The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 148
“Hehehe. But this side takes priority, anyway.”
Muter had an artifact in his hand, which was the item he had brought after receiving a deal from the royal family last month and entrusting it to the magic tower.
It seemed like Kaila had handed over the artifact.
Initially, Kaila had temporarily given Muter control over the original golem. The fact that Kaila had helped Muter control the golem at some point was easily inferred.
It seemed like Kaila was playing the role of my representative, knowing the entire situation.
“Director Do-inha!”
Next, Atina also rushed towards me, accompanied by Tia.
“How’s the work… going?”
Atina glanced at the two undead behind me and asked for confirmation, and I nodded calmly.
Tia also understood the situation and offered words of congratulations.
We exchanged habitual greetings and briefly shared stories about our recent activities.
“How’s the underground dungeon?”
“It’s being managed well. The expansion is beyond my imagination, isn’t it?”
According to the story, it seemed like they had created an additional floor below.
I wondered if it was necessary to go that far, and Tia apologized, saying…
“But I thought that even if Oppa was great, he might not be able to secure his position. So, I tried to create the best environment possible to prepare for that…”
“Thanks for considering it.”
“Ah, no. And it was a pointless effort anyway. I heard it was a temporary residence, but you’ve taken over an entire castle and… the number of Undead has increased significantly.”
The Land of Death was still well-maintained, and I heard that Pwolork was doing well too.
The next administrator was entrusted to Enri, who was assisting Tia.
“By the way, I heard you’ve leveled up.”
“…Heard?”
Artina looked embarrassed, scratching her head.
It seemed that I was focused at the time and didn’t hear it.
“That’s right, I followed your advice and went through the monster forest in the neighboring territory to our dungeon. I fought various monsters along the way and leveled up.”
“Didn’t you rush through the forest without anyone watching?”
“…Not to that extent. I did rush a bit, but…”
I knew that would happen.
With Artina’s abilities, she didn’t need to engage in many battles.
Even if it took a bit longer, if she carefully observed her surroundings and moved cautiously, she could have passed the outer areas with minimal fighting, but it seemed she didn’t do that.
I let out a short sigh, and Artina flinched slightly at my reaction.
“It’s fine since you’re safe.”
“…Is that so? But thanks to that, you even surpassed the wall, right? To be honest, it was necessary from the middle onwards.”
Kayla also let out a small sigh, shaking her head at Artina’s defensive words.
There was a subtle gap in her words, especially when it came to her younger brother.
It wasn’t a bad point, but as long as she protected her brother well, there wouldn’t be any problems.
“After all, most people would do the same.”
“But how did the Master become top-ranked?”
“…Didn’t you hear?”
“I asked during our spar, but you didn’t tell me, saying it was unnecessary.”
“That’s what you said.”
In reality, there was nothing special.
While I was focused on creating Undead, Kayla was keeping watch around me.
I repeatedly told her to take it easy, and as a result, Kayla spent her time meditating or practicing her swordsmanship alone.
“When I suddenly heard that you became top-ranked, I was shocked.”
I was the one who said the vessel was almost full, but somehow she took a step ahead of me.
But I wasn’t unhappy about it.
Kayla was my person, and I trusted her as much as my Undead.
There was no reason to dislike her becoming stronger.
I sincerely congratulated her, and she smiled brightly, which I still remember.
However, Artina, who didn’t know the truth, looked unhappy, and it seemed she had also asked Baldwin.
But Baldwin was busy with his external activities and didn’t know the details, so he couldn’t give a clear answer.
As Kayla let out a sigh, she told Artina the truth, and Artina looked at her teacher in disbelief.
“…Is it possible to surpass the wall of top-ranked with just meditation and training, without actual combat?”
While there’s no training as good as actual combat, in reality, the latter is more common.
Particularly, as the level of expertise increases, so does the gap.
Once you become a mid-level or high-level expert, you can’t help but have actual combat experience. And if you’ve had sufficient combat experience, you can use that as a foundation to re-establish your skills through meditation or personal training, which is where you gain enlightenment.
“It’s said that true masters, who have reached an extremely high level of expertise, mostly surpass their limits through meditation or personal training after actual combat.”
Of course, there are masters born in the midst of war who don’t need that.
But Artina’s curiosity seemed to have been satisfied, and her expression had brightened up.
She looked much brighter than a few months ago.
It seemed like having Tia by her side was the reason.
Artina had also become a 6-class, and she and Kyle had taken a step forward, so she suggested having a celebration party, which drew everyone’s attention to me.
In reality, I was the decision-maker, so that’s how the situation unfolded.
I even mentioned that we should have a welcome party, and Artina hugged Tia and smiled brightly.
It’s Friday.
I hope you’ve had a good week.
See you on Monday. (__)
<Episode 141﹥ 6-Class
A small party was held.
It wasn’t a real party, just a simple meal.
“When you become a 6-class, you said you’d start moving seriously, so are you going to start right away?”
“Not tomorrow, but the day after.”
Tomorrow, I planned to take a short break and use the corpses I had accumulated to summon a large number of undead.
“I need to adjust the formations of Dullahan and the Knights, so I need some time.”
“But what about us if we move according to their pace?”
“Mute will finish his work here, and I’ll leave Tia behind.”
I intended to leave the original golem, Entin, Nelson, and Langbing behind. I also planned to temporarily assign mid-to-low-level undead under Entin’s command.
