Chapter 11

Chapter 11
## Chapter 11

Finishing touches (1)

The settlement was meticulously scoured, and every useful piece of property was collected and cataloged in a central location.

Naturally, the heavy lifting was carried out by my followers—whose ranks had now swelled to nearly two hundred—while I simply issued commands from the sidelines.

[Hmm. I anticipated a grander haul considering this was a stronghold for the Dark Wizards. Even so, this is a respectable bounty.]

Once the personal effects and valuables were secured, we ransacked the residence of the village elder. There, we uncovered what appeared to be the operational treasury, packed with various denominations of coinage and precious metals.

[I am not entirely well-versed in the conversion rates of this local currency, but historically, a hoard of gold coins signifies a fortune.]

‘Let’s see… is this actual gold?’ I mused skeptically, having never handled pure gold bars in my previous existence.

Using the tip of my nail, I dug a small furrow into the surface of the glittering bricks, confirming their authenticity.

A wave of satisfaction washed over me as I moved on to inspect the remaining spoils.

I gave instructions to outfit my skeletal legions with the weapons and protective gear stripped from the fallen cultists.

However, it was the mystical apparatuses left behind by the dark wizards that truly captured my attention.

The collection was vast, ranging from enchanted staves and ceremonial vestments to minor magical trinkets designed to ease daily existence.

I selected a finely stitched vestment and slipped it on. It possessed defensive properties and the ability to stabilize body temperature, though the latter feature was entirely wasted on my current physiology.

‘I can’t exactly wander the world looking like a bare skeleton,’ I rationalized.

Yet, the moment I caught sight of my reflection, I ripped it right back off. It looked completely ridiculous on me.

To fix this, I first layered on some basic linen garments, threw a rigid piece of boiled leather armor across my shoulders, and then draped the enchanted vestment over the top.

[Yes, this is far more formidable than before,] I thought, quite pleased with my revised wardrobe.

Scanning the rest of the pile, I single out the most visually striking implement of power and beckoned Malcolm over to execute a forced relocation of assets.

[Give that to me and take this one instead. It seems your current weapon is superior to mine,] I commanded, swapping our mystical tools.

Clutching the new rod—which featured an ornate skull crowned with glowing gems—I struck the butt against the earth. Eerie dark blazes surged outward, swallowing my equipped and treasure-laden minions into the shadow realm one after the other.

Finally, I cast a parting glance across the settlement.

When I first arrived, the place had been teeming with life. Now, it was an empty husk, completely devoid of any living presence.

Ambling through the quiet dirt paths, I took in the finality of the scene.

I strolled past the water vessel and the stack of firewood outside the elder’s home where I had rested, eventually coming upon the communal hall where the captive dead had once been penned up.

*Fwoosh—*

Everywhere I stepped, dark blazes erupted in my wake, reducing the structures to ash.

When I reached the village square, my feet ground to a halt.

This was the clearing where the broken remnants of my undead forces were piled alongside the corpses of the town’s original inhabitants.

The vast majority of the lesser animated corpses had been completely obliterated during the skirmish.

While a few possessed enough structural integrity to be reanimated once more, I chose to let them rest here in the town center.

My eyes locked onto the lone surviving animated corpse—the young man who had stood by my side to bring down Jeraf in the thick of battle.

Even with half his face ruined from the conflict, I knew him instantly.

We shared a silent, fleeting look. I offered a solemn nod, then turned my back. Instantly, the dark blazes swept over the clearing.

He had fought bitterly to shield those he cherished, and having finally exacted his vengeance, he could now cross over to meet his kin in the world beyond.

*Fwoosh—*

The entirety of the settlement was transformed into a raging inferno.

Turning away from the consuming fire, I made my way toward the dense treeline to the east.

—

Deep within the heartland of the continent in the foreign realm of Outerica, a young maiden knelt before a towering divine icon inside the inner sanctum of the Roselia Cathedral.

Her eyelids were lowered, her fingers tightly interlaced in deep devotion.

A gentle, ethereal radiance began to shimmer around her silver tresses.

As the divine glow faded, the maiden opened her eyes, stood gracefully from the stone floor, offered a profound bow to the icon, and quietly exited the sacred chamber.

A line of white-robed clergymen waiting in the corridor bowed their heads in reverence as she walked past.

“Your Eminence.”

“Bishop Martin, please summon the council immediately.”

The maiden, Liesta, the revered holy maiden of the Divine Order, stared toward the western horizon with unyielding focus.

“What… what is the nature of the emergency?” Martin inquired nervously.

“The heavens have revealed that the long-dead Immortal King is rising once more in the western territories.”

“The… the Immortal King? I understand completely. I shall convene the high council without delay,” Martin replied, his face turning pale as he offered a hasty bow and hurried down the hall.

