Shadow (1)

Arms and legs.

For a warrior specializing in tanking, legs were far more important. Lose an arm, and you could hold your shield in the other hand. Lose a leg, and you couldn't tank at all. Without a solid lower body, you simply couldn't defend yourself.

That went without saying if you only had one leg. A prosthetic wouldn't change anything, either. Jo Piluk's career as an awakener had been utterly destroyed in that instant.

Of course, that was none of Kim Minwoo's concern.

Who had tried to smash whose shoulder first?

“Take him away.”

At his words, the Dorim bodyguards who had been anxiously pacing outside rushed in, hauled Jo Piluk onto their backs, and ran out. Some of them took the mangled leg with them.

'They won't be able to reattach it anyway.'

The system had already sentenced him to crutches. Even Hua Tuo himself couldn't reattach it now.

The awakeners who had served as guarantors approached, every one of them wearing a look of astonishment.

They had watched the fight with their own eyes, not through a broadcast. Naturally, neither the immediacy nor the heart-pounding tension could compare to what the viewers had experienced.

'Honestly, I didn't think he'd lose, but...'

'I never imagined he'd dominate this thoroughly...'

This was an awakener who had distinguished himself in an A+-rank gate. From the moment he readily accepted the duel, they had assumed he had something up his sleeve.

Kim Minwoo had thoroughly proven his worth. He commanded an unbelievable number of summons for someone only around level 100.

Even clumsy skeletons were a different story when enough of them gathered. A thousand would have been enough to make them faint, but two thousand?

The sight alone was overwhelming. A truly enormous horde, the very embodiment of a textbook necromancer.

And that wasn't all.

Kim Minwoo had special summons besides the skeletons. That enormous golem, for one. They couldn't even imagine what its stats were.

The incredible strength it had displayed, stopping Jo Piluk's charge head-on!

And then there was the undead called Cedric.

'... Even I'd have a rough time taking him one-on-one.'

With terrifying spearmanship and seasoned skill, he had made an utter plaything of Jo Piluk. Why else would someone as hot-tempered as Piluk have swallowed his pride, ignored every attack, and charged at Kim Minwoo?

The awakeners agreed that it had been the right call. After all, taking down the summoner was the standard way to defeat a summoning class.

The problem was...

'... A monster.'

'That swordsmanship is just...'

For this necromancer, the summoner himself was the strongest of all.

Jo Piluk was a seasoned awakener in his own right, hardened by his time in gates, yet Minwoo had toyed with him like a plaything.

In particular, when Minwoo read the warrior's skill motions and moved a step ahead to counter, they had nearly lost their minds in astonishment. That was a pinnacle technique even most S-rank awakeners couldn't demonstrate.

Only then did they understand why Sword Phoenix had insisted on splitting the clear contribution fifty-fifty.

Kim Minwoo wasn't simply a necromancer. He was an aberration whose actual body was his strongest asset.

Even more frightening was this fact:

'... There's no way he showed everything he had against someone as insignificant as Jo Piluk.'

Even summoning so many creatures must have been part of his calculations. He had the swordsmanship to cut Piluk down without them, after all. Perhaps he had intended to dispel the doubts surrounding his recent achievement.

“... That was a wonderful match.”

“Your swordsmanship was truly incredible. I can see how you cleared an A+-rank gate.”

“Very impressive. Here's my business card...”

The awakeners crowded around him, doing everything they could to establish even the slightest acquaintance.

Given time, this awakener was clearly going straight to the top. They had nothing to lose by forging even a small connection.

Kim Minwoo smiled and handed out his own business cards.

“You flatter me. I'm still just a beginner.”

The conversation continued in a warm, friendly atmosphere.

* * *

'Now I just need to craft some goods and supply them...'

Nearly a month had passed during his gate excursion. Fortunately, he'd made a substantial stockpile before leaving. Thanks to that, sales had continued without anything selling out.

He had no idea how much time the Death Lord's second arrangement would consume. All the more reason to replenish the stock properly before leaving.

