Chapter 29: Profits of a Hunter's Life & Advent of the Shadow Monarch

A/N :

" " : Dialogue,

' ' : Thought,

[ ] : System, Akasha, Minerva,

"Italicized text" : Telepathy,

{ }: Parallel Wills,

« » : Artificial Intelligence,

| | : Sung Jin-Woo's System Panels, Sung Jin-Woo's System Messages.

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Dante POV

It's been a few days since Jin-Woo's third 'incident' with the Goblinoid dungeon where only the convicts and the singular staff from the Monitoring Division died. I thought quite a bit about his actions.

He saved the lives of the other hunters that had been a part of the first encounter with the Carthenon, but in doing so, had made himself more suspicious. It was a good deed, but not one without consequence.

I can hear members of the Monitoring Division coming to the conclusion that he has reawakened, but they don't know what rank he's at. I even hear one of them say that they'd try recruiting him into the White Tiger Guild.

I would have chosen to intervene, but I decided not to since Jin-Woo would make a good chunk of money from that interaction. You can't get too much money in a world like this. You could only get too focused on money.

Looking toward America, I still see no sign of the gate that Sung Il-Hwan, Jin-Woo's father, would use to return to Earth. One would wonder why I'd be looking for him, and the reason for that is simply because I don't want him to die or be kept from his family for longer than necessary. He'd been too good of a father for that to happen to him.

After doing some more checks on the Earth, such as the state of the ants on Jeju Island, the current state of all Fragments of Brilliant Light, otherwise known as National Rank Hunters, I get up and head to Jin-Woo's home, where his mother and sister are, to give them something for protection .

Shiraori POV

Ever since we came to this world, I haven't done much but train, hunt and hang out with Dante. It's been pretty monotonous for the most part.

Apart from that, I've been looking around, trying to see if I could make something new. I've scoured through most equipment catalogs and stores just to find something I could use as inspiration. It was during one of my walks for this that I met the most probable love interest for Jin-Woo in this world, a blonde cutie called Cha Hae-In, who also happens to be an S Rank Hunter as well.

Dante had told me that she's one of the very few Hunters that has the ability to perceive mana with any of her five senses, specifically her sense of smell. And from what he told me, the smell of a Hunter's mana is rancid to her, enough so that she covers her nose with a handkerchief most of the time that she's around other hunters.

However, she said that my mana, or rather, my energy, smelled vastly different from that of other Hunters. She said that it was pleasant, almost delicious even. Long story short, that's how we became friends.

She also happens to have a considerable interest in sword fighting, to the point that she actively goes to a dojo to improve her skills. I suggested her coming over to the building that Dante and I own, so that I could train her in both sword combat and mana usage. And yes, Dante and I chose to buy a building after getting our profits from the different parts of Hunter life.

Dante made some HP and MP potions and diluted them to make them help Hunters recover by only about 30%, instead of the normal 70% and branded them as Healing Potions and Mana Recovery Potions. He also branded his antidote as Poison Cure.

In a world like this one, where healers aren't as common and antidotes for monster poisons are few, Dante's products sold like hotcakes, and in just a week, we were able to buy a building. With the prices of the Poison Cure being about 1.5 million won, and the Healing Potions and Mana Recovery Potions being 2 million and 1.8 million won each, money quickly piled up.

So we've already gotten a building for us to use as the guild building, and that's where we stay when we're not out in either of our personal dimensions or hunting monsters.

I had also begun making new armor. Similarly to Dante, I reduced its effectiveness, so that even if it fell into the wrong hands, the person or people said hands belong to won't be too difficult to take down.

I did make it so they couldn't be torn and they fit onto anybody, regardless of their size. So far, the greatest number of orders for the armor and potions have come from the White Tiger Guild and the Hunters Guild. I did give Hae-In a personalized unit, since she's my friend.

To make some variety, I gave the armors some extra enhancements, with some having 30% physical resistance, some having the same percentage of some elemental resistance and others increased stealth or physical capabilities. With how great the improvements were when compared to most other armors, those who had the capability to buy them did so posthaste.