“We need people to guard.”
Since we had cleaned up the entire area over the past few months, there were no large monsters approaching the castle.
So, it wasn’t particularly dangerous.
But just in case, it was necessary to prepare.
I decided to put off the golem’s reinforcement.
The reason was simple: I hadn’t made up my mind yet.
“If it’s a large undead, there might be something other than the golem.”
At my current level, I could make a dragon or even create an undead worm if I had the right corpse.
“If it’s a barren land, there might be a Death Worm.”
It wasn’t urgent anyway.
I could still achieve a significant result in the barren land with my current power.
Now that I had become a 6-class and my options had increased, I thought I’d observe the situation for a while.
Throughout the party, my companions ate and drank with relaxed faces, and Artina, who was caught up in the atmosphere, even challenged the Knights, including Night Banner Entin and Dullahan Gagar, to see their skills.
I didn’t drink at all.
No matter how much I had cleaned up the area, the barren land was still right in front of me. I didn’t let my guard down that much.
“Wow, these guys are really strong?”
“That’s because their base is at the mid-level expert and highest expert level.”
Although I’ve become an undead and my abilities have changed, I’m currently weaker than Athina, but if time passes, I’ll be able to showcase my skills from when I was alive.
‘After all, my soul is mine, so the efficiency is higher.’
Of course, even if these two regain their powers from when they were alive, it wouldn’t work for Kylla.
Kylla was a top-tier expert with the Mana Heart and was objectively the closest to being a Master expert.
Incidentally, both of them could use forbidden aura.
‘…My magic will be consumed excessively.’
The problem was whether I could withstand that consumption, but for now, it was okay.
It’s not like I haven’t prepared for the past three months. I’ve also prepared for the future to some extent.
I’ve stored a few black bones containing my magic and a large amount of black water.
‘So far, it’s been okay, but the scale has become too large.’
It’s a fact that I’ve become a 6-class and my magic capacity has increased significantly.
However, the scale of the undead has become even larger.
‘One of the reasons is to settle and build structures.’
Fighting alone isn’t a problem.
However, strengthening the undead, using forbidden aura, and regenerating damaged undead all require my magic.
My vessel itself is large, and I can quickly recover my magic, and with the help of the black water created through corrupted artifacts, I haven’t had any issues until now, but it’s going to be a bit different from now on.
‘The monsters around here are still manageable. But over there…’
After scouting several times, it was clear that the place was not a pushover.
On the surface, there were powerful monsters like the Desert Ogre, Grey Panther, Steel Rhino, and Red-Eyed Hyena pack, and beneath the surface, there were many dangerous monsters like the Giant Poisonous Scorpion and the Swamp Licker.
It wasn’t just a thought that Deathworms might be present.
‘Even plants can’t be underestimated.’
Most of the plants there were poisonous, and some even ‘hunted’ monsters.
Therefore, there was a high possibility that the undead would take significant damage, and as a result, my magic would be depleted.
‘It’s possible that we might even suffer losses.’
If the undead were dragged underground and the situation didn’t improve, we might have to abandon them.
This wasn’t all. The environmental conditions were also unfavorable.
The temperature was extreme, with scorching heat during the day and freezing cold at night.
It was difficult to obtain food and water, especially water, unless we hunted monsters.
In reality, it was a desert.
‘On the contrary, this is an opportunity for me.’
Due to this environment, it was extremely difficult for humans to be active.
Prina had said that she had swept through this place on a large scale in the past.
I could indirectly sense how powerful the past Rinetta was.
However, even so, she couldn’t occupy this place.
I understand. The environment was too harsh, making it difficult to occupy.
Especially since unknown monsters had retaken the land, it would be impossible to station a large number of people continuously.
But what about the undead?
They wouldn’t be affected by the environment.
Although I and my party would have to be stationed, since we’re a small group, we could find ways to supply water and food.
‘After all, we have the dimensional rift and the agnostic artifact.’
After the short party, I ordered a day off, just as I had said.
I used the accumulated corpses to create additional skeleton warriors and placed them under Durahan’s command. The remaining corpses were made into mid-to-low-grade undead and placed under Night Baron Entin’s command.
After finishing the arrangements, I took a long-overdue break.
The day of departure arrived.
Tia and Mutre came to see us off.
“Take care of the city.”
“I know what you want, so I’ll do my best to modify it… although that dummy doesn’t listen well.”
“That’s… be strong.”
If I could turn the golem into a high-grade undead, it would solve the problem, but even if it didn’t become high-grade, it wouldn’t be a big issue for the construction project itself.
Time was abundant, unlike when it was scarce.
“It’s been a short time since we met, but it’s sad to part ways. It might get lonely too.”
Tia looked quite reluctant, but she didn’t say anything about going together.
She seemed to understand how dangerous the barren land was.
“I’ll definitely get lonely.”
From noble mtl dot com
I had been busy managing the underground dungeon, but now I couldn’t fulfill that role anymore.
Of course, it wasn’t like there was nothing to do.
“I’ll take care of the supplies as instructed. I’ll also work hard to purchase additional materials and negotiate as you said.”
“I’ll treat you well. You’re one of us, so think of it as gaining experience.”
Tia had managed the underground dungeon relatively well.
Therefore, it was highly likely that she would be in charge of internal management and external negotiations after I built the tower.
She would hold a very important position, although not the entire management role.
Therefore, she needed to gain the necessary experience.