The Boundless Necromancer - Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Radiance (1)

「 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.

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.

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.

“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
…

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! 」

——