Find Me After You Die
I thought I must have misheard it. The voice came right as Mimicry was wearing off, so I assumed my ears were playing tricks. Vroooom—! [Kkheup…] ‘……’
Hmm… I kept swinging while those sporadic hallucinations drifted through my mind, adding another five hundred strikes. My first goal was a full thousand swings in perfect form, after all.
But the entire time, laughter kept exploding in my head—Pfft, kuhuhu, puhat!—and it was starting to piss me off. Not even Cold Calm could rein me in. The rage was on par with what I felt when No Hayun attacked me without the slightest clue what she was doing.
(Who are you?)
I planted the greatsword into the ground like a staff and addressed the mysterious presence.
[Forgotten Ancient Swordsmanship] has been unlocked.
[……]
The moment I asked who he was, the entity fell silent as if nothing had happened.
(I said, who are you! The one who kept laughing while I swung my sword!)
[It can’t possibly be me you’re referring to…]
(Yes. It’s you.)
[Heok—!]
Rattle-rattle— Something seemed to fall and roll across the ground. After a brief pause, the voice returned.
[You can truly hear me?]
(Ha… Yes, I can hear you. So please stop laughing. I can’t concentrate.)
When it was only laughter I had been half-suspicious, but now that I heard the actual voice, it clearly belonged to a grandfather well past sixty. I had no choice but to adjust my tone to one of respect.
[……Just what exactly are you?]
I have zero interest in Zen riddles… and isn’t that a question I should be asking him? Still, it felt proper to introduce myself first, so I spoke with careful courtesy.
(My name is Ilwol. I am a skeleton soldier, the summoned beast of a summoner.)
[……I see……]
I see? I expected him to demand what kind of nonsense I was spouting. Instead the mysterious old man remained quiet for a long time before speaking again, his voice heavy with gravity.
[…One thing has become clear to me.]
(What is it?)
[……Once you die, come find me.]
A chill ran down my spine——— (Wh-what?!)
The old man’s words struck my skull like a hammer. His tone suggested he knew I possessed more than one life.
(……Who in the world are you really?)
[Find me, and I shall tell you.]
(Hello? Hello! Grandfather! Hey!)
No matter how I called, the old man’s voice never returned.
‘Damn it, what the hell is this now? My brain is officially overloaded.’
My head was never that great to begin with, yet now I had far too many things to keep track of. Did I really have to wander around searching for some grandfather I’d never met?
‘The hallucinations that suddenly started… It really was because of this, wasn’t it?’
I flopped down where I stood and stared up at the night sky.
‘Why are you doing this to me?’
Mimicry had already expired, returning me to skeletal form. I wanted to sigh but couldn’t even draw breath; the frustration only grew.
Couldn’t they increase the number of uses instead of the duration? Then I could transform when I needed to and actually shout out loud for once.
‘……’
I tried using the level-up ticket I received as a Summoner’s Helper reward on Forgotten Ancient Swordsmanship.
It is already a complete trait.
‘It doesn’t work? Complete means maxed out?’
That meant the ability only served to connect me with that grandfather; it didn’t actually improve the swordsmanship itself.
‘Wow—the back of my head is tingling. It said swordsmanship… so what he meant by refining it was…’
In the end I selected Flame Explosion with the reward and raised its level.
Flame Explosion Lv.2
— Detonates all accumulated Flame Marks at once.
— Deals 850% of magic attack power as damage.
— For each Flame Mark beyond five, attack power increases by an additional 150%.
— Ignores all beneficial effects and armor except Invincibility.
— Each explosion permanently reduces the target’s maximum health by 150.
— Any enemy struck by Flame Explosion five times will die without fail.
‘Whoa— As expected. Just one level made the damage jump massively.’
With this kind of increase, I could probably kill that giant skeleton monster in fewer than five hits. The jump in maximum health reduction from 100 to 150 was especially satisfying. At 150, even a decent mid-to-low rank hunter who somehow avoided instant death would find it nearly impossible to display their full power afterward.
“Clack clack…”
The mental haze I’d suffered after getting metaphorically slapped in the back of the head by Forgotten Ancient Swordsmanship finally cleared a little.
‘Summoner’s Helper. Helping Yeonhee, huh…’
Whether the help was material or mental didn’t matter. Yeonhee had looked exhausted today, so I’d try repeating what I did in the tent tomorrow and see whether another reward appeared.
‘Ha… There are way too many stars for no reason.’
Lying on my back staring at the sky brought the random thought to mind. People used to say the night sky didn’t hold many stars. But once humanity began harvesting energy sources like mana stones from dungeons, Earth’s environment recovered at astonishing speed. Now even city centers were blessed with skies embroidered in starlight.
Gazing at the jewel-like brilliance pouring down somehow let me view even the mysterious and eerie experience from earlier in a slightly more positive light.
‘Skills always benefit their user.’
I suppose I just have to believe that and follow along.
‘……’
I rose once more and swung the sword.
