The longer I fought the Skeletons, the more I could feel them gradually adapting as well.
‘So they aren’t completely incapable of learning.’
I wanted them even more now.
Training dummies that grew on their own and fought back?
They were practically optimized for training.
Even as I admired my own brilliant idea, I started thinking.
‘Should I find a necromancer?’
Hmm.
That was probably impossible.
No matter what, necromancers were designated heretics by the Empire.
And beyond that, I would run headfirst into fierce opposition from the Church.
‘Still, it’d be nice if I could find something similar.’
At first, I could not feel anything.
I only understood that they regenerated through magical power.
But as time passed, something began to stand out.
‘There are parts that always get assembled first whenever they regenerate.’
First came the area around the core in the chest.
Then the left shoulder, pelvis, right shoulder, arms, and legs, in that order.
‘A kind of circulation.’
I was beginning to see the flow of magical power within them through the process of their reconstruction.
‘They aren’t rebuilding parts first just because they’re closer to the core. It’s like blood circulating......’
It flowed.
From the core, throughout the entire body.
The moment I realized that—
‘I can feel it.’
I began to sense the flow of death energy within them.
And as I sensed it, the flow of the surrounding mana gradually entered my perception as well.
‘Ah, they use mana just to move too.’
‘Regenerating takes quite a lot of mana, doesn’t it?’
‘Tarian’s mana is spread all around him.’
As I realized those things, I also began to sense the mana flowing throughout my own body, centered on my dantian.
The moment I grasped it, the exhilaration of reaching a new realm spread through my entire body.
‘Is this how knights see the world?’
Moving or using it myself would be difficult for now.
But even that would only be a matter of time.
‘I’ll manage it somehow.’
With that thought, I looked down at the Skeletons, which had nearly stopped regenerating by now.
“Can’t we seriously take these guys with us?”
“No.”
“What a shame.”
The magical power I could feel from their cores had already nearly vanished.
I slowly approached and drove my sword into each core.
The Skeletons began crumbling into powder.
“Whew......”
I chuckled at the soldiers letting out sighs of relief.
Then—
-Perfect...... No, this goes beyond that. This is brutal.
-Is this really...... honorable? No, you did well, but......
I heard the Weighty Northern Iron Sword itself questioning whether this was right.
-I do not know anymore. This wielder is frightening. Next time, please show some mercy......
[You have successfully completed your Pact with the Weighty Northern Iron Sword (Normal).]
[The proficiency of ‘Northern Swordsmanship (B)’ has increased.]
I slowly sheathed the sword as the messages appeared.
Mercy for training dummies?
‘Using them as experience points is mercy.’
It had taken a fair amount of time, but I had definitely grown.
Completing the Pact was satisfying, but what mattered most was that I had finally learned to sense mana.
[The Savior’s Standing has increased!]
[‘Sword Beginner’ ▶ ‘Sword User’]
[You can now form Pacts with Rare-grade swords.]
‘Yes.’
My Standing rose the moment I learned to sense mana.
I had finally reached a level worthy of being called a squire.
Compared to normal gameplay, my growth speed was insane.
‘Anyway, Rare-grade swords.’
Rare came directly after Normal.
But among them were a few swords with exceptional performance.
Weapons strong enough to rival the next grade, Epic.
‘And Frost Fang is exactly one of those.’
The cold contained within the sword itself was potent enough to affect even northern magical beasts with cold resistance.
There was hardly a better weapon to obtain in the early stages.
At that moment, Tarian’s mana shot toward me like a wedge.
Startled, I tightened my grip on my sword hilt again.
“Young Master, it seems you can feel it now.”
Tarian was staring directly at me.
“You noticed right away.”
“......It appears we will need to change your training process again.”
I shrugged at him.
“That’s exactly what I wanted.”
Then I slowly turned my head and looked ahead.
The Dungeon was not over yet.
‘I’m looking forward to this.’
If it was already like this at the entrance, I was growing even more curious about what awaited me deeper inside.
***
After we dealt with all the Skeletons, exploring the Dungeon went fairly smoothly.
“Nothing much is showing up.”
“I suppose it assumes intruders will spend quite some time being held up by the Skeletons.”
“True. There was quite a lot of mana concentrated there.”
Now that I had finally awakened to magical power, I could tell from the mana within the Dungeon that a large amount of it had been concentrated near the entrance.
Of course, that was not all of it.
“By the way, are they going to be all right?”
“What are you worried about?”
“The mana seems to be getting denser.”
I glanced back at the soldiers.
They had not fought the Skeletons and were merely following behind us, yet their expressions were gradually darkening.
[A debuff has occurred due to the accumulation of intense death energy.]
[‘Cold Heart (C+)’ resists the debuff!]
“The mana here is quite oppressive for ordinary soldiers to endure.”
