Chapter 8

Master of Supreme Art (1)

Soon, people began to murmur.

“Huh? Did I hear that wrong? A porter wants to enter a dungeon where even Rankers failed?”

“Judging by the training, it seems like they’re a Necromancer. Hmm… But still, it shouldn’t be possible. Unless it’s a Dark Lord, maybe.”

“Exactly. Wasn’t that guy just a beginner Necromancer who can only summon Skeletons?”

“Hey, you there. You’d better just stay put and not cause trouble. No matter how frustrating it is.”

“Right, the boss Old Man really hurts.”

Some shook their heads side to side.

Others tried to dissuade me with soothing words.

In the subdued atmosphere due to Gi So-yul’s repeated failures.

They must be worried I might cause unnecessary conflict.

“Hey.”

Then, an A-class hunter from ‘Parang’ stepped forward.

It was Shin Sung-hoon, the one with the alias ‘Swift Sword’.

“If you’re a porter, act like one and carry the luggage, why don’t you? Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

His expression was slightly rough.

I understood.

The situation wasn’t going well, and it was frustrating.

Seeing a porter who looked like a complete novice step forward would understandably be irritating.

‘Well…’

Normally, I might have been intimidated.

Because he was emitting a fierce aura incomparable to the orcs I saw a few days ago.

“……”

In fact, my breath caught in my throat.

Was this feeling, as if my head would be chopped off by his sword at any moment, what they call killing intent?

But.

My gaze was resolute.

There was no backing down.

Why? You guys fail every time.

Even if you fail, you keep challenging it.

You’ve challenged it enough times.

Then isn’t it okay to give me a chance too?

“Oh ho, look at this? Not looking too kindly, are you? Just because the Dark Emperor addresses you respectfully, you think you’re something special……”

Swift Sword muttered quietly as he approached.

His hand was already resting on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

A moment later.

“Stop.”

A firm voice cut through the tension-filled cave.

The crowd turned their heads.

The source of the voice was the second-in-command of ‘Parang’, the Dark Emperor.

With an unreadable expression, she stared straight into my eyes.

“Why? Is it because you don’t trust me?”

There was no inflection, no highs or lows, in Gi So-yul’s voice.

Was it because she was tired?

Or was it really because her pride was hurt?

“That’s not it.”

A brief silence followed my answer.

How long did that suffocating time last?

Her mouth slowly opened.

“According to the original contract, you are a porter. You cannot offer opinions regarding dungeon exploration.”

“I am well aware.”

“Then may I ask why you wish to challenge it?”

She asked, tilting her head slightly.

I answered.

“The Old Man said he is looking for someone with talent.”

“And so?”

“I somehow thought the Old Man’s ‘Han’ might lie in raising a disciple. And talent is just that, talent. It doesn’t mean immediate skill level. It means potential.”

“Oh ho, so not to defeat the Old Man, but to take him as a master?”

“That could be the hidden clear condition.”

Hidden piece.

Occasionally, dungeons had alternative methods of clearing them.

And in such cases, greater rewards appeared than usual.

“A hidden piece……”

Gi So-yul, who had been pondering with her chin in her hand for a moment, nodded.

“That’s all fine. But what about the disciple? Are you saying your talent is superior to mine?”

Gi So-yul slightly furrowed her brow.

Swift Sword next to her also opened his eyes fiercely.

Hmm, the atmosphere keeps feeling more and more ominous.

I first stretched out my hand and shook it side to side.

“No, the probability of that is very low, but……”

“You didn’t say it’s not?”

“Hmm……”

Oh no.

Am I going to get sliced up somewhere without even getting to attempt the challenge?

I quickly thought of another excuse.

“That’s not it. Hmm, pain… yes, pain! It’s the pain everyone else has felt. I’m the only one here who hasn’t experienced it. I don’t have that sense of camaraderie. It feels like being ostracized, you know? Besides, weren’t you taking a break right now, Dark Emperor-nim?”

Pfft.

A puff of air escaped Gi So-yul’s mouth.

Then she made an expression as if she knew it.

“Right, that expression. Now you’re showing your true colors.”

True colors? Expression?

What does that mean all of a sudden?

“You were like that from the start. You.”

“Huh? What do you……”

“I told you. I found it suspicious. Waiting in front of the dungeon. You had the eyes of a wolf hunting something, not the eyes a porter should have.”