‘Why did that grandfather laugh when he saw me? Was it really that terrible?’
Since he was connected to the ancient sword art, he must have roared with laughter after watching my form. ‘……Jung-gil ahjussi told me to focus on this for now, at least.’
For the moment, the Hyeon Jung-gil I had spent an entire month with felt far more trustworthy than some mysterious voice.
Vroooom—
I devoted myself to silent training until Yeonhee began tossing in her sleep and calling my name.
*
Yeonhee woke briefly in the morning to eat, then slept straight through until nearly lunchtime. Only in the afternoon did she finally stir. Her first order of business was visiting the forge with me.
“Hey there—! Looks like my customers have become proper celebrities!”
The forge master I hadn’t seen in a while had a noticeably thicker waist and seemed slightly shorter than before. The change was subtle, but I could still detect it.
“Still, I finished three days early. Though you folks getting trapped in that dungeon made it pointless.”
Because we had been locked away for a week, we couldn’t even confirm whether he had actually sped up production. He laughed heartily and called it a service; Yeonhee thanked him politely.
In the meantime I was so captivated by the finished greatsword that I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
‘Incredible… My thinking was far too shallow. Total defeat.’
I had wondered if there was any point buying a greatsword when I could simply make one from my own bones, but that had been pure idiocy.
‘It’s beautiful… Though it almost feels like too much power was poured into it?’
The pommel and crossguard were adorned with exquisitely detailed patterns, while the grip between them featured diagonal grooves perfectly sized for a palm to ensure solid handling. The fuller running down the blade’s center formed such elegant lines that its original purpose of lightening the weapon seemed secondary; the sword looked almost decorative in its sheer beauty.
The edge was double-sided as requested. If you touched paper to that razor-sharp blade, it would surely slice clean through with a satisfying sound.
◈ Attack Power +55
◈ Durability: 950/950
◈ A collaboration between rare materials and budding talent. Far exceeds the performance expected of its mana-stone grade.
‘This is insane.’
The attack power was literally double Arhen’s dagger and triple Ttungi’s club. My jaw dropped at the monstrous specs. Of course Arhen’s weapon was a decorative dagger, so direct comparison wasn’t fair, yet doubling the power of any existing weapon was still shocking.
‘And the durability is 950…’
Considering how quickly sword edges usually wore down, that number was exceptionally high. It had to be thanks to the rare mineral Kardinite.
I stepped outside the container and gave the blade a few swings.
Whoooosh— Shoooosh—
‘The sound is completely different.’
It was incomparable to the bone greatsword that had felt closer to a blunt instrument. ‘I can get used to the feel while using this… and copy it later if necessary, right?’
I was so satisfied that I swung the sword in a near frenzy. The way it clung perfectly to my hand felt incredible!
I was so absorbed I didn’t even notice Yeonhee coming outside until the blacksmith cleared his throat. Only then did I straighten up.
“Do you like it?”
“Clack clack!!”
“Hehe— Coming here was the right choice, wasn’t it? I picked well, right?”
Nod nod—
Both Yeonhee and the blacksmith—who had been watching me swing the blade—wore smiles so wide their cheeks must have hurt.
“Kwahahaha! The way you swing it so boldly is a real pleasure to watch! Please keep using it often, dear customers!”
As he laughed heartily, several other blacksmiths appeared behind him. They had brought a cart loaded with iron shields—the very ones I had ordered for my summons.
‘Wow… These are far superior to what Ttungi provided.’
Higher defense, larger size, and lighter weight than Ttungi’s round shields. I was curious what kind of face that kobold would make when he saw them.
I handed the blacksmith several more chunks of Kardinite along with the extra-large high-grade mana stone we obtained from defeating the giant skeleton at the end of the dungeon.
“Ooooh— Th-this is from that monster that was the size of a small mountain…! I wondered who could have taken it down, but of course it was you! Hehe—”
Only half a day had passed, yet the gossip-loving hunters had already spilled every detail about the colossal creature. Thanks to that, the blacksmith recognized its value without any explanation.
“The sword is to your liking, then?”
Nod—
Since I already had bone armor, there was little point crafting anything else. I also had chainmail.
“Hmm… I’ll have to start work before I can give you a proper timeline… It will take at least two weeks.”
The production period was roughly two weeks again. From the blacksmith’s expression, even that seemed optimistic.
I also told him to use Natalan Jackmon’s mana stone as material for Yeonhee’s staff, and to use the remaining stones from Nargul and the skeleton knight for additional weapons and shields.
Since the summons had the mysterious substances Yeonhee provided, armor could wait.
After leaving the forge we stopped by the Hunter Association and sold off all the miscellaneous runes we had collected. Just the ones gathered during the week numbered in the triple digits. Runes were normally difficult to obtain, and bulk transactions like this were rare, so the process took longer than expected.
The exact figures weren’t calculated yet, but the income we had earned from this single dungeon run already exceeded seven hundred million won. We sold the runes at a reasonable price and headed toward Helen’s shop, chatting as we walked.