Conquering the Labyrinth with a Trash-Tier Trait - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 2
“…….”
My hand froze.
I read the text again several times, wondering if I’d misread it.
But the information didn’t change.
All items can be synthesized.
And with positive modifiers applied, no less.
‘What is this?’
My heart began to pound violently.
If this was what the description claimed—
it was no ordinary trash item.
It might well be a treasure unlike anything else in the world.
“Hey.”
Thud.
Lee Jeong-ho struck the floor with his greatsword.
“Why are you staring at that so long? You’re not going to back out now that you said you’d take everything, are you?”
I set down the basket and forced my expression into something composed.
“I’m taking everything.”
“Then calculate it by weight.”
I looked at the pile of stones stacked on the counter.
I couldn’t afford to lose again.
But I had to get the Goblin Basket at any cost.
“I’ll exclude the stone fragments.”
“What?”
“As I mentioned last time, I cannot purchase stones of this quality.”
Lee Jeong-ho’s face twisted.
Bang!
A display shelf rattled violently under his kick.
“You bought them last time!”
“In exchange, I’ll price all the other items at top rate.”
“You little bastard…….”
His hand shot toward me.
Even though I saw it coming, I couldn’t dodge.
My body was lifted into the air, my collar seized in his grip.
“Gasp!”
“Waste Grade trash talking back to me.”
Crack!
A fist slammed into my solar plexus.
My breath caught and my vision went white.
“Cough, cough…….”
My body dropped to the floor.
Fury surged through me.
But I had no strength.
I couldn’t beat him, not as I was now.
All the more reason.
‘I must have this basket.’
I had no intention of letting trash like them take what was precious.
“Understood.”
Stifling my cough, I pushed myself up.
“I’ll calculate it by weight.”
“That’s better.”
I placed every last stone fragment on the scale.
“That comes to 1 Gold, 20 Silver total.”
“Fine.”
The three of them pocketed the money with satisfied expressions.
“See you next time, Waste Grade.”
“Call me Waste Grade? I have a name, you know.”
Cha Hye-ryeon added with a smirk.
“See you next time, Scrap Metal.”
Only after the three had vanished did Johnson, who’d been hiding in the back of the shop, emerge cautiously.
“Damn. Got chewed out.”
‘This old man is something else.’
“So they’re making summoners compete over performance these days, and they’re pulling stunts like that. Tsk.”
The words barely registered in my ears.
My gaze was fixed entirely on the Goblin Basket.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“I’ll buy those items.”
“What?”
“It’s my fault for not handling the situation properly. I’ll take responsibility.”
Any decent person would’ve tried to stop me, thinking of the employee who’d been mistreated.
But Johnson wasn’t decent.
“Hm. If you insist on taking responsibility, I suppose I’ll only lose 20 silver.”
A cheapskate through and through.
“Thank you.”
Even if I sold every piece of junk, I wouldn’t net a full gold—but that didn’t matter.
The Goblin Basket alone was worth it.
“I’ll head out early for the day, then.”
“Fine. You took it rough—get some rest.”
I swept the junk items into a sack.
The basket slipped in naturally alongside them.
On the surface, I kept my expression as flat as stone.
But the moment I stepped outside, my heart began hammering like it wanted to escape my ribs.
‘Synthesize everything.’
Just what was possible?
Could I turn trash items into something better?
What about artifacts?
And then, abruptly, the image of those two Waste Grade Ability Stones from this morning surfaced in my mind.
Mental Fragmentation.
Forced Multiple Contracts.
Each ability was powerful, but both were garbage nobody touched—the penalties were too severe.
But what if. What if—just supposing.
What if I could extract only the strengths from both Ability Stones and fuse them together?
“…Insane.”
A laugh slipped out before I could stop it.
One year. I’d been in this world for one year.
For the first time, a genuine opportunity might have fallen into my hands.
* * *
“Char. You’re here early.”
As I stepped into Jerrick’s Martial Arts School, a broad-shouldered giant turned his head.
Jerrick, the school’s master and a former adventurer.
My benefactor—the man who’d taken a pittance and even rented me a room when I showed up claiming I wanted to learn martial arts.
‘Char’ was the nickname the locals had given me because they couldn’t pronounce Cheol-woo properly.
“Yes. Something came up at the shop.”
“Something?”
Jerrick’s gaze shifted to the sack slung over my shoulder.
“Is Johnson making you work from home now?”
“Something like that.”
“That miser really does work people to the bone.”
