Once he was satisfied that there weren’t any more enemies left, Lee Shin-Woo lowered the Bifurcated Snake Spine and a message popped up to announce the end of the battle.

[You have defeated a corps under the direct command of the twelve generals! You have acquired 3 permits to Goddess’s Secret Shop. All stats have increased by 10. Proficiency in all combat related skills has increased. Intermediate Combat Sense is now Lv5, and Agility has increased by 10.]

[You single-handedly manipulated the corps and ultimately destroyed it. Your achievement is unbelievable. You have acquired the title, 'Corps Destroyer'. All stats have increased by 20. Whenever you fight against a force of at least 1,000, the effectiveness of all skills increases by 30%.]

Lee Shin-Woo couldn’t help but laugh when he saw that his achievement had increased his stats by a total of 80. Combined with the reward from the goddess, his total stats had increased by 120![1]

If he told his seniors about this... No, even if he were to tell Kratia, who was up on the city wall, she wouldn't believe him.

Lee Shin-Woo clicked his tongue. "Corps Destroyer. That's my kind of title."

"You weren't really the one doing the destroying, though..." Jin said incredulously, shaking his head as he thought about the chaos and destruction Lee Shin-Woo had caused.

"Well, what matters is that we cleaned everything up nicely."

"That kind of result-oriented thinking is what makes many kids with dreams feel dejected… Hm, what a clean victory."

Because Lee Shin-Woo had split the undead force into two and made them fight against each other, all of them ended up dead.

Well, that wasn't completely accurate. Lee Shin-Woo had either taken care of the surviving undead himself during the chaos, or ordered the Golems to do it; ultimately, he managed to ensure the satisfying mutual destruction of both sides!

[Mission complete. Standing by.]

[Absorbing mana to restore damaged parts.]

The level 4 Bronze Golems had been completely destroyed with their cores detonated, while the level 5 Iron Golems remained; they had been ordered to kill the level 5 undead or go after the corps once half of the undead had been afflicted with negative status, so they were able to survive.

Although their armaments were heavily damaged, those would be restored automatically once the Golems replenished their mana. Of course, it would probably take quite a bit of time, but it was much better than them being completely destroyed.

"Good work. Rest and replenish your mana."

[It's an honor.]

[Captain!]

Lee Shin-Woo knocked on the Iron Golems and complimented them. At that moment, the final participants of the battle approached—the Pauls.

[Captain, are you alright!?]

[Paul Zero!]

"Ah, here you are."

The Pauls were the only factor that Lee Shin-Woo hadn't taken into account. How would he have known that they'd come back at such a perfect time!?

Because they had intervened after chaos had reigned over the battlefield for a while, they were able to participate without suffering any casualties, which was miraculous to say the least.

"Good work, all of you! I see new faces joining us."

Lee Shin-Woo smiled broadly at the Pauls. He'd been thinking about how he should dispose of the relatively useless level 3 bones strewn across the battlefield.

[It's been a long time, Paul Zero. I'm surprised you’ve taken these guys in as your subordinates, but seeing you do all this, it makes sense somewhat.]

[Captain, you're really amazing!]

"Enough with the flattery. Scatter and collect the loot and bones, you all. There’s something I can do for you as well."

[Perhaps...? It's an honor, Captain!]

[We’ve gathered bones while hunting undead as well. We’ll be in your care!]

"Alright. I'll let you inherit the wills within those bones. Now get a move on."

Jin's goblin fire swayed as he watched Lee Shin-Woo order the Pauls around whenever he wished, but Lee Shin-Woo ignored him. The Pauls moved enthusiastically, and it wasn't long before they cleaned up the battlefield of all the loot.

[Captain, we're back!]

[Here's the Perium. This is all your karma, so please don't hesitate and take it!]

"Alright. I'll take it. Good work, all of you..."

[You have acquired 17,291,080 Perium.]

"..."

Lee Shin-Woo accepted the Perium the Pauls had brought him at once and couldn't believe his eyes. The message didn’t say 170,000 or 1.7 million, but 17 million? He'd only received 2 million Perium from purifying the entire city!

