Ascension Through Skills

“Uh? Uh?”

The child was struggling to process it.

Looking around repeatedly as if the peaceful surroundings felt strange, the child muttered.

“Why is the forest…”

Whenever the child stayed in one place for more than a day, a curse would manifest. Springs dried up, and the land withered. The only unaffected being was the child.

But now, even after a full day had passed, Lecresen showed no changes.

Life was thriving and vibrant.

“C-Could it be that Taesan-nim did something?”

“No.”

Taesan shook his head. He had watched over the child all night.

But nothing happened. The child’s divine blood didn’t run wild, nor did the land collapse.

“W-What’s going on?”

The child was visibly flustered.

“Then what happens to the trial?”

“Well… the trial was just to stay here for a day… so it should be cleared.”

The child stammered, managing to explain.

The child couldn’t calm down. However, since the trial was cleared, Taesan began moving with the child again.

As they walked, the child kept muttering.

“Why? Why didn’t anything happen?”

“Could it be that your curse is broken?”

“That… can’t be.”

The child trailed off, denying Taesan’s words.

Looking at their arm, the cut from a leaf yesterday was scabbing over, not in red but in blue.

“I still have blue blood flowing within me.”

The child’s curse wasn’t broken.

Taesan didn’t know either. Despite expanding his senses the previous day to detect changes, nothing happened.

“Let’s head to the next trial for now.”

“Ah. Y-Yes.”

The child stammered, nodding.

Walking along the path, the child continued muttering.

“It’s strange. Just days before meeting Mr. Taesan, the curse activated.”

The child explained that during a long journey, they had fallen asleep for an entire day in a cave due to exhaustion. When they awoke and left the cave, all vegetation around them had withered and died. ɽàNȏβΕȘ

“So why…?”

The child looked confused.

They continued their journey, and night fell. The child leaned against a tree, still muttering.

“Why didn’t the curse activate in Lecresen?”

“Not sure.”

Taesan handed some rabbit meat to the child. Though puzzled, the child devoured it eagerly.

“Mm.”

Exhausted, the child soon fell asleep.

Taesan watched the sleeping child for a moment before pulling out a leaf from his belongings.

The leaf that had cut the child’s arm still had traces of blue blood.

What exactly was divine blood?

He needed to figure that out first.

[You have activated Focused Detection.]

The detection power focused on the blue blood on the leaf. Information began flowing into Taesan.

Taesan frowned.

The information about divine blood was reaching him.

But he couldn’t analyze it. It was like a text file scrambled with random characters, making it impossible to interpret.

Taesan tried using Focused Magic and attempted detection again, utilizing reconnaissance and essence identification.

But nothing changed.

The information remained indecipherable, scrambled as before.

“Hmm.”

Though he hadn’t obtained anything, this was, in itself, a piece of information.

A power beyond what Taesan could currently analyze.

It implied that it might be a force above his rank.

[You have summoned the Spirit King of Wind, Minerva.]

“Gotcha.”

The wind quietly coalesced, forming the figure of a woman.

Landing on the ground, Minerva looked around in surprise.

“What kind of world is this? Such an intense power dominates this place.”

She narrowed her eyes and muttered.

“It’s stronger than me.”

“You can feel it?”

“I am a being of nature. There’s no Spirit King here. In such a world, my detection range is exceptionally vast.”

Closing her eyes, Minerva expanded her senses and realized something.

“Ah. It’s a world ruled by the Apostle of a Transcendent. No wonder the power is monstrous.”

“What level is an Apostle?”

Taesan had encountered Apostles a few times. However, most of them weren’t in their true forms.

The Apostle he met on the battlefield of gods was one forcibly endowed with powers, while the Forgotten Goddess’s Apostle had lost their memories. The Apostle of Pavsha, Malesten, had descended using Taesan’s body.

The only true Apostle he had fought was the Apostle of the Ancient God in his previous life, but since the Ancient God was a distorted existence, it was hard to compare.

“They vary greatly. Weak ones barely cling to the edge of mortality, while the strongest, known as the Fingers, can surpass most immortals. On average…”

Minerva looked at Taesan.

“About your current level, Master.”

“That strong?”

“Apostles are created by gods expending their own power. How could they possibly be weak?”

Even the leaders of the Guides, who were at the brink of mortality, hadn’t been able to form contracts as Apostles.

Though their values and actions didn’t align with the gods, it also meant their power wasn’t enough.

Unless one was completely aligned with the gods, as Taesan did, the standards were exceptionally high.

“It’s rather amazing that you, Master, reached this level in such a short time without an Apostle’s contract. It’s unheard of.”

Looking around, Minerva asked Taesan.

“So, what’s the matter? Doesn’t seem like there’s a fight.”

“I have something to ask you.”

Taesan waved the leaf stained with blue blood.

“What do you know about divine blood?”

Minerva, as a Spirit King, possessed innate knowledge.

It was possible she had information about divine blood.

“Ah, so that child possesses divine blood. It’s my first time seeing it in person.”

Looking at the child curiously, Minerva spoke.

“I don’t know much. Even my knowledge about that is vague.”

Even the Spirit King’s knowledge lacked information on divine blood.

“It manifests very rarely. Possessing divine blood doesn’t necessarily mean surpassing human limits.”

What Minerva knew wasn’t much different from what the ghost had explained.

“Does someone with divine blood ever affect their surroundings? Like desolating a place after staying there for more than a day?”

Taesan explained the curse the child described. Minerva refuted his words.

“That’s impossible. Divine blood is a power humans can’t interfere with. If it’s a case of power running wild, the user wouldn’t remain unharmed. If it truly rampaged, it wouldn’t just devastate a place—it would obliterate an entire country.”

The curse the child described was impossible with divine blood.

Taesan organized the information.