The hundred thousand pieces of equipment he'd supplied last time had earned him roughly 600 billion won. That was possible because he pocketed the entire margin after material costs.

And this time, he would be churning out equipment for E-rank awakeners rather than F-rank ones. The skeletons' crafting skills had improved, raising the quality of their products. With higher-grade materials, the proportion of Magic-grade items should be considerably higher, too.

'A single crafting run should earn me trillions.'

He'd heard that Ilseong's equipment sales were a tremendous success. Some awakeners even camped out in tents, bought equipment, and resold it right at the entrance.

Understandably so. Buying and reselling a single item yielded a profit of at least several million won, far beyond what most low-ranking awakeners earned in a day. No wonder there was such a frenzy.

He had no particular ill will toward those resellers.

'Telling them to stop wouldn't stop them.'

He was selling cheaply precisely to generate that kind of buzz. As things grew, foreign awakeners might hear the rumors and come, too.

Or he could open directly operated stores overseas. The equipment market was boundless. All he had to do was manufacture the goods, and the money would multiply.

After leaving the training center, he headed to the workshop. Mountains of materials had already been delivered.

Wearing a whole collection of spatial rings, Park Siwoo had steadily transported materials even while Minwoo was away.

He sent a message on his phone.

[Kim Minwoo]

—At the workshop. You moved a lot. Good work.

[Park Siwoo]

—Haha!

(Thumbs-up emoji)

[Kim Minwoo]

—What level?

[Park Siwoo]

—127.

[Seo Yerim]

—Huh? Already 127? Didn't you say you were in the nineties last time? That's fast.

[Park Siwoo]

—Yerim, that was a month ago... Yikes. I have to level up if I want to keep up with Minwoo, you know;

[Kim Minwoo]

—Yeah. Honestly, that's not even that fast. Work harder.

[Park Siwoo]

—Sob...

(Crying emoji)

[Seo Yerim]

—Anyway, what's this workshop?

[Park Siwoo]

—Minwoo, can I tell her?

[Kim Minwoo]

—Yeah. Already told her in the gate. Doesn't matter.

[Park Siwoo]

—It's where he makes equipment. I've been moving materials for him with spatial rings. Haha!

[Seo Yerim]

—Oh, got it.

[Kim Minwoo]

—Then I'm off to make equipment.

(Speeding-away emoji)

His stats had changed considerably from before he entered the martial arts gate.

[New Title List]

[1. Monster Among Beginners]

[Effect: All stats increase by 20]

The new title he'd earned in the Testing Grounds.

'That's a beauty.'

Clearing Murderous difficulty had been worth it. Add to that the Ring of Ascension's increase of 100 to all stats, the 50-point increase to all stats from consuming the high-grade elixir he'd bought earlier, the 20-point increase from the Golden Dragon Pill the Unorthodox Alliance leader had given him, and even the Sword Shadow Pill.

Kim Minwoo began taking off his equipment piece by piece.

'This is always the best part.'

Accessories almost never needed replacing. When he removed all his equipment except those and checked his nearly pure stats, that was when he felt most strongly that risking his life had been worthwhile.

His current stats were...

'Status window.'

[Name: Kim Minwoo (24)]

[Class: necromancer]

[Level: 151]

[Mana: 7,150/7,150]

[Titles: 24]

[Skills Owned (9/72): Death Lord (EX), Summon Cedric (SSS), Land of Death (S), Summon Bone Golem (A), Bone Exchange (B), Equipment Binding (B), Curse of Aging (D) +9, Summon Skeleton Mage (E) +9, Summon Skeleton (F) +9]

[Strength: 596 (+59)] [Agility: 596 (+59)] [Vitality: 572 (+57)] [Magic Power: 650 (+65)]

'Ahh.'

His stats comfortably averaged over 600.

Previously, the Mutakta title had made Strength and Agility his highest stats, but things were different now. Magic Power was on top.

'Makes sense.'

The Fourth Apostle's Ring added 50 Magic Power, and Master of a Divine Beast added another 10. It was no surprise that Magic Power had begun pulling ahead.

