Two Months of Quiet Growth

After the meeting with the Phoenix Guild, the days that followed settled into a familiar rhythm.

I poured my efforts into performance upgrades, carefully disassembling perfectly functional undead only to reassemble them better than before.

Clang! Clang!

“Hunter Park. Ease up a little on the wrist.”

“Like this?”

“Perfect. If only my kids picked things up half as fast, I’d be a happy man.”

“……”

At Hanil Blacksmith I absorbed every tip and technique they were willing to share. Now and then I slipped into the support team’s training sessions and swung a sword alongside them.

“Why are you even here?”

“Whoa. Is that any way to talk to the president of your fan club?”

“If you don’t like it, resign.”

“Hmph. Easy to join, hard to leave. Don’t you know that, mister?”

Yeondu joined the training as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I had already asked Sir Isra to instruct her, so her presence raised no eyebrows.

“Any word from Mir Guild?”

“I already told you—nothing. Stop worrying about it.”

As if anyone in my position could simply stop worrying.

The airport press conference had spread everywhere, online and off. I’d glance at a restaurant TV while walking past and there was my face again. The frequency was high enough that “Mom, I’m on TV!” had long since stopped being funny.

When I complained to my summons, all I got back was:

“Those who praise my Lord’s greatness grow more numerous by the day!”

“Everyone knows now who truly deserves their respect.”

Completely useless answers. Sigh. What did I expect from them?

“There’s no way Mir Guild missed it.”

“They just keep telling me to get closer to you. Seriously, don’t worry.”

Hmm. Did they honestly believe they could reopen negotiations through Yeondu? Fine. Whatever. She said she was okay, so I decided to stop thinking about it. If real trouble appeared later, I could yell then.

Whoosh!

“One must not let the mind wander while swinging a blade.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Mister! Rematch!”

“You’re a scrub.”

“Aaaaah! Just because I lost once!”

“And you lost, right?”

While I was swinging the bone sword, Ingrid narrowed her eyes into slits.

“Master.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll practice magic too.”

“Must I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠always be the one to remind you?”

Sparks flickered in Ingrid’s eyes. Getting scolded by a girlfriend I’d never even dated must feel something like this. Sob. Being single already hurt; now I was experiencing only the downsides of couple life.

“Blink.”

Flash!

I reappeared dozens of meters from where I’d been standing.

“Urgh.”

My stomach churned. The aftereffect of Blink’s penalty—spatial disorientation.

“Try shaving the casting time down by just 0.3 seconds.”

“Got it.”

“You lost focus right after the spell activated, didn’t you?”

Yikes. Spot on. Absolute spot on.

“Everything spun.”

“You need to grow accustomed to the sensation the instant Blink activates.”

“The queasy feeling?”

“You must focus on the process of your body being reconstructed as it crosses space.”

Between training with the support team and Yeondu, the days filled themselves productively and time flew by.

At last—the two upgraded skills!

“Will you resume external activities?”

“I want to solidify the foundation a little more first.”

I planned to analyze the remains of the Death Knight and Lich further. There had to be at least one more method for strengthening undead hidden in there somewhere.

“It’ll be best to raise the understanding of both skills as high as possible while I still have the leisure.”

Stopping the monster wave in the Tower of Chaos had raised my level considerably. Running gates the way I used to would let me farm experience quickly again. Before that, I decided to push understanding as far as it would go.

“What a splendid mindset! Prioritizing the foundation first.”

“Hmph. I never claimed external work was urgent.”

And so two full months slipped past in the blink of an eye.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

For two months I shut down every external activity and devoted myself to building strength from within. The results were far from small.

Most noticeable were the two upgraded skills.

Final specs of crafted products +6%! On top of that, the rank-up rewards granted me two new undead crafting recipes.

“They seem weak compared to Tigris, do they not?”

“The theory’s expanded.”

“How would an iron-headed oaf understand the power of knowledge? Please be understanding, Master.”

“Gah!”

Ingrid was right. Automatically learning the methods for Skeleton Guard and Zombie Commander expanded the techniques I could apply when creating undead. The rise in Corpse Crafting rank also brought some reorganization to the force structure.

Materials had come into the Hunter Market, so I crafted additional Dracos. I kept Tigris at thirty units. Every Skeleton Mage was scrapped and replaced with Wizards. Armed Zombie Strengthened Soldiers and Skeleton Guards were produced in equal numbers.

“For escorting my Lord, the Armed Zombie Strengthened Soldiers are superior.”

