Ascension Through Skills

Chapter 369: 77th Floor, The World On The Brink Of Destruction (1)

While Taesan descended the labyrinth, what progress had others made, and what events transpired?

First, Lee Taeyeon and Kang Junhyeok began to speak.

[Lee Taeyeon [Solo]]: "We’ve made it down to the 40th floor."

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "As expected, you’re fast."

[Amelia Aerin [Solo]]: "...Already?"

Amelia quietly expressed her astonishment. While she had been completing Earth’s quests, Lee Taeyeon and Kang Junhyeok had rapidly caught up to her.

[Kang Junhyeok [Solo]]: "The things you taught us have helped a lot in many ways. There were some dangerous encounters, but we managed to make it down without much trouble."

It seemed they had entered a stable phase. Unless they became overconfident or careless, they could likely continue descending without major difficulties.

[Kim Hwiyeon [Hard]]: "We’ve also made considerable progress. Some of the faster players have cleared up to the middle of the 60th floor."

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "Not bad."

[Kim Hwiyeon [Hard]]: "But things are starting to get tough. It seems like it’ll take quite some time from here."

Just as the deeper levels of Solo Mode were known for their sudden difficulty spikes, the same was true for Hard Mode. They were likely to be stuck for a while.

[Amelia Aerin [Solo]]: "I need to hurry. At this rate, they’ll catch up to me."

[Daniel Darmon [Hard]]: "We just got back, so it can’t be helped."

[Kang Junhyeok [Solo]]: "By the way, when do you think the next return quest will appear? It feels like it’s about time for one to show up."

[Oliver Khan [Hard]]: "But we’ve only just returned to the labyrinth. I doubt a quest will appear so soon."

[Lee Taeyeon [Solo]]: "Taesan, do you know anything?"

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "I have no idea."

Taesan didn’t know either. With so much having changed from his previous life, his memories were no longer as reliable.

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "It could come right away, or it could take a long time. Just be prepared."

[Lee Taeyeon [Solo]]: "Understood."

[Kang Junhyeok [Solo]]: "Oh, by the way, how far have you gone, hyung?"

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "The 77th floor."

[Amelia Aerin [Solo]]: "...Seriously?"

The community buzzed with excitement.

[Oliver Khan [Hard]]: "Wow. I can’t even imagine what that’s like. How strong are you at that level?"

[Lee Taeyeon [Solo]]: "Aren’t you close to clearing it?"

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "There’s still a long way to go."

The remaining floors might take even more time than everything he’d experienced so far.

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "But I’ll probably finish before you all."

[Lee Taeyeon [Solo]]: "So, will you return to Earth first, or wait for us at the 100th floor?"

[Kang Taesan [Solo]]: "Not sure."

Even Taesan was undecided about that.

After exchanging more words, Taesan closed the community.

If anyone could return quickly, it would be Taesan.

How would he bridge the gap in time?

And how would he revive the broken Earth?

The polluted air. The decayed land. The desolate ground and the dried-up seas.

In his previous life, he hadn’t cared much. Their sole purpose had been survival. Protecting a small area and surviving against the monsters was their goal. There was no need to worry about anything else. RÄꞐòbƐS̩

But not anymore.

What Taesan now wanted wasn’t mere survival but to drive out the ancient gods from Earth and live there again.

Rebuilding civilization, cultivating the land, and having children.

That was the fundamental reason he had turned back time.

Players from the labyrinth could endure the polluted air with their enhanced bodies. While the decayed land couldn’t support large-scale farming, limited subsistence farming was possible. However, the newborn children wouldn’t survive in the polluted air.

Subsistence farming also wasn’t a perfect solution.

With no living animals, consuming meat was impossible.

To truly live on Earth again, not just survive, many issues needed to be resolved.

While labyrinth items could provide temporary solutions, they were only localized powers. With Earth’s very foundation destroyed, they couldn’t solve everything.

The old man chuckled and stroked his beard.

“Ha. I thought all survivors outside the city were dead, but there’s still someone alive. Meeting you must be fate. Come with me. I’ll tell you about this place.”

The old man led Taesan to a tattered shack.

“Will you eat?”

The old man handed Taesan a rusty bowl filled with a murky broth containing unidentifiable chunks.

Taesan shook his head. The old man chuckled and sat on a broken chair.

“You must be a rare survivor. But you’re unlucky. After all that struggle to survive, you ended up in this broken city.”

“There are multiple cities?”

“Yes.”

The old man ate a spoonful of the broth and continued.

“This is one of humanity’s last cities. A gathering place for the forsaken—Bereziak. A city where people survive because they can’t die.”

The old man spoke bitterly. From his words, Taesan understood.

“So the other cities are in better condition?”

“There are five cities in total.”

The old man slowly began explaining.

“Each city is controlled by a different group, and they’re all at odds with one another. The strength of the four is nearly equal—except for us.”

As the old man spoke, faint footsteps approached. A young boy entered the tattered tent.

“Grandpa! I’m back!”

The boy widened his eyes when he saw Taesan.

“...Who’s that?”

“A visitor from the outside.”

The boy’s eyes widened even further.

“An outsider? There’s a survivor outside?”

“I was surprised too.”

“Why’d they come to our city? If they had to come, why not go to another city? Such bad luck.”

The boy opened a bag, revealing a moldy piece of bread.

“Here, Grandpa. I was lucky today and found some bread buried deep underground.”

The boy handed the bread to the old man as if it were a great fortune. The bread was so thoroughly covered in mold that it was hard to find an edible part.

“Sorry, but I can’t give you any of this,” the boy said, glaring at Taesan. His stance was firm, as if losing this bread would threaten his future.

Taesan spoke.

“You’re a group cast out by others.”

“Old people and children are useless to them. So we were abandoned. Even those who resisted and rebelled against them were all exiled here.”

The old man rubbed his back.

“We have no power. But we can’t let the lives we barely held onto go to waste. We’re doing our best to survive.”

Taesan quietly listened to the old man’s words.

Taesan parted ways with the old man and began exploring the city.

The state of the city’s interior was more dreadful than he could have imagined.

There was no proper food, clothing, or shelter. People were merely scraping by, trying to survive day by day.

It was hard to find intact land. Without the ability to produce proper food, they were barely holding on by consuming the remaining supplies they had.

“How should I go about this?”

Taesan contemplated silently.

His quest was to restore stability to this place.

Stability didn’t simply mean surviving day to day.

It meant being able to produce sustainable food, raise children, and dream of a better future.

To achieve this, Taesan realized he would need to take the lead in managing the city.

He would need to figure out how to expand their territory, cleanse the polluted air, and create livable land.

Taesan came to a realization.

This quest wasn’t just about stabilizing the current situation—it was also a test to determine how he would go about restoring Earth after everything was over.