Chapter 142
Chapter 142
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: Time is Too Short
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I Raise Skeletons 142
Time is too short
In the moment when I was pushing myself to the absolute limit.
A sudden thought crossed my mind.
Just what was my current standing?
If I failed this trial midway and got sent back to Earth, what rank would I hit on the board leaderboard?
'Hmm.'
It was worth pondering.
To know what areas to improve going forward, didn't I first need to objectively assess my own strength?
Whether in war or growth, knowing oneself comes first.
'Actually…… more than that.'
I needed something—anything—to keep my mind occupied.
My stamina had reached its limit, bringing on drowsiness, and drowsiness meant elimination.
To hold on, I had to keep thinking.
But idle thoughts would only make me sleepier.
In other words, if I imagined something like cooling off this heat with red bean shaved ice or ice cream right now?
That vivid fantasy would fog my mind.
I'd pass out on the spot.
Something cold and analytical, like evaluating myself, was far more helpful.
'First off.'
Pure combat power alone, and I was likely superior to a bottom-tier ranker.
I'd taken down Poison Fog.
I'd slain a dragon.
And I had two utterly unfathomable monsters—God-Slaying grade weapons in their own right—under my command.
[The Essence of Fire yawns as if bored.]
[The Essence of Water remains silent.]
These two, who only communicated through messages.
I could control them to some degree.
But they were existences beyond my wildest guesses.
'Hmm…….'
That moment when the Essence of Fire entered my body.
Forget rank 999—even Dark Emperor Gi So-yul wouldn't stand a chance against me.
'Plus.'
I had the Old Man.
The absolute ruler of an entire world.
A master of Myriad Arts whose limits I couldn't even fathom.
Just having him by my side massively boosted my power.
He was a living repository of experience, my personal guide.
'And if all this gets factored in?'
Becoming a ranker would be a given—I'd surely climb to a pretty high spot.
Honestly.
How many rankers could burn a dragon?
Probably none.
'But.'
None of that would be reflected.
Especially not items.
That'd be ridiculous.
If it were, then some rich ranker dumping their fortune into S-grade gear would skyrocket up the ranks?
No way.
If that were possible, I'd have ground Demir to dust arming every skeleton I could with S-grade weapons.
'So what does get reflected?'
Probably.
My inherent power. In other words, the bones themselves.
They symbolized my unique abilities.
Especially.
My direct subordinates, from Bone One to Bone Twelve.
Why?
Because non-direct skeletons only had basic skills.
Take the 'Spear Men' summoned by Sun.
They only had two skills.
-'Thrust' (Lv. Max)
-'Skeleton Summon' (Lv. Max)
The 'Archers' called by Eldrin were the same. Two skills.
-'Shoot' (Lv. Max)
-'Skeleton Summon' (Lv. Max)
They couldn't unleash something like Sun's 'Solar Chain Strike.'
Or fire Eldrin's 'Moonlight Fall.'
Just basic attacks.
'That makes sense.'
If skills copied over.
Bone Seven's 'Recovery' could be used hundreds of times.
'Whoa.'
I marveled inwardly.
Even imagining it was insane.
Pair that with a single-digit ranker, and we'd be Earth's strongest team.
'Hmm.'
Back to the point.
If I cleared now, what rank would I get?
900th? 800th? 700th?
Or…… 500th?
Top 500 didn't seem impossible.
Talk about a change in perspective.
Just the other day, I was scrambling to even touch the bottom of the rankings.
Now here I was, eyeing those spots.
'Heh, ranker, huh…….'
I was lost in that pleasant fantasy when.
Whoosh!
Flames erupted from the floor.
Spewing lava hit the ceiling and flowed toward me.
'S hit?'
Screeech!
The arrows intensified, pounding my skull.
"Hoon!"
"Team Leader?"
"My friend."
As the arrows fired, my teammates' voices echoed like ripples.
My thoughts jumbled into chaos.
Shattered like a broken puzzle, triggering a headache.
The sounds grew louder.
I couldn't even see the arrows closing in anymore.
Everything spun.
Ah.
Suddenly, this trial seemed like a joke?
Wasn't this stage 4?
Stage 4?
Wait…….
Didn't I clear stage 4?
[24 hours have passed.]
[Advancing to stage 5.]
I definitely remembered that message.
So what was this?
"Hey, wake up! Team Leader. We're busting our asses, and you're grinning like an idiot by yourself."
Vladimir's voice pierced my eardrum.
"Ugh, what do we do? Time's almost up. Should we just leave him?"
Olena's high-pitched screech tormented my inner ear.
What?
My teammates' voices were coming clearer, louder, closer.
What?
A sense of wrongness hit me just as—
"Haaah!"
I exhaled the breath I'd been holding in a ragged gasp.
Snap!
My eyes flew open.
* * *
"Hah, hah!"
The moment I opened my eyes.
I saw an artificial white space.
Drenched in cold sweat, I lay there surrounded by my comrades gazing at me with worried eyes.
'Ah.'
Relief washed over me.
It was over, after all.
Yeah, Theme 3 was safely cleared.
"Hoon! You're awake?"
"Team Leader, you slept a straight three days this time. You okay?"
I'd pulled it off.
Not only did the Old Man and the team endure what they thought was their limit—stage 3.
We'd held out over a day in stage 4 too.
We'd transcended our limits.
