Skeleton Master Chapter 035

"Ah, I'm level 31."

"What, did you also start right when it opened?"

"No."

"Then?"

"It's been just 1 month."

"What nonsense are you..."

"I got lucky. Found two dungeons."

"..."

"And I got a title too."

"T-title...?"

"Yeah, all my stats increased by 1. Oh, and the dungeon rewards were no joke either. Strength, agility, vitality, intelligence, and wisdom all went up by 2 each. Thanks to that, I can easily take down an Orc Warrior by myself now. Even two at once isn't a problem."

Moo-hyeok spoke with a puzzled expression.

"Is that why you leveled up so fast?"

Really, acting like he knows nothing.

"..."

Young-chan's eyes grew as wide as they could possibly get.

They were even trembling uncontrollably.

"So..."

"That's right. I reached level 31 in just two months."

Moo-hyeok summarized it simply.

"That's a lie!"

"You're seeing it with your own eyes, aren't you?"

"B-but this doesn't make sense! It took me half a year to reach 46. Level 31 in just two months? Even if you found dungeons, that's just... Is that even possible? Did you use some kind of bug? Right, Illusion must have bugs too. Yeah, that must be it. Otherwise, it's impossible."

The gathering was held in the name of friendship, and they logged into the game hoping to have fun.

But now he's saying such things out of jealousy because someone's level is high compared to their time investment?

Just as expected.

"So you can have high levels, but I can't?"

"That's not what I mean, it's just that no matter how you look at it..."

Moo-hyeok closed the distance with Young-chan.

He whispered softly in his ear.

"What then? You think I must have used a bug, no matter how you look at it? You should watch what you say. It's starting to piss me off."

"What nonsense..."

"Level 31 in two months. Can you imagine it?"

"..."

"In just three more months, I'll catch up to your level. No, two months should be enough. In half a year, I could even enter the rankings. Think you can interfere? Do you even know where I'll be? If I just hide away for a few months and focus on hunting, I could join the best guild. Can you imagine what kind of influence I'll have then?"

At those words, Young-chan's expression changed again. Half distorted, half forcing a smile.

"Ah, haha. Bug? Of course I was just kidding."

"Really?"

"Y-yeah."

Moo-hyeok let out a snicker.

It was clearly a sneer.

Even so, Young-chan couldn't say anything in response.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Just... you're amazing..."

"Is that so?"

Since they were whispering, the other friends couldn't hear their conversation.

Watching him make excuses to the others' questions, he suddenly realized something.

Yes, this life is definitely different from before.

He didn't want to experience that miserable life again where he couldn't do anything.

Being controlled by others, crushed by money and power, submitting to strength.

How was that any different from being completely paralyzed, unable to do anything?

One such experience was enough. So now, he would neither hesitate nor waver.

Moo-hyeok turned around to look at his friends. Of course, among them, only one person could be called a true friend.

"Let's stop here for today. I just remembered something I had to do."

So, not today.

Even if he went hunting with others, it wouldn't be with them.

He still couldn't forget that day.

When he was completely paralyzed.

When they came to visit him in the hospital, while Min-woo stepped out briefly, they had such a brutally direct conversation.

Their words were like daggers, without a shred of consideration.

Their expressions were like torture, cutting into his flesh and stripping his bones.

And those looks, as if they were staring at a corpse.

Those images were still etched in his mind, unforgotten.

Of course, it's not like that now.

It hasn't happened yet, and maybe it never will.

But that doesn't mean these negative feelings would disappear.

Was there any need to forcibly suppress these emotions?

He tried at first, but after logging into the game and seeing Young-chan's reaction, he realized.

There's no need to force himself to do things he doesn't want to do.

He should just do what he wants.

Wasn't that the goal of this life?

"Min-woo, see you next time."

"Huh? Oh, yeah."

Except for Min-woo, the rest were no longer friends. Coming to that conclusion made him feel much more at ease.

He should have done this sooner.

Thinking that, he logged out.

*

Even after meeting with his friends, nothing had changed in Moo-hyeok's daily life.

He would wake up early in the morning, work out at the gym, and buy breakfast at a restaurant on his way home.

After that, he logged into Illusion and hunted Ogres.

While he was contentedly checking his remaining experience points, five users who had previously picked a fight with him and died appeared.

They approached him hesitantly, closing the distance.

Moo-hyeok positioned himself between his Bone Sword and Bone Bow, just in case.

"Um, excuse me..."

"What is it?"

One of the men struggled to continue speaking.

"Well, that is..."

"..."

"Perhaps, the items..."

"Oh, the ones you dropped?"

The man nodded his head urgently.

"If you still have them..."

"I already sold them."

"Ah..."

The man's expression twisted.

They were worth millions of won in real money.

Of course it would be a painful loss.

"You son of a—!"

Moo-hyeok smiled as he watched the man charge at him, unable to contain his anger.

Here comes another nice item drop.

At that moment, the archer beside the man held him back.

"Hey, stop it."

"Let go!"

"If we attack first and die, we might drop more items."

The man froze at those words.

Grind.

The sound of teeth grinding could be heard as he clenched his molars.

"You'll pay for this."

"Whatever you say."

