【It is quite bustling.】
“It is probably because of me.”
I gently scratched my cheek with my right hand.
News of an S-rank result traveled quickly.
A man who appeared to be in his thirties, one of the people moving around busily, suddenly approached me.
“Did you just take the assessment?”
“I did.”
“May I ask your name...?”
“Assistant Manager Kim, do not waste your time. That Hunter is famous for being a long-term examinee.”
Damn it.
The guild representative who had spoken to me lowered his head with an embarrassed expression.
“I am sorry.”
“It is not as though I have only heard it once or twice.”
“I would still like to give you my business card.”
I briefly glanced at the business card he held out, then shoved it into my pocket.
“Stay strong!”
Ah. Yes.
It had been a long time since anyone other than my family or the landlord’s family had encouraged me.
“Assistant Manager Kim, can you not see that we are busy?”
“I am coming!”
Other guild representatives ran around in a frenzy as well.
“I heard Horizon Guild offered four hundred million.”
“Four hundred million? Star Cluster Guild is offering six hundred million.”
“How long has it been since an S-rank appeared? It makes sense.”
“Finding him is the priority.”
Everyone was busy.
【What evidence is there that they are busy because of you?】
“They are looking for the person who received an S-rank.”
【In the assessment, you mean.】
Receiving an S-rank had two meanings.
The first was receiving a powerful skill.
Just like Spirit Sight, an S-rank skill.
If you passed the assessment with a high rank, you received an ability that suited your talent.
【Was the Heavenly Martial Physique not an SSS-rank skill?】
Teacher.
In this world, even an S-rank skill was incredibly remarkable.
Even possessing a single S-rank skill would make a major guild bow to recruit you.
The second was proof of talent.
Assessments judged talent as well as simple “ability.”
It was not merely a matter of saying that a D-rank assessment was impressive.
Once a person received an S-rank, they were highly likely to receive at least an A-rank in their next assessment as well.
【They wish to secure outstanding talent first.】
“More or less.”
Outstanding.
It was the first time I had heard that word in five years of being a Hunter.
【I should say something to those people with such poor judgment.】
Huh?
What was it about to sa—
【You foolish people! Look this way!】
Aaargh!
Damn it, that startled me.
The booming lingering thought ringing through my mind made my head ache.
【Are your eyes merely decorations?!】
“Sir Isra.”
【The talented individual who received that S-rank is right here!】
“Sir Isra.”
【Behold Hunter Park Minho, the lord of the greatest swordsman on the continent!!】
“When you are in Death Domain, only I can hear you.”
【Ah?】
“Could you stop making so much noise between floors?”
Thanks to it, my head was throbbing.
It was like someone had inserted a loudspeaker into my ears and started shouting at the top of their lungs.
Sir Isra fell silent for a moment.
Phew.
I could finally live in peace.
【I apologize. I lost my composure.】
“Please be more careful next time.”
【However, I do not understand something.】
“What is it?”
【Judging from the atmosphere, it seems they are offering to give you wealth.】
“That is right.”
They were offering a signing bonus of six hundred million won.
There had even been an annual starting salary of four hundred million won.
Both were extremely remarkable figures in this industry.
Before meeting Sir Isra, such generous conditions would have been unimaginable.
【Then why did you refuse?】
“I do not know how good my newly acquired abilities are yet.”
Necrosmith.
It was a profession not even registered with the WHU, the World Hunter Union.
I did not know how good my new abilities were.
Or whether they were worthless.
All professions in the Necromancer line were highly valued.
But after spending six years achieving nothing but failure, it was difficult to immediately become confident.
【Humility. If you are the one who became my lord, have more confidence.】
“It is not only because of that.”
Think about it the other way around.
What if my abilities were truly incredible?
Then I would be signing a cheap contract when I could raise my value even higher.
There was only one conclusion.
After using my new skills.
I would judge their potential for development and raise my value as much as possible.
“To be honest, I am also considering moving alone.”
Necrosmith was a profession in the Necromancy line.
Necromancer Hunters preferred hunting alone because they could command corpses.
I was similar.
“If I enter a guild, I have to share the pie.”
A dedicated Support team?
A signing bonus worth hundreds of millions?
No guild invested in someone without a reason.
In return for the treatment they provided.
They would demand something equivalent from me.
If my abilities were merely decent.
I would raise my value moderately, then join a guild.
If I judged their potential for growth to be limitless, I would form my own team.
【Hahaha. I like that.】
“What do you like about it?”
【It would be somewhat improper for the person I serve as my lord to enter beneath someone else.】
“You could have said that from the beginning.”
【I waited because I wanted to hear your opinion.】
Honestly.
So it had been testing me.
Was there not something wrong with a vassal testing its master?
***
After transferring twice, I got off at the station near my rented studio.
As I dragged the carrier uphill, I ran into the landlady.
“Minho, today was your assessment, right?”
“Yes.”
“How did it go?”
Her expression contained both caution and anticipation.
Perhaps because I had repeatedly tasted failure, she paid close attention to my mood.
Really.
I was fortunate that the landlord’s family were all kind people.
Except for their daughter.
“I passed.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I passed the assessment after four years.”
“Congratulations!”
The landlady held my hand and celebrated with me.
Her warm, unselfish response made me grateful.
“Ah. Then we should eat meat.”
“I will treat everyone to celebrate my passing.”
