Chapter 95 – Level 6 (1)

"How unexpected."

"It turned out well, didn't it?"

Lee Shin-Woo and Jin got off the final Golem train and rushed into the level 2 danger zone city, clearing it of all undead as well as exploring the sewers. Finding no hidden facilities, they purified the city completely, and Lee Shin-Woo's Combat Sense leveled up afterwards as if the skill had been waiting for this very moment; his total stats had now surpassed 3,200.

"Once we reach level 6, we can move on to the level 3 danger zones," Lee Shin-Woo said.

"...Yeah, right. It's about time we move on. I was kind of spacing out for a bit wondering what we should do once we hit 6."

Hearing Jin talk about the level 3 danger zone made Lee Shin-Woo realize that he might have been getting comfortable for way too long. He hadn’t exactly been slacking off; in fact, he had been doing everything that needed to be done. Somewhere along the way, though, he’d adapted to the calm and risk-free everyday life.

"No. It's not like we haven't been in any sort of danger..."

Jin found Lee Shin-Woo's reaction absurd. While they had run into a significantly less number of higher-level enemies, they had been taking on thousands of lesser foes, and even once got surrounded by level 5 elites. A level 2 danger zone wasn't really safe for two level 5 heroes in the first place!

However, their abilities had grown so much that those lesser enemies no longer posed any sort of threat to them, which was especially true for Lee Shin-Woo. Didn't the message say so? That he was more than qualified to level up.

"Jin, you aren’t there yet, are you?"

"I'm at around 2,950. I’ve caught up quite a bit, right?"

"You caught up because I gave you most of the bones… In any case, I'll level up first."

"Don't speak like you’re leaving me for good."

Lee Shin-Woo chuckled at Jin's curt retort and got off his back. They had completely cleaned up the vicinity, so there weren't even any level 1 skeletons left. There was no better place to level up.

"...Alright, I'll accept all my karma now."

The moment Lee Shin-Woo decided to accept his karma, blinding light burst from his body. His currently equipped equipment was released all at once, and his body began to noticeably evolve!

[You have become a level 6 Powered Elemental Bone Joker. In pursuit of countless transformations, your strengths have been maximized. Your control over nature has become more powerful and diversified; as a result, you have successfully broken free from the limitations of being a skeleton.]

[You are no longer restrained by the title of skeleton, a low rank species. After training a variety of ways of handling bones, you have become the one and only swindler, the Bone Joker, to both yourself and to the world. All stats increase by 20. Intermediate Mana Bone is now Lv8, and Magic has increased by an additional 20.]

[All elements grow. Intermediate Fire is now Lv2, Intermediate Ice Lv3, Intermediate Lightning Lv5, and High Rank Acid Lv2. Magic has increased by 110.]

So am I a skeleton or not? Lee Shin-Woo grumbled inwardly. His bones were growing larger and thicker, and the glistening mana gave them a greater shine.

It was truly ironic. His bones had always gotten darker as he progressed from level 1 to level 4, but starting from level 5, the color changed in the opposite direction!

Lee Shin-Woo took a look at the glistening mana radiating from his bones, which had the potential to change in an infinite number of ways... The blinding and resplendent mana could harmonize no further with Joker’s karma.

[You are now able to handle mana in a broader and more diverse scope. Disguise is now Lv3. You can now disguise yourself well as a target you’re less familiar with.]

His level-up improved almost all his skills upon completion. While Lee Shin-Woo was still an undead composed of nothing but bones, the harmonization of the mana that made up his bones was vastly different from before.

"Who the hell cares?” Lee Shin-Woo muttered. “I'm still made up of bones. Are they messing with me or what?"

"Someone said you weren't made of bones?"

"No. According to the message I got, apparently I'm not a skeleton anymore."

"But you are a skeleton."

"No one's arguing with you."

Lee Shin-Woo vehemently agreed with Jin before checking his status; it had been a long time since he last did so. He knew his body had undergone some fundamental changes, but he still needed to check his status to fully appraise himself.

