Are You Really E-Class?

The dead Fenet suddenly stood up on all four legs, blue flames roaring to life inside its melted, hollow eye sockets.

“Were you a necromancer, Humin?!”

She had every reason to be this shocked.

A necromancer was a black-magic class that commanded undead minions and death magic. Their combat potential defied imagination. In Europe, the SSS-class Hunter who possessed the necromancer class was literally called a one-man army. People said his power ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠alone rivaled an entire nation’s military strength.

Still, the reason for her surprise was simple. Necromancers were high-value assets who rarely ranked below A-class. Today was apparently the first time she’d ever heard of an E-class necromancer existing at all.

“Well… something like that. Haha…”

I gave her a vague answer not because I wanted to deceive her, but because I genuinely didn’t know what my own class was. Not really. Not at all.

I’d searched the internet and every corner of social media for “Apprentice Priest of Nyx,” but nothing came up.

On top of that, no Hunter in history had ever received six traits regardless of class. If someone like that existed, the news and TV would have been plastered with stories about them.

Wait… hold on. Wouldn’t that actually be great for publicity?

I’d been kicked out of the White Dragon Guild, but the world didn’t end at White Dragon. There were countless guilds just as good or better. With a little luck, one of them might even scout me.

Then the moment I leave the Tower—! No, no. Calm down, Ahn Humin. There’s no way to prove I have six traits anyway. The Awakening Stone only measures rank. It can’t display a status window. In the end, I’ll have to prove my power through my own strength…

Which meant the only real option was to keep climbing the Tower and grow stronger.

“What are you thinking about so hard? You haven’t said a word for ages.”

When Sowon suddenly leaned in close, I flinched and quickly apologized.

“Ah, sorry. Let’s keep hunting.”

“……?”

Shaking off my stray thoughts, I resumed the hunt alongside Fenet, who had been reborn through Minion of the Underworld.

“Go bite!”

The moment the order left my mouth, the minion Fenet hurled itself at its former kin. Its speed was on another level. Compared to when it had charged at me, this was incomparably faster. It crushed the prey’s neck before the creature could even react.

Crunch!

Fenet’s tongue lolled out as its body went limp. The minion version wagged its tail, panting eagerly as if waiting for praise from its master.

“……!”

“……!”

Sowon and I whipped our heads toward each other at the same time.

“D-did you see that movement?! The Fenet that you revived, Humin!”

“I saw it, but…”

Sowon’s eyes were wide as dinner plates. I probably didn’t look much different. Today was the first time I had truly felt the skill’s power for myself.

Even so… isn’t this a bit too strong?

But when I thought about it, it made sense. Thanks to the base effect of Minion of the Underworld Lv. 1, the revived Fenet’s abilities had been massively enhanced. On top of that, summoned undead monsters received bonus stats based on the caster’s Intelligence.

With the Moirae’s Scales trait, I had been able to pick not only Minion of the Underworld but an extra Intelligence Lv. 1 skill card. Then Hemera’s Joy doubled all my stats. And finally, Thanatos’s Baptism multiplied the final power of any death-, undead-, or soul-type skill by five times.

The result was this absurdly overpowered summon.

“Humin.”

“Yes?”

“Are you really E-class? There’s no way an E-class could summon an undead like this…”

“……”

She was right. A minion summoned by a true E-class should have been weak enough to die from a stray hit after barely drawing aggro.

But right now?

Even a glancing scratch from this minion Fenet’s claws was enough to make the other Fenets stick out their tongues and collapse dead.

Awooooo!

As if that wasn’t enough, it used its howl to deliberately provoke every Fenet in the area and started solo mobbing them. Complete chaos.

The most ridiculous part was that when ten Fenets swarmed the one I had summoned, my minion didn’t get overwhelmed. It overwhelmed them.

Grrrrr!

No matter how savagely they bit its front legs, hind legs, and neck, shaking hard enough to snap bone, the minion Fenet didn’t budge an inch. Instead, it simply lifted the leg that was being bitten—along with the creature attached to it—then stomped down on the head of another charging Fenet, crushing its skull.

It bit the neck of the one still latched to its leg and snapped it like a cracker, then swiftly cleaned up the rest. Ten Fenets, gone in seconds.

Overwhelming was the only word that came to mind.

Sowon kept staring at the minion Fenet, stunned, before asking me again.

“I’ll ask one more time. Humin. Did you lie to me on purpose about being E-class?”

“Me? No! There’s no reason for me to do that. Why do you think I got kicked out of the White Dragon Guild in the first place…”

I might not know a lot of things, but I was absolutely certain about this one.

I was not E-class. At the very least, I was nowhere near an ordinary E-class.

“Today’s hunt was really fun. Thank you, Humin.”

After clearing the first-floor objective we still had time to spare, so we hunted generously on the way out. Since you could only enter the Tower once per day, it made sense to squeeze out every drop of profit we could.

