Ascension Through Skills

The judgments did not stop.

[Heuk, heuk.]

The ghost’s situation was worse than Taesan’s. It seemed to be hanging on somehow, but its white body, which seemed about to disappear at any moment, was buzzing like the static of a television.

Taesan looked up at the woman who was laughing mischievously. The woman’s smile deepened.

Taesan scowled.

“Is this how you treat your invited guest?”

The pressure of power lessened for a moment.

The loud judgment notifications also disappeared.

[Heuk.]

The ghost barely managed to take a breath.

The woman laughed scornfully.

The ghost bowed.

[Th, thank you. Oh God.] [Don't thank me. That's what he said. Long time no see.] [It's been a long time......]

The woman and the ghost seemed to recognize each other. The woman chuckled.

[Yes. It's the first time since our unpleasant meeting.]

Although it was said playfully, the ghost couldn’t respond carelessly.

After a moment of looking at the ghost, the woman turned her gaze to Taesan.

[Well, you know who I am, don't you?]

“The God of Choice. Maria.”

There was no mistaking her.

The mental judgment that had occurred earlier was denser and felt more endless than the worst entity he had ever seen, the Apostle.

[I am the Goddess of Choice. I am the god who reached this place through repeating hideous choices and who imposes choices on mortals.]

The nickname attached to a god revealed what the god was in charge of.

[Welcome to my shrine. You're a precious child.]

With a smile, the goddess looked down at Taesan.

Seeing a face full of goodwill, Taesan was taken aback and astonished.

‘This is…’

He had not thought deeply about the gods.

He was sure they were powerful entities, but he didn’t think each individual would be that strong.

He thought they might be two or three times stronger than an Apostle at most.

But the god he was witnessing directly was on a different level.

‘There are tens, hundreds of entities like this?’

As Taesan was laughing inwardly in disbelief, the ghost cautiously spoke.

[Great One. May I dare to ask a question?] [Go ahead. You're a child who is now dead.] [Wasn't it that we couldn't be invited to a god's shrine? That we, as mortals, couldn't accept it......] [No, it's not like that, child. You can't bear our existence, but that's a problem that can be solved. There are other issues.]

Maria laughed.

[You weren't called because you were not worth calling.]

The ghost closed its mouth. This time Taesan spoke.

“Do you mean that I have value?”

[Quiet.]

The ghost swallowed its breath at the audacious question. From its point of view, Taesan’s behavior was quite rude.

But Taesan didn’t think so.

The goddess in front of him wouldn’t feel such behavior was impolite.

His presumption hit the mark, and the goddess laughed.

[You do have value. You are quite interesting to us. I wanted to see you in person.]

The goddess showed personal interest.

The ghost could not hide its astonishment at this fact.

In all the time it had lived in the maze, it had never heard of such a thing.

[Lakiratas was buzzing around so much that I thought I should be strict... but you were worth it.]

Maria. Not many accepted the ordeal imposed by her, the one who imposed the trial of choices.

Even fewer among them emerged triumphant.

In particular, not a single challenger had ever been able to last through a trial that she had personally enhanced.

Yet Taesan passed that trial.

Moreover, he achieved results that pleased her.

Maria looked down at Taesan with the eyes of someone who had found a precious treasure.

[I thought settling here would be disappointing, but it was a rather good choice.]

“I would like to ask one thing. What would you have done if I had lied in the choice of the trial?”

[If that was the case,]

The goddess spoke softly.

[You wouldn't have liked it.]

Instantly, an oppressive atmosphere enveloped them. The ghost couldn’t help but gasp for breath.

[The one beside you did that in the past.] [Ha, haha…….]

The ghost laughed awkwardly.

Not lying was the right answer. If he had, the goddess likely wouldn’t have shown him such favor.

The goddess broached the main reason for her summoning of Taesan.

[Child, have you really no intention of becoming my apostle?]

She liked Taesan.

She was the Goddess of Choice. She didn’t like coercion. Maria’s trials granted the recipients the freedom to choose.

However, that was the problem. The adventurers who took her trials lied.

While that was also a choice, she didn’t like it.

She liked the honest choices and the power and wit to overcome them.

It was a matter of preference. Since the labyrinth was designed, she hadn’t appointed a single apostle. None of them pleased her.

But Taesan was different.

He made choices without lies, and he perfectly won by using reason and wisdom in a nearly impossible situation.

She was very pleased with Taesan.

