The Boundless Necromancer

Chapter 40: Radiance (1)

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「 More than 1000 people have cleared the 7th trial.
」 

「 The system expansion is starting.
」 

「 Skill Marketplace is opening.
」 

「 Trial Crossroads are being formed.
」 

「 Permanent return is now available.
」 

「 Intrusion system is being activated.
」 

A bunch of messages started to pop up, but the most important one was at the bottom. 

「 You have been designated as a ‘pioneer’ for the previous floors.
」 

「 You may choose a radiance.
」 

Radiance.

The perk of being a pioneer finally revealed itself.

「 Radiance affects the challenger’s innate ability and skills.
」 

「 Please think carefully before making a decision.
」 

“Think carefully…”

The tower hasn’t given advice like this before.

This meant that choosing a radiance was important, even to the tower.

「 Please choose one of these available options.
」 

「 Conqueror 」 

「 Hunter 」 

「 Monk 」 

“Are these radiances…?”

“Hm, I guess I’ll look at the details first.”

Even if I wanted to make a choice, I didn’t know anything about these.

「 Conqueror 」 

「 A radiance that changes depending on the individual’s abilities.
」 

「 Helps the individual become an all-rounder rather than a specialist and is closely related to their innate ability.
」 

「 Potential for battle, growth, support, and creation increases greatly.
」

「 Innate power is ‘Skill Combination.’ 」 

「 This is the most fitting radiance for challenger Han Sungyeun.
」 

“Hm…”

I wasn’t able to tell exactly what it could do just by reading the description, but I could tell it was a good one.

My potential for everything would increase, and it would affect my ability… 

‘This means that it’ll be helpful to my future growth.’

It sounded like a perfect fit.

The innate power also seemed interesting.

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Even the tower determined that this would be the best radiance for me.

But I couldn’t make a decision just yet.

「 Hunter 」 

「 A radiance that anyone could easily get used to.
」

「 Specializes in growth and does not have a significant effect on an innate ability.
」 

「 However, this radiance is closely related to stat and skill growth.
」

「 It increases the growth rate of skill proficiencies.
」 

「 Innate power is ‘Level Up.’ 」 

「 This is an adequate radiance for challenger Han Sungyeun.
」 

“This one isn’t bad either.”

The tower seemed to agree with me.

Even if it wouldn’t affect my innate ability, the stat increase would be very compatible.

And I had a good idea of what the ‘Level Up’ power would do.

‘If this were a game, it would be like choosing your occupation.’

‘Hunter’ would be an occupation that allowed you to level yourself up.

I assumed that leveling up would directly increase stats and skill proficiency.

This radiance’s effect wasn’t bad, but it would overlap with my innate ability.

‘And the last one is…’

「 Monk 」 

「 A radiance that is greatly affected by talent and hard work.
」 

「 Specializes in growth, but everything is strictly determined by talent and hard work.
」 

「 Becomes stronger the more time you invest and requires a lot of talent.
」 

「 Could be completely fruitless without the required talents.
」 

「 Innate power is ‘Path of Training.’ 」 

「 Currently not recommended for challenger Han Sungyeun.
」 

“Meh.”

Definitely not the one for me.

The ‘hard work’ part wasn’t an issue, but it required talent… 

Also, I didn’t have any information about this innate power… 

‘I’ll pass on this and just choose between the other two.’

As the tower suggested, I should think very carefully before making a choice.

The radiances seemed to affect innate abilities or skills… 

‘They also have things called ‘innate powers,’ and those seem pretty good.’

“I think I’ll have to choose Conqueror.”

I could replace Hunter’s abilities with necromancy, but Conqueror was a well-rounded radiance that would be beneficial in many ways.

And the tower said that it would be the best fit considering my innate ability.

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Plus, I’ve been looking for something like ‘Skill Combination’ to spice up my abilities.

‘No matter what, increased potential and the ability to combine skills should make this worth it.’

 

***

***

 

Tap.

「 You have selected Conqueror.
」

「 Innate ability is evolving according to the selected radiance.
」 

「 Displaying choices with regard to the challenger’s ability.
」 

Messages kept popping up even after I made my choice.

「 Summoner – Use the absorbed souls to raise powerful undead skeletons.
」 

「 Magic Swordsman – Increases talent in magic and swordsmanship, and related skills can be learned three times more quickly.
」 

「 Creator – Increases talent related to item creation, and related skills can be learned three times more quickly.
」 

“They did say it would be closely related to my innate ability…”

As they promised, the radiance was evolving my innate ability.

