Spoils of the Duel

The nerve-wracking spar ended in victory for my two summons.

It was the first time I had ever seen an A-class hunter go all out.

"They're pretty damn impressive."

The ability to pour will into mana and release it—Aura. Just by coating a blade, it made the very air tremble. It sliced through solid rock as easily as cutting soft radish. A power strong enough to reshape the terrain itself.

And it wasn't as if my opponent's application of Aura was clumsy. When I peered through Heavenly Martial Body and Spirit Eye, the force was sharp and fierce.

It was simply that my summons ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stood a full step above him.

"Urgh…!"

The American big-nose dropped to one knee. Serimis's magic sword rested against the nape of his neck, blue light glinting off the blade in the sunlight.

"What a waste of the talent you possess."

Sir Isra clicked her tongue.

"Increasing your swords to four has become poison instead."

"…What do you mean by that?"

"It means you cannot even properly wield a single blade, yet you have only researched petty tricks."

Watching the fight from the sidelines made the meaning crystal clear.

The big-nose's swordsmanship had been flashy. He unleashed multiple skills at once with four blades, and on the core sword in his right hand he manifested Aura to boost his attack power. An ordinary hunter would have been finished in the blink of an eye.

But his fundamentals were weak.

Sir Isra never once tried to deal with all four swords ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠throughout the spar. She simply knocked aside the one wreathed in blue currents. By clashing Aura against Aura she tangled his successive attacks, and every so often she slipped in a counter to steadily seize the flow and force the fight onto her own pace.

So that was the level required to be called the greatest sword on a continent. Thanks to Heavenly Martial Body and Spirit Eye, I could just barely grasp it.

"This is impossible! It has to be a scam!"

The big-nose spat as he shouted.

"James. That is enough."

"Director!"

"How unsightly. That face of yours."

His features, smeared with snot and tears, twisted like a poorly kneaded lump of clay.

"Director, you saw it yourself!"

"Yes. I watched you take the beating without so much as twitching a finger."

"I am an A-class hunter!"

"And?"

"Those ladies are not the sort of summons a mere C-class can command! He must have pulled some underhanded trick!"

Sophia let out a long sigh.

"Just how far do you intend to drag GGG's honor through the mud?"

"Director!"

"When we return, a written apology will not be the end of it."

"I cannot accept this!"

"Am I the one who needs your acceptance?"

Wheeeeng!

In an instant a massive warhammer filled Sophia's hands. The thing was larger than my head. Getting hit by that would hurt like hell. No—before you could even register the pain, it would probably stop you from thinking at all. That was how vicious it looked.

Crack-crack-crack!

Golden energy surged and rose over the hammer. The overwhelming pressure made me swallow hard. A power beyond Aura. Absolute destructive authority—Aura Blade—had condensed upon the hammer.

"It is somewhat different."

Sir Isra shook her head.

"Not Aura Blade?"

"Holy Radiance. A power founded upon holy force."

Instead of mana, she had materialized holy power. The Saint of Los Angeles. It was a manifestation of strength befitting her class of Paladin.

To raise a power on the same level as Aura Blade as easily as breathing… The waves radiating from the Holy Radiance made my skin prickle.

"H-hiiik!"

The big-nose stumbled backward and collapsed onto his rear. The crushing pressure of that brilliant radiance was too much. His crotch darkened, and yellow liquid began dripping out with soft plops.

Ugh. Good grief.

I understood, though. If that warhammer were standing over my head ready to pulp my skull, I might wet myself too.

"It seems the owner of the Tower of Chaos entry ticket has been decided."

"I'll put it to good use."

I had obtained it by force of strength. Virtues like humility could go take a hike.

The Tower of Chaos entry ticket.

An opportunity said to be unobtainable even for a fortune of billions had fallen into my lap, yet my daily life did not change overnight.

Gate raids. Crafting new undead. Training with the support team and Yeondu—the same routine repeated.

"Why do you not challenge it at once?"

"Forget that iron head and just trust me, Master."

Both summons burned with motivation.

But, you see…

"My rank isn't high enough yet."

"Ah."

"How could this be! To make the same mistake as that iron head!"

"What was that? A duel, mage."

The minimum entry condition for the Tower of Chaos was B-class. I needed to diligently raise my level, and I also needed the enlightenment required to advance to the next stage before I could set foot inside.

"For my lord, B-class is as good as already in hand, is it not?"

"You're overestimating someone who failed the D-class exam for four straight years."

"You awakened Mana Release on your own, did you not?"

"That technique is on the warrior-class exam list."

Learning Mana Release was great. I just hoped they wouldn't forget that my class line was necromancer.

"In other words, I don't even know the exam topics yet."

