet..."

He had spilled the long tale without preamble. Now, for the first time, his eyes fixed straight on me.

"So there was a way like this. With specs hardly different from that Charr of old, you produced a result like this. Run however you like, and being surrounded was still the only natural end."

"Take down the orc Grash. Yes. I never thought of it. Do that, and the detached force would have scattered into nothing. A method even I never considered—because I couldn't imagine it was possible."

Hm?

The more I listened, the stranger it felt. All I had done was scrape together whatever method I could to finish a Perfect Clear.

Perfect Clear... even an Ascendant doesn't know about it?

A Transcendent who could reach into the Labyrinth's very quests didn't know the information my trait showed me?

That fact left a peculiar stir in me. Then old Vartus stepped in close.

"You showed me my own foolishness. You broke a long regret. For that, I thank you."

A firm hand settled on my shoulder. A low hum rose, and a power sank into me—warm and cold at once, sharp and yet strangely gentle.

"Better than any material reward, I should think, to lay a foundation so that someone of gifts much like the boy I was can go further still."

The hum deepened. Before I knew it, I was chasing that flow of mana, circulating the mana in my own body—and then the change struck.

"Hrk—!?"

The cry tore out of me. A reward I had never seen coming. Old Vartus answered it with a faint smile.

"Finish the First Path as you have done until now, and that achievement will show you the next. The path the great ancestors of Valgar refined—and the path I completed."

The First Path? Did he mean the Novice section?

"Ah. Th-thank you. I... thank you."

I fumbled through the thanks, awkward, while the mana moved through me in a tangle of attributes—nothing like the Cheol-woo Circulation Art I had evolved, and far more complex. He tapped my shoulder once more, and was gone.

A soft fade. A hum. Where old Vartus had stood, a blue portal opened in his place, and for a long while I only stared at the empty air, and at the gate, too dazed to take in what had just happened.

"So... just now, an Ascendant's avatar taught me a circulation art, and left...?"

I said it aloud and still couldn't quite believe it. The portal in front of me, though, was plainly real. So was the strength of the mana moving through me in that strange new way.

And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠then there was this.

The stats and skills on that wholly changed window dragged the moment back into something I could believe.

Mana went up by a full ten.

I couldn't speak to the rest of it yet, but I could already feel how the tangled flow of multi-attribute mana let me move a spirit's power far more efficiently. It still didn't feel real.

Even so.

I did it!

That much was certain. I had Perfect Cleared the fifth floor. The thought hit, and fatigue came down on me all at once.

First, get back.

My hand found the portal of its own accord.

"Return."

A flash.

The system's voice came again, and with it the familiar line of the fortress wall.

"Oh—out in less than a day this time?"

"Yes. I got lucky."

I let the guard at the Labyrinth Stele—the one I seemed to run into far too often—check my entry log, then turned and headed for the Jerik Martial Arts Hall. There was plenty I wanted to look over, but what I wanted first was a wash and a bed.

Wait. Can I even wash right now?

The thought came, and mana slipped naturally into the water spirit.

A sheet of water crashed over me. I kept walking, and in a single instant it scoured every corner of my body clean. Then—

A flare. A lightly worked fire spirit burned off even the thin damp left behind. The underwear had a powerful purification function, but actually washing was a different feeling entirely.

"Haa..."

Three steps, and I felt as if I'd had a proper bath.

This works?

Spirit control this fine would have been unthinkable before. I had learned a great deal on the fifth floor, watching Vartus use the spirits. There was another reason, too.

The circulation art Vartus's avatar had taught me. It kept the stats close to the old Cheol-woo Circulation Art and added effects on top of them. The explosion of mana was almost beside the point.

Handling spirits is definitely easier.

Hard to believe it was still the same Advanced grade. I was glad, of course. It also gave me something to worry about.

Multiple Spirit Subjugation. A fine Ability Stone, no question—but from orange onward, I meant to swap it out for something else.