After reading all three descriptions, I came to a conclusion.

“They all seem kind of useless…?”

Magic Swordsman wouldn’t really help me since I didn’t have much talent to begin with… 

Same thing with Creator.

‘It would have been a different story if it raised my talents by a set value rather than multiplying them.’

After all, zero times anything is zero.

So I chose the least of the three evils: Summoner.

「 The Summoner trait is being added to the innate ability ‘Necromancy.’ 」 

「 Existing effects have been slightly altered, and new effects are being added.
」 

「 The innate power ‘Skill Combination’ is being created.
」 

After the messages stopped, I opened my status window.

「 Han Sungyeun 」 

「 Radiance – Conqueror ] 

「 Strength – 55 」         「 Stamina – 51 」

「 Agility – 56 」             「 Mana – 43 」 

「 Tenacity – 43 」 

「 Innate ability – Necromancy (D) 」 

「 Innate power – Skill Combination 」 

「 Skill – See details 」

Some of my stats went up slightly.

But more importantly, the radiance and innate power were added.

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“Ooh…”

Seeing them listed so clearly on my window was pretty satisfying.

I looked into it a little more. 

「 Innate power – Skill Combination 」 

「 Effect – Can select two skills to combine.
When the two selected skills are different in rank, the higher-ranking skill becomes the core skill.
」 

It had the exact effect that I expected.

‘I can just get rid of my useless skills.’

Or maybe I could combine similar skills to upgrade them.

It did say that the higher-ranking skill would be the core, so the innate power had unlimited potential.

And my innate ability… 

「 Consumes stored souls to raise a nearby dead.
The strength of the raised dead will be proportional to the quality and quantity of the consumed souls.
」 

The newly-added effect seemed interesting.

Now necromancy is finally living up to its name.

“All necromancers should have a summoning ability.”

I assumed something like this was bound to appear sometime soon.

Considering the utility of the skill, this should be pretty good.

So far, I had zero regrets about choosing this radiance.

Too bad I couldn’t test it out here.

“The effects are too vague.”

Like how long the raised dead would last or what actually counted as a nearby dead.

There was a high chance that the skill would have unintended effects if I used it here.

If I suddenly summoned a deteriorating corpse in the waiting area, it’s not like I could throw it out. 

And I wasn’t planning to see if I could fit a corpse in the inventory.

‘I’ll try it out back in the real world or in another trial.’

It was about time that I went back again.

But… 

“Skill Combination is different.”

I had no qualms about trying that out right now.

Similar to what happened for my innate ability, a panel appeared in front of me as soon as I had the urge to use the skill.

「 Activating the innate power ‘Skill Combination.’ 」

「 Listing the available skills.
」 

「 Please select two skills from the list.
」 

Accelerated Regeneration Pain Resistance Heat Resistance Contempt for the Weak Hunter’s Daggermanship Sustain Battle Ranger’s Knowledge

… 

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Seeing all the various skills gave me a feeling of pride. 

It wasn’t too long ago that I didn’t have a single one.

‘I guess I’ve grown a lot.’

But I couldn’t be too full of myself because quantity doesn’t mean quality.

“Hm, what shall I combine…”

It was harder than I expected.

Pain Resistance activated more often than I would’ve liked it to, and Accelerated Regeneration was an irreplaceable skill.

I couldn’t combine skills randomly because I didn’t know what the result would be.

‘What do I not care about too much…?’

I went through the list slowly and decided on two skills. 

Contempt for the Weak Sustain Battle

‘I didn’t use either of them during battle…’

I couldn’t use the former unless my opponent was weaker than me.

And I couldn’t use the latter unless I was in serious danger.

It was never used because my fighting style revolved around my agility.

I wouldn’t miss them too much if they were gone.

‘Acquiring a high-tier skill would be nice…’

But I didn’t expect much.

Expectations only brought about disappointment.

‘I thought I would become a hunter after I awakened as a player.’

But that was when I hit rock bottom.

I knew better than to expect anything from life.

「 The two skills are identical in rank.
」 

「 Please select the core skill.
」 

It seemed that I could choose one of the skills to be the core if they were the same rank.

‘Contempt for the Weak is probably a better choice than Sustain Battle.’

「 Skill Combination will start with ‘Contempt for the Weak’ as the core.
」 

「 Current probability for a high-tier skill is 80%.
」 

「 Start the combination? 」

There was only one answer for that question.

「 Combination complete.
」 

And as that message phased out, the new message emitted a golden glow.

「 Forming a new skill! 」 

 

——