“……”

“The dungeon reward tempts you? Why, are you hoping to gain some kind of opportunity during the clearing process?”

Good heavens.

This person.

Shouldn’t she be laying out a mat instead of being a Ranker?

How can she read people’s thoughts so easily just from their eyes?

No, is it something one can naturally deduce?

‘Anyway.’

My ulterior motive has been discovered.

It was also incredibly rude.

Because it meant a porter who entered with the promise of 20 times the reward was also eyeing the dungeon’s reward.

But.

“Go ahead. Give it a try.”

She spat out dismissively, as if annoyed.

“There’s no solution anyway. And as you said, I wanted to take a break for a while. Well, it works out, I guess. As someone who keeps failing, I don’t have much to say either.”

“Really?”

“Yes. However, you only get one chance. As you can see, the emergency rations are depleted, and the rescue team isn’t coming. We need to clear this situation as soon as possible.”

Hmm, suddenly I feel a bit pressured.

But the outcome wasn’t bad.

If I succeed, it’s a jackpot.

If I fail, it’s a no-loss deal.

My pride might take a hit, but…

Since even Rankers couldn’t clear this dungeon, it would just end as a young man’s misadventure, wouldn’t it?

“I understand. Thank you.”

I bowed my head politely.

I know well how big a risk it is to hand over the chance to clear a high-difficulty dungeon.

If things go wrong, they could lose out on a huge reward.

They must be 100% confident I won’t clear it, though.

‘For now.’

I’ll consider myself indebted to her.

Step, step.

I carefully walked towards the ‘door’.

[You can challenge the stage by opening the ‘door’.]

[Will you open the ‘door’?]

Gulp.

I swallowed and took a deep breath.

‘It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.’

‘After all, no one has died, right?’

‘At worst, it’ll just hurt.’

I repeated it dozens of times in my head.

And then.

Clunk!

I boldly opened the door.

[Stage: White-Haired Old Man with Deep Han]

[The Old Man’s hair is covered in cold frost, showing how great his ‘Han’ is.]

[Defeat the Old Man.]

Fwoosh!

As soon as I entered, light enveloped me.

As time passed, it slowly subsided.

Goooooo!

Soon, an immense energy pressed down on my entire body, and the scenery of the cave transformed completely.

“Huuuuk!”

The weight crushing my entire body made a sound like air escaping my lungs.

I could see something in front of me, but it was even hard to keep my eyes open.

What being in the world could emit such a presence?

“What is this, only wretched girls kept coming in, and now an even more pathetic one?”

In the terrifying atmosphere, the Old Man’s voice, which sounded perfectly fine, reached me.

Ah, that.

Is that being the ‘White-Haired Old Man with Deep Han’ who supposedly toys with even Rankers?

I knew he was a formidable boss, but the Old Man’s power certainly exceeded expectations.

Overwhelming combat prowess!

I realized instinctively.

The Old Man could take my life right now with just a flick of his finger.

Gulp, I swallowed.

“Tch- This one isn’t even worth looking at either. I should throw him out quickly.”

Flash!

Just as the Old Man’s glowing gaze was about to turn towards me.

[You face the memory of a ‘Cursed’ deceased!]

[You achieve a hidden condition!]

[This is a hidden condition exclusive to the ‘Unique Ability: Cursed Necromancer’!]

‘Huh?’

My eyes widened at the familiar golden message.

Isn’t this the same content as when the ‘Law of 10,000 Uses!’ was unlocked in the past?

[Condition: Encounter the Memory of the Deceased!]

A Necromancer is, ultimately, an ability that governs the deceased.

Encounter a ‘Cursed’ soul with strong attachment.

‘Cursed’ Necromancer.

‘Cursed’ soul.

Is the feeling that these two curses might be from the same caster just a misconception?

‘Anyway.’

That old man is actually a deceased person.

And he’s cursed, right?

I happened to encounter him, and my hidden condition was unlocked.

[Congratulations!]

[A hidden skill is unlocked!]

[You acquire the skill, ‘Memory Recreation’ (S-grade)!]

Oh my?

My widened pupils expanded even further.

Putting everything else aside, only one thing was visible in my field of view.

‘S-grade.’

What kind of existence is an S-grade skill?

Isn’t it that legendary skill you can only obtain after repeatedly gaining opportunities within opportunities!

‘Is this for real?’

Obtained right upon entering.

I couldn’t gather my senses due to this unexpected opportunity.

