Chapter 95

Chapter 95

Spendthrift Necromancer (95)

Demon (2)

Andromalius, who had been staring at him, nodded.―Very well. Take it.[A reward is granted!][You have acquired a Masquerade Invitation!]‘An invitation?’He looked at the paper resting in his hand.[Masquerade Invitation][Rank: Special][An invitation that allows participation in a banquet of the Demon Lords. A special event may occur upon entry.][Banquet Date: August 1]

The item description was anything but ordinary.‘A banquet of Demon Lords.’In other words, he'd been invited somewhere crawling with bastards like Andromalius.

“Do all the Lords attend?”―Usually. Masquerades aren't held very often.

Minwoo looked at him as he nodded.‘He said he was Rank 72.’Even as a Demon Lord, Andromalius didn't look weak.

If Minwoo had to place him.‘A little weaker than Valkan?’Meaning higher-ranked Lords could be even stronger than Valkan.

And this was an invitation to a place crawling with such beings.‘Interesting.’Risk always came with reward.

He placed the invitation into his inventory.

It was around the end of February now, so he had roughly five months.

He could grow some more before then.

He looked at Mr. Andromalius, who was still hanging around.

“What are you doing? Aren't you leaving?”―Oh my. A rejection? How decisive. Well, I understand. There is still too little trust between us.

“If you understand, why don't you leave?”―Haha. I will soon.

Andromalius snapped his fingers.

At that moment.[A portion of the Authority of Andromalius, one of the 72 Lords, is granted!][This is Temporary Authority!]―Consider this a small gift. Just once, when an appropriate moment arises, one of my Authorities will activate automatically.

Authority.

Finding the culprit, finding stolen goods, finding treasure.

Would one of those three activate when Minwoo needed it?

Whatever the case, he had no reason to reject something free.

“I'll put it to good use.”―I look forward to seeing you again at the Masquerade.

Mr. Andromalius's figure began fading.

Then.[The Gate returns to normal!]

Along with the message, the scenery returned to Demon Castle.‘He tried getting me to sign a contract before giving me the invitation.’The Masquerade was a major stage where Minwoo could raise his value.

He'd nearly been robbed blind while staring straight at the thief.‘This is why you never trust everything a demon says.’He could roughly guess why Andromalius had given him the Authority.

Probably to let Minwoo taste it and tempt him.

If it worked properly.‘Well, maybe I'll consider it once.’Anyway.

He had learned one fact.

Mr. Andromalius wanted him.

Quite badly, considering he was willing to offer this kind of loss-leading service.If Rank 72 wanted him this much, Rank 71 or 70 probably wouldn't be much different. Even higher-ranked Lords might take an interest in him.

They would benefit from securing an excellent proxy too.

He checked his Level.‘215.’Isabella, known for having the fastest leveling speed in the world, had reached Level 100 in around four months.

Minwoo?

He'd blasted past Level 200 in under three months.

Truly absurd speed.‘I have risked my life that much, though.’There had been more than one or two times he'd nearly died. This was the result of throwing himself into danger over and over.‘One lap around here should get me to 220.’B-rank Awakened started at Level 251.

Considering that.‘B-rank won't take long.’He was already right on its doorstep.‘The B-rank Skill was Summon Dullahan.’Dullahan.

A headless undead knight, one of the summons often called the flower of the Necromancer Class.‘They're fairly intelligent.’Starting from Dullahans, undead could think properly. They might be summons in name, but their ability to reason didn't fall far behind a human's.

And that wasn't all.

Their swordsmanship was also quite impressive, befitting knights.‘They buff lower undead too.’A knight was someone who commanded soldiers.

Naturally, Dullahans possessed buff Skills befitting knights. To put it simply, an undead force with a Dullahan and one without were worlds apart.

Best of all, this kind of summoning Skill was a basic Skill.

For Necromancers, it was like rain after a drought.‘This is where combat power starts diverging sharply.’After struggling endlessly with meat-shield Skeletons.

Once a Necromancer finally grew enough to summon Dullahans, they began displaying respectable strength. Even without pouring huge sums of money into the Class, they finally reached the point where they could properly carry their own weight.‘Of course…….’Dullahans were intelligent, so subjugating them wasn't always easy.

Ordinary Necromancers had to pamper their knights, offer them plenty of things, and flatter them before raising their Loyalty.‘I don't need to do that.’The rod of love was one of the finest ways to raise Loyalty.

