Chapter 47

Chapter 47

Spendthrift Necromancer (47)

Unorthodox Alliance (1)‘The room is huge.’The furnishings were antique too.

At a glance, whoever owned this room—him—seemed to possess fairly high status.

There was one more unusual detail.

Wine bottles were strewn all over the room.

He looked into the mirror.

His appearance hadn't changed at all.

His Status Window, skills, and stats were also unchanged.‘Hmm…….’First priority was understanding the situation. He gestured for Snowy to hide, then looked toward the door and called out.

Kim Minwoo looked toward the door and called out.

“Is anyone there?”

“Oh! Young Master, you're awake?”

The door slid open, and someone who looked unmistakably like a servant bowed in greeting.

“I shall bring your breakfast shortly…….”

“Forget that. You, close the door and come here.”

“Pardon……?”

“Now!”

When Minwoo glared, the servant hurriedly closed the door and rushed over.

“F-Fifth Young Master. Wh-What is it?”

Fifth Young Master.

So he definitely held some elevated position.

“Your name.”

“……

I'm Sam! Jang Sam! It's already almost been a full year since I began serving you! How could you forget my name……?”

“My memory's hazy.”

“……

Pardon?”

“I think I drank too much yesterday.”

Jang Sam tilted his head.

Then he glanced at the wine bottles scattered across the room and reluctantly nodded.

“Explain my situation and this place to me. Anything you know, even if it's basic.”

“Hmm…… well…… this is the Unorthodox Alliance.”[You have acquired the keyword, ‘Unorthodox Alliance’.]

Jang Sam continued explaining.

The Unorthodox Alliance.

A coalition of unorthodox factions.

Minwoo, currently occupying the identity of Fifth Young Master ‘Baek Socheon,’ was supposedly the hidden child of the Unorthodox Alliance Leader.

“The Alliance Leader had been searching for you all along, and then he finally found you exactly one year ago. After that, Fifth Young Master came here to the Unorthodox Alliance.”

“If I suddenly rolled in one day like that, my situation can't be very good.”

“Uh…… well…….”

“Be honest.”

“Since you arrived, Young Master hasn't really shown anything…… Ah, there is one thing…….”

“What? That I'm good at drinking?”

Nod.

Jang Sam nodded.

“Yes. Your martial arts aren't particularly accomplished either, and, well…… you've spent the whole year being rather lazy, so by now everyone has more or less stopped caring.”

So he was so pathetic that nobody even considered him worth guarding against?

Maybe that wasn't bad.

“Jang Sam.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“You said this place belongs to the unorthodox factions.”

“That's right.”

“So if I raise corpses or something, people just shrug it off?”

“Corpses? Ah, do you mean Jiangshi Arts or Necromancy?”

“Something like that.”

“Of course? The orthodox bastards might care, but nobody in the unorthodox factions gives a damn about things like that. The Demonic Cult probably wouldn't care either.”

His class was Necromancer.

In a wuxia world, it wouldn't have been strange if summoning Skeletons alone got him branded as someone who deserved to die.‘Is that why I started in an unorthodox faction?’At least that was fortunate.

If even the unorthodox factions treated him as a public enemy, his Skeleton summons would've effectively been sealed.

Let's summarize the situation.

He had become a highborn Young Master of the unorthodox factions.

His name was Baek Socheon, but it felt as though Kim Minwoo's own appearance had simply been pasted over the role.‘Well, this happens fairly often inside Gates.’He could accept that.

Anyway.

It looked like he was treated as a total wastrel here.‘So?’What exactly did he need to do from now on to clear the Gate?

He recalled the Gate's name.‘B+, War of the Stars.’It sounded like the outstanding talents were supposed to clash with one another.

Beat the other four Young Masters and raise his status?

Get recognized as the successor?

Or maybe there was a completely different clear method.

“Jang Sam.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“Any major events happening lately?”

“……

Major events?”

“Yeah. Tell me anything that comes to mind.”

“If you mean something like that…… it'd have to be the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, wouldn't it?”[You have acquired the keyword, ‘Dragon-Phoenix Gathering’!]

“Dragon-Phoenix Gathering?”

“Yes. All the outstanding younger-generation elites from the orthodox, unorthodox, and demonic factions gather and fight it out. It's held once every hundred years.”

Oh.

This looked promising.

“What counts as outstanding?”

“The Demonic Cult, Martial Alliance, and our Unorthodox Alliance each nominate ten people. Once you're chosen, you're officially recognized as one of the outstanding talents of the younger generation.”

“I'm obviously not one of them.”

“……

Obviously?”

“How do I get in?”

“You'd have to prove yourself somehow?”

Ah.

I get the picture.

Then.

Jang Sam cautiously asked.

“Don't tell me…… Fifth Young Master wants to participate in the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering too?”

“Am I not allowed?”

“N-No. You can, but…… getting nominated now would be very difficult……”

“Why?”

Jang Sam scratched his head.

“Well…… our Unorthodox Alliance uses a point system.”

“Points?”

“Yes. The Alliance posts missions. Complete one and your score rises. They've been doing it for a full year already.”

“So some people must have piled up a lot of points.”

“……

Right? First Young Master already passed ten thousand points and holds first place by a huge margin.”

“How many do I have?”

“……

Obviously zero?”

What a fucking mess.

“How many points does the guy in tenth have?”

“Fourth Young Master is currently tenth with 3,800 points.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Everyone's been carrying out missions like their lives depended on it for the past year. Catching up now would be absurdly difficult…….”

Jang Sam spoke carefully while watching his expression.

Minwoo nodded.‘Well, it wouldn't be B+ otherwise.’This Gate was supposedly even harder than killing that Apostle.

He'd never imagined it would be easy.