[Lee Shin-Woo]

[Powered Elemental Bone Joker]

[Corps Destroyer; 4 others]

[Lv 6 (Stats effectiveness 200%)]

[Strength - 681, Agility - 698, Endurance - 699, Magic - 1,380]

[Passive skills - Acting Lv15, Invisible Heart Lv3, Rebellion Lv3, Intermediate Bursting Thunder Lv7, Intermediate Mana Bone Lv8, Intermediate Shadow Sprint Lv5, Intermediate Command Lv6, Intermediate Assimilation Lv5, Intermediate Combat Sense Lv7]

[Active skills - Disguise Lv3, Instigate Lv2, Bone Reinforcement Lv7, Rule of Bone Lv7, Bone Armory Lv5, Intermediate Regeneration Lv8, Sacrifice Lv1, Emergency Evasion Lv4, Low Rank Twin Horn Charge Lv9]

[Elements - Intermediate Fire Lv2, Intermediate Ice Lv3, High Rank Acid Lv2, Intermediate Lightning Lv5]

[Resistances - Holy: MAX, Curse: MAX, Acid: High Rank Lv1, Ice: Intermediate Lv2]

"So I need 3,000 more stats to get to level 7... It's starting to feel like a distant goal."

"You know, you said something like that when you were level 5. And didn’t you get an additional 200 points increase in stats after hitting level 6? You’re making a big fuss over nothing."

"But most of that stat increase goes to my magic."

Lee Shin-Woo’s magic had been growing incredibly fast compared to his other stats since most of his skills were magic-based. Still, he needed his other stats to improve as well. It troubled him that his magic was almost twice his strength and agility.

"Hoo. No choice but to divide the bones evenly from now on. For now, you'll be getting the magic bones."

"What!?"

Lee Shin-Wooj’s problem also lay in the fact that he had been training only skills that would increase his magic thus far, which was only natural since he didn’t have a lot of skills that would improve his other stats. Looking through his skill list, though…

"That's right. There's this skill."

"Ah... That."

Jin's goblin fire blazed subtly as he watched two horns protrude from Lee Shin-Woo's head. That was right. Lee Shin-Woo was talking about the skill he’d acquired after absorbing a bone he’d gotten from the shop: Twin Horn Charge.

It was certainly a close combat skill, as it boosted charging force as well as attack power through the horns. Twin Horn Charge was also a skill that he'd only leveled up once over the past two months since there hadn’t been any strong foes that warranted its use.

"Let's get moving after I get the skill to the intermediate rank."

"Just saying, weren't you not using the skill for a reason?"

"...That's true."

It was all because Lee Shin-Woo didn't have any horns, and thus couldn’t effectively make use of Twin Horn Charge to empower his attack. As a result, he wasn’t able to quickly rank up the skill, which made him worry.

"But I've been training my other skills, so I have a rough idea of how it works. Moreover, my mana senses have been developing as I level up as well, so it's time I try it out."

What were horns? They were a means to attack. And in situations where charging was required, Lee Shin-Woo had the lance. In that case, the answer was simple.

"I just need to use the Twin Horn Charge in tandem with my lance."

"Sorry, I don't really get it. Just do what you want."

Jin distanced himself from Lee Shin-Woo after the retort and began to run by himself. He knew it would take some time for Lee Shin-Woo to study the skill, so he gave his partner space without prompting. Lee Shin-Woo didn’t stop him; running would be a form of training for Jin’s skill as well.

"Tch."

Still, the old Jin would’ve stayed and looked at Lee Shin-Woo with his confusion almost manifesting physically as question marks while listening to Lee Shin-Woo’s explanation in earnest, but now… Lee Shin-Woo wished Jin would act like that again, but alas, that Jin was long gone. He pushed the thought aside and dove into his study—into his effort to remodel his skill.

He'd already told Jin what he wanted to do: combine the Twin Horn Charge's horns with the lance. In other words, he would have to modify the way the mana was released as well as the skill’s intrinsic pattern a little.

