Skeleton Master Chapter 015
The area around the Steel Ant colony was quiet.
Occasionally, groups of users could be seen, but they were hunting Steel Ants one by one while being extremely cautious of their surroundings.
They flinched whenever Moo-hyeok appeared, but since he didn't interfere, they soon relaxed and continued hunting.
They too were likely in the position of secretly hunting while avoiding the guild's attention.
"Sigh, damn it. Why does it have to be like this?"
"There's nowhere decent to hunt."
"We could go to another empire."
"Still, given our characteristics, this place is the most suitable."
"Tsk, let's level up quickly and get out of here."
"Yeah, we're not avoiding the guild because we're afraid. It's because they're disgusting."
"That's right, that's right."
Moo-hyeok laughed at their conversation.
Avoiding because they're disgusting, huh.
Is that really true?
If they had the power to suppress the guild?
Would they still avoid this oppression, calling it disgusting?
Most likely, they would have overthrown the guild monopolizing the hunting grounds.
But since they couldn't, it was just words instinctively uttered to protect their pride.
I don't want to end up like that.
I need to grow faster.
Moo-hyeok climbed a tree and moved along the branches.
He passed by those chatting and headed to a slightly deeper area.
After all, the dungeon is located at the 11 o'clock direction of the Steel Ant colony.
As long as he doesn't go there, it's fine.
Below, countless Steel Ants could be seen.
Watching for an opportunity, he jumped down from the branch.
Landing on the body of a Steel Ant, he struck the slender part connecting its head and thorax with his sword.
[A critical hit occurs.]
[You deal 158 damage.]
The Steel Ant silently screamed.
It trembled and flashed.
Moo-hyeok pulled out his sword and struck again.
[A critical hit occurs.]
[You deal 156 damage.]
This is the weak point of the Steel Ant.
Is it because the damage is well applied?
No, that alone isn't enough to call it a weak point.
It's called a weak point because if you just stick a sword in this spot and leave it, it will die on its own.
As it struggles alone in pain, the sword shakes, and that shaking causes impact, dealing damage.
[You deal minimal damage.]
[You deal 9 damage.]
[You deal 8 damage.]
[You deal 11 damage.]
How long did it endure like that?
The Steel Ant's movements became sluggish.
Moo-hyeok stood up, pulled out his sword, and strongly stabbed the weak point again.
[You gain experience.]
Only then was he certain that it had died.
"Phew......"
After descending to the ground, he attempted to dissect the corpse.
['Corpse Dissection' begins.]
He obtained the Steel Ant's jaw, neck joint, and the hard shell covering its entire body.
Since ants belong to invertebrates, unfortunately, there was nothing to use for bone assembly.
Still, he decided to collect the jaw, neck joint, and shell as they could be useful when crafting armor.
['Corpse Dissection' is complete.]
The Steel Ant turned gray and disappeared.
Swish.
At that moment, a Steel Ant wandering nearby approached.
Moo-hyeok frowned and quickly climbed back up the tree.
The Steel Ant looked at Moo-hyeok for a moment before wandering around the area again.
Watching the situation from the branch, as soon as one ant became isolated, he unfailingly dropped down onto it and stabbed its weak point at the connecting part with his sword.
[A critical hit occurs.]
[You deal 158 damage.]
Now he just had to endure.
As the Steel Ant writhes, the sword shakes, naturally dealing damage.
[You deal minimal damage.]
[You deal 9 damage.]
[You deal 8 damage.]
[You deal 11 damage.]
This is a weakness unique to Steel Ants.
It doesn't work on other monsters.
For example, if you stabbed a snake's body?
They would move violently, but that alone wouldn't inflict wounds.
Because it takes more strength than you'd think to cut into the flesh inside while the sword is deeply embedded.
It's better to pull it out and stab a different part instead.
But Steel Ants are different.
The part connecting the head and thorax, and thorax and abdomen, is so sensitive and weak that just leaving the sword in and enduring is enough to inflict wounds.
[You deal 7 damage.]
[You deal 5 damage.]
[You deal 9 damage.]
Small numbers accumulate to become enormous.
How long had he endured?
Finally, the Steel Ant's movements lost their strength.
Its antennae, which had been shaking violently, now drooped limply.
This was the chance.
After pulling out the sword.
Thud.
He struck down hard again.
A critical hit finished it off.
"Phew."
If you know its weakness, it's really an easy creature.
If you form a party, you could hunt multiple at once.
Of course, Moo-hyeok's strength stat was abnormally high for his level, so the damage was significant, but there's no better prey than a monster with guaranteed safety.
The problem is that this weakness hasn't been discovered yet.
Moo-hyeok had no intention of revealing it either.
As long as the guild controlling this area didn't find out, there couldn't be a better hunting ground.
A holy light radiated from his entire body.
[Your level increases.]
It was a historic moment of reaching level 20.
"Ah...!"
The joy was brief.
[Forced logout for update.]
He was kicked out.
Moo-hyeok, who had been dazed in the darkness, opened the capsule and came out.
His brow was furrowed.
"Ah, damn it."
He couldn't even allocate his stats.
