Taesan was also amazed.
Insight.
It reveals important information at a very low probability. As the description said, the probability was indeed low, yet it was activating on every floor.
“Not bad.”
This wasn't a matter of skill, experience, or sense, but pure luck. The right thing to do was to accept it gladly. Taesan entered the Secret Room.
The traps inside were the same as on the 2nd Floor. Although he knew exactly how to break through them, he didn't enter and instead took out a dagger from his Inventory. Tools of a Lowly Thief.
The reward for confirming the secret of the 2nd Floor. Its effect was to attempt a Judgment for Trap Disarm. Taesan brought the dagger to the first Arrow Trap.
[Attempting Trap Disarm Judgment...]
[Judgment failed! The trap is activating.]
Ping!
An arrow flew out. Taesan simply moved his hand and caught it. He had expected it to fail.
Unless it was a high-Level Item, the failure rate for the Judgment was quite high. Taesan approached the second trap, a pitfall Trap.
[Attempting Trap Disarm Judgment...]
[Judgment successful! The trap is disarmed.]
And then to the next trap. He attempts the Trap Disarm Judgment in the same way. The judgment fails.
The walls close in, trying to crush him. He punches them and breaks them. He attempts the next trap in the same way.
After nearly ten such attempts, he was able to obtain a Skill.
[You have attempted to disarm traps. You have acquired the Special Active Skill [Trap Disarm].]
“Got it.”
[Special Active Skill: Trap Disarm] [Mana Cost: 1] [Proficiency: 1%] [Attempts to disarm a trap. For now, it seems worse than just ignoring it.]
The description was pathetic. It was only natural, with the Proficiency at 1%. Taesan put away the dagger and began to disarm the traps using the Skill.
Most of them were failures, but disarming them wasn't the goal in the first place.
[Proficiency for Trap Disarm has increased by 1%.]
The more a Skill is used, the more its Proficiency increases. He needed to raise the Proficiency in advance in useless places like this so he could use it without issue when it really mattered. The Ghost spoke as if it didn't understand.
[Do you really have to go that far? Trap Disarm is a skill that doesn't matter much whether you have it or not. You can just pass through with your body, can't you?]
“That might be true.”
The Ghost's words were not wrong. Even on higher floors, the types of traps didn't change much. He could handle them without a problem even now with his weak Stats, and once he passed the 10th Floor, he would be able to just push through with his body.
But Taesan had no intention of stopping.
“I don't know about this place.”
What he had cleared was Easy Mode. This was Alone Mode. Lee Tae-yeon's information also had many holes.
She had basically done a speedrun clear.
“The more cards you have, the better. You never know how they might be used. I take everything I can get. That's my formula for action.”
That was how Taesan had overcome crises. The Ghost's form wavered for a moment.
[…Right. That's the correct way. I died because I couldn't stick to that.]
As the bitter voice echoed, he disarmed the final trap.
[Judgment successful! The trap is disarmed.]
[Proficiency for Trap Disarm has increased by 1%.]
The Proficiency had increased by a total of 7%. He planned to do this every time he found a Secret Room from now on. Taesan opened the Treasure Chest.
[Squeezed Ring] [Strength + 3] [A ring squeezed by someone with great strength. It is crushed and distorted, but seems to contain power.]
A ring that gave 3 Strength. Similarly, it was not an Accessory that could be obtained on the 2nd Floor. Because Taesan had obtained so many things until now, its value had faded slightly, but it was a good piece of Equipment.
Now, the Secret Room was done. All that was left was the Boss. Taesan stood up.
He didn't wander, as he had already pinpointed the location while roaming the Labyrinth. Before long, Taesan arrived at a Red Door.
[This is the floor of Goblins. You've probably guessed what's going to appear, right?]
“I know.”
He had heard it from Lee Tae-yeon as well. Taesan opened the door.
“Karuk.”
There was one Goblin inside. It was twice the size of other Goblins. And its entire body was adorned with colorful decorations, like a shaman from an ancient era.
In its hand, it held a Magic Staff. The Goblin straightened its back and pointed the staff at Taesan.
“Kaak!”