The man's face reddened at Moo-hyeok's response. However, without taking any further action, he turned around and left the hunting ground with his companions.

Hmm, what a shame.

He felt no remorse.

After all, they were the ones who started it.

Even now, he wanted to attack and kill them one more time, but he couldn't act rashly since he didn't know what tricks they might try.

Besides, PK wasn't exactly a good thing.

It could become troublesome later if other users happened to upload a video.

Though he wouldn't mind if they started the fight.

Moo-hyeok turned around, clearing his thoughts. He resumed focusing on hunting Ogres.

*

[Level up.]

Finally reached level 33.

Great!

He continued hunting without stopping.

Kwooooar!

After leveling up and hunting for 6 more hours, he checked my accumulated experience points.

At this rate, it looked like he could gain another level in about 3 days.

If he maintained this pace, he could reach level 40 before a month passed.

After that...

It was a moment to consider rough plans.

['Bracelet of Flow' has been sold at auction.]

A message popped up.

Ah, he had set it for 72 hours.

[Checking auction price.]

[289 gold acquired.]

Magic Attack Power 15.

A bracelet that increases casting speed by 1%.

he had actually hoped for up to 350 gold, so the lower amount was somewhat disappointing.

Well, he got it for free anyway.

Still, 289 gold was not a small amount by any means.

After organizing everything, he went back to hunting.

he gave orders while looking at an Ogre playing around in the distance.

Bone Bow 1, rapid fire.

The bone arrows shot forth.

One arrow hit the Ogre's chest, and it charged toward me in rage.

However, under the slowing poison's effect, its movements were quite sluggish.

In that gap, the Bone Bow's attacks continued, inflicting bleeding and weakening effects.

Finally, when the distance had closed enough, hallucination poison was applied too.

Grr...?

The Bone Swords surrounded the dazed Ogre.

Bone Swords, all attack.

The Ogre only came to its senses after losing 10% of its HP. The real battle with this creature began.

*

Days repeated themselves.

Before he knew it, two weeks had swiftly passed.

"Haaah..."

Today too, he continued hunting without fail.

Current level 37.

Now even the small threats I used to feel slightly have completely disappeared.

Why, you ask?

Thanks to my skeleton summoning level increasing this morning.

[Exclusive Skill]

[Skeleton Mastery 3Lv(15%)]

Skeletons' attack power and defense increase by 3 percent.

[Skeleton Warrior Summon 4Lv(0.1%)]

Can summon 8 skeletons with sword aptitude. As the skill level increases, the number of summonable units and MP consumption per 10 seconds increase.

- Current MP consumption per 10 seconds: 3 per unit

[Skeleton Archer Summon 4Lv(0.1%)]

Can summon 4 skeletons with bow aptitude. As the skill level increases, the number of summonable units and MP consumption per 10 seconds increase.

- Current MP consumption per 10 seconds: 3 per unit

[Mental Response 2Lv(87%)]

Issue commands through thought alone. As the skill level increases, more complex commands become possible.

[Field of View 2Lv(35%)]

Can instantly grasp the position and situation of summons. As the skill level increases, the number of units and range that can be monitored expands.

[Body Disassembly]

Can disassemble monsters near death to obtain materials like leather and bones.

[Bone Assembly]

Can artificially assemble skeleton bones.

Overall growth has been achieved.

Above all, being able to summon 12 skeletons has dramatically increased combat power.

However, the MP consumption per 10 seconds remained the same. This would continue until summoning level reaches 10. Still, it was quite burdensome.

Anyway, now one Ogre could be hunted without Moo-hyeok's direct intervention.

Bone Swords, all attack.

Bone Bow, rapid fire.

Moo-hyeok just watched.

Eight Bone Swords surrounded the Ogre in a circle and swung their swords.

The Ogre also attacked the Bone Swords, but it could only hit four of them at most at once.

Even then, striking downward could only hit one, and even with a horizontal swing, only four Bone Swords would be hit and sent flying back.

Meanwhile, the remaining four Bone Swords thrust their swords at the Ogre, steadily accumulating damage.

With bone arrows also flying in without pause, there was no way it could endure.

Kwaaaaar!

What good was its rage?

There was no solution.

Kwaar...

Finally, the Ogre collapsed powerlessly.

*thud*

He approached it and used his skill.

"Body Disassembly."

He performed Bone Assembly with the obtained Ogre bones.

['Bone Bow 2's 'Strength' decreases.]

['Dexterity' affects it, resulting in a '0.07' decrease.]

['Bone Bow 2's 'Strength' increases.]

['Dexterity' affects it, resulting in a '0.22' increase.]

The more we hunted, the stronger both Moo-hyeok and his summons became.

Slowly but surely.

*

The special dungeon that Moo-hyeok knows of is level 40.

Just three more levels to go.

He was currently at level 37 and about 95 percent. With about a week of hard work, he could reach level 40.

Then he would be able to enter the special dungeon he knew about.

He planned to obtain good items or special rewards there and hunt monsters other than Ogres in a much stronger state.

"Hey, did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

Then came some unexpected words.

"You know there's a dungeon around here."

"Really? What level is it?"

"38, I think?"

He had just learned of the existence of a level 38 dungeon.