Chapter 142

In the moment I was pushing myself so harshly, something suddenly came to mind.

Just where do I stand right now?

If I dropped out of this trial and returned to Earth, what rank would I end up on the board?

‘Hmm.’

It was worth thinking about.

If I wanted to improve properly in the future, I needed to grasp my own strength objectively. Whether it was war or growth, knowing myself always came first.

‘Actually… more than that.’

I needed a distraction.

My stamina, pushed to its limit, was bringing on drowsiness—and drowsiness meant elimination.

If I wanted to endure, I had to keep thinking.

But random idle thoughts would only make me sleepier.

If I started thinking about shaved ice with red beans, or ice cream that could soothe this heat, my mind would go hazy the instant I imagined eating it.

I’d pass out on the spot.

A cold, analytical thought—like assessing myself—would help far more.

‘First.’

In terms of pure power, I was likely superior to a low-tier ranker.

I had caught the Toxin Mist.

I had caught a dragon.

And I was serving two ridiculously unidentified monsters, on top of having a Godslayer-grade weapon.

[The Essence of Fire yawns as if bored.]

[The Essence of Water remains silent.]

These two only communicated through messages.

Even if I had some degree of control over them, as I was now, they were beings whose power I couldn’t even begin to fathom.

‘Umm…’

If it were that moment when the Essence of Fire entered my body…

Wouldn’t I be able to defeat not just the 999th ranker, but even Shadow Empress Ki Soyul?

‘Also.’

I had the Elder.

An absolute ruler of a world.

A master of Ten Thousand Arts whose level of mastery I couldn’t even measure.

Just having him nearby to guide me drastically increased my power.

A living cradle of experience.

My personal mentor.

‘If all of this were included…’

Becoming a ranker would be a given, and I’d surely land high.

Honestly, among rankers, someone who could ride a dragon…

There can’t be many, right?

More likely, there are none.

‘But.’

There was no way all of that would be reflected.

Especially items—those were never reflected. It wouldn’t make sense.

If they were, would a rich ranker like Baekdon just dump his entire fortune into S-rank weapons and watch his ranking climb?

Not a chance.

If that were possible, I would’ve worked Dmir to the bone and armed every skeleton I had with S-rank gear.

‘Then what would be reflected?’

Probably my own power.

In other words, the skeletons themselves.

Because they symbolized my unique ability.

Especially among them, it would likely be only my direct subordinates—Bone One through Bone Ten.

Why?

Because the skeletons that aren’t my direct subordinates only have the most basic skills.

For example, the Spearmen summoned by Sunny have only two skills.

-‘Stab’ (Lv.Max)

-‘Summon Skeleton’ (Lv.Max)

The Archers summoned by Eldrin are the same—two skills.

-‘Shoot’ (Lv.Max)

-‘Summon Skeleton’ (Lv.Max)

They can’t unleash a Solar Chain Strike like Sun Spear.

Nor can they fire a Moonlight Fall like Eldrin.

They can only perform basic attacks.

‘That makes sense.’

If skills could be copied, I’d be able to spam Bone Seven’s Recovery hundreds of times.

‘Whoa.’

Just imagining it was insane.

If I teamed up with a single-digit ranker, we’d become the strongest team on Earth, wouldn’t we?

‘Hmm.’

Back to the main question.

If I left now, what rank would I be?

900th? 800th? 700th?

Or… 500th?

Top 500 didn’t seem impossible.

That alone showed how much had changed.

It felt like just yesterday I was struggling just to reach the bottom rung of the rankers.

And now my eyes were set on a number like that.

‘Hehe, a ranker…’

Just as I was sinking into those pleasant thoughts—

Fwoooosh!

Fire erupted from the floor.

Spewing lava slammed into the ceiling and flowed down toward me.

‘Fuck?’

Whoooosh!

The arrows grew more intense, making my head ring.

“Hoon!”

“Team leader?”

“My friend.”

In time with the firing of the arrows, the voices of my team members echoed.

My mind turned into a jumbled mess.

My thoughts scattered like broken puzzle pieces, and a headache began to throb.

The sounds grew louder and louder.

I couldn’t even see the arrows anymore.

I felt dizzy.

Ah.

Why did the trial suddenly become like this?

Wasn’t this Stage 4?

Stage 4?

Huh? Wait a minute…

Didn’t I clear Stage 4?

[24 hours have passed.]

[Switching to Stage 5.]

I was sure I’d seen a message like that.

Then what was this?

“Hey, wake up! Team leader. Don’t just lie there grinning by yourself while we’re about to burst from frustration.”

Vladimir’s voice stabbed into my eardrums.

“Ugh, what do we do? There’s not much time left. Is it okay to just leave him like this?”

Olena’s high decibels tortured my cochlea too.

What?

Their voices were getting closer.

Louder.

The moment I felt the dissonance—

“Huuuuuuk!”

I exhaled the breath I’d been holding, and—

Snap!

I opened my eyes.

—

“Heok, heok!”

The first thing I saw was an artificially created white space.

I was lying down, drenched in cold sweat, surrounded by my comrades, all of them staring at me with worried eyes.

‘Ah.’

Relief washed over me.

So it was over.

Theme 3 had ended safely.

“Hoon! Are you awake?”

“Team leader, you slept for three straight days again. Are you okay?”

I had finally succeeded.

Not only had I endured Stage 3—something both the Elder and my team members thought was my limit—

I had endured Stage 4 for more than a day.

I had transcended my limits.

“Where is this…”

I looked around.

Olena nodded.

“Yes. After the mission ended, everyone received their rewards and was waiting for you, Hoon. Look at the display board floating in the air over there.”

“…?”

I followed her gaze and looked up.

