Radiant Ascension Path

I'd barely gotten started and already had two Black Wooden Beads in hand. Considering those beads could serve as currency for trade, it was an excellent beginning.

The problem was that I had no idea where the exit was. The longer it took me to find it, the worse things would get for me.

Not that reuniting with the First Squad — the closest thing I have to allies — is any easier. I don't even know where they are.

There was no rendezvous point. We hadn't been able to set one. We knew the Demon Entrance Cavern existed, but we had zero information about its layout.

The Demon Entrance Cavern was every man for himself. You had to solve it alone.

Still, I'm in a far better position than most. I've got the Heavenly Eye.

I wasn't particularly fond of opening the Heavenly Eye. It was excellent in every other respect, but the continuous mana drain was steep. In the terms of this world, activating it meant a constant drain on my internal energy. Manageable for now — but the longer it ran, the heavier the toll.

In a situation like this, I don't have a choice.

I slowly surveyed my surroundings, peering through the walls. Beyond the first wall, another wall appeared. I poured more force into my eyes. The drain on my internal energy intensified. After a stretch of sustained sight, I shook my head and deactivated the Heavenly Eye.

…Damn it. It's absurdly vast.

I hadn't found the exit. Still, I'd gotten a rough picture of everything within a hundred-meter radius of myself.

I rubbed my eyes and walked forward. Pushing the Heavenly Eye too hard left a strain that settled behind them, just like this.

After pressing on for a while, I stopped short.

A man lay dead in the corridor. His body was so thoroughly rotted and falling apart that it was hard to believe he'd only just died.

When I scanned the area with the Heavenly Eye earlier, this guy was still alive. He died just now.

A monster's work? No. There were no monsters nearby. No other people, either. I studied the walls and floor of the corridor — marks of an attack on the wall, and a faint green liquid still clinging to the floor.

Traps built into the walls and floor.

When I'd peered through the surroundings with the Heavenly Eye earlier, I'd noticed some unusual structures. At the time I'd dismissed them. Looking back, those had almost certainly been traps.

What now? Take a different route?

Dodging the traps would let me show the instructors watching me that I had some sense.

But if I take another path, there are monsters that way… I'd rather conserve my stamina.

I decided to break through the traps.

I flicked the Heavenly Eye on briefly and scanned them.

Just as I thought — mechanisms that spray venom from the walls.

Take a hit of that venom and you'd end up like the corpse rotting here — body dissolving into sludge.

I walked forward.

A metallic clank rang out. A section of the wall slid open, and a round metal cylinder popped out. It looked a lot like a gun barrel. From that muzzle, green liquid sprayed without mercy — dense enough that even a martial artist who'd reached Chulji would struggle to dodge it all.

I drew up my internal energy and unfurled a qi barrier. The venom jets slamming out of the walls hit the barrier and pattered harmlessly to the floor.

If I'd known nothing, maybe. But I already know the traps are here. There's no way something this crude is taking me down.

I strolled through the trap behind the barrier at my leisure.

Without so much as a glance back, I kept going. Whether this was even the right path was a question for later.

After a long stretch of walking, I frowned.

I have no idea what's ahead. Should I use the Heavenly Eye again?

I shook my head. I wanted to conserve as much internal energy as possible. And even if I did use the Heavenly Eye, I'd already come too far to turn around and take another route.

If there's a monster, I kill it. If it's a trap, I break through the same way as before.

I pressed on.

Whoom.

A sensation of my body floating upward washed over me.

A barrier. I've stepped inside a barrier.

I narrowed my eyes and raised my guard.

"Number 123, I see."

Number 366, Jegal Mo-sun, emerged from behind a wall where he'd been hiding. The tension on his face melted the moment he saw me, and he let out a long breath of relief.

"You've been hiding in here under a barrier?"

"Yes. This ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spot was ideal for one. Ah — don't move carelessly. Follow my instructions exactly. There's a trap right in front of you."

"Using the barrier to take advantage of the traps, then."

"Making use of what's already here is efficient. One step forward, four steps to the right. Then three steps forward again."

I moved as Jegal Mo-sun directed. It seemed he'd set up a formation in addition to the barrier. Before long I was standing in front of him.

"Seeing you like this is genuinely welcome, Number 123."

"Where are the others?"

"There are none. I'm alone here. Ah — I did find a Black Wooden Bead. It was embedded in the center of the ceiling. Three traps around it made the retrieval rather troublesome."

"But you got the bead. I killed a monster and got one myself."

"Which means all we need is the exit. Fortunate."

I nodded.

Anyone else, and I would have killed them and taken their bead. But Jegal Mo-sun was destined to become one of Cheon Yu-un's closest aides. I couldn't kill him.

Jegal Mo-sun and I shared what we knew about the Demon Entrance Cavern. I kept quiet about the fact that I was carrying one extra Black Wooden Bead. Being allies didn't mean I had to spill every last detail. And I didn't trust Jegal ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Mo-sun that far to begin with.

