Necromancer Survival

Garam-ie leapt high in place. “You definitely have to expend more energy than usual… It’s small and heavy–fucking hate it.”

Kyung-ie ignored Garam-ie’s grumbling.

On the other hand, Olim-ie laughed with her teeth on full display. “The increase in weight is great. [Dash]’s destructive power will go up.”

As she spoke, she summoned her shield. There was tremendous power behind even the simple action of raising the shield.

Woo Ragi smirked, “Very fun.”

“This gun blade…It feels like a foam rod made of sorghum stalks.” Eunji also seemed happy to take advantage of the change brought about by her change in weight. It felt a bit like forgoing some speed and gaining some power in return.

And, as everyone adjusted to the Dummy bodies, a system message popped up before my eyes.

[Your comprehension of the scenario has slightly improved].

[Your level has increased!]

[You’ve invented an interesting tool. The idea of putting resentful souls into Dummies–like ‘puppets’–is excellent. It seems like you can plunge this world into terrible destruction and chaos. Why don’t you showcase more of your talents?]

[Your servant, Choi Kyung-sik, who implemented this idea will be given a new title.]

[Servant ‘Choi Kyung-sik’ has won the title, ‘Puppet Alchemist.’]

[Your servant, Seo Dawon, who designed this idea will be given a new title.]

[Servant ‘Seo Dawon’ has won the title ‘Seeker of Specters.’] ¹

[The User ‘Choi Lee-kyung’ has acquired a special skill called ‘Halloween Party’ which allows him to bind and allow his resentful ghosts to dwell within all humanoid items.]

[A hidden scenario–Over the World–has opened!]

[‘Over the World’ is a sub-scenario that will not interfere with the main scenario ‘Revenge,’ but in case the main scenario fails, this sub-scenario can proceed as an independent scenario. (※If special conditions are met.)]

I opened my eyes wide, startled by the unexpected spec upgrades. Simultaneously, the Servants fell quiet as they received alerts for the titles and skills.

“This…” Choi Kyung-sik had an unreadable expression. Kim Olim grimaced before staring at Seo Dawon, standing next to me.

Dawon-ie grabbed me by the shoulders and quickly scanned the system message. “…I expected this to some extent,” he said calmly.

“What?”

“For ‘us’ to ride and operate the [Dummies]… This hasn’t been done before, right?”

That was true. Perhaps it was arrogant of me to say, but I thought I was currently the most advanced Necromancer in the world.

In other words, summoning souls into the [Dummies] and merging them was something only I could do at the moment. Even if someone were to create an excellent [Dummy], there was no one else who had a Servant who could ‘board’ the vessel.

In the hub, attempting and succeeding in anything for the first time earned a significant amount of scenario points–not to mention substantial rewards. Users weren’t risking their lives to ‘first clear’ a dungeon without reason. However cases like mine, where I acquired both titles and skills, were extremely rare.

‘It’s good to see rewards, but…’

However, when Seo Dawon scanned the message expressionlessly and without exuberant confidence, I felt uneasy.

“Is it…dangerous, by any chance?” I asked, looking up at the silent Mage.

Seo Dawon glanced at my expression before relaxing his face a little. He softly explained, “There are two cases in which a high reward may be offered. Either you’ve accomplished something incredibly difficult, or you’ve stumbled upon a huge scenario.”

“It’s both. Actually, Kyung-sik-ie had a lot of struggles while completing the [Dummy]. Though I drew the blueprint, any alchemist not on Kyung-sik-ie’s level would have a high chance of failing.”

“I actually even managed to complete Choi Lee-kyung’s balance potions simultaneously as well,” Choi Kyung-sik quickly chimed in and highlighted his ability.

Dawon nodded softly, without any hint of disdain, “That’s right. It would have been impossible without you.”

“Hoohoo~”

“And, assuming we succeed, it’d be like we’re constantly summoned. It’s a big boost.”

The ability to act, even as a [Dummy], without the need for me to call out their name was a great advantage.

In addition, the original [Dummy] was nothing more than a puppet for an alchemist to control. Now, any soul with the ‘key’ could use the puppet without the alchemist’s interference.

“Then… What is this chilling part of the system message?” I asked Seo Dawon, pointing at the words, [It seems like you can plunge this world into terrible destruction and chaos]. Before long, the other servants approached me, looked at my status window, and fell silent. They, too, were immersed in their thoughts.

After a few seconds of silence, Seo Dawon replied, “The words ‘destruction and chaos’ are surprisingly frequent in scenario messages.”

“Really?”

