A New Breed of Crafting Necromancer

Only after reading the description of Advanced Jade Bone Processing did Cha Dohyeon grasp the true function of Soul Combustion, the skill he'd picked up back at Level 15.

All I have to do is use Soul Combustion on the material before I run it through Advanced Jade Bone Processing.

Soul Combustion sensed souls, burned them, and converted them into usable mana. Burn away the soul settled inside a piece of jade bone, and anything crafted from it afterward could be used normally. Simple as that.

Turning souls into fuel and then into tools... it's a little chilling, honestly, but I'd be using it on goblins and orcs anyway...

Humans and monsters were locked in a kill-or-be-killed struggle, so there was nothing to feel squeamish about. If anything, burning them seemed kinder than sealing them inside jade bone for all eternity.

And for tool-making, I should use high-quality bone like the Skull Engine stuff, right?

"Goldie, Taesan, Soran. Let's run Floor 20 on loop for a while."

Clack-clack!

The three skeleton siblings, who had been waiting to have the blood wiped from their bones and receive a proper grooming, clacked their teeth in reply.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Dohyeon asked Goldie, who was whining and fidgeting.

Clack-clack!

Goldie scratched at his own ribs with a hind paw.

Inside the ribcages of Goldie, Taesan, and Soran sat ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Skull Engines crafted from troll skulls. It stood to reason that a Floor 20 troll's skull made for better quality than an orc shaman's from Floor 15, so the day the third troll skull came into his hands, he had swapped out all three summons' hearts on the spot.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Goldie, Taesan, and Soran slashed their forelimbs through the empty air — but the primal aura that had awakened when they felled the troll refused to gather.

"Ah... don't tell me."

Dohyeon's bad feeling appeared to have hit the mark dead-on.

"Is it because trolls don't consciously use mana the way shamans do?"

In raw output, a troll was probably the stronger of the two. Pit an orc shaman against a troll in a straight fight, and the troll would win ten times out of ten. But shamans wielded mana as a deliberate resource — buffing their kin through totems, hurling fireballs. The reason the trio couldn't use their primal aura after the Skull Engine swap was now painfully clear: Goldie's, Taesan's, and Soran's primal aura had never come from themselves. It had originated in the material of their Skull Engines.

"Ah... that really does throw a wrench in my plans..."

The thought that Tower climbing might stall out for a while was starting to give Dohyeon a headache.

The original plan had been to replace the three skeleton siblings' hearts with troll Skull Engines, then ride that power straight through Floors 21 and 22, one after the other. Up to Floor 24, the Tower honestly added only one more troll per floor, and he'd already judged that two trolls at once would be more than the current trio could handle. Without the aura, no amount of extra output from a Skull Engine would get them past the trolls.

Clack...

The three skeleton siblings, crestfallen at having failed their master's expectations, hung their heads.

Dohyeon hurried to rally them. "It's nothing serious! We'll keep grinding Floor 20 and look for an answer. I just picked up a new skill, remember? There has to be a way to put it to use."

That was what he said, but no brilliant idea came to mind. Advanced Jade Bone Processing could reshape finished jade bone — its form, size, weight, and physical properties. What came to him right away were melee weapons like spearheads, a saddle for riding the elephants, an artificial tusk for Soran, who as a female had next to no tusks to speak of... And since all three siblings were four-legged beasts, the list of usable gear was limited all on its own. Short of an artifact, no dramatic masterstroke seemed likely to present itself.

It's fine. It's not like anything terrible comes of killing time on Floor 20, and once a few more skeleton companions join up, this will sort itself out... and if it really gets desperate, I can just buy an artifact somebody else made.

Having resolved to look on the bright side, Dohyeon swapped the three skeleton siblings' Skull Engines back to the orc shamans' versions.

There was no rush, after all. Having decided to stay on Floor 20 for the time being, Dohyeon was thoroughly enjoying his leisurely routine.

Flailing to climb higher would only make Goldie, Taesan, and Soran sad.