Still, well...
He felt less disappointed since he had reached his goal of level 20.
Soon, he relaxed his expression and lay down on the bed.
Even now when he should be resting, his mind was full of thoughts about Illusion.
As soon as he logs in, he needs to allocate his stats, and then proceed with the quest to change jobs to Gangster Necromancer.
Then Moo-hyeok wouldn't have to step forward to fight anymore.
Because the special job of Gangster Necromancer is quite powerful, at least in the beginning.
Of course, it gets weaker over time, but Moo-hyeok was confident he could make it even stronger using the information filling his head.
He shook his head.
When it's time to rest, rest properly.
That's also necessary.
So he erased thoughts of Illusion.
What should I do?
It's already well past midnight.
Yet he couldn't sleep.
Probably because of anticipation.
But he couldn't stay up all night either.
At times like this, exercise is best.
The gym would be closed by now, so he had no choice but to move his body simply at home.
He sweated while doing push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and so on.
After moving moderately for 30 minutes, he took a shower with lukewarm water.
Afterwards, as he lay in bed, a drowsy fatigue suddenly rushed over him.
Ah. It feels good...
Soon his thoughts blurred.
*
Moo-hyeok, who woke up earlier than usual, quickly washed his face and headed straight to the gym.
After finishing an hour of exercise, he ate breakfast on his way home.
Then, as soon as he logged into Illusion, he raised his character's vitality first.
Afterwards, he summoned skeletons and zombies to check their status.
[Summon Window]
(Skeleton1)
Level: 15
HP: 150
MP: 50
Strength: 8
Agility: 5
Vitality: 5
Knowledge: 5
Wisdom: 5
Bonus Points: 7
(Skeleton2)
Level: 15
HP: 150
MP: 50
Strength: 8
Agility: 5
Vitality: 5
Knowledge: 5
Wisdom: 5
Bonus Points: 7
(Zombie1)
Level: 15
HP: 200
MP: 25
Strength: 8
Agility: 5
Vitality: 5
Knowledge: 5
Wisdom: 5
Bonus Points: 7
He didn't look at the detailed information.
Checking the stats alone was enough.
For a user, this would be equivalent to level 14.
With 7 bonus points, if all were raised, it would be equivalent to level 21.
Since knowledge and wisdom are meaningless, maybe level 18?
This was possible because Moo-hyeok's stats were beyond ordinary.
Hmm, not bad.
Then why did they feel so weak until now?
First, because Moo-hyeok used himself as the standard.
Even Moo-hyeok, with his overwhelming stats, had to hunt cautiously in these areas, so naturally, skeletons or zombies much weaker than him would feel even weaker.
Second, while increases in strength, agility, and knowledge apply the same as for users, increases in HP and MP from leveling up, vitality, and wisdom are applied lower than for users.
A typical skeleton doesn't gain vitality from leveling up, and even when vitality increases by 1, it only gains 30 HP, so it can't last as long as a user.
Of course, not all summons are like this. This is just for the basic skeleton summoned at the beginning.
Higher-level skeletons that will appear later will have a much larger increase in HP.
Moo-hyeok organized his thoughts and started raising his summons' stats.
2 in agility. 5 in vitality.
Then the increased stats appeared.
[Summon Window]
(Skeleton1)
Level: 15
HP: 300
MP: 50
Strength: 8
Agility: 7
Vitality: 10
Knowledge: 5
Wisdom: 5
Bonus Points: 0
After confirming, he closed the summon window.
Now it was time to complete the job change quest, so he headed to the blacksmith to explain the situation to Luke.
"Hmm, you say you'll be away for a few days?"
"Yes."
"Well, it can't be helped. I didn't plan to keep a stranger around for long anyway. Actually, I'm surprised you've stayed this long. Anyway, take a break and come back."
It seemed unexpected to Luke.
Well, it's beneficial for me too.
Honestly, it wasn't easy to find a workshop of this quality.
Of course, if I bought disposable crafting tools directly, I wouldn't be tied to a location, but the price isn't cheap.
There was no need to spend expensive money when I could make things here.
Moreover, completing quests from the blacksmith was more efficient, and sometimes I even gained crafting stat increases as rewards.
If there was anything to regret, it would be not learning armor crafting.
That's when.
"Before that."
Luke stared intently at Moo-hyeok.
"You should learn the basics, right?"
"The basics...?"
"Repair."
"Ah...!"
I had forgotten.
Repair, which might be used even more than crafting.
Luke was now directly mentioning that he would teach it.
"How pathetic. Hey, follow me."
Following Luke, he learned repair from him.
['Repair Skill' has been acquired.]
['Craftsmanship (1)' has increased.]
A pleasant notification was heard.
"Thank you."
"When you come back, I'll prepare armor crafting too."
Even the armor crafting I had regretted.
Luke might have been preparing already. To send Moo-hyeok off.
He intended to teach armor crafting on the way out.
Moo-hyeok felt only grateful and sorry.
"I'll be back soon."
"Do as you please."
Moo-hyeok smiled and bowed his head at Luke's grumpiness.
Afterwards, he headed to the warp zone.
