BXBX NOVEL Chapter 27: Necromancer
Chapter 27: Necromancer
Srrrrrk
What previously looked like an ordinary wall, formed the shape of a door and sank in.
As Woohyuk was about to step inside, Akunaton said his goodbyes.
“I’ll count on you to please get the truth out and banish those lies said about me. ”
Once the rune had been activated, the magic that kept him bound to this plane disappeared.
After watching him vanish into particles of blue light, Woohyuk walked into the Secret Room.
The inside of the room was plainer than he had expected.
For a room that hid such treasures, he had expected to see a lot more gold. Instead the murals were full of murals related to Akunaton.
There might be some meaning behind them, but the real reward was more pressing. Using the golden key to open the treasure chest, he found an old leather bound book.
[Nakron’s Grimoire]
Category: Consumable
Effect: Passes on all of Nakron’s knowledge to his successor. A terrible curse is placed on any who read this without being a Necromancer.
‘Grimoire...’
Usually it would contain some strong magic and spells. Its main purpose was basically to pass on knowledge to others.
Depending on the author’s will, it could be simply reading the actual content, or an illusory setup to teach certain skills.
In his case, he was almost certain to gain something related to the Necromancer class.
Nakron was a Wizard that had specialized in the field of Death.
Woohyuk placed the Grimoire in his Pouch and then looked at the item placed on the altar.
[Class Change Scroll: Necromancer]
Category: Consumable
Effect: Hidden Class, obtain the Necromancer class.
[Akunaton’s Golden Chalice]
Category: Personal Item
Effect: Produces the wine which Akunaton loved most. Drinking it will relieve pain, as well as increase all resistances by 20% for 10 minutes.
[Scroll: Teleportation]
Category: Consumable
Effect: Teleports to any location you’ve previously visited.
‘It was an instant scroll.’
It must have been the reason they had missed Logan back then, despite having the area locked down.
An item that could be used not only in this Canyon Battle, but also on the Eeth continent.
Although it was a consumable, it could bring you to any location you’ve ever visited, without the need for a dimensional portal.
This kind of item wasn’t easy to obtain, so he would have to save it for later.
After collecting all the loot, Woohyuk immediately activated the Necromancer class scroll.
[Advanced to Hidden Class, Necromancer.]
[Affinity with the dead increased by 25%]
[Resistance to Dark Magic increased by 25%]
[Unique spell: Rise of the Dead]
‘Is that all?’
There was only a single skill that accompanied the class. Woohyuk then went to sit on the altar, as he activated Nakron’s Grimoire.
His surroundings instantly vanished, turning into a sandy desert as a middle aged man appeared before him.
A lifeless face, dressed in a dark red robe and wielding a Bone Staff.
It could only be Nakron.
“Congratulation for passing my trials. If you want to become a true Necromancer, carefully read this book from end to end, every character within carries a deep meaning.”
An illusion created by the remnant magic within the book.
The question was meaningless, naturally he would choose the class after coming so far.
A short while later, Nakron continued.
“The path you will walk won’t be easy, but an unimaginable reward awaits you at the end.”
He seemed to be referring to the second tier class advancement.
Even that loudmouth Logan had never mentioned any of this.
‘It looks like Logan didn’t receive this.’
He must have seen the chest, but been unable to open it. Finally he understood why he would brag so much about his exploration of the Labyrinth.
At first he thought it was just that he was proud, but now it was clear that there was a certain complex involved.
He probably resorted to everything before giving up.
The treasure chests in Secret Room were indestructible, and couldn’t be moved either.
“Before ending our greeting, I will tell you one thing. There is a gift I hid away for you, if you are able to obtain it, it will be of great use to you on your journey.”
Nakron pointed to the Twilight Tower.
A Historical Site which even Logan hadn’t been able to conquer.
He had never imagined that it had been connected to Nakron.
“Then I wish you the best of luck, you who wish to walk the path of the dead..
A heavy sandstorm engulfed Nakron, as the illusion collapsed. Woohyuk then began reading Grimoire\'s first page.
It was his first time seeing such a language, but he could somehow understand it immediately.
