I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-72

Ch-72

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**‘A space sealed on all sides by walls.’**

Or rather, a place where no one can verify anything.

A location that can only be reached by fulfilling very special conditions.

The labyrinth was all connected, yet there existed certain spaces sealed completely by walls.

Why would they create empty pockets like that?

The labyrinth was arranged with extreme efficiency. Every path was designed masterfully.

And yet, every now and then, a completely closed-off empty space appeared.

If nothing existed inside, why design such a space?

Crossing the walls was impossible.

But piercing them was not.

‘The Labyrinth Ticket.’

At first, I thought it was something meant to be used when you got lost or needed to escape.

But what if this ticket was actually the means to **find the “path”**?

What if something existed inside those empty pockets?

《You have used the Labyrinth Ticket.》

《For 30 seconds, the wall becomes permeable.》

A large hole instantly tore open in the wall.

A space the wraith hands could not invade.

Without hesitation, I crossed through.

‘Bingo.’

I had found the path.

*

*

 

A staircase leading downward.

Following it for quite some time revealed yet another labyrinth.

《You are the first among current entrants to set foot in the Underground Labyrinth.》

《Achievement ‘First Challenger to Discover the Underground Labyrinth’ obtained.》

《Honor increased by 50.》

《The ‘Abyss Knight’ greets the first entrant.》

A knight shrouded in black abyssal darkness stood before me.

【Lv.10】

Level 10.

But not an ordinary Level 10.

Its displayed level was orange.

An elite raid boss monster.

A monster that normally required at least nine Level 10 characters working together appeared the moment we stepped into the underground labyrinth—welcoming us.

‘That insignia…?’

On the armor of the Abyss Knight, the imperial symbol—the faint remains of the “Golden Pentagram”—still lingered.

On a hunch, I took out the golden badge I received from the Silver Fox Mask.

The moment the Abyss Knight saw it—

—Accursed… Empire…!

…its rage only intensified.

*

*

The enraged Abyss Knight was catastrophic.

It was practically a berserker.

It shattered the sturdy defense Isaac and Isabella had set up in an instant.

Then it charged toward me like a mad beast.

A sight horrifying to anyone.

Ssshhhkk.

I drew my bowstring as calmly as possible.

The Abyss Knight, consumed by fury upon seeing the golden badge, had lost its reason.

It sought only to kill me, the badge’s owner, completely forsaking defense.

If so—

Whiiish!

Thud!

Struck by the arrow, the Abyss Knight stiffened.

**Satyrus’s Terror**.

The absolute fear inflicted upon being struck would work even on an abyssal monster.

It lost its vision, and ten random stats were drastically reduced.

‘It slowed.’

Its agility must have dropped.

In provoking it by showing the badge, the advantage had come back to me.

Whish!

I quickly fired another shot, but the Abyss Knight dodged.

It must have sensed by instinct that getting hit again would be dangerous.

The curse of blindness seemed to have limited effect on it.

But losing 10 agility was huge.

I quickly drew a mirror from my coat.

<Using the ‘Mirror of Added Conditions’.>

<‘Abyss Knight’ has been assigned a random ‘behavior condition’.>

A mirror that adds random behavioral restrictions to challengers.

I needed to use everything available.

Although the mirror was said to apply only to challengers entering the Abyss Labyrinth, it still worked on the Abyss Knight.

‘The imperial insignia. He really was a challenger.’

The Abyss Knight had once challenged this place.

I suspected as much from the faint Golden Pentagram on the armor, but hadn’t been certain.

He had challenged, failed, and sunk into the abyss.

—Annoying… nuisance…!

This was enough.

Stat reduction, blindness, and now a behavioral condition.

If the opponent was strong, dragging them down to my level was an excellent strategy.

Shiiing.

Facing the charging Abyss Knight head-on, I drew both of my Extreme Iron Swords.