Then, another message appeared.

[You are using the skill, ‘Memory Recreation’ (S-grade).]

I’m using the skill?

Ah, now that I think about it.

The Old Man who said he would throw me out hadn’t made any motion.

As if time had stopped or something.

Just as I was about to frown at the strange sense of incongruity.

[You are recreating the memory of the ‘Cursed’ deceased, ‘Master of Supreme Art’.]

[You will be transported shortly.]

Master of Supreme Art?

Who is that?

Is the ‘Old Man with Deep Han’ the ‘Master of Supreme Art’?

And what is Memory Recreation?

How does it happen?

Just as I couldn’t comprehend the message’s content.

Fwoooosh!

An intensely bright light swallowed my entire body.

Whoosh!

I opened my eyes.

The scenery visible was a snow-capped mountain covered in white snow.

There stood a white-haired old man in his early old age.

“Haa, this is really. How can there be no suitable candidate? Tch. But it’s too regrettable to just leave it.”

The Old Man was letting out a sigh with a deeply regretful expression.

‘Hmm?’

I frowned.

No, it would be more accurate to say I tried to frown.

Because I had consciousness but no form.

Is this how it feels to become a ghost?

I was observing the situation from a third-person perspective, as if dreaming.

“Such is the impermanence of life. After all the effort I put into reaching this state, they tell me to abandon it.”

Breath puffed out from the Old Man’s mouth.

I could instinctively read the Old Man’s emotions.

‘First.’

The place where the Old Man lived was not Earth.

It was some new world I didn’t know.

‘Another world…?’

Yes.

The Old Man was a Transcender from another world.

He was the absolute being of that place, teeming with orcs and strange monsters I had encountered.

‘There really was another world?’

It was shocking.

Then again, in a world overflowing with dungeons and monsters, what couldn’t exist?

“……It’s been a long time.”

Along with the Old Man’s lines, his memories flooded into my mind.

“Hehe, it was a fun life, in its own way.”

In a world where only the strong survived.

The Old Man researched numerous types of martial arts and professions.

Swordsman, Spear Art practitioner, Assassin, Archer, Mage, Buffer, Healer, etc…….

“If you just know how to handle energy smoothly, all myriad skills become one.”

The Old Man, who had transcended everything, lived for a very long time.

So much so that he seemed to have transcended death itself.

Sword Master, Martial God, Archmage, Grand Apostle…….

The titles used to refer to the Old Man differed with each era.

But even such an Old Man.

Was it that no one is a match for time?

He continued to age.

Even the ‘energy’ the Old Man was confident in could not stop aging.

It was overwhelming.

“Even cool water feels like swallowing poison, and the once light air now presses down on my body as if to kill me.”

“It’s painful, so painful. I’m thirsty.”

“But I can’t die like this. It’s too unjust to die.”

The Old Man had one attachment.

The collection of techniques he had researched for hundreds of years.

He wanted to leave the Essences of those martial arts to future generations.

For the Old Man, their disappearance was as frightening as losing ‘myself’.

But.

There was no one in the other world who could accept those immense techniques in a short time.

“How can all the talents be so pathetic? I don’t want to spread it to many people. I want to find just one good person and teach them.”

The Old Man traveled all over the empire.

He thoroughly searched even the rural villages of border kingdoms.

However, no one appeared who met the Old Man’s desires.

“Ahh, it’s lamentable! So wanting a single-person succession was just greed after all!”

In the end, the Old Man could not find a successor.

No one could keep up with the Old Man’s talent, a great genius that might appear once in thousands of years.

“Ahhh, please.”

The Old Man realized instinctively.

That he had no time left.

He felt suffocated.

His skin began to melt.

Moisture left his tongue, and his throat and tongue became parched and dry.

“I don’t want to go like this.”

Lacking moisture gathered in his eyeballs.

Tears he hadn’t shed even when his parents died, even when he was stabbed in the chest.

Plop!

They wet the snow of the mountain.

The aging he had forcibly suppressed using ‘energy’ progressed rapidly.

His skin became wrinkled, and his bones gaunt.

“Even if I have to sell my soul…… I want to leave a complete ‘me’ behind.”

Frost formed on his hair, and icicles grew on his beard.

The end of life.

The Old Man’s ‘Han’ was as cold as frost.

[Skill, ‘Memory Recreation’ (S-grade) is ending.]