This art was plainly built for spirits. And it was a skill an Ascendant had guaranteed could evolve.

He has to mean the moment I earn a class through a full run of Perfect Clears.

That was already my intention, which only made the condition more tempting. Which meant—

Even if I swap in a higher Ability Stone, I'll still have to stay on the spirit line...?

Yes. There was no way around it. This was a path an Ascendant himself had set down. And spirits, setting combat aside, were too useful in too many directions to throw away.

Especially for adapting to the environment.

A shower in the span of a breath, whenever I needed one, was only the start.

First, get inside and take a look at this axe.

I reached the hall on that pleasant run of thoughts, and found Instructor Jerik—midway through teaching the children—staring at me in open surprise.

"Charr! Back already? Don't tell me you quit."

"Not a chance. I finished early."

"For real? Easier this time, was it? Feels like it's only been a day."

"Hardly. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Something absurd happened..."

Saying it brought back more than the fifth-floor quest. The thing just before it. Kim Hyun-shik.

Right. What's going to happen to that bastard?

I had taken his sword and his stealth cloak, and I had gone so far as to synthesize the shoes. If someone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had been marking him—a comrade, or someone from the palace—I was in real trouble.

...And nothing happened.

Judging by the Labyrinth Stele soldier's manner on the way out, nothing had changed at all.

That bastard. Did he jump in on his own?

Maybe he had. I was still turning over the best case when Jerik kept at me.

"What? You get hurt somewhere?"

"No. It was short, but I got worked hard. From next time I should probably carry recovery potions..."

"You? In the Novice section?"

"...Yes."

"What kind of quests are you even running out there alone?"

"I... have a lot to tell you. Would it be all right if I rested first?"

"Ah. Right, of course. Rest. We'll talk later."

"Yes."

I had washed. I was wearing underwear with constant purification. Even so, a thick fatigue had cooked itself onto my soul. Still, before I slept—

I need to check this.

Alone in my room, I quietly drew out the enormous axe.

"Whoa..."

Overwhelming attack power, and a skill besides. It had real weight, but anyone who fought with an axe would covet a weapon like this.

Rare grade. It would be welcome in the twenties, and still see use in the thirties.

Something that could fetch a serious price. The moment I confirmed it, I was able to sleep with a genuinely clear mind.

Tomorrow, the axe and Hyun-shik's sword—no, his sword depends on how things look...

I was still turning it over when I slipped under without even noticing.

The next day, I went to the merchant Ruda Aslan and sold the axe.

"Wow. Even among Rare weapons, this is upper-tier."

"...You can buy it, then?"

"Of course."

Ruda set the price at three hundred gold. I had no complaint. I knew well enough that the Ruler Ability Stone and the Special Taming Ability Stone had been extraordinarily lucky, peculiar cases. If anything, the way he paid cash on the spot, without a word of haggling, left me trusting him more.

"Thank you."

"Not at all. If anything, I can feel a jackpot coming. A Novice, bringing in something like this... Ah, and as promised, I'll keep the seller's name to myself. Don't worry."

"Right. Then."

A heavy sum of money, all at once, and a rush of thoughts went through me.

Cheap consumable artifacts I could buy with this...

The panties had paid off handsomely, so I found myself turning over a similar idea. Things that might fit in the Goblin Basket—noble-use consumable artifacts, especially. I ran through plenty of them.

...Still not enough.

To push an upgrade of two grades or more, I would need to buy at least ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠four hundred, and the money fell short. There also wasn't another artifact as cheap as Klinsmann's panties.

I've heard the Magic Towers in other labyrinth cities have goods they produce exclusively.

Not somewhere I could go right now. Like it or not, the idea had to be put off.

Buy some recovery potions for emergencies, and get a little training in. There are things I need to ask Jerik, too.

I headed back to the hall with that in mind, and found a familiar face waiting.

"Kirk!"

"Hyung!"

The hall's great hope, unseen for months, was smiling and waving—an unusual tattoo I had never seen before bared on his right arm.