Park Il-sang decided to start by running Dungeons.
After all, if he made one big score and spent frugally, he would earn enough money to idle away at least a year, so there was no need to earn more.
In truth, once one started buying Hunter Items, there was no end to it. Conversely, if one did not buy such things, one inevitably had quite a bit of money left over.
Nor was there any particular reason to move from a 5th-class Residential District to a 3rd-class Residential District. Though a 5th-class Residential District was considered a danger zone, Park Il-sang had survived here his entire life.
And now, compared to the past, he had also obtained the “force” to live even more safely.
Therefore, it was Dungeons.
He had to go to Dungeons
and farm materials.
In other words, he had to harvest fresh corpses.
And it was not as though there was no profit involved.
First of all, if he cleared Dungeons, he could become stronger.
Raising one’s Grade and acquiring new Skills were almost impossible outside of Dungeons. Unless it was a special case, such as offering sacrifices to a Constellation, Dungeons were the only answer.
If so, it would be normal for everyone to make a fuss about entering Dungeons.
However, most people ran Dungeons only in moderation and tried to hunt in the Field instead.
Because Dungeons were dangerous.
A place more dangerous than the Field. That was what a Dungeon was.
F-Grade ones were not particularly dangerous, but even from E-Grade onward, E-Rank Hunters who formed teams and entered frequently died and became corpses.
However, F-Grade Dungeons were safe enough.
Of course, even that standard of safety only applied to someone like Park Il-sang.
“Graaaaah!”
The giant Skeleton Beast charged!
“Froguu… Kieeek!”
When it struck with its front paw, the body shattered to pieces!
It was truly a rapid march!
In that way, Park Il-sang raided the Frog Nest once again.
This time, it was even faster than before!
He went through every corner and killed every frog, and the number of corpses he gathered that way was a staggering 281.
They did not make money, but as resources, they were truly excellent!
“Froguuuuul! Kwek!”
Even the boss, the Nest Guardian, was a one-turn kill!
Then, -You have cleared the Frog Nest!
-You will be moved to the Settlement Room.
The System messages he had seen before appeared, and he was moved to the Settlement Room.
[You have cleared the Dungeon.]
[Measuring Dungeon Clear Grade.]
[A+ Clear.]
[Measuring Dungeon Clear Contribution.]
[Your Dungeon Clear Contribution is 100%.]
[You may acquire 1 Skill.]
[You may acquire 1 Item.]
[You have achieved an Achievement.]
[You have acquired Fame.]
“Oh?”
He had obtained a Skill and an Item before, so those were nothing new. But an Achievement!
An Achievement was proof that the System had acknowledged a special feat in a Dungeon, and it granted something called “Fame.”
Fame granted a permanent increase to Stats, and it was something every Hunter went mad wanting to obtain.
[Faster Than Anyone, F-Grade]
Grade: Common
Type: Fame
Description: Fame granted to an F-Grade Hunter who has cleared an F-Rank Dungeon at the fastest speed.
Function: Growth Acceleration
“Oh… This is rather good.”
Growth Acceleration.
As the name implied, it allowed him to grow faster. It was the kind of Fame that granted more Experience for raising his Grade while running Dungeons.
It was useful.
While others ran Dungeons ten times, someone with this Fame could grow after running them nine times.
It was slight, but Fame was originally like that. Still, it was free!
“As for the Skill… I will learn [Soul Processing]….”
[Soul Processing] was exactly what it sounded like: a Skill for processing Souls.
For example, if he turned Frogman corpses into Undead, those Undead would retain the habits they had possessed while alive.
Since they were frog Souls, they could not help but act like frogs.
Of course, those Souls were not normal. They were more like fragments that had been shattered and broken apart at the moment of death. In any case, suppose he tried to use those fragments to transform them into humanoid Undead.
Since the Souls were those of frogs, their behavior would become strange.
However, if he used [Soul Processing], he could correct that.
One might say it could make a frog’s Soul behave like a human Soul.
And that was not all.
He could also infuse experience into them.
So that they could act in ways suited to combat.
In other words, it was a useful Skill in many ways.
Next, there was nothing special about the Item.
A Necromancer-exclusive Item did appear, but it was not particularly good compared to what Park Il-sang made himself.
It was just one ring that increased Undead control capacity by +2.
For an A+ Clear to give him something like this!
Perhaps it was because it was an F-Grade Dungeon.
After checking everything, Park Il-sang shouted energetically.
“All right. Then shall I keep going?”
Faster than anyone else!
Here he went!
***
He ran the Dungeon a staggering five more times.
“Wow. No one but me could have done this.”
It took about one hour to clear the Dungeon once.
Rather, gathering up the corpses was harder than killing the Monsters.
An ordinary Hunter could never do this.
