Damn Necromancer - Chapter 6

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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 Spendthrift Necromancer (6)
The Tyrant of the Auction House
A Level Up increases all stats by one.
Unless something truly extraordinary occurred, there were no circumstances where stats failed to rise upon leveling.
And raising your level was always something you could do.
‘Potions are different.’
Beyond a certain stat threshold, their effects vanished.
Someone who drank potions and raised all their stats from Level 1 onward. Someone who didn’t.
The gap between them became insurmountable. This was why Kim Min-woo was heading to the Auction House now.
‘First Limit Stat: 50. Until then, I have to use potions no matter what.’
Raise stats with potions as far as you could go, then continue raising them with Level Ups and other means. That was the Royal Road.
Of course, it wasn’t something just anyone could do.
Freshly Awakened, gulping down potions that cost tens of millions of won each as if they were water—that wasn’t easy.
Which was why only certain Awakeners employed this method.
Those who could duplicate money like Kim Min-woo.
Or, failing that, promising prospects who could secure backing from the state or a major guild.
[Awakener Auction House Korea Branch]
A massive building rose into view between the towers of the city.
An Awakener Auction House—one existed in each country.
In the terminology of the Gate Hunter world, it could be called a mysterious byproduct created by the ‘System’ itself.
Because the System operated it, there were overwhelming advantages.
Most items—excluding equipment—couldn’t be resold.
There was no risk of fraud, and upon purchase, items went directly into your inventory, so there was no shipping time either.
Even if the commission was steep, it was reason enough for at least some satisfaction.
He stepped inside the Auction House.
Immediately, a hologram materialized before his eyes.
[Select an item to buy or sell. Commission: 10%.]
[1. Skill Book.]
[2. Equipment.]
[3. Potion.]
[4. Monster Byproduct.]
[5. Miscellaneous.]
‘Potion.’
[You have accessed the Potion Sales Hall.]
[Warning: Once an item is listed for sale, it cannot be withdrawn until the auction fails.]
Thousands of listings appeared before him. Potions posted at various price points. He refined his search criteria, and the potions he wanted came into sharp focus.
[Lowest-tier Magic Potion] x200
[Price: 100 million won each]
[Seller: Alchemist Choi Yu-na]
[Posted: 3 hours ago.]
[Lowest-tier Strength Potion] x200
[Price: 80 million won each]
[Lowest-tier Agility Potion] x200
[Price: 70 million won each]
[Lowest-tier Vitality Potion] x200
[Price: 70 million won each]
“Oh. That’s more than I expected.”
Kim Min-woo whistled.
Potions were hard to come by even with money. Time, labor, and materials all had to go into making them.
On the flip side, selling them wasn’t easy either.
Each one cost tens to hundreds of millions of won.
With that kind of money, an F-rank Awakener could outfit themselves with serviceable equipment head to toe.
Naturally, ninety-nine out of a hundred chose equipment instead.
‘Something went wrong somewhere.’
When you took a bulk order and made it, only for your buyer to go completely bankrupt.
That was when potions flooded onto the market like this.
By now, Choi Yu-na must be absolutely panicking.
“You’re lucky, Yu-na.”
Click.
[Warning!]
[Potions cannot be traded or transferred to another person once purchased.]
[Will you purchase all 800 Lowest-tier Potions for 6.4 billion won?]
Click.
[Final Warning!]
[The commission is 640 million won! Are you certain you wish to proceed with this transaction?]
He had to catch an Outer Gate within seven years.
Time couldn’t be bought, no matter the price.
Click away.
[Purchase complete.]
[A commission of 640 million won will be deducted.]
[Items will be stored in your inventory.]
[Do you wish to share the buyer’s information with the seller?]
Click.
[The buyer’s information has been transmitted to Alchemist Choi Yu-na!]
Now his name and status would reach her.
‘Choi Yu-na is a fairly useful character, after all.’
Chief researcher of the Alchemists Guild.
And her station was quite respectable.
Her father was the guild master.
Her abilities were solid too.
Given money, she produced potions quickly and well.
When higher-grade potions would be needed in bulk later on.
Knowing her would make things considerably easier.
She’d learn the patron’s information too—a fair exchange of intelligence.
* * *
“Damn these bastards at Geumseong Group!”
Choi Yu-na felt as though her head was splitting.
It was entirely Geumseong Group’s fault.
One of Korea’s hundred largest corporations.
Normally, as an alchemist who needed to drum up business, she should have deferred to them.
But things were different now.
“They order potions and then go bankrupt—what am I supposed to do about that!”
They’d started spouting off about a new venture, something about cultivating Awakeners to conquer Gates, and then spectacularly collapsed.
Eight hundred Lowest-tier Potions were now left with nowhere to go.
Hundreds of millions in capital tied up in thin air.
And that wasn’t even the worst of it.
Those lunatics had also placed bulk orders for Lower-tier Potions, one grade up.
Accounting for that, the amount of frozen capital was beyond imagining.
