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Chapter 248: Skeleton Priest
Han Siah was already at the guild house.
"So, you're saying... you want me to teach these skeletons divine arts?"
"Yes."
"...Will it work?"
Han Siah asked, tilting her head.
She also knew well about Kim Minwoo's skeletons.
She had seen them when they used tattooing skills.
Skeletons with the ability to learn.
They were amazing summons.
But even so, she couldn't help but have doubts.
"The way priests train is quite different from other jobs. You know that, right?"
"I do. Faith is the key, isn't it?"
Indeed, as Han Siah said, the way priests explored their job was very different from others.
Take magic as an example.
Even if one just obtained a skill book, the magic would activate automatically.
However, in order to use magic efficiently, training time was necessary. Thinking about how to guide the mana within your body was basic.
Going deeper,
'Training suitable for each attribute is necessary.'
For example, a water attribute mage needs to become familiar with water.
Things like enduring long periods underwater while submerged in a lake, or deeply contemplating and exploring the origin of water.
It was roughly like that.
It wasn't for nothing that there were mages who jumped into giant waves like tsunamis during their awakening, calling it a fortuitous encounter.
Of course, even without doing these things, you could still use water magic freely as long as you had enough mana.
Maybe that's why.
'Actually, 90% of Earth mages don't do any training.'
Training? Research? Practice?
Whether these things worked or not depended entirely on talent.
It meant that in most cases, your head would hurt, you'd invest a tremendous amount of time, but the output would be poor.
In that time, you could go through a gate once, earn money, buy a skill book, and copy the magic.
That's why.
Even though magic was already difficult, most mages didn't train. No matter how hard they trained, they couldn't become Merhen.
On the other hand, the divine arts that priests activated were very different from magic.
It was the same in that you could use it once you obtained a skill book and registered the skill.
But to train deeply...
'Faith is necessary.'
Faith in a god.
That god didn't necessarily have to refer to a specific entity from another world.
You just had to believe in an absolute being that you envisioned in your mind.
It could be the God of Earth, Buddha, or Allah.
The key was intense faith.
It was everything in divine arts.
Of course, whether you would become stronger through faith was as unpredictable as with magic.
There were cases where someone believed fervently but their divine arts didn't strengthen at all, and there were cases where someone's divine arts grew rapidly with just a little bit of faith.
Han Siah was a case in point.
An SSS-rank pro talent.
Her simple prayer once easily surpassed the fervent prayers of thousands, tens of thousands of priests.
"In the end, this field is also about talent..."
"Excuse me?"
"It's nothing. The conclusion is that you need strong faith for divine arts to grow quickly, right?"
"That's right."
"In that sense, my skeletons might be the perfect candidates for divine arts. Who do you think the skeletons would pray to? An unknown god from another world? Or a god from Earth?"
"Are you saying... that the skeletons might see you as an absolute being?"
"It's possible. Or maybe the Death Lord."
It didn't matter who the object of prayer was.
As long as they could manifest divine arts through strong faith, it was okay for Kim Minwoo.
Han Siah, who had been pondering deeply, nodded as if she understood.
"Indeed, if it's skeletons, they might be optimized for faith..."
The reason why Earth priests were weak.
It was because of their lack of faith.
Believing in something with near-madness was difficult to achieve in modern society, where science and technology had advanced.
Anyone could 'pretend to pray'. But believing and praying wholeheartedly without a shred of doubt was not something an ordinary person could do.
But what about skeletons?
They had almost no sense of self.
With a single command from their master, they would jump into a pit of fire without hesitation.
'Isn't this complete fanaticism?'
Fanatics serving their Necromancer master. That was the essence of skeletons.
"But, will it be okay? Divine arts are the antithesis of the undead."
"Usually, skills aren't designed to harm their owner. If they were, there would have to be some kind of advantage to compensate."
"You mean the skills will be modified to be beneficial to the skeletons once they're generated?"
"That's what I'm thinking for now. Otherwise, there's nothing we can do. It's just one out of ten jobs anyway."
At Kim Minwoo's words that he would just discard it if it didn't work out, Han Siah couldn't help but nod.
"Alright. I'll try teaching them."
"Thank you. By the way, Siah, do you believe in any god?"
