Boundless Necromancer

「You've entered the waiting room on the 12th floor.」

I was standing still with my eyes narrowly open after returning from talking with the Iron-blooded Monarch.

It didn't matter how much I thought about it. I couldn't believe what the Iron-blooded Monarch told me.

- You have talent. And one that's strong enough to make your ambitions come true.

I'd used the right to ask questions to obtain more details about the 12th floor.

And that's what the Iron-blooded Monarch told me when I was about to return to the waiting room.

"..."

Talent.

Talent was something given to you by the heavens that couldn't be obtained even with effort.

Stat increase aptitude.

Attribute bloom aptitude.

After awakening as a player, people obtain these 3 aptitudes. People often call these the 3 qualities of a hunter.

Other things weren't considered a talent.

Your physical capabilities or battle sense could be covered with a skill or an attribute. You could even obtain battle techniques with skills.

If you left these 3 things aside, the other things weren't at a level that could be called talent.

Talent is something you cannot overcome with effort. It's something that's decided from the beginning.

And…

'I wasn't born with any of those.'

Before coming to the Tower of Trials, I was a player who didn't have those qualities at all.

I wasn't able to obtain a skill, my stats didn't increase, and I wasn't able to obtain an innate ability.

If we took aside that I had awakened, I didn't have any trait that would make people consider me a player.

Someone like me has talent...?

There's no way that was true.

'The Iron-blooded Monarch has probably misunderstood something. And that's why she thinks I have talent.'

If I had something like that, I would've probably been able to become a famous hunter without coming to the Tower.

But the reality was harsh. I was able to obtain those only after I came to the Tower.

And that was possible because the Tower awakened those inside me as a reward for completing the tutorial trial.

Taking those things into consideration, the correct thing to say was that I didn't have talent…

"..."

Up until this point, the Iron-blooded Monarch hadn't said anything that could harm me.

I'm sure she hadn't said that just for the sake of saying it, but I couldn't understand why she said I have talent.

I thought about it for a while but ended up reaching the same conclusion.

'It doesn't matter how much I think about it. I'm going to reach the same conclusion.'

But…

Now, it was time to prepare for the trial of the 12th floor.

According to what I heard by using a question right from the Iron-blooded Monarch, the trial on the 12th floor was a fight against yourself.

This wasn't something said metaphorically.

The Tower really created a copy of yourself, and you had to win a fight against it.

Was it going to be something more similar than the doppelganger he'd faced in the trial of the 3rd floor?

It would be a fight against someone with the same unique attribute, skills, and stats. But...

The copy wouldn't stop there. But it would also copy his experience.

That meant...

'My copy will know all of my possible strategies.'

Not only that, but the Iron-blooded Monarch said that it was also going to copy my talent.

To make things worse, he would be able to use effectively talent he didn't even know he had.

While fighting, it might learn a skill through an awakening, or his stats might increase.

'If that happens, the difficulty would increase and become horrible.'

But he didn't have a talent for learning skills or stat increase.

I probably wouldn't have to worry about my clone becoming stronger during battle.

The Iron-blooded Monarch said it would copy only one of my items, and its rank would go down by 1.

'Not having item advantage will probably be the decisive thing that will let me have an easy win.'

It was obvious that I would think I'd be able to overcome the trial of the 12th floor easily.

But this trial was to test my strength rationally.

Going up floors without doing much because of fear of your copied self?

That was like not using the 12th trial correctly.

It was the perfect opportunity to get an objective view of your fighting capabilities, usage of skills, and other things that could help you grow. So trying to clear it as easily as possible was dumb.

Most people would avoid choosing the hard difficulty and choose the easy one while doing the trial of the 12th floor.

'I'm going to take this opportunity to get a more realistic view of my fighting capabilities and improve them.'

I took out the inventory and took out the potions that increased the skill proficiency rate.

「Skill Proficiency Potion」

「Rank: C+」

「A special potion created by the Tower for those that have skills.」

「After using it, you can increase the proficiency of a skill by 10%.」

Catherine gave me in total three skill proficiency potions.

Each increased your proficiency rate by 10%. So I could increase it by 30% in total.

'Using it separately wouldn't be a bad choice... But it isn't effective.'

The potion didn't increase the proficiency a lot, so using it in different skills wasn't very effective.

After deciding that, I opened the status window and picked a skill in which I'd invest the skill proficiency potions.

***

***

「You've consumed a Skill Proficiency Potion (C+)」

「Choose the skill you would like to increase the proficiency of.」

Then he picked the skill he would invest the skill proficiency potions.

"Mana Management."

「Selection finished.」

「Challenger Han SungYoon's skill 'Mana Management (A-)' skill proficiency is increasing by 10%.」

「Challenger Han SungYoon's skill 'Mana Management (A-)' skill proficiency is increasing by 10%.」

「Challenger Han SungYoon's skill 'Mana Management (A-)' skill proficiency is increasing by 10%.」

This skill he had obtained after hunting the Darkness Snake in the 10th floor's trial was very important.

The sword techniques were techniques that used mana management.

And this skill lets you use them more effectively.

'If I increase its efficiency and its rank, maybe I'm going to be able to use mana management in a new way.'

Of course, I still hadn't achieved that realization, so I couldn't increase its ranking yet…

Either by obtaining more skill proficiency potions or reaching a realization, I thought I'd be able to increase its ranking.

"..."

I silently made the mana run through my body.

'The mana runs more smoothly now.'