“That’s enough. Return for now.”

“Got it. Call me again if you need me.”

Minerva disappeared.

The child remained quietly asleep.

---

“Damn it! A creature that should never have been born! You’re ruining our world!”

The people gritted their teeth and quickly fled.

Only the child and Taesan remained on the plain.

The child sat down on the plain, looking deeply sorrowful.

“It’s a natural reaction. This place is famous for its beauty. If I settle here, the land itself will wither, so of course they hate me.”

“How many trials are there in total?”

“There are seven in total.”

The child stared blankly at the plain, as if trying to take in the scenery one last time.

Then, as if a thought had suddenly occurred, the child kept glancing at Taesan.

“What is it?”

“Ah, n-no, it’s nothing.”

The child hesitated before cautiously opening their mouth.

“Umm… can I hold your hand?”

“Do as you like.”

Taesan extended his hand to the child.

The child was momentarily flustered, perhaps not expecting such an easy acceptance.

“Th-thank you…”

The child carefully held Taesan’s hand tightly, as if determined not to let go of the warmth.

The child fell asleep, still holding onto Taesan’s hand. Gentle, rhythmic breathing could be heard.

Time passed, and the day soon came to an end.

It was the moment when the curse the child mentioned was supposed to manifest.

At that moment, Taesan could sense it.

Something was activating beyond the space around them.

Centered on the child, a force began manifesting with tremendous ripples, seeking to realize itself in this world.

The power was composed of divine energy.

Crack.

The earth began to fracture. The manifested force attempted to destroy everything except the child.

Taesan raised his aura.

His immense energy engulfed the space.

The manifested power was forcefully suppressed and crushed.

The divine energy dissipated under Taesan’s overwhelming presence.

The child remained asleep.

Taesan looked beyond the space.

The force centered on the child did not originate from the child. It was the influence of a powerful being far away.

“So that’s how it is.”

He was starting to get a sense of things.

The next day, the child woke up.

The plain was still as beautiful as ever.

The same happened during the next trial. The child stayed in one place for a day. Divine energy manifested from beyond the space, and Taesan crushed it with his power. Thus, nothing around the child was destroyed.

“What’s going on?”

That night, the child muttered while staring at the campfire.

“Why… why isn’t anything happening?”

The child didn’t realize that Taesan was nullifying the curse as it activated. From the child’s perspective, the curse had simply stopped.

If it happened once, it could be dismissed as a coincidence. But by the third time, doubt began to creep in.

The child started to wonder if their curse had disappeared.

The child wanted to believe it.

But they couldn’t.

Conflicting emotions stirred within the child.

“Why, why… Why is this happening… Is someone toying with me? If it was going to vanish like this, it should have happened sooner…”

The child broke into sobs. Crying uncontrollably, they eventually fell asleep from exhaustion.

Even as they slept, the child held tightly onto Taesan’s hand.

Taesan gently stroked the child’s hair with his free hand.

How many years had it been since this child had held someone else’s hand?

The child spoke often while traveling with Taesan.

But none of those stories were about their parents.

It seemed they were consciously avoiding the topic of their parents.

“Hmm.”

Minerva had said that even with divine blood, the kind of curse the child described was impossible.

And Taesan had identified the force manifesting around the child.

When the child stayed in one place for more than a day, divine energy manifested from beyond the space and devastated the surroundings.

And the gaze that watched over the child.

Someone was deliberately causing the curse to manifest.

Taesan released the hand the child was holding.

[You have activated Servants of the Wolf.]

“Keep watch.”

Two wolves quietly nodded. Since they were created from Taesan’s energy, he would immediately know if anything happened.

Taesan launched himself.

[You have activated Leap.]

His body soared through the night sky.

[You have activated Reconnaissance.]

[Where would you like to search?]

“The location the child mentioned.”

The cave the child claimed had been devastated by their curse.

That was his destination.

Taesan reached it shortly. Although he had been traveling slowly to match the child’s pace, it was a distance that took him mere minutes.

Tap.

Taesan landed on the desolated ground.

Around the small cave, all vegetation had withered and died.

The lake had dried up, and the land was barren, unable to sustain life.

[You have activated Leraje’s Territory Detection.]

Magical energy spread across the desolate land, bringing information back to Taesan.

The results revealed the truth.

“A land deliberately killed by someone.”

The land had been purposefully devastated.

And within it, traces of divine energy were present.

It was almost certain now. Taesan spoke.

“Show yourself.”

Clank.

With the sound of metal, a golden knight emerged from the ruins.

“…I warn you. Unworthy infidel.”

A scraping metallic voice rang out.

“Stay away from the cursed child. If you don’t, divine punishment will descend upon you.”

“Who are you?”

“I am the first knight of His Majesty the Emperor.”

The knight spoke proudly. Taesan stared at him quietly.

The knight was quite powerful.

Not just in words—he could likely descend beyond the 50th floor.

‘But he’s distorted.’

The power wasn’t the knight’s own but something granted by another.

“Leave this world at once, unworthy infidel.”

“What if I refuse?”

Taesan replied.

The knight drew a golden sword with a metallic clang.

“Then die by my hand.”

In an instant, the knight’s body vanished.

Even a trained knight or a seasoned mercenary couldn’t track his speed. For an outsider, death would come before they could react.

The knight was confident that Taesan wouldn’t survive his sword.

That’s why he was shocked.

His sword, aimed at Taesan’s neck, was caught in Taesan’s hand.

The knight panicked and tried to pull his sword back.

But it wouldn’t budge.

It didn’t move as if embedded in solid rock.

“You…!”

Crack.

The sword shattered.

The knight hastily retreated.

Taesan tossed aside the broken fragments and asked the knight.

“Why is the Emperor targeting the child with divine blood?”