Johnson’s reputation made it easy enough to use as cover.
“Training tonight?”
“I’ll skip it today.”
“You?”
Jerrick narrowed his eyes.
For half a year I hadn’t missed a single session, even when I was sick—his suspicion was warranted.
I tapped the sack.
“I need to sort through these things.”
“…All right. But double the work tomorrow.”
“Understood.”
I slipped past Jerrick’s scrutiny and into the small room tucked away in the corner of the school.
It was a shabby rental room with a flimsy lock, but it was the first space of my own since I’d fallen into this world.
Click.
The moment I shut the door, I dropped the sack to the floor.
Thud-thud-thud.
A Broken Bone Knife, goblin cutlery, leather scraps, Dried Mushrooms, and gravel spilled out everywhere.
And among them.
A shabby bamboo basket came into view.
[Goblin Basket]
[A basket capable of synthesizing all items.]
[Synthesized objects receive positive bonuses at high probability.]
No matter how many times I checked, the description remained the same.
“Every item, huh…”
If the description was accurate, this was an extraordinary object.
But I couldn’t blindly trust the system’s explanation.
My trait had no grade at all—No Grade.
The items I’d found with that trait were also No Grade.
‘Let me run an experiment first.’
I picked up the most worthless thing.
[Labyrinth Gravel]
[It is hard.]
I placed two pebbles into the basket.
Tap. Tap.
And waited.
……
Nothing happened.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
Then it came.
Glimmer.
A faint light flickered between the bamboo slats.
“Got it!”
I hastily lifted the lid.
Only one piece of gravel remained in the basket.
[Labyrinth Gravel]
[It is hard.]
“…What?”
Two had become one, but the description was unchanged.
“Did one just disappear?”
Disappointment welled up, but at least one thing was proven—this basket was no ordinary object.
This time I put the newly created gravel together with a fresh one.
Glimmer.
They became one again.
[Labyrinth Gravel]
[It is hard.]
No change.
I added another piece of gravel.
Glimmer.
[Labyrinth Gravel]
[It is hard.]
“Let me see what wins.”
Nearly half of the junk I’d brought back was gravel.
I kept feeding stones into the basket without pause.
Glimmer.
Another glimmer.
The gravel kept merging into one, but there was no noticeable change.
‘It might be getting a little smoother.’
The chances of that being my imagination were high.
That was when I’d synthesized over ten pieces of gravel.
Glimmer.
[Labyrinth Gravel]
[Very sturdy.]
“Yes.”
A single word had changed.
But that one word mattered.
Quality rose with each Synthesis.
I quickly found another object.
A Bone Spoon smaller than my palm and a Bone Fork with a broken end.
I placed both in the basket.
Shimmer.
[Goblin Spork]
An odd utensil emerged—fork tines fused to the handle of a spoon.
“Can things combine like this?”
It wasn’t simply a matter of one object prevailing over the other.
When items served similar purposes, their functions merged.
This time I placed two Broken Bone Knives into the basket.
One had an intact handle; the other’s blade was relatively whole.
Shimmer.
[Goblin Bone Knife]
[A Bone Knife in complete form. Relatively sharp.]
Only the intact portions of the handle and blade had merged.
The worn Leather Scraps underwent the same process.
The torn sections vanished, and with each repeated Synthesis, the leather grew tougher.
‘It keeps the advantages?’
I began tossing every scrap item I’d brought into the basket indiscriminately.
The Dried Mushrooms fused with one another.
But mushrooms that weren’t fully dried, still bearing a hint of moisture, refused to synthesize.
Objects of the same material reacted with high probability; those of different materials did not.
Even items that looked similar wouldn’t combine if their purpose or composition differed greatly.
After dozens of trials, I could discern the rough pattern.
First.
Only objects with similar material or composition Synthesize.
Second.
Living organisms do not Synthesize.
Third.
Repeated Synthesis repairs damage or raises quality.
Fourth.
Objects with similar functions can combine their respective strengths.
“This isn’t the kind of thing that spits out artifacts when you feed it junk.”
I felt a twinge of disappointment.
Not enough to be disillusioned, though.
Trading ten pieces of garbage for a single usable item held sufficient value.
More than that.
‘Functions and advantages combine.’
The two Ability Stones I’d seen that morning flickered through my mind.
[Mental Fragmentation]
Divides consciousness into five, but generates multiple personalities.
[Forced Multiple Contracts]
Allows contracts with four Low Grade elemental spirits, but incurs severe penalties to other Mana applications.