The early pages didn’t have a high degree of difficulty, so the required Intelligence was rather low.
The problem was once again his Spirit.
Reading this old book required complete focus, and would quickly sap your mental energy.
Of course he would be able to read it quicker if he had a higher Intelligence Stat, but he couldn’t wait that long.
The Twilight Tower was such that it couldn’t be conquered if he didn’t take the time to delve into the book’s secrets.
Apparently Nakron had hidden some clues related to it in this Grimoire, so he had to find them as soon as possible.
Sarrrk
The sound of him flipping pages rang out in the chambers lit with torches.
* * *
Woohyuk began to form his army of Undead inside of the Tomb Labyrinth, as he continued to peruse Nakron’s Grimoire.
It wasn’t all that difficult to do. They were originally bound to Nakron, so at first wouldn’t heed his command. Still, most of them had begun to see reason after being properly beaten and whipped.
After spending a day’s time on this, he had gathered quite a force.
‘Twelve Skeleton Knights , six Skeleton Archers, eight, Dullahans, two Mummies....”
The two Bosses that had been killed were also revived, unfortunately their condition wasn’t because he had done a real number on them using Grandia.
After Reverse Summoning his undead, Woohyuk stepped out of the Labyrinth.
His next destination was now the enemy faction’s Fantasy Swamp.
One of the main reasons for heading over there was to score First Blood. The rewards for killing the first player from the opposing faction in this Canyon Battle were plentiful.
One Leadership Point and 50 Ancient Coins. Considering that the level of difficulty wasn’t all that high, it was quite a decent reward.
‘I need to get some meritorious achievements.’
In order to freely explore the Historical Sites all around the map, he needed to first break down the enemy’s morale somewhat.
Of course he couldn’t overdo it, else he risked ending the Canyon Battle prematurely. He would have to kill in moderation, earning just the right amount of skill points and coins.
Any monsters he would come across on the enemy’s hunting grounds would be a bonus as well.
‘By now I’m sure you’ve encountered the Elder Lizardman.’
Most of the people would skip the Blue Misty Forest entirely. It was easy to lose your way, and there would be a lot of infighting within your own faction.
It might have gone on even longer had it not been for the first wave of Ghost minions summoned from the Barracks.
It was one of the reasons why it was so important to always keep the Barracks going, churning out new troops.
‘I’ll need to kill those minions as well.’
The minions would move in a straight line to the opposing side’s Citadel. However because they were Ghosts, they wouldn’t get bogged down by swamps or lakes, and also not come under the attack of any monsters.
It would become problematic if either your Barracks wasn’t producing, or if your minions were being killed by the opposing faction.
Woohyuk made his way across the Valley of Kings, while his mind was elsewhere.
Since the minions from both sides would fight each other, there was an inherent balance so long as there wasn’t any external intervention.
Of course, the adventurers wouldn’t leave them alone though. The minions would drop items when killed, and so, after about a week the other side had come up with a devious plan.
An attempt to control the minion wave.
A strategy which involved slowly killing off the opponent’s minions, while reducing the casualties on your side. Eventually, a large wave of ghost minions would build up on your end, that you can use to invade deep into enemy territory.
For a level 1 Barracks, a typical wave consisted of 12 Ghost minions. It took them quite a while to arrive into the enemy’s territory and would be expected to engage with their opponents rather often.
Originally they would sustain similar casualties as their counterparts, so a balance existed, but if there was any external assistance, the difference between the two could grow significantly.
‘It had been chaos back then.’
They had felt safe due to the presence of minions, when suddenly enemy’s minions had started showing up on their side and in greater numbers. Invading their hunting spots.
There had even been some cases of them entering the Citadel and managing to inflict some casualties.
A complete failure in defending their borders.
This time around he had made his own preparations, not wanting to repeat any of his previous mistakes.
‘I’ll kill the guy who came up with this plan.’
It had been an ordinary adventurer that had suggested the strategy.
Before being summoned to this world, he had played a computer game that had been quite similar to the Canyon Battle, and so he knew many strategies that could be applied here to make their opponents\' lives more difficult.
