Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Episode 13
Walking Corpse.
The lowest-grade undead, one step below a zombie.
But apparently, Jiangshi transformation was in progress.
What in the world... is this?
The creature even had a simple description attached to it that the others didn't have.
I browsed the Dimensional Tower Community pretty often in this life too.
So I knew quite a bit about awakened people.
But this was the first time I'd ever heard of Jiangshi transformation.
I knew China had plenty of martial-arts-related awakened people, along with Daoist and ritualist classes, but as far as I knew, no Jiangshi had ever appeared.
Why in the world had this happened?
Was it because I forcibly crammed the Corpse-Spirit Heavenly Jiangshi Whole-Body Art into an undead body?
And that was why Jiangshi transformation was underway?
It was already undead, so what would actually improve if it became a Jiangshi?
A jiangshi, huh... Well, in terms of sheer toughness, they are stronger than zombies or ghouls.
If you look purely at specs, they'd be superior.
But these things have stiff limbs, so they can't use martial arts.
A Corpse-Spirit Heavenly Jiangshi is a type of living jiangshi, so its body moves as smoothly as a living person's and it can use martial arts, but...
This.
If it just becomes an ordinary jiangshi, that's actually a loss of combat power.
Because my specialty was controlling undead like avatars and making them actually perform martial arts.
Plus, I had formations.
What should I do? Stop it? Or just go for it?
-Jiangshi transformation? What is that?
-So he really was the Corpse-Spirit Martial Sovereign...
-Was the Necron Emperor actually a jiangshi master?
While the viewers were also bewildered,
I reached a conclusion.
Screw it. Go for it!
I needed to run the experiment.
I needed to see whether it would become an ordinary Jiangshi or whether it would still move as flexibly as before despite being classified as one.
If it ended up classified as a Jiangshi while still able to move freely,
that would mean its specs had improved, so I absolutely had to go through with it.
Good. From now on, your name is Experimental Jiangshi No. 1.
[You have named the Walking Corpse.]
[Experimental Jiangshi No. 1]
The name above the creature's head changed.
-Couldn't you give it a cooler name...
-Experimental Jiangshi No. 1 is intuitive, but...
-Teacher, this is a bit...
The viewers looked less than thrilled, but I didn't care.
If this one shows proper results later, I can give it a fancy name then.
[Park Il-chim has donated 1 DP!]
But aren't you going to manage the subdimension? You should start now so it'll be useful later.
-This is the way.
-Among subdimension types, if you have territory-management abilities, over-investing early is the standard play.
-First, why not open up what's in the subdimension? Is the Necron Emperor different from a regular necro?
"Thanks for the donation, Park Il-chim! I was just about to open the subdimension management window anyway."
-And just like that, he's talking trashy again.
-Still better than the whole "this sovereign" act.
-So what's in there?
With the viewers cheering me on, I opened the Undead Subdimension management window.
[Town-Grade Undead Subdimension]
Size: Area of a town
Affiliated undead: 698
Production:
-> Necromantic Mana 6.98
[Construction]
[Environment Creation]
It was sparse.
I hit Construction, and a list unfurled.
[Production] [Military] [Commerce] [Diplomacy] [Research]
"I've mostly followed melee DPS stuff, so I have to ask: do Necromancers and Summoners all get something like this? Anyone who knows, tell me."
What was this... Wasn't this basically a territory?
So this was what an Undead Subdimension was like?
-This is something only people with lord-type classes have;;;
-Isn't it because he's the Necron Emperor?
-He's an emperor. So that's probably why.
With tens of thousands of viewers, the chat flew by at an incredible pace. Fortunately, my dynamic vision was good enough to keep up and get the gist of things.
My class.
Apparently, the Necron Emperor was no ordinary class.
Well, it's a Genesis Grade reward, so if it were bad, that would be a problem in itself.
Still, deep down I was thinking, "How great would it have been if they'd just given me an ordinary Martial World Native or martial artist class?"
I want to train in martial arts, damn it!
Hah... Nothing to be done about it.
Experimental Jiangshi No. 1.
At least you, resolve my long-held frustration!
[Park Il-chim has donated 1 DP!]
Better to raise Production first. Anyway, looking at it now, floors 1 through 10 seem like they can be cleared easily.
-This is the way.
-Even in StarCraft, whether you take your natural expansion first is super important~
-But what does it produce?
"Right. What does this make? I don't know either."
I pressed the Production tab.
[Multidimensional Corpse Pit] [Corpse Processing Plant]
Two things came up for now.
"Multidimensional Corpse Pit, this is... five corpses randomly appear per day? Crazy, what kind of facility is this? Is it a corpse farm or what?"
[Multidimensional Corpse Pit]
Summons and stores corpses from other dimensions.