Neither of us made weapons however, as any of those that went through our hands would have ended up being too powerful to be given to just anyone. We did give the Chairman one for when he'd have to fight, but apart from that, nada. We'd decided to help humanity survive, not go batshit crazy.

Sung Jin-Woo POV

I had finally reached Level 40 and by doing so, met the conditions to receive the Class Change Quest. I had searched for the benefit of advancing one's class and seen only pros and no cons, granted the answers came from video game forums, but with the system being the way it is, it isn't wrong to expect it to be similar.

Making sure that there was no one around the area where I was, I bring up the message I saw in the dungeon with Jin-Ho.

|Will you take on the Class Change Quest now?|

|Y/N|

As I chose Yes, unfamiliar messages popped up.

|You're now partaking in the Class Change Quest.|

|A new dungeon will be generated for this quest.|

Before I could try understanding what it meant by generating a new dungeon, a small black 'hole' the size of a bean formed in front of me then expanded to be large enough for me to walk through. 'Isn't this.... a Gate?' I immediately became wary of the Gate in front of me, but the system just seemed to urge me on.

|Please enter the dungeon through the Gate.|

I quickly took a breath to collect myself. Seeing as it was a Gate, the thought of other hunters entering it crossed my mind, but I quickly shook it out of my head and headed into the dungeon with Kasaka's Poison Fang being held in a reverse grip in my hand.

|You have entered the dungeon.|

Upon entering the dungeon, I noticed that it looked practically the same as other dungeons, but my gut was telling me that there was something fundamentally different about this dungeon.

|The current location forbids the usage of potions as well as the functions of the Store, and your physical state will not recover even if you level up.|

That message carried a considerable bit of weight to it, as it implied that any damage I incur will not be healed, unless I had a personal regenerative factor to offset the damage.

Looking back at the Gate that was the entrance, that is now probably the exit, I touched its surface and a message popped up.

|You can't leave until the Class Change process has been concluded.|

Seeing the message, I understood that this was meant to be a difficult dungeon from the get go. It had an unknown grade, which meant that monsters of any rank could spawn here, and it made it impossible for anyone to heal themselves while also having no exit. Any other Hunter would avoid such a place like the plague. But I'm not just any Hunter.

Keeping my wits about me, I moved further into the dungeon. As I kept moving, I noticed that the dungeon didn't have any magic crystals, but rather had torches in their place.

I kept walking for a long time until I came upon a bend, where I sensed multiple presences. I continued walking toward the bend where I was hearing metallic clangs that were getting closer.

As soon as I reached the bend, I immediately stabbed towards the neck of the closest of them, a perfect surprise attack, but...*puting*... instead of my dagger piercing through flesh, it hit metal and bounced off without penetrating.

Quickly looking at the point I had tried stabbing, I notice that there was a dent. 'So it's not that I'm not strong enough, it's just that this dagger is too weak for me to continue using effectively without using skills.' I quickly grab the enemy I'd attacked and punch it to the wall causing it to break apart.

I take a look at the enemies, then looked to the one that I had just punched. The enemies seemed to be armored knights, but looking at the armor on the ground, I came to the conclusion that these were empty armors that either gained animation via magic like Living Armors in video games, or they were being controlled by someone or something else.

The two remaining knights rushed me with their longswords unsheathed and I dispatched them quickly, this time using the Mutilate skill I got after fighting so many of Dante's constructs. Surprisingly, of the three that I had killed, two of them dropped items, One was a breastplate and the other a leather pouch.

|Item: 'Superior Knight's Breastplate' has been found. Take it?|

|Item: 'Leather Pouch' has been found. Take it?|

Taking both items, I get notifications telling me their details, with the Superior Knight's Breastplate being a B Rank armor that gave me an additional 7% increase to physical damage reduction and the Leather Pouch holding about 30,000 Gold in it. I immediately equipped the Superior Knight's Breastplate, increasing my physical damage reduction from 20% to 27%.

I tried to pick up one of the knights' swords, but it immediately corroded to dust, almost as if I wasn't allowed to take anything from them except for loot. Looking around the bend, I noticed that it was a dead end. I walked away from there to another path.