[Lee Shinwoo]
It wasn’t just once or twice that he had suffered due to that guy.
The strategy to make an early invasion into the opponent’s side had all been his doing. Since he was only a regular subordinate and not a leader, it would be rather easy to take him out.
Not to mention, that he had also taken the middle path, just like Woohyuk.
Suguk
Woohyuk raised his head , while splitting a Giant Scorpion that had jumped out of the sand in two.
It was still a long walk to the opposing side’s Stymphalion Lake, and he couldn’t use his Three Clawed Eagle here because of the many Gargoyle statues hidden across the entire Valley of Kings.
If his Eagle were to be caught and petrified by the Gargoyles while in midair, he would find himself in quite the pickle.
‘It would be nice to catch a Golden Goat.’
It wasn’t to the extent that he would dedicate a significant amount of time to track it down, but he would definitely capture it if it were to pass by.
A mount that was able to jump up and down cliffs with ease, despite carrying an adult on its back.
Not to mention that it was also considered as a rare cooking ingredient, and could be used to rope in Hans later on.
As Woohyuk was making his way across the map, a Goat’s bleat rang out.
‘What a good timing.’
He had to admit that he had quite the luck when it came to material gains, but was truly too unlucky when it came to the most important moments.
Not far away from him, an entire tribe of goats were climbing a rocky cliff.
‘I was truly amazed by the sight of them when I first saw them climb.’
Even back on Earth, mountain goats had been excellent climbers, just that he hadn’t been aware of it.
A very interesting animal.
Sometimes they might be hunted by large Desert Eagles that would push them down the cliff with their sharp claws, hunting them as prey.
Woohyuk waited patiently, because he wasn’t confident in catching them if he approached directly.
From here, he could tell that the goats seemed to be heading towards a certain oasis.
A place within the desert that had clear water, palm trees and plants.
He climbed the cliff using Jake’s Airwalker boots, carefully tracking their tribe.
In the Valley of Kings, there were many oases that it was easy to become lost if you only relied on them, so they couldn’t be used as landmarks for directions.
‘There were always incidents occurring around an Oasis. ’
All the Goats had ended up dying to this one instance of poisoned spring’s water.
It was also common to use an Oasis as a camp, due to the cover of the trees. Of course if this were to be discovered by the opposing faction, they would use fire attacks to take advantage of the situation.
‘I don’t have to worry about all that right now.’
Woohyuk was after all the first person to reach the Valley of Kings. The earliest any other adventurer might get here would be on day 7.
After arriving at the oasis, Woohyuk hid his presence as he approached the Golden Goats.
They were busy quenching their thirst, their heads down, slurping the spring water.
Grab
Woohyuk jumped onto the back of one of the Golden Goats, causing it to buck in surprise and cry out.
“Maaaeeee!”
None came to its aid however. The other goats were all frightened and cried out as they backed away. None of them had chosen to charge and attack with their imposing curled horns.
Stiish!
He smacked the Golden Goats rear with his leather whip, as Woohyuk grabbed its horns and did his best not to be thrown off.
Just like Logan had boasted, it was very much like a bucking bronco
The point was to defeat it in a battle of power, and then give it some food as a prize. The stick first, only then the carrot.
When the Golden Goat was finally exhausted and collapsed to the ground, Woohyuk stood up and brought a herb to its mouth.
It was the Golden Goats favorite food.
Catching sight of it, its eyes glimmered excitedly.
“Meeeee”
Its cry had changed to one that was rather obedient.
Woohyuk stroked the Golden Goat’s head, a text appeared before him.
[Land Mount: Successfully tamed a Golden Goat.]
[Earned a ‘Golden Horn’ as a reward for this Achievement.]
‘So this is the Golden Horn that Logan was always so proud of.
Staring at the horn on his palm, Woohyuk held a satisfied smile.
It was a musical instrument that doubled the Mana and Stamina Regeneration of any allies who heard it.
It was even decent enough for him to use when he was solo.
Woohyuk blew the horn, and the other goats approached as if they’d been possessed.
It might as well have been a death sentence for them.