Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Spendthrift Necromancer (24)

Park Siwoo (2)

Park Siwoo stared blankly at Kim Minwoo.

He himself had practically given up on awakening.

Hearing words like these in that situation made something swell in his chest.

“……

Thank you.”

“Good. You're going to try, right?”

“Yes. Who am I to refuse? You're giving me a chance, so I have to seize it. I'll work hard!”

Park Siwoo bowed deeply.

“Pack your things with your sister. Your hyung will get you a place to stay.”

“Yes.”

The two returned to the orphanage.

“Oh my! This is wonderful! Siwoo and Arin are both such diligent, kind children. Please take good care of them!”

“Yes. I'll look after them. Ah, and I made a donation to the orphanage. I'll send one every year.”

“Pardon? A donation…… Huh! T-Ten billion won……?”

The director's face practically melted at the extravagant donation.

The two children's discharge process went extremely quickly.

Park Siwoo and Park Arin.

Minwoo found them a luxury apartment.

It wasn't far from the main residence either.

“B-Brother…… Are we really going to live here?”

The younger sister's eyes trembled at the apartment, which looked like it cost several billion won at a glance.

Park Siwoo found the sight equally difficult to believe.

“H-Hyung…… This place seems far too expensive…….”

“It's your house now. Ownership has already been transferred.”

““……

What?!””

“Why are you so shocked? It's only this much.”

The siblings' jaws dropped at how casually Kim Minwoo spoke.

From donating ten billion won without blinking to handing over a top-class apartment outright.‘Hyung really lives in a different world…….’Park Siwoo was stunned.

“By the way, I'm never taking it back, so keep that in mind.”

“……

Th-Thank you. Arin. You should thank him too.”

“Oppa! Thank you so, so much! I'll definitely, definitely repay this kindness!”

Their thanks continued endlessly.

After giving them a house, Minwoo went out with Park Siwoo.

“You've already tried just about everything, right?”

“Yes. But I still never awakened.”

That made sense.

Players learned his awakening condition right after beginning the game, so they could attempt it easily, but Park Siwoo wasn't a player.

He didn't know the condition.

Naturally, he'd been fumbling around blindly.

“Let's spar for exactly one week.”

“Spar?”

“Yeah. First, we need to sharpen your instincts properly.”

If Park Siwoo was going to challenge a high Achievement Rank, his instincts needed to be brought to their absolute peak.

And so hell training began.* * *For an entire week, Park Siwoo sparred with Kim Minwoo.

And not once did he win.‘Amazing.’Park Siwoo was impressed.

He had been confident with a sword ever since childhood.

Because he always won.

But against Kim Minwoo, it was different.

Even though Minwoo had clearly adjusted his body down to ordinary-human levels.

“You're leaving an opening here again!”

Smack!

He was being toyed with by Minwoo's sword like a child.‘They said he was a genius acknowledged by the Sword Immortal…….’The world was wide and full of experts.

Park Siwoo could feel the truth of that saying in his bones.

Kim Minwoo grinned at Park Siwoo sprawled on the ground, drenched in sweat.

“Tired?”

“Huff. I seriously feel like I'm dying, Hyung.”

“Stop whining. Here, drink this potion.”

He drank the potion Kim Minwoo handed him.

His body, which had felt ready to lose consciousness at any moment, recovered almost instantly.

“You've still improved a lot. You're pretty usable now.”

“……

Have I?”

“Of course, idiot. Already forgot the first day? You couldn't even block twenty strikes. Now you're taking hundreds.”

“Looking at you, it doesn't really feel like I've improved…….”

“You're pretty talented by normal standards.”

He said it casually, but Kim Minwoo's thoughts were different.‘This monster.’He really was a monster.

The experience and know-how accumulated over fifteen years of playing.

This guy was sucking it all up day after day.

His growth rate was monstrous.‘Thank god I chose Necromancer.’That was how far his thoughts went.

It was fortunate their classes differed. Otherwise, Minwoo might have suffered a serious existential crisis.‘Still, his growth is finally starting to slow around here.’Park Siwoo's swordsmanship, which had been growing almost explosively, was finally beginning to hit a wall.

Unless he received some bolt of inspiration, breaking through that wall all at once would be difficult.‘Helping him through that would take too long.’When enlightenment arrived was completely random.

Someone might gain sudden inspiration from watching a single leaf fall.

Or, if unlucky, remain stuck at the same stage for years.‘He's reached the level I wanted. This is enough.’The current Park Siwoo was far more complete than when Minwoo had personally played him in the past.

A satisfying result.

S-rank or higher.

Guaranteed.

