Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Spendthrift Necromancer (21)

Achievement Shop‘There was something like this?’He had hunted Lee Seoyoon many times before.

But he'd never seen messages related to this.‘One Who Opened the Horizon…….’Maybe it had something to do with that.

Well…….

Come to think of it, this was also the first time he'd achieved an EX-rank accomplishment.

If it was related to that, it wasn't strange for it to appear only now.

If it was a shop, did it unlock like the Status Window?‘Achievement Shop.’[Opening Achievement Shop!][Rank: Bronze][Achievement Points Possessed: 30][Product List][1. Limit-Breaking Elixir][Required Achievement Points: 100][2. ???][3. ???]..

There seemed to be plenty of items, but he couldn't inspect the details.

In the end, only one product was currently visible.[Limit-Breaking Elixir][Increases level potential by ‘50’.]‘Huh?’Wait.

What exactly was he looking at?

Kim Minwoo rubbed his eyes hard.

That was how difficult it was to believe what was in front of him.

Yet the text remained unchanged.

“……

Holy shit!”―Master, what is it all of a sudden?

“Cedric! Jackpot! A fucking jackpot! Your big brother just landed a monster catch!”―……

A monster catch?

“Yeah, you bastard! Now your big brother can finally break past Level 200!”―……

There are people who can't do that?

Unfortunately, this undead couldn't empathize with his joy at all.‘This is why talented bastards are like this.’Well, he could understand.

Normally, once someone awakened, they could at least reach Level 300 by default.

Of course, being able to raise your level and actually accomplishing it were completely different things.

As Awakened grew stronger, monsters also became increasingly powerful at higher levels.

To gain meaningful experience, you still had to hunt monsters around your own level.

And after a certain point, even monsters of the same level became difficult to hunt.‘That's when most people give up on leveling.’Level 151 to 250.

C-rank, commonly called the stagnation zone, was that cursed bracket.

Starting from C-rank Gates, even a party had to risk their lives.

Before that, the mindset was still something like.

Should we go make some money at a Gate?

- Heart pounding with excitement.

From here onward, it became.

We'll probably come back alive today, right?

- Heart pounding with fear.

Anyway.

Cedric apparently couldn't grasp the concept of being capped at Level 200.‘Amazingly, it is possible.’A miraculous genius incapable of reaching Level 300, something even a neighborhood F-rank Awakened could manage.

There was the astonishing example known as Kim Minwoo.‘I searched for a way through it for six years…….’And never found one.

That was why he'd been forced to fight the Dragon Lord at Level 200.

But now, he'd finally found the way!‘As long as I have Achievement Points…….’He could raise his level cap.

And because it was a fixed increase of ‘50,’ he didn't even have to pray like when consuming elixirs.‘This effect is enormous.’Levels didn't merely grant 4 stat points.

They were tied into countless factors such as equipment and Skill Books.

And because he was a Necromancer, his summons' level caps would rise as well.‘My ceiling just got way higher.’Much higher than he'd ever imagined.

Now the important question was how to gain Achievement Points. Kim Minwoo recalled the message he'd seen earlier.● You have hunted ‘Lee Seoyoon,’ one of the supporting villains!● The story begins to change in part!‘Supporting villain.’Judging from that, it didn't seem like he'd get points simply by killing random villains.

He probably had to kill villains with some significance to the story.

Hunting major and supporting villains.

For now, that was likely the first way to earn points.‘But hunting them right now is pretty rough.’He knew plenty of characters who qualified as major or supporting villains in this game.

However…….

The problem was that unless he happened to encounter them through coincidence like today, most were difficult to hunt.

Every one of them was high-level.

And except for a few, their locations were random too. Unless he raised his level much higher, he couldn't hunt them right now.‘Another way to earn points…… changing the story?’A supporting villain died.

The story changed, and he gained points.

Killing enemies probably wasn't the only way to earn them.‘What if I influence an important character?’The most central protagonists in this game.

Those were the playable main-character-class characters.

Park Siwoo, Han Sia, Namgung Min, and Seo Yerim. Originally, there would've been no reason for all of them to appear on the same stage.

But things were different now.

The message that had appeared when Stage 6 began.[All main characters in the game will gather in a single world!]

The main characters existed in this world.

Like Seo Yerim.‘If I influence them…….’He might be able to earn points.

The reason he hadn't gained points from Seo Yerim was probably because he hadn't caused a ‘major’ change in her.

At most, he'd messed with her using swordsmanship. It wasn't as though he'd fundamentally changed anything.

Meanwhile, even though Lee Seoyoon was only a supporting character, her death had erased an entire existing storyline.

That was probably why the impact was large.

Among the four, the easiest character to change was Park Siwoo, the one-star difficulty character.

Because Minwoo had returned to a point when Kim Minwoo was still Unawakened, the timeline had rolled back considerably.‘He should be at the orphanage around now.’Hanbit Orphanage.

That was the name of the place.‘And he should still be Unawakened.’The point when the player directly controlled Park Siwoo was further in the future than now.

He awakened then, so right now he should still be Unawakened.

Minwoo knew Park Siwoo's awakening condition.

And he'd already seen messages saying humanity's potential had increased or whatever.‘What if I make him awaken not at S-rank, but even higher?’He was already a swordsmanship genius.

What if someone like that became SS or SSS-rank?

No matter what the story was, how could it possibly remain unchanged?‘It'll definitely have an effect.’If that happened, he'd probably gain far more points than from killing Lee Seoyoon.

Park Siwoo was easy to approach, and trying to awaken him wouldn't be difficult.

There was no reason not to do it.‘And if I don't get points…….’He could just make a guild or something and use him as a minion.

He was talented, so if Minwoo supported him with decent equipment, he'd power-level on his own.

