Damn Necromancer - Chapter 24

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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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Wasteful Necromancer (24)
Park Siwo stared at Kim Minwo in a daze. He himself had all but surrendered to the prospect of Awakening.
Hearing such words in that moment, something welled up in his chest.
“……Thank you.”
“Good. You’ll give it a shot, won’t you?”
“Yes. What could I say? You’re offering me a chance—I have to seize it. I’ll do my best!”
Park Siwo bowed his head deeply.
“Let’s pack up with your sister. I’ll find us a place.”
“Yes.”
And so the two made their way back to the Orphanage.
“Oh! This is wonderful! Siwo and Arin are both such sincere, kindhearted children. Thank you so much for taking them in!”
“Of course. I’ll take good care of them. And I’ve made a donation to the Orphanage. I’ll be contributing every year.”
“A donation? You mean…… Good heavens! A billion won?!”
The director’s face crumpled at the generous gift, and the two’s discharge from the facility proceeded swiftly.
Park Siwo and Park Arin.
Kim Minwo arranged their lodging in a Luxury Apartment—one not far from his own family home.
“Brother…… are we really going to live here?”
At the sight of the apartment, which clearly cost tens of millions of won, Park Arin’s eyes trembled with wonder.
Park Siwo himself found it equally hard to believe.
“This…… the place seems far too expensive……”
“It’s your home now. I’ve already transferred the deed.”
“”……What?!””
“Why are you so shocked? It’s not that much.”
Kim Minwo spoke with such nonchalance that both their jaws dropped.
From donating a billion won without blinking to simply handing over a luxury apartment.
‘Truly, he lives in a different world.’
Park Siwo was astounded.
“And don’t think you’re paying me back. That’s final.”
“I…… I’m grateful. Arin, you should thank him too.”
“Thank you so much! I’ll repay this kindness somehow, I promise!”
The two’s gratitude seemed endless.
After handing over the house, Kim Minwo set out with Park Siwo.
“You’ve tried just about everything by now?”
“Yes. But I still haven’t achieved Awakening.”
It was understandable enough.
Players could learn Awakening conditions right after playing, so they could pursue them easily—but Park Siwo was no player.
He didn’t know the conditions.
So he could only grope in the dark.
“Spar with me for just one week.”
“A spar?”
“Yes. First, we need to sharpen your intuition.”
To challenge higher Achievements, Park Siwo’s senses needed to be honed to their peak.
And so hellish training began.
* * *
For the entire week, Park Siwo sparred with Kim Minwo.
And he never won a single match.
‘Formidable.’
Park Siwo was in awe.
He’d been confident in his swordsmanship since childhood—and for good reason, since he’d always won before.
But against Kim Minwo it was different. Even though the sparring was conducted at ordinary human strength levels.
“There’s an opening again!”
Crack!
He was being toyed with like a child before Kim Minwo’s blade.
‘He was vouched for by a Sword Sage, they said.’
The world was vast and masters were plentiful.
Park Siwo felt it in his bones now. Kim Minwo chuckled at the sight of him collapsed in sweat.
“Hard, is it?”
“I can barely breathe. I think I’m dying, truly.”
“Don’t be dramatic. Here, drink this Potion.”
Park Siwo drank down the elixir Kim Minwo offered him.
His body, which had seemed on the verge of collapse, began to recover in an instant.
“Still, you’ve improved a lot. You’re shaping up nicely now.”
“……Is that so?”
“Yeah. You already forgot the first day? You couldn’t block more than twenty strikes back then. Now you’re deflecting hundreds.”
“When I see you, it’s hard to feel like I’ve made progress…….”
“You’ve got talent. More than most, I’d say.”
He spoke casually, but Kim Minwo’s true thoughts ran deeper.
‘A monster. That’s what he is.’
Truly a monster.
Fifteen years of gameplay experience and know-how—and this kid was absorbing it all in a single day, over and over.
His growth rate was genuinely horrifying.
‘Thank god our classes are different.’
He’d reached the point where such thoughts arose unbidden. If they’d been the same class, he might have suffered a proper existential crisis.
‘Though now that we’re here, his growth is starting to slow down.’
Park Siwo’s Swordsmanship, which had grown at a near-runaway pace, was beginning to hit a wall. Without some sudden, lightning-strike inspiration, breaking through that barrier in one go would be difficult.
‘And getting past that would take far too long.’
Enlightenment came when it came—purely random.
You could glimpse a falling leaf and receive a sudden flash of inspiration.
Or, with bad luck, you could stagnate at that stage for years.
‘I’ve brought him to the level I aimed for. This is enough.’
The current Park Siwo was far more complete than he had been when Kim Minwo first played him.
It was a satisfying result.
S-Rank or higher—he’d definitely reach it.
Luck was on his side too.