Randomly generates 5 corpses per day.
-Five random corpses every day lolololol
-A building straight out of some urban legend!
-Insane.
"Corpse Processing Plant is... what. It processes corpses into materials? Where do the materials get used? Ah. So later, item-crafting buildings might appear in the Production tab?"
[Corpse Processing Plant]
Produces components for crafting necro items.
Corpses must be consumed to produce components.
I was dumbfounded.
One facility randomly stole corpses from other dimensions, while another chopped them up into components.
So if I put a human corpse in there, it would process that too, right?
Yikes.
Honestly, if it weren't for using human corpses as materials, there wouldn't be much to be shocked about.
Even with the cattle we raise, we eat the meat and process the bones to make art.
But doing that with people is a bit...
"From now on, putting human corpses in here is forbidden."
-That's how it should be...
-You've got to draw the line somewhere.
-Too bad. Humans are good too.
-But those construction costs are terrifying.
There sure are a lot of crazy people in the world.
For now, I decided to build both.
The problem was that each one cost a whopping 10,000DP.
1 DP was worth 10 dollars. In other words, each building cost 100,000 dollars!
With the exchange rate around 1,400 won these days, that's a building worth a whopping 140 million won.
It was hard to get a feel for the price... cheap in one sense, expensive in another.
Still, I suppose I was lucky. I'd won several bets in a row, and thanks to Big-Spender Ajusshi's donation a little while ago, I had just over 400,000 DP, so I could afford the construction.
"Construct."
Rrrrrrumble!
The undead subdimension vibrated slightly, and two buildings appeared. The Multidimensional Corpse Pit, to be honest, was literally just a pit, so it was hard to even call it a structure.
The Corpse Processing Plant at least looked impressive: a building about the size of a two-story house, assembled from pure-white bones.
Once the two buildings were constructed, the construction list changed.
[White-Bone Workshop] [Flesh Workshop] [Soul Workshop]
For now, three buildings could be built.
"Looks like building something unlocks additional things you can build?"
-Seems like it.
-But white-bone and flesh? Is this skeleton or zombie?
"Then what should we build? Let's put this to a vote."
1. White-Bone Workshop 1DP
2. Flesh Workshop 1DP
3. Soul Workshop 1DP
"For the record, this is a pay-to-win election. Multiple votes are allowed. Want something? Spend!"
At my words, the viewers' reactions exploded.
-Sensei, do you accept money for votes?
-What kind of insane pay-to-win election is this!? Terrifying!
-I get white-bone, but what in the world is the Soul Workshop?
Then the vote proceeded quickly, and it was decided in an instant.
"Everyone picked the Flesh Workshop, huh? Good. Flesh Workshop it is!"
Rrrrrrumble!
When I built the Flesh Workshop, another building rose up in the empty spot.
It was quite disgusting and horrifying.
It was a house cobbled together out of all kinds of creatures.
Goblins, kobolds, ratlings, and various other corpses—from ones I'd seen before to ones I hadn't—were all mixed together.
-Ugh;;;
-What is that what is that what is that kill me aaaaaaaah.
-Um... could you please turn the camera away?
-Turn the camera away now!!
"Ugh... so it was a gross-out facility. But you people chose the Flesh Workshop. Grit your teeth and deal with it. First, let me see what this thing actually does."
I fiddled with the screen settings and put a mosaic over the Flesh Workshop.
Set it so the viewers couldn't see it, but I could see it normally.
Then I clicked on the Flesh Workshop, and a message popped up.
[Assign staff to the Flesh Workshop.]
Staff. Staff, huh.
First, I tried giving an order to a goblin Walking Corpse.
[This undead lacks intelligence.]
[It cannot become staff.]
Heh... So they were too dumb to work as staff.
But Walking Corpses originally don't have intelligence. So then what?
I can't use them right now?
[Kkosida has donated 1DP!]
Why build it if I can't use it... No wonder my luck had been so good today.
These bastards were dead serious about messing with me.
Anyway, there didn't seem to be anything else I could do on the production side. Come to think of it, the Necron Ossuary had told me to appoint an administrator too.
This is... How do I get intelligent undead? Or can I make intelligent undead if I level up?
"That's it for today's stream. Have a good day, everyone."
[Not-Grandpa has donated 1DP!]
The undead do everything anyway, so why not clear one more floor?
"You jerk! I'm human too! I need to go out and eat! Use the bathroom! You know! So for that reason, have a good day, everyone."
And with that, I ended the stream.
Before the stream ended, the viewer count had surpassed one hundred thousand.
* * *
One day after the awakened Lee Mu-seon's appearance.
Information about him spread everywhere in just a single day.
Wasn't this the country where all three major telecom companies had been hacked and citizens' personal information had become public property?
It was only natural that information about him would get out.