Park Il-sang, who lived in the temporary-building settlement of Yeouido Central Park in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, had been a Necromancer who lived in a fantasy world in his previous life.
It had been a world embroiled in a great war after the Demon King invaded and brought the entire world to the brink of ruin.
Because of that, things had reached the point where they even had to borrow the power of Necromancers, one type of wicked Dark Mage they had usually scorned, persecuted, and tried to kill.
Apparently, among the Dark Mages, Necromancers were corpse-lovers rather than demon worshippers, so they had been able to participate in the Grand Alliance.
In the midst of that great war, he somehow caught the eye of a Master Necromancer, learned Necromancy, and distinguished himself. In the end, he joined the decisive battle against the Demon King and died.
After that, he had no way of knowing whether the world had been saved or not.
Then, when he opened his eyes, he had been born in the Republic of Korea.
In other words, he had been born with the memories of his previous life intact.
Being reincarnated while retaining his memories was certainly an extraordinary thing, but surprisingly, he could not use the necromantic magic of the Necromancer he had been in his previous life.
It seemed to be because this world was different.
That was what Park Il-sang thought.
Even though this world also had Monsters from other dimensions running rampant, Hunters with supernatural abilities, and even mana.
There was no system resembling magic, so he accepted it as something inevitable.
Still, because he had possessed an adult’s intellect from childhood, he somehow survived.
His parents had lost their property and home and fled as refugees after the entire region north of the Han River (including North Korea) was utterly devastated. In the end, when he was around eight years old, he lost even his parents to Monsters and became an orphan with no one in the world.
The entire country called the Republic of Korea had become a mess. Even so, because he had an adult’s intellect, he somehow survived, and after passing through a turbulent series of years, he had just turned twenty. Though he still lived in the temporary-building settlement, he had at least reached the point where he could make a living.
He had lamented, If only I had been born into a conglomerate family—or at least as the child of a successful Hunter—I would not have had to suffer like this! But what could he do?
He resolved to maintain a positive mindset and decided to simply be grateful for his reincarnation, telling himself, ‘This is completely lucky!’ and ‘Hurrah! A second life is lucky!’
On top of that, recently, after putting in effort while working as a ‘menial worker’ who trailed behind Hunters and tended to every last errand for them.
He had finally managed to Awaken.
F-, the lowest grade.
Although the ability he obtained was nothing impressive, he was overjoyed.
After all, there was a difference between the money earned by the Awakened and the Unawakened, as well as their ability to survive.
That alone was an incredibly moving thing.
It truly was a reversal of fortune!
Lucky! Super lucky!
Park Il-sang had been living his current life in satisfaction like that.
Then, while receiving basic training for newly minted Hunters (forced by the government), he saw a somewhat absurd line of text.
-You are now able to use the power of a Necromancer.
For some reason, he had obtained the power from his previous life.
Huh. Why only now?
***
“Those of you who have worked as Hunter Supporters should know this well, but Goblins are….”
Park Il-sang thought.
‘I already know all this.’
On the platform, a retired Hunter with prosthetic legs on both sides was droning on about something.
In this day and age, with cutting-edge cybernetic prosthetics on the market, wearing cheap prosthetics like those was proof that he had no money.
That was why he was stuck gathering novice Hunters who had just become Hunters and teaching them theory like this.
Still, that instructor was one of the lucky ones.
Because he was alive.
Keeping his eyes on that instructor, letting the lecture go in one ear and out the other, he stared at the translucent System window in front of him.
-You are now able to use the power of a Necromancer.
It was an abrupt message that had appeared a moment ago.
‘No. What is this all of a sudden? How can it be this completely out of nowhere?’
All Park Il-sang could think was, What kind of thing is this?
Because….
Name : Park Il-sang
Job : Warrior F- / Necromancer 1st Tier
Skills :
Warrior →
Necromancer →
He had become a Warrior in this life.
‘Listen here, System. Are a Warrior and a Necromancer supposed to have good compatibility? What exactly are you doing right now?’
It was so absurd that he was left utterly dumbfounded.
What on earth was this damned System thinking? Should it not have Awakened him as a Necromancer in the first place?
What even was this?
Moreover, that was not the only strange part.
‘Did it patch in my previous-life ability only now? And besides, Necromancy is a type of magic. It is not something like a Skill.’
Necromancy was knowledge and power he himself had learned, honed, and built up. Yet he could not understand why it had become a Skill that could be used with a simple ‘click.’
‘It does seem to be because the world is different….’
For now, Park Il-sang focused his consciousness on the → in the Skill field.
Then the Skill list unfolded.