And even luck was on their side.

Minwoo grinned as he watched snow falling from the sky.

The fact that it happened to be winter made the timing perfect.

“Looks like you're ready. Let's go.”

“Where?”

“You'll know when you get there.”

They left the training ground together.

The vehicle carrying them departed.

“……

Hyung, isn't this an uninhabited island?”

Their destination was a small uninhabited island.

“Yeah. It is.”

“Why are we……?”

“Ever been to an uninhabited island before?”

“Yes. Once.”

“Was it snowing that day?”

“No.”

“Did you fight?”

“No. I went alone, so I just swung my sword around a little…….”

“That's why.”

Park Siwoo's awakening condition was extremely complicated.

If you didn't know it, finding it was nearly impossible.

Fight on an uninhabited island on a snowy day.

How the hell was anyone supposed to discover that?‘That's why even a chaebol can't awaken if they don't know the condition.’Players, however, were different.

Because Park Siwoo was the first character, the game gave an extremely kind explanation.‘The tutorial starts in a dream.’‘And it tells you everything there.’The dream's contents were simple.

It began on a snowy uninhabited island.

Monsters appeared there, and you learned combat.

Five goblins appeared first, and if you defeated them.

The game even kindly displayed a message saying, ‘You have a strong feeling that fighting in a place like this may trigger awakening.’‘Well, if you can't kill the goblins, it repeats forever…….’That was why Kim Minwoo had brought Park Siwoo here.

“Hyung, do you think I can awaken here?”

“I don't know either. But you haven't tried this, right? Then there's a possibility.”

“That's……

true.”

Park Siwoo nodded.

He had no real counterargument.

Awakening conditions were that diverse.

Who would ever imagine that fighting on a snowy uninhabited island could be one?

Of course, the probability seemed infinitely low.

Then.

“Come out.”

At Kim Minwoo's words, several hundred Skeletons were summoned.

Park Siwoo's eyes widened.

There were obviously well over five hundred.

A number incomparable to the roughly three hundred reported by the media.

“H-Hyung. You can summon this many Skeletons?”

“There's a saying that you should hide thirty percent of your strength.”

This wasn't hiding thirty percent.

It was more like he'd hidden almost everything.

Kim Minwoo looked at the astonished Park Siwoo.

“What you need to do is simple. Fight these guys. Cedric?”

―Is this human the one Master said needed to be straightened out?

“Yep. Don't hold back. Go properly. Okay?”

―Very well.

“Siwoo, you just fight my summons. Cedric will command them.”

“……

Understood.”

Park Siwoo nodded.

This was a man who had shown him enormous kindness.

Whether this helped him awaken or not didn't matter.‘If he tells me to do it, I do it.’That was Park Siwoo's decision.

It wasn't as though Kim Minwoo had brought him to an uninhabited island to quietly bury him.

There was no reason for him to do something like that.

“I look forward to learning from you, Sir Cedric.”

―Master says you're worthwhile material. I look forward to seeing it.

Then the Skeletons began surging toward Park Siwoo.* * *Clatter!

A Skeleton thrust its spear with savage force.

Park Siwoo twisted aside to dodge the spearhead, then cut through the Skeleton's torso in one stroke.

The path behind him was already littered with hundreds of Skeletons reduced to powder.‘Remarkable.’Cedric was inwardly impressed.

The Skeleton soldiers' average level was 1

7.

They were only equipped with weapons, but at that point they had to be considered much stronger than ordinary goblins.

Because they had accumulated a considerable amount of combat experience.

Yet an Unawakened human had defeated hundreds of them.‘He shouldn't have experienced a single proper battle…….’Even so, there was no wasted movement.

Clean.

Lethal.

Watching him cut through the Skeleton soldiers' bones in accordance with their ‘grain’ almost made Cedric applaud.‘To think there was another talent of this caliber besides Master.’The boy grew stronger the longer he fought.

And rapidly.

Cedric looked toward Kim Minwoo.―……

Master, where did you find a human like this?

“There's a place called an orphanage.”

―An orphanage. If it produced a swordsman like this, it must be an impressive institution.

“Well, yeah.”

An orphanage.

Maybe Cedric should visit one someday.

Who knew?

He might find another talent like this.

Cedric thought.

As the battle continued, the blue aura around Park Siwoo's body grew increasingly dense.

The Achievement blooming process.

Once every battle ended, the Achievement would be calculated.

Cedric spun his spear.

The wall formed by all those Skeletons had become infinitely thin.

The battle to come.

It seemed like it would be entertaining.

Before long, a battered Park Siwoo approached.

“Huff. Huff.”

―Tired?