Wake up in the morning and trade nods with his animal friends; once the employees clocked in, head out and play with the animals turned loose from the stables. Newly hired Min Junsung filmed it all on camera, and Seo Yuna, who doubled as the editor, trimmed the footage into shape for YouTube.

But it was the height of summer. Once the sun climbed to mid-heaven, people and animals alike had to retreat into the shade. Dohyeon spent those hours drilling his new skill and lurking on the Climber community forums.

"This Blacksmith guy never sleeps, huh."

Today again, Dohyeon was hunched over his smartphone in a warehouse with the air conditioning blasting. After skimming the posts uploaded overnight — anything by a familiar nickname, or with a healthy pile of upvotes — he slipped into the trade tab.

"What! Someone posted an artifact?"

Artifacts were exactly what he'd been hunting to break through Floor 21. If he could land something that let his summons wield aura or spit fireballs, clearing Floor 21 was well within reach. The listing was already reserved, but unable to help himself, Dohyeon tapped into the sale post.

"Strength? Don't need that one."

Relieved that the listing he'd missed overnight had turned out to be sour grapes anyway, Dohyeon scrolled down and down, just in case something else had slipped past him.

"Hm?"

"A crystal orb — that's the material mages socket into their staves, right?"

Crystal orbs with magical effects, eligible for Tower entry, were exceedingly rare materials — rare drops you could only mine at low probability if you were lucky enough to stumble on a cave entrance upon entering the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Tower. Dohyeon found himself wondering whether his Skull Engines could stand in for one. Weighing the properties of jade bone against the properties of the Skull Engine, it occurred to him that his version might even outclass an ordinary crystal orb.

Mine generate mana, after all.

"Hmm... Goldie. Your heart doesn't run hot or cold, does it?"

Clack-clack!

Goldie, tail sweeping the ground at Dohyeon's feet, clacked his teeth in the affirmative.

"So Skull Engines are non-attribute for now, then... Might as well send her a message."

Dohyeon immediately composed a message to Cassandra.

"Perfect. That way there's no way I lose."

Climbers had a system that displayed their stats and skills, but it drew the line at appraising goods. That meant a Climber either sharpened his own eye for merchandise or paid a Climber with an appraisal skill for a certificate. Here was a chance to have a product built from his Skull Engines appraised for free. The appraisal fee wouldn't exactly break the bank, but free was free — no reason to feel bad about it.

Tap-tap-tap-tap!

Dohyeon rattled away at his smartphone.

Trades between Climbers were shipped by proxy through the byproduct processing companies they contracted with. In the early days, those companies had processed nothing but byproducts — some hadn't even offered pickup service — but once the market turned into a red ocean, every complacent one of them either got a makeover or went extinct. These days, there wasn't a company in the business that didn't handle trade shipping.

Dohyeon sent a text to a warmly remembered old coworker.

With Friday as the target, there wasn't much time left.

Screech!

Giddy at the thought of seeing a familiar face again and repaying a long-owed debt of gratitude, Dohyeon popped out of his chair without thinking, then sat back down and started scouring the internet.

"Guest bed, bedding, toothbrushes, slippers... there's a lot to buy, huh."

Only a few days remained until Friday. Ever since getting his Climber license, he'd been leaving little errands like these to the Management Bureau, but...

"I can hardly ask the lady herself to buy the bed she'll be sleeping in."

Dohyeon rose from his chair, searching for a nearby furniture store.

"Let's go, Goldie! We're borrowing Kang Eunseo's truck and going bed shopping!"

Clack-clack!

"Oh, right. Gotta craft the Skull Engine first."

Tail wagging, Goldie trotted over with a goblin skull in his jaws.

"Hmm... this is supposed to replace a mid-grade-or-better orb for a mage. Will a goblin head really cut it...?"

The nagging thought that a goblin head wouldn't be enough, and the question ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of whether an orc's, a shaman's, or a troll's skull was the better fit, gnawed at Dohyeon.

"Ah, forget it. Let's just send everything and think of it as a free appraisal. Goldie! Bring me one each of the orc, the shaman, and the troll, will you?"

Clack-clack!

Goldie answered with his head held high and went bounding around the warehouse, absolutely thrilled with his mission.