Two hours pass and in that time, I had encountered numerous enemies, but they were only four types. Knights, Mages, Assassins and Archers. I also noticed that every single one that I killed seemed to be empty.

Despite all this, I was still going strong, with my Fatigue only at about 7, thanks to my high stats. I continued taking out more of them as they showed up or attacked.

I continued killing them, and as I had noticed before, they kept dropping items. I equipped the best equipment that dropped from them, increasing my stats, while the rest were in my inventory.

Eventually, I reached the end of the road, coming across what looked like a castle gate. It even reminded me of the double dungeon and how unprepared we were for that, but now was different. Now, I was prepared and far stronger.

I pulled open the door only to meet darkness in front of me. My high Perception stat allowed me to see a few meters in front of me.

I noticed that unlike the cave floor, the ground here was covered in stone tiles without any gaps in between. I took a step inside and countless torches that were lining up the walls lit up at once, illuminating the place.

As I studied the environment around me, the similarities that it shared with the underground temple in the double dungeon came to mind, increasing my vigilance.

As I walked in, I saw a tall throne at the end of the room, if this place could be called a room, with how large it was. After a few more steps, the door slammed shut.

Ignoring the noise of the door closing, I focused on the presence that I felt between some stone pillars that are close to the throne.

Eventually a knight walked out from the gap, but unlike the others, this one was different. It had armor that was as red as blood that also had a blood red cloak and a helm with a red horsetail-like mane. It also looked incredibly agile and it seemed to have eyes that were lifeless and mechanical, like it was made only for battle.

I stopped inspecting its body and looked above its head to see the name of this boss.

|The Captain of the Knights, Igris the Crimson|

Gripping my dagger tighter, I got into a fighting stance, as I felt that this would have been the most difficult battle I had ever faced since my training with Dante.

As if on cue, Igris and I charged at each other, me with my dagger in my hand and it with his longsword in its hands.

It sent a quick slash at my neck, which I avoided, then I responded to by sending multiple stabs to its torso at high speeds. It blocked the first four, but the others dug into its armor. This made me understand that my stats were still higher than its own, which was going to be a massive advantage.

Before I could continue pelting its body with stabs, it sent another slash at my head which I dodged by stepping away using Shūndō, then immediately began backstabbing it multiple times.

It continued sending slashes my way and I continued avoiding them using Shūndō and stabbing it whenever I had the chance. If some watched the battle, they would think that I'm trying to bleed it out, but I noticed that doing that won't work.

I was merely buying time for him to make an irreversible mistake, and it eventually happened. It swung its sword too far for it to rebound, then I used the force of Mutilate skill to make it throw its sword.

Seeing the chance, I immediately sent my dagger stabbing towards its head from its chin. I would have gone through with the blow, but I noticed that its sword was coming back to its hand at high speed.

Before it reached its hand, it had already begun moving its arm in a slashing motion. Once the sword reached its hand, it gripped it tightly and slashed at my head. I didn't move until the sword was a centimeter away from my head, then I used Shūndō to get to its other side.

As I got there, I stabbed it in both its eyes in quick succession. An inhuman scream came out of its mouth and a fierce light came out of the holes where its eyes were. It then swung its sword at me furiously while keeping its strikes as targeted as it could.

Activating my Mana Armor and Quicksilver in tandem with Parallel Processing and Thought Acceleration, I found an opening and used it to hit its sword out of its hand and stab its head repeatedly, killing it.

|You defeated the Captain of the Knights, Igris the Crimson.|

|Level Up!|

|Level Up!|

I furrowed my eyebrows as I noticed that there was no notification saying that I had completed the quest. I look at the corpse of Igris and see that several strands of light were flickering on its body, showing that his loot was ready. Turning my mind away from the discrepancy, I reached out towards the lights.

|Item: 'Red Knight's Helm' has been found. Take it?|

|Rune Stone: 'Dominator's Touch' has been found. Take it?|

|Item: 'Leather Pouch' has been found. Take it?|

|Item: 'Hearthstone' has been found. Take it?|

Taking all the drops, I opened the Leather Pouch and acquired 1.5 million Gold from it. I then checked the stats of the Red Knight's Helm, and boy was it something.

