Being a Hunter Is Too Easy for a Former Necromancer - Chapter 2
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Reincarnated Necromancer Finds the Hunter System Too Easy — Episode 2
On his way home, Park Il-sang pieced together a few more truths about his situation.
First.
His Hunter System was notably different from everyone else’s.
Skill acquisition was one such difference.
Park Il-sang had worked for several years as a gig worker—handling all the miscellaneous tasks that hunters found tedious—so he knew the industry well enough.
And in communities where aspiring and novice hunters gathered, he’d heard countless stories.
Among them: that skill acquisition was extraordinarily difficult.
Which meant cases like his own—suddenly awakening to a new skill—simply didn’t happen.
The Monster Codex was exactly that kind of skill.
He knew such skills existed.
Support-class Hunters designated by the Hunter System sometimes carried abilities like this.
‘But why do I have it when I’m just F-Rank? Did the Hunter System malfunction? No—that can’t be. The Constellations themselves couldn’t identify its origin, so it must have been created by some supreme entity. A system like that wouldn’t have bugs. So… I’m just special. Why? Who knows? Because I’m a Reincarnator?’
That had to be it.
Skills didn’t simply manifest from nothing.
Hunters could acquire one new skill when their Rank increased, and aside from that, they could rarely—very rarely—earn one as a Dungeon-clear reward.
That was all.
So if Park Il-sang was receiving this benefit, there had to be a reason, and the only logical explanation was that he was a Reincarnator.
And the second thing he’d discovered.
Skills seemed to manifest far too easily.
For instance: on the walk home, short on money, he’d decided to travel on foot.
His classroom wasn’t located in Yeouido itself; it was in Singil-dong, which you reached by heading south from Yeouido.
That was unavoidable.
Yeouido had long since become a slum of makeshift shacks and cardboard hovels, home to the poorest of the poor.
The area had become a place where public order was nonexistent.
So during his walk from Singil-dong back to Yeouido.
This message appeared.
—You have walked consistently.
—You have acquired the skill Walking.
[Skill: Walking]
Rank: Common
Type: Passive
Description: Makes walking easier and more efficient.
Effect: Reduces fatigue by 20% while walking
Somehow, a subtly excellent passive skill had manifested.
In other words: he didn’t understand the mechanism, but skills were appearing easily.
Incredible.
‘But I can’t let anyone know about this until I’m strong enough.’
No question it was an extraordinary ability, but low-Rank powers were weak by definition.
The world was full of people who kicked away the ladder—those who sabotaged competitors to prevent their growth.
Their reasons varied.
Seeing them as a threat. Hating their face. Jealousy. And more. It happened in his past life, and it was happening in this one.
The world was brimming with danger.
‘In any case, if I’m going to use necromancy, I’ll need a Corpse Box first. But acquiring corpses… that won’t be difficult.’
With that thought, he arrived at his home.
His dwelling lay in a shantytown made up of cardboard shacks, makeshift structures, and stacked shipping containers.
Yeouido had once been famous as the hub of stock trading, the seat of the National Assembly.
Now it was simply where the impoverished scraped out a living.
All of this had come about as an aftershock of what happened when North Korea collapsed in the past.
When Dungeons began appearing in the world and Monsters ran rampant.
North Korea fell entirely, and the Monsters that poured southward supposedly pushed all the way to Seoul.
Seoul managed to hold by using the Han River as a defense line, and the area south of the Han was somehow preserved, but the northern Seoul regions north of the river were now devoid of human settlement.
Monsters roamed freely there.
And so.
Yeouido became both a frontline zone and a neighborhood where the poor lived.
Military units were stationed here as well.
Click.
He opened the door and stepped inside.
There wasn’t much to the place.
An induction cooker. A refrigerator. An old bed. A wardrobe. Just miscellaneous necessities. Essentially a space to eat, sleep, and lie about resting.
The most expensive thing he owned was just a beat-up computer and monitor.
Even in a neighborhood where the poor lived, this was still Korea.
The place was extraordinarily cramped, and the condition left much to be desired.
It was barely fifty square feet, and he had to use an external shared bathroom. No proper heating, no air conditioning.
He stripped off his clothes carelessly and lay down on the bed.
Then he grabbed a single bag.
There was no time to rest.
He needed to go make a Corpse Box.
* * *
The Corpse Box.
It was an essential magical item for any necromancer, and without it, acquiring Necromantic Mana was nearly impossible.
That was the reality.
