Afterward, while heading home, Park Il-sang found out a few more facts.
First.
His Hunter System was quite different from other people’s.
One of those differences was Skill acquisition.
Park Il-sang had spent several years running around as a Menial Worker, a job that handled every minor chore for Hunters, so he knew quite well how the Hunter industry worked.
And there were all sorts of stories on communities where aspiring Hunters or novice Hunters gathered as well.
For such Hunters, acquiring a Skill was an extremely difficult thing.
In other words, it was safe to say that no one obtained Skills out of nowhere the way Park Il-sang did.
The Skill [Monster Bestiary] was like that.
He knew such a Skill existed.
Among the Jobs handed out by the Hunter System, positions classified as Supporters apparently had things like this.
‘But why did this appear for a mere F- nobody like me? Did the Hunter System break? Did a bug appear because I am a reincarnator… as if. Of course not. What kind of bug could there possibly be in the Hunter System, which even the Constellations cannot identify and which is presumed to have been made by some great and supreme being? This is… simply because I am special. Why? Who knows? Because I am a reincarnator?’
That was right.
Skills could not appear for free.
A Hunter could obtain one new Skill when their grade rose, and aside from that, they could only obtain one very rarely as a Dungeon clear reward after entering a Dungeon.
Those were the only two ways.
Therefore, there had to be some reason Park Il-sang himself had received this sort of benefit, and if he had to guess, the only answer was that he was a reincarnator.
And the second thing he found out.
For some reason, Skills appeared incredibly easily.
For example, it happened while he was walking home because he thought spending money on transportation was a waste.
The classroom was not in Yeouido. It was located in Singil-dong, which came into view if one went straight south from Yeouido.
Because, well.
Yeouido had long since become a den of the lowest classes, overrun with temporary buildings and shanties, so there was no helping it.
It had long since become a neighborhood where public order could not even be found.
And so, while he was walking from Singil-dong to Yeouido.
This message appeared.
-You walked steadily.
-You have acquired the Skill [Walking].
[Skill : Walking]
Grade : Common
Type : Passive (passive)
Description : Makes walking easier and better.
Function : Fatigue reduced by 20% when walking
Somehow, he had gained a Passive Skill that felt subtly useful.
In other words, although he did not know the principle behind it, he acquired Skills easily.
Amazing.
‘But until I become strong enough, I must not let this become known outside.’
It was certainly an incredible ability, but when one’s grade was low, one was bound to be weak.
There were plenty of people in the world who kicked away the ladder, people who interfered with those in the same field when they tried to grow.
Their reasons were varied.
They felt threatened. They disliked the sight of it. They were jealous. And so on. It had been like that in his previous life, and it was like that in this life as well.
The world was full of danger….
‘For now, whatever the case, if I want to use Necromancy, I need to make a Corpse Box first…. As for corpses, they should be easy enough to obtain.’
Thinking that, he returned to his home.
The streets of a slum made up of shanties, temporary buildings, and houses built from stacked containers were his place of refuge.
Yeouido had once brought to mind the mecca of the stock market and the place where the National Assembly Building stood, but that was all in the past.
Now, it was merely a district where the lower classes eked out a living.
This, too, was all because of the aftermath of the incident that occurred when North Korea collapsed in the past.
When Dungeons appeared in the world and Monsters ran rampant.
North Korea collapsed just like that. The Monsters that surged south at that time had apparently pushed all the way to Seoul.
Back then, they had held out with the Han River as their defensive line and somehow protected the area of Seoul south of the Han River, but no one lived in the northern part of Seoul anymore.
Because Monsters roamed there.
So.
Yeouido was a frontline region, and at the same time, it had become a neighborhood where the lower classes lived.
Military units were stationed there as well.
CLICK.
He opened the door and went inside.
There was not much in the way of belongings.
An induction cooktop. A refrigerator. An old bed. A wardrobe. Only miscellaneous things like that. In truth, it was merely a place where he ate and slept, or sprawled out and rested.
The most expensive items were his worn-out computer and monitor.
Even if it was a neighborhood where the lower classes lived, Korea was still Korea.
It was just terribly cramped, and the condition was not particularly good.
It was a room of barely five pyeong, and he had to use the shared bathroom outside. The heating did not work properly either, and there was no air conditioner.
After carelessly taking off his clothes and lying down on the bed for a moment.
He picked up a bag.
There was no time to rest.
Because he had to go make a [Corpse Box].
***
[Corpse Box].
It was a magical item that every Necromancer had to make, and without one, it was difficult to obtain Necro Mana.