|Item: Red Knight's Helm|

|Item Class: S

Type: Armor

Reduction in physical damage: +15%

Stamina +20, Strength +20.|

I quickly equipped it and checked the Hearthstone and Rune Stone.

|Item: Hearthstone|

|Type: Consumable

A quest-exclusive item. If you break the Hearthstone, you will instantly leave the dungeon. If the Class Change Quest ends, the dungeon is automatically destroyed. Cannot be stored in inventory.|

|Rune Stone: Dominator's Touch|

|Type: Rune Stone

You can absorb the skill by breaking the Rune Stone.|

Understanding that this wasn't the end of the quest, I quickly crushed the Rune Stone in my hand and gained the Dominator's Touch skill, which was apparently the skill that Igris used to telekinetically pull its sword to itself, not to mention, it didn't require mana to be used. I then chose to check my stats.

|Stats|

|Strength: 228

Stamina: 187

Agility: 197

Intelligence: 166

Perception: 189

Reduction in physical damage: +45%|

Seeing my current stats really made me understand that Igris was strong, very strong, and I'd make sure to have him as my soldier once I'd gained the powers of the Shadow Monarch.

As I palmed the Hearthstone, another notification popped up.

|'Player' has acquired the Hearthstone.|

|The Class Change Quest will now commence.|

I smiled to myself as I knew that despite the battles I had fought, I was still in pristine condition, and more than anything, I was itching for a fight after the battle I had with Igris. As for the Hearthstone, I simply put it in my back pocket.

|In 10 seconds, dimensional doorways will be randomly generated.|

|Endure for as long as you can to earn as many points as possible to access a higher ranked Class.|

The 10 seconds quickly flew by as I readied myself for the battle ahead. Multiple gates opened up in that time.

|00:00:01|

|Good Luck.|

Knights, similar to the ones that I faced before Igris, started to pour out of the gates, forming a silver wave of clanking metal. I dashed toward them and began slashing and smashing every single one of them within range.

I noticed that their numbers seemed to climb faster than I could take them down, so I used Intimidation on them, halving their stats, then began using Shūndō to move while attacking, clearing them even quicker, to the point that the wave seemed to recede for a bit.

I continued wailing on them, remembering some of Dante's lessons. One of them being to use everything to my advantage. I smashed some of them into a few pillars, breaking them, then I used Dominator's Touch to control the broken rocks to slam into the Knights.

|10, 9, 8, 7.|

I then noticed a countdown that was quickly coming to an end. 'Hmm. It's that time already, huh.' I thought to myself while still attacking the Knights. "Well, you guys better not miss me too much, because I'll be back and even stronger." I said loudly while looking at the few Mages in the crowd of Knights. As the last message popped up, , just as the countdown hit zero.

|...3, 2, 1, 0.|

|You failed to complete the Daily Quest.|

|You are being moved to the Penalty Zone.|

As soon as the last message popped up, I was teleported to the familiar desert realm. Looking around and seeing nothing, I chose to stretch for a bit, until eventually, the centipede monsters showed up.

Thinking back to the time I was dragged in here, I let out a hollow laugh, as I had found them scary back then. I look at the top of their heads and see their name.

|Poison-Fanged Giant Desert Centipede|

Their names were orange, which surprised me as this meant that each of these could theoretically be as powerful as Igris. "Hah. It's too bad that I don't have his power yet, otherwise I'd have taken you all as my soldiers." I said then dashed into their group and began killing them.

*Four hours later*

By the time I was done, I had killed all the centipedes that were here and leveled up 4 times as a result. Seeing that Kasaka's Poison Fang wasn't being as effective against the Knights, I bought 2 new daggers.

|Item: Knight Killer|

|Item Class: B

Type: Dagger

Attack: +75

A sharp and sturdy dagger designed to cut through the armor worn by knights. The edges of the blade are shaped like a saw blade, this way it won't slide off the armor's surface easily.

Effect 'Killing Knights': +25% additional damage when fighting armored opponents.|

|Item: Sanguine Ripper|

|Item Class: A

Type: Dagger

Attack: +155

A sharp and sturdy dagger that was designed to to tear through flesh and metal alike. The edges of the blade are enchanted to tear through armor and cause its victims to spill more blood.