“That’s why I said we should’ve taken a down payment first. You said there was a risk, remember? They were all flash on revenue but no actual profit—”
“Shut your mouth! Who could’ve predicted a top-hundred company would go under like that!”
At her junior’s words, she threw a glare that could kill.
If she’d taken a down payment?
The order volume would’ve been cut drastically.
As it was, there was already plenty of talk about her father’s connections, about nepotism and strings being pulled.
For her, what mattered was performance.
So she’d gone all in, and crashed spectacularly.
“Sigh… Did any of the items we listed at the Auction House sell?”
“…No.”
Her eyes grew distant and sorrowful.
“God, my hair…”
She couldn’t afford to lose her hair to stress…
She stared helplessly at the strands coming loose in her fingers.
She’d tried to find buyers through her network, but nothing had panned out.
In the end, she’d listed the goods at the Auction House with tears in her eyes.
So far, nothing had sold.
‘Even if it did sell, it’d be a loss…’
The standard margin on Lowest-tier Potions was about ten percent.
But the commission was ten percent too?
Once labor costs factored in, she’d be operating at a loss.
“What happens if it doesn’t sell at all?”
“…I’ll just have to ask Dad for help, I guess.”
What choice did I have?
Even if it meant taking some heat, I’d have to use the cheat code.
“God, I wish some rising star would show up and clear out all these potions for me.”
“Still, even if they did, that’s only twelve hundred. Eight hundred would just sit there. Unless another outfit like Geumseong pops up….”
Then it happened.
[All listed Lowest-tier Magic Potions have been sold.]
[All listed Lowest-tier Vitality Potions have been sold.]
[All listed Lowest-tier Agility Potions have been sold.]
[All listed Lowest-tier Strength Potions have been sold.]
[Ninety percent of the 64 billion won sales price, minus fees, will be deposited.]
“…What?”
[The purchaser has shared their information.]
[Purchaser Information]
[Name: Kim Min-woo]
[Status: Eldest Son of Ilseong Group]
“What? What?!”
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
“They’re… they’re sold.”
“How much?”
“All of it. But wait—is this Kim Min-woo guy an Awakener?”
“Kim Min-woo? That reckless brat from Ilseong?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ve never heard anything like that about him.”
* * *
[Lowest-tier Magic Potion is being absorbed.]
[You feel no change whatsoever.]
[Lowest-tier Agility Potion is being absorbed.]
[Your agility increases very slightly. A little more absorption may bring noticeable change.]
[Lowest-tier Strength Potion is being absorbed.]
[Strength rises by 1.]
.
.
I absorbed the potions one after another like I was spinning a slot machine.
‘Damn, my hit rate is insane.’
Not even close to the limit stat of fifty. With stats only in the thirties, I was getting blanks left and right—it shouldn’t work like this.
Kim Min-woo’s godlike talent left me speechless.
Thank God I’d played for six years before this. If I’d started fresh in a body like this, I probably would’ve lost my mind.
‘Next, I need to buy….’
I drained potion after potion and moved to the next purchase menu.
[Connected to the Skill Book Market.]
[Search Level: 1–5, Class: Necromancer. Searching with these parameters.]
[Skeleton Summon (F-rank)]
[Restrictions: Necromancer, Level 1 or higher]
[Price: 2,000,000 won]
Skeleton Summon was the foundational skill underlying all summoning abilities.
‘There’s quite a few.’
Skill Books dropped randomly as Gate-clear rewards or from monster hunts.
Since Necromancer wasn’t exactly a popular class, there was decent inventory available.
I bought everything I could see.
[Purchased all 42 Skill Books.]
[Your inventory contains multiple copies of identical Skill Books.]
[Two identical Skill Books can be combined for Enhancement.]
[Success rate: 95%.]
[Proceed with Enhancement?]
This system was driving me insane.
But there was no way I could refuse.
“Keep rolling while I can.”
[Auto-Enhancement initiated!]
Flash!
[Skeleton Summon (F)+1 has been completed…….]
[Skeleton Summon (F)+1 has been completed…….]
[Skeleton Summon (F)+1 has been completed…….]
[Dear me. Two Skill Books have disappeared. What a shame…….]
.
.
Once two +1 Skill Books accumulated,
[I will now synthesize two Skeleton Summon (F)+1 Skill Books.]
[Dear me. Two Enhancement Skill Books have disappeared. What a pity…….]
[Skeleton Summon (F)+2 has been completed…….]
Combined two of those again to create a +2 Enhancement,
‘So this can go all the way to +9.’
Even if every single attempt succeeded, reaching +9 would require five hundred and twelve identical Skill Books.
And the higher the Enhancement level, the lower the success rate plummets.
A money sink through and through.
The returns were still worthwhile, though.
At +9, the effect nearly doubled in potency.
So I’d do it.
[Enhancement Result!]
[Skeleton Summon (F)+4]
[Insufficient Skill Books. Enhancement cannot proceed.]