'Already three good accessories.'

Little Ascension went without saying. Even the Fourth Apostle's Ring he'd gotten from wrecking Belitas and the Dark Tracker's Ring he'd obtained by killing Lee Seoyun were top-notch pieces.

And that wasn't all.

The necklace he'd earned after finishing the orc gate—the one that would let him enter again at level 251—had two sockets.

What if he killed the Witch and the Ice Dragon in there and slotted in the gems?

'A guaranteed jackpot.'

Four top-notch accessories. He had laid the foundation to leap beyond the upper ranks into the very highest tier.

It had only been a little over two months since he'd possessed Kim Minwoo's body. In terms of progress, he was practically still in the tutorial.

His assessment so far?

'Top-tier.'

The rewards for risking his life and grinding away were incredibly sweet. His previous Kim Minwoos had averaged around 400 in their stats at level 151. They'd even taken another two or three months to reach that level.

Compared to them, he was starting from a downright devilish position. And his stats weren't the only things that had changed.

Cedric had also gained a new skill upon reaching level 151.

Shadow Spear (SS).

Its effect was simple. It created a duplicate spear made of shadow. Cedric would strike with a single spear, but the shadow spear would copy the motion and deliver another blow.

A double-attack-power duplication event lasting ten minutes.

Worthy of an SS-rank skill.

Kim Minwoo put on his level-151 equipment piece by piece.

[Equipping the 'Gloomy Necromancer Set'!]

[Strength +50, Agility +40, Vitality +50, Magic Power +100!]

His new equipment inflated his stats once again. With Indomitable Soul's 10% bonus included, his Magic Power totaled 825.

8,250 mana.

[Summoning 3,300 skeletons!]

The 3,300 summons stared at him.

“What are you doing? Get crafting.”

CLATTER!

The skeletons began moving. In no time, products began pouring out.

“Snowy. Time to eat.”

“Coo.”

Snowy hurriedly flew over and gobbled up elemental items.

'I'll make some money for a few days.'

Once the sixty trillion won came in, he'd go shopping.

* * *

Over the next few days, he manufactured and supplied equipment in bulk. With both the quality and quantity increasing, he pocketed an enormous margin.

Almost fifteen million won per piece.

That was possible because equipment prices leaped dramatically with each level bracket. Even selling cheaply left plenty of profit.

He made the goods, handed them over immediately, and received his margin up front.

His days continued like that, buying C-rank skill books in his spare moments whenever he multiplied his money. About three days into that routine, someone began approaching him inside the auction house.

'Finally here.'

The man looked ordinary. His only distinguishing feature was a long scar beside his eye, a common enough injury for an awakener.

Even so, Kim Minwoo recognized him at a glance. After all, he was one of Gate Hunter's most famous villains.

'The leader of Shadow. Han Baekgil.'

The condition for his appearance was simple. Build up enough fame in the game, and one day this guy would quietly show up to recruit you.

Of course, if you played with an extremely good alignment, he'd skip the recruitment offer and go straight for an assassination.

'But that wouldn't be my alignment right now.'

It wasn't as though he'd done anything to demonstrate a good alignment. A wastrel turning over a new leaf hardly counted.

If he had to describe his alignment, chaotic would probably be closest.

A moment later, Han Baekgil spoke with a bright smile.

“Mr. Kim Minwoo! I'm a huge fan. Could I possibly have your autograph?”

“Sure. No reason why not.”

It was an ordinary recruitment approach.

So far.

Just as he was about to sign with the paper and pen Han Baekgil held out, something began creeping into view.

A strange sight appeared within the paper: bizarre writing that looked like hundreds of writhing earthworms.

Han Baekgil's face promptly stiffened.

“Mr. Kim Minwoo, you're an exceptionally talented awakener, aren't you?”

'What's this?'

He'd encountered Han Baekgil hundreds of times, but never in his life had he seen this pattern. Showing him some bizarre picture, then carrying on all by himself?

'What kind of pattern is this now?'

He stared at Han Baekgil.