Perfecting the Death Warrior
Crafting a Soul Stone.
Skak!
I shaved away at the magic stone with the carving knife.
Wheeeing!
I gathered the lingering baek—the corporeal soul—that hung over the office.
An intangible concept began to accumulate inside the magic stone I had carved into the shape of a flame.
Soul Stone completed.
Just as planned.
Good.
Very good!
Even as I wandered around the office with the freshly carved magic stone, Director Jeong kept scanning documents and signing them without the slightest change in expression.
What an impressive person.
After turning four A-grade magic stones into Soul Stones, I bowed my head in thanks.
“I’m in your debt.”
“Is this for the new undead you’re making this time?”
He figured it out right away.
I gave him a brief explanation of Soul Stone crafting, and Director Jeong nodded.
“You called it honbaek, didn’t you? If the office isn’t enough, come by my house sometime.”
“Ah. I haven’t scraped everything clean just yet.”
I had made twenty-five Soul Stones in Old Man Alfons’s laboratory.
Even here in Director Jeong’s office I could probably manage at least ten more.
“My skill comprehension is still lacking. Using them all up right now would be a waste.”
Back with Old Man Alfons I had carved the magic stones with desperate greed because I had no idea when—or if—I would ever return to the Clock Tower.
Director Jeong, though, I could visit anytime.
Busy as he was, the chances of seeing him were still far better than going all the way to Prague.
“Then I’ll arrange things so you can enter the office even when I’m not here.”
“Ugh. That puts a lot of pressure on me.”
“We’re practically family by now. It’s fine.”
At Director Jeong’s words, President Baek cleared his throat with a pointed ahem.
“Family? Our Hunter Park belongs to Ascension Agency.”
“And at the same time he is Ranger Number One.”
“Please don’t forget that the agency is his main affiliation.”
Sparks flew between the two of them.
They had been the same way at the gopchang restaurant.
Neither of them ever gave an inch.
Every time I watched a non-Awakened like the president hold his own in pure presence, I thought, So this is what it takes to become a corporate executive in your forties.
He never backed down when it came to my interests either.
Once again I felt glad I had never joined a guild.
“Which is exactly why the Counter-Abnormal Bureau—no, the Rift Bureau—needs to provide a little more support for our Hunter Park…”
He did go a bit overboard sometimes, though.
I had already received permission to enter the Cross Gate.
And with these nice warm Soul Stones in hand, I set about crafting additional Death Warriors.
Pajik!
The Soul Stone controls the unstable mana flow.
Supplemented by the residual information remaining in the honbaek.
Mana rampage has ceased.
Death Warrior has been crafted.
Even after using three Soul Stones I still failed to regulate the mana output properly.
“I’m starting to get the hang of it, though.”
I cracked my fingers noisily and dove into the final work.
With the Soul Stones guaranteeing stability, I could freely experiment with different circuit arrangements.
The spiral form itself was correct.
Watching the Death Warriors perform during gate raids had given me that certainty.
Heavenly Martial Body
I read how the dead body reacted to mana.
Spirit Eye
I confirmed how the spiritual power circuits twisted into a spiral amplified force.
Origin of Magic
I verified the completeness of the undead as an entity.
I pushed the talents received from my two subordinates and the skill gained as a promotion bonus to their absolute limits.
I extracted every scrap of data from the Death Warriors that had already seen real combat.
This time I would succeed without fail.
With that vow I densely engraved the spiritual power circuits.
“Open your eyes.”
Spiritual power circuits stabilize.
Death Warrior has been crafted.
An undead closely resembling the honbaek information recorded in the Soul Stone.
All stats increase by 37%.
The Death Warrior’s body did not swell and distort the way it had before.
Success!
As the spiritual power circuits reached stable values, the stat-boost effect applied.
At the same time I secured a fully perfected crafting method.
“Oh. So you can now produce Death Warriors with reliable stability?”
“I’ll still need C-grade Soul Stones.”
“Hmm. That is a touch regrettable.”
Sir Isra clicked her tongue.
“I think there’s a way around it.”
“You intend to make use of the Cursed Tombstone, do you not?”
Ingrid answered as if she had read my mind.
“Exactly. With the Cursed Tombstone I can combine even split souls.”
The Cursed Tombstone was one of the structures inside the Death Blacksmith.
It could convert or merge the properties of Soul Stones.
On the Hunter Market you could often find unbound [Split Soul Stones] that people had failed to use properly.
“I’ll have the president buy them up as they appear.”
Split Soul Stones were not particularly valuable items.
They were gambling tools that could raise a Normal-grade item to Rare or Magic grade.
The success rate was low enough that they were half-treated as novelty items.
The unbound ones only cost a little more because of their scarcity.
About thirty million won each, if I remembered right.
Clearing a single B-grade gate guaranteed over five hundred million just from the magic stones alone.
It was no real burden for me.
“Then we’ll just have to clear gates even harder!”
Ingrid clenched her tiny fist cutely.
“Worry not. This body shall shatter itself to bone and ash to offer glory unto my lord.”
Sir Isra raised her resolve as if refusing to be outdone.
【Great Lord. I’ll take care of all the expensive stuff, so you needn’t worry, sir.】
“Don’t you dare swipe anything, you thief.”
“Hmph. After receiving an item as a gift from Master, you still have nothing to show for it.”
The two subordinates only ever got along when they were ganging up to scold Zaug.
Don’t be too hard on him.
【Ah. How did you know about that?】
You really did steal something.
