111. An Impious Attempt (1)

Crafting a Priest’s corpse into undead was something he’d attempted in his past life, too.

And failed spectacularly.

A Priest’s power draws its origin from the Constellation they worship, or from the star-cluster called a stellar field. But here’s the thing: every last one of those beings called Constellations loathes the undead beyond all measure.

Even when I completed my 9th Stellar Rank, they turned their faces away.

And this one? Defiling, through necromancy, the flesh of a mortal who’d served them in life? Oh, those petty-minded gentry would just love that.

The moment you try to revive a corpse, the holy power rebels against you.

Spirit-power could crush that rebellion down. The trouble was that the Priest’s body, shocked in the process, then collapsed.

He’d also tried waiting for the power the Constellations had granted to fade away first, and only then raising the corpse as one of the dead.

Make it that way and it’s no better than a Zombie A.

A Priest’s physical capabilities fell short of even a magic-line Hunter’s; that special power was their whole worth. So a corpse stripped of holy power was in a sorrier state than an Orc.

In his past life, Yujin had tried every avenue to create an undead that kept a Priest’s abilities, and produced no results at all.

I decided it couldn’t be done. So I gave up on the idea entirely.

And yet. Against all expectation, Kronos’s advice had handed him a new possibility. The man himself had tossed the words out without a thought, but in Yujin’s mind they’d set off a reverberation as vast as a thunderclap.

All I’ve found is a possibility. Won’t know until I try it myself.

Where does this gent keep picking up modern turns of phrase?

In your era, Constellation, there wasn’t even such a thing as the concept of zero.

What a needlessly progressive, open-minded old gent.

Yujin picked up his cell phone.

— Brrr. Brrr.

“Congratulations, Representative Cheon of the Black Company. These days the talk of the town is all about you.”
“Mister Black. You’ve grown quite the sense of humor while I wasn’t watching.”
“Aren’t we business partners? It just gladdens me to see one of the Three Powers of Ground Zero settling into his seat.”

A jab. Wasn’t it a bit much to be making such a public splash while keeping one foot in the shadows?

— Pfft.

Yujin let out a wry chuckle.

“Didn’t think you’d be this delighted. Look into a little something for me, to mark the occasion.”
“…An item, you mean?”
“The corpse of a Priest-line Hunter, or a monster.”
“Is this — an extension of that commission you mentioned before?”

Yujin had once put in a commission with Mister Black to procure the corpse of any powerful being, monster or human, no matter the kind.

Come to think of it, I never did hear how that commission was coming along.

“No. Separate matter. As long as it’s a Priest, that’s all that counts.”
“If even a 1st-Rank will do, I can have one for you right away.”
“Sounds like you’d cheerfully kill a man to bring me one?”
“I’m a merchant. I don’t care to get blood on my hands unless it’s necessary.”

Which was another way of saying that if it were ‘necessary,’ he’d happily get all the blood on his hands the job required.

A truly interesting gent.

“How many can you get?”
“Hmm. Twenty-one, twenty-three… no. Twenty-seven would be doable.”
“Then get them right away. I’ll settle the payment as soon as I arrive tomorrow.”
“Understood.”
“And shroud the corpses so they don’t rot. Prepare a boat as well.”
“Your demands keep growing by the minute.”
“Now, now, bill me a reasonable amount. Quit laying bait to see how much you can squeeze out of me.”

It’s not like this is the first or second time I’ve seen your tricks.

In his past life, this was a fellow who’d milked him for a fortune, going on and on about how hard it was to get goods supplied into Kaesong.

How is it that not one thing about your way of talking has changed.

“Ahem. Understood.”

Try that again next time.

And you won’t get so much as a drop of broth out of me.

After hanging up, he moved to the Yongsan Hunter Market.

I’ve got catalysts to buy too.

