Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Episode 18
I was still thinking about that.
Then another message appeared.
[You have obtained the Floor 2 clear reward.]
[Level increased by 1.]
[Level increased by 1.]
[Level increased by 1.]
[You have acquired the skill 'Self-Reclamation' of the class 'Necron Emperor'.]
So I'd gained three levels at once.
Necromantic Mana surged through my body, and I felt all my physical capabilities increase sharply.
Compared with my previous life...... it felt a little like taking a spiritual elixir.
But it wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling.
It wasn't power I'd built through my own training. It felt as if someone were forcibly stuffing it into me.......
I wonder if I'll be able to do something about this restriction later too.
-What the X—three levels at once!
-Even on Floor 2, it normally takes more than ten runs just to gain a single level.......
-Soloing naturally makes you level faster.
-That's insane.
The viewers were impressed too.
Well, people who leveled as quickly as I did weren't exactly common, so that was only natural.
The viewers were still making a racket.
[Big-Spender Ajusshi has donated 1,000 DP!]
What do you mean by "actually, that's good"? And could you perhaps answer the earlier mission in more detail?
Big-Spender Ajusshi spoke to me again.
He was seriously curious. Well, it was a question worth a whopping 140 billion won.
It wasn't an easy question.
Anyway.
So the mission still hadn't been processed as failed.
Did the system judge my answer as "slightly lacking"?
If I answered properly here, that was 140 billion won.
I might actually get it.
"To answer Big-Spender Ajusshi, what I meant by 'actually, this is better' was that I came up with a good idea. You'll see it on the next stream, so wait for it. And I'll answer the mission too. Knowing how doesn't mean you can actually do it anyway."
-He's really going to reveal how undead use martial arts!?
-Did we just hit the jackpot thanks to Big-Spender Ajusshi?
-This is it!!
The viewers clamored as well.
I watched their reactions and began explaining.
"You know Necromancers have a skill that lets them control Necromantic Mana at will, right? As far as I know, other classes have similar skills, so you viewers probably know what I mean. If you don't, look it up online. Necromancers can move Necromantic Mana however they want because of the 'Necromantic Mana Manipulation' skill. Like this."
I extended one finger and projected Necromantic Mana from it.
I used it to draw patterns.
A star, a heart, a lightning bolt, a skull, and so on.
-What does that have to do with using martial arts? I genuinely don't know.
-What exactly is he doing with Necromantic Mana Manipulation?
-I think I might get it.......
"I'm explaining this to show you that I take the Necromantic Mana I control and put it directly inside an undead's body to use it there."
I called Experimental Jiangshi No. 1 over.
Necromantic Mana streamed from my hand into its body.
"Those of you with martial-arts classes already know this, but the human body has things like the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and pressure points. Move Necromantic Mana along those qi pathways and it becomes martial arts. Understand now? In other words, I know how martial arts work. I reproduce that inside an undead's body, then fine-control the undead and make it perform the art. There. That's the explanation. Understand?"
That was as much as I could tell them.
But the real core of it was another matter.
I couldn't give them the martial-art formulas or the true-qi circulation methods themselves.
That knowledge was too valuable to teach for a mere 140 billion won, and there were limits to what could be explained in words anyway.
This wasn't something I could teach verbally.
Now then. How would the system judge this?
[You have succeeded in Big-Spender Ajusshi's mission.]
[You have obtained 10,000,000DP.]
"Oh."
I let out a short exclamation. Ten million DP. In other words, I'd made 140 billion won in one shot!!
I was only level 13.
I hadn't even been a hunter for a few days yet.
And I'd already made 140 billion won.
Heh heh. Being a hunter is great!
I'd rarely experienced anything like this even in my previous life.
Maybe it was comparable to falling off a cliff and stumbling into a fortuitous encounter?
Hmm. No.
Come to think of it, the dopamine hit from the cliff encounter might actually have been stronger.
-140 billion won in one go!!!!!!
-Corpse-Spirit Martial Sovereign! If you could just help me a little.......
-Who the hell is Big-Spender Ajusshi? Judging by the name, he seems Korean.......
-He burned 140 billion won in one go!?
[Big-Spender Ajusshi has donated 1,000 DP!]
I understood the principle. Could you perhaps tell me the detailed parts? I would appreciate it if you could send me a message via private chat.
[Big-Spender Ajusshi has proposed a 5,000,000 DP mission!]
A 5 million DP mission this time.
Well, well. He really did have deep pockets. And my answer to his earlier question hadn't contained the real substance. He'd blown 140 billion won on that, so he had every reason to be frustrated, but he didn't show it.