[☆★CON★☆☆★GRATS★☆]

[Congratulations on setting a new all-time number 1 rank!]

“…What is that?”

“No, not that. Look next to it! Next to it!”

“Next to it…?”

Turning my eyes, I saw a table with detailed rankings and times.

[1st ‘Dragon Slayer’. 96:00:01 (Stage 5)]

[2nd ‘Crazy’, 73:05:32 (Stage 4)]

[3rd ‘Rider’, 70:45:05 (Stage 3)]

[4th ‘Lions’, 68:50:40 (Stage 3)]

[5th ‘Mudskippers’, 66:23:10 (Stage 3)]

…….

“You’re seriously crazy, Hoon! Look! Even if it was just for one second, you managed to see Stage 5 before coming back! Luka even showed up then and was so excited…!”

“I, too, could not believe what I was seeing.”

Judgment Spear chimed in.

“After falling at Stage 3, I now understand just how absurd of a person you are…”

“Kekeke, I know, right? Stage 3 was already insane. But Stage 4, and then Stage 5? Hey, Team leader! You are human, right? Huh? Tell me now. Are you by any chance a dragon enjoying a little game in another world?”

“……”

I felt dazed.

It seemed I really had done something unbelievable.

And that ranking table made my heart race even more.

The fact that the table existed meant the sunbaes who underwent previous trials had all gone through this same process.

And among them, I was the best.

‘Not bad.’

At this rate, what I’d been thinking about in that dream might not have been overestimating.

500th place.

Could that have been an underestimation?

I slowly pushed myself up.

“First of all, I think I vaguely heard something about not having much time.”

I stretched my body.

“When is the next trial?”

“Probably in about an hour. Because you wouldn’t wake up no matter how much we tried…”

Olena answered.

“That’s only because Luka was being as considerate as possible. Normally, it should have started two days ago.”

“Hmm, I see.”

I nodded.

“Then I’ll take a moment to calm my mind…”

“Yes, yes!”

Not just Olena—everyone nodded in unison.

“That’s right. Team leader, you’re the most important one. You’re the main character, you’re the man. So you must get plenty of rest.”

“Check your rewards, too! Thanks to you, Hoon, we were all able to grow beyond our means. We’ll repay this kindness for a long, long time.”

Right, the reward.

Thanks to their consideration, I went to a corner to organize my rewards alone.

First, I checked the backed-up messages.

[Tiring!]

[Team ‘Dragon Slayer’ has completed the trial of ‘Theme 3’.]

[You will be moved to the location of ‘Theme 4’ in 30 minutes.]

[Surviving members: 7]

[Calculating rewards.]

It said we’d move thirty minutes after completing the trial.

So this place was most likely the location for Theme 4.

[This is the location of ‘Theme 4’.]

[Please wait a moment.]

[Calculating rewards.]

[Please wait a moment.]

[Calculating rewards.]

…….

As expected, reward calculation messages had piled up.

But the content was different from Theme 1 and Theme 2.

[The team’s contribution level is ‘SS-Rank’.]

[All team members will receive the same reward.]

[The appropriate reward for all team members is ‘SS-Rank Skill Upgrade’.]

[You can upgrade the rank of one of your current skills to SS.]

“Hmm.”

This reward was novel.

I could raise one skill to SS-rank?

I immediately opened my status window and checked the skills section.

[Hunter: Joo Donghoon]

[Title: Skeleton King]

[Energy: 2,220/2,220]

[Unique Ability: Cursed Necromancer]

[Grade: S]

[Effect]

-You are a Necromancer, a class that handles dead souls. You can subdue opponents using terrifying evil spirits and poisons. However, you are cursed.

-You can only summon Skeletons.

[Owned Skills]

-‘Summon Skeleton Lord’ (S-Rank)

-‘Memory Reenactment’ (S-Rank)

-‘Legacy of the Ten Thousand Arts’ (S-Rank)

-‘Pain Resistance’ (S-Rank)

-‘Supreme Azure Mind Method’ (S-Rank)

-‘Resurrection of the Dead’ (A-Rank)

-‘Wail of the Dead’ (A-Rank)

-‘Immunity to All Poisons’ (S-Rank)

-‘Bone Dragon Skeleton’ (S-Rank)

-‘Ten Thousand Art’ (A-Rank)

‘Huh.’

Thanks to ‘Ten Thousand Art’ (A-Rank), I now had a total of ten skills.

Every single one was essential.

Honestly, upgrading any of them would probably be fine.

‘Still.’

I had to be careful.

I could only upgrade one, and once I chose, there was no taking it back.

[Please select one of your owned skills!]

[Time limit is 30 minutes!]

What, thirty minutes?

The time is too short.

My eyes widened.

‘First.’

Let’s exclude Pain Resistance and Supreme Azure Mind Method.

Pain Resistance still had room to grow depending on my efforts.

And no matter how much it hurt, I could endure the same level I was already enduring now.

Using an upgrade ticket just to avoid pain felt like a waste.

As for Supreme Azure Mind Method, it felt like something that required enlightenment, not a simple rank upgrade.

“Hoo.”

I took a light, deep breath.

Then what should I choose?

Summon Skeleton Lord?

Or Memory Reenactment?

Legacy of the Ten Thousand Arts?

Resurrection of the Dead? Wail of the Dead?

I agonized, reading each description one by one.

The most important skill for my future path.

‘Damn it.’

There was no way I could make a decision like that in just thirty minutes.

I felt like I needed a whole day.

“……”

In the end, after agonizing for another five minutes, I made a decision.

My life’s motto.

[Using the skill, ‘Legacy of the Ten Thousand Arts’ (S-Rank).]

[Consumes 20 Energy.]

[The ‘Master of the Ten Thousand Arts’ appears.]

To summon the Elder.