Skills :
Warrior →
Regeneration F / Monstrous Strength F / Heavy Strike F / Fortitude F
Necromancer →
Undead Creation / Corpse Manipulation / Corpse Box Creation / Necro Mana Control
‘Hmm. This is… strange in another way. I know far more Necromancy spells than this, so why is there only this measly handful?’
He muttered inwardly.
He had spent quite a long time fighting the Demon King’s Army as a Necromancer in his previous life.
Had he not even ultimately become an Archlich? He had learned far more than one or two Necromancy spells, and there were several spells he had created himself.
Yet the number of spells he could use was only three.
The fourth Skill, Necro Mana Control, was not even a spell at all. It was nothing more than a basic control ability!
And the System had the gall to hand that over as a Skill.
‘What I can tell from this is… everything in this world is under the System’s control. Something like that, perhaps. If so, I can understand why I have not been able to use the Necromancy from my previous life….’
When worlds differed, the laws that governed them differed as well.
He understood that all too keenly. He also understood why he had been unable to use Necromancy until now.
If this System had taken control of this world, that made sense. But in that case, were the things invading from other dimensions also restricted by the System?
It was true that this power called the System was unidentified, and he had heard that even the divine beings commonly known as Constellations had failed to grasp what it was.
‘What a suspicious power this is.’
Thinking that, Park Il-sang scratched his chin. It was a habit from his previous life, and he had done it even when only bones remained of him.
“All right, then, that will be all for today’s class. Next time, there will be a written exam, and anyone below the required score will have to retake it. As you know, you cannot receive a Hunter license unless you pass the exam, so make sure you memorize everything before you come.”
With those words, the instructor went outside. The other novice Hunters all began gathering their things and standing up, and Park Il-sang was also about to rise casually from his seat.
-You have listened diligently to the Introduction to Monsters class.
-You have acquired the Skill [Monster Bestiary].
“Huh?”
A Skill like this?
He had never even heard of it.
How had he obtained this thing?
***
‘This is really… There must be some reason for this…. Surely this world is not about to end soon, is it?’
Park Il-sang set off for home while enjoying the privilege of being a reincarnator.
And what was that privilege?
Experience.
That was the greatest privilege and ability a reincarnator possessed.
The reason he had managed to endure and survive reasonably well in this half-ruined Republic of Korea was also thanks to the experience and memories from his previous life.
In his experience from his previous life, truly enormous events always had some kind of reason behind them.
A transcendent being of unfathomable power, beyond the reach of perceptionand cognition, might manipulate fate out of boredom. Or power might be granted because the world was about to end, so everyone had to make a gre-e-e-at effort and save themselves.
In any case, there was a reason. The problem was that he did not know what it was.
The Hunter System that sustained the people of Earth in this life was that sort of thing as well. If even the Constellations, who were gods (-GOD) themselves, did not know the true identity of the Hunter System, that said everything, did it not?
Therefore.
The fact that his Hunter System was quite different from other people’s, and the fact that he had become able to use the Necromancy from his previous life in a limited way through the Hunter System, were both deeply significant to Park Il-sang in many ways.
‘For now, there is no point guessing the reason…. Then, is there some kind of loophole that would let me use the Necromancy I used in my previous life?’
Park Il-sang was a very, very accomplished Necromancer who had even become an Archlich in his previous life. On the fantasy continent of his previous life, there had been no Necromancer as powerful as he was.
Among those in the Mage profession, there had been people known as the Three Sages, Park Il-sang included. Only people of that caliber had possessed abilities on par with his.
In truth, it was not as if he had never tried to use the power from his previous life after coming into this one.
He had gone to the trouble of obtaining Monster blood and drawing Necromancy magic circles as well (because magic circles themselves possessed the power to activate magic, and if one drew a magic circle properly, even someone who was not a Mage could activate lower-tier magic).
He had also tried making a ‘Corpse Box,’ a traditional Necromancer training method.
But nothing had worked, so he had assumed this world simply would not allow it and had just gone on living diligently.
But.
Now, the Hunter System had enabled him to use Necromancy. That was why he had the following thought.
‘Could this perhaps be a world-setting update? If it patched in a new Job because Earth looked like it was going to end….’
In this world, no power called Necromancy existed. But what if the Hunter System had patched in the power and rules known as Necromancy?
Like a game.
Ta-da! Starting today, you can choose a Necromancer character!
If that was what it had done, then it made sense.
After all, until now, there had been no one in this world who could use the power of a Necromancer.
But if he thought about the fact that the Hunter System was not a game operator, and asked why it had gone out of its way to perform a patch update like that, he returned to the thought he had at the beginning.
Is Earth really going to end? Is something huge coming?
‘For now, I should start by testing whether I can regain my power.’
Thinking that, Park Il-sang moved his legs briskly.