Damn Necromancer - Chapter 51

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Profligate Necromancer (51)
Cheonggong Mountain.
On foot, it would take ages to reach. I secured a carriage and climbed aboard.
[A Special Mission Field within the Gate has opened!]
[You may now travel to Cheonggong Mountain!]
The message materialized before me.
‘It works.’
Movement within a Gate wasn’t unlimited.
Step beyond the designated boundary, and the terrain itself transformed into a ghostly white fog zone that led nowhere.
‘Once you enter, you’re done for.’
I’d ventured into those zones three times out of sheer curiosity. Corridors that stretched infinitely, with no exit in sight.
I’d starved to death each time.
Regardless.
Movement zones had limits, and those limits expanded the higher the Gate’s rank became.
‘Cheonggong Mountain was somewhere I could never reach before.’
Even by carriage, it takes a week.
Besides, it lay in the opposite direction from where the Yongbong Gathering convened.
So I’d assumed it would remain blocked—at least until my Gate reached A+ rank or higher.
But if I discovered special mechanics, like accepting missions…
The fog zones could open.
We traveled to Cheonggong Mountain that way, stopping every six hours to let the carriage rest and resupply.
Seo Ye-rim glanced toward Kim Min-woo.
“That skeleton of yours—do you think we could spar?”
“You mean Cedric?”
“Yes. That one.”
“Of course.”
I summoned Cedric.
While Seo Ye-rim and Cedric were in the midst of their match,
I turned my attention to Jang Sam, crouched in the corner poring over a martial arts manual.
“Jang Sam. Have you memorized it?”
“W-well, to some extent?”
“Recite the incantation.”
As Jang Sam mumbled through a few lines, his voice grew quieter and quieter until it was barely audible.
“This won’t do. You need a beating.”
“…What?”
“If your mind won’t learn it, your body will.”
I threw a punch.
Crack!
As expected.
Jang Sam’s face caved in around my knuckles.
He staggered back, blood streaming from his nose, his eyes welling with wounded indignation.
“H-hey! If you’re going to hit me, at least give me warning—!”
“If you’d used Gwisalbo just now, you would’ve dodged it.”
“…Master? But I only got the manual six hours ago!”
“I know. If you’d spent those six hours mastering it, you’d be living comfortably somewhere by now.”
“But then why—”
“No time. We take the shortcut. Here.”
I pulled a serviceable blade from my inventory and tossed it to him.
“Th-this is—”
“Yours now. Point it at me and thrust.”
“What? At you, Master?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry—you won’t land a hit anyway.”
What followed was the sound of a pig being slaughtered. Jang Sam got beaten like a dog, hard enough to trigger every survival instinct in his body.
‘Beat it into him enough times, and it’ll stick.’
That was how martial arts really worked.
After all, they were built for fighting. Nothing taught the body faster than actual combat. At least not up to a certain threshold.
I lobbed a Potion at the limp form of Jang Sam.
“What is this—”
“Drink it straight down.”
Gulp!
Jang Sam’s body recovered in an instant.
“Feel better now?”
“Yes! Just moments ago I thought I was going to die, but I’m completely fine now! Thank you so much, sir!”
“Don’t mention it. Let’s go again.”
“……?”
Crack!
* * *
Nearly a week passed.
Learning through direct physical experience proved remarkably effective. On the first day, Jang Sam had collapsed limply under the barrage of blows, but now he was managing something resembling counterattacks.
‘At least he’s not completely hopeless.’
I’d thought he was good for nothing but nervous laughter, yet he possessed a certain resilience.
His perseverance was considerable as well.
Assessing his overall talent…….
‘Roughly upper-middle, I’d say.’
Though he’d started late, if he applied himself earnestly to learning the Ascending Martial Arts from now on, I suspected he could still rise and prosper in time.
“You’re serviceable now.”
“Hehe, I got into my share of street brawls when I was young. I was something of an alleyway boss back then.”
“Right. At this level you won’t just collapse and die on the road. So go down the mountain.”
“……Pardon?”
“Go down the mountain.”
“Go down……the mountain?”
Jang Sam’s eyes trembled slightly.
“With your skill level, you’ll die if you go to Cheonbong Mountain.”
“……Then, couldn’t I just wait here?”
