【Ha. I was not trying to mock you.】
Sir Isra awkwardly twisted its face.
Its half-melted skin twitched, making it look even more grotesque.
【There were Necromancers on the Enras Continent as well. However, with mana at your level, none of them could have repaired an Undead so precisely.】
There were.
Judging by the past tense...
【I exterminated them.】
“Ah.”
I see.
Good heavens.
I had made a vassal out of someone who had wiped out Necromancers in another world.
A chill ran down the back of my neck.
【Hahaha. Do not worry.】
“You are looking at my neck rather eagerly, Sir.”
【It was by His Majesty’s command. I held no personal grudge, so you may rest assured.】
Sir Isra raised the bone it was holding high overhead.
The tip seemed to be pointing toward me.
It had to be my imagination, right?
WHOOOSH!
The bone came down through the air and stopped above the crown of my head.
A beat later.
“Eek!”
A scream escaped me.
【As you can see, I can never harm you of my own will.】
“Why did you not just explain that?”
【I thought it would be better to demonstrate it directly.】
Good grief.
I almost died.
That was far too harsh an action for someone with my terrible coordination.
【However, it seems the inheritance has not occurred yet.】
“Inheritance?”
[Sir Isra’s talent is now applied to the user.]
[The Heavenly Martial Physique skill has been registered.]
The system messages rang in my ears once more.
Just as I tried to check their contents.
“Gaaaaaah!!”
An enormous pain surged through my entire body.
At the same time.
My vision turned white, and my legs gave out.
“Park! Hey, Par...”
I could not quite hear what they were saying.
The fading voices of the day-contract Hunters were the last thing I heard.
Then my consciousness vanished.
***
What pulled my sunken consciousness back to the surface was—
“Urgh!”
The pain running through my entire body.
I opened my eyes, wondering whether this was what it felt like to be turned into ground meat.
【You have finally regained consciousness.】
The first thing I saw was the half-melted face of an Orc.
Hiss.
My heart nearly stopped.
From farther away, I could hear the voices of the Hunters who had joined us on day contracts.
“Hey, Park. Are you all right?”
“More or less. But why is everyone standing so far away?”
“Because of the zombie you made.”
“This one? No, Sir Isra? What is wrong with it?”
“It growls whenever we try to help you up.”
Our boy does not bite, though.
With a puzzled expression, I glanced at Sir Isra.
【Protecting my lord is a knight’s duty.】
“My lord?”
【Hmph. That does not mean I recognize you as my lord.】
“Then why are you protecting me?”
【Whether I like it or not, I am bound to you. In that case, fulfilling my duty is the proper conduct of a knight.】
So, in the end, it admitted that it was my subordinate.
It certainly had a talent for making a short statement unnecessarily long.
“Me passing out earlier. That was because of you, right?”
【Sir Isra.】
“Fine. Sir Isra. What did you do that made my entire body hurt?”
【Your constitution has changed.】
“Ah. Come to think of it, the status window did say something.”
【Take a look.】
[Heavenly Martial Physique]
Classification: Martial Arts
Rank: SSS
Type: Passive
A vessel for martial arts bestowed by the heavens. You can learn all Warrior-type and body-related skills.
*Proficiency gain for martial arts-type skills increases by 300%.
*Upon leveling up, attributes related to melee combat receive an additional amount equal to your bonus stat points.
“...What?”
I was speechless.
No matter how many times I blinked to make sure I had not misread it, the result remained the same.
My attributes increased by an amount equal to my bonus stat points?
In other words.
By simple calculation, my level-up attributes would effectively double.
My heart pounded.
What would a Mage do with increased melee-related attributes, you ask?
You only know one thing and not the other.
Even Mages had to invest some points in Agility to improve their reaction speed.
They also needed to meet the minimum Strength requirements to equip certain items.
That meant I could not put every bonus stat point into Mana.
Furthermore.
My profession was Necromancer + Blacksmith, so I had to process corpses.
Even if I was not a traditional Blacksmith, I still needed to invest stats into Strength.
This was an absolute gain!
【The Heavenly Martial Physique has another, truer ability.】
“Is there something even more incredible than extra attributes?”
【Hahaha. I believe you will understand once I show you.】
Sir Isra swung its bone.
WHOOOSH!
“Huh?”
Something was different.
A strange sense of discomfort that I had not felt earlier immediately caught my attention.
What was this unpleasant feeling?
It was like seeing someone wearing a padded jacket on top and shorts below.
【Do you understand now?】
“The swordsmanship is unbalanced.”
【You can see it because my talent is now shared with you.】
Only then did I understand why Sir Isra had kept talking about balance.
To compensate for my insufficient control, I had crammed excessive defense and muscle into Orc Zombie Mk. 42.
I had modified it without considering its center of gravity.
That made it strong at restraining opponents.
But it also hindered precise movement.
“So this is what the Heavenly Martial Physique is.”
Sharing Sir Isra’s talent had changed the way I saw things.
When taking a step.
Or moving an arm.
I could vividly sense the movement of every individual muscle fiber.
After taking only a few steps, tears welled up in my eyes.
【Do not overdo it. You will need time to adapt.】
Sir Isra placed a hand on my shoulder.
“I need time to adapt after feeling that much pain?”
【Your athletic coordination is catastrophically poor, so it cannot be helped.】
Ha.
Stop being so brutally honest.
“I should run an experiment.”
【With what?】
“My Undead control.”
Inside the carrier was another Undead, around one-third the size of Sir Isra.
A monster even smaller than a Kobold.
It was a zombie made from a Goblin.
【Its combat ability does not seem worth expecting.】
“I made it for emergencies.”
