Ascension Through Skills

Chapter 248: Absolute Protection (1)

“Stay still.”

[Understood.]

[You have activated Essence Perception.]

[Rafflesia of Formlessness and Transformation.]

[Invisible poison scatters from the formless tentacles. The poison's quality and concentration can vary.]

As Lee Taeyeon had explained,

I could feel the formless movements fluttering around Rafflesia.

Those must be the tentacles described in the explanation.

“Let’s see for now.”

Taesan couldn’t remember everything, but he kept the interesting bits in his mind.

One of them was the Rafflesia before him,

A monster that could enable Taesan to acquire skills.

Recognizing Taesan, the Rafflesia scattered its poison.

Invisible forces enveloped Taesan’s entire body.

[Your First Attack Nullification has been activated.]

[Your Second Attack Nullification has been activated.]

[Your Third Attack Nullification has been activated.]

The attack nullifications were swiftly exhausted.

And then the damage started coming in.

[You receive 10 damage.]

[You receive 10 damage.]

“About 10, then.”

His health began to drain rapidly.

But it wasn’t enough to kill Taesan. He approached Rafflesia.

Then Rafflesia moved its formless tentacles.

The concentration of the scattered poison changed.

Taesan focused his gaze.

He expanded his senses and read the flow of the changed poison.

‘I can read it.’

He discerned the trajectory and quality of the poison and swung his sword.

Fwoosh!

The sword wind caused by the sword strike dispersed the poison. Rafflesia moved its tentacles. The poison attacked like flames in all directions.

Taesan didn’t dodge.

He moved his sword.

Fwoosh!

He raised a wind. Creating a fist wind with his punch, he shook the tip of his sword, bewildering the trajectory of the poison.

His dizzyingly moving hand scattered all the poison.

“It works.”

He could identify and deflect all the invisible attacks performed by Rafflesia.

‘And the proficiency of the block is…’

[Special Continuous Activation Skill: Block]

[Proficiency: 23%]

[Blocks damage below a certain value. However, damage of 3 or more cannot be nullified.]

The effect of Block was to stop damage below a certain threshold.

It’s not about reducing 2 damage from 100; it completely nullified any damage that was 2 or less.

Two.

It was possible.

Having confirmed everything, Taesan turned away from Rafflesia, who was about to scatter poison.

[Huh? Where are you going?]

“I’m going to the shop. There’s something I need to buy.”

When Taesan returned, the shopkeeper asked hesitantly.

“You just went down; why are you back already?”

“I need something. Can I see the potions?”

“Alright.”

The shopkeeper, puzzled, made space and presented the potions. Taesan examined each one to find what he needed.

[Potion of Protection]

[Continuously nullifies types of damage by 3.]

[1,000G]

[Potion of Enhancement]

[When mixed with a specific potion, the effects of the potion are enhanced.]

[1,200G]

[Potion of Designated Enhancement]

[After using the potion, designating a skill temporarily increases its proficiency by 20%. However, it cannot be used on skills above a certain level.]

[1,500G]

While examining the potions, the ghost inquired.

[I've always wondered why these are sold. They’re just pointlessly expensive and useless, aren’t they?]

The Potion of Protection, which reduced continuous damage.

The effect itself wasn’t bad, but it could only reduce a meager amount of 3.

This was essentially a negligible figure, especially considering its cost of 1,000 gold.

[The Potion of Enhancement is also useless because it increases by a fixed amount, not proportionally.]

Mixing it with a health potion would only change a 50% recovery to 52%.

It was more sensible to buy additional potions for 1,200 gold.

[The Potion of Designated Enhancement is also too flashy, as the skills you can designate are only of a basic level. Plus, it's too expensive. The duration is also short, only about 10 minutes. Isn’t it just too useless?]

It couldn’t be used on skills that could affect combat.

All three were duds in the labyrinth, bought only by adventurers out of curiosity the first time.

“Don’t ask me. I received these potions as part of a contract. They’re unsellable and a nuisance.”

The shopkeeper clicked his tongue as he urged Taesan.

“What are you going to buy? Choose quickly.”

“Two Potions of Protection, one Potion of Enhancement, and one Potion of Designated Enhancement, please.”

Taesan pointed out the Potion of Protection, Potion of Enhancement, and Potion of Designated Enhancement.

‘All here.’

Fortunately, he was able to obtain everything he wanted. These items could even be obtained in Easy Mode, so naturally, they were expected.

[Huh?]

“These?”

The shopkeeper was very puzzled by Taesan’s choice.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but they’re probably useless. But if you want them, I’ll sell them to you.”

“Thank you.”

Taesan handed over the gold. As he actually made the purchase, the shopkeeper looked at him with a face as if seeing something bizarre.

“Wow, I didn’t expect those to sell.”

Taesan returned to the labyrinth.

The ghost, who had been quiet, asked.

[Learning a new skill?]

“Did you notice?”

[Whenever you do something strange, you always end up with some unbelievable skill.]

[Can I ask what it's about?]

Barkaza answered the ghost’s question.

[It's simple. The labyrinth is supported by a system bestowed by the gods. Adventurers can obtain skills corresponding to their specific actions.]

[...So, the master is trying to obtain a skill?]

“Right.”

[What are you trying to get this time?]

The ghost asked with interest.

Every time Taesan did something incomprehensible, he acquired a skill.

Attack Nullification, Forced Duel, Addition… Each skill was at an unreachable level.

The skills he had obtained so far were impressive, but it meant there were still more to gain. The ghost was curious about what that might be.