Both abilities had clear advantages and drawbacks.
What if the basket worked on Ability Stones as well?
The ability to split consciousness could merge with the ability to contract multiple spirits.
There was a real possibility that each ability’s crippling penalties would vanish or weaken.
“Insane.”
I couldn’t even imagine what the resulting ability would be.
I wanted to sprint to the Junk Shop right now.
But I barely managed to stop myself.
‘If I go back now and suddenly ask for Ability Stones, he’ll grow suspicious.’
Junk no one would buy—and I suddenly want it the same day I had it appraised?
Johnson was greedy, but not stupid.
Especially since he knew I could see the hidden information on Ability Stones.
‘I’ll buy them tomorrow.’
No one could know what this basket truly was.
Not even Jerrick, my benefactor.
Even if he never betrayed me, a single word leaking out would be the end of everything.
In this world, a powerless person holding treasure was as much a crime as any other.
“Hah…”
Even as I tried to suppress my anticipation, my hands trembled.
It was the first time since I’d fallen into this world.
A path that seemed impossible to reach through my own efforts alone—suddenly it lay before me.
Knock, knock.
“Cheol-woo.”
Jerrick’s voice carried through the door.
“Evening training starts now.”
“I told you I was taking tonight off.”
“I know.”
“Then why—”
“Your voice sounded far too excited. I thought if you rested, you’d get into trouble.”
Accurate as always.
I glanced at the basket and the junk for a moment, then quickly covered them with cloth.
“I’m coming.”
Only by pushing my body to its limits could I hope to calm this surge of excitement.
The next day.
I arrived at the Junk Shop earlier than usual.
“So the sun rises in the west today.”
Johnson peered at me over his monocle.
“Are you unhappy that I came early?”
“It’s just bad luck when you show up early.”
I ignored him and began sweeping and arranging the displays.
But my mind was fixed entirely on the two Ability Stones sitting in one corner of the display case.
Hours passed without a single customer.
After midday came and went.
Only when the sun had tilted toward the west did I carefully bring it up.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Sell me those Ability Stones.”
Johnson’s hands stopped moving.
“What?”
“The two Waste Grade Ability Stones you appraised yesterday.”
His eyes sharpened.
“Why?”
It was the question I’d expected.
“After what those bastards did to me yesterday, I’ve changed my mind.”
I pressed on the bruise lingering on my chest.
Thanks to the pain, I didn’t even need to fake the anger.
“I can’t live like this, treated as Waste Grade my whole life until I die. Even if there are side effects, I’ll gain strength.”
“…Are you certain about what you appraised yesterday?”
“Are you doubting me now?”
As I raised my voice, Johnson’s eyes flickered away.
“No, it’s just that you suddenly wanting to buy them seems off.”
“If you don’t trust me, take them to the Mage Tower and have them reappraised.”
“That would cost—”
“Fine. I’ll find them elsewhere.”
I pulled off my apron and threw it onto the counter.
“And I’m quitting, effective today.”
“What?”
“How can I work for someone who doesn’t even trust his employee’s appraisals?”
“Wait, hold on! If you quit suddenly, how am I supposed to find a replacement?”
Urgency bloomed across Johnson’s face.
Only now did he seem to realize that I was an employee with cheap wages who could appraise miscellaneous goods and quietly maintained the shop even when there were no customers.
“I’ll sell them. I’ll sell them!”
“Cost price, please.”
“Well, that’s a bit…….”
“Then I’ll pass.”
“Two for 1 Gold!”
Johnson cried out desperately.
Half a month’s wages.
Cheap for trash-grade Ability Stones.
But a proper Low Grade Ability Stone cost ten times that, at minimum.
“I’ll take them.”
I pulled out my savings and set them on the counter.
Clink.
The coins vanished, and two Ability Stones fell into my palm.
Half my entire fortune, gone.
No regrets.
Not yet.
“I’m leaving early today.”
“You’re coming in tomorrow, right?”
“Probably.”
“Probably? Don’t give me that—I’ll raise your wages, so you better show up!”
Instead of answering, I pocketed the Ability Stones and left the shop.
The moment I stepped into a quiet alley, I pulled out the Goblin Basket from my coat.
Then I dropped both Ability Stones inside.
Thunk. Thunk.
‘Synthesize,’ I thought.
The junk item responded in under ten seconds.
I slowed my pace, eyes fixed on the basket.
Ten seconds.
Twenty seconds.
A minute.
