53 Chapter 52 (1/2)

What was the meaning of this sudden slap to the back of his head?

Everything was going well, so why did 'Necromancer' pop out instead of the expected 'Assassin'??

Jin-Woo dazedly stared at the message. He even rubbed his eyes several times, but nothing changed.

[Your Class has been set as 'Necromancer'.]

The message still floated up there, unchanging.

He couldn't believe it at first, then he became really angry next.

'I've never even touched the Intelligence Stat, so what the hell?!'

Just how did he end up with a rare class not even found among countless Mage-type Hunters in the world??

From the moment Jin-Woo awoke as a rank E Hunter, he was always a close-quarters fighter. With the exception of the steel longsword, he always used daggers, and the skills he got until now were perfectly suited for the role of an assassin.

That was why he hadn't even thought of the possibility that his class would end up belonging to a different type altogether.

It was a magic-type, no less… No, more than that, a Necromancer!!

His knowledge of different classes came from video games, but even then, he knew enough about what being a Necromancer entailed.

A gloomy-looking mage, and an army of undead following that dude.

No matter how much he thought about it, that image just didn't correlate to him whatsoever.

Jin-Woo frowned deeply and shook his head.

'….Let's calm down, first.'

Even if his thoughts were complicated, his responses should be calm.

Being calm and cool-headed were Jin-Woo's ultimate weapons. He controlled his rage and regained his cool head soon afterwards.

'Hang on, isn't this….'

Denial, then rage.

He suddenly felt like he was acting like a patient who just heard the diagnosis of terminal illness, and was going through the so-called five stages of grief.

'Rage… then, it's supposed to be negotiation, is it? Or was it compromise?'

Of course, there was no way he'd be allowed to negotiate or come to a compromise with the System.

If he were to think about the advantages of being a Necromancer, then…. just as the System alluded to, he could create his own army? About that much?

'Well, the problem here is that army will consist of skeletons and rotting corpses.'

If he walked around with such an army, the whole world would be up in arms in no time.

Hunters were already the objects of aspiration and fear, yet he was being asked to become a Hunter who could lead around an army of the departed….

Never mind the question of this class being suitable to him or not, he wasn't even confident of handling the fallout from that.

Tti-ring.

[Will you accept this Class?]

The System demanded his answer.

What a relief that was.

'I can still say yes or no…..'

Jin-Woo spat out a sigh.

If the Class wasn't forced down his throat, then that meant there was another opportunity for him. If he still had another shot, then there was no reason to sweat so much right now.

Jin-Woo gladly (?) refused the suggestion.

”No way.”

When he did that, the message asked him again.

[The 'Necromancer' is a hidden class. Will you still refuse?]

Although it was asking the same thing for the second time, he found himself unable to quickly answer back.

He was now hesitating.

'A hidden class… is it?'

That term might sound like something straight out of a video game, but still, there were Hunters with rare and strange abilities even in reality.

Such as, Hunters who could create 'Shields', or buff others. Or, even…

'….The Master of White Tiger Guild can apparently transform into a monster, too, according to the rumours.'

All those Hunters with rare and strange abilities were now enjoying a great deal of special treatment after being scouted by the biggest Guilds out there.

'Could this hidden class thing be the same thing as the special abilities those Hunters possess?'

If that were the case….

'This could be an opportunity, instead.'

Suddenly, such a thought popped into his head. The System did say something about this just now.

'I thirst for power, and that's why it's recommending the Class of Necromancer to me.'

In other words, the Class of Necromancer had the potential to be truly powerful.

When considering the fact that most of the Hunters with rare skills happen to belong to 'support type', this could be seen as quite an encouraging thing for him, indeed.

A Hunter with a rare skill that could directly enter any battle.

His heart began beating just a little bit faster just from thinking about that.

'If I could only get to experience the Class of Necromancer just for a bit, I wouldn't even need to weigh my options this much.'

However, would anything in this world be that easy?

There was no way the matters of this world would revolve according to his wishes, and worse still, he had never heard of anyone possessing an ability similar to that of a necromancer.

The thing was, one wouldn't be able to find a mage who commanded its own army, to begin with.

Just as his thoughts ended there…

'…..Oh.'

Jin-Woo took a sweeping look at all the broken remnants of the knights strewn about this place.

'Those mages!'

One could say that those mages in the Class Change Quest were using roughly the same ability as a Necromancer.

These knights were their army, in other words.

'For sure….'

It was certainly very difficult to fight all those knights who attacked him with complete disregard for their own lives.

If he failed to figure out how to fight them until the end, or if the mages possessed very high close-quarters combat abilities, then….

'The one lying on the floor right now would be me instead of these scrap metal bits.'

Jin-Woo stopped looking at the knights and raised his head.

A certain look of determination flashed by in his eyes.

'I already possess the close-quarters combat ability.'

Meaning, he was different from those mages.

What if there was a mage possessing excellent hand-to-hand combat skills who also happened to command an army? Wouldn't that be the worst of all worst possible nightmares for his enemies?

'What if….'

Something he could only think about but couldn't do – wouldn't it be possible for him to enter a dungeon rated B or higher alone and clear it now?

Jin-Woo silently swallowed his saliva.

If he were allowed to continue raising his Stat values after becoming a Necromancer, then obviously, the army under his command would also grow even more powerful than before.

He couldn't even begin to imagine the effect of that.

'It'll no longer be only me levelling up.'

His own army would be levelling up, too.

'Wait. Could this be….?'

Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine. Jin-Woo raised his head and looked at the floating message. It was still patiently waiting for his decision.

[The 'Necromancer' is a hidden class. Will you still refuse?]

Unlike how it was usually, the System wasn't urging him on. Jin-Woo couldn't help question its motives in his mind.

'Is this what you wanted from me?'

Of course, no replies came to him.

After a lengthy deliberation, Jin-Woo made up his mind.

If it was giving him power, then he'd accept it with open arms.

He no longer hesitated.

[Will you accept this Class?]

”I will.”

As if it was waiting, the System immediately displayed the following messages.

Tti-ring.

[Your Class has been set.]

[You will now be given the opportunity to change to a higher ranked version of this Class through the amount of advancement points accumulated.]

[Calculations have begun.]

[Tallying up your advancement points….]

While that was going on, Jin-Woo unwrapped the bandages from his right hand.

He'd been holding the dagger so tightly that his palm had swollen up rather painfully.

”Well, I'm gonna get blisters now.”

He lightly clicked his tongue.

Such a wound would've been taken care of with a drop from the healing potion, but not being able to use one was proving to be rather inconvenient in various ways.

He finished unwrapping the bandages and was about to store the Knight Killer back in his Inventory, when he heard yet another mechanical beep.

Tti-ring.

Jin-Woo reflexively raised his head.

[You've exceeded the expected time limit!]

[Bonus points will be granted.]

Bonus points, it said. But, that was rather obvious, wasn't it?

'Not sure how long was the expected time, but well, I did endure for quite a long time, didn't I?'

He began smirking in satisfaction, then all of a sudden, several messages inundated his vision.

[You did not use Immediate Return Stone!]

[Bonus points will be granted.]

[Your remaining HP is over 50%!]