Knowledge Insight Lv.5

"We can't take them head-on. We need to use the environment, or quickly find a weak point and break through."

Su Ran moved to avoid the golems' frontal charge, raising his hand at the same time...

"Energy Missile! Rapid fire!"

Three deep-purple missiles shot precisely at the knee joints of the three golems! Those were weak points in their physical structure!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Stone chips flew! The golems' movements visibly slowed and wavered!

But they did not fall. The energy cores in their chests flashed, and rock rapidly grew over their damaged joints, repairing them!

"Regeneration?! Or an energy supply?" Su Ran's heart tightened. He noticed that the runes on the floor glowed faintly as the golems took damage.

He immediately changed tactics, abandoning their joints and locking onto the flashing red lights in their chests!

"Arcane Explosion!"

A mass of energy whistled out and slammed into a golem's chest!

Boom!

The explosion blasted a shallow crater in the golem's chest. The red light flickered wildly, and the golem's movements abruptly stalled!

"It works! But it's not powerful enough to destroy the core!" Su Ran thought as he nimbly maneuvered to dodge the other two golems' attacks, their heavy stone fists smashing shallow craters into the floor.

He noticed that when the golems were damaged, the runes on the floor glowed brighter, seemingly drawing energy from the environment to repair them.

Some of the energy flowing across the ceiling also seemed to be diverted to the golems.

"Cut off their energy supply? Or... disrupt the runic array?"

Su Ran's gaze swept over the intricate runes on the floor.

He had only the most basic understanding of Runic Studies, a remnant of his Scholar class, but [Knowledge Insight] allowed him to vaguely perceive the main direction of the energy flow.

"Let's try disrupting it!"

He stopped attacking the golems and instead fired an [Energy Missile] at a runic node in a corner of the hall, where the energy flow converged more visibly!

The missile struck the rune and burst into a small flash of light. The glow of the runic array across the entire floor faltered for an instant!

The red lights on all three golems dimmed at once, and their movements became stiff and sluggish!

"Just as I thought!"

Su Ran seized the opportunity, thrusting his staff repeatedly!

"Arcane Explosion!"

"Energy Missile!"

He concentrated his fire on the golem whose chest was already damaged!

Without a stable supply of energy, the red light in the golem's chest finally went out completely. Its massive stone body collapsed with a crash, breaking into pieces that littered the floor.

The remaining two golems seemed to realize there was a problem. They stopped chasing Su Ran and tried to retreat to the area where the runic array's energy was most concentrated.

How could Su Ran give them the chance? He repeated the same method, disrupting the runes and unleashing concentrated attacks.

A few minutes later, all three golems had been reduced to rubble strewn across the floor.

The battle was over.

On the wall at the back of the hall, the inconspicuous recess lit up, and a section of stone spiral staircase descended from the ceiling, leading to the upper floor.

At the same time, a scroll of old parchment appeared on a small stone platform beside the recess.

Su Ran walked over and picked it up.

[Ancient Golem Construction Schematic (Fragment)]

Recorded fragments of the Blackstone Guardian Golem's basic energy circuits and the principles behind its rune-driven operation.

Could be submitted as one of the Ancient Magic Knowledge Fragments.

The first knowledge fragment was his.

After passing the first floor's combat test and obtaining an [Ancient Golem Construction Schematic], Su Ran did not rush to the second floor.

He stood at the entrance to the spiral staircase. The brief battle had given him a clearer understanding of the tower's style of trials.

Observation, analysis, use of the environment, and precise strikes were far more important than brute force.

And all of this depended heavily on his core support skill, [Knowledge Insight].

At Lv.3, [Knowledge Insight] already granted him powers of observation and information processing far beyond those of ordinary people. In the battle just now, it had helped him discover the connection between the runic array on the floor and the golems' energy supply.

But Su Ran felt that Lv.3 might not be enough for the potentially more complex spell tests and mechanical puzzles on the higher floors.

He remembered the [Beginner Skill Upgrade Book] he had obtained from the Silver Chest.

"Can be used to raise a spell or skill at Lv.4 or below by two levels."

[Knowledge Insight] was already Lv.3, so the benefit would be substantial.

More importantly, Su Ran had a strong intuition.

In a trial environment like the [Blackstone Tower], which valued wisdom and knowledge, improving [Knowledge Insight] further might yield far greater returns than improving an attack or defense spell.

He decided to give it a try.

He took the pale-gold [Beginner Skill Upgrade Book] out of his Personal Space. The book felt warm and smooth to the touch, and it gave off a pure aura of knowledge.

Su Ran sat cross-legged at the foot of the stairs and gently pressed the book to his forehead. He immersed his mind in it, focused his thoughts, and silently said:

Improve the skill Knowledge Insight.

The book suddenly lit up with a soft golden glow!

A cool, vast stream of pure energy, seemingly composed of countless streams of information and fragments of experience, poured into the center of Su Ran's brow through the point of contact!

The energy did not force its way in. Like a spring rain, it gently merged with the source of his spirit, resonating and intertwining with the framework of his existing [Knowledge Insight] skill, expanding it!

Su Ran felt as though his thoughts were soaking in an ocean of knowledge. Countless methods and insights on how to observe more efficiently,

how to analyze details more rapidly, how to extract key points from a jumble of information, how to perceive subtle differences in the flow of energy,

and even how to read the information hidden within certain ancient scripts or runes were etched deep into his consciousness like brands.

The skill's original Lv.3 framework was rapidly broadened, reinforced, and refined. His sense of knowing his surroundings inside and out became clearer and deeper.

He could even vaguely sense subtler currents of arcane energy in the air and see deeper patterns in the energy structures contained within the ancient runes on the walls.

The process lasted about a minute.

The pale-gold light sank completely into Su Ran's forehead, and the skill book dissolved into specks of luminous dust.

Su Ran opened his eyes, and a glimmer of wisdom seemed to flash through them. He immediately opened his skill list to check:

[Knowledge Insight Lv.3 → Lv.5]

Effect: greatly improves observation, information analysis, and the ability to capture details. Allows the user to perceive information such as energy flows, runic structures, traces of mechanisms, and creatures' weaknesses more keenly.

Increases the success rate of preliminary identification of unknown things. Mental power consumption increases slightly.

It had risen two levels at once! It had jumped from Lv.3 to Lv.5!

Lv.5 [Knowledge Insight]!

Su Ran stood up and looked around the first-floor hall again. It felt entirely different.

On the fractured surfaces of the golem fragments scattered across the floor, he seemed to see lingering traces of their internal energy circuits; the changes in the brightness of the Glimmer crystals on the walls seemed to correspond to the rhythm of some energy cycle;

even the subtle wear on the stone of the spiral staircase spoke of the people who had once passed through and the passage of time.

As expected, upgrading [Knowledge Insight] was the right choice, Su Ran thought with certainty.

He hesitated no longer and stepped onto the spiral staircase.

As he climbed, pale-blue glowing runes began to appear on the walls around the staircase, brightening and dimming as if breathing, seemingly performing some kind of scan or verification.