He had made a Skeleton Soldier.
Moreover.
“Whew…. Calm down. I can enjoy being happy later, can I not? It worked even though I used the method from my previous life instead of a Skill. This is important. So it really was patched, perhaps. If the rules for Necromancy magic have been updated, that would be incredible.”
He felt good. His heart beat with anticipation for the future.
As an Archlich, how many secret arts and arcane mysteries did he know?
If he could use them fully, succeeding in this world would not be difficult.
“I need to hurry and test….”
Just as he was filled with joy like that.
Something suddenly sprang out of the Han River.
It seemed to be the same species as the Merman bones he had just turned into a Skeleton Soldier.
Its face and torso were both those of a fish. What made it unusual was that it was a Monster with long arms and legs.
“Glub-glub-glub-graaargh!”
The creature shouted something and rushed toward him.
“Tch…. Ruining my mood on such a good day.”
He reached for his sword.
Even before Awakening, Park Il-sang had been able to butcher something like that Merman one-on-one. Now that he had Awakened as a Warrior Class, he should be able to slaughter it with a single stroke.
Then.
‘No, wait. I have recovered the power from my previous life too, have I not?’
The thought suddenly occurred to him.
“No. 1, go!”
When he gestured, the Merman Skeleton Soldier that had risen charged at the Merman.
The Merman seemed flustered by the sight, but a moment later, the two collided.
THWACK!
The Merman Skeleton Soldier was knocked flat on its back.
The Merman Skeleton Soldier was being pushed back!
“Well… of course.”
A Skeleton Soldier was something raised by Necro Mana, so its strength was usable enough, but there was one problem.
It did not weigh very much!
There was such a thing as weight class.
There was a reason boxing matches were divided by body weight.
When weight differed, both attack power and defense differed as well.
Of course, since the Merman Skeleton Soldier was Undead, it felt no pain and never grew tired.
But if it went into a bare-handed brawl like that without a weapon, it was only natural that it would fall backward after being hit a few times because of the difference in weight class.
However, if it had one advantage, it was that after becoming Undead, its bones had become fairly hard, making them difficult to break with bare hands.
So what happened was this.
A dogfight.
The Merman climbed on top of the Merman Skeleton Soldier and beat it, but not even a crack appeared in its bones. The Merman Skeleton Soldier stabbed and struck with its bony hands, so the Merman’s scales were torn off and it bled, but that was all.
It was not a fatal wound.
“Ha ha…. It has truly been a long time since I last saw a brawl like this.”
To think he would see something he had only witnessed back when he was a novice Necromancer in his previous life!
After letting out a hollow laugh for a moment, he stretched out a finger and pointed at the Merman.
“Bang!”
Necro Mana gathered at his fingertip and shot out.
BOOM!
The Merman’s head was smashed apart and blown away in one shot.
THUD.
It died instantly, without even being able to scream.
“Heh. As expected of me. My skill has not disappeared.”
Park Il-sang chuckled to himself.
Mana Bullet.
It was neither a spell nor anything grand. It was a trivial technique used by any ordinary Mage or Necromancer.
Gather mana and shoot it.
Then.
-You used Necro Mana by forming it into a bullet.
-You have acquired the Skill [Necro Mana Bullet].
He acquired a Skill!
“Huh. I do not need this.”
Park Il-sang was disappointed.
Because he truly did not need it.
Was there any need to go so far as to use a basic technique like this as a Skill?
That was why he was disappointed.
***
He passed the written exam.
Because of that, he decided to take the next step, the practical exam.
The practical exam was more dangerous than he had expected. Four beginners trying to obtain their Hunter licenses would form a team and go on an exploration outside the Great Wall (they would all wear body cameras when they went).
And surprisingly.
The teams were assigned at random.
In other words, it was pure luck, and terrible luck could ruin everything.
‘When I was working as a Menial Worker, I heard Hunters say that if things go wrong, you could die or lose an arm or a leg. Please let me get paired with lucky people.’
Park Il-sang prayed that, just like his name, he would become a peaceful Park Il-sang as he arrived at the meeting place.
The Great Wall.
This structure, built along the Han River, had been constructed to block Monsters coming across the river. Naturally, it existed in Yeouido as well.
Then how had he gone to Yeouido Han River Park before? There were passages in the Great Wall that connected to the outside, and he had used one of those.
If no battle was taking place, even ordinary people could come and go.
Like last time, things such as Mermen or Frogmen sometimes appeared, making it rather dangerous, but there were ordinary people who tried to hunt them directly.
After all, an ordinary person killing a Monster and Awakening was the traditional method of Awakening.
And right now, he was at Yeouido Han River Park, just outside the Great Wall.
Because the Frog Nest, an F-Rank Dungeon, was here.
He could see that the people he was supposed to meet in front of it had already arrived.
“Hello. I think I arrived on time, but it seems I was the last one here. I am Park Il-sang, and I will be taking the Hunter exam with you today.”
When Hunters met each other.
Greeting one another was very important.
This was written even in the ancient Subakdo, and it was known these days as etiquette that Hunters absolutely had to observe.
