Undead Master Enhanced
Undead Master — Dominate 20 low-grade undead for 20 minutes, or summon 10 for 20 minutes. The types of summoned low-grade undead are random. Consumes 30 mana.
"Oh."
Undead Master — All values have doubled.
Previously, it had allowed him to dominate 10 low-grade undead for 10 minutes or summon 5 for 10 minutes. Now, both the numbers and duration had doubled.
"This is pretty damn good."
Undead Master was a skill granted by the Necromancer constellation. It had strengthened as his affinity with the Necromancer grew. In other words, skills from constellations that bestowed them would grow stronger as affinity increased.
A pleasant smile crept across Han Ji-woo's lips as he learned this new fact.
"Undead Master was super useful in the mini-dungeon too. Though it was useless in the final boss fight."
As he spoke, Ibelius naturally came to mind. The gold dragon who had created the Hidden Space and left traces of her will there. The Dragon Lord who had protected him ever since he entered this place—and would continue to do so.
She was breathtakingly beautiful, whether in human form or her true draconic shape. To think her will lingered in the Hidden Space.
Han Ji-woo slowly swept his gaze over his surroundings, caressing them with his eyes. The bathroom, house, rice paddies and fields, apple tree, hearth, waterfall lake, and all the animal pens. None of it would exist without Ibelius's help.
Fresh gratitude toward her welled up in him as the Dungeon Tree sapling entered his view. Two percentages floated above it.
[To sapling: 75/100%]
[To next quest: 1.8/100%]
Just one more quest, and the Dungeon Tree would grow into a sapling. And even though he hadn't done anything yet, the "to next quest" value had ticked up slightly. It seemed the pets had been dutifully using the area around the Dungeon Tree as a bathroom before being summoned to the mini-dungeon.
"Things are finally coming together. Anyway."
He turned his gaze a short distance from the Dungeon Tree, where a single red flower bud had sprouted. It was the Wish Flower. But its growth had stalled at 50%.
The previous one had bloomed in just two days.
"Hmm. Did it stop growing because I planted it and then got dragged into the dungeon?"
Spot on. The Wish Flower grew by feeding on the wishes of the one who obtained it. With that person gone, there were no wishes to consume, so growth had halted.
"Wait, midnight hasn't passed yet."
There were no clocks in the Hidden Space, but he could check if midnight had passed. The skill Cerberus's Hellfire, acquired from buying black radish, could only be used once a day and reactivated after midnight.
Since it wasn't active yet, midnight hadn't come.
"Once midnight hits, it'll be day two, so the Wish Flower should bloom, right?"
He'd planned to wait until midnight anyway to gaze at the Necromancer constellation again and boost affinity, so this worked out perfectly. Han Ji-woo stripped off his clothes and dove into the lake with a splash.
"Ahh~ Feels so good. Might as well get clean while I wait~ and heal up with some tasty food."
As he washed his face in the cool lake water—
Thud thud thud thud thud!
Grroooowl!
Nyaah~!
"Do it, me too! Shower!"
"A griffin can't miss out on water play."
"Unprotected Master. Protecting. Queeek!"
All five pets charged in at once and leaped into the lake.
Splash! Splash! Plooosh! Splooosh!
"Gah~ Glub glub glub!"
Caught off guard, Han Ji-woo got drenched and shot the pets a glare.
"You little punks! Take this!"
He flailed his arms wildly, splashing water at them.
Grrroowl~ Nya nya nya!
"Feels so goo— glub!"
"That much splashing is no match for my wings."
"I shall assist you, Master."
Turkan jumped right in to back him up. Quick on the uptake, Lucy hopped onto Han Ji-woo's head, declaring her allegiance. Sasuri stuck close to him too.
Pao had no strong preference but followed the group toward Han Ji-woo. The baby chub-chub, oblivious to it all, flapped its wings excitedly.
Somehow, it turned into Team Han Ji-woo versus chub-chub.
"Chub-chub! Think you can handle us all alone?"
Han Ji-woo grinned, spreading his arms wide on the water's surface and pulling them back.
Chub-chub, thrilled by the fun, twisted its body and swung its tail hard.
At that moment—
Whoosh!
A massive wave surged across the lake, engulfing everyone.
Sploooosh!
"Gack!"
Nyaahh!
"Grooorgle!"
"Queeeeek!"
-Piiiii!
Team Han Ji-woo got swept under by the sudden wave, swallowing mouthfuls of water.
A moment later, once the waves calmed, they resurfaced, coughing and sputtering.
"Urk. Thought I was gonna drown."
Han Ji-woo glanced at his hacking pets, but chub-chub cried out happily, clearly amused, and raised its tail high again.
Grrrooowl~
"You win, chub-chub!"
Han Ji-woo surrendered, but the young one didn't understand.
Sploooosh!
"Chub-chub?"
An even bigger second wave crashed down.
* * *
After the splash fight, Han Ji-woo started cooking. In his absence, cabbage, radish, and sugarcane had grown abundantly. He hadn't used Growth Acceleration, but Pao had tended them diligently with Great Harvest before being summoned to the mini-dungeon.
"What to make."
He pondered briefly, then headed to the cabbage patch and plucked a sturdy leaf, rinsing it in water before crunching into it.
"Oh, sweet as hell. Pao's farming is on another level. Alright, let's do some fresh kimchi."
