Chapter 34
Episode 34
By this point.
I thought I had a pretty good idea of what kind of class a Necromancer was.
"They're a lot like the spellcasters of the Talisman School. Especially the talisman guys."
This was basically just like the talisman practitioners I'd seen all the time in my previous life, wasn't it?
There had been quite a few people who used spellcraft in my previous life.
The Corpse-Spirit Demon Lord Si Ha-rin, for example, had felt like a hybrid—someone who trained in martial arts and spellcraft while also creating jiangshi.
In my previous life, the ten strongest masters in the martial world were singled out and called the Ten Great Masters of the Martial World.
It was the sort of name that showed up in every martial arts novel, so there was nothing particularly remarkable about it.
What was unusual in my previous life was that three of those ten masters actually used spellcraft.
First was Si Ha-rin, the Corpse-Spirit Demon Lord, famous for being a hybrid.
Despite using jiangshi, they behaved so much like an upright gentleman that people called them the Corpse-Spirit Demon Lord.
We'd been close, too.
Next was Gal Seo-hyeon, known as the Sorcery Emperor.
Gal Seo-hyeon was a pure Daoist practitioner and the sect leader of the Maoshan Sect, a branch of the Talisman School.
The Talisman School was one of the four major schools of Daoism.
They were divided into the Talisman School, the Alchemy School, the Qi Cultivation School, and the Longevity School.
The Alchemy School was full of pill fanatics, the Qi Cultivation School focused on cultivating internal energy, and the Longevity School practiced things like bedchamber arts and dietary cultivation.
The Talisman School? Those guys devoted themselves to spellcraft and talismans like their lives depended on it.
Apparently, all four schools ultimately aimed to become ageless, deathless immortals in their own way.
And there was one important point here.
All of the martial arts of the martial world had their roots in the Qi Cultivation School.
The Qi Cultivation School's ultimate goal was to cultivate internal energy and form a Golden Core in the dantian, the foundation for becoming an immortal—and ultimately, martial artists of the martial world were aiming for the same thing.
Back in my previous life, when I was striving to become a Martial Immortal, that had been my goal too.
And I'd half succeeded.
Anyway.
My impression was that the Talisman School and Necromancers had quite a lot in common.
What did they have in common?
Resource management.
They were brutally similar in that regard.
"You still have a habit of suddenly saying whatever is on your mind."
"Ah. Sorry."
"That's the first time I've ever received an apology from you."
Jegal Yu-yeon gave me a strange look.
"I reincarnated and everything. I guess I've mellowed out as a person."
"Did the idea of making implements from corpses as resources remind you of talisman practitioners?"
"Exactly."
"From that perspective, you're right."
"See? I knew it."
"Yes. The underlying concept is the same: stockpile implements, then use them when needed."
Jegal Yu-yeon understood what I meant immediately.
This was why it was so convenient having smart people around.
Necromancers.
Put it in the most extreme terms, and they gather corpses, then use them to make items, generate Necromantic Mana, and fight.
Take the siege defense, for example.
I had operated a formation and wiped out the enemy without my undead taking much damage, but an ordinary Necromancer probably would have lost a considerable number of undead.
In other words, it was like investing a huge amount of resources and defeating the enemy as those resources were consumed.
That was the important part.
You only made a profit if you gained more resources than you spent.
If you spent more than you gained and ran a deficit?
Life got rough.
No wonder the Necromancers on the forums kept whining about how brutal resource management was.
I was fairly free from that problem thanks to the ridiculously broken Necron Emperor class. Other Necromancers had to use a skill every single time just to create a Walking Corpse, the lowest-grade undead.
And that still consumed a resource called Necromantic Mana.
For me, corpses around me just automatically became undead.
The resource cost was already different from that point alone.
And then there was the issue of control capacity.
Wow. Thinking about it this way, I wondered if other Necromancers weren't constantly getting headaches.
Every time they fought, did they have to sit there going, 'I lost five undead today, but only got three corpses. Damn, that's a deficit.'
Was that how they fought?
That's insane.
Man, the world sure was harsh.
Things probably wouldn't have gone this well for me either if I hadn't been able to apply the martial arts knowledge from my previous life to my undead.
No, wait. If I hadn't had my previous-life memories in the first place, I never would have come up with any of this, would I?
What even was "me"?
As I thought about that, my mind naturally settled into stillness, and I felt my awareness expanding.
Huuuuum.
My awareness expanded.
My perception spread wider and wider.
Just as Necromantic Mana surged and began racing wildly through my body—
[An improper method incompatible with your class has been attempted.]
[You cannot accumulate power through this method.]
Everything stopped at once.
"Tsk...."
They even blocked enlightenment?
Dimensional Tower. You really are damn strict.
[Advancement through enlightenment incompatible with your class confirmed.]
[Substituting with a reward compatible with your class.]
Oh? Last time they gave me nothing. Were they actually going to give me something this time?
[You have acquired a Legendary Grade Random Box.]
"Oh...."
A glowing box appeared in front of me. Jegal Yu-yeon looked interested as well.
