Chapter 36

The Boundless Necromancer

Chapter 36: 7th Floor (1)

“…”

Was this rigged?

How did I get the highest possible grade item…

I thought that my luck had been better since I entered the tower, but I didn’t think it would work with the gacha as well.

‘…Hm, maybe I’m just a really lucky person.’

I might not have realized it because of all the things that happened in my life.

There was no other explanation for this event.

“Anyway, this is an unexpected delight.”

I didn’t know what the item was, but if it was B-grade, it was bound to be good.

These items weren’t ranked just for show.

「 Wrought Iron Pendant 」 

「 Grade: B 」 

「 An iron pendant that has the spirit of a skilled blacksmith. 」 

「 Metal and blade-related skills are +7% more effective. 」 

「 Upon inserting mana, activate ‘Steel’s Blessing.’ 」 

「 Mana must be supplied continuously, but it has no cooldown. 」 

Even the description had an air of poise to it…

What was more amazing was the description under it.

That all skills pertaining or related to metals and blades will be increased by 7%.

‘Since it doesn’t specify cutting force, attack speed, or anything else…!’

It would effectively add an extra 7% to all those effects.

“…Damn, this is why it’s a B-grade item. These effects are so good.”

It’s probably one of the best B-ranked items at that.

One thing I didn’t understand was the ‘Steel’s Blessing’ effect.

Considering that the soul of a blacksmith was in it, it probably wasn’t a normal effect.

Especially because most item effects didn’t get a name after them.

At most, there were generally just small descriptions of the effect that it had.

But…

If it did have a named effect, then it tended to be more special than just normal effects.

Although I’d never really seen one in real life so I thought it was just an urban legend.

‘This item is bound to have some flaws, but goddamn.’

It could have a better effect than most A-grade items.

My expectations started getting higher and higher.

I was pretty sure I hit the jackpot on this one.

“I wasn’t even expecting anything… I can’t believe it.”

I wanted to laugh as loud as I could, but I decided to compose myself.

It’s important to stay calm to matter what the circumstances are.

‘Whoo, let’s calm down.’

I put the pendant over my head and onto my neck.

Shlaat.

The chain trickled down as the jewel on the pendant came down to my heart.

Despite it being a silver jewel, it was light and clear so I liked the aesthetics of it as well.

Like an item handcrafted for me.

And the effect of Steel’s Blessing was…

「 Activating Wrought Iron Pendant’s (B) effect ‘Steel’s Blessing.’ 」 

「 Your skin adapts a property that absorbs all physical damage by 10% 」 

A higher-tier skill of my physical resistance.

‘Holy…’

It was technically more advanced than my physical resistance skill.

If that skill allowed me to ‘resist’ a percentage of physical damage…

“Steel’s Blessing completely nullifies a percentage of physical damage.”

I personally didn’t think much about the physical resistance skill.

Because I didn’t have a body like the doppelganger to take advantage of the skill.

Even if I was able to resist attacks, it would be useless if my body couldn’t brush the rest of the attacks off.

Of course, it would shield me from some of the impacts but…

I didn’t put that much emphasis on it.

But this was different.

Being able to absorb physical damage by 10% was way overpowered.

‘My skin can now absorb physical damage.’

I wondered if there was a better resistance skill than this.

The +7% to all the metal and blade skills might not be that great compared to A and S grade items but—

“This effect alone might make it better than that.”

Even if I eventually grew out of this effect, I could just sell it.

This was bound to go for millions.

Just the thought of it put a smile on my face.

‘I didn’t even get a bonus reward, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.’

Of course, this wasn’t all fun and games.

「 Mana has been exhausted. 」 

「 Deactivating Wrought Iron Pendant’s (B) effect ‘Steel’s Blessing.’ 」 

“…This thing sucks up mana like crazy.”

In a blink of an eye, enough mana to use instant acceleration twice in a row had disappeared.

Well, I guess it wouldn’t matter once I got more mana, but a drawback was a drawback.

‘I’ll have to turn it off and on only when I need it.’

But if I couldn’t get the activation timing correctly, it could backfire on me.

“I’ll have to get some mana efficiency skills later.”

Why were there so many skills I needed to get…

“Sigh, it would be so much better if I could learn skills a little more easily.”

Apparently, I couldn’t get extra skills no matter how many times I repeated the necessary acquiring actions.

It hurt my head to think about all the things I’d need to get somehow.

This was the reality of my talents, huh.

‘…Nothing I can do about it now. I’ll just have to wait till I get on the 8th floor.’

They did say that I could buy skills after the expansion.

And maybe I’d get the skills I needed from just climbing the tower.

***

***

“Now, let’s check all those other things.”