The mere mention of the Immortal King, a tyrant who had brought the entire land to its knees centuries ago, was enough to strike absolute terror into the hearts of men.

‘I will perish before I allow history to repeat itself!’ Liesta thought, her hands bunching into tight fists, her expression hardening with resolve.

Hans had operated under the assumption that masking his corrupted mana would shield him from discovery, but Liesta’s visionary blessings far exceeded anything he could comprehend.

Thus, one of the most formidable organizations on the entire continent had locked onto Hans’s trail and begun their hunt.

—

“Man… I am craving a hot bowl of rice soup after that workout.”

Heinz, wiping away sweat as he finished his daily exercise routine, walked directly toward a familiar local diner down the street.

He didn’t even need to look at the board to decide.

“Give me one order of the bean sprout soup, one of the blood sausage soup, and one beef head soup, please. I’d also like to take an order of the spicy beef stew and the ox bone broth to go. Oh, and toss in a jumbo plate of sweet and sour pork while you’re at it.”

I could literally eat whatever I wanted now.

Thanks to my rapidly expanding metabolism, exploring different culinary combinations had become a genuine hobby.

Ordinarily, I would have kept my spending in check, but my mood was soaring today, so I went all out with the ordering.

‘By the way… what is the market value of gold trading at these days?’

The financial sectors had been incredibly volatile lately, and word on the street was that precious metals had spiked significantly.

I happily scarfed down the soup Heinz had ordered while scrolling through commodity charts on my smartphone.

After doing some quick mental math, a pleasant warmth filled my chest.

‘Wow, this diner really knows how to make a broth.’

Even though Hans was currently hacking his way through a distant eastern woodland and couldn’t immediately deliver the physical wealth to Earth, those gold bars were effectively mine already.

With a fortune waiting for me, I felt like I could forgive any minor annoyance life threw my way.

I honestly felt like I could handle a team of toxic players throwing a match without losing my cool.

“What on earth is that idiot doing in the bottom lane?! Rotate already!”

Okay… maybe that was an exaggeration. Some things are unforgivable.

I paired the takeout pork with the remaining broth and, to help settle my stomach and clear my thoughts, initiated “Mind Hub” to find my center.

A profound tranquility enveloped my consciousness.

‘Perhaps this could serve as a solid foundation for psychological conditioning?’

I pondered this while stacking the empty takeout containers, my thoughts drifting back to Hans’s progress.

Ever since his evolution into a Demi-Lich, he naturally radiated a passive aura of absolute dread.

At the moment, because his corrupted mana was actively suppressed, the passive radius was heavily restricted, meaning he only caused panic when things got up close and personal. Still, it proved more than effective, as the local predatory monsters kept their distance.

The occasional skirmishes with wandering beasts provided a nice break from the monotony of traveling.

‘If I keep harvesting these creatures, I can build a massive vanguard of monster thralls.’

A full week had rolled by since Hans abandoned the ruined settlement.

Just as I was beginning to doubt whether a civilized settlement actually existed past the treeline, I remembered that I hadn’t trusted a single word out of Malcolm’s mouth anyway.

‘Still, I eradicated a pretty vile nest of cultists, so my spiritual alignment score should have skyrocketed.’

That cabal had been operating from the shadows with a terrifying level of logistical planning.

With high hopes of a massive payday, I pulled up the interface for the Karma Shop.

[Karma Shop]

[Evolve Unique Attribute (600,000)]

[Enhance Physical/Mental Stats – Click to Expand]

[Current Available Karma – 792,208]

I figured there would be a decent bump, but the final tally was staggering.

‘I could swear I was barely sitting over 400,000 when I last looked… Were those cultists worth that much, or did I trigger some hidden objective?’

I racked my brain for a second but couldn’t find an alternative explanation.

‘Well, they were total monsters, so it makes sense. Time to upgrade my unique attribute.’

Outside of plucking the Immortal King’s core and purging the dark wizards, I hadn’t exactly done any charity work.

[Your cognitive capacity has broken through the upper limit. You have unlocked the passive trait: ‘Enlightenment Index’.]

The moment the upgrade finalized, a brief, sharp throb echoed through my skull, followed by a notification confirming the acquisition of a new passive.

It was a defensive trait designed to anchor my consciousness against external emotional manipulation and outright psychological warfare.

‘I already utilize ‘Mind Herb’ for my primary consciousness, but this trait is exclusive to the proxy body. It would be far more efficient if I could channel a defensive trait back to my actual physical self.’

Right on cue, I remembered that my secondary proxy slot was fully primed and ready for deployment.

‘Since Hans’s skeletal form makes it impossible for him to mingle with regular society, I’ll deploy Heinz into civilization and use him as my primary agent for public matters.’

Just then, Hans picked up signs of artificial trails cutting through the undergrowth ahead.