"...Excuse me?"
Han Siah's ears turned bright red.
"I was just curious. Weren't you originally a mage?"
"Th-that's right."
"Mages usually pursue truth, worship theory, and tend to be cold and rational. It's kind of like oil and water, completely opposite to priests."
"Yes... that's right."
"But after using the Job Change Ticket, you changed your job in one go, didn't you? You started as a third-class priest and reached Saintess, and you even created a holy relic."
Nod.
Han Siah nodded.
‘Come to think of it, that was true.’
Han Siah was once a cold mage. A rational mage who grew up without receiving love from her parents.
After using the change ticket and traveling to the battlefield of the past to fight against the Death Lord's army, her job suddenly changed to an SSS-rank priest.
"Thinking about it, the fact that you, Siah, changed to a priest in one go... means you encountered some incredible being, doesn't it? A being so great that it shook the rational faith of a modern mage in one fell swoop. A being great enough to instantly have SSS-rank faith."
Was it possible only because she encountered such a divine being?
Such a thought suddenly occurred to him during their conversation.
That's why he asked the question.
He was curious about what kind of divine being appeared in the past when she fought against the Death Lord's army.
"But, are you hot?"
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[Translator - Prøks]
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"...Excuse me?"
"Your face is very red. You seem to be sweating a bit too. Should I lower the air conditioner temperature?"
"Oh, no. I'm-I'm cool. Really. Ah, right! I-I think I met the divine being you mentioned, Minwoo."
[TL/N: Are you thinking what I am thinking?🌝]
"Really?"
Kim Minwoo's face brightened.
The Death Lord had said that he fought against the Hero's party in the past. And the Hero's party's equipment was said to be bestowed by a god.
That meant their worldview was a world where divine beings truly existed.
If he was lucky, this could be a chance to find out who the god was back then...
"But... I'm sorry. I think I saw their face during prayer, but it's too blurry..."
"Maybe their name..."
"That too, I don't..."
He nodded.
Well, of course.
It's not like you need to know a god's face and name to believe in them.
Besides, if it was such a mystical encounter, it was natural for the memory itself to be hazy.
"Then it can't be helped."
"I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay. I'll leave the skeletons summoned in the basement of the guild house, so please take good care of them."
"Yes! I'll train them as quickly as possible! Time is precious."
After Kim Minwoo summoned the skeletons and left, Han Siah finally let out a sigh of relief.
'I lied...'
When he asked who she believed in.
Han Siah couldn't help but panic.
Kim Minwoo perceived her as a once-cold mage, but it was different.
If that were the case, she wouldn't have prayed her whole life. Every night, during her time as a mage, she prayed.
To be freed from the family's curse. For her mother to truly love her.
For her body to no longer be in pain.
All of them were wishes for herself.
But when she fought against Jonas of the Griff family, who came looking for her at the airport.
For the first time, she prayed for someone else.
For Kim Minwoo.
It was at that moment that her 'formless talent' took shape and generated a skill.
Prayer of Hope (S).
The prayer she had desperately wished for her entire life but had never been answered, was answered that day.
The person who saved her from the family's curse. The person who took revenge on the Griff family for her.
And, the person who answered her faith for the first time.
Kim Minwoo.
That was the name of the god she relied on.
[TL/N: Fuck!! I was just speculating the same above 🤣]
That's why.
That's why she had to lie.
Even if it was true, saying such a thing in front of him was too embarrassing, wasn't it?
"Are you Hail?"
Clatter!
"From today onwards, you shall be a loyal follower of the One."
...Clatter.
"Obey through faith. It is the one and only truth I believe in."
Han Siah smiled brightly as she saw the thousands of skeletons.
* * *
"Hey, hyung! Over here, over here!"
Park Siwoo, sitting in a cafe, waved his hand vigorously.
"The weather's really hot. But why are you wearing sunglasses?"
"Ahem! I'm a celebrity now, you know. If I don't disguise myself like this, I can't even walk down the street. There are too many people asking for my autograph."
"Oh, you've grown up a lot?"
"I've been quite active, haven't I? Look at this, this!"
He turned on his smartphone and showed a few news articles.
"I single-handedly resolved the A-rank gate explosion this time."
"There was a gate explosion?"
