Conquering the Labyrinth with a Trash-Tier Trait - Chapter 45

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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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Chapter 45
“This can’t… be real. Ha……”
Normally, when you obtain your first Class as a Special Class at floor 10,
the primary stat most suited to it increases by 10, and the secondary stats increase by 5 at maximum—or so I’d heard.
But I’ve got two stats that jumped by 12, two by 9, and the remaining two by 6.
An absurd explosion of stat growth had occurred.
Even more unbelievable, Mana is included among the stats that increased the most.
‘Ark-Reaper? The Great Harvester, they say….’
And on top of that, the Class Perks—which normally yield only 2 at best—had come with 4 of them instead.
Compared to that, the fact that one of the Perks forced an Ability Slot to evolve seemed almost like a bonus.
[Multiple Spirit Dominion]
[Strength +18, Stamina +18, Agility +8, Mana +20, Physical Resistance +6, Magic Resistance +8]
-You can now command up to 4 lesser Spirits, and perfect control becomes possible as your consciousness dwells within them.
-Spirit Command Range +100m
A reward that was far from trivial, even so.
But there was a reward that made me forget all of that—the last one.
[Special Reward: The body of a fully synchronized Spirit gains an Ability Slot.]
That was it.
Was this a gift from the old man—no, the Transcendent Bartus?
“Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Kahahahahaha!”
When I first fell into this savage world and was “classified,” the thing that frustrated me most was the Ability Slot limitation.
Unlike the trait, where I could at least imagine some use for it, the Ability Slot had felt like a clear and absolute “ceiling.”
This felt like that fundamental penalty was being completely healed.
If this was true, then right now I was essentially a “genius” with five Slots to work with.
Because of that,
Crack-crack-crack.
“Ugh……”
I could laugh through the pain—like my entire body was being reconstructed from the Class assignment and stat surge.
No, it was actually refreshing.
I wanted to just lie here in this white void where Bartus had vanished, alone and resting.
But then my senses returned.
“I need to go. Yes. It’s finally over.”
More than 100 days.
The quest that spanned that immense stretch of time was finally complete.
“Let’s go home!”
For now, I wanted rest.
“Return.”
Flash.
[You have cleared the Labyrinth, Floor 10 (Novice Zone).]
[Agility increases by 1.]
* * *
[Name: Ko Cheol-woo]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Ark-Reaper (1st Tier – Unique)]
[Level: 18]
[Stats]
Strength: 29 (+8)
Stamina: 36 (+16)
Agility: 31 (+24)
Mana: 54
Physical Resistance: 12
Magic Resistance: 17
[Mana Skills]
Shattering Spear (Supreme-Lv.1), Valgar Spirit Cultivation Method Stage 2 (Supreme-Lv.10), Volante Footwork Stage 3 (Supreme-Lv.1), Monster Butchering (Super Rare-Lv.4), Piercing Strike (Rare-Max), Throwing (Common-Lv.10).
[Level-Up Points: 25]
[Ability Slot (Full)]
Multiple Spirit Dominion.
[Trait]
-Additional Information Confirmation.
‘Good.’
When the city walls I’d longed for—or so I thought—came into view, finishing my status check brought an unbidden smile to my face.
Who would ever believe these were the stats of someone freshly promoted to First Class?
And I hadn’t even consumed a single orange Magic Stone yet.
What moved me most, though—
“Damn it. My gear. I thought I’d lost it all, you bastards.”
These were the precious equipment I’d prepared so carefully before entering the tenth floor.
‘To think I was thrown in there with nothing but a burlap sack. Even remembering it now… ugh….’
Thinking back on those early days of suffering on the tenth floor, my teeth still chatter.
‘The smell. Sanitation. My shoes. The poison…. God, seriously….’
The comfort of Cleansman’s Underwear and its purifying function, the autonomous breathing provided by the Deep Sea Adjuster, the effects of the Sleepless Water Membrane—all felt indescribably soothing.
The snug fit of soft undergarments, easy breathing, comfortable eyes. This sensation of becoming automatically clean without even needing spirits to wash me away.
‘Even my mind feels purified.’
Months of hardship made the contrast all the sharper, deepening that sense of comfort.
“…This is good. So damn good.”
As I caressed all the revealed equipment—spear, armor, earring, dagger—I felt people around me shuffling backward tentatively.