Effect 1 'Ripping Metal': +50% additional damage when fighting armored opponents.

Effect 2 'Bloodletting': Attacked foes lose 5% of their health every second.|

I bought the Knight Killer which cost me 2.8 million Gold, as well as the Sanguine Ripper which cost me 10.5 million Gold, along with some Health Potions and Mana Potions.

Soon after, some more messages followed.

|Penalty Quest will conclude shortly.|

|As you have tried to hunt inside the Penalty Zone, the difficulty of the next Penalty Quest will be adjusted to a higher level.|

|Penalty Quest has concluded.|

I smirked at the notification then tightly gripped the daggers as I was teleported back to the boss room. As I appeared, I saw hundreds of Knights, Archers and Assassins waiting for me. Too bad for them, they were already easy for me to take out when I was slightly tired. Now that I'm in tiptop shape, they'll have absolutely no chance at actually harming me.

Following my Perception, I quickly located the Mages then used Shūndō to get to them, bypassing the soldiers that I thought they had summoned. Quickly reaching the first Mage, I quickly stab it in the head, testing my theory. The same time it died, hundreds of Knights that were rushing at me collapsed to the floor like puppets without strings.

The Mages, noticing that I had killed one of them, began moving away from their positions, but unfortunately for them, I was far faster than they could ever be. To prove that, I quickly dashed to each of them and stabbed them in their backs, killing them and causing the remaining Knights to fall to pieces and the remaining Assassins and Archers dissipated into a black mist.

One of them however, was able to dodge the blow, so I let go of the Knight Killer and used Dominator's Touch to send it flying to the final Mage's head, killing it.

|You have acquired 'Skill: Dagger Throw'.|

Looking around, all I saw were armor parts strewn around on the floor, but I kept my guard up, just in case one more wanted to pull a fast one on me. As it turned out, I didn't need to.

|All monsters in the room have been slain, the quest will end now.|

|You will be able to choose a class based on the amount of points you have collected.|

|A Class will be bestowed upon the Player after your past actions have been thoroughly analyzed.|

|The places where the Player stands are dyed with the breath of the Reaper. Corpses fill the Player's path, and the scent of blood is thick and strong.|

|The Player thirsts for power and possesses it, never leaving anything to his teammates, overcoming everything with his own strength.|

|Your desire for power burns strong enough to summon those who wander the valley of death, and the army of the dead that follows your command unquestioningly will create a path where your thread is law, never needing another's aid.|

|Your Class is "Necromancer".|

"Hmm, I guess that makes sense. Ashborne is the Shadow Monarch and he rules over the dead, so the baseline I should receive would be a Necromancer." I said to myself. Then a confirmation notification popped up.

|Will you accept this Class?|

I thought about it for a minute. Being a Necromancer means that I'd have subordinates that are fully loyal to me, and would never experience exhaustion, meaning that I could solo raid most if not all dungeons when I get strong enough. I looked at the dead Mages as they exhibited this point quite well, they just didn't have their own close combat on lock, but I did. I accepted the Class.

|Your Class has been chosen.|

|Based on the amount of points you obtained, you will be given a chance to promote to a superior Class.|

|You've exceeded the expected time limit!|

|Bonus points will be added.|

|You did not use a Hearthstone!|

|Bonus points will be added.|

|Remaining HP is over 50%!|

|Bonus points will be added.|

|All enemies have been eliminated!|

|Bonus points will be added.|

|The total points have exceeded the feat limit.|

|Your Class had been promoted from "Necromancer" to "Shadow Monarch".|

|You have acquired Class-specific skills.|

|You have acquired bonus Stats.|

|You have acquired the title, 'The One Who Overcame Adversity'.|

I smiled at the notifications that rolled past. I then looked at the many dead Knights, Mages, Assassins and Archers on the floor and saw a black smoke rising out of each of them. I instinctively knew that this was how I'd raise them as my soldiers. The system even confirmed it for me.

|Shadow Extraction can be used on this target| x4.