First, let’s check on the newly upgraded necromancy. 

「 Innate ability – ‘Necromancy (D) 」 

「 Proficiency – 0% 」

「 Basic effect – Able to absorb the souls of the dead to increase or reinforce stats, mana, or something of a similar nature. 」

「 Extra effect(1) – Able to permanently increase stats depending on the nature and rank of the soul. 」

「 Extra effect(2) – Able to store souls for later use. Soul storage capacity depends on the ability’s rank. 」  

「 Extra effect(3) – Able to acquire one skill bound to a soul at a certain percentage upon absorbing that soul. 」 

「 Extra effect(4) – Able to protect your body by consuming souls. The impact that can be absorbed is proportional to the souls used. 」 

There was a new extra effect, but the description of the basic effect had also changed.

‘Increase or reinforce stats, mana, or something of a similar nature.’

It didn’t just say that the souls would strengthen me or that I would be able to turn them into something that I’d like.

If I wanted more mana, I’d be able to get more mana.

And if not, I’d be able to increase my stats.

Plus…

‘I got a defensive skill.’

An ability to protect myself by consuming some of the souls I had stored.

I was hoping that it would be something to help me steal more skills but… 

‘I guess not.’

It wasn’t bad, but I was a little bitter that my predictions were off.

Mostly because I had to solely rely on my innate ability for growth due to a lack of my own talents.

‘I guess I can’t just rely on the innate ability to help me.’

I had to find other ways to get stronger.

And the key to that wasn’t with me, but with the tower.

Whatever the ‘pioneer’ or the ‘brilliance’ was, if I could get all the benefits and get the skills I needed…

Then I wouldn’t have to solely rely on my innate ability.

“I’ll be there soon. Let’s not rush.”

As long as I survived the 7th trial, everything would be fine.

So I just had to focus on the upcoming trial for now.

‘And it’s not like I didn’t need a way to protect myself.’

It would be dangerous to face an intruder like I did on the 5th trial.

The problem was how I could activate the ability but—

“I don’t really know how.”

Typically, I should naturally know how to use it but that wasn’t the case this time.

Then.

‘Maybe this counts as a passive ability.’

I did hear about those kinds of innate abilities.

One of the extra effects would be a passive that enhanced the already existing abilities.

If my 4th effect was anything like that then…

The protection should be working already.

‘I guess I’ll find out.’

I turned the autohealing off and put my sword right up to my skin.

Just in case the autohealing interfered with me testing this skill out.

My tenacity was high enough to resist the blade but…

Crrrrrk!

It wasn’t so hard that I couldn’t cut myself.

The thunder blade was a C-grade item with a high enough cutting force, so it only made sense.

I had to be careful because of all my extra buffs, but that wasn’t going to stop me.

‘The extra cutting force, the triple lacerate skill, or the electrocution effect might be dangerous but…’

The electrocution effect was only on hit and shouldn’t activate while the blade was already on my body…

And the cutting force was a passive skill, but I could control to what point I wanted to push down…

And I just didn’t have to activate the laceration skill.

So I put a little bit more pressure on my arm but—

「 A soul has absorbed an attack on the user. 」 

「 Soul of player ‘Song Jinook’ has been consumed. 」 

「 Number of souls in possession – 3/30 」

The blade that should have sliced through my flesh was blocked by a black fog of some kind.

Where there should have been blood was not even a scar.

“Ooh…”

I wasted one of the souls I got from the 6th floor, but it didn’t matter that much.

I was more surprised by necromancy’s ability to protect.

“…It’s better than I thought?”

‘With this, I think I would be okay even if that black knight came at me again.’

It depended on what the next trial would be, but it looked like it could become very useful.

“I probably shouldn’t absorb all my souls then.”

There should always be some souls just in case.

Especially these low-level souls from low-level players.

「 Skill – Contempt for the Weak (F) 」 

「 Proficiency – 2% 」 

「 Effect – If all of the opponent’s stats fail to exceed yours, your strength increases proportionally to the difference. 」 

This was an achievement skill I got from the 6th trial.

I knew how it worked, so I was able to skim over it.

‘Low-rank, but not bad.’

It’d be helpful if I ever had to go against some small fries again.

Even more so if I could get the grade up a little higher.

‘I guess that’s it.’

Now the only thing left to do was check how long I had to wait until I could start the next trial.

Then check out what’s going on in the community.

That should have been it but…

“…What the hell is this?”

An unexpected turn of events.

「 Do you accept the 7th floor trial? 」 

It seemed that there was no more waiting for a trial to start.

—

The 4th effect is kinda disappointing but seems pretty op

Also the soul seems like such a waste cuz he could have gotten a skill from it???

Cmon mc