"I see."

Jegal Mo-sun drew his sword and began scratching something into the floor.

A map. Built from the information I'd given him and what he'd experienced of the cavern himself.

"I started here and moved for roughly half an hour before reaching this room with the traps. Your starting point, Number 123, was here."

"…Seems about right. But is any of this actually useful?"

"It is. If we compare it against the position of Ipmaso above the cavern, we can at least roughly determine the cavern's scale."

Jegal Mo-sun drew another map over the first — the layout of Ipmaso sitting above the Demon Entrance Cavern. After nearly a year living there, he sketched it without hesitation. I found myself impressed by his drafting skill. Destined to become Cheon Yu-un's right hand, he clearly had no shortage of talents.

"I started here."

"I started over there. Slid down through a hole in the floor. The passage was steeply sloped."

"Which made for a convenient descent. Depth appears to be roughly fifteen to twenty-one meters. So…"

He drew a large border around the map of the cavern.

"Contrasted against Ipmaso's size, the Demon Entrance Cavern should be about this large. The place I believe to be the exit is here, along the outer edge. We need to head in the opposite direction from the path I took."

"Got it."

I nodded.

Honestly, I understood less than half of what Jegal Mo-sun was saying. Why was he so sure the exit was on the outer edge? How could he even estimate the cavern's size?

Even if he explained his reasoning, I doubted I'd follow it — so I decided to keep my mouth ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shut and take his word for it.

Scratch, scratch.

Jegal Mo-sun kept moving his sword, filling in more of the map.

"What are you doing? Didn't we already reach a conclusion?"

"This is for the next person who comes this way. I'm deliberately planting false information to throw them into confusion."

"……"

The map was finished. He retrieved the steel stakes he'd driven into the ground for the barrier and the formation, then turned to me.

"Shall we go, Number 123? Working together, the two of us should find the exit quickly."

I walked forward alongside Jegal Mo-sun.

I'd judged him useful — and now I was seriously considering whether that judgment needed to be scrapped entirely.

"Number 123. Do not step on the black tiles. The moment you do, a trap will trigger."

"Didn't you just tell me not to step on the red ones?"

"That was a calculation error. When dealing with traps one has never seen before, some miscalculation is inevitable."

I stepped on the white tile next to a black one. The tile sank with a soft thunk, and ice spikes dropped from the ceiling. Already on edge, I immediately leapt back and avoided the trap.

"…Hmm. It seems the arrangement matters more than the color of the tiles."

"You son of a bitch. Be honest. Are you trying to use these traps to kill me?!"

"It was a mistake. And you wouldn't die from something of this level anyway. I have faith in Number 123."

"Well, I don't have faith in you. You go first."

"You do have a sense of humor. My physical capabilities are inferior to yours, Number 123. My martial skill doesn't even bear comparison. By any reasonable measure, it makes more sense for you to take the lead."

"Then use your arts! Your arts! You went through the trouble of learning them — why aren't you using them?!"

"And which arts, exactly, would I use in this situation?"

"Arts for identifying traps! Hell, if you had an art that let you fly through the air…! You could sail right over floor-tile traps like these without a second thought!!"

"Hah. You make it sound so simple."

Jegal Mo-sun shook his head slowly from side to side.

"Arts are not omnipotent. They have schools and affinities. In my case, I specialize in Jiangshi arts — techniques that operate through corpses and sacrificial offerings. Identifying traps in advance through arts? That ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠falls under the reconnaissance school. Unfortunately, I know nothing of reconnaissance. An art that lets one fly through the air? Activating that requires calculating a formula. Precise formula control is essential."

"You're from the Jegal Clan — famous for their arts!"

He shot me a look of clear displeasure.

"Inheriting Jegal blood does not make one proficient in every art."

"The arts practitioner I know just does everything without picking and choosing."

I said it thinking of Mi-ryeong. She handled any art you put in front of her as if it were nothing. Building a house with arts, summoning vast quantities of water, raising barriers, even laying down seals and restrictions. She cooked with arts, for that matter.

Watching Mi-ryeong, arts seemed close to all-purpose — there was almost nothing they couldn't do.

"You appear to know a formidable practitioner. In any case, those are things I cannot do."

"Damn it. Just charging straight through would be better at this point."

"Number 123. Are you familiar with the saying that a dull mind makes the body suffer? We need to conserve our stamina."

"There's also a saying that a weak body makes the mind suffer. Time is money. Are we really going to burn time on traps like these?"

"Time is money. Hmm. A fine saying. But I prefer to handle everything with certainty. And I've now fully mapped the arrangement of this trap. Step on the tiles exactly as I instruct. The sequence is black-black-white-black-white."

"If this fails too, we break through my way."

"That won't be necessary."

And it wasn't. Jegal Mo-sun and I passed through the trap safely.