“W-We are fine!”
“Compared to sparring with Young Master, this much is......”
I chuckled at them.
“If you can say that, I guess I can raise the intensity of our next spar.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m joking.”
Even as I said that, I could not help worrying.
The dense death energy was clearly causing a debuff.
Considering that, it was only natural that the soldiers were having a hard time enduring it.
‘At least it’s not demonic energy.’
In the future—more precisely, by the time the game began—this Dungeon would be engulfed in demonic energy.
Naturally, the first enemies to appear would not be Skeletons like these, but Demonized Ones.
Thinking about it now, they were probably Skeletons that had been soaked in demonic energy and undergone demonization......
‘And it isn’t something that only happens to Skeletons.’
If this place had already undergone Demonic Realm Transformation, the soldiers with me now would have suffered greatly.
And not only the soldiers.
Cold Heart had given me considerable resistance to this kind of debuff, but if the debuff came from demonic energy instead, even I would have struggled.
“We’re almost there. Hang on a little longer.”
“Yes!”
As I encouraged the soldiers, we were already approaching the end of the Dungeon.
After the Skeletons at the beginning, there had only been occasional traps.
No other major threat had appeared.
‘Now that I’ve come this far, I can tell for sure.’
The terrain itself was not much different from Last Savior.
If we continued straight ahead, the boss room should appear.
When I played the game, there had been a powerful Demon there, beyond even the Demonized Ones.
‘But this isn’t that point in time yet.’
Which meant a different boss would appear.
With that thought, I calmly followed the ever-denser mana until an enormous door came into view.
“This must be the central chamber.”
“It appears so.”
Tarian agreed immediately.
Judging by the mana leaking from inside, this was definitely not going to be easy.
“Like I said, only interfere if it becomes dangerous.”
“It may truly become dangerous.”
“I don’t care.”
“Whew...... I expected you to say that.”
Tarian let out a small sigh and a dry laugh.
I shrugged.
Of course I would say that.
There was no way I could pass up a Dungeon this useful for training.
“Who was it that told me real combat experience was important in the first place?”
“I did not mean this much......”
Even while looking bewildered, Tarian smiled and slowly approached the door.
“You guys wait here.”
“Pardon? But......”
“You can barely stand properly right now. Besides, something might suddenly come at us from behind.”
The possibility was low, but I could not rule it out.
The Skeletons we had dealt with earlier might even reappear under the influence of the death energy.
“Young Master, we are here to protect you......”
“I know. That’s why I’m asking you to watch our backs.”
I gave each soldier a light pat on the shoulder and smiled.
“Then I’m counting on you.”
“......Understood.”
In their current condition, they would only get in the way if they followed us.
The soldiers seemed to realize that as well and nodded with stiff expressions.
“We’ll have to train even harder once we get back.”
“Looks like it.”
“Damn it. I can’t even argue.”
The soldier who had sparred with me the most said that, and the others looked slightly despairing.
Well.
As long as they still had the will to train, that was fine.
《Skill》
[Normal] - Northern Swordsmanship (A), Frost Step (A), Cold Heart (C+)
Before going inside, I checked every Skill I had learned so far.
This was definitely not bad.
I only had three Skills, but considering how little time had passed, it was better than any game run I had ever had.
“Are you prepared?”
“Yeah.”
I was in perfect condition.
Even compared to when I first entered the Dungeon, my breathing had barely changed.
My stamina had not wavered, and my strength had not diminished either.
“Then I will open it.”
GRIND—
The enormous door opened, revealing the space beyond.
The moment we stepped inside, the massive chamber began filling with ice.
Sharp icicles growing from the ceiling hung like stalactites.
Flowers and grass made entirely of ice grew across the floor.
And finally, countless weapons that had lain scattered in the distance protruded from a massive mass of ice.
‘There it is.’
Among them, a single sword was embedded at the highest point.
That was ‘Frost Fang’.
The greatest reason I had come to this Dungeon.
A weapon capable of raising my Standing by another stage.
“Hah. This is one hell of a pretty tomb.”
“It certainly is.”
And standing among it all was a single burly man.
He was not an ordinary person.
It was obvious at a glance that parts of his body were rotting.
‘Not a Skeleton type.’
His body was decayed in several places, and some parts looked completely frozen.
But he was not a Skeleton.
“......”
The Dungeon boss slowly raised his head without a word.
I immediately gripped my sword.
It was the one I had snatched from one of the Skeletons earlier.
-An ancient great warrior of the North!
-I have always wanted to face someone like him. At last, I have my chance!
-Defeat him!
[Defeat the Draugr with the Ancient Northern Steel Sword (Normal)]
[0/1]
Along with the newly appeared Pact, the boss slowly began walking toward us.
“A new...... warrior...... has come...... to be tested.”
“It can talk?”