“Oh. You are a young man. I can speak casually, right? I am Kim Dong-su, a Barbarian Warrior Class.”
A middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties had two axes hanging at his waist.
‘Barbarian Warrior? I have never heard of that. But that attitude is a little…. Is he an old-fashioned boomer?’
“Barbarian Warrior?”
“What? You do not know, young man? Recently, all sorts of new Jobs appeared. I obtained one of them!”
Had something like that happened?
It seemed his failure had been not using the [Hunter Board] much recently.
‘Hunter Aspirants.’ It was a place where many active Hunters gathered, and it was also counted among the five major Hunter-related communities.
“Young people are supposed to be informed, but you are quite behind on information. That will not do. I heard that quite a few new Jobs appeared lately.”
“So that happened.”
Hearing that, he could understand how he had become a Necromancer as well.
But Barbarian Warrior was in Korean, so why was Necromancer in English? The Hunter System was terribly hard to pin down.
Was it because Necromancer was difficult to translate into Korean?
“This lady here is apparently a Gold-child Mage, Han Da-young.”
“I am Han Da-young.”
Standing beside him was someone holding a staff. Judging by the mana he could feel, she certainly seemed to be a Mage.
‘But why is the Job name Gold-child Mage?’
When he looked at her again while thinking that, she was wearing a strangely large number of golden items.
Her shoes were sneakers.
Her pants were workout clothes one might wear while exercising, but her belt flashed with a golden shine.
‘Is that real gold?’
As he watched while thinking that, the upper half was strange as well.
Her top was workout clothing too, but she wore a gold chain necklace, and she had three bracelets on each arm, all of which were gold too.
‘Surely all of those are not gold? What is this? Was that what Gold-child Mage meant? Does she gain power from gold or something?’
Even in this era, gold was an extremely expensive precious item.
And yet she was walking around with gold hanging from her like that?
It was enough to make him wonder what kind of Job she had.
“Yes. I am Park Il-sang.”
When he greeted her like that, the neatly dressed man beside them—so neatly dressed that it was hard to believe he was about to enter a Dungeon—greeted him while holding a mace and wearing glasses.
“I am Lee Si-woon, an Apprentice Priest. I look forward to working with you.”
“Ah, yes. I look forward to working with you as well.”
He felt relieved because this one seemed at least somewhat normal.
Was his Job name not ‘Apprentice Priest’ from the start?
He did not know which Constellation’s priest he was, but a Priest could always do the work of three people. Without their healing divine magic, a party could not maintain itself at all.
“By the way, young man, what is your Job?”
“Ah. I am a Warrior and a Necromancer.”
“Huh. So you were Dual Class?”
“It somehow turned out that way.”
Dual Class already existed in this world.
And usually, Dual Class was not treated very well.
That was because one had to put in twice as much effort as others to grow, and if the synergy between the two Jobs was poor, it could instead turn one into dead weight.
If synergy did occur, one could become strong enough to surpass other Hunters.
But there were more cases where that did not happen.
In truth, Park Il-sang also thought his own case was a bad one.
A Warrior and a Necromancer.
How could a Warrior, who specialized in close combat from the beginning, possibly have good compatibility with a Necromancer, a Mage-type Job?
Even in his previous life, he had rarely seen anyone who handled both magic and Aura properly.
‘People like Heroes are a bit different, though….’
Even so, Park Il-sang was not despairing, because he knew he had quite a few special privileges, perhaps because of the benefit of being a reincarnator.
After all, while others found it hard to obtain Skills, he obtained them easily.
However.
Now that he had heard new Jobs had appeared, there was the question of whether he was the only one like that or whether others were the same.
And even if growth was slow.
Necromancer itself was powerful, so he was not particularly worried.
The experience of having been an Archlich in his previous life would not simply vanish.
“But Necromancer? Is that the one that handles corpses and things like that?”
Because Necromancers existed in games and other creative works, it seemed he had roughly grasped what kind of Job it was.
‘It is convenient that I do not need to explain.’
“Yes. That is correct.”
“Wow…. Still, that is not bad, is it?”
Uncle Kim Dong-su seemed pleased. That was understandable. Warrior/Necromancer was a somewhat strange combination, but there was nothing bad about it either.
“All right. It looks like everyone has introduced themselves. Let us go. I am the oldest, so I will be the leader. No problem with that, right? Believe it or not, I also worked as a Menial Worker for ten years.”
At Uncle Kim Dong-su’s words, everyone merely nodded.
In Korea, the Eastern Nation of Courtesy, age counted for the time being until actual results were seen.
“Then let us head in. Before that, I need to take off my clothes.”
“Pardon?”
Park Il-sang asked back reflexively.
Take off what?
“This Barbarian Warrior thing is strong, but apparently it does not work if I am wearing clothes. Please understand.”
“Ah….”
While Han Da-young accidentally let out a deflated little sound.
Uncle Kim Dong-su began stripping off his clothes without hesitation.
Then the figure of a pot-bellied middle-aged man wearing black underwear (tight triangular briefs, at that) was revealed.
‘Ugh. This is not going to be easy.’
Park Il-sang’s head began to spin before they had even entered the Dungeon.