"I saw you attain enlightenment... Did the Dimensional Tower block it and provide compensation instead?"
"As you can see, that's exactly what happened."
"This Dimensional Tower truly is an intriguing place. It seems worth studying."
Jegal Yu-yeon looked oddly pleased.
She really hadn't changed at all, then or now.
"For now, let's open this thing."
A random box.
It was a reward you could obtain from time to time. It had grades too, and there was no way to know what was inside.
Still, I was happy that it was Legendary Grade.
The throne I'd been using so well lately was Legendary Grade too.
I was only level 20 now. Wasn't this reward a little too extravagant?
Flash!
[You have acquired a Dimensional Shop Opening Permit.]
[Dimensional Tower Shop Opening Permit]
Grade: Legendary
A certificate granting authority to open a dimensional shop.
Using it allows you to open a shop in the Dimensional Tower marketplace.
Well, now... something unexpected had come out.
"Something useful appeared at just the right time."
"This?"
"Yes. This would be ideal for selling the implements produced in this subdimension. At the marketplace, you would have to conduct every transaction yourself, but with this certificate, transactions can be handled automatically from within the subdimension."
"Oh. Yeah, that's definitely useful."
In other words, I'd just get a store under me, right? I wouldn't even need to list and sell every item myself.
Oh. This was seriously sweet.
"Start mass-producing Adhering Flesh and Vengeful Spirit Orbs and put them up for sale."
"I'll do that."
Jegal Yu-yeon answered without hesitation.
Then something suddenly occurred to me.
"Come to think of it, Strategist, how have you been getting by in this subdimension? Aren't you bored or anything?"
Jegal Yu-yeon gave me that strange look again.
I could never tell what this one was thinking, then or now.
Was it because she was from the Jegal Clan?
"You're only asking me that now?"
"Hey... it happens."
"There are actually things I need. Things required for me to serve as your strategist."
"Like what?"
"Please grant me permission to use DP and access the Dimensional Tower community."
I was the owner of the DP.
But I'd heard my vassals could use it too.
Apparently, that was what she was asking for.
"Sure. Go ahead."
I readily gave her permission.
She was managing the subdimension in my place and would be running the shop from now on. How could I refuse something like that?
Her eyes took on that strange look again.
Seriously, why did she always look at me like that?
"Well then, I'm going into the Dimensional Tower, so keep up the good work."
With that, I headed for Floor 2 of the Dimensional Tower.
Ah. I should turn on the stream before I go.
I started the stream.
Ding!
The viewers who had been waiting flooded in all at once.
How many people were going to show up today?
-My medicine is heeeeeere!
-Corpse-Spirit bro is heeeeere!!
-Bro, yesterday's complete clear of Floor 1 was seriously insane. For real.
-Holy shit, look at the viewer count. Three hundred thousand right from the start lololol
-Corpse-Spirit bro, you're not leaving us now, right? You're not leaving Korea, right?
-National hero Corpse-Spirit Martial Sovereign is here. Everyone clap!
-God-Corpse-Spirit Martial Sovereign has arrived. Dopamine recharge starts now.
-I rewatched yesterday's mining stream, and that undead combined attack technique lololol. It was seriously cool.
The chat was already going berserk from the moment the stream started.
The atmosphere was even closer to madness than usual today.
Apparently yesterday's complete clear of Floor 1 had become quite the hot topic.
"Yeah, yeah. Good to see you all."
I raised a hand in greeting.
"As always, let's get right into the main event today."
-Hell yeah, caught it live!
-Mad Martial—no, Corpse-Spirit Martial Sovereign!
-Corpse-Spirit bro, take care of us today too!
-I'm here for a full dose of national pride, bro.
"So you're asking where I'm going today?"
I opened my mouth with a grin.
"Today, I'm going to Floor 2."
-Floor 2?
-Mining again?
-Corpse-Spirit bro, you're not going back to mine Floor 1? Yesterday's efficiency was insane.
-Going back to the seat-stealing game on Floor 2?
-Can you even mine in the seat-stealing game?
Question after question filled the chat.
"Mining is nice, but it'd be boring if all I ever did was mine, right?"
I shrugged once.
"So today, I'm going to try for a complete clear of Floor 2 as well."
-?!?!?!
-A complete clear of Floor 2 too?? Again??
-No, bro, are you craz—well, I knew you were crazy, but this is a bit much.
-I've seriously never seen anyone completely clear Floor 2.
-Wait, hold on. What's the complete-clear condition for Floor 2?
-Was it even possible to completely clear Floor 2 according to the records??
I could see the viewers collectively losing their minds.
Well, I understood.
I'd heard there were no complete-clear records anywhere in the world except on Floors 21, 28, and 34.
The question of whether Floor 2 could even be completely cleared was bound to draw attention.
"That's actually the problem. The Floor 2 I entered before was the seat-stealing game, remember?"
I lightly flicked a finger as I explained.
"But I couldn't figure out what the complete-clear condition was for that seat-stealing map."