Boundless Necromancer - Chapter 42
Chapter 42: Dungeon Incursion (1)
Honestly, I didn’t really have to go back to Earth at this point.
The tower still provided immense rewards, and I didn’t have to wait to challenge the next trial.
Clearing the 8th trial would definitely be beneficial.
But…
‘If it’s as difficult as the 7th trial, I might not be able to pass.’
That was the problem.
If the difficulty of the trials kept increasing at the same rate, the 8th trial would be too much for me to handle.
It was also possible that I would run into an intruder from another world like last time.
There were a lot of things to consider.
I would have to get used to all my new skills and get a bit stronger.
In that sense, dungeons were much more nurturing than the tower.
And I wasn’t the only one who thought this way.
Frog: Damn, I thought I was gonna die just then… I think Ima have to grind outside of the tower for a bit. ProperHunter: Yee, same. Especially because you can carry items back and forth. YouLookLikeAGoblin: Lml the hunter market is screwed now. Ima sell everything I got. Frog: We’re about to make bank with these. OPLoser: Trying to be overgeared before climbing the tower. I think I have to go a bit higher before I get all my powers back. SectionChief: I’m as strong as I was in my prime, but I’ll still climb the tower. It’s so much easier than farming in dungeons. ProperHunter: You should still go back and get some items just in case.
It looked like most people wanted to make some preparations outside the tower.
We weren’t so different from each other after all.
Everyone had different motives, such as earning money or gaining their powers back, but they all decided to climb the tower.
“I thought I was the odd one out, but I guess I was wrong.”
So many people wanted to climb just to get stronger.
They saw this as an opportunity to turn their life around.
‘Just like me.’
Well, that didn’t mean I wanted to fight everyone.
The subject suddenly changed to the outside world.
DontHealThiefs: I think the outside world is going wild from the news about the tower.
‘Ooh.’
This was a topic I was interested in, so I decided to pay attention.
ProperHunter: The hunter association is wilding right now. They’ve never heard of a dungeon that lets normal civilians in too. NeverMiss: Ooh, did you already go back? How do you know? ProperHunter: I cleared the 7th trial early and went back for a day. DontHealThiefs: God, I wish that were me. So what did the association or the government say about it? ProperHunter: Lmao, what CAN they say about it? They just said that they’re looking into it. PreparedPorter: The government was always useless. Same with the association. But I heard that you can come back pretty easily if you choose the easy difficulty. ProperHunter: From what I’ve heard, most of the easy mode challengers were done with the 15th trial. 10th for the normal mode challengers. DontHealThiefs: Fuck, I almost died getting here.
For once, they were actually talking about something useful.
‘I guess everyone’s finding out about the tower right now.’
It was strange that even the civilians knew about it.
Maybe because that was the only thing the government could do about this situation.
‘Makes sense.’
There was nothing a mere human could do about something like the great calamity.
ProperHunter: Also, the market for low-tier items is shit right now. Careful. VintageSeller: Lml, it’s because everyone from the easy and normal modes flooded the market. DontHealThiefs: What the… Fuck this. Frog: Does that mean F-grade items won’t be worth that much? VintageSeller: Yep, I think the E-grade items are falling off now too. Anything above D should be fine though. SonOfTheAdmin: Also, there are mad people trying to register at the hunter association right now. You have to wait at least a month, AND they ask you if you’re from the tower.
Just as I expected, the outside world had adjusted to the tower.
“Good thing I went back earlier.”
I finished registering and sold all my items already.
‘The return stone is paying off already.’
I would have been on the same boat as all of these people if I hesitated any longer.
I would’ve had to deal with all the annoying logistics too.
“I just have to focus on getting stronger now.”
「 Challenger Han Sungyeun, confirming intention to return. 」
「 Consuming the Return Stone to return to Earth. 」
***
「 Returned to challenger Han Sungyeun’s residence. 」
I woke up in my bed with a familiar message.
Maybe it was because this was my second time, but returning felt much easier.
“As expected, all of my items came with me too.”
My items were scattered on my bed.
The sword, shield, cloak, boots, pendant…
‘I don’t think I can sell any of them this time though.’
I still wasn’t ready to part with any of these items.
“Phew…”
I took a deep breath of the stuffy studio air and planned my course of action.
I didn’t need to wash up because I had the cleansing stone…
And unlike last time, I didn’t have enough time to rest.
The purpose of this trip was to get stronger.
‘I can’t waste time.’
I needed a meticulous plan.
To get stronger, I needed to find my way into a dungeon.
But getting into one was harder than it seemed.
For your first dungeon, you needed to be accompanied by at least one other person.
This rule was set to prevent new hunters from getting into accidents.
‘The problem is that finding a party is a pretty difficult task…’
And there were a bunch of other problems such as distributing the rewards or partying with a malicious hunter.
That’s why you needed a strong network to get into a dungeon, whether it was a guild, family, or friends.
But it was safe to say that I had none of that.
“Damn it.”
I never thought I’d live to see the day when I would need a network of my own.
Even if I solved this problem, I would also need to find a dungeon I could actually get into.
There were a bunch of dungeons that were managed by guilds or associations, but that posed a whole new set of problems.
Exclusive dungeons were relatively easy to get into.
If I were part of a guild, all I’d have to do was sign up for my guild’s exclusive dungeon.
But public dungeons were different.
Most public dungeons had long wait times and were very inefficient to grind in.
This was because most of the good dungeons were automatically claimed.
“Just problem after problem.”
I sighed and walked out onto my balcony.
The scenery wasn’t anything magnificent, but the fresh air still cleared my head.
“What should I do…?”
It was too late to join a guild and meet people…
‘Actually, there is one person in my network.’
It wasn’t the closest relationship, but it wasn’t nothing.
The only person I talked to in the tower.
-Please contact Lee Hayeon of the Lotus guild once you get back to Earth.
She even added me as a friend.
Of course, I never actually messaged her afterwards.
She did try to contact me a couple of times, but I never had the time to respond.
In one of those messages, she left her number and asked me to give her a call once I got the time.
Seeing that her skills weren’t too bad, she was probably back by now.
‘I did help her with the 4th trial. Maybe I should give her a call.’
It wasn’t something I’d normally do, but I was desperate.
I took out my phone to give her a call.
Vmmmmm…!
「 Emergency Text Alert 」
「 Undetected D-class gates were found in Uijeongbu, Jikdonggeonlin Park. 」
「 A total of three gates were found, and all three need permanent supervision. 」
「 All civilians are advised to avoid the park. 」
“No, wait.”
I was going to try to use my connection with the Lotus guild to get by, but this changes everything.
Undetected gates were like clearance sales for hunters.
These types of gates were handled not by an organization, but by whoever happened to be nearby.
‘Unexpected gates are a blessing in disguise.’
If this were a game, it would be like a double exp event.
Nearby hunters tended to team up as fast as possible just to get in there.
I opened the hunter association app.
「 Looking for a melee hunter with good utility for a party of three. 」
「 ISO Jikdonggeonlin Park duo. D or higher only. 」
「 Party of 5 looking for heal/tank hunters. 」
In just a few minutes, the forums were full of people looking for party members.
I couldn’t NOT join in.
“No reason to miss out on the event.”
And I could practice my new abilities at the same time.
‘It’s like a buy one get one free sale.’
It was time to go into my first dungeon.