It was a miniature zombie with a Fireball Scroll, which I had bought for ten million won, enchanted into its body.
If I encountered an enemy I could not handle, I planned to blow it up.
Although I had frozen up when the situation actually arose.
[Corpse Crafting]
“Uuuurgh.”
The Goblin Zombie rose to its feet.
Gulp.
Unable to hide my nervousness, I gave the Goblin Zombie an order.
“Dance.”
“Uuuurgh.”
The zombie danced according to the image of “dancing” that appeared in my mind.
Despite having a body stiffened by rigor mortis.
It danced as skillfully as a student performing in a talent show.
“Good heavens.”
I could not believe it.
My Undead was moving smoothly!
The Heavenly Martial Physique.
It truly was the best!
【It is painful to watch.】
Do not ruin the moment when I am moved.
“Sir Isra. May I ask you for one favor?”
【As long as it does not violate chivalry, I will do whatever I can.】
“Teach me your swordsmanship.”
【You have a magic-type class. Do you require swordsmanship?】
“I need to learn it if I want to strengthen my Undead.”
The Undead created through Corpse Crafting were linked to my combat sense.
A magic-type class learning swordsmanship.
Even so.
It was more than worth the investment.
【It will help you as well.】
“Why would it help me?”
【Training with a sword is a way of understanding one another. Would your feeble body not grow stronger as well?】
Ah.
Come to think of it, I had been told that understanding an Undead inhabited by an Otherworldly Soul would increase my attributes as well.
【You have inherited the Heavenly Martial Physique, so you will learn swordsmanship quickly.】
“Depending on my own determination, of course?”
【Oh. You understand well.】
This one truly did not offer empty praise.
Something suddenly occurred to me.
It did acknowledge me as its master.
Strictly speaking, though, I had formed a master-servant relationship without even asking for consent.
Of course.
It was impossible for an Undead created through Corpse Crafting to defy me.
Still, there was a difference in efficiency between someone voluntarily pledging loyalty and someone who merely carried out orders.
Why was Sir Isra trying to help me, even mentioning matters I had not told it to handle?
When I stared at it with narrowed eyes, Sir Isra twisted its face.
【You made me into a Familiar without even asking for my consent. How can you expect me to obey willingly?】
“That is not what I meant.”
When I explained the doubts I had been holding in my heart, Sir Isra fell silent for a moment.
“You do not have to tell me if you do not want to.”
【It is not that. I merely require time to sort out my feelings.】
Sir Isra slowly conveyed its lingering thought.
【I failed to fulfill a knight’s duty.】
“A duty?”
【I could not protect my lord, to whom I had pledged loyalty, until the very end.】
“Did you not say that you were the strongest knight on the continent?”
【Hahaha. You did not seem to believe me. How surprising.】
Yes.
To be honest, I had not believed it.
But receiving an SSS-rank skill had changed my mind.
If it had been the owner of an SSS-rank skill, of which fewer than ten existed on all of Earth.
Could it not have been the greatest knight on the continent?
【My wish is to fulfill the duty I could not uphold while I was alive.】
“So that was what you meant when you kept calling me your lord...”
【It is not what I desire, but I have come to serve you. I am merely fulfilling my duty.】
It did not like me, but it would serve me as a substitute for the person it had failed to protect?
That explained why it remained consistently prickly while still giving me advice without fail.
Well.
It gave me an SSS-rank skill, so it could be a little prickly.
I could understand everything, Sir Knight.
“Park, come collect your payment.”
“Yes, yes. I am coming.”
【Are we returning home?】
“Once I receive the money, we should leave immediately.”
【Good. Then we can correct the imbalance.】
“Ah. Before that, wait a moment.”
I placed a hand on Sir Isra’s chest.
【W-What are you doing?!】
“It will only take a moment.”
【Touching a knight’s body without warning. How shameless!】
[Corpse Crafting]
SHLICK!
Its separated arms and legs came apart.
With nothing left to support it, the torso fell to the ground with a THUD.
【W-What are you doing?!】
“I cannot take public transportation with you in this state.”
【Even so, how can you dismantle my body?!】
“Rest for a moment.”
I neatly packed the arms and legs into the carrier.
Then I placed the body housing the soul inside as well.
【I will not forget this...】
“Yes, yes. We can talk again shortly.”
Perhaps because I had disassembled its limbs, I could no longer hear Sir Isra’s voice.
An Otherworldly Soul, and an inherited skill.
A great deal had happened, but receiving payment for my labor came first.
I needed money if I wanted to modify corpses.
“Park! Come quickly!”
“I will be right there!”
Absolutely.
This was not a scheme to take Sir Isra down a peg because it was so stiff-necked.
There was no personal ill will, so it could rest assured!
***
[₩6,000,000 has been deposited.]
[MW Bank — Balance: ₩7,210,470]
“This is far too much.”
“Well, you see, Hunter Park Minho saved the students.”
The academy staff member rubbed his hands together eagerly.
Stripped of all the flattering words, he had added hazard pay.
The average income from clearing an E-rank Gate was around 300,000 won.
I had earned nearly a month’s income in one go.
“Hunter Park Minho. Please remember our Gunjung Academy.”
The academy staff member smoothly offered me a business card.
Good heavens.
The day I received a business card had finally come.
After encountering an Otherworldly Soul.
And as soon as the true value of Corpse Crafting had been revealed.
It felt as though the way people treated me had changed completely.
Calm down.
I had not achieved anything yet.
“Yes. I will remember.”
I accepted the business card.
I did not know whether I would ever have a reason to contact them again.
Dragging two carriers, I boarded the subway.
Only after transferring twice did I arrive in Amsa-dong, where my rented studio was located.