“You’ll die at the Yongbong Gathering too.”
“I can wait, sir. If I stay at Sadoryeon…….”
“You’ll die there as well.”
“…….”
“Sam.”
“……Yes, sir.”
“You saw the warning on the door. The one about destroying three generations if anyone interferes.”
“I saw it.”
“Which means the ones plotting mischief haven’t moved yet. Now is the only window you have to slip away with your body intact.”
“……But, still…….”
“At worst, some elder might keep watch from a distance. Don’t worry. I’ll let you leave alive.”
Conquering the Inface Lord was an extraordinarily important matter for Ryeonjoo.
Naturally, they would have stationed a tail to prepare for any unforeseen trouble.
At minimum, someone of elder rank.
Would an elder truly kill my servant for receiving only B-rank martial arts instruction?
A man who could see the future would simply let him go.
It wasn’t S-rank or even A-rank martial arts—the kind that was strictly forbidden from spreading.
They wouldn’t risk quarreling with a future supernova over a single servant’s life.
“Go as far as you can. And don’t flaunt your martial arts. Live quietly. With continued training, you could eventually establish yourself as a local figure.”
“……It would be shameless of me to ask for your protection, wouldn’t it?”
“You understand well. I have no faction, no influence. I can’t shadow you every hour of the day just to keep one person safe.”
Though we’d first met by chance at a Gate, Jang Sam was someone who had devoted himself with genuine loyalty to a man without backing or resources.
Thanks to that, information came easily.
And therefore.
I could afford to do this much.
But anything beyond this?
It interferes with the conquest.
‘I’m struggling just to survive myself.’
If I had to look after Jang Sam as well, I’d be lucky not to perish before reaching the middle zone, let alone completing the conquest.
I tossed him a pouch.
“Preserved food and a few jewels inside. Now go for real.”
“……I’m grateful for all your kindness, sir.”
“Good. You worked hard assisting me.”
I waved him off dismissively.
While Jang Sam still knew nothing of my plan.
This moment was the perfect timing to let him go with an easy conscience.
If Jang Sam continued to stay with us and learned of the plan to escape with the Ascending Arts, he wouldn’t be able to leave even if he wanted to.
Only death would free him from that.
It was probably for the best that they could part on good terms without witnessing that fate. Jang Sam’s figure gradually receded into the distance.
I turned my gaze to Seo Ye-rim.
This past week.
The entire journey here, she’d been sparring with Cedric.
I remembered him laying down some pretty harsh criticism.
“Cedric, may I summon you?”
“Why are you asking? Just do it.”
“I was worried it might bother you.”
“Ha! It doesn’t bother me in the slightest.”
“Then I’ll summon you?”
“Go ahead.”
I called for Cedric.
Immediately after, he fixed his gaze on her.
―Another match today? I’ve told you before—your swordwork has reached its limit. No room for growth. Regrettably, that’s a matter of talent. The divide between genuine and false.
She flinched.
In the next moment, Seo Ye-rim’s eyes shot toward me with a sharp glare.
“…Do you take me for a sparring dummy? That’s not why I summoned you.”
“Right. We’re going to catch the Inface Lord. That’s why I called you.”
―I see? Good timing. I was tired of wasting time anyway.
“……”
Seo Ye-rim bowed her head deeply.
“You could at least choose your words a little more gently……”
―It’s better to be direct when it comes down to it. Otherwise, that woman will just keep wasting away her days.
“Shut up.”
I smacked the back of his head.
But Cedric showed no sign of stopping.
―Your ambitions far exceed your talent. I’ve seen many youngsters like that. They all eventually crumble. Consumed by their own bloated egos.
Whatever had been building up in him, Cedric’s pupils were blazing now.
A moment later, he turned his gaze squarely at me.
―Master. Surely you’re not about to offer some awkward consolation. That would be nothing but deception. Someone of your caliber would naturally know that, wouldn’t you?
This bastard.
He really knew how to make things difficult.
As if I didn’t already know that.
I’d already declared her lacking outright.
The problem was that the circumstances were vastly different now from then.
Back then, we had no real connection, and since she’d been the one fumbling through, dying and such, I’d simply given her some blunt truth.
Now, wasn’t I here risking my own life to help her?