“Destroying the existing order means that we have found a new truth while performing certain actions to defy existing laws. Though it may sound extreme, it’s still positive.”

“…Somehow, I can’t believe that.”

“And we’re the dead.”

“…Yeah.”

“For the living, it would be quite bewildering to see us move around like a living person by using the [Dummy].”

It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand now that everything had been explained, but it bothered me when the system message said [Why don’t you showcase more of your talents?], as if I was missing some other use of this [Dummy].

“Is this alright? I’m also a bit bothered by the added scenario.”

“You want to see it together?”

“Sure.” Making it so everyone could see, I pressed the shining [Scenario] message.

[Over the Worldcontemporary romance

Scenario Description:

-Do you know about the world ‘before’?

-Before the beginning of this world, there was a brilliant civilization. Soon, they used their capabilities to make ‘….’

-Aha, I see you’re already startled. They used ‘….’ to transcend dimensions, surpassing into the realm of gods, and became gods themselves.

-An almost perfect world was formed!

-The game of cat and mouse with death had almost finished.

-However, these people who have dominated all dimensions were eventually robbed of everything by their creations.

.

.

.

-And perhaps, you might be able to recreate this ‘Golden Age,’ when alchemy flourished. What you’ve created is quite similar to what alchemists of the Golden Age made with ‘….’—of course, it’s far inferior now.

-So, why don’t you look for remaining records of this ‘previous world’?

-Perhaps you too…

-…Might be able to reach the realm of the Gods.

Current Scenario Progress: 5%

Reward: A completed ‘….’ blueprint]

The scenario’s content was remarkably intriguing. The fact that the newly created, rideable [Dummies] were similar to ancient relics was quite interesting–perhaps the mechanisms were similar.

“This all seems incredible…” I said in a quivering voice.

But, the servants around me seemed unimpressed.

“Choi Lee-kyung, you’re a bit clumsy, so this is probably the first time you’ve seen a scenario like this.”

“Huh?”

“Most of them are written like *that.*”

Though I became momentarily incensed when Garam-ie called me clumsy, I cooled down, remembering how I had chosen the Necromancer class through the system’s vague, sweet-nothings. Suddenly, the reward didn’t seem as amazing as it had first appeared.

However, Choi Kyung-sik thoroughly scanned through the scenario several times. “This–the reward is definitely something suited for Alchemists, right?”

“Probably. Why, feeling greedy?”

“If I wasn’t feeling greedy, would I be a ranker?” Choi Kyungsik said, confidently, before looking directly at me. “I’ll help you with this scenario, so will you support me?”

“I-I want to, but… What can I do?”

“From now on we should investigate anything related to this ‘previous world’–items, dungeons, books… even tabloids. Everything. You’ll cooperate, right?”

“……” I didn’t want to answer, but I couldn’t help but nod when I saw Choi Kyung-sik’s bright eyes. “Alright…”

“Huhuhu~ I’m growing stronger for your benefit, Choi Lee-kyung-ssi.”

“It might be harder than it seems.” Dawon-ie read the scenario carefully as well.

Choi Kyung-sik’s smile disappeared from his excited face.

Dawon continued without hesitating, “The scenario reward is, no doubt, for an Alchemist… But I feel like this quest will connect to another–like a dungeon.”

“No way…”

“Yeah. After the [Tower of Command], there’s been no rumors of a new scenario appearing, right?”

At those words, all our eyes opened wide. Don’t tell me–was this the start of an advanced scenario linked to the next dungeon?

Even Garam-ie’s eyes were sparking. If our hypothesis was true, and this led to the next dungeon…This was the equivalent of winning a lottery ten times!

Just then, Kim Olim frowned, “Seo Dawon. We don’t have the leisure to cling to a scenario.”

“Really?”

“You know that’s true. Bae Jaemin, Lim Jisoo, and Moon Issak as well… We’ll need to take care of those problems before uncovering the scenario.”

As Olim had said, there was already a mountain we had to overcome before we could even think about the scenario.

“However,” Seo Dawon smiled and said, “No. If we are to maintain the upper hand, we have no choice but to get ahead of them.”

“……”

“If there’s a way to grow faster beyond monopolizing undiscovered and undisclosed dungeons, I’ll listen to your opinion.”

Thus, we decided to try and find a way to proceed with the scenario, ‘Over the World,’ as soon as we returned from Busan Port.

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TL: First: I’m so not ready for Necromancer Survival to go meta on me >.< I’m going to need to brush up on my vocabulary.

Second: Previous world? Alternate universe? Who knows?

Third: The way to find these new scenarios are so freaking esoteric–I hope the system is proud of itself.

done.co