[If you accept, you will be my first apostle. What you want will come true, and you will go down the labyrinth as my representative. No one will dare to open their mouth against you, even if they are apostles of other gods.]

Maria had such power. And she was willing to give it to Taesan.

[How about it?]

“I’m sorry.”

Taesan calmly refused.

Maria’s offer was certainly attractive. If he had such power, he could descend the labyrinth more quickly.

But it wasn’t the path he wanted.

With a smile, Maria gracefully retreated.

[That's not bad either. I respect your choice.]

Contrary to expectations, she didn’t seem upset. Taesan then decided that he should be able to ask.

“May I ask a question?”

[Go ahead, child.]

“How much do you know about me?”

At that question that pierced through the essence of the matter, Maria laughed.

[I know as much as you think. That this isn't your first time here. That you used what the snake vomited.]

She knew that Taesan had returned in time.

[Poor child. A child who has gone astray by choice. A child that was swept up in their mischief.]

It wasn’t surprising. In the first place, the Throne of Ouroboros that Lee Taeyeon had obtained was from here, the labyrinth.

The gods would not leave an item that they themselves could not control.

Especially when Taesan was able to interfere with time a little, it didn’t seem likely that a being with such power would be tied down by time.

But something caught his attention.

“… You say I was caught up in mischief?”

[What else would it be but mischief? They gave you the wrong choices. They prevented you from going where you should. Didn't that torment you?]

Taesan’s eyes narrowed.

By mischief, she meant the Easy, Normal, and Hard Modes. The goddess knew what choices they were given.

“Do you know who they are?”

At his calm yet emotional voice, the goddess chuckled softly.

[I will give you that answer if you accept my offer.]

“So you mean you can’t tell me.”

[It's a burden to us as well, you see. We can't tell you without a price.]

Still, that was somewhat of an answer. The goddess spoke with a smile.

[You're remarkable now but still weak. Come down a bit further. There's something you need to receive.]

“Your attention is too much for someone like me.”

[The only reason you can say that is because you don't understand this place. You have no idea what the adventurers you talk about do here. We're staying here for a play, but it's not a calm and simple play. It's a play with our lives as the stake.]

Annoyance flashed briefly in the goddess’s eyes. Just with that, the atmosphere became heavily stifling.

[I would love to crush you... But that would be no fun. We're not childish enough to throw tantrums.]

The goddess smiled again.

[You'll know soon enough. Yes, that will be fun too. Your fight with them.]

Just then, a noise resonated from outside the shrine.

[Ah, they're here. Something troublesome has come.] [Gulp.]

The spirit swallowed. A tremendous presence rushed in. It was not much less than Maria’s.

[See you later, child.]

With her farewell, Taesan’s body began to depart from the shrine.

Crack.

The wall of the shrine split open. A huge eyeball was visible through the gap. It was filled with annoyance.

[You.] [Are you angry? You should have moved first. I want to be disturbed too, you know?]

With a cackling laugh at those last words, Taesan returned to the labyrinth.

[Oh...]

The spirit was still standing there with its mouth open, seemingly in shock. Taesan was also in a state of shock.

However, his shock was different from that of the spirit.

“What a joke.”

Taesan believed that he would have no opponents if he simply only focused on his stats.

That was neither arrogance nor hubris. It was evident when comparing himself to Lee Taeyeon, who had cleared Solo Mode.

He had been defeated by the apostles, but it wasn’t due to his own power. It was because of a lack of stats.

Even if he was a seeker of gods, even Ainzhar, if he was his former self, he could win, even if it was hard. With only half of Lee Taeyeon’s stats, he thought it would be a sure victory.

Simply put, if his former self had taken care of the stats at his current level, mankind would have survived at least another year.

So while clearing the labyrinth, he didn’t have much pride or competitive spirit.

There were a few crises, but he didn’t feel particularly excited because those crises occurred because his current self was weaker than his former self.

He was only thinking about developing his stats as much as possible and returning to Earth.

But the gods were incredibly powerful.

Not only Maria, but even the god who appeared at the last moment was equally powerful. Even if his former self had done everything, he would never have been able to defeat them.

Even if his stats were at Lee Taeyeon’s level, it wouldn’t be much different.

That was a shock to Taesan.

‘So what about here?’

Taesan’s eyes shimmered.

They said the other modes were fake. Taesan had held the most power in those fakes.

If he gained everything in this place, which could be called real, could he also oppose the gods? Or would it still be impossible?

“I want to try it.”

Taesan murmured.

He now had a profoundly personal goal.