Decision made, he pulled up a few cabbages and chopped them into bite-sized pieces, brining them in saltwater. Then he got to work on the seasoning.
"Need a bunch of stuff, but let's make do with what we've got."
Proper fresh kimchi seasoning called for gochugaru, fish sauce, shrimp sauce, minced garlic, ginger, sugar, and more. Without all that, he'd improvise a similar flavor.
Gochugaru could be made by crafting ripe red peppers with fire flower petals in the Creation window. Sugar could be swapped with honey.
"Oh? Missed that."
Checking the apple tree, he found eleven hives had formed in his absence. One buzzed with bees, but the other ten were abandoned nearby. It seemed the iron gourd queen bee provided honey as rent for her home.
"Lucy! Fetch all the hives."
Nyang!
Lucy scampered up the tree, plucking them one by one. Chub-chub and Sasuri, able to fly, helped gather the rest.
Han Ji-woo stored the hives in his Inventory, grinning widely.
"Damn~ Our gourd bee tenants are top-notch. Sweet rent."
He extracted the honey and mixed it into a large iron basin of gochugaru.
"Minced garlic would be perfect... but we'll grind some radish and onion instead."
Garlic had that unique aroma and pungency, but without it, he'd grind radish and onion for the kick. They had a nice bite, and mixing them in added refreshing crispness. For saltiness and umami, he grabbed soy sauce from the all-purpose jar instead of fish/shrimp sauces. Ginger? Minimal anyway—skipped.
"Now mix it up~"
He quickly blended the ingredients in the basin, dipped a finger, and tasted.
"Oh!"
Better than expected. He rinsed the quick-brined cabbage leaves and tossed them in, mixing until evenly coated.
"Done!"
The fresh kimchi looked decent. Toasted sesame seeds would make it fancier and nuttier, but...
"Good enough."
By then, the rice in the pot over the hearth was ready.
"Dinner time, everyone!"
The pets swarmed the table at his call. He divided the rice and kimchi equally among them.
Truth be told, Han Ji-woo could've survived on kimchi alone. How long had it been since he'd last had any? He was hyped enough to down three bowls on the spot.
But figuring it might be skimpy for the pets, he'd boiled pork belly slices beforehand.
Meal started, and the pets devoured it greedily. Not too spicy, so it suited them all.
Finally, Han Ji-woo picked up a piece of gochugaru-coated kimchi, placed it on steaming rice, and took a bite.
Munch. Chew chew.
Gulp!
First consumption of radish and cabbage — Stamina +2
"Whoa!"
His eyes widened after the first bite. Long-lost kimchi was a total cheat code. Sweet, perfectly spicy—a rice thief supreme.
"Yeah, this is it. This flavor."
When appetite's low, good kimchi makes rice taste like honey. This was exactly that. Eyes rolling back, he polished off a full bowl of rice with just kimchi, ignoring the pork.
"One bowl? No way."
Obviously. Last one was kimchi-only; this time, pork too. Kimchi topped with pork belly, mixed with rice.
Chew chew.
Gulp!
"Ahh!"
An involuntary moan escaped as his eyes fluttered shut. Crunchy, sweet-spicy kimchi paired with fatty pork umami over rice? Synergy off the charts.
Another bowl vanished in a flash.
"Still got room!"
This time, he soaked rice in water in a bowl. Another kimchi hack pros knew: watery rice with kimchi was killer.
Crunch crunch.
Gulp!
Chew chew.
Gulp!
Watery rice and kimchi poured nonstop into his mouth. One kimchi had him hooked hard. If his stomach had space, he'd eat all night.
But after three bowls, even he hit his limit.
"Haaah. Burned it white-hot."
Patting his full belly contentedly, he gazed at the night sky. Unthinkingly, he observed the Necromancer constellation.
Affinity with Necromancer has increased. Relationship with Necromancer changes from 'Neutral' to 'Friendly'.
Due to increased affinity with Necromancer, skill Undead Master has been strengthened.
Undead Master — Dominate 20 mid-grade or lower undead for 20 minutes, or summon 10 for 20 minutes. Summoned low-grade undead types are random. Consumes 30 mana.
The skill had upgraded from low-grade to mid-grade or lower undead. In short, mid-grade summons were now possible.
Han Ji-woo muttered happily at the enhanced skill.
"Whoa~ Midnight already, huh. Which means!"
He turned to the Wish Flower.
[To bloom: 100/100%]
"Yes!"
He jumped up, and the Wish Flower bloomed with vibrant red petals. A message appeared.
The Wish Flower has bloomed, nourished by your deepest desires.
* * *
Dungeon Basement Floor 18.
Ferropero was still with the group. Past midnight. They'd cleared the floor's quest hours ago and were now sleeping in the mansion Osgeelro Haiban had built.
But Ferropero couldn't sleep. He couldn't.
"Two more have died since then. Only seventeen heroes remain now."
Two more had perished descending from Floor 16 to 18.
"I can no longer help you from here on."
He murmured sadly, staring at the system message floating in the air.
'Dungeon Guard' awakens from long slumber.
He might have been shocked before, but having braced for this, he accepted it calmly.
"I am now..."
Furious 'Dungeon Guard' seeks Manager Ferropero.
'Dungeon Guard' revokes Ferropero's manager privileges!
"Off to protect the princess!"