Why take the long way around when there was a shortcut?

Anyway.‘I'll need to learn it soon…….’One thing was certain.

There was absolutely no way to make a +9 using only Korea's auction house. There simply weren't enough B-rank Skill Books. He'd need to sweep up listings from other countries too.‘Five hundred million won each for unpopular Classes. One billion for mainstream ones.’There weren't many high-rank Awakened.

On top of that, Skill Book drop rates gradually decreased at higher ranks. That was why prices skyrocketed at every tier, and the effect only grew worse higher up.

Starting at B-rank, you were no longer some mediocre nobody but a proper high-ranking Awakened. Naturally, prices jumped savagely too.‘At least ten trillion won.’And that assumed he went straight to +9 without a single failure.

What if a Skill Book broke at +7 or +8?‘Twenty trillion.’It could easily cost that much.‘And I need to start preparing to buy Highest-Grade Elixirs…….’Witch Christine.

Her elixirs could be consumed from Level 300 onward. The problem was that starting at this tier, Minwoo had no idea what price they would charge.

Lowest-Grade, Low-Grade, Mid-Grade, High-Grade.

Up through those tiers, alchemists in various countries could still make them. They weren't absurdly scarce.‘Highest-Grade is different.’Only Christine—or rather, America—could supply them.

Their price was confidential.‘Though I roughly know it.’When he'd played characters other than Kim Minwoo, he'd gone to America and bought them before. Even after doing America a fairly significant favor.‘They asked thirty billion won each.’Elixirs roughly tripled in price at every tier.

High-Grade ones cost around three billion won each.

The normal price for a Highest-Grade Elixir should've been ten billion won at most.

Instead, they demanded triple that.

Insane profiteering.

They could get away with it because America was the strongest Awakened nation and the sole supplier of those elixirs.

Don't like it? Pissed off?

Then don't buy them.

We weren't particularly eager to sell anyway.

That was their attitude.

And if Kim Minwoo, Korea's super rookie, came asking to buy elixirs?‘They'll probably ask even more.’He'd shown quite a lot already.

And behind Kim Minwoo stood Ilseong, a rich gentleman with very deep pockets.

It would let America pressure him while making money at the same time. There was nothing strange about them charging more than thirty billion won each.

America wouldn't exactly suffer if they didn't sell.

The same went for Witch Christine.

If her country was willing to collect a premium on her behalf, why would she object?‘This'll be rough.’They might even act insane and demand fifty billion won each.

Even then, Minwoo had no choice but to somehow buy them.

How was he supposed to resist 600 total stat points? France had probably entered its secret agreement with America for exactly that reason.‘Six hundred stat points…….’For an ordinary Awakened, around six hundred elixirs would probably be enough to gain all of them.

Even at thirty billion won each, that was eighteen trillion.

But Kim Minwoo's body was a little unusual. His elixir consumption was three or four times higher than other people's.

Accounting for that…….‘Between fifty-four and seventy-two trillion.’And what if they charged fifty billion instead of thirty?

He didn't even want to think about it.

And that wasn't all.‘I also need to account for the Sky Auction House.’The Sky Auction House would open around May.

Good items would appear there.

Naturally, he intended to sweep up as many as possible. That would probably cost tens of trillions too.

The amount of money disappearing was enough to make him choke.‘Money really…….’Vanished fast.

Of course, he had already thought up a few solutions.

First, investment from Ilseong Group.He intended to receive sixty trillion won.

Apparently there was some opposition right now. The loudest objections came from Ilseong Guild.‘Understandable.’If all of the Group's available funds were invested into Spendthrift Guild, that naturally meant less investment money would flow to Ilseong Guild.

They were on the verge of getting tossed aside, so of course they were losing their minds. That was why Minwoo had urgently paid for the C-rank Skill Books using money earned from selling equipment.‘Need to straighten those bastards out once.’Then he'd collect the sixty trillion.

He had also thought of several other places money could come from.

If everything went according to plan, he could earn over one hundred trillion won.‘I'll have to keep moving if I want that.’The undead army began exploring every corner of the castle.* * *[You have defeated Gellitas, Demon Boss of the B-rank Gate!][Gate clear rewards are granted!][Level increases by 2…….]

The enormous turtle-like demon collapsed onto the floor with a heavy thud.