Moreover, Lee Shin-Woo had put aside the loot dropped by the level 5 Elder Knights Kratia had killed with Arcane Ice Spear, yet he was still left with an absurd amount of Perium!

"It’s not a miscalculation, is it...?"

"It doesn't seem like it?"

When Lee Shin-Woo thought about it calmly, though, the amount of reward he got made sense. The undead in the city had mostly been level 2 monsters, while the undead in the corps were level 3 or higher.

Level 3 undead would drop at least 1,000 Perium; that would be 10 million for 10,000 of them. Added into the mix the level 4 and level 5 undead, it seemed only natural that he'd accumulate this Perium.

"Ha, haha... I think I could buy a level 7 elite bone with this much money..."

Jin snorted. "I knew you'd say something like that."

Lee Shin-Woo suddenly realized how impressive it was that he'd crushed the undead corps. However, the truly impressive part was only starting.

[Captain, we'll leave the weapons over here!]

[We'll divide the bones based on their level and place them over here, Captain!]

Most of the undead corps carried weapons. There were several exceptional ones that were at least level 2. There were also a few level 3 weapons that were good enough that Lee Shin-Woo wanted them.

Nevertheless, the bones were even more exceptional than the weapons! There were too many level 3 bones for him to count, while there were around 400 level 4 bones, and 78 level 5 bones.

Was there only one level 6 bone, the one from the Corps Commander that I've already absorbed...? I thought there would be dozens of level 6 Corps Commanders and even some level 7 undead since the corps was under the direct command of the twelve generals.

Lee Shin-Woo looked upon the divided heaps of bones and suddenly felt some doubt.

Arema Steelworker, who was one of the twelve generals, was level 8, and his subordinate, Guillotine, was level 7. How could Metafel’s Corps Commander be only level 6 when Metafel himself was one of the twelve generals? Could the forces commanded by the generals differ so much in strength?

"Was it because they were mercenaries? Or did this corps only consist of the leftover troops... Or maybe the Golems are the exceptions in terms of power."

Jin grumbled, "You're saying something completely different from what you were talking about a second ago."

"If not, the Corps Commander might've been powerful for a level 6..."

That was probably it. Lee Shin-Woo had reinforced the Drake Horn Lance significantly through Rule of Bone, assimilated with Jin, and used Shadow Sprint at the same time; with all the power he could muster, he had charged at the Ghoul Wizard and attacked. Although his ambush had been perfect in most aspects, the Ghoul Wizard ended up successful in offsetting his attack.

That was proof of the considerable stats difference between them. If Lee Shin-Woo hadn't launched the Drake Horn Lance immediately with Rule of Bone, he probably would've died then and there. It was dizzying to think back to that moment.

"The fight would've been a lot easier if I could use Avenger."

"But we got him, didn't we?"

"It wasn't perfect, though. The difference between our stats was too severe."

Lee Shin-Woo had accumulated close to 2,000 stat points in total due to the progress he had made, but that was still very low for a level 5. Increasing his stats by 10 felt like a significant growth for him, but if he were up against an opponent with stats higher than his by 2,000 or 3,000 points, or even more...

When he thought about the fact that he needed at least another 3,200 stat points to reach level 6, he realized it wouldn't be surprising for his enemy to possess stats doubling or even tripling his own. Moreover, there was a disparity between the effectiveness of their stats as well!

"We even ambushed the mage, who was supposed to have a frail body, without giving it the opportunity to cast any magic, yet it wasn't a perfect victory. I had too much faith in Rule of Bone and Bursting Thunder. I should try harder from now on..."

"Yeah, let's play it safe starting today. Please."

"But all we need to do is not fight them face-to-face, so don't worry so much."

"That just makes me worry more."

Lee Shin-Woo grinned at Jin and looked up, meeting the Pauls’ bright eyes. They had gotten into a line before him. Lee Shin-Woo was well aware of what they wanted.