"Yeah. One exploded recently. Fortunately, there were no casualties, so it was quietly handled. It was a stroke of luck. I happened to be near Incheon. Oh, and did you hear the news?"
"What news?"
"An S-rank gate. One appeared in Busan this time."
"A random gate appeared?"
Park Siwoo nodded.
"Besides that, two new A-rank gates appeared, and don't even get me started on B-rank and C-rank gates. There were already so many last month..."
Kim Minwoo frowned.
There were three types of gates in total.
First, random gates.
These were lottery-type gates that appeared at random times and places.
The second was hidden gates, and the third was designated gates.
'From S-rank and above, most of them will be designated gates.'
The Gate Scramble that took place every two years. Why did countries risk their lives to participate in it?
It was simple.
It was because they could 'designate' and distribute high-rank gates of S-rank and above.
In other words, it also meant that S-rank gates rarely appeared randomly. If S-rank gates popped up frequently in random gates, there would be no reason to participate in the Gate Scramble.
But an S-rank gate appeared randomly.
This was an unusual occurrence.
'This wasn't in my memory.'
Neither the appearance of an S-rank gate in Korea nor the rampant emergence of lower-rank gates.
"How about other countries?"
"It's the same. I'm telling you, something's going to happen at this rate. The Spirit King incident in Japan and all."
"Maybe it's the butterfly effect."
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
The appearance of Hardronox.
The forces of the shadows, including the High Priest who followed him. It seemed like a butterfly effect caused by him.
There was a phrase that said the probability of higher-rank gates appearing increased as the mana concentration on Earth rose.
However, Park Siwoo had no intention of saying anything more than that. The same went for the other guild members.
'Getting more involved in the affairs of the shadows... is dangerous.'
"That High Priest bastard is a monster."
He barely managed to kill one of his clones by sacrificing one of his lives.
Wouldn't the main body be much stronger than the clone?
He didn't know what would happen if he tried to intervene and stir them up right now.
'I'll observe for now.'
Until he gained more power.
"Have you leveled up a lot?"
"Ahem. Take a look at this."
He placed a business card on the table.
[S-rank Awakened - Park Siwoo]
"Oh, you reached level 500?"
"Yeah, I surpassed it. I even took the promotion exam. Partying with Siah and clearing gates, I leveled up like crazy."
"Come to think of it, I didn't ask Siah about her level."
"Her level should be around 400 by now."
"400 already?"
When Han Siah first joined the guild, around the end of May, she was a low-level player at around 180.
Even after defeating the Abyss Lord and leveling up a bit, she would have been around the mid-200s.
In other words, what he was saying was...
She had leveled up by almost 150 in just one month.
"After partying with me, our grinding speed increased a lot. She's in charge of buffs and healing, and I'm the attacker. We have amazing synergy."
"That's good. You found a party member."
"Yeah. It would have been nice if Yerim could have joined us too. Well... I guess she's probably getting all sorts of things right now."
Park Siwoo said, smacking his lips. It seemed he was very curious about the Heavenly City.
"I'll get you another sponsorship certificate next time, and I'll give it to you right away."
"It would be great if Siah could go with me next time..."
"It'll probably be possible."
He had laid the groundwork and was continuously generating Contribution Points, a beautiful cycle of virtuousness. Contribution Points were probably steadily accumulating even at this moment.
The Contribution Points needed to send both Han Siah and Park Siwoo were about 200,000.
'Well, it'll accumulate quickly.'
Or he could accumulate them when he went next time.
"By the way, bro, you said you were making Skeleton Priests, right?"
"Yeah, I did."
"How's it going?"
"It's currently in the experimental stage. The training will probably take about two days."
"Wow, Skeleton Priests. That's so cool. So, do you have any plans after the training?"
"Yeah, I need to hunt some dragons."
"...Dragons?"
"Yeah, eight of them to be exact."
"Do you need their corpses? No, wait. If that's the case, you could just buy them."
"You're right. It's not because of their corpses, I just need to hunt them."
"Dragons are really rare monsters. But I think you have amazing luck, bro."
"Suddenly?"
"The S-rank gate that appeared in Busan. Its name is Dragon's Castle."
Dragon's Castle?
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[Translator - Prøks]
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