This wasn’t nearly enough.
There were no more low-level Necromancer Skill Books left on the market.
It didn’t matter.
The real spending spree was only beginning now.
My remaining funds hovered just under twenty billion won.
“Buy every single F-rank Skill Book listing under five million won and level five or below that’s been posted.”
[Purchasing 6,124 items…….]
[Purchase complete!]
[21.234 billion won has been withdrawn…….]
[10% in fees has been withdrawn…….]
[You are now holding a massive quantity of Skill Books.]
[By combining two different types of Skill Books of the same rank, you can create a random Skill Book of equivalent grade.]
[Do you wish to synthesize?]
“Set it so Skeleton Summon gets separated out, and convert everything else.”
[Conditions set.]
[Auto-synthesis is beginning!]
Whoosh!
‘Let’s see.’
With six thousand books, I should be able to extract roughly three hundred of the right ones.
The more you synthesize, the higher your odds climb of landing the skill you actually want.
‘The game does apply some probability correction, after all.’
Looking at it this way, the system wasn’t entirely ruthless.
Or was it?
Was I the sucker here?
‘No way.’
This was romance.
And a perfectly reasonable investment besides.
‘A +9 Enhancement skill once,’
and one more card still in my hand.
Death Lord.
It was a passive that applied to every single skill.
If I could enhance this twice over?
Kim Min-woo was certain.
His skeletons would be unstoppable.
He switched on his phone and made a call.
* * *
“Yes, Father. It’s me. Min-woo. The thing is, I’ve spent almost all of the first investment already, so I’m calling to let you know.”
―Already?
“Since I can’t use my body much, and my stamina’s been weak, I’ve had to spend quite a bit on Potions to compensate.”
―Still, a hundred billion won should’ve been enough to comfortably hit fifty on all stats……?
“I’m maxing out the stats, but the Skill Books are the bottleneck.”
―You’re not thinking of enhancing it to +9, are you?
“I have to. Death Lord—it’s a really excellent skill. It deserves to see the light of day, doesn’t it? And it’s only a level-one basic skill anyway. The burden is manageable.”
If the luck breaks right, that is. A brief silence fell.
Then Chairman Kim’s voice came through.
―……Perfect! That’s what I call family spirit. I’ll wire another two hundred billion won. Use it for equipment too. In exchange, you do your old man a small favor, yes?
“What kind of favor, sir?”
―Min-woo, I need you to be a model for our Ilseong Group advertisements. How about it?
“An advertisement model?”
―Yes. An S-rank Achievement Awakener should do—we’ll downplay the EX-rank a bit and build up your celebrity. What do you say?
“It’s not a bad idea.”
―Right?! That skeleton army you mentioned—let’s get some solid publicity with that, throw in some product placement, really go all out. Deal?
“Product placement with a skeleton army? Is there anything that’d actually fit?”
―Once you’re famous enough, people will clap even if you take a dump.
“Well, fine then. So about the transfer…….”
―I’ll wire it right now. Oh, and you’ll need a lot of Skill Books, won’t you?
“Yes. I’m combing through the Auction House, but inventory’s a bit thin.”
―I’ll have the kids buy items outside the Auction House too. Pooling resources together will get you finished faster.”
“Thank you.”
―Ahem. Let’s hang up. Your old man’s swamped right now.
“Yes, sir.”
The power of blood ties truly was remarkable.
Or was it really just the power of Death Lord that was remarkable?
He mused while sipping an Elixir.
‘Advertisement model, huh…….’
It was something he’d never done before, even in the game.
It actually sounded kind of fun.
‘Besides, my fame’s going to spread anyway.’
Plenty of people at Geomhaegak had witnessed his Awakening.
The light had been unmissable, so they’d definitely caught on that it was something extraordinary. Word would spread naturally over time.
An S-rank Achievement Awakening essentially meant being treated as a super rookie, so the attention was inevitable.
Well, that was fine.
An S-rank Achievement Awakening was rare enough as it was.
It wasn’t on the level of EX-rank—world-first caliber—so assassins probably wouldn’t come hunting.
‘I’ll be noticed anyway.’
Getting ahead of the curve as a rising-star Necromancer wouldn’t be such a bad move.
That was when it happened.
Ding!
[All stat thresholds have reached the level-one Limit Stat of 50.]
[You have obtained the title “Promising Prospect”.]
[You have obtained the title “Potion Slaughterer”.]
‘Finally…….’
Before he could even savor the moment, more messages cascaded down.
[You have partially fulfilled the first Trial condition for Death Lord! (1/2)]
[The remaining condition is unmet. Death Lord’s call cannot be answered!]
[You currently possess no Undead Summoning skills!]
[Learn the skill!]
‘Huh?’
He’d stumbled upon one of the conditions without even trying.
‘So that means…….’
Learning an Undead Summoning skill would drag him off somewhere dark?
Right. I’ll max out the enhancement first, finish all the prep, then learn the skill.

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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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