Well now.
Were there this many rich people in Korea?
"I'll turn that one down. This isn't something you can understand just because I explain it in words. Still, since you spent so much earlier, I'll give you one extra hint: I can make undead use martial arts because I know how to use martial arts myself, without relying on a Skill. Remember that."
Out of gratitude for the 140 billion won, I gave him that little extra for free.
Without a Skill. You had to understand martial arts well enough to use them yourself.
But is anyone besides me capable of that?
On top of that, this world imposed restrictions based on class.
Even with all my knowledge from my previous life, I still couldn't use martial arts myself.......
Well. That wasn't my problem.
-No, what does that mean?
-You have to know how to use martial arts? Without skills?
-Corpse-Spirit Martial Sovereign, sir, can you actually do that?
The viewers clamored as well. The new information seemed to be lighting up their frontal lobes.
But it was about time to end the broadcast.
I ignored the viewers' questions and protests.
"There. That's it for today's broadcast. Hope you all enjoyed it. And make sure to donate generously next time too."
-Noooooo! Don't goooooo.
-My dopamine.......
-One more floor! One more floor!
Ignoring the viewers' pleas, I ended the broadcast.
At the same time, I looked at Experimental Jiangshi No. 1.
"Hmm."
This one had reached its current growth limit.
The system's restrictions meant it couldn't get any stronger from here.
But just because I couldn't make this one stronger didn't mean I couldn't increase my overall combat power.
I could just make another one into a Copper Jiangshi.
The problem was.
"Grrr......."
The problem was that I couldn't do the same thing with the Hobgoblin General.
Why?
The martial arts I knew were ultimately based on the human body. But this Hobgoblin General wasn't human.
Since it was a different species, its Eight Extraordinary Meridians and even the positions of its organs were quite different.
So it was out.
I could study its anatomy and experiment with martial arts, but that would take too long.
Of course, the Hobgoblin General's physical abilities were superior to an ordinary human's.
By my estimate, it was at least twice as physically capable as an ordinary person who worked out regularly.
And that was pure physical ability, without using aura or mana.
From something I'd heard somewhere, a gorilla's grip strength could exceed 300 kg, while an ordinary adult man's was around 40 kg.
That was a seven- to eightfold difference.
Which meant a gorilla that properly learned martial arts would outperform a human.
In that sense, studying a Hobgoblin's body and teaching it martial arts wasn't a bad idea. The problem, again, was time.
When would I investigate and experiment with that?
Besides, even if Hobgoblins had better physical abilities than humans, they were still a low-tier species.
There were plenty of species with far better bodies than this one.
Orcs, trolls, ogres, and so on.......
I'd rather experiment on those and turn them into Jiangshi. Spending that much time on a Hobgoblin wasn't worth it.
Anyway, an Ogre Jiangshi.
Whoa...... now that was a thrilling thought.
I'll definitely have to make one someday.
"Come out."
While thinking about all that, I brought out the three human corpses I'd received at the very beginning.
Three identical male corpses—triplets created and provided by the Dimensional Tower.
Among them, Experimental Jiangshi No. 1 had become a Copper Jiangshi, but the other two were still in the Walking Corpse state.
Fwoooosh!
I poured Necromantic Mana into them and moved it according to the Corpse-Spirit Heavenly Jiangshi Whole-Body Art, forcing it through a complete Grand Circulation in one go.
Whoooosh!
[Walking Corpse]
Jiangshi transformation is in progress.
[Walking Corpse]
Jiangshi transformation is in progress.
Both corpses began undergoing jiangshi transformation.
Thanks to the Necron Ossuary, my Necromantic Mana kept refilling, so I packed their dantians full to bursting.
But how many Copper Jiangshi could I control at once?
The [Dignity of the Corpse Lord] skill let me control an unlimited number of Walking Corpses.
That had created a snowball effect: the [Necron Ossuary] kept refilling my Necromantic Mana, letting me pump it into them without end.
But Copper Jiangshi were a different story.
They were inferior to ghouls, but clearly a higher class of undead than Walking Corpses.
I wondered how high their grade would be.
They definitely seemed higher than zombies.
If Copper Jiangshi were also unlimited, that would be great.
If I could make a legion of a million Copper Jiangshi, what could anyone possibly do to me? That kind of thought.
Damn. It'd be amazing if that worked...... but probably not.
The Dimensional Tower probably wasn't that lax.
Then again, watching me make Jiangshi with knowledge from my previous life and have them use martial arts did make the Dimensional Tower seem surprisingly lax.......
"Status window."
To find out, I opened my status window.