That was right.
Most Mages absorbed mana from nature and used it, but Necro Mana was mana altered through corpses, so special conditions were required for it to form naturally.
A [Corpse Box] was an object that artificially created those special conditions and produced Necro Mana.
“Whew. That was hard.”
And, naturally, the materials for a [Corpse Box] were corpses.
A large quantity of bones. Flesh from dead bodies. Things like that.
After gathering such materials, Park Il-sang wiped away his sweat.
This place was Yeouido Han River Park.
Now, almost no one came here, and Monster corpses lay scattered all over the place. As for why corpses were lying around, it was because the Han River had also become a den of fish-type Monsters.
Monsters fought one another when their species differed, so their corpses often drifted over to the riverside and the Han River Park.
If these things were worth money, the people living in Yeouido would collect them, but most of the corpses were worthless, so they were left abandoned like this.
It was a dangerous place that stank, was filthy and unsanitary, and where amphibious Monsters like frogs occasionally sprang out.
After sweating for quite some time as he gathered materials here.
Park Il-sang, having collected everything he wanted, caught his breath for a moment.
Although his body had been toughened by physical labor in this life, and although he had Awakened as a Warrior Class, gathering corpses was not easy work.
Because making a [Corpse Box] required quite a lot of corpses.
“Originally, this is something a master is supposed to make for you. Otherwise, you have to crudely pile up corpses, draw Necro Mana from them, and then do it…. Since it has turned into a Skill, will something be different?”
Park Il-sang reached his hand toward the materials.
“I will know once I try. Corpse Box Creation.”
He felt as if some kind of power was draining out of his body. And at the same time.
FLASH!
The materials fused all at once along with the light and became a single box.
“Oh. Amazing.”
It was a rectangular, pure-white box about one meter long and roughly forty centimeters thick. Its exterior was made of bones joined together, and it was grotesque, yet looked rather impressive.
This was the [Corpse Box]. The object at the beginning of every Necromancer.
“Wait. It has a spatial compression function from the start? That is incredible.”
Park Il-sang hurried over. Then he opened the lid on top of the box.
What he saw inside was nothing but black darkness.
When he slipped his hand inside, he felt something cold and mushy.
It was corpse flesh.
Inside this small bone box were no fewer than twenty-one corpses of nameless Monsters—or perhaps humans.
“Ha. Something like this could only be made at 3rd Tier…. Is this the power of the Hunter System?”
A smile bloomed across his face.
The [Corpse Box] was an extremely important object for obtaining Necro Mana, and without one, he could not obtain the Necro Mana needed to use Necromancy spells.
However, Necromancers below 3rd Tier could not make one with a spatial compression function like this, so they usually left their [Corpse Box] at their base.
That was quite a fatal weakness. If they used up all their Necro Mana outside, they could no longer use Necromancy spells.
In other words, this was both a Necro Mana production device and a battery!
And yet.
Park Il-sang, who was only 1st Tier, had obtained one small enough to carry on his back….
It was truly incredible.
With this, he could use more magic than other Mage Classes.
“I did not know it would become this small…. I should have brought a strap. This is the perfect size to carry around like a backpack.”
After muttering that, he looked around. Just then, he spotted a rope lying nearby. It was filthy and grimy, but usable for now.
He brought it over, rigged it so he could carry the box on his back, and slung it over himself.
Then.
For the first time in a long while, he drew in Necro Mana.
HSSSSSS.
Mana altered by corpses was drawn toward him. It settled coldly in his lower abdomen. Necro Mana was altered mana, but that did not mean it was harmful to the body.
Not that it was beneficial either.
“It works! Then, let us see….”
Park Il-sang looked around. Then he looked at some bone fragments and tried using Necromancy magic. Not as a Skill, but in the same way he had in his previous life.
“Corpse, rise! Use the fear and murderous intent engraved into the traces of the soul left before death as fuel, and rise! Undead Creation!”
Then.
The corpse rose. The bone fragments stood up on their own, assembled themselves, and became a Merman Skeleton Soldier about 1.5 meters tall.
“Graaaaaaaah.”
It made a grotesque sound. An ominous red light flashed between the skull’s eye sockets.
A lowest-rank Skeleton Soldier!
But Park Il-sang was delighted as he looked at it.
How long had it been since he had seen a Skeleton Soldier?
“Sniff.”
Tears came to his eyes on their own.
In his previous life, he had been able to make Skeleton Soldiers with just a thought.
Yet in this world, he had been unable to make even one until now.
To think he could make one like this!