—

Hans was currently mounted atop a massive, reanimated Shavel Tiger composed entirely of bleached bone, tearing through the overgrown woodland tracks.

While battling my way through a forest teeming with hostile predators alongside Malcolm and my skeletal retinue, I had taken to reanimating the strongest monsters that ambushed us, transforming them into loyal mounts.

‘Traveling on horseback is infinitely faster, not to mention it looks incredibly cool!’

A skeletal sorcerer commanding a cavalry of monstrous undead—this was peak fantasy gaming!

I figured it would be an excellent strategy to mass-harvest the local fauna and assemble a terrifying regiment of skeletal riders.

Unfortunately, the setup came with a major drawback…

‘This is incredibly painful! Sitting on this thing is pure torture!’

At the end of the day, these mounts were nothing but bare structural frameworks.

Every single stride sent a violent, jarring shockwave straight up my spine.

Without a leather saddle to cushion the impact, it was enough to make my vision blur.

‘My skeletal feet are locked securely inside its ribcage so there’s no risk of flying off, but… this is a major design flaw. Maybe I should look into fabricating a specialized species specifically engineered for transport?’

While I was lost in these mechanical considerations, the dense canopy began to open up, and the ancient trees receded to reveal the boundary of the woods.

[…Right there.]

Malcolm, commanding a reanimated skeletal wolf, trotted up to my side and extended a bony digit toward the horizon.

Following his line of sight, I caught the distinct outline of a massive stone barricade in the far distance.

[Well, look at that… A real human settlement. I guess the old bastard wasn’t spinning tales after all.]

Muttering under my breath, I shifted my hollow gaze toward Malcolm. The skeletal knight flinched visibly under my stare and nudged his mount a few paces away.

Because we had seen nothing but endless trees for days, I had taken to testing Malcolm’s patience every single chance I got.

He didn’t possess a single shred of autobiography from his past life, but that didn’t mean his past transgressions were erased from my ledger.

I constantly invented minor infractions just to give him a hard time.

‘Then again, these thralls don’t possess pain receptors or emotional processing, so it’s mostly just entertainment for me.’

Averting my eyes from the knight, I refocused on the distant fortifications.

[Very well. We halt here. The rest of you will hold this position.]

There was absolutely no reason to go bursting out of the treeline with a small army, so I would proceed solo from this point forward.

If a wandering scout spotted a giant skeleton roaming the plains, it would spark an immediate military mobilization.

To prevent this, I skirted along the absolute edge of the forest canopy, drawing as close to the stone walls as the foliage allowed.

Hans had no way of passing through the front gates, but my plan was to position him nearby and then swap my consciousness into Heinz.

There was still a full twenty-four-hour cooldown before the dimensional gateway could be activated again.

—

-Designation: Heinz

-Universal Traits: “Mind Herb,” “Rapid Recovery,” “Enlightenment Index”

-Personal Attribute: “Robustness”

-System Notes: The secondary operational proxy of Hansung-hyun.

The activation of “Robustness” has permanently heightened both his structural durability and cognitive fortitude.

Heinz blinked his eyes open as the dimensional synchronization concluded.

The massive stone fortification that Hans had scouted loomed directly ahead of him.

It was still a considerable distance out, but it looked to be roughly a one-hour trek on foot.

Turning around to look back at Hans’s position, I instinctively took a step back.

‘Good grief, that is a walking nightmare…’

This marked the very first time I had looked at Hans through the eyes of another proxy since his transformation into the undead, and the sheer presence he commanded was overwhelming.

He radiated the baseline dread factor inherent to an apex Demi-Lich, casting a suffocating, corrupted pressure into the surrounding air.

Perched high on the skeletal Shavel Tiger, gripping a gem-encrusted skull rod, his eye sockets glowing with an icy blue fire, the skeletal sorcerer looked like a final boss straight out of a dark fantasy epic.

The visual combination was flawless.

‘If a normal person crossed paths with him down a dark alley, their heart would probably stop on the spot.’

To be completely fair, if I didn’t possess the stabilizing effects of “Mind Herb” and “Enlightenment Index” running in the background, my own knees would be knocking together.

If an advanced proxy like myself felt this level of instinctual panic, I could only imagine how a regular citizen would react.

Just looking in his general direction could cause permanent psychological damage.

‘Thank goodness Hans is completely hidden from public view.’

Shaking off the residual chill, we quickly divided up our gear before parting ways.

Heinz stripped down and changed into the native garments and leather protective gear Hans had acquired, making sure to secure a reliable sidearm and a hefty purse of local currency for travel expenses.

Hans took custody of the various enchanted devices, along with the heavy gold bars and raw gems, seeing as we still hadn’t confirmed whether physical items could be pulled back across the void to Earth.

A moment later, Heinz turned his back on the forest and walked toward the city gates alone.