I rubbed my chin. Promotion exams had always been conducted under two themes: blacksmithing capability, and necromancy ability. If the B-class exam followed the same pattern…

"They might test two skills that both require enlightenment as a prerequisite."

"For the time being, it would be better to focus more on magic training than swordsmanship."

"Mage. Do not covet the time my lord and I share."

"This is exactly why iron heads are hopeless. Shouldn't preparing for Master's promotion exam come first?"

"Kh…"

Sir Isra, one additional loss.

Even so, "magic training" didn't give me much of a feel for where to start.

"I recommend purchasing skill books centered on what Master needs."

"Magic that would help me, huh."

"How about defensive types and Blink?"

A skill set that treated my safety as the absolute top priority. Wasn't that a little boring?

"I trust my retainers."

"Hahaha! As expected of my lord!"

"Ugh. If you put it that way, I can't argue anymore."

"Recommend something good among the offensive spells."

"I recommend Frozen Orb."

A spell that floated a sphere of cold in the air to strike an opponent directly, or detonated it at a designated point to inflict a frostbite debuff.

"It is a magic well-suited for awakening multi-casting."

"Thanks for the recommendation."

"However, Master."

"Hm?"

"I still think it would be better if you learned Blink as well."

Sigh.

"Fine. I'll buy Blink too."

"Yay! I love you, Master!"

Shiiing—

"Mage. Do not try any more tricks."

"Hmph. Listen to this iron head."

A search of the Hunter Market showed both spells in stock.

Frozen Orb – 300,000,000.

Blink – 500,000,000.

Together the two skill books came to 800 million won. Acceptable. Thanks to clearing C-class gates one after another lately, I had mana stones to spare. Liquidating them all would net over two billion. When I thought of it as money I could earn in a day or two of gate runs, the price didn't feel burdensome.

I was starting to feel my sense of money breaking down. I needed to be careful.

High-value items like skill books were not delivered. You placed a reservation purchase and then visited the Hunter Market in person to collect them.

"Here are the skill books you ordered."

Eight hundred million melting away so easily. Without hesitation I used both skill books.

Ice and space. These were magics that normally required related attribute passives to learn. However, with Origin of Magic I could ignore attribute restrictions and acquire them.

"Hoho. With money, one can learn all sorts of spells."

"It's not quite that all-powerful."

My hunter rank was C. Ignoring acquisition conditions only worked up to the same grade. Anything B-class or higher was still locked.

I didn't feel particularly disappointed. Learning a pile of spells would only mean more time spent mastering each one. Focusing on the skills I actually needed and raising my understanding of them was far more efficient.

"As expected, my lord is wise."

Sir Isra nodded. She seemed pleased that magic training wouldn't steal too much of our time. Or maybe I was imagining it.

Since I was already at the Hunter Market, I also browsed the monster byproduct section.

"Can you not simply order with that smartphone device?"

"You iron head. Master is examining them with his own eyes."

Spirit Eye could see the potential dwelling in corpse byproducts. Back in my E-class days I had painstakingly experimented to learn that precious information. Now a single glance was enough.

The skill granted as an S-rank reward during the promotion exam was truly remarkable.

Ehehehe!

Grinning to myself, I made a full circuit of the monster byproduct corner.

"One whole Horned Hound corpse, please."

"Yes, sir."

"Can you fill in the damaged parts?"

"We can attach similar parts from other corpses."

"Match the damaged sections as completely as possible and sell me a full set of whatever you can."

Beyond that I purchased as many corpses as possible that could be used to craft blood horses. Undead medium cavalry—Tigris. The first model had been raptor plus armed zombie warrior. Raptor corpses received an ancient-species correction and boasted strong stats, but their uniquely agile body structure made it difficult to maximize charging destructive power.

I planned to craft blood horses from various monster corpses and search for the combination that would maximize Tigris's capabilities.

"I should also use the Dire Wolf corpses I've been stockpiling."

Come to think of it, I needed to find a way to increase my work speed as well.

Most of my undead used bone armaments. Buying ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠finished items to equip them was one option, but opening spirit circuits during the crafting process led to better specs, so I made everything myself.

"Tigris's charges consume a great deal of durability," Sir Isra pointed out.

She was right. A single charge left the spear shaft quite damaged—a side effect of releasing amplified force. Armor also took damage from enemy counterattacks, so equipment was wearing out faster than before.

"The durability consumption is only going to get worse."

As my rank rose and I entered higher-risk gates, undead attrition would naturally increase. I needed to raise my crafting speed in preparation for that moment.

While ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I was thinking this over and buying monster byproducts—

Bzzzt—!

A text from Nam Jinwoo, the real power at Hanil Blacksmith. Perfect timing—I had been wanting to ask him about work speed anyway.

Just right. It had been a while since I'd seen his face, and I could get some advice while I was at it.