"Where……."
I glanced around.
Olena nodded.
"Yeah, after the mission ended, we all got our rewards and waited for you. See that scoreboard floating in the air?"
"……?"
I followed her gaze upward.
[☆★C★☆☆★ong★☆rats★☆]
[Congratulations on updating the all-time #1 ranking!]
"……What the hell is that?"
"No, not that—look next to it! Next to it!"
"Next to……?"
There, a detailed table of rankings and times.
[1st 'Dragon Slayer'. 96:00:01 (Stage 5)]
[2nd 'Crazy', 73:05:32 (Stage 4)]
[3rd 'Rider', 70:45:05 (Stage 3)]
[4th 'Lions', 68:50:40 (Stage 3)]
[5th 'Mudskippers', 66:23:10 (Stage 3)]
…….
"It's insane! Hoon. Look! You peeked at stage 5—even if just by a second! Luca showed up then too; we were all hyped……!"
"I couldn't believe my eyes either."
The Judgment Window chimed in from the side.
"Once I dropped to stage 3, I got it. Just how ridiculous you are……."
"Kekeke, right? Stage 3 was nuts, but stage 4, stage 5? Hey, Team Leader! You human? Huh? Spill it now. You a dragon slumming it from another world or what?"
"……."
I felt dazed.
I'd apparently done something incredible.
Especially that leaderboard—it set my heart racing.
That board meant all the predecessors who'd passed prior trials went through the same.
And I was the best among them?
'Not bad at all?'
Maybe that dream evaluation wasn't an overestimation.
Top 500.
Might even be an underestimate?
I slowly sat up.
"Anyway, I overheard something about time being short."
I stretched my body.
"When's the next trial?"
"About an hour left, probably. You wouldn't wake no matter what……."
Olena answered.
"Luca gave us max leeway. Otherwise, it'd have started two days ago."
"Hm, got it."
I nodded.
"Then I'll take a moment to calm down……."
"Yeah, do it!"
Not just Olena—all my comrades nodded in unison.
"Right. Team Leader, you're the priority now. You're the protagonist, the top dog. So rest up proper."
"Check your rewards too! Thanks to you, we all overleveled hard. We'll repay this debt forever."
Right, rewards.
Thanks to their consideration.
I slipped to a corner to sort mine alone.
First, the backlog of messages.
[Ding!]
['Dragon Slayer' team has completed 'Theme 3' trial.]
[Moving to 'Theme 4' location in 30 minutes.]
[Survivors: 7]
[Calculating rewards.]
30 minutes after completion to move.
This spot was surely Theme 4's area.
['Theme 4' location.]
[Please wait a moment.]
[Calculating rewards.]
[Please wait a moment.]
[Calculating rewards.]
…….
Yep, reward calc messages piled up.
But the rewards differed from Theme 1 and 2.
[The team's contribution is 'SS-grade.']
[All team members receive identical rewards.]
[The appropriate reward for all team members is 'SS-grade Skill Upgrade.']
[You may upgrade one of your current skills to SS-grade.]
"Hm."
This reward was fresh.
Upgrade one of my skills to SS-grade?
I immediately opened my status to check the skill list.
[Hunter: Joo Dong-hoon]
[Title: Skeleton King]
[Vitality: 2,220/2,220]
[Unique Ability: Cursed Necromancer]
[Grade: S]
[Effects]
-You are a Necromancer, handler of the dead. Subjugate foes with dreadful wraiths and deadly poisons. But you are cursed.
-You may only summon skeletons.
[Owned Skills]
-'Skeleton Lord Summon' (S-grade)
-'Memory Reproduction' (S-grade)
-'Teachings of the Myriad Arts Master' (S-grade)
-'Pain Resistance' (S-grade)
-'Pure Blue Heart Method' (S-grade)
-'Revenant Resurrection' (A-grade)
-'Revenant Roar' (A-grade)
-'Immunity to All Poisons' (S-grade)
-'Bone Dragon Skeleton' (S-grade)
-'Myriad Arts' (A-grade)
'Whoa.'
Thanks to the newly acquired 'Myriad Arts' (A-grade), I now had ten skills total.
Each essential, solid skills.
Honestly, upgrading any felt fine.
'Still.'
I had to be careful.
Only one upgrade, and no take-backs.
[Please select one of your owned skills!]
[Time limit: 30 minutes!]
30 minutes?
Time is too short.
I widened my eyes.
'First.'
Skip Pain Resistance and Pure Blue Heart Method.
Pain Resistance could level up with my own effort anyway.
Pain's pain—if it stayed at this level, fine.
Wasting an upgrade just to avoid it felt wasteful.
Pure Blue Heart Method seemed more about personal enlightenment than blind upgrades.
"Whew."
I took a light deep breath.
So what then?
Skeleton Lord Summon?
Memory Reproduction?
Both insanely useful……
Teachings of the Myriad Arts Master? Revenant Resurrection? Revenant Roar?
I pored over each skill description, deep in thought.
The skill most crucial for my future path.
'Damn.'
No way I'd decide that in 30 minutes flat?
I'd agonize for a full day.
"……."
After five more minutes of deliberation, I decided.
My life's motto.
[Using skill, 'Teachings of the Myriad Arts Master' (S-grade).]
[Vitality cost: 20.]
['Myriad Arts Master' appears.]
Summon the Old Man.