Most Magicians absorbed Mana naturally from the world around them, but Necromantic Mana was a corrupted form channeled through corpses—to produce it naturally required special conditions.
The Corpse Box artificially created those special conditions, manufacturing Necromantic Mana.
“Phew. That was exhausting.”
And the materials for a Corpse Box were, unsurprisingly, corpses themselves.
Massive quantities of bone. The flesh of the dead. Things like that.
Park Il-sang, having gathered such materials, wiped the sweat from his brow.
This was Yeouido Han River Park.
These days almost no one came here, and Monster corpses lay scattered everywhere. Why? Because the Han River itself had become a den for aquatic Monsters.
When Monsters of different species clashed, they often killed each other, and their corpses would wash up along the riverbank and throughout Yeouido Han River Park.
If these were worth money, the residents of Yeouido would salvage them—but most of these corpses held no value, so they were simply left to rot.
It reeked, it was filthy, it was foul, and occasionally amphibious Monsters like frogs would burst out—a genuinely dangerous place.
Park Il-sang spent considerable time gathering materials here, sweat pouring down his face.
Once he’d collected all the materials he needed, he paused to catch his breath.
His body had been hardened by manual labor in his past life, and while he’d awakened as a Warrior Class, collecting corpses was no easy task.
Making a Corpse Box required quite a lot of them.
“Normally a master would make this for you. Or you’d pile corpses together mindlessly and extract Necromantic Mana from them that way… or maybe it works differently now that it’s a Skill.”
Park Il-sang extended his hands toward the materials.
“Only one way to find out. Corpse Box creation.”
He felt power draining from his body. And at the same moment—
Flash!
The materials fused in a brilliant burst of light, instantly forming a single box.
“Wow. That’s incredible.”
It was a white rectangular box, roughly a meter long and forty centimeters thick. Its exterior was formed from interlocking bones—grotesque, yet undeniably striking.
This was the Corpse Box. The foundation of every necromancer’s power.
“Wait. It comes with spatial compression from the start? That’s insane.”
Park Il-sang rushed over and opened the box’s lid.
Inside was nothing but pitch darkness.
When he plunged his hand in, he felt something cold and squishy.
The flesh of corpses.
Inside this small bone-made box, there were twenty-one corpses—nameless Monsters or people, all crammed together.
“Incredible. You’d need to be Rank 3 to make something with this feature… is this the power of the Hunter System?”
A smile spread across his face.
The Corpse Box was a vital tool for obtaining Necromantic Mana; without it, you couldn’t generate the Mana needed to cast necromantic spells.
However, necromancers below Rank 3 couldn’t create one with spatial compression, so they typically left their Corpse Box at a base and carried it with them.
That was genuinely crippling. If you depleted all your Necromantic Mana outside, you had no way to cast any more necromantic spells.
In other words, this was both a Necromantic Mana generator and a battery!
But.
Park Il-sang, only Rank 1, had just obtained something small enough to carry on his back like a pack…
It was an absolute windfall.
Now he could cast far more spells than other Magicians.
“I didn’t think it would shrink this small… I should’ve brought rope. This size is perfect for wearing like a backpack.”
Muttering to himself, he looked around. He spotted some rope lying nearby, tangled and filthy, but serviceable enough for now.
He retrieved it and fashioned straps so he could sling it across his back like a backpack.
And then.
For the first time in ages, he drew upon Necromantic Mana.
Thrum-thrum-thrum-thrum-thrum.
Mana corrupted by corpses flowed into him, settling coldly in his core. Necromantic Mana was corrupted, but it wasn’t harmful to the body.
Nor was it particularly beneficial.
“I can do it! So if I just….”
Park Il-sang glanced around. Spotting the bone fragments, he attempted necromantic magic—not as a skill, but in the manner of his past life.
“Rise, corpse! Rise, taking as your substance the terror and murderous intent carved into the lingering traces of the soul before death! Undead Creation!”
And then.
The corpse rose. The bone fragments assembled themselves into form, coalescing into a Skeleton Soldier roughly one and a half meters tall.
“Uaaaaaaagh.”
It emitted a ghastly cry. Between its skull, a crimson spectral flame flickered and danced.
A Skeleton Soldier of the lowest rank!
But Park Il-sang, watching it, felt pure joy.
How long had it been since he’d seen one?
“Urgh.”
Tears spilled unbidden down his face.
In his past life, he’d summoned them with mere thought.
Yet in this world, he hadn’t managed to create one until now.
To think he could do it like this!
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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