Ascension Through Skills-Chapter 511: Floor 94, Easy Mode (4)

[A bug? In the Labyrinth?]

“Technically speaking, this isn’t exactly the Labyrinth.”

If this were Alone Mode, bugs wouldn’t exist. With the Magician and Balbabamba managing the system directly, any bugs would be fixed immediately.

But this place was different. While it had some form of administration, there was no one to patch errors.

“They’ve hit their limit trying to imitate the real thing... So there are a fair number of glitches.”

Taesan spoke casually.

In his journey through Easy Mode, he had encountered numerous bugs. Including minor ones, the count easily exceeded dozens.

The 98th-floor bug was one of them.

[What kind of bug lets you obtain something like Multiplication?]

“See for yourself. Explaining in advance would ruin the fun.”

Taesan stepped into the void again.

Gravity took hold as his body plunged downward. Spores swarmed toward him, and his sword danced through the air.

He cleared the Spores as he descended, landed on the ground, then ascended back to the cliff with Great Leap. He repeated the process.

As the cycles continued, Taesan’s mana started to drain.

“My stats are abysmal.”

He muttered with a wry smile. Back on Earth, his struggles with subpar stats had been a constant battle. But here, it was merely an inconvenience.

Taesan climbed back to the Fountain of Life.

[You have achieved optimal condition.]

After drinking from the fountain, his physical and mental fatigue vanished completely, allowing him to descend again.

Crash!

His sword cut through the Spores with precision. They were eliminated cleanly as he landed on the ground.

Taesan deliberately left the cannons intact. The Spores they fired were integral to meeting the conditions.

Again, he used Great Leap to climb back up the cliff.

And again, he dove down.

This cycle of falling, fighting, and climbing repeated endlessly. Rest was unnecessary—any fatigue or depletion was instantly replenished by the Fountain of Life.

Days turned into weeks.

Slash!

Taesan’s sword cut through another Spore. His body twisted midair, and he struck the ground with unparalleled precision.

The entire sequence was flawless—perfectly executed like a choreographed dance.

To Bardray’s perspective, it was a masterpiece, devoid of flaws. Yet, Taesan’s expression remained dissatisfied.

“Still not enough.”

Sharper. Cleaner.

Taesan climbed the cliff again and dove.

Another month passed.

Even Bardray, accustomed to Taesan’s methods, was stunned.

[This much... just to prepare?]

Crash!

Taesan’s body moved like a machine, each motion engraved into his muscle memory. He repeated the sequence until it became automatic, requiring no thought.

And still, Taesan frowned.

“Not quite there yet.”

[You’re saying this still isn’t enough?]

“To surpass perfection, this is necessary.”

It wasn’t enough to simply align body and mind. They had to become one—seamlessly integrated. For that, more time was required.

“Even so, I think I’ve reached the baseline.”

Taesan ascended the cliff one more time. Standing at the top, he gazed down at the ground below.

His eyes were calm, focused, and utterly resolute.

Now, the real challenge would begin.

[You activated Landing.]

[You activated Super Acceleration.]

[You activated Physical Time Acceleration.]

Taesan’s body surged with speed, transforming into a streak of light hurtling toward the ground.

Boom!

The cannons fired belatedly, releasing Spores into the air. Taesan’s sword was already in motion, slicing through the incoming monsters.

Slash!

[124 damage to Spore.]

A Spore was cleaved in half. The others didn’t even have a chance to approach.

In the blink of an eye, Taesan landed on the ground.

[Wait...]

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Bardray’s astonishment was palpable.

[With those stats, you can move at that speed?]

“Remember, I survived to the very end with these stats.”

Taesan’s tone was calm, as if stating the obvious. To survive against S-rank monsters, this level of performance was a minimum requirement. Bardray shook his head in disbelief.

[You’re insane.]

Bardray’s awe only deepened.

The speed Taesan had just demonstrated was something that even Alone Mode players would struggle to match. Yet he had achieved it in Easy Mode—a feat no one else could replicate.

Still, it wasn’t enough.

Taesan ascended the cliff once more.

[You activated Landing.]

[You activated Super Acceleration.]

This time, his motions were even sharper. Before the cannons could fire, his sword was already cutting through the air. Spores were bisected before they could react, their remnants scattered by the force of his blows.

His precision improved with each descent. Even his speed, already extraordinary, grew incrementally faster.

“Again.”

Taesan climbed, fell, and fought, repeating the process over and over.

Though Landing and Super Acceleration didn’t consume much mana, his current mana pool was a mere 50 points. After a few cycles, it would deplete entirely, forcing him to rely on potions to recover before repeating the process again.

Slash!

His body gradually adapted to the incredible speed. Each motion flowed seamlessly, as if choreographed by a master.

[So Multiplication is similar to Addition in terms of conditions?]

“You caught on.”

[By this point, it’d be strange if I didn’t.]

Addition’s condition had been clear: double damage without relying on external skills.

[So for Multiplication, the condition is to increase damage by squaring it?]

“Exactly.”

[But not all skills are allowed. You can’t use ones directly tied to damage output, right?]

“If it were that simple, I could’ve used Addition to meet the conditions.”

Skills like Addition couldn’t be used directly to obtain Multiplication. The requirements were more stringent.

[This is dizzying... truly.]

The sheer idea of achieving squared damage through pure speed and precision was mind-boggling.

[I see now why this would be impossible in your original timeline.]

The higher the attack power, the harder it became to meet the conditions. With his current stats of 30,000 attack power, achieving the squared output without external boosts was a near impossibility.