Hunters’ Mana recovery was extremely slow, so after they ran a Dungeon once, it usually took several days until all of their Mana recovered.
After running it like that, he also achieved another great feat and obtained one more Fame.
“What exactly is [So Diligent and Industrious, Are You?] supposed to be?”
Its effect was fairly powerful.
Infinite Vitality.
In other words, he would not tire.
Park Il-sang wondered if this was insane.
After all, he had been running around for five hours, and his body was just beginning to grow tired and sluggish. But the moment he obtained this Fame, he became lively again.
I can do this as much as I want! Yes, I can!
That was how it felt.
After running Dungeons like that, Park Il-sang sat down for a moment to rest and checked his results.
“Wow. This is a haul, a real haul.”
Each time he ran the Dungeon, he gathered at least two to three hundred corpses, and he crafted Items with them as well.
He increased the number of [Corpse Boxes] to ten, and packed every one of those [Corpse Boxes] full with one hundred corpses each.
He was now carrying a staggering one thousand corpses!
With this much, there was no way he would run short of Necro Mana under ordinary circumstances.
And that was not all.
He had also crafted a great number of Items.
First was the Skeleton Beast, which could be called both his mount and his greatest fighting force.
He had equipped it with armor in addition to its helmet, and he had also hung a necklace on it. According to the System’s judgment, that was the limit.
Of course, all three Items he had attached increased Undead control capacity.
Nothing in particular changed about its name.
However, its Undead control capacity had increased tremendously. If he looked at the necklace and armor separately, each increased it by about +10, but when all three were worn, a set effect occurred.
As a result, Park Il-sang’s Undead control capacity reached a staggering 98 when he was mounted on the Skeleton Beast.
It was an absurd number!
The Skeleton Beast also consumed only 1 point of control capacity.
That meant he could control 97 corpses.
And that was not all.
With [Soul Capture], he had captured hundreds of Souls and stored them in [Corpse Box].
In addition,
he obtained five more Skills.
[Necro Mana Bullet Barrage] [Undead Aura] [Soul Mending] [Extremely Limited Revival] [Invitation to the Dead]
1st Tier Necromancy.
However, all of them had many uses.
[Necro Mana Bullet Barrage] was a Skill that fired Mana Bullets like a machine gun, provided he had enough Necro Mana. In truth, it was one of the simple offensive Spells he had often used in his previous life.
[Undead Aura] was exactly what it sounded like: it emitted an Aura of Necro Mana that strengthened nearby Undead. [Extremely Limited Revival] could revive the dead.
As the Skill name implied, however, it was possible only under extremely limited conditions.
The target had to have died less than one hour ago, the brain and heart had to be intact, and the body had to be restored before revival.
For example, if someone died of blood loss after their arms and legs were blown off,
he would first have to reattach the lost limbs with the [Corpse Processing] Skill and replenish the blood. Only then could he revive them with [Extremely Limited Revival].
Even so, it was fairly useful.
After all, despite being only 1st Tier, it revived the dead.
In truth, rather than truly bringing back the dead, it was closer to emergency resuscitation Necromancy.
One might call it an extension of how a person who died from cardiac arrest could be brought back if cardiopulmonary resuscitation were performed.
[Invitation to the Dead], when used on a corpse, caused the dead to awaken and answer three questions.
It was usually used to learn information about why the dead had died.
In truth, the real gem was [Soul Mending].
The Souls obtained through [Soul Capture] were incomplete fragments, and even if they were fused with other Souls, that did not make them complete.
They remained incomplete, grotesquely distorted things… but if he used [Soul Mending], he could ease that distortion.
One could say it made a crazed Soul somewhat sane.
When used together with [Soul Processing], the effect was even better.
At 1st Tier, however, there was not much use for it.
But he had to learn this so that he could do more varied things later, once he reached a higher Tier.
For example, one might call it a fundamental Spell necessary to become an Arch Lich.
Or perhaps
a way to work a dead comrade as an Undead.
In any case, he had acquired additional Skills like that.
As for Items, only junk-level ones had appeared.
Still, he was highly satisfied with this much.
Now it was time to move on to the next stage!
“To think I would be able to do this again after reincarnating…. Until now, Necromancy did not work at all, so I simply lived normally…. Anyway, shall I try it?”
Park Il-sang used a Skill in front of the Skeleton Beast.
The Souls stored in [Corpse Box] poured out. [Corpse Box] could store not only corpses, but also Souls, and in the case of Souls, it could store up to one thousand.
Because they had no physical substance.
However, if the number exceeded one thousand, a problem would occur.
The Souls would become tangled together and turn into an uncontrollable Undead monster.
In truth, he had not put in nearly that many, so there was no problem.
After all, he had only about six hundred Souls.
And then, he poured out around two hundred of them.