No light appeared.
‘Does it need more time?’
It was possible, given how different the basket and the Ability Stones were in value.
Clinging to that hope, I walked all the way to the martial arts school.
But the basket never glowed.
“Char. What’s with that face?”
Jerrick asked as I reached the school entrance.
“Nothing at all.”
“Did someone beat you up again?”
“No, I told you.”
I stepped into my room and set the basket on the floor.
The two Ability Stones lay unchanged.
‘Could it be that items containing Mana can’t be synthesized?’
Unease crept through me.
One hour.
Two hours.
Nothing happened.
“……Does it only work on junk items?”
My legs gave out.
I collapsed.
Half my total savings.
It wasn’t just the money that was lost.
All the time I’d spent accumulating it had vanished too.
The timeline for obtaining a proper Ability Stone had been pushed back by months, at least.
“Damn it…….”
More painful than the realization that the basket wasn’t a treasure was the fact that I’d let myself hope in vain once more.
A trait with no grade.
A basket with no grade.
By any reasonable logic, I should have expected nothing from the start.
‘My money…….’
Money matters.
I learned it bone-deep from earliest childhood.
Without money, a person can’t just fail to do what they want.
They can’t do what they must, either.
My parents taught me that lesson.
With their lives.
And now I’d squandered money like that—like their very lives—into empty air.
“……Damn it.”
The curse had barely left my lips when—
Bang bang.
“Cheol-woo! Get out here! It’s training time!”
Jerrick was pounding on the door.
“I’d like to rest today.”
“You rested yesterday.”
“I’m not feeling well.”
Bang!
The door flew open.
Jerrick stepped into the room and looked down at me.
“A sound mind dwells in a sound body.”
“My mind is sound.”
“Don’t talk like that with a rotten face.”
Jerrick grabbed the back of my neck and dragged me straight out.
“Training it is.”
“Wait. It’s already night—there’s no training today!”
“Starting today, we have a special session.”
“There’s no such session!”
“I just created one.”
I was hauled to the center of the training grounds without a chance to resist.
“Begin running!”
“Begin!”
The boys and young men started running in unison.
I reluctantly followed behind them.
At first, my thoughts circled only around the vanished money and basket.
But after more than an hour of running, I had no breath left for thinking.
“Your footwork’s sloppy!”
Snap!
A stone Jerrick hurled struck my forehead.
“Ugh!”
“Focus!”
‘I’m already ruined over money, and now he’s throwing rocks at me.’
I cursed under my breath and kept running.
The moment the running ended, a training spear was thrust into my hands.
“Elemental class, take your positions!”
The elemental class was just me.
“How many things do you need to do?”
“Two!”
“Say them.”
“Thrust and evade!”
“Master only those, and you’ll survive the lower floors of the Labyrinth. Begin!”
“Begin!”
I drove the heavy spear forward in a straight thrust.
Thump.
One step, pouring all my weight into the strike.
Tap tap.
Two steps back, retreating diagonally.
A movement I’d repeated thousands of times over six months.
But today, I couldn’t focus.
‘My money.’
I thrust the spear forward.
‘Half my total savings.’
I stepped back.
‘I’ve got three more months of work ahead of me.’
Crack!
This time the pebble struck my temple.
“Cheol-woo! Look at the spear point!”
“Yes!”
I clenched my teeth.
Right.
Call it a single misstep.
I’d fallen into this world naked and clawed my way to survival through begging, through nothing.
I’d learned the language in a city where no one spoke my tongue, found work, trained without a single day’s rest for half a year.
If I gave up now over a few months’ wages lost, I would’ve died long ago.
‘I’ll earn it back.’
I thrust the spear.
‘The basket can still be used in synthesizing scraps.’
I retreated.
‘I just need to find a way into the Labyrinth without an Ability Stone.’
I thrust again.
Thud.
The noise in my head gradually dissolved.
Feet.
Hips.
Shoulders.
Arms.
Spear point.
Only one point existed.
Power flowing into my supporting leg.
Torque twisting through my waist.
Not my arm but my entire body driving the spear forward.
Crack!
A blue light flashed across the perfectly extended spear point.
[Mana 1 has been generated.]
[You have acquired the Mana skill ‘Thrust’.]
“……What?”
In that instant, something drained from my body and my strength evaporated.
The Iron Spear fell from my hand.
“Mana in just half a year…….”
Jerrick’s startled voice reached me.
“Well done, Cheol-woo.”
With those words, my vision went black.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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