After feeling that the mana management had become smoother, I opened my eyes, satisfied.

「The level of Mana Management has increased, and mana attribute blooming has been generated.」

「Because of the influence of 'Necklace of Thunder God Worshiper (A)', a thunder-type mana attribute is blooming.」

At the same time, the effect of the 'Necklace of Thunder God Worshiper' activated.

Bzzt...!

As if it were announcing to me that a mana attribute had blossomed, lightning bolts started to bounce around my body.

I laughed in disbelief at the unexpected mana attribute blooming.

'Something like this can happen when you improve the mana management…?'

I had forgotten that I had an item like this.

You were able to unlock a mana attribute, but there was no way to know when you'd unlock it. So I hadn't been caring about it too much.

"That was lucky. There's nothing bad to getting a mana attribute."

Of course, using it correctly would take some time.

'I guess it's a huge achievement for the moment, having been able to unlock a mana attribute.'

While thinking about what I should do, I remembered the reward of the trial of the 11th floor.

"Was it called Rusty Mirror of Proof…?"

After thinking about it for a while, I took out the Rusty Mirror of Proof.

Although it had a minus, it was the first S-rank item I had obtained.

I thought that I should at least check out what effect it had.

「Rusty Mirror of Proof」

「Rank: S-」

「A mirror that can be received only by those that have correctly fulfilled the trial given by the God of Proof.」

「If you put mana in the mirror, you can use its unique effect, 'Residual Thoughts,' once.」

"What? Is that all…?"

I couldn't believe what I was reading.

To think that the reward I'd obtained after so much effort was something like this…

I felt disappointed, but I realized not everything was as it seemed at first glance.

'No, I can't be sure yet.'

There might be some hidden message in the mirror, so I activated the Fire Dragon Core.

「The skill 'Fire Dragon Core' has been activated.」

And—

「You can use the skill inside 'Residual Thoughts' once...」

「But the user cannot choose the skill inside 'Residual Thoughts.'」

「The God of Proof has especially changed its effect for one challenger…」

I sighed in relief after seeing the hidden message.

'I'm not sure what the effect of Residual Thoughts is, but it's probably a good one.'

Not only that, but it said that I could obtain a skill inside 'Residual Thoughts,' so it was a satisfying result.

I could fuse skills, so the more skills I obtained, the more my possible selection choices would increase.

Even if I faced myself on the 12th floor, that wouldn't change.

I used mana while looking at the old and rusty Mirror of Proof, which looked like a handheld mirror.

「The effect of Rusty Mirror of Proof (S-) 'Residual Thoughts' has been activated.」

I could see the blurry look of a certain man passing through the mirror.

It was someone I'd seen at the last part of the trial of the 11th floor's trial.

It was the person who'd tested the limits of my mental capabilities and caused a massive annihilation inside the mirror.

'Me…?'

Don't tell me that the Residual Thought that's inside the Rusty Mirror of Proof is...

「The skill of Rusty Mirror of Proof (S-) 'Residual Thoughts' has activated, and you're going to obtain a skill that's inside the 'Residual Thoughts.'」

Is it the future me I've seen?

'What kind of nonsense is this…’

But before I could keep thinking about that, my reflection inside the mirror disappeared.

「You've obtained the skill 'Battle Concentration (A+).'」

「You've gained the battle experience of the skill 'Battle Concentration (A+)' from inside the Residual Thoughts.」

I just kept looking at the system messages.

"..."

I couldn't see myself in the mirror anymore.

I tried to put in mana one more time, but there was no difference from before.

Not only that, but now, I couldn't see the hidden message anymore.

'The God of Proof changing part of its effect… Was it referring to this?'

I wasn't sure what its original effect was. But this Residual Thoughts were definitely mine.

It was probably related to my future self I'd seen at the last part of the trial of the 11th floor.

I kept thinking while silently looking at the mirror.

"..."

Maybe this was like an invitation the God or Proof had left for me.

He'd even asked me to visit the 'Temple of Proof.'

He's waiting for me to go and visit the Temple, so he left me an invitation like this.

As if he were saying that if I'm wondering about my future self, I better go and meet him.

"How fun."

I wasn't sure why, but it seemed like the God or Proof was interested in me.

But I didn't know his goals, so I had no intention of accepting that invitation.

He was able to summon me to the God's territory forcibly. So if I went to the Temple, I could be in danger.

'I should go once I get enough strength… When I'm at least able to resist a God's actions.'

This was just an intuition, but I thought the answer was related to Divinity.

The God of Proof and the Administrators thought of this power called Divinity as special.

That means that inside the Divinity, there might be a way to resist pseudo-divine beings or even a real God.

'I should try to study more about the Divinity...'

Of course, right now, I couldn't properly use it.

I opened the status window and checked out the newly obtained skill.

「Skill - Battle Concentration (A+)」

「Proficiency Rate - 11%」

「Explanation - When you're in battle, it gives you the power to exercise extreme concentration.」

「Effect - It automatically activates when you enter battle, and you can temporarily increase your concentration. At the moment, you can only increase it to 10 times. If you reach a concentration beyond that, you'll get a recoil.」

Increasing your concentration in a battle was a simple effect, so I didn't need to check it out any longer.

"Nice timing."

I had obtained a skill like this when I was about to face a battle.

I was going to be able to find numerous ways to use that skill in real-life situations.

「Will you accept the 12th floor's trial?」

Now, it was about time to challenge myself.

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