“Ugh….”
“Shh. Don’t look at that, honey.”
Don’t look at that?
‘Is a person an object?’
My feelings were slightly hurt, but I quickly forgot about it.
I was self-aware enough to know I was being a little perverted right now.
‘Anyway, I made it back safe!’
But while I was rummaging around like that—
“Huh…?”
Thanks to Kyle’s Belt, I only now belatedly noticed something tucked inside a pocket I never used.
A strange charm no larger than my palm, intricately carved with a leaf design.
It was a circular, shield-shaped piece that glowed with a soft green light.
[World Tree’s Token (Rare)]
-A keepsake of the High Elves.
-Merely holding it grants the comfort of standing within a forest.
-A sign of goodwill from the Elf nobility.
“What is this?”
The effects were far too simple for a Rare-grade item.
‘Could it be… Silvania…?’
The face of the High Elf—greeting me with a powerless expression and a faint smile—rose before my eyes.
There was no other reason this could be in my pocket.
But then—
‘Wait, could this actually be…?’
Seized by a sudden hunch, I bounced on the spot experimentally.
With just a light push, I soared more than two meters high with remarkable ease.
Though my explosive stat growth played a part, the sensation felt excessive even accounting for that.
There could only be one explanation.
‘Could this really be a Forest Guardian effect?’
It seemed the optional effect that came with the World Tree’s Staff was manifesting here in the middle of the Labyrinth’s monument.
All because of this World Tree’s Token.
“Well, well…?”
I felt grateful to Silvania from that erased world line.
The painful kinship I’d felt with her transformed completely into a smile.
“Thank youuuu!”
Though she’d never hear it, I shouted with all my might to convey my gratitude to her across the worlds.
“What’s he doing….”
“A lunatic….”
“Don’t get close to him.”
Let them think me strange if they would.
After offering thanks to my friend in another world through my own private ritual, at last my feet felt light enough to walk forward.
“Let’s see, let’s see. Ah, here you are. Hmm.”
The soldier responsible for the Labyrinth’s entry records was searching through the crystal ball’s records when he suddenly widened his eyes, then exchanged whispers with the soldier beside him.
“This person—is he…?”
“I think so?”
Hey.
I heard it all.
They whispered among themselves, then checked the crystal ball’s record again and flinched once more.
“One hundred and twenty-two days… ago?”
Had it really been that long?
“……Well, I suppose it’s been about that long.”
“If you’ve cleared the tenth floor, you must have obtained a Class?”
“That’s… right?”
The soldiers tilted their heads, studying me from head to toe, then offered an awkward smile.
‘Why are they looking at me like that? Oh! The tattoo!?’
Since I wasn’t a Special Class holder but apparently the first to manifest some kind of Unique Class, an enormous Mana Tattoo might have been inscribed on me.
Whoosh.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I summoned a Wind Spirit to observe my own appearance.
But then.
‘Huh? There’s nothing.’
Through the spirit’s eyes, I could find no tattoo anywhere on my body.
The only difference, if anything, was—
‘My skin got incredibly clean.’
The rough, weathered skin I’d accumulated through endless hardship both back in Korea and here had become smooth as silk.
Whoosh.
Even checking beneath my armor and clothes with the Wind Spirit, I found not a single trace of a Mana Tattoo, however small.
The Special Classes I’d heard about—the ultra-rare, super-rare grade Special Classes—were supposed to always have one.
‘What is this. Do Unique Classes not have tattoos?’
That seemed to be the case.
But then.
“Hey. That…….”
“I get it.”
The soldiers’ pitying gazes tugged at something in my chest.
‘Can’t exactly boast about it either. Ah……. Maybe it’s for the best?’
When I noticed one of them glancing toward the Royal Palace, an old memory surfaced.
‘Prince Demian, was it.’
While I was thinking it might be better to simply be overlooked, the soldier spoke up as if understanding.
“I see. It doesn’t look like you obtained a Special Class……?”
Since I offered no answer to his probing, he nodded knowingly and gestured that I was free to go.
“You’ve endured much for a long time.”
As I turned to leave, my mood felt oddly mixed.
The soldiers’ attitude itself didn’t matter.