Someday he'd definitely become useful.‘I'll go meet him once I get out.’Before that, though, he should collect the equipment.

He looted Lee Seoyoon's corpse.

Assassin gear came out.

Since she was B-rank and considered promising, the quality was fairly good.

Unfortunately, the class restrictions meant he couldn't equip it, so he planned to sell it at auction.

He could probably get around 30 billion won.

And then.

“Oh, jackpot.”

He found one fairly excellent item.[Dark Pursuer's Ring][Rank: Unique][Required Level: 51 or higher][Effect 1. All stats +15][Effect 2. Mana may be used to activate Heat Tracking(C)

.][Effect 3. Critical-hit damage increases by 10%.]

“This is a premium accessory.”

No class restriction, and the required level was remarkably low compared to its performance. You couldn't obtain something like this from an ordinary Gate.‘She cleared a chain quest.’It was the sort of item you could only get after finding a hidden condition, activating a chain quest, and completing it all the way to the end.

“You usually can't even buy this with money.”

Naturally.

Unless an Awakened was retiring, why would they sell something like this while still growing?

That was probably why she'd continued wearing it even at her high level.

Accessories were already difficult to build around due to their low supply, and Assassin plus critical-damage increase was one of those inseparable dream combinations.

The all-stat increase went without saying.

He placed Lee Seoyoon's corpse and equipment inside the Spatial Ring.

Now it was time to clear the Gate.

His heart raced.

Encountering Lee Seoyoon had unexpectedly given him ten levels.

Current level 4

0.

Only 11 more levels until 51.

The range where he could absorb the next elixirs and Skill Book. His combat power would enter an entirely different dimension.

“Let's go.”

Cedric and the Skeletons nodded.* * *He wiped out every monster inside the Gate and raised his level.[Level increases!][You have reached Level 51.]

He managed to reach Level 51 before reaching the boss room.

He took out the low-grade elixirs.[Low-Grade Magic Pill][Rank: D][Required Level: 51 or higher][Slightly increases mana upon consumption. (Effective up to stat 150)]

The stats referred to by elixirs meant innate stats, excluding bonus stats from titles, equipment, and the like.

What counted as innate stats?

The base stats he'd had from the beginning and the stats raised through elixirs.

Along with stats gained from leveling.

Add all of those together, and that was your innate stat total.

If there was one more category, it included stats that rose naturally through training or actions.‘Doesn't apply to this guy.’Kim Minwoo had never once seen his stats rise through training.

So it was better to pretend that category didn't exist.

Conclusion.

Every stat mentioned by the elixirs was currently 100.

He just needed to raise each by another 50.

That meant a total increase of 200 stat points.

Royal road complete.

He absorbed the first elixir.[Low-Grade Magic Pill is absorbed.][Amazing! Your horrific body has overcome abysmal odds and absorbed the elixir's full efficacy!][Magic increases by 2!]

“What?”

Two points from one?

Kim Minwoo stared in shock at a message he'd never seen before.[You have acquired the title, ‘Super Lucky Guy!’]

“……

And this even gives me a title?”

Weren't titles supposed to require fairly difficult accomplishments?

He couldn't believe he'd gained one from a message other people probably saw all the time.

For the first time, Kim Minwoo realized his body actually had an advantage.

He immediately checked the effect.[New Title List][1. PK Expert][Defeated an Awakened with an overwhelming gap in strength.][Effect: Attack power increases by 10% against Awakened at least 200 levels higher than you.][2. Super Lucky Guy][Achieved good fortune despite abysmal odds.][Effect: You seem to have become luckier.]‘I seem luckier…….’A pretty vague effect.

Still, better than nothing.

He absorbed every elixir.

“……

These effects are incredible.”

He was genuinely surprised.

The elixirs had taken extraordinarily well to his body.

“I actually managed it with only eight hundred…….”

How amazing that was became obvious when compared to Level 1.

Back then, he'd needed more than a thousand elixirs.

He'd even brought out around two hundred more from the family warehouse because he'd assumed the amount bought from Choi Yuna wouldn't be enough.

Looks like he could just put those back.

“Lucky.”

He grinned and learned the Skill Book.[Summon Skeleton Mage(E)+9][This skill has been enhanced to its limit.][Consumes 20 mana to summon 2(1+1)

LV1 Skeleton Mages.]

“Damn.”The effect of +9 was beautiful no matter how many times he saw it.

It cost twice as much mana as an ordinary Skeleton, but Mages were well worth it.

Time to switch into the next set of equipment.

He unequipped his old gear and opened his Status Window.[Name: Kim Minwoo(23)][Class: Necromancer][Level: 51][Skills Possessed(4/20): Death Lord(EX), Summon Cedric(SSS), Summon Skeleton Mage(E)+9, Summon Skeleton(F)+9][Mana: 1,920/1,920][Titles: 15][Stats][Strength: 181(+18)] [Agility: 181(+18)] [Stamina: 152(+15)] [Magic: 175(+17)]

“Insane.”

These weren't Level 51 stats.

And this was even before adding the stats from his new equipment.

The Dark Pursuer's Ring he could equip now that he'd reached Level 51.

And the Rare set items he'd purchased from the auction house.[Equipping Dark Pursuer's Ring!][All stats increase by 15!][Equipping Harvester of Ruin Set!][Strength +15, Agility +15, Stamina +15, Magic +50!][Drain(D)

activated!]

His Magic rose by another 65.

Then Indomitable Soul stacked on top, adding another 6.

Magic stat 2

6

3.

Pure mana alone, 2,6

3

0.

And if Death Lord's mana cost reduction was added on top.

“Rise, minions.”[452 Skeletons are summoned!][300 Skeleton Mages are summoned!]

An army of more than seven hundred rose to its feet.

Far too many troops for the purpose of killing a single gorilla boss.