I could even hear what sounded like screams coming from the dead monsters. I walked past all of them and went straight to the one that gave me the hardest fight here. The corpse of a knight in blood red armor, Igris. 'Shadow Extraction.'

|Please set the command phrase to activate Shadow Extraction.|

I raised a brow as I thought about it. I realized that even being a Necromancer was to be a commander, so what more a Monarch. I reached out to the dead body of Igris.

"Arise."

|Shadow Extraction has commenced.|

|Attempting to extract...|

|Shadow Extraction has failed.|

|Two more attempts remaining.|

I raised a brow to that. I had overwhelmed him in strength and in technique during our battle. I fought him without any underhanded moves, yet he chose to reject my call. Why?

I then looked at the throne and it hit me. When I initially met him, he came from a place in front of the throne, as if to guard the being that sits there. He was a knight captain, so his loyalty will only be to his ruler.

"Hey, Igris. I can hear you. Is whoever sat in that throne the reason you rejected my call? Why keep yourself loyal to an absent ruler, protecting an empty throne, when you could protect me, who is here in front of you?" I swore I could hear the voice become stronger, as if begging me to reach out to it.

"Arise."

|Shadow Extraction was successful.|

With that notification, a deep scream resounded from his corpse, then a black hand rose out of his shadow and pressed on the ground. A few seconds later, a black knight with a red mane on his helmet fully rose out of the shadows.

|The Monarch's voice has awakened the departed's fighting spirit.|

|You have upgraded your shadow soldier.|

|The shadow's starting level will be level 14.|

I raised a brow at that, as it seemed to imply that other shadows could end up starting at lower or even higher levels. I also noticed that he didn't have a name as the name above his head was showing |??LV. 14|. It also showed that he was a knight grade soldier. I decided that I'd find out what that meant with the others.

|Soldiers of a high grade can be named.|

|The name will stay until the shadow soldier is dismissed.|

|Please set the soldier's name.|

I looked at my first soldier with a smile. "Your name from this day onward, is Igris."

|Will you set the name as 'Igris'?|

I mentally confirmed, then went to the other dead monsters. I saw multiple notifications blink into being, above the bodies of the monsters. "Arise."

As I said that, multiple soldiers rose up from the shadows and when I checked them, I understood that Igris was truly special, as I couldn't name even one of them. I also saw the 2 grades before knight grade. They were regular and elite. The Knights were the regular grade soldiers, being registered as Shadow Infantrymen, while the Mages were the elite grade soldiers, being registered as Shadow Magic Soldiers.

I dismissed all the Shadow Infantrymen and kept all the mages, which were 6 in number, then I chose to finally check the details of my Class-specific skills, of which there were only 2.

|Class-specific skills|

|Active skills

• Shadow Extraction Lv. 1

• Shadow Storage Lv. 1|

|Skill: Shadow Extraction Lv. 1|

|Class-specific skill.

No mana required

A shadow soldier is created from a body without life by taking out its mana. The chance of failure increases the higher the target's stats are, and the more time that has passed since the target's death.

Shadows able to be extracted: 7/30|

|Skill: Shadow Storage Lv. 1|

|Class-specific skill.

No mana required

Stores the shadow soldiers inside the summoner's shadow. The stored soldiers can be summoned back into the open or absorbed back at any time the summoner chooses.

Shadows able to be stored: 0/20|

After reading their descriptions, I stored away all my soldiers with a smile on my face.

|You have experimented with all Class-specific skills.|

|Class Change Quest has now concluded.|

|Generating exit Gate.|

'I guess my earlier thought was wrong.' I thought to myself as I walked through the Gate, out into the same mountainous area that I entered the dungeon from. Shortly after, I received a call from Dante on the smartphone that he gave me, asking me to visit him when I have time, then he sent a text with the address.

"Well, I guess that's all for today then. I'd better get back home to get some sleep." I said then ran home to catch up on the sleep I had missed from the day before.

Chapter End.

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A/N: Hello everybody, hope you're all doing well. If you aren't, I hope that whatever situation you're in turns out for the better. Also, sorry on the late release, I actually forgot to release it last night and slept off.

I know that I said that this is being written for fun, but I'd like to know what you all think about it, so please, leave a review. Have a nice day.