Raw specs slightly favored the Skeleton Guards, but their defense-oriented skill set and bulk made the Armed Zombies the better choice for protection. Combat was Sir Isra’s specialty, so I followed her advice.

Finally, the Zombie Commanders were weak in pure combat power but provided buffs. Each one could grant an attack boost to thirty units, so I made a comfortable five of them.

“It would have been better to expand the ranks further. A pity.”

Death Space — 120 units.

Pit of Malice — 40 units.

Maximum storage for undead (or corpses) was 160. I currently had 98 crafted undead. Units belonging to the Knight Order and Witch Order did not count against that limit, so capacity remained generous. Even including my four personal summons, the total was only 102. I understood why Sir Isra felt the shortfall.

“I need spare room if I’m going to stockpile corpses.”

“Hmmm.”

“What do you mean ‘hmmm,’ iron-head? Did you forget Master is storing ogre corpses?”

Exactly. Part of the capacity in the Death Domain and Pit of Malice was reserved for large monsters. The rare specimens I had obtained in the Tower of Chaos! Large-species corpses had no convenient method of conversion into undead yet, so I had simply been storing them.

【Master. Structure.】

The structure Roan mentioned was the Giant’s Tomb.

It was a building that became available with the level-up of the Death Blacksmith. Having obtained a large quantity of ogre corpses in the Tower of Chaos, I built the Giant’s Tomb without much hesitation…

Additional conditions, huh? Give me a break. Even so, I did not dump the ogre corpses in. Whole ogre bodies were far too rare to waste. Instead I contacted Boss Baek and asked him to purchase any large-species monster corpses that appeared on the Hunter Market as soon as they showed up.

Feeding it large-species corpses whenever I had free time had brought it this far. Before long I would have a way to put those ogre corpses to use.

“Eheh. Eheheh.”

“Master’s smile is especially dazzling today.”

“Witch. Stop flattering me.”

“Oh my. So it’s not true?”

“I didn’t deny it.”

The two summons snarling at each other was an everyday occurrence, so I pretended not to notice.

【Will you resume activities starting tomorrow?】

“Yeah. The money I’ve saved is starting to run low, so the timing’s perfect.”

For two months I had done nothing but spend. Crafting undead, disassembling them, reassembling them, mastering bone metallurgy—everything cost money. On top of that I had bought the custom furnace Nam Jinwoo had mentioned earlier.

From the moment the fire caught until the heat fully built, everything was far faster than before. Work speed improved as a result.

“Then perhaps rest thoroughly today?”

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“Ah. There’s one thing I want to try.”

“Was there something that particularly needed doing?”

It wasn’t something that needed doing. I simply wanted to pour out the design I had been turning over in my head for two months.

“I don’t know if it’ll work, but if I have to put a label on it, it’s something I want to try.”

I rolled up my sleeves and stood before the furnace. For the past two months I had worked without rest to familiarize myself with every recipe registered under Corpse Crafting—from B-rank all the way down to E-rank. I had attempted creation and enhancement on countless undead. The byproducts I had wasted along the way could probably fill several trucks. Still, that relentless effort had raised my skill understanding dramatically.

“Understanding isn’t the only thing I gained.”

Lich and Death Knight. Two months of accumulated experience had given me a slightly deeper grasp of high-tier undead structure.

“I can’t make them yet.”

But I might be able to imitate them, at least a little. Tomorrow I would resume external activities. Today was the last day I could freely turn the idea in my head into reality without pressure.

Ingrid tilted her head with a thoughtful hum.

“Even when clearing gates, wouldn’t you still have work time?”

“People work best when they’re being chased, you know.”

Never underestimate the secret technique of Korean students: the all-nighter cram session. Even when I entered that Black Sky Society gate last time, being driven to the absolute limit had somehow let me perform repairs unconsciously.

“The results were pretty good then.”

Hoping for the same this time, I was attempting it on the final day of reorganization. I rolled my neck left and right; a satisfying crack answered.

“Mmm. Just right.”

That feeling of finals being right around the corner when you haven’t studied a single page! Artificially manufactured desperation, sure, but the tension felt real. Good. With this feeling, success seemed possible.

“I’m concentrating now.”

“Witch. Hold your breath.”

“Why don’t you hold yours for an hour too?”

【I already don’t breathe.】

“Shut it, thief.”

“Quiet, you thief.”

Their banter washed past me. The moment I decided to focus, I heard nothing at all.

All right then.

Let’s begin.