*

*

《You have eliminated the ‘Abyss Knight’.》

《You have obtained 20h of Broken Golden Scale Fragments.》

《You have obtained 50 Labyrinth Points.》

《The skill ‘King of the Dead’ has successfully dominated the ‘Abyss Knight’.》

《Dominating the ‘Abyss Knight’ permanently increases your Strength by 2.》

Eliminating the Abyss Knight granted points worth 2.5 times the fragments gained.

And I had even managed to dominate it as an undead.

However, the Abyss Knight’s physical body had sunk into the abyss and vanished.

Only a faint soul, like a floating specter, remained—pointing forward with its finger.

‘I’ve gained a guide.’

But where was it guiding me?

Since I had successfully dominated it, it could not harm me.

I followed the direction the Abyss Knight’s soul indicated.

After walking for quite a while—

《You have discovered a ‘Golden Goblin’.》

Skeek?

I locked eyes with a golden goblin wearing a golden crown and carrying a bundle.

A jackpot!

**Golden Goblin.**

Also known as the Treasure Goblin—walking treasure vaults.

These goblins appeared occasionally within the abyss and were known to inhabit only the “yolk lands”—the richest, deepest abyssal regions.

Goblins were naturally drawn to shiny treasures.

When that greed intensified within the abyss, their entire bodies took on a golden hue, and they began scavenging and collecting all treasures sunk into the abyss.

In short, this abyss labyrinth was rich enough for Golden Goblins to spawn.

Ssshhhkk!

The moment our eyes met, my hand was already drawing the bowstring.

‘I must catch it.’

It was practically instinct.

Skeek!

Flustered, the Golden Goblin opened a warp.

To sweep up treasures, Golden Goblins could move through the abyss.

They were extremely quick and warped constantly, making them infuriatingly difficult to catch.

But—

Kyakya!

Hel’s entire form glowed red.

Even the Golden Goblin’s warp was denied.

Skeee!?

Unable to slip through the warp, the goblin panicked—

Thwack!

In that instant, an arrow pierced its forehead.

The Golden Goblin trembled, its head striking the wall where the warp formed, then collapsed limply.

The abyssal hands quickly dragged its corpse away.

《You have eliminated a Golden Goblin.》

《You have obtained 30 Labyrinth Points for eliminating an event monster.》

The labyrinth points were generous.

It now seemed clear what “You can gain or use points through various events” meant.

Event-type monsters also awarded points when hunted.

Now, only the crown and the bundle remained.

‘It really is helpful in unexpected ways.’

I looked at Hel.

This creature was more useful than expected.

Had I not survived the Silver Fox Mask and received the golden badge from him, I wouldn’t have provoked the Abyss Knight and landed that first arrow.

Not only that—

It had blocked even the Golden Goblin’s warp.

Alone, I might easily have lost it—Golden Goblins had exceptional survivability.

Kyakya!

“I’ll give you double the food today.”

Kyakya-kya-kya!

Hel spun happily above my head.

Even feeding it 30 honor every day still wasn’t enough, it seemed.

Slowly, I collected the crown and the bundle.

【Golden Goblin’s Crown】

– A crown crafted directly from gold by a Golden Goblin.
– Made of pure gold, extremely valuable.

Based on current market rates, the crown was worth roughly 200,000 gold.

A fortune on its own—yet this was not the real prize.

The bundle.

The sum total of all treasures a Golden Goblin gathered over its lifetime.

【Golden Goblin’s Bundle】

– Old Empire Coins x 1,873,100
– Old Empire Golden Eagle Statues x 5
– Old Empire Golden Swords x 2

Upon inspecting the contents, I nodded faintly.

“Th… that’s incredible.”

Isaac, recognizing the value, stuttered.

‘Heh.’

This was a massive haul.

Old Empire coins were usually traded at twice their face value.

In other words, from a single goblin, we’d essentially earned around 4 million gold.

‘Each Golden Goblin has its own favorite treasure category.’

The limited variety simply meant this goblin specialized in collecting gold and golden artifacts.

And all of it belonged to the Old Empire.

‘This abyss labyrinth must once have been the territory of the Old Empire.’

Finally, the puzzle pieces clicked.