That’s why Taesan had returned to the weakened state of Easy Mode to achieve it.

Still, Bardray had doubts.

[Even here, I don’t see how these conditions are achievable.]

“I told you. It’s a bug.”

Taesan tightened his grip on his sword.

By now, his body had fully adapted to the accelerated movements. It was time for infinite attempts.

“Let’s begin.”

From his inventory, Taesan pulled out dozens of potions.

[You used the Potion of Speed Acceleration.]

[You used the Potion of Aerial Leap.]

[You used Fairy Dust.]

[You used the Potion of Mental Focus.]

He consumed potion after potion, enhancing his physical and mental state to their utmost limits.

Thud.

Taesan stepped forward, diving once again into the challenge.

Taesan's body soared through the air.

As he fell, he activated his skills.

[You activated Landing.]

[You activated Super Acceleration.]

This time, his speed was faster than ever—so fast that even Bardray lost track of him for a moment.

But even this wasn’t enough. To trigger the bug, certain conditions had to be met. And the mechanisms to fulfill those conditions began to activate.

Boom!

The cannons fired, releasing Spores that homed in on Taesan.

He steadied his breathing, twisting his body midair.

With one clean motion, his sword sliced a Spore in half.

[153 damage to Spore.]

He kicked another Spore, using the momentum to accelerate further. His body reached speeds beyond what should be physically possible.

Just as Taesan was about to reach the ground, the space around him warped.

[What the...?]

Bardray’s voice trembled in confusion.

A grating metallic sound filled the air as the warped space seemed to assess Taesan’s presence.

The Labyrinth’s system began to distort.

“Here we go,” Taesan murmured, a smirk playing on his lips.

Boom!

On the other side of the distortion, something gazed at Taesan.

Its gaze was devoid of emotion, as mechanical and unfeeling as a machine performing its programmed role.

The space around Taesan twisted and buckled. It was as if the system were scrutinizing every action he had taken, determining whether they adhered to its rules.

Click.

A sharp, decisive sound echoed as the system’s inspection progressed.

Click. Click.

And then, an answer was reached.

The gaze disappeared, and the warped space dissolved.

Taesan’s body shifted—not to the ground, but back to the point where he had first leapt off the cliff.

Screeech!

Still carrying the momentum of his acceleration, Taesan began falling once again.

[Wait, what just happened?] Bardray gasped.

Taesan, undeterred, swung his sword once more.

Another Spore fell, split cleanly in two.

[167 damage to Spore.]

He reached the ground at an even faster speed than before. But just as he was about to land, the space warped again, dragging him back to the top of the cliff.

Once more, Taesan began falling.

Still carrying all his accumulated momentum, his speed increased exponentially with each cycle.

“This is essentially an infinite loop,” Taesan explained mid-fall.

[What kind of madness is this?]

“This isn’t something the Magician created.”

This warped space was a creation of the Old Gods—a distorted realm riddled with flaws and irregularities.

“Maybe it’s because this space was created by forces outside the natural order... or maybe it’s just a faulty replication. Either way, there are plenty of bugs here.”

Taesan continued falling, slicing through Spores as he spoke.

It wasn’t the first bug he had encountered.

The warped nature of Easy Mode was rife with peculiarities. Some were trivial, like minor visual glitches. Others were exploitable, like item duplication or strange interactions with environmental features.

But among them were more significant bugs—ones like this, where the Labyrinth’s system itself intervened in unexpected ways.

[And what’s with that thing?] Bardray asked, referring to the warped entity.

“No idea what it is. Maybe it’s part of the Labyrinth’s system, or maybe it’s something the creators left behind. One thing’s for sure—it doesn’t fix the bugs; it just tries to prevent their exploitation.”

For instance, this system viewed exceeding a certain speed as a bug. Instead of fixing the issue, it merely looped the user back to the starting point of their action, preserving all momentum.

And this quirk was exactly what Taesan intended to exploit.

“So when it detects speeds impossible for Easy Mode, it loops you back to the start. But here’s the funny part—it doesn’t cancel your momentum.”

Bardray fell silent, beginning to grasp the implications.

“From the moment I noticed this quirk, I knew it could be used to acquire a skill.”

Through countless attempts and experiments, Taesan had discovered that the mechanics of Floor 98 provided the perfect opportunity.

Now, his body was accelerating faster than ever. Spores fell before him, split apart with precise strikes.

[189 damage to Spore.]

One feature of Landing was that the longer it was active, the more it amplified acceleration.

And that acceleration, in turn, increased his damage.

In this distorted space, there were no limits to his speed or damage potential.

Taesan’s focus sharpened as he prepared for another cycle.

With each fall, his speed grew faster. Each strike became sharper, and each landing more precise. The system’s warped logic worked in his favor, amplifying his capabilities to absurd levels.

[Is Multiplication’s condition really just this simple repetition?] Bardray finally asked.

Taesan smirked mid-fall. “Not quite.”

[Then what is it?]

Taesan reached the ground again, only to be warped back to the top.

“The condition for Multiplication involves surpassing the physical limits of the world. And in Easy Mode, that means exploiting its bugs.”

Once more, he fell, his body moving with ever-increasing speed. Taesan’s focus remained absolute, his determination unwavering.

As Bardray watched, a realization struck him.

[The system itself is helping you create the perfect conditions... How utterly absurd.]

Taesan grinned.

“Let’s finish this.”

And with that, he dove into the infinite loop once more, his blade ready to carve through reality itself.