He smiled faintly as he watched the snow falling from the sky. The timing, with winter already here, couldn’t have been better.
“I think we’re ready. Let’s go.”
“Where to?”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
He left the Training Ground with Park Siwo.
The vehicle they boarded began to depart.
“……Is this an Uninhabited Island?”
They had arrived at a small, desolate island.
“Yeah. It’s uninhabited.”
“But why here……?”
“Ever been to an uninhabited island before?”
“Yes. Just once.”
“Was it snowing that day?”
“No.”
“Did you fight anything?”
“No. I went alone, so I just swung my sword around a bit…….”
“That’s why.”
Park Siwo’s Awakening conditions were fiendishly specific.
If you didn’t know them, you’d almost never find them.
Combat on a snowing day, on an uninhabited island.
How was anyone supposed to discover that?
‘That’s why even the wealthy can’t Awaken without knowing the conditions.’
But players were different.
As his first character, Park Siwo came with exceedingly helpful guidance.
A tutorial that began in a ‘dream’.
‘It tells you everything there.’
The dream’s content was simple.
It started on an uninhabited island as snow fell.
Monsters emerged there, and you learned to fight them.
Five goblins appeared first, and once you defeated them—
A message would kindly inform you: ‘Fighting in a place like this gives off a strong feeling that you might Awaken.’
‘Well, if you can’t kill the goblins, it just repeats endlessly…….’
This was why Kim Minwo had brought Park Siwo here.
“Do you think I can Awaken here?”
“I don’t know. But you’ve never tried it. So there’s a possibility, right?”
“I suppose……that’s true.”
Park Siwo nodded.
There wasn’t much to refute.
Awakening conditions were that varied, after all. Who could predict that fighting on an uninhabited island on a snowy day might be the condition for someone’s awakening?
Though admittedly, the odds of that were infinitesimal.
Then.
“Come forth.”
With Kim Minwo’s command, over five hundred skeletal forms materialized.
Park Siwo’s eyes went wide at the sight.
At a glance, the number easily surpassed five hundred.
It bore no comparison to the three hundred or so the media had reported.
“Goodness, hyung—you can summon skeletons in such quantities?”
“There’s an old saying: always hide thirty percent of your true power.”
This wasn’t thirty percent—it was everything hidden.
He spoke toward the astonished Park Siwo.
“Your job is simple. Fight them. Cedric?”
―So this is the human the master said needed to be disciplined?
“Right. Don’t go easy on him. Do it properly, okay?”
―Will do.
“Siwo, you’ll be fighting my summons. Cedric will command them.”
“…Understood, sir.”
Park Siwo nodded.
This man had shown him great kindness. Whether this aided his Awakening or not was irrelevant.
‘I’ll simply do as ordered.’
That was Park Siwo’s resolve.
Surely he wasn’t so paranoid as to think the man meant to bury him here on this island.
There was no reason for him to do such a thing.
“I’m in your hands, Cedric.”
―So the master thinks this one’s got potential. Let’s see then.
Immediately, the skeletons began surging toward Park Siwo.
* * *
Clack!
A skeleton lunges forward with vicious intent, thrusting its spear. Park Siwo twists away from the blade’s path and cleaves through the skeleton’s torso in one fluid motion.
The ground behind him was already littered with hundreds of skeletons reduced to powder.
‘Remarkable.’
Cedric marveled inwardly.
The skeleton soldiers averaged Level 17.
They wore only basic arms, but that still made them considerably stronger than any common goblin—they’d accumulated genuine combat experience. That was the difference.
And here was a human who hadn’t even undergone Awakening, laying waste to hundreds of them.
‘He’s never had a serious real engagement, either.’
Yet his movements were clean, precise, economical.
Every strike was sharp and fatal.
The way he sliced through the skeletons’ bones along the grain, splitting them in a single motion—it was almost enough to earn his applause.
‘To think there existed a talent of this caliber beyond the master himself.’
The human was growing stronger with each passing exchange.
And rapidly so.
Cedric’s gaze shifted to Kim Minwo.
―Where in the world did the master unearth this one?
“An orphanage. There’s a place like that.”
―An orphanage, is it? If that’s where such a swordsman was raised, it must be quite the establishment.
“Well, it is.”
An orphanage.
He’d have to visit sometime, if the opportunity arose.
Who knew?
Perhaps another talent of this caliber could be discovered there.
Cedric reflected on this.
As the battle progressed, a blue aura began accumulating around Park Siwo’s form, growing steadily more vivid.
The Achievement Awakening process.
Once all combat ended, the achievements would be tallied.
Cedric twirled his spear.
The once-dense wall of skeletons was now rapidly thinning.
The fight to come.
It would be thrilling.
Park Siwo staggered forward, his body a tapestry of wounds.
“Hah… hah…”
―Is it too much for you?