The research into raising a Priest’s corpse as undead would ideally lean on nothing but the power Kronos had granted, though the odds of that weren’t high. He was creating a new kind of undead, one not recorded even in the Library of Knowledge. He carried all his pre-regression research in his head, of course, but there was no telling what variables the work might throw up.

The number of possibilities is large. So I buy materials that can answer to each of them.

It’s something I’ve never done either. No — to be exact, I failed at it.

Your praise has been excessive lately. Is there something you’re after?

Letting Kronos’s grumbling thought-projection go in one ear and out the other, he made his rounds of the Hunter Market.

“You don’t have any white feldspar?”
“Aigoo. The customer doesn’t know his stuff. White feldspar costs whatever the seller cares to name.”

White feldspar amplified light-attribute mana, or holy power. By pre-regression standards there’d been a stable supplier, so with money enough any amount could be had.

The quality’s dropped a great deal.

Yujin furrowed his brow. It wasn’t only the white feldspar. Compared with his old memories, the quality of the catalysts, reagents, and magical items on the market had all fallen far below par.

It would have been nice to put Shin Junseok to work, but with the Black Company only just launched, the alchemy sla… no, his business-partner gent was a busy man too.

If they fall short, I’ll just have to make do with them as they are.

When had he ever waited for the moment everything was 100% ready? Had he done so, he’d never have completed his 9th Stellar Rank in his past life, nor set off the Pocket Watch of Kronos. Improvising on the fly was what mattered, in everything. Combine the vast trove the Ring of Black Darkness’s former owners had piled up with his own experience, and he could cope one way or another.

“Then do you have red darkstone?”
“Hmmm. That runs about a million won per kilogram.”
“Give me a hundred kilos, then.”
“I’ll knock off five and make it ninety-five hundred for you.”
“Nobody but a dark mage even uses the stuff. Take off fifteen hundred.”
“There’s nothing a young gent like you won’t say!”
“Suit yourself, then.”

…

The final haggled price came to a discount of ten million won. The merchant handed over the red darkstone with a look of inexplicable resentment.

It amplifies negative-dimension mana.

That’s right.

Your power, Constellation. Its wavelength is close to that of spirit-power.

A similar wavelength didn’t make it the same power; no, it certainly didn’t. If the two were identical, there’d be no need for the White Night trait to swap holy power and spirit-power. An ordinary Priest-line Hunter would never have bought red darkstone to amplify their holy power.

I need an irregular method of application.

Naturally. The realm of transcendence wasn’t something I won at poker.

He had many items still to buy. The variety and quantity weren’t as abundant as in his past life, so he’d have to make his rounds diligently.

Yujin’s stride quickened.

Yujin rummaged through every corner of the Hunter Market.

“The storage condition’s poor too. Knock off five million won.”
“Ah. Look at the dust here. Nobody but me’s going to buy it anyway. Don’t buy it if you don’t want to.”
“How much did you say you’d knock off?”

Haggling over item prices was a given. With a hawk’s eye he hunted out flaws in the catalysts and items he meant to buy, beating the prices down relentlessly.

No. Money I’ve got coming out of my ears.

The money he’d made from the spider hunt alone ran to billions. And if he liquidated the items he’d taken wiping out the Rakshasa Guild’s battle force recently? His usable budget would clear ten billion won.

I spent a touch under three billion this time around, so my assets have plenty to spare.

In our country we have a saying. Mighty mountains are made of grains of dust.

It wasn’t as if he were inventing flaws where none existed. Even when he meant to just buy in peace, what was he to do when the shortcomings of an item, catalyst, or material kept catching his eye? He was no Shin Junseok, but before the regression this body had earned skill enough to be called a ‘master’ alchemist. So he pointed out the flaws he saw. Where was the harm in knocking the price down for them?

Ah. If they want a fair price, then they should store and circulate the goods properly!

Pretending not to hear Kronos’s scolding, he checked over the items he’d bought.

He put all the purchased items into his subspace pouch.

There’s one task I need my business-partner gent for.

