Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Necromancer of the Sword Clan
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“......!”
Shin Cheol-jin's face twisted in disgust as he momentarily failed to control his expression.
He never imagined the bet he'd made with Shin Yu-hyun would come up at the clan leader meeting.
“Yes.”
Quickly pulling himself together, Shin Cheol-jin nodded in response.
“Then the outcome of the bet is settled. You'll follow through on it, of course?”
“Y-Yes, we will.”
Shin Cheol-jin, who'd been about to argue, hung his head low. Shin Sung-il was watching him silently.
There was no room for rebuttal.
All he could do was glare at Shin Yu-hyun with a face flushed red and purple, as if cursing him silently.
Shin Yu-hyun smirked back at Shin Cheol-jin.
Then he bowed his head toward Shin Sung-il once more.
“Thank you.”
“Moving on to the next item.”
With that, Shin Sung-il—who had just sided with Shin Yu-hyun—continued the clan leader meeting. ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ That night.
In Shin Sung-il's private study.
Shin Sung-hyun, leaning back on the sofa while sipping black tea, spoke up.
“I never thought that boy would really take down a 2-star boss all by himself. And he pretty much soloed the other magic beasts too.”
“Has he been hiding his power until now?”
“Dodging the clan's eyes? Impossible.”
Shin Sung-hyun shook his head.
Hiding the fact that he'd opened his vital energy while evading the clan's watch was simply not feasible. Especially not from Clan Leader Shin Sung-il or Grand Dharma Protector Shin Sung-hyun.
That left only one possibility.
“Then, just as Yu-hyun said, he must've opened his vital energy and grown stronger in just a few days.”
“That makes more sense. Hard to believe, though.”
Whether he'd hidden his vital energy awakening from their eyes all this time, or reached mid-2-star level just five days after awakening...
Both were hard to swallow, but the latter was at least somewhat plausible.
Even among geniuses, some bloomed late and shot up at absurd speeds in a short time.
“So, what do you plan to do with Yu-hyun, brother?”
“We need to verify if that power of his is real—and just how strong it is.”
“You mean...”
“It's early, but maybe it's time he handled some business outside the clan.”
“Hand him work from the domestic Hunter Association?”
“That's the idea. If he really has the strength, it should be no issue.”
“Even while shoving him into the successor struggle?”
Shin Sung-il gave a silent smile at that.
Anyone at today's clan leader meeting would've noticed. The third son, once treated like trash, was now entering the fight for succession.
And the one who'd made it happen was none other than the clan leader, Shin Sung-il.
“An incompetent who can't even open his vital energy? That's one thing. But if he has power, it's an inevitable fate.”
The unavoidable destiny of any direct descendant of the Heaven-Splitting Sword Clan.
The successor struggle.
Until now, Shin Yu-hyun had been that incompetent who couldn't even awaken his vital energy.
But not anymore.
He'd already bested the once-in-a-generation talent Shin Cheol-ho, and soloed a 2-star boss.
On top of that, Clan Leader Shin Sung-il had openly backed him.
More than anything, the clan leader taking Shin Yu-hyun's side lit a fire under the feet of the other contenders.
“It won't end quietly.”
“It'll be good trials for him.”
Shin Sung-il smiled coldly.
Then he turned to his younger brother, Shin Sung-hyun.
“Sung-hyun.”
“Yes, brother.”
“What about you? What do you plan to do? Looks like you made an interesting bet with Yu-hyun too.”
“You knew, huh?”
Shin Sung-hyun gave an awkward smile.
“I did wrestle with the decision a bit. But after seeing him at the meeting today, I think becoming his guardian wouldn't be a bad idea.”
“The clan's Grand Dharma Protector as his guardian...”
Shin Sung-il drummed his desk with a finger, lost in thought at the response.
If Shin Sung-hyun became Shin Yu-hyun's guardian, it could drastically shift the power balance in the Heaven-Splitting Sword Clan.
“I'll turn a blind eye if you help him—as long as it doesn't harm the clan. I'm curious to see how it plays out.”
“Thank you. I'm looking forward to seeing how far that boy can go myself.”
With that, they burst into shared laughter, sipping tea and chatting deep into the night. ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Vermilion Bird Hall basement training ground.
Shin Cheol-jin's private practice room.
“Shin Yu-hyun, you damn bastard!”
Shin Cheol-jin roared in fury, swinging his sword wildly.
Roar!
At that instant, a black aura shaped like the Vermilion Bird formed along the blade and shot toward the training ground wall.
Boom! Whoosh!
The black Vermilion Bird exploded against the wall like fireworks.
Still not satisfied, he lashed out indiscriminately, unleashing more black aura. Small blasts erupted around him with each swing.
“How dare a piece of trash mock me like this?”
Shin Cheol-jin, who wielded explosive aura, had a fiery, hot-tempered personality—but he kept it in check within the clan to avoid issues.
But Shin Yu-hyun's stunt this time? Unforgivable.
'That bastard was hiding his power!'
Shin Cheol-jin ground his teeth.
A 1-star trash who couldn't even awaken vital energy taking down a 2-star boss? Absurd.
Yet Shin Yu-hyun had done it solo, right in front of everyone.
Which meant, when he'd bet against him, Shin Yu-hyun already had the power to solo a 2-star boss.
'Why didn't I notice?'
Back in the Vermilion Bird Hall office, talking with Shin Yu-hyun, he'd had plenty of chances.
But it never crossed his mind that he'd awakened his vital energy.
To him, Shin Yu-hyun was just vital energy-less trash.
So when he'd bragged about soloing the boss, Shin Cheol-jin took the bait, accepting the bet.
He'd assumed the guy was just grasping for an excuse to leave the clan.