Twin Horn Charge aggressively speeds up mana and pushes the body in the direction of the attack. In the process, the twin horns naturally jut out. The twin horns emerge at the spot designated by the accelerated mana... In other words, if I change the direction of the skill to my lance...

If he could combine the charging technique with Jin's speed, the resulting attack would be powerful beyond his imagination!

Lee Shin-Woo nodded, certain of his hypothesis, and began to study the skill immediately. He'd chosen the Drake Horn Lance simply because they were both horns, and thus he assumed it would work well with the skill somehow, but there wasn’t really a logic to the assumption.

"Hey, monsters are coming!” Jin called out to him. “I'll take care of them myself and come back, okay?"

"Don't forget to bring back the bones."

In a sitting position, Lee Shin-Woo repeatedly activated and canceled his skill a few times to study the change in mana upon the skill's activation, as well as the way mana flowed. He would have to maintain the same change while redirecting the mana...

It's actually not hard to do.

Lee Shin-Woo was quite surprised. He seemed to have grasped the changes to the mana upon activation of the skill, and was likewise able to easily figure out how the mana started flowing. The only thing left to do was to change the structure of the skill slightly, but even that was way too simple.

Is it because it's still a low rank skill?

No, that wasn't the case. It was actually Lee Shin-Woo’s extraordinary mastery over magic at play. While he was at it, he added another skill to the mix—Shadow Sprint, which was treated like a charging skill.

By adding shadow to the charge with Shadow Sprint, the move would not only become more stealthy, but also faster. It was lacking in the level of destructive force it could generate, though, and while he wanted to make up for the weakness of Twin Horn Charge, it was counter-intuitive to use two similar skills at the same time.

Should I combine them?

In the past, his skills had combined to form new, evolved skills, but Lee Shin-Woo had never actually tried to fuse the characteristics of two skills on his own. In fact, the thought had never even occurred to him, which was reflected in the expression he was making.

I feel like I can do it now.

Lee Shin-Woo focused on controlling his internal mana. He activated Twin Horn Charge and Shadow Sprint simultaneously before tying their mana properties together. Stealthily, yet sharply. Agile, yet weighty. All of those characteristics were fused into one to create a forceful thrust...!

"I got all of them. Huh...?"

"Hoo..."

After sweeping away the group of level 4 monsters easily, Jin returned to see Lee Shin-Woo engulfed in dark red energy. He came to a sudden halt.

The two horns protruding from Lee Shin-Woo's head slowly receded, and a giant horn appeared on the lance in his hand like it would swallow the weapon whole. Soon, the lance was completely enveloped in black mana, which obscured the weapon’s form. Jin couldn’t see what the lance looked like even though he was staring at it!

"Shin-Woo...?" Jin called out tentatively.

"...I did it."

Immediately, Lee Shin-Woo's eye sockets blazed with dark red goblin fire. The dark red energy radiated from the lance blended together and engulfed it.

[Low Rank Twin Horn Charge has reached Lv10 and is evolving! Absorbing Intermediate Shadow Sprint. You have learned the Intermediate skill, Shadow Horn Lv1! Strength and Agility have increased by 10.]

"Ah, crap."

Lee Shin-Woo lamented quietly the moment he created a skill that would overpower anyone. Unable to tear his eyes off Shadow Horn, Jin asked in confusion, "What's wrong? Didn't it turn out well?"

Lee Shin-Woo sighed deeply and replied, "It became a combat skill like Bursting Thunder rather than a sprint skill. It’ll accelerate the speed of the attack itself rather than the charge..."

"...So you focused too much of the charging force into the weapon?"

"Shit. I should turn it back into a charging skill... No, forget it."

Lee Shin-Woo could feel instinctively that this skill he created might actually be amazing, and with this amazing skill he would be able to grow!

He had succeeded in combining the two skills' charging force, stealth, and attack power into one skill. It might be better to leave the skill as is, Lee Shin-Woo thought. If that's the case, there's only one answer to my problem.

"I'm going to go visit the Secret Shop."

He had thought he would have no need for the Secret Shop after buying all the bones on sale even though he had leveled up. Now, however, he had to look for a new charging skill there.