Taesan answered.

“Nullification of continuous damage.”

[Continuous damage?]

“You must have noticed while watching. What’s the drawback of Attack Nullification?”

[...It’s continuous damage.]

The ghost realized.

Attack Nullification was an absurd skill in itself.

It erased all incoming attacks and reversed time to before the attacks occurred.

Without exaggeration, even an ordinary adventurer with Attack Nullification could descend three more floors.

But the only drawback was continuous damage.

As if facing a world-destroying wolf, if the enemy simply standing before him caused continuous damage, Attack Nullification was utterly useless.

Just moments ago, with Rafflesia,

As soon as the battle started, all the Attack Nullifications were used up—a clear disadvantage.

[You can solve that?]

The ghost was surprised.

[How? A skill for nullifying continuous damage? How do you even obtain that?]

The method to obtain the skill involves somewhat invoking its effect.

Taesan answered.

“Watch.”

He approached Rafflesia again.

[You take 10 damage.]

A damage of 10 was registered.

Taesan took out a Potion of Enhancement and a Potion of Protection.

[You mixed the Potion of Enhancement and the Potion of Protection. The Potion of Protection has transformed into a Potion of Guarding.

[Potion of Guarding]

[Continuously nullifies types of damage up to 5.]

[You have used the Potion of Guarding. Continuous damage up to 5 is nullified.]

[You take 5 damage.]

The damage from the poison was reduced by 5.

Taesan took out another potion.

[You have used the Potion of Protection. Continuous damage up to 2 is nullified.]

[You take 3 damage.]

[Huh?]

The ghost was confused by the further reduced damage.

[Aren’t you not supposed to stack the same potion?]

“That’s true for the same potion. But these are Guarding and Protection—different potions. They can be stacked.”

The potions mixed, transforming into a different potion.

The ghost was astounded by this fact.

[Such changes are possible? Interesting. Though it's not very meaningful.]

The ghost showed little interest. There were no potions that, even when stacked, would provide significant benefits, and 1,200 gold was not a small amount for an adventurer before entering deeper layers. It was too much of a burden to handle.

Taesan finally took out the Potion of Designated Enhancement.

[You have used the Potion of Designated Enhancement. The proficiency of your Block skill has increased by 20% for 10 minutes.]

[Special Continuous Activation Skill: Block]

[Proficiency: 43%]

[Blocks damage below a certain value. However, damage of 4 or more cannot be nullified.]

Block could now stop 2 points of continuous damage at 20% proficiency.

Now it was 40%.

Rafflesia’s continuous attack dealt damage of 10, and the reduced damage due to the potion was 7.

The matching damage and Block’s effect perfectly aligned, and the noisy damage window stopped.

Continuous damage was perfectly blocked.

The ghost let out a gasp.

[Block can be used with the Potion of Designated Enhancement too? This is... incredible.]

It blocked continuous damage that should have been impossible to block, using potions everyone thought were useless.

Taesan quickly charged at Rafflesia and plunged his sword into it.

He defeated it instantly and moved to the next room.

[A new Formless and Transforming Rafflesia has appeared.]

A new Rafflesia appeared.

Rafflesia scattered poison, but no damage came through.

Boom!

Rafflesia moved its tentacles. It undulated and then spewed out invisible poison.

This was a different type of poison that dealt continuous damage. If hit, the damage would be substantial.

Taesan expanded his senses.

He didn’t dodge the scattering poison but instead swung his sword to deflect it, twisting its trajectory.

“The conditions have been met.”

Taesan continued to block the dispersing poison.

He slowly repelled the invisible, formless attacks.

[I'm curious. What exactly are the conditions for acquiring the skill?]

The ghost observed and had a rough idea.

First, the enemy must inflict continuous damage, and that damage must be avoided. Additionally, the opponent’s invisible attacks must be continuously blocked.

But beyond that, it couldn’t speculate.

While blocking the poison, Taesan spoke.

“First. The opponent must inflict continuous damage.”

Second, this continuous damage cannot be blocked by one’s abilities but must still be intercepted.

Third, despite possessing Attack Nullification, it must not be activated.

Fourth, the opponent must utilize attacks that are invisible and lack physical force.

Fifth, these invisible attacks must continually change.

Sixth, all these conditions must be met without taking any damage for at least 7 minutes.

After hearing the explanation, the ghost fell silent. Taesan kept blocking the poison.

[What? That.]

The ghost spoke.

[Are you sure those are the conditions? That's nonsensical.]

The conditions were excessively strict.

Even with the knowledge of how to acquire it,

Meeting those conditions seemed nearly impossible.

“I don’t know. I just thought so because I acquired it when I met those conditions.”

Perhaps Attack Nullification isn’t necessary. Maybe the attacks don’t need to change.

However, Taesan had acquired the Special Continuous Activation Skill, Absolute Protection, under those conditions.

“It was also the most difficult skill I ever acquired.”

Skills like Multiplying or Temporary Time Stop required difficult situations to meet,

But those were not hard to satisfy once the special circumstances were met.

But not so for Absolute Protection. Meeting the conditions themselves was the challenge.

It was likely one of the most challenging skills he had ever acquired.

The ghost let out a hollow laugh.

[How did you even acquire it?]

“I didn’t know either.”

The countless insane acts done to acquire the skill.

Decades were literally poured into it, a product of time.

Obtained only through a series of coincidences, yet because of the inherent stat limitations of easy mode, it was a skill he couldn’t use at all.

That was Absolute Protection.