It was something else—the way I felt a strange sense of relief in this tall-walled fortress, in this savage world where everyone carried weapons everywhere I looked.
‘Yes. This is normal air.’
Not the toxic, venomous air of the World Tree Prison, nor the kind of place where a narcotic stench seemed to linger and drive people mad.
“Ahhhh. This is good…….”
What did it matter.
Just breathing made me feel——
“There’s a duel!”
“Oh! Come on, place your bets!”
……A savage city.
‘Damn.’
That was when it truly hit me that I was back in Bartus.
“Brats, all of them.”
“So what. This kind of pointless fighting’s always been entertaining!”
My sigh came with a natural glance back.
It was just an ordinary scene I could have walked past without a second thought.
Except I couldn’t.
‘Kirk? Cha Hyeryeon!?’
Because both of the duelists were people I knew.
“Did this crazy woman just slap me?”
Kirk, his cheek bright red with a handprint, drew out his spear.
“You bet money, you blockhead. How dare you stare at me like that!?”
Cha Hyeryeon twisted the corner of her mouth upward and uncoiled the whip from her waist.
Crack-whip.
The barbed whip swept across the ground in a long arc.
‘What’s going on? Why are they fighting?’
“I heard unfamiliar words and thought of a Summoner I used to know, so I turned to look. Then you just slapped me out of nowhere?”
I couldn’t help but flinch at Kirk’s words.
More precisely, because of the word “used to.”
“That’s why I told you to drop it.”
“After you slapped me without warning!?”
Kirk’s jaw jutted forward.
Watching him, Cha Hyeryeon leisurely adjusted her grip on the whip handle.
“If you don’t like it, use that.”
She tilted her chin toward Kirk’s spear.
“You know how to swing it now that you’ve drawn it, don’t you?”
‘This is…….’
They weren’t fighting because of a misunderstanding.
The fact that she’d do this even after being told it was a misunderstanding meant she’d never cared about reasons in the first place.
Just then, I heard murmurs from the onlookers.
“There she goes again.”
“You know her?”
“Picks on someone weaker and keeps needling them until they lose their temper and draw a weapon.”
“What if the other person just takes it?”
“Then she pushes harder. Keeps going until they can’t stand it anymore. This is the third time I’ve seen it.”
“Isn’t that a Royal House crest? She looks like a Royal House Adventurer, but she does that? What if the guards catch her……?”
“She never draws first—look, even now. That spearman drew first. And she doesn’t kill anyone. She doesn’t rob them either.”
“Then what’s the point……?”
“She’s a Summoner.”
“Oh, so……?”
“Yeah. She does it for fun. There are plenty of crazy Summoners out there.”
“Tsk tsk. Poor kid didn’t know what he was getting into.”
Kirk tightened his grip on the shaft of his spear.
In contrast, a faint smile played at the corners of Cha Hyeryeon’s mouth.
‘Picks on someone weaker, does she?’
I couldn’t let that comment slide.
“Um…….”
“Hmm?”
“What is it?”
“……I had a question about what you said.”
“……?”
“How does Cha Hyeryeon—I mean, how does that woman even recognize someone weaker than herself?”
The person I was asking gave me a look of disbelief.
“Of all things to be curious about right now?”
“Well, uh…….”
Wasn’t this worth wondering about?
In a world where Mana exists, it’s hard to judge someone’s strength just by appearance.
Even I could only gauge someone’s level by physically engaging with them or using my Spirits and testing their abilities.
“This one here looks like a Summoner too, doesn’t he?”
“Heh. Tsk tsk. Summoners are always…….”
“Actually, I only just acquired my Class, so I don’t know much yet.”
“Ah. Yeah, that shows.”
“Pardon?”
“When you’re at a higher rank, you can see those below you clearly. Once you get a Class, you can tell ordinary people from Adventurers right away. There are mostly Adventurers here anyway. Ah, right. See that person over there?”
Following his gaze, I looked.
Someone who appeared to be a servant running an errand—wearing a flag bearing a house crest on their back—walked quickly past.
An ordinary person with no Mana at all.
The moment I realized it, I understood.
“Ah, I see.”
“Right. That’s why higher Classes can recognize lower Classes. And why that woman can keep doing these nasty things.”
Crack!
The moment I turned back, I saw Cha Hyeryeon’s whip lash across Kirk’s body.

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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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