“No… I’m still fresh.”
Even after sweeping down five hundred skeletons, his eyes burned with hunger for more, and Cedric nodded slowly.
―Human. What’s your name?
“Park Siwo.”
―Good. I’ll remember it.
You’re a human worthy of remembering.
Cedric leveled his spear.
―I’ve matched my body to your level.
In the next instant, the spearhead darted toward Park Siwo’s head.
“Tch!”
He jerked his head back barely in time, and a storm of spear shadows poured down upon him.
Blood vessels rose across Park Siwo’s entire body. Had his reaction been even a fraction slower, holes would have punctured through his limbs.
‘So fast!’
The raw speed was similar to his own, yet it felt overwhelming.
The elongated spear.
It commanded the space perfectly, leaving no gap to exploit.
[Awakening is progressing!]
[Your Achievements are beginning to bloom more powerfully!]
With each collision of spear and sword, a deeper azure radiance spread across Park Siwo’s body.
‘I’m losing ground.’
Park Siwo grasped the situation at a glance. Cedric was a master of the spear.
Closing the distance was extraordinarily difficult. Like hunted prey, he was slowly being driven into a corner.
His body had long since grown weary.
‘If I keep this up, I’ll lose without landing a single blow!’
Park Siwo sensed it instinctively.
This was the turning point.
If he faltered now, it would be over.
His body was exhausted.
He had already faced countless enemies.
Cedric was no easy opponent.
But those were only excuses.
‘What Minwo wants from me is high Achievements.’
He didn’t know why.
It didn’t matter.
What mattered was that Kim Minwo desired it.
A man who had invested in him without reservation.
He wanted to repay that kindness.
Park Siwo’s eyes hardened with resolve.
He drove his front foot forward.
His sword advanced naturally toward the spear blocking his path.
He twisted the blade where it caught the shaft.
The spear’s trajectory, aimed at his heart, bent slightly.
Park Siwo threw himself forward without hesitation.
Thwuck!
The spear pierced his flank.
As the spear lodged in his body, his blade descended in a single swift arc from above.
Slice!
The blade severed one of Cedric’s arms.
‘Damn…’
He had been aiming for the head.
Cedric’s response was equally seasoned.
He twisted his body in an instant, evading the killing stroke.
Because of that, the ploy failed.
Park Siwo collapsed to the ground, the spear still lodged in his body, blood gushing from his flank.
He had no strength left to move.
Kim Minwo yanked out a Potion and rushed toward him.
“Hey, you okay?”
“Cough! I’m fine—”
“Don’t talk! Just stay still!”
As the Potion poured over his wounds, they began to knit together. Park Siwo’s vision blurred, and he closed his eyes.
Then his body erupted in blue light—a radiance so immense it flooded across the Uninhabited Island.
* * *
‘So he threw himself onto the spear.’
A decision to trade flesh for bone.
For an untested novice to make such a bold gamble was extraordinary.
He’d nearly turned the tables entirely.
If Cedric had reacted even a fraction slower, his skull would have split in two.
‘That kid’s got something special.’
He gazed down at the unconscious Park Siwo.
The premium Potion had done its work—he’d be fine now.
The Achievement must be settling right about now.
Given the intensity of that light, it was definitely S-Rank or higher.
Then the message appeared.
● One of the main characters, ‘Park Siwo’, has achieved an SSS-Rank Achievement!
● You have significantly altered ‘Park Siwo’s’ destiny!
● The story has begun to branch.
● A large sum of Achievement Points has been awarded!
“Wow.”
Kim Minwo exhaled in wonder.
Just looking at Cedric told you how momentous an SSS-Rank Achievement was.
Though his current low Level meant he suffered plenty of setbacks now……
That powerful knight who once rode dragons through the sky had been SSS-Rank.
‘He earned it, all right.’
An Unawakened hunter had hunted five hundred skeletons—creatures stronger than goblins—and then put on an impressive showing against an SSS-Rank Summon.
Achieving an SSS-Rank Achievement was hardly surprising under those circumstances.
‘My prediction held up.’
The idea that granting major change to the main characters would yield Achievement Points.
That theory had played out exactly right.
‘The Achievement Shop.’
[Achievement Shop opened!]
[Rank: Bronze]
[Achievement Points Held: 330]
[Inventory]
[1. Limit Break Elixir]
[Required Achievement Points: 100]
[2. ???]
[3. ???]
.
.
“Three hundred points?”
When he’d hunted Lee Seoyoon before, he’d earned just thirty points.
Ten times that amount had just flowed in.
A single Limit Break Elixir raised Level potential by fifty points each……
‘So I can push to Level 350 now?’
Over eighteen hundred days of play time.
At last, Kim Minwo’s Level ceiling had surpassed that of a neighborhood F-Rank Awakened.
It was nothing short of a miracle.

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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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