The Most Fundamental Thing

The battle with the black orcs raged on.

Dio's skill attacks.

Silvea's healing magic.

Han Areum's magic barrages.

OneShotOneKill's arrows blanketing the sky.

Pitong's unbreakable tanking and Mu-hyuk's bone swords.

Krwoooaaar!

No matter how wildly the beasts thrashed, to this group, they were nothing more than prey.

The understanding gains during combat were impressive.

They'd only hunted five black orcs so far, and it had already reached 30 percent.

"This is going smoothly. Shall we try taking on two each?"

"Looks good to me."

Everyone looked to Mu-hyuk.

He nodded.

"Alright. OneShot, herd just two over."

"Got it."

The archer OneShotOneKill circled around, luring exactly two black orcs.

"Ready!"

Dio shouted.

Mu-hyuk resummoned his skeletons, placing the enhanced skeletons and bone swords at the front.

As OneShotOneKill dashed past, the enhanced skeletons and Pitong charged at the oncoming black orcs.

The struck black orcs instantly shifted their aggro to two targets.

Clang! Claaang!

Even blocking with shields whittled down their HP.

Blessing of the Dead.

Purple light extended outward.

A portion of their depleted HP filled back up.

"Attack!"

Right on Dio's cue, Han Areum and OneShotOneKill unleashed their powerful skills from the ready position.

Booom!

The black orcs staggered.

"Defend again!"

Priest Silvea focused her healing on Gangcheol.

"Heal! Great Heal!"

Mu-hyuk healed the enhanced skeletons whenever his cooldowns reset.

In the meantime, Han Areum and OneShotOneKill peppered them with basic attacks and minor skills. When their big skills came off cooldown again, Gangcheol called it out with uncanny timing.

"Attack!"

Another barrage of skills rained down.

Not only did experience and understanding rise steadily, but...

"Corpse Dissection."

The materials harvested from their corpses were a bonus.

*

Mu-hyuk checked his quest.

Just 1.3 percent of understanding remained.

Right on cue, OneShotOneKill herded over two more black orcs.

The skeletons and Pitong held the defense.

"Attack!"

Skills poured forth.

Understanding climbed quickly once more.

Now only 1.1 percent left.

If we just finish these...

Defend again.

Then another skill barrage.

Down to 0.1 percent.

"Fireball!"

The magic fired right on time.

And with that, it was done.

Mu-hyuk hurriedly finished off the black orcs and excused himself from the party.

"Too bad."

"We'll cross paths again sometime."

"Well, if you're busy, no helping it. But we can add friends, right?"

"Of course."

After adding them as friends, Mu-hyuk left the party and headed straight back to the Hemil Empire.

After about 30 minutes of walking, he arrived, passing through the square to the northern alley, stopping in front of Valsian's house.

"I'm here."

This time, the door opened immediately.

Slam.

Valsian eyed Mu-hyuk.

"Given up already?"

"Pardon?"

"You couldn't have understood it that fast..."

He'd cleared it quickly, sure.

"I finished it."

"Overconfidence can be poison."

"Just check."

"Hmph. Come in."

As soon as he sat inside, Valsian extended his hand.

Light poured from his palm, enveloping Mu-hyuk. Valsian stared for a moment, then showed a hint of surprise.

"Hoo..."

Admiration, perhaps.

"You really understood it. All of it."

"Yes."

"Fast..."

With those words, a message appeared.

Valsian seemed caught off guard too.

"Hmph, fine. You passed the test, so you deserve proper rewards."

He pulled out five books.

Skillbooks.

"These are the core skills of the jobs you understood, modified slightly by the previous lord."

Mu-hyuk knew.

He couldn't learn all five.

"Choose two."

Some users reportedly raged here.

Why? Why only two out of five?!

The quest just said "acquire skills."

Think about it.

Show five, and everyone wants all five.

But a choice? Nowhere in the quest description.

Protest, and Valsian would say he never promised all of them.

Mu-hyuk, knowing this from the start, wasn't surprised or excited.

Valsian eyed him curiously before finally opening the books.

Skill info floated in the air.

Honestly, he wanted them all.

But only two.

Even with his prior planning, seeing them stirred greed for the others.

All five would be perfect...

Knowing it impossible, he just sighed.

Haa...

Mu-hyuk closed his eyes to steady his mind.

Powerful Swing.

Useful, but with summons multiplying, he rarely fought melee. Could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠skip.

Step was needed—even archers had to move.

But he had other plans for mobility skills. Pass.

Down to three.

Powerful Arrow Shot.

Meditation.

Small Library.

Stick to the plan.

MP burden growing daily—Meditation for recovery was essential.

No proper attack skills? Enhanced Powerful Arrow Shot was a must.

It evolved into new skills upon mastery.

Small Library was great too.

+0.1 magic atk/def per Knowledge. Mastery: +1 each.

50 Knowledge? +50 to both. Who'd refuse?

But for Mu-hyuk, Meditation and Arrow Shot edged it out.

"Powerful Arrow Shot and Meditation. Those two."

"No regrets?"

"None."

"Good. Here."

He received the two skillbooks.

Then Valsian pulled two more from his robes.

"Take these. Special gifts."

"Thank you."

Four skillbooks in total.

He wanted to learn them here but held back.

"You're annoying. Get out. Train more and come back."

"Yes. See you next time."

Rising to leave, Mu-hyuk glanced back at Valsian.

He was turned away, fiddling with something, feigning disinterest—but a loneliness clung to his back.

Hmm...

Something tugged at Mu-hyuk's chest.

I should visit more often.

With that thought, he stepped out.

"Hoo."

Exhaling deeply, he pulled a skillbook from inventory.

Opening it...

Of course, yes.

Next...

Another skillbook. Learned.

Important, but an even more crucial one awaited.

Of the "special gifts," he opened one.

Enhanced Bone Assembly.

The reason he'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠planned skull swaps at level 50.

Only with it could skeletons evolve to second stage.

Last skillbook.

Slide.

He opened it.

Heart pounding.

Even knowing what it was.

Yes.

Messages filled his vision.

*

He reviewed today's new skills.

Very satisfying.

One issue.

MP consumption would spike.

Quick math.

Warriors and archers: 3 each per unit.

15 total: 45 MP per 10 sec. Add mage: 46.

276 per minute.

With Meditation and recovery gear, current regen: 182 per minute. Net loss: 94 per minute.

Hmm.

Over 2,000 MP now—about 25 minutes of summoning.

Factor Powerful Arrow Shot and Blessing of the Dead: maybe 20.

Enough? Field bosses like Mokryeong took at least 30 minutes—even with dozens of skilled players.

Higher levels: bosses scale exponentially. Hour-plus, even two-hour fights become standard.

Mu-hyuk needed more MP regen. Without dumping bonus points into Knowledge/Wisdom.

Only Meditation and...

Grokion set.

That's it.

Need MP regen rings, bracelets, anklets.

Currently 8 rings equipped.

Opened auction house. Bought two +15% MP regen rings, one bracelet, one anklet.

Gold drained fast, but necessary for summon uptime.

Equip them.

Now 10 rings full.

Bracelet and anklet too.

MP regen now 262 per minute.

Net loss: 14 per minute.

At least 1 hour 40 minutes—up to 2 hours summon sustain.

But as summon levels rose, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it'd drop to 1 hour, then 30 minutes.

Needed 3+ hours...

Nothing more for now.

Sigh. Training hall first.

Level 50 achieved—second training hall mandatory.