[The Goblin Chieftain has appeared.]
A Goblin that ruled over Goblins. In Easy Mode, it was a high-tier Monster that only appeared quite deep inside.
“Karuruk.”
The chieftain sent a gaze full of fury at Taesan. It was impossible to know if it was because he had killed its brethren or if it was just a Monster's instinct, but at least, it was clear that it was a very deep fury.
“Kaaaak!”
The staff trembled.
Taesan charged.
Unlike other Monsters, there was no reason to observe the chieftain.
[The Goblin Chieftain has activated Curse.]
Curse.
A type of magic that slows down the body's speed or makes parts of the body rot. Unlike Mental Magic, it attacks the body itself, so it cannot be shaken off with Mental Resistance. Taesan put strength into his feet and activated a Skill.
[You have activated Deflection. The next attack will be deflected.]
The Curse misses its mark. Checking his Status Window, all his Stats and Health had decreased by 10%. If he hadn't used Deflection, they would have probably decreased by 30%.
Reaching striking distance, Taesan swung his sword down.
“Kaak!”
The chieftain swung its staff to block. A dull impact traveled up the sword. The chieftain's strength was not much inferior to his.
The chieftain threw Taesan off and raised its staff again.
[The Goblin Chieftain has activated Wave.]
Wave.
Magic that sends out a shockwave to blow away the opponent. Seeing the System Window, Taesan immediately took out the Random Staff of the Mind.
[You have activated Confusion.]
[Judgment in progress...]
“Kak, kaak?”
For a moment, the chieftain stumbled. As its mind crumbled, the magical power contained at the tip of its staff vanished. The chieftain shook its head roughly.
[Judgment failed!]
The Confusion Judgment had failed, but the activation of Wave was canceled. Taesan struck with his sword. The chieftain's arm was slashed.
“Kaak!”
[Dealt 21 Damage to the Goblin Chieftain.]
The chieftain's Health, as he remembered it, was 200. He just needed to attack ten more times. Taesan pressed on. The Damage window appeared again and again.
“Ka, kaak!”
The chieftain swung its staff fiercely, trying to create distance. But Taesan used Skills like Deflection and Counter to forcefully stick to it. In the end, unable to endure, the chieftain began to use magic.
[The Goblin Chieftain has activated Explosion.]
The System Window appeared. Taesan immediately grabbed the chieftain's arm and twisted it. The magic that was materializing vanished.
The chieftain uses magic through its staff. But magic isn't instantaneous. It requires a certain amount of preparation.
If one could just interfere with and break that process, it was safe to say that using magic was practically impossible. Normally, it would have pushed him away based on its high Stats and manifested its magic. Once it created distance, it would be hard to get close with the barrage of curses and spells that would follow.
It was quite tricky, but for Taesan, who knew the method to defeat it, it wasn't very difficult.
“Kaaaak!”
The staff swung wide. He pushed it away with his shield. Taesan plunged his sword in.
[Dealt 22 Damage to the Goblin Chieftain.]
[You have won against the Goblin Chieftain.]
“Kaaaa...”
The chieftain disappeared. The Ghost's reaction was indifferent, as if it had expected this.
[A chieftain is no match for you now. Originally, it's a pretty tough guy.]
Taesan checked the System Window that was obscuring his vision.
[Your Level has risen.]
[As a reward for Level Up, Health increases by 20.] [As a reward for Level Up, Agility permanently increases by 2. Strength permanently increases by 3. Mana permanently increases by 3.] [You have single-handedly won against a difficult foe. Intelligence permanently increases by 2. Mana permanently increases by 4.] [Your Soul Rank Ascension has activated. Agility permanently increases by 1. Intelligence permanently increases by 3. Mana permanently increases by 3.] [You have defeated the Boss of the 3rd Floor. You have obtained the basic Reward [Beginner Health Increase Potion].]
[You have acquired an Old Deadwood Staff.]
It was still a long System Window. More than anything else, the increase in Mana stood out. It had increased by a whopping 10. His Mana was now over 50. With this kind of increase, it wouldn't be long before he reached his past Stats.