“……

Still full of energy.”

Cedric nodded at the blazing eyes that seemed unsatisfied even after sweeping through five hundred Skeletons.―Human. What is your name?

“Park Siwoo.”

―I see. I'll remember it.

A human worth remembering.

Cedric leveled his spear.―I've adjusted my body to your level.

The spearhead instantly stabbed toward Park Siwoo's head.

“Kgh!”

He hurriedly leaned back to dodge, and countless spear shadows poured over him.

Blood sprayed from all across Park Siwoo's body.

If he'd reacted even a little later, his limbs would've been riddled with holes.‘Fast!’The raw speed was definitely similar to his own, yet it felt fast.

A long spear.

That spear completely dominated the space around them.[Awakening is progressing!][Your Achievement begins blooming more intensely!]

Every time spear and sword collided, the blue light pouring from Park Siwoo grew stronger.‘I'm being pushed back.’Park Siwoo grasped the battle situation at a glance.

Cedric was a master of the spear.

Closing the distance was incredibly difficult.

He was slowly being cornered like a hunted beast.

His body had long since become exhausted.‘At this rate, I'll lose without doing anything!’Park Siwoo felt it instinctively.

A crossroads.

If he collapsed here, that would be the end.

His body was exhausted.

He had already fought countless enemies.

Cedric wasn't easy.

Those were ultimately nothing but excuses.‘What Hyung wants from me is a high Achievement.’He didn't know why.

It didn't matter.

What mattered most was that Kim Minwoo wanted it.

The man who had invested in him without holding anything back.

He wanted to repay that kindness.

Park Siwoo's eyes hardened with resolve.

Then he kicked off the ground.

His sword naturally moved toward the spear blocking his path.

He twisted the blade resting against the shaft slightly.

The spear aimed at his heart shifted a little.

Park Siwoo threw himself forward without hesitation.

Stab!

The spear pierced his side.

While the spear was caught inside his body, his sword slashed down from above.

Slash!

The blade severed one of Cedric's arms.‘Damn…….’He'd aimed for the head.

Cedric's response had been equally experienced.

At the last instant, he'd twisted his body and avoided a fatal wound.

Because of that, Park Siwoo's gambit failed.

Still impaled on the spear, Park Siwoo collapsed to the ground.

Blood poured from his side.

He had no strength left to move.

Kim Minwoo hurriedly pulled out a potion and ran toward him.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Cough! Hyung, I'm fine…….”

“Don't talk! Stay still!”

As the potion was poured over him, the wound began healing.

Park Siwoo closed his eyes as his consciousness blurred.

Then brilliant blue light exploded from his body.

A vast torrent of light large enough to swallow the uninhabited island.* * *‘He actually threw himself onto the spear.’Sacrifice flesh to cut bone.

An astonishingly bold decision for a rookie who had never experienced a real battle.

It had nearly overturned the situation.

If Cedric had reacted even slightly later, his skull would've been split in half.‘A monster really is a monster.’Minwoo looked at the unconscious Park Siwoo.

He'd poured a Highest-Grade Potion over him without hesitation, so he should be fine now.

His Achievement was probably being calculated right now.

Judging by the intensity of the light, it was definitely S-rank or higher.

Then messages appeared.● One of the main characters, ‘Park Siwoo,’ achieves an SSS-rank Achievement!● You have greatly changed ‘Park Siwoo's’ fate!● The story begins changing!● A large amount of Achievement Points is granted!

“Wow.”

Kim Minwoo exclaimed.

He already knew how incredible an SSS-rank Achievement was from Cedric.

Although Cedric was currently suffering all sorts of indignities because of his low level…….

The powerful knight who had once flown through the sky riding a dragon had been SSS-rank.‘He did deserve it.’An Unawakened had not only hunted five hundred Skeletons stronger than goblins, he'd also performed admirably against an SSS-rank summon.

Achieving SSS-rank wasn't particularly strange.‘And my prediction was right.’His thought that causing a major change to a protagonist would grant Achievement Points.

It had been exactly right.‘Achievement Shop.’[Opening Achievement Shop!][Rank: Bronze][Achievement Points Possessed: 330][Product List][1. Limit-Breaking Elixir][Required Achievement Points: 100][2. ???][3. ???]..

“300 points?”

He'd gained 30 points from hunting Lee Seoyoon.

This was ten times as much.

One Limit-Breaking Elixir increased level potential by 50…….‘So now I can reach Level 350?’More than 1,800 days of playtime.

At last, Kim Minwoo's level cap had surpassed that of a neighborhood F-rank Awakened.

It was nothing short of a miracle.