Who knew he'd actually pull it off.
And that wasn't all.
“Handing over my precious Heaven-Splitting Divine Pill to that punk...”
Just thinking about it made his blood boil.
Shin Cheol-jin had cherished the Heaven-Splitting Divine Pill he'd earned through clan merits.
Saving it for the day he'd break through to 5-star.
Now he had to give it to Shin Yu-hyun, whom he'd always seen as beneath him. It burned him up inside.
“You'll pay for making a fool of me, Shin Yu-hyun.”
Gritting his teeth, Shin Cheol-jin vowed to make him regret it. ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The next day.
Shin Yu-hyun headed straight to the 2-star dungeon, Fallen Goblin Forest.
Dungeons like this reset daily, allowing only one run per day.
Plus, he'd gotten permission from his father, the clan leader, to use it.
No reason to delay.
'Now I can finally test the Immortal King's undead skills.'
Shin Yu-hyun's heart raced with excitement.
At last, he could use the Immortal King's undead skills without worrying about prying eyes.
Until now, he'd only tried the clan's swordsmanship, heart method, and Immortal King's Blessing.
The clan still had hidden eyes he hadn't fully mapped out—his father's especially. Using undead skills there was too risky.
The necromancer aura might leak, and procuring corpses for activation was impossible anyway.
But in a dungeon? No clan eyes, and magic beast corpses aplenty.
“Alright then.”
Shin Yu-hyun looked ahead.
Two mutated goblins already lay dead at his feet.
A corrupted 2-star muscle goblin and a potion-jacked goblin.
“Let's see what you've got.” ⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Activating unique skill recorded in the Phnacoic Bible: Undead Creation (SSS) A thrilled smile crossed Shin Yu-hyun's face as he triggered the unique skill. Immediately, the goblins' bones and flesh separated on their own.
One of the Immortal King's powers: the SSS-rank unique skill, Undead Creation.
This skill could summon a single skeleton from any corpse.
Clack clack.
As the spell took effect, bones detached from flesh, revealing goblin skeletons.
Made from mutated specimens, they were impressively sturdy. ⚔ STATUS ⚔ Summoned 2-star Skeleton Goblin. Shin Yu-hyun eyed the two skeleton goblins before him.
Just bones now, but their eye sockets glowed with blue light, like in life.
'Good call doing this in the dungeon.'
If he'd tried it in the clan, his necromancer powers would've been exposed for sure.
The eerie undead aura swirled around the skeletons.
'Talk about broken. No rank limits...'
Shin Yu-hyun whistled inwardly while checking the Immortal King-related skill info.
Normal necromancers couldn't control undead beyond their own rank.
A 3-star necromancer couldn't handle 4-star+ magic beasts, for example.
But the Immortal King's powers ignored rank entirely.
'Downsides: must be within 12 hours of death, and uses the full magic stone.'
Minor compared to the upsides. Being able to puppet boss-grade magic beasts right away? Cheat-level.
Plus, as Immortal King's successor, his starting Dominance was 35.
Five points above a normal necromancer's 30.
But something mattered more. ⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ You have summoned a Skeleton Goblin for the first time. Unique trait Dominance Enhancement activated. 'As expected.'
Shin Yu-hyun smiled in satisfaction.
Just as planned—using Undead Creation activated the previously dormant Dominance Enhancement. ⚔ STATUS ⚔ 💀 Dominance Enhancement (SSS) 📚 Proficiency: Stage 1 🔗 Effect: 1 point = 1 undead controlled 'Still broken as ever.'
Shin Yu-hyun grinned at the skill description.
Necromancers were shunned in superhuman society for many reasons.
One was their low Dominance—10 points barely controlled one undead.
Raising it even by 1 was tough.
Yet here he was, at Stage 1 proficiency, controlling one per point.
Higher proficiency would only get better.
Building an endless undead legion like the previous Immortal King? Totally doable.
'And best of all...'
Shin Yu-hyun summoned the Immortal King's legacy, the Phnacoic Bible.
Pop!
A massive tome appeared before him. ⚔ STATUS ⚔ 📖 Phnacoic Bible Type: Grimoire (Personal Armed Weapon) Rank: Mythic (EX) Status: Bound Unique Skill: Undead Creation (SSS) General Skills: See details Unique Summon: Seven Arcs (Missing) Description: Grimoire-form personal armed weapon from an unknown era. Grants the ability to command immortal undead. Creator unknown; first owned by Immortal King Daniel Kraiton. 'The Phnacoic Bible is the core.'
The mythic grimoire and foundation of the Immortal King's power.
All his skills were recorded within.
Key ones: his seven summons, the Seven Arcs, and SSS-rank Undead Creation.
'If I can find the Seven Arcs before those Getia bastards show up...'
Shin Yu-hyun crossed his arms, checking the Seven Arcs entry. ⚔ STATUS ⚔ 🌟 Seven Arcs • Direct summons guarding the Immortal King. • Most went missing during the Dimensional War's Time Crisis incident. • One member, Dark Saintess (Moon Palace Star's Mediator), is sealed in the Phnacoic Bible. Summon Conditions: 1) Superhuman rank 3-star or higher. 2) Dominance 41+. 'Dimensional War? Time Crisis? What the hell?'
Shin Yu-hyun frowned in confusion.
The Phnacoic Bible and Seven Arcs entries were full of mysteries.
Who made the Bible? What were the Dimensional War and Time Crisis?
Clearly packed with secrets.
But his immediate goal was clear.
“Guess I just need to hit 3-star.”
Summoning the Dark Saintess would give clues to the rest of the Seven Arcs.
'Next up...'
Shin Yu-hyun checked the Undead Creation entry in the Phnacoic Bible.
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