Of course, there was probably a way out even without participating in this Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

The magical escape mechanism called the midway zone existed, after all.‘But…….’There was no reason not to enter the tournament.

If he was going to give up that easily, he wouldn't have attempted the first clear in the first place.‘As expected. Those Dorim bastards hid everything.’He recalled what Dorim's Guild Master had said.

After the clear.

He'd explained that this was a wuxia-related stage.‘But he never mentioned anything this detailed.’The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering?

He hadn't said so much as Dragon or Phoenix.

He'd merely claimed they took missions from martial organizations, worked hard together as a guild, and somehow cleared it.

There was no way something that trivial had earned him a ring like that.‘He definitely participated.’And probably achieved some meaningful placement to earn the reward.

“Just asking.”

“Yes.”

“If I beat Fourth Young Master, do I get points or something?”

“……

Pardon?”

“Like, if I prove I'm stronger than someone who already earned points, can I just take all his points?”

“N-No? Then there wouldn't be much point in earning them……?”

“Shame.”

“……

Young Master. This humble Jang Sam would like to offer one loyal word of advice. Self-confidence is good, but this level of delusion…….”

“Stop. Don't offer it.”

“……

Yes.”

Jang Sam immediately deflated.

Kim Minwoo didn't care.

“So, a tournament like that won't be held for free. What are the prizes?”

“Third place receives a precious material. Second place receives a precious martial art. And first place receives…….”

Jang Sam's expression immediately turned serious.

“First place?”

“……

I've only heard rumors. Ascension. They say the winner receives something that may serve as a clue to Ascension.”

“……

Ascension?”

Kim Minwoo frowned slightly.

He'd heard that word before.

When he'd entered the Gate swarming with Orcs.―Gruk! You fools! How could you forget the name of the one who underwent the Ascension Ritual!

It had been something Shaman Bektar said.

Mutakta had gone to the heavens and the Orc Kingdom had fallen apart afterward.

The same term.

There was a very high chance some connection existed.

“When you say Ascension, you mean something like ascending to immortality?”

“I don't know either. But there is one thing every martial artist under heaven knows.”

“What?”

“The Clue to Ascension. Whoever obtains it inevitably rises to become the strongest under heaven. That's why the object always brings a bloody calamity…….”

“……

A bloody calamity?”

“The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering only truly begins when the tournament ends. That's when a great war drenched in blood erupts. The reason is simple. The Clue to Ascension. Who in this world wouldn't covet it?”

“Hold on.”

Minwoo raised a hand.

“Speak, Young Master.”

“If it's something that incredible, the orthodox, unorthodox, and demonic factions wouldn't be the ones putting it up as a prize. Who gives it?”

“Heaven bestows it.”

“And the three factions hold the tournament in order to obtain it?”

“Yes. If they don't hold the tournament, the reward never appears.”

He frowned.

This looked far more troublesome than he'd expected.

“If it's that precious, wouldn't absolute masters like the Unorthodox Alliance Leader covet it too?”

“Of course? Young Master, the younger-generation elites who enter the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering aren't participating to obtain the Clue to Ascension for themselves.”

“Then?”

“They participate to offer the reward to those above them, and receive many things in return.”

“……

Do they have to hand over the second- and third-place prizes too?”

“No. Nobody goes that far. They only covet the Clue to Ascension. But it's not unfair. If you offer the Clue, each organization rewards you with something even more valuable than the second- and third-place prizes combined.”

Ah.

So if you win first place, the prize gets confiscated no matter what.

“Then if First Young Master wins, he'll hand the prize over too?”

“Yes. He must already have reached an agreement with the Alliance Leader. The same applies to you, Young Master. If you somehow enter the top ten and qualify…… the Alliance Leader will make you an offer.”

What an interesting structure.

“Fine. Setting that aside, if someone wins first place, the three factions immediately go to war, right?”

“Probably this time as well.”

“……

How does anyone survive?”

“Haha. Young Master. You needn't worry so much about that.”

“If our unorthodox faction wins, the orthodox factions and Demonic Cult will gang up on us. How am I not supposed to worry?”

“All three sides hold the tournament already prepared to accept that degree of loss. And the first-place winner usually isn't targeted.”

“Because they hand the reward over to their superior?”

“Yes. That's why people more commonly rush after the second- and third-place prizes. There aren't many lunatics willing to attack the Unorthodox Alliance Leader, Martial Alliance Leader, or Heavenly Demon, are there?”

“Do people know what this Clue to Ascension looks like?”

“Rumor says it's a round bead. About this large?”

“I see.”

He had the rough picture now.

First of all, Dorim's Guild Master hadn't taken first place.

Minwoo was certain.

If he had, there were only two possibilities.

Either he'd handed over the Clue to Ascension, or he'd fled the Gate without surrendering it.‘Neither makes sense.’If he'd escaped without handing it over?

This Clue to Ascension or whatever.

They said anyone who obtained it could become the strongest under heaven.

If that were true, Dorim's Guild Master in the future wouldn't have been only that strong.

If he'd surrendered it?

He would've received all sorts of rewards in exchange.

Yet even considering that, Dorim's Guild Master had been mediocre.‘He never used any special martial art either.’So not the first-place prize, the Clue to Ascension. Not the second-place prize, a martial art.‘Then did he get the ring material as the third-place prize?’It felt like he'd obtained some rare material and somehow used it to craft the ring.‘If third place alone gave something that good…….’Second and first went without saying.

The rewards would be enormous.‘The Clue is mine.’Hand over such a precious treasure to some big shot?

No such process existed in Kim Minwoo's brain.

Good things were meant to be monopolized.

Always.‘First…….’His top priority was qualifying to participate.

He needed to find out exactly what these missions involved.