Merhen and Cedric alone would've been enough to defeat the boss. With every summon joining them, it wasn't strange that the creature hadn't lasted long.

Minwoo picked up the byproducts.‘Can use these as crafting materials later.’As for the items.

How good could equipment from a B-rank Gate really be?

Straight to the auction house.‘I can sell today's haul overseas later too.’Han Baekgil's Assassin equipment might have a use someday.

Its performance was solid enough that if Minwoo obtained an Assassin summon, he could immediately hand it over.

He'd keep those pieces and split the rest across overseas markets.‘That should keep the noise down.’Numbers One through Seven.

They were reasonably famous Awakened in Korea. If those people suddenly vanished overnight and then the equipment they'd used appeared on the market?

Perfect recipe for a commotion.

So he planned to split the gear up and sell it little by little overseas. That should keep things quiet.

He left the Gate.

Even with Shadow showing up, the entire clear had taken less than half a day.

When Minwoo emerged, the soldiers and Awakened he'd seen that morning stared at him in surprise.‘Isn't that the Awakened from earlier?’‘What kind of clear speed is that…….’He'd entered alone and cleared a B-rank Gate before they even changed shifts.

Even for an A-rank Awakened, that speed was beyond imagination.

The sight made the saying that the world was vast and hidden masters were everywhere feel very real.

Minwoo bowed to the stunned guards.

“Good work.”

“Ah, yes.”A-rank Awakened Han Jinwook, wasn't it?

They thought it was probably a name they'd be seeing a lot more often.

Minwoo didn't care.

He leisurely left the Gate, climbed into his car, and returned home. He went straight to Chairman Kim's study and knocked.

“Father, are you there?”―Come in.

When he opened the door, Chairman Kim, wearing glasses, was reading a book with Naye.

Then the Chairman tilted his head and asked.

“Didn't you say you were going to a Gate today? You didn't go?”

“I already cleared it.”

“Hm? That one?”

Chairman Kim asked in surprise.

B-rank Gate, Demon Castle.

He knew that Gate well.

When his son had said he was going alone, he hadn't been particularly worried.

Hadn't the boy already cleared an A+ Gate and returned alive?

A mere B-rank would probably be easy.

That was what he'd thought, but…….‘Didn't even take half a day?’Was that speed even possible?

Chairman Kim himself was a C-rank Awakened and had once regularly entered Gates.

That made the claim even harder to believe.

As he tilted his head.

“Naye.”

“Yeah.”

“Go stay with Mom for a bit.”

“Okay.”

After sending Naye out, Minwoo looked at Chairman Kim and spoke.

“A group of assassins came after me today.”

Chairman Kim shot to his feet.

“……

What? Assassins? Your body? Are you all right?”

“I disguised myself specifically to lure those bastards out.”

“Good grief…… if people like that were after you, you should've told me sooner.”

“Lee Hyunseong, Choi Cheolmin, Seong Hyerim, Kim Jinwoo, Seo Hyungshin, Ji Hyunwook, Park Jihyun. Could you have caught those people in the real world?”

“……!”

Chairman Kim's eyes widened.

Every name Kim Minwoo had listed belonged to someone famous.

From Guild Masters of mid-sized guilds to Awakened classified as key talents in major guilds.

“All of them came to assassinate you?”

“Yes. From what I heard, they belonged to some strange organization. An organization called Shadow.”

“Shadow? Never heard of it…….”

“What's stranger is that they seemed to be duplicating experience.”

“……?”

Kim Minwoo explained.

Han Baekgil, called a Priest.

And Shadow, an organization said to maintain branches not only in Korea but throughout the world.

“……

If that's true, isn't this serious? Their levels rise faster. And people like that were targeting you?”

“Yes. They seemed wary of my growth, and I thought you should know too, Father.”

There was a simple reason Minwoo had brought this up.

His conflict with Shadow.

As it intensified, those bastards might eventually target his family.

Security was already quite strong, of course, but…….‘No harm in preparing more thoroughly.’Enemies far higher-level than before might suddenly launch an attack.

Raising the security level was essential.

“……

Understood. I'll be careful.”

“Yes. And I'd also like you to dispose of this equipment overseas.”

“I will.”

Chairman Kim nodded with a grave expression.‘Now that the preamble's done…….’Time to get to the main point.

“Ilseong Guild's been making quite a fuss lately, hasn't it?”