Taesan used the Beginner Health Increase Potion. His Health increased by 50. His Health was now 295. He was just short of 300. Taesan checked the staff.
[Magic + 3] [Contains a faint trace of magical power. A talented person might be able to use it.]
“What's this now?”
It wasn't Mana or Intelligence, but Magic. It was a value Taesan had never seen before. He hadn't seen similar Equipment even in Easy Mode.
The Ghost marveled.
[A Magic Staff? Your luck is really good. You got that?]
“You know about it?”
[It's literally a staff that lets you use magic. Kind of like a more versatile version of that Random Staff of the Mind you have? You can enhance the power of magic you've learned through the staff.]
“... Learn magic?”
[In a world where even Monsters use magic, is that something to be surprised about?] the Ghost said indifferently.
For someone who had lived in a world with Monsters and magic, it wasn't a surprising thing. But Taesan was a man who had lived in the modern era. To think he could use magic with his own power, not by borrowing it from a staff.
‘There was no information about this.’
Another reason he was surprised was that this was the first he'd heard of using magic. In Easy, Normal, or Hard Mode, magic could only be used by borrowing the power of a staff. Lee Tae-yeon had never used magic with her own power either, so she believed that magic could not be learned as a concept like a Skill.
But suddenly hearing that he could learn magic, he couldn't help but be confused for a moment. Taesan cleared his complicated thoughts.
“If I were to learn it, how would I learn it?”
[Either you realize and awaken to the concept of magic on your own, or you learn it from someone. It's one of the two.]
The former was impossible. Then it had to be the latter.
‘An NPC, maybe.’
Deep within the Labyrinth, there must be NPCs who use magic. Since he couldn't use it right away, he put it into his Inventory.
[Now it's the 4th Floor. You're going down pretty fast.]
“Before that, I have to stop by Rakiratas.”
He had killed all the Monsters on the 2nd and 3rd Floors. Since he had completed his Quest, he had to go down to the 2nd Floor. As Taesan was about to leave the room, he paused.
[What's wrong?]
“Wait a minute.”
Taesan looked up at the System Window to check. Level Up Reward. Difficult Foe Reward.
Soul Rank Ascension Reward. 3rd Floor Clear Reward. There was no reward for discovering the secrets.
“There's something else hidden here?”
It was a reward given when all the Hidden Elements of a floor were discovered. Usually, finding the Secret Room was the end of it, so he thought he had found everything on this floor, but it wasn't cleared yet. The Ghost also seemed to have realized it late, tilting its head area.
[Huh. You're right. Why isn't it there? Is there something more?]
“What about you?”
[I couldn't even find the Secret Room, so I just thought that was it and moved on. Don't tell me there are two Secret Rooms?]
Originally, there was only one per floor. But this was Alone Mode. There was a possibility.
“Do I have to search the whole thing again.”
This time, it was truly an impossible task. He had found it because Insight had luckily activated, but this meant he would have to check the entire floor. If that was the case, it would be much faster to just go down to get stronger.
It was when Taesan was about to give up. The Boss Room was decorated with various things. Since the Boss's name was Goblin Chieftain, he had thought it was natural and ignored it.
But now that he looked, the decorations formed some kind of pattern. Like a path for someone. Taesan took a step.
He approached the wall in the direction the decorations were pointing and placed his hand on it.
Krrrrk.
[Huh?]
The sound of a mechanism activating echoed. The wall smoothly opened sideways. It was the moving wall from the trap.
It had been disguised as an ordinary wall.
[…What? A place like this existed?]
The Ghost seemed quite surprised, as if it was also seeing it for the first time. Of course, it was a place Lee Tae-yeon had not found either. Taesan went inside.
Numerous decorations.
It was much more splendid and neat than the Boss Room. It clearly showed what the Goblins thought of the being here. A huge throne came into view.
A single Goblin was sitting there, like a king.
[…Lord?]
With a voice filled with astonishment, the Goblin opened its eyes. It stared blankly at Taesan. Its mouth opened.
“Human.”
A small mutter. And it reached its hand to the side.
Thump.
A greatsword was held in its hand.
[You have encountered the former Goblin Lord, Hage-ha.]