“Really? Ho ho. If I had known I would be treated by you, Minho, I would have skipped lunch.”
“Actually, I do not think I have time today. Would the weekend be all right?”
“I will tell Yeondu’s father and Yeondu as well.”
The landlady gave a light smile and went inside.
【What is your relationship with her?】
“Ah. This is your first time seeing her, Sir Isra. She is my landlady.”
【She owns your residence? Then is she His Imperial Majesty?】
An empire where one house was the entire territory.
I could not handle a setting where Kim Yeondu was an imperial princess.
RATTLE—
Chuckling, I opened the basement door and went downstairs.
【Oh. You intend to test your new skills.】
“I do not dislike observant vassals.”
【Please do not use me as a test subject.】
Hmm.
I was beginning to dislike it a little.
My greatest masterpiece, Sir Isra, was the perfect Undead for checking the performance of the skills I had obtained after advancement.
【I refuse.】
Having a will of its own was inconvenient at times like this.
I took out a monster bone that had been stored in an old kimchi refrigerator.
I placed my hand on the bone, which contained a cold energy.
Then I used Spiritual Energy Circuit Engraving.
[On your first use, the Skill Guide will assist the user.]
SHHHHK!
Mana flowed along the surface where I touched it.
I understood how to engrave the circuit and the mechanism by which the skill activated.
“It is like embroidery.”
It felt as though I was filling the holes throughout the bone with stitches.
The difference from embroidery was.
I had to close my eyes, feel my way through it with my hands, and fill the missing areas.
[A Spiritual Energy Circuit has been completed.]
[Completion — C+]
[Spiritual Energy Transmission Efficiency — 62%]
[To increase the circuit’s completion, passages must be constructed in appropriate locations.]
[As Spiritual Energy Transmission Efficiency increases, the abilities of the dead increase as well.]
【It appears rather difficult.】
“Probably.”
【What is that vague answer?】
“Sir Isra has to be right.”
I scratched the back of my head.
I had to infuse Mana into the unseen interior of a bone.
Feel my way through its structure.
And construct the optimal circuit.
It was several times harder than sewing with my eyes closed.
Clearly.
That was how it should have been.
“I can see it?”
[Spirit Sight]
The points where the Skill Guide had made errors.
The reasons why Spiritual Energy Transmission Efficiency had decreased.
Every process and cause was clearly visible to my “eyes.”
It was like looking at bones on an X-ray image.
It was a strange experience.
For some reason.
An unfounded confidence rose within me that I could do better than the Skill Guide.
“Let me try.”
[Spiritual Energy Circuit Engraving]
I infused Mana into the bone.
I carefully filled the empty spaces inside.
Then I connected the flow of Spiritual Energy.
“Hmm.”
【Has a problem occurred?】
“Yes.”
【From what I can see, it appears that you are doing well without any major errors.】
“It is too easy.”
【?】
Creating a Spiritual Energy Circuit was easier than I expected.
So easy that I wondered whether it was truly all right to proceed so smoothly.
After struggling for several minutes.
The moment I connected the entire thirty-centimeter bone with a Spiritual Energy Circuit.
[A Spiritual Energy Circuit has been completed.]
[Completion has increased due to the Craftsmanship bonus.]
[Completion — A]
[Spiritual Energy Transmission Efficiency — 87%]
The messages announced that I had succeeded in creating the circuit.
“Wow. It really worked.”
I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand.
I had concentrated so intensely.
It felt as though I had sweat buckets.
【Are you all right?】
“Yes. More or less.”
It was only because I had concentrated so hard.
My Mana consumption was not as high as I had expected.
【You will suffer every time you engrave a circuit.】
“It will be fine when my Proficiency rises.”
When I first used [Corpse Processing], I had sweat twice as much.
How nervous would an ordinary person be when trying to handle corpses for the first time?
Now, I had not been through every possible hardship, but I had built up some experience.
I was confident that the Proficiency of Spiritual Energy Circuit Engraving would rise much faster.
[The Proficiency of Spiritual Energy Circuit Engraving has increased by 18.4%.]
“...”
I had not expected it to rise this dramatically.
Skill Proficiency did not increase mechanically, as though it were a game, simply because you used a skill many times.
It was the datafication of accumulated know-how.
Without Spirit Sight.
I would have gone through repeated trial and error when engraving my first circuit.
Its Completion would not have been high either.
My Proficiency would likely have stopped after rising only one or two percent.
“So that is why it is an S-rank skill.”
I clearly understood the relationship between seeing energy and creating Undead.
As I turned the bone with the completed Spiritual Energy Circuit over in my hands.
Sir Isra suddenly extended an arm.
【Show me your skill.】
“Do you not have anything you cannot say to your lord?”
【I entrust it to you like this because I trust your ability.】
“Be quiet. I will not modify someone who merely tests the waters.”
【My lord!】
“I am joking. I will modify you later.”
[Corpse Crafting] had become D-rank as well.
If I strengthened Sir Isra’s body through modification.
I could use the skill again to upgrade it into a higher-level being.
【You had a plan for everything.】
“I will strengthen you with Bone Metallurgy as well.”
Sir Isra was my greatest combat power.
I intended to use every method available.
And make it into the strongest Undead.
To do that.
I would have to make use of every added skill.
“First, let us make a weapon.”
Following Spiritual Energy Circuit Engraving.
It was time to test the second additional skill.
[Bone Metallurgy is activated.]