Heading to the Paju workshop, Yujin promptly dumped a thousand E-grade mana stones out onto the open ground.

“What’s all this?”
“Smelt the whole lot into mana-stone fluid for me. Concentration at 35 percent.”
“For someone who’s barged in out of nowhere, that’s a pretty… well, that’s quite the request.”
“It’s needed for new research. There’s no alchemist I know who’s better than my business partner, which is why I’ve come.”
“Is that really so?”

The alchemist’s cheek kept twitching, on and on. Honestly, the man’s emotions were awfully easy to read.

“Busy these days, aren’t you? You don’t have to do it. I’ll just find someone else.”
“It wouldn’t do for problems to crop up in your research, business partner. I’ll lend a hand this once, as a special exception.”

In an instant, Shin Junseok smelted the E-grade mana stones and matched the ratio to what Yujin had specified.

“From here on, it’ll have to be some manual labor.”

He poured the mana-stone fluid into three hundred empty potion bottles at the same ratio, then pressed each stopper firmly shut. Leave the lids open and the mana steeped into the fluid would gradually disperse; that was why he’d prepared sealed containers.

“I’ll be out of contact for a few days, so if anything comes up, talk to the Madam.”
“Where are you off to?”
“Yeonpyeong Island.”

After telling Shin Junseok where he was headed, he set off for Ground Zero.

A small vessel was moored along the shore: the speedboat that had handled transport during the search and capture of Yeonpyeong Island, now sitting and waiting for Yujin.

“Everything you asked for is loaded onto the boat.”
“Good.”
“The corpses of the powerful monsters should be arriving at Ground Zero before long, too.”
“They won’t rot or anything on the way, will they?”
“I had them all shrouded before loading.”

Welcome news, that.

To go head-to-head with the man-hunters, he’d need far more powerful undead.

“Contact me when the corpses come in.”
“Representative Cheon. Haven’t you forgotten something?”
“I know. I’ll wire it right away.”

A few taps on his cell phone, and a single streak of a smile flitted across Mister Black’s cheek.

— Whooooosh!

The speedboat cut forward, slicing through the fierce waves. After managing, with no small difficulty, to moor along a shore razed to scorched earth by one battle after another, he unloaded all the corpses.

“Representative Cheon. When should I come back?”
“One week. Bring supplies too, just in case.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”

The speedboat’s captain turned the prow about without a word of complaint. He’d told the man to bring supplies, but ideally he’d rather not linger any longer and get the research finished quickly.

Too much optimism isn’t a good thing either.

He gave instructions to the Returners standing by on the shore. Having them carry the corpses of the Priest-line Hunters and monsters, he moved to the island’s center, to a building that had served as a chapel before the Great Cataclysm. There he set the corpses down before the temple that now enshrined the newly risen Constellation, the Giant of Defiance.

It’s the temple that enshrines you. No wonder.

Hold on. I told you I’d expand it later.

This he meant in all sincerity. The higher the temple’s completeness, the stronger the Constellation’s force of existence and spirituality grew.

I’ll make use of everything I possibly can.

If it doesn’t sit right with you, go find yourself a devout worshipper.

This from someone with too feeble a presence to win a single follower even if I did proselytize.

Quite the silver tongue, in any case.

From here on I need to concentrate, so don’t talk to me.

Yujin reached into the Bag of Infinity and drew out a bottle that held a blue glow, the vessel containing the mana-stone fluid.

— Tk. Tk.

After laying the three hundred bottles out across the temple floor, he drew a long, deep breath.

Let’s give it a go.

Holy power welled up, filling him to the brim. Yujin pressed his hand to the floor and synchronized the temple’s energy with his own holy power.

It’s fine.

I’ve got the function I need right now.

I’ll expand it as much as you want later, so wait just a little.

Create holy water.

— Fwoooosh!

The energy steeped in the hallowed ground surged up and began to wreathe the temple.