The Silver Fox Mask, who spoke of a “mission” and sought to kill Sword Saint Riley.

The Abyss Knight, who recoiled upon seeing the golden badge.

Sword Saint Riley was the rising star of Pangaenia—and a hero of the Old Empire.

If this labyrinth stood on former imperial land, their connections made perfect sense.

A land that once held the greatest troves of gold and treasure…

‘There might be more Golden Goblins.’

That realization hit me hard.

Perhaps far more than expected.

But Golden Goblins always brought bloodshed.

‘Whenever one was caught, everything afterward became chaos.’

Because only abyss explorers could hunt them.

Unless someone with overwhelming command marched in with troops to hunt the “Abyss Warden,” Golden Goblins were always fought over bitterly.

‘That’s why most abyss raids collapsed due to infighting.’

Gamers disguised as soldiers, greedy treasure hunters, countless leeches trying to get their share—

Once conflict broke out, abyss expeditions always failed and ended in annihilation.

It was especially bad in lands where Golden Goblins appeared.

Thus, the moment this information leaked, chaos would erupt.

Golden Goblins appear in the labyrinth!

The abyss labyrinth is the land of the Old Empire!

If even a little rumor escaped—

‘…The thought alone is horrifying.’

The moment rumors spread outside the labyrinth, massive numbers of people would flood in.

Since the warp to the abyss labyrinth connected to all other warps…

As long as one had Broken Golden Scale Fragments, entry was virtually unrestricted.

‘Do Golden Goblins only appear in the underground labyrinth?’

There was no way to know whether Golden Goblins also spawned in the upper labyrinth.

But if they appeared exclusively in the underground—

This might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

A chance for complete monopoly.

Only problem: finding Golden Goblins was incredibly difficult.

“Heir, the soul is pointing somewhere else now. Don’t tell me this is…”

“That ‘don’t tell me’ is correct.”

Just as Isaac said, the Abyss Knight’s soul abruptly pointed in a new direction.

Most likely toward another Golden Goblin.

A smile naturally spread across my lips.

‘Jackpot.’

Not just a jackpot.

A completely insane jackpot.

*

*

 

—

If the *Interdimensional Community*—where ordinary people and Dimension Warriors gathered to talk—was wildly popular, then conversely, *Player Talk*, a space exclusively for Dimension Warriors, was just as popular among them.

It was a dark-web site where one could join only by entering the correct answer to a question that only someone who had actually played Pangaenia could solve, and users anonymously shared small bits of information.

There were already three thousand members.

Among players, it was considered the largest community—and right now, the place was buzzing with talk about the labyrinth.

—Is this labyrinth really supposed to be clearable?

—How many hours of Broken Golden Scale fragments do we even need?

—Some crazy woman who looks exactly like Saint Seia is wandering the labyrinth. Watch out.

—Also beware the Silver Fox Mask. Everyone died except me.

—Logged out and my position really reset. What the hell.

—Why are there so many barbarians here? Who hired all of them?

—Are the Seven Heroes seriously monopolizing all the labyrinth merchants?

Most of the posts were complaints about the labyrinth.

Because it felt like a place with no end in sight.

They didn’t have nearly enough Golden Scale time, yet the gains were nonexistent compared to what they were spending.

It was dangerous for no reason, and even the labyrinth merchants were being monopolized by the Seven Heroes.

—Wow, seriously, these bastards are crossing the line now.

—Guess they don’t need to maintain their image in Pangaenia, huh? lol

—Phantom-nim! No—Randolph-nim! Please, once again, discipline those foolish fake heroes!

Most of the users complaining were players deeply dissatisfied with the Seven Heroes.

But outside of *Player Talk*, there was no place where they could speak freely.

Only here, in *Player Talk*, could they avoid the scrutiny of powerful “speakers,” including the Master himself.

The owner of Player Talk was anonymous.

And the identities of the players were famously never leaked to the outside world.

Logs were regularly deleted, servers were constantly relocated, and the community had been running like this for the past three years.

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