‘What am I supposed to do with this atmosphere?’
If I dismissed him, it would only leave the two of them alone—and that worried me even more.
A cold silence stretched between us.
Moments later, Cedric fixed his eyes on Seo Ye-rim once more.
―Here’s my advice: if you’re going to wield a sword, don’t reach for anything beyond that. Impatience has taken root in your body. One day it will devour your very mind.
“That’s enough. Geom-seon probably already knows all this.”
―Geom-seon? Ah, you mean that human who lent me his head.
“Yes. Your grandfather over there.”
―Then he would have told you this much already. Wouldn’t he?
“……”
She bowed her head low.
―I understand. You’ve already become a swordmaster, so there’s no clear method beyond this. Even so, there’s no way around it. In my assessment, that’s the only path.
“I understand. That’s enough.”
―Very well.
Cedric nodded as if he’d finally said everything he needed to, looking relieved.
And now I was the one stuck in an awkward position.
‘Damn it.’
Can we actually go catch the Inface Lord like this?
The mood had gone cold in an instant.
And I couldn’t exactly offer some hollow words of comfort.
This was a problem with no answer.
‘My class is already decided. What am I supposed to do about it?’
Five playable characters.
Two of them had the freedom to choose their class.
Park Si-woo and Han Si-a.
The starting screen displays “Recommended Class.” Since their classes are unassigned, they can pick whatever suits them.
Naturally, a sword prodigy and a magic prodigy would become a swordmaster and a mage, respectively.
Three-star difficulty and above were different.
Their classes were already fixed from the start. The mismatch with their talents was the rule, not the exception.
It was one of the chief reasons the difficulty spiked so sharply.
Five-star difficulty: Kim Min-woo.
He was odd in his own way.
He simply had no talent whatsoever—a complete disaster.
Seo Ye-rim, by contrast, possessed talent.
‘Her talent is…….’
An archery prodigy.
A master of the bow.
Yet her class was swordmaster.
The small mercy was that she didn’t lack talent with the blade the way Kim Min-woo did—entirely devoid of it.
No, if anything, her talent was higher.
Among the ‘fakes’ that Cedric had mentioned, she ranked among those with genuine ability worth noting.
‘But that’s precisely the problem. She aims beyond that.’
To reach that height, she’d need to drop the sword and pick up the bow.
Yet her class was already swordmaster?
True, a swordmaster wasn’t forbidden from using a bow, but naturally there were heavy restrictions.
For one thing, starting with Achievement Skills, every skill she’d gained would become completely useless.
That wasn’t all.
Whenever she obtained a Bound Skill Book in the future, she’d shed tears of blood every time.
Those were determined by matching Level and class.
And she couldn’t learn archer skills at all.
So why would she need to pick up the bow to climb higher?
Because there was a way.
True geniuses create skills without needing Skill Books.
Han Si-a was a prime example—going to the academy, studying the textbooks, and casually mastering magic on the spot.
Seo Ye-rim was no different.
Even if she could no longer draw power from Skill Books, her talent meant she could create skills herself.
Study a Martial Arts Manual related to the bow, practice a little, and it becomes a skill. Or simply draw and fire an arrow, and a skill manifests from thin air.
Looking further ahead, then, meant she had to take up the bow to climb higher.
Of course, there were many reasons to hesitate before speaking such things aloud.
The current Seo Ye-rim wasn’t a character controlled by a player.
She was a person with genuine personality and identity.
If someone suddenly told her—this grandfather-doting woman—to abandon her sword and pick up a bow, would she take it well?
Since there was no urgent need to stir up trouble right now, the words had remained unspoken.
‘I was planning to mention it someday, though…….’
It was a topic that might have to surface at least once, if only for the Achievement points.
If Seo Ye-rim took up the bow instead of the sword, Achievement points might pour in.
But he hadn’t wanted to broach it in a moment like this.
“Listen.”
“……You don’t need to reassure me. I already…… I already know.”
“No, that’s not it. Just pick up the bow, will you?”
“……?”
“Your sword doesn’t work anyway. So stop hurting yourself. Take the bow.”
Cedric’s words were right.
Awkward comfort was nothing but deception.
So there was no choice but to throw a straight pitch now.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————