The Boundless Necromancer

Choosing one out of the three wasn’t a difficult choice to make.

There was only one that would be remotely useful at the moment.

「 You have purchased ‘Power: Serenity (C-)’ 」

「 1,000 SP deducted. 」

Seeing the empty SP balance reminded me of my past.

But I would rather use it than let it sit in my account.

I thought I’d have no problem clearing the 8th trial at my current state but…

‘I have to start being more careful.’

My meeting with the Monarch shifted my views.

“Status.”

「 Han Sungyeun 」

「 Radiance – Conqueror ]

「 Strength – 63 」         「 Stamina – 61 」

「 Agility – 63 」             「 Mana – 53 」

「 Tenacity – 58 」

「 Innate ability – Necromancy (D) 」

「 Innate power – Skill Combination 」

「 Power – Serenity (C-) 」

「 Skill – See details 」

“Hm…”

My stats were higher than I expected them to be but…

My focus was primarily on the ‘power.’

「 Serenity 」

「 Grade: C- 」

「 You are able to make a logical judgment no matter the situation. Status ailments like fear or confusion are reduced during combat and allow for more immersive combat.]

‘Basically, the same explanation as I saw in the store.’

The only addition was the ‘more immersive combat’ part.

‘I hope it’s more useful than some random psychological resistance skills…’

I’d find out soon enough.

There’s nothing more I could do to prepare against the intruders.

And the system did mention that I’d be notified when someone intruded into my challenge.

As I was about to enter the trial, something hit me.

“I guess there’s one thing that I could do.”

I haven’t scoured the community for information just yet.

「 You have entered the community. 」

「 Difficulty – Hard 」

「 Floor 8 Community (377/521) 」

SoupBowl: Brooo have you seen everyone wilding out to find tower challengers? The association and guilds are going insane.Not quite what I had in mind but…

‘Oh?’

I wasn’t disinterested in the topic so I stayed.

Crunch: The association asked me if I was in the tower and tried to form a contract with me out of the blue. MapleLeaf: Same. The leader of the guild I was in offered me a team leader position. SoupBowl: Team leader? To poach other challengers? MapleLeaf: Yeah, they wanted to get more people from the hard difficulty. And that they would spare no resources. Crunch: LOL sir… How much are you offering? MapleLeaf: Why would I tell that to rank 800? Cya.

Crunch: This bastard…“Hm…”

Lee Hayeon seemed to be struggling to find people when I was outside…

But it looks like the challengers were starting to find out their worth.

If Lee Hayeon tried to recruit people here, she’d probably get a bunch of them to sign on.

But…

‘Nothing else of value here.’

Most of the people left were low rankers, probably because all the high rankers had already moved on.

As I was about to turn it off again—

***

IiIiIiIiIiiI: What do you think the pioneers are doing now? I think they got some special reward… SlimeDemonKing: I dunno. From what I heard they got some second innate ability. NoodleHouseSon: I heard that too. Something with a radiance? And you can level up and stuff. Bald-E: I heard there are people who can combine skills… SlimeDemonKing: That’s not a rumor… Some ranker called Oh Choonsuk was talking about it a while back. Bald-E: I saw that too. He wasn’t a hunter before so he’s a bit free with his information. StinkyTofuLover: Whatever it is, it looks like the heavenly rankers are raking in all the rewards… Man, I haven’t even gotten all my previous skills back.‘I didn’t expect this…’

Information about pioneers and radiance was going around…

“Are they just careless or are they doing it on purpose?”

One of the pioneers had to have revealed this information to someone.

‘Well, I guess it doesn’t matter as much to me…’

I don’t know about the leveling up thing and the others but…

‘Skill Combination’ wasn’t something you could plan a counter against even if you knew how it worked.

‘Wait… Maybe I can ask Lee Hayeon about some combinations other people have experimented with then.’

Not only that, I might be able to get more information about the other innate powers.

‘I’ll keep it in mind the next time I go back to Earth.’

Chigeon: You know, most rankers have been dropping at least a message or two but… the ranker who goes by ‘Hunter’ hasn’t said a single word.The subject switched once again, this time about me.

“…Huh?”

The constant change of topics was chaotic but…

Everyone there seemed accustomed to it.

NEEThunter: Legit… I haven’t seen him a single time. And I spend like 12 hours a day looking at the community.‘That’s true.’

I’d been lurking this entire time.

Rolly: He’s probably really careful. And the fact that he’s always on the top 10… He might have something that he doesn’t want to tell others. Laborer: That dude’s a monster… Look at his fucking evaluations, is that even humanly possible? BigBrainMagician: Yeah, I’m pretty sure he’s one of the top 10 ranked hunters before he came here. Change my mind. BarkAtCrazy: He’s back at it again with his theories lol. Top 10 is too much. BigBrainMagician: Nah nah, I’m pretty sure. It might be the Lightning Emperor. Look at his clear speed. Also, they did say that he disappeared recently… Pooding: Maybe not to that point, but probably at least a guild leader? Laborer: It’s because of guys like him the rankings all fucked. Can’t he just go back?“…”

I was concerned that people might figure out who I was but…

Seeing the speculations lifted a weight off my shoulder.

‘They even thought I was the Lightning Emperor.’

I’m just a no-name C-rank hunter right now.

They wouldn’t figure it out.

Not unless I handed them a hint of some sort.

After listening to some irrelevant conservations, I finally turned the community off.

「 Do you accept the 8th floor trial? 」

And…

「 The 8th floor trial is starting. 」

「 Trial success condition – Kill the skeleton summoning lich 」

「 Trial fail condition – Challenger’s death 」

「 Trial success reward – All stats +2 」

「 Trial fail penalty – Death 」

“Is this an endurance round?”

I frowned at the fragile-looking skeleton warriors.

‘It’s a bit iffy.’

I don’t think the necromancy proficiency will increase on these weaklings…

I doubt they’d be useful in raising my stats.

To be honest, this looked like an easy freebie.

“It doesn’t benefit me too much though.”

I was talking down the trial, but there was one thing I was hoping for.

‘Maybe necromancy would reach 20% by the end of this trial?’

That would be enough to increase the rank of my innate ability.

Of course, this all depended on how much the skeletons give me…

But with these numbers, I was on the optimistic side.

“Well, let’s go.”

I ran toward the skeleton army with a faint smile on my face.

The 8th trial had finally started.

——