【Magic stones. Intercepted.】
Roan’s additional remark completely exposed Zaug’s little hobby.
Ugh.
When did he even pocket those magic stones?
“According to the knight order’s regulations, one hand must be removed.”
“My, how merciful. I was planning to burn him at the stake.”
【…….】
Bound by the one-minute rule, Roan simply drew a finger across his throat.
【Spare me, Great Lord!】
Yeah.
I’ll leave the punishment to you two.
I have other things to do.
【Kyaaaaaaak!】
I pretended not to hear Zaug’s scream and inspected the completed Death Warrior.
The Death Warriors had grown to five.
I had granted every one of them the Predation option.
The ability to grow stronger by consuming monsters!
The enhancement option obtained from the mutant ghoul was still proving useful even now.
“Isn’t that right, Draco?”
“Grrrrngh!”
Draco, sprawled on his back with his belly exposed, flicked his tongue.
Watching a creature larger than a bull act like Happy from my family home was still pretty jarring.
“You need to finish your analysis soon too.”
“Grrrngh! Keng!”
“Alright. Looks like everything will be analyzed soon, so I’ll make you more friends.”
“Keng! Keng!”
I currently had three Dracos.
Two of them had achieved evolution, but the one made later remained in its initial state.
It had filled fifty Predation stacks, yet still had not evolved.
There seemed to be some additional condition I had not yet figured out.
Experience, maybe?
Or did Draco also accumulate baek through combat experience?
Did I need to keep feeding it even after the stacks were full?
I had turned the possibilities over in my head, but no answer had appeared.
In any case, rather than simply waiting around for Draco to strengthen, it was better to analyze the evolved specimens and craft more from them.
Now that I had completed the Death Warrior crafting method, I needed to set aside a solid block of time for thorough research.
“Let’s go eat.”
I left the Death Blacksmith and changed into ordinary clothes.
“You will not dine at home today?”
“I finished the Death Warrior crafting method, didn’t I? This calls for a celebration dinner.”
“Oh! Ooooh!! At last we go to eat raw fish?”
“You iron-headed fool. You should ask what Master wants to eat instead of pushing your own preferences.”
“My lord must take in vitamins. Do not insult my loyalty.”
Where did she even learn about vitamins?
And does eating raw fish actually fill your vitamin needs?
“Kugh! You iron-headed—!”
“Hahahahat!”
I kept my mouth firmly shut.
Sometimes there are truths that, once revealed, only bring heartache.
I had to protect the honor of my First Sword, didn’t I?
If she found out later?
That would be Sir Isra’s problem.
When I went down to the first floor, Yeondu happened to be coming in.
“Uncle. You’ve been doing your photosynthesis properly, right?”
“Of course. I even visited the Rift Bureau building yesterday.”
“You went by car, didn’t you?”
“I can’t exactly walk all the way there.”
“Ah. Right.”
Don’t state the obvious.
Anyway, she was wearing casual clothes at this hour.
“Did you come from training at the Mir Guild?”
“Ah! How did you know?!”
“You’re not in your school uniform.”
“I could have been meeting friends!”
“During class hours?”
“Ugh.”
“Doesn’t Madam say anything?”
“The CSAT is coming up soon. Even if I go to school it’s mostly self-study, so we decided I’d go back and forth to the guild.”
Has the season already gotten that far?
“Anyway, good work.”
I was about to put my hands in my pockets and head out for food when—
“Waaaaait!”
Yeondu’s shout made me pause mid-step.
“What?”
“Uncle. I have a favor to ask.”
I had no idea what she was about to say with that serious face.
“Go ahead.”
“Well… the thing is…”
Yeondu fidgeted with her fingers before forcing the words out.
“Uncle. Can you spare some time?”
“If you want to date this older brother of yours, you’ll have to wait five years.”
Hoo.
This popularity of mine.
Really, the world just won’t leave me alone.
“Hey!!! I wouldn’t take you even if you were free!”
“What blasphemous words. Even a princess would not be permitted such an insult.”
“Do you know how charming our Master is?”
S-stop it.
If their plan was to kill me with embarrassment, they were already halfway there today.
“Anyway. Why do you need the time?”
“They say I need a guardian to participate in a gate raid.”
Because she was a minor, a guardian had to accompany her?
Strange.
“It’s not your first time entering a gate.”
“I’ve joined weekend raids quite a few times.”
Combat-class hunters needed to participate in monster hunting to gain experience.
Yeondu’s rank was D.
Having ranked up meant her level was at least fifty-one.
It wasn’t her first gate, yet suddenly they were talking about a guardian.
“I don’t really get it either.”
Yeondu tilted her head with a baffled look of her own.
“Non-Awakened can’t enter gates, so they told me to find a hunter guardian.”
“My guess is they just want to build a good relationship with you somehow.”
True enough.
Last time they had quietly allowed the fan club activities and shown other hard-to-understand behavior.
Guildmaster Yong Cheonwoo.
After I landed a solid hit on him during the joint raid he had gone quiet…
Was he trying to recruit me through Yeondu?
He hadn’t seemed like that kind of person.
A uneasy feeling lingered, but I nodded at Yeondu’s words.
“If it’s your request, of course I’ll do it.”
“Really?”
“Do you have any idea how many free meals I’ve gotten from Madam?”
“How would I know something like that?”
“I don’t know either. That’s why I asked.”
I had to repay the debt somehow, didn’t I?
Still…
I hadn’t even discussed it with President Baek yet. I hoped blurting it out like this would be fine.