Besides, the actual fighting had been handled almost entirely by the minion Fenet. Sowon and I basically just followed behind and watched the show.

“I should be the one thanking you. If it weren’t for you, Sowon, I would’ve gone home empty-handed without accomplishing anything today.”

We split the acquired items and mana stones according to our earlier agreement.

First, the 30 kg of mana stones. At the current market price of 10,000 won per 100 grams, that came out to roughly three million won.

After selling off all the miscellaneous loot in one batch at the exchange, my total profit came to about 4.2 million won. I gave Sowon ten percent—420,000 won—as we had agreed.

Considering that porters in normal parties usually received only three to five percent, this was an exceptionally generous rate. Of course, the ten percent was also my way of showing gratitude.

Since she was the only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠other party member, I still took ninety percent of the earnings. Without her, I wouldn’t have made even a single won, let alone 4.2 million. I would have been stuck waiting forever. No party would accept an E-class as a comrade.

“If you’d hunted with a regular party you would’ve earned a lot more than this. Aren’t you even a little disappointed?”

“Not at all. Honestly, I almost went home empty-handed just like you, Humin. Instead I’m leaving with 420,000 won in my pocket. That’s pure luck. Besides…”

Sowon winked and gave me a thumbs-up.

“It basically feels like free money thanks to you.”

“If you see it that way, I’m grateful.”

“Hey, Humin. If it’s not too forward… would you like to exchange numbers?”

“Huh? N-numbers?”

My heart suddenly hammered in my chest and my face grew hot. I’d never been interested in the opposite sex during elementary school. Middle and high school were both all-boys, and I’d been too busy with part-time jobs to think about anything else. After that came trainee life at the White Dragon Guild.

Up until now, the only person of the opposite sex I had ever exchanged contacts with was my older sister. In other words, my immunity to women was practically zero.

Sowon seemed to steel herself before she continued.

“Actually, our old party didn’t just disband because of scheduling issues. It completely blew up.”

“Blew up?”

“I didn’t know until recently, but the party leader, vice-leader, and treasurer had been secretly skimming loot profits. They seemed like such good people that none of us suspected anything. Then one of the members found out by chance while drinking with the treasurer. They kept quiet until everyone was gathered today and then…”

“No way…!”

When my face went slack with shock, Sowon made an explosive gesture with her hands.

“Exactly. It ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠went boom~! The three culprits acted like we had no proof, the rest of the members were grabbing them by the collar demanding their money back… it was total mayhem.”

“So what happened? Did you get the money back?”

“Looks like it’s heading to court.”

“What about you? Are you okay, Sowon?”

“Did you forget? I’m a porter. I’m the one who actually picks up the loot inside the dungeon. Who would dare try to scam me? They distributed the profits properly to the porters and only cheated the combat members.”

In the end, the party had disintegrated completely, leaving her in limbo—like a duck egg floating down the Nakdong River.

“I could join another party, but the territorial culture among porters is no joke. Openings for rear-support roles are rare even among non-combat jobs. Finding a new party would take a long time, but then…”

Sowon smiled brightly at me.

“I just discovered a talent that’s basically a diamond in the rough—no, more like an entire mine. How could any other party catch my eye after that? I have to stake my claim right now. You’ll need a porter if you plan to keep clearing the Tower anyway, right? So how about it? Want to recruit one diligent, capable A-class porter while the offer’s good?”

Just as she said, a porter was absolutely essential for future Tower runs. One who could store valuable loot like mana stones and boost acquisition rates would be more than welcome.

“Of course I’d love that.”

“Perfect. Contact me when you set a schedule, Party Leader.”

“P-party leader? Me?”

Sowon entered her number into the phone I handed her and nodded.

“Obviously it has to be you, Humin. The party leader is supposed to be the one who commands core combat power and comes up with strategies. A porter like me can’t do that. So yes, you’re the leader. Here. Make sure you message me.”

“Ah, yes. Take care.”

Sowon waved goodbye and left after returning the phone with her number saved.

I tossed the phone aside after sending the last message.

I only ever felt sorry and grateful toward my sister. Half out of stubbornness and half youthful bravado, I had come to Seoul determined to succeed as a Hunter. Ever since then, the full burden of caring for our sick, elderly grandfather had fallen on her shoulders.

Yet she had never once ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠complained or shown any resentment. Instead she regularly checked in on me, and even when I told her not to, she would sometimes send what little money she could spare as allowance.

The one bright spot was that she had married a good man who resembled her. Still, when I thought about the debt of gratitude I owed her, 3.6 million won was nothing at all.

Even so, I still have over 100,000 won left. That should be enough for a motel room and a nice bowl of king short-rib soup for dinner.

Swallowing at the thought of those steaming, oversized ribs, I decided to check my status window and learn my new skills before heading out to eat.

EX-class and they kicked me out of the guild without knowing.