"Shall we begin? Those who wish to inherit the wills of the Empire's soldiers and knights, step forward!"

[We heard from Paul 47... I would like to inherit their wills and dreams as well!]

"Good. You seem determined. We'll start with you, Paul 39."

[Yes!]

The level 3 bones didn't really have any value to Lee Shin-Woo or Jin. However, it was different for the Pauls. The level 3 bones were enough to reinforce them quite significantly, and even the level 4 Pauls could increase their stats by absorbing several level 3 bones.

Lee Shin-Woo intended to turn all forty-three of the Pauls here into level 4s, so he decided to focus Bone Reinforcement on those who hadn't reached the level yet.

[Ahhhhhh! So that's how it feels! I'm being filled with their wills, their strength, and their memories! It's overflowing!]

[Thank you, Paul Zero... No, Captain!]

With its current level, his Bone Reinforcement allowed him to continuously reinforce the Pauls with dozens of bones in only 1 second. Radiant light burst out here and there as Lee Shin-Woo awakened the Pauls!

[I'll follow you, Captain!]

[I'm the last one, Captain!]

"Ah, you’re doing that again," Kratia said, having completed his meditation and come down from the city wall. All she'd done in the battle was manifest and throw an Arcane Ice Spear, but it had a huge effect on the battlefield. Therefore, she’d received a lot of rewards from her achievement following the battle.

She had been preoccupied with her magic, so it had taken quite a bit of time for her to get down and accept all of her rewards.

"Kratia, just stay put and watch. Ah, and that's your share of the loot. I'll buy the level 5 knight bones from you. You'll sell them cheap to me, right?"

"Let’s make that my payment to you for letting me stay with you longer."

"Okay."

Lee Shin-Woo smoothly finalized the deal with Kratia and went back to reinforcing.

The stronger level 3 Pauls that had been close to level 4 were quickly reborn as level 4 Doom Factors. The lesser ones, on the other hand, were indiscriminately reinforced until they couldn't take the barrage of Bone Reinforcement and leveled up. Obviously, Lee Shin-Woo also got something out of it.

[Bone Reinforcement is now Lv7. When you use Bone Reinforcement on someone else, the effect is increased, and you can now absorb a larger portion of what they gain.]

The Pauls were determined to inherit their fellow comrades’ wills, and it ended up taking only three hours for Lee Shin-Woo to finish reinforcing them. He had used up level 3 bones as well as the bones the Pauls had gathered from their hunting. In the end, he managed to transform all forty-three Pauls into level 4 elites!

The session of Bone Reinforcement went on, though. After putting away the items that seemed special or would increase stats, Lee Shin-Woo reinforced the remaining bone weapons with each other to create an even more powerful weapon!

[Bone Reinforcement has failed!]

[Failed.]

[Succeeded.]

[Failed.]

[Failed.]

[Failed.]

[Succeeded. The Lv2 Bone Thorn Spear has evolved into the Lv3 Black Canine Tooth Spear!]

"Nice. I've never seen this shape and material before. And it increases stats, too. Pass."

"You're really persistent, you know that...?"

That's how Lee Shin-Woo used up all the weapons he'd collected from the battlefield. Ultimately, he’d created 50 level 3 weapons. Adding to the mix the 20 level 3 weapons the undead had wielded, he was now in possession of 70 level 3 weapons in total. To top it off, he had the level 4 weapon, the Bifurcated Snake Spine!

"Are you going to fuse those together too to create an even better weapon?" asked Jin.

"I'm not crazy. Why would I do something so wasteful?"

"Then are you going to give them to the Pauls...?"

"That's what I'll do if I have any left afterwards."

In the past, Lee Shin-Woo had preferred absorbing bones over bone equipment to strengthen himself. However, after he acquired the Weapon Trickster's bone and learned Bone Armory, he had a change of mind.

He believed he should make use of all the weapons that he could. And he came to a decision.

"Now let's fill up the storehouse for Bone Armory."

1. E/N: 130, he forgot the Agility increase apparently.