Chapter 3

One

“Uaaaaah!”

Clang! Bang!

Yujinshang began smashing the porcelain items lined up in his room one by one.

Amidst the scattered shards on the floor,

Yujinshang glared at the distant door of Youshinyun with a murderous intent in his eyes.

“That trash, how dare he!”

A thick aura of killing intent emanated from his body. He wanted to tear Youshinyun limb from limb right away.

To be hit from behind.

He had never experienced such humiliation in his life.

Guo Jiaozhu pushed his subordinates out and spoke to the agitated Yujinshang.

“There are many eyes watching, Lord. Please calm down.”

“Do I look like I can calm down! That scum dared to lay a hand on me! A man I couldn’t even look in the eye before he woke up, how dare he!”

Seeing Yujinshang, who was fuming and unable to control his anger, Guo Jiaozhu hesitated to speak.

‘Does he not realize at all?’

Yujinshang had not noticed at all that Youshinyun had infiltrated their blind spot.

He was consumed by anger.

He pondered for a moment whether he should tell him this fact.

‘...No way. It must have been sheer luck.’

He shook his head.

He simply couldn’t believe that Youshinyun, who had never practiced martial arts in his life, could have intentionally succeeded in such an act.

He dismissed it as overthinking.

Then, with a strange smile, he whispered to Yujinshang in a small voice.

“What’s the point of getting angry at someone who will soon die again, Lord?”

Feeling a chill from those words, Yujinshang finally calmed down.

“...What do you mean?”

Guo Jiaozhu continued with a snake-like expression.

“It wouldn’t be strange if a man who has already died once were to die again soon.”

A glint appeared in Yujinshang’s eyes.

“I will order them to prepare for the ritual to revive him.”

“Oh! Good, good. Go quickly.”

Hearing this, Yujinshang finally seemed to calm down, nodding his head repeatedly.

After Guo Jiaozhu finished his bow and left for somewhere,

Yujinshang looked at the shattered porcelain pieces on the floor and smiled sinisterly.

‘Tsk, arrogant scum. You got lucky and avoided your fate, but this time I’ll make sure you end up a proper corpse!’

Two

Not far from the Baiyun Escort Agency, on Zhujian Mountain, there was a forbidden area that even Hangzhou natives dared not enter.

It was the Blood Mist Valley, where no one who entered could ever leave alive.

The entire valley was always shrouded in a thick, impenetrable mist.

While the world trembled in fear, calling it a curse from heaven that disoriented those who ignored the warnings,

in fact, the mist in the Blood Mist Valley was merely a side effect of the formations set up by both sides during the Zhengma Battle over two hundred years ago.

However, a man appeared in the Blood Mist Valley.

Rustle.

The man, who emerged from the bushes, was dressed in silk that looked expensive at first glance.

“Phew, is this it?”

It was none other than Youshinyun.

‘If the place where the most evildoers died is the Blood Mist Valley... Huh! S, surely you’re not really going in, are you?’

After finding out the approximate location of the Blood Mist Valley from Wang San,

he waited until everyone was asleep, then sneaked out of his room and headed straight here.

Avoiding the guards at the main gate of the escort agency was not difficult.

‘Escaping from the enemy’s eyes in secret is something I experienced to the point of nausea in my previous life.’

The only difficult part was one.

“Phew, damn body. It’s so tiring.”

He sighed.

His body being overweight was more painful than he had expected.

Even though he hadn’t climbed much, his legs were trembling as if an earthquake had struck, and sweat was pouring down like rain.

But that was only for a moment.

Youshinyun began to carefully examine his surroundings.

Fortunately, there were no signs of anyone nearby.

Or, even if someone was there, they wouldn’t recognize him due to the thick fog.

“Alright, let’s go.”

With confidence, Youshinyun cautiously stepped into the deep fog.

Thud! Thud!

Despite the fog that made it impossible to see even a foot ahead, he walked without hesitation.

He was not worried about getting lost.

Because in front of his eyes, there were his own ‘landmarks’.

For some reason, only to his eyes, colorful light beams were shimmering on the surface of the Blood Mist Valley’s ground.

These light beams completely solved the problem of the obscured vision caused by the fog.

Satisfied, Youshinyun smiled and thought to himself.

‘As expected, where many evildoers died, there are many strong deceased.’

Indeed, these lights indicated the locations where the deceased were buried.

Moreover, the color of the light varied according to the strength of the deceased buried underground.

Snap!

He stopped in front of the ground where a white light was shimmering.

That is, where a white-level deceased was buried.

White was the light emitted by the weakest deceased.

According to his experience from his previous life, it was equivalent to the strength of a sturdy adult man.

In the past, he wouldn’t have even glanced at it.

‘But now, only white is possible.’

Currently, his necromancy skill was at the lowest grade E, so he could only target this white-level deceased for now.

Youshinyun knelt on one knee and placed his hand on the ground.

Then he moved his lips slightly.

At that moment,

Whoosh!

A phenomenon occurred.

The light shimmering on the ground began to transform into a pale mist.

This ethereal energy floated in the air and then,

Whoosh!

began to be sucked into Youshinyun’s hand.

[The effect of the skill, ‘Spirit Extraction,’ is activated.]

[The deceased is suitable for the skill level.]

[The energy of the deceased is beginning to be absorbed.]

It was the moment his skill, ‘Spirit Extraction,’ was activated.

[Spirit Extraction]

Level: F

Proficiency: 0.0%

Extracts various energies from corpses and absorbs them into the user’s body.

The higher the level and proficiency, the better quality and quantity of energy can be extracted.

Sweat was forming on his forehead.

Spirit Extraction was a basic skill for necromancers, but it consumed a considerable amount of mental energy.

The reason was that the energy absorbed by Spirit Extraction was very ‘diverse,’ as described in the skill description.

It might be hard to understand why.

Diversity might seem like an advantage at first glance.

But when the skill level was low, like now, the disadvantages far outweighed the benefits.

[The deceased’s poison has been absorbed.]

[You have temporarily entered a poisoned state.]

[The damage is reduced due to the skill, ‘Poison Resistance.’]

[The deceased’s corrupted essence has been absorbed.]

[You are beginning to hear hallucinations due to the mental shock.]

Indeed, among the various energies absorbed, the bad ones were more numerous than the good ones.

Youshinyun gritted his teeth and sighed inwardly.

‘To gain power, pain must accompany it. It really feels like a masochist designed this trait.’

This was a clear example of why necromancers were often mocked by other hunters.

The intense poison and hallucinations were tormenting Youshinyun.

But he did not stop the Spirit Extraction.

Pain was not just familiar but almost intimate to him.

This level of pain was like a mere tickle to him.

And finally,

[You have absorbed a tiny amount of ‘Negative Mana’ from the deceased.]

The message he had been waiting for appeared.

‘Great!’

Youshinyun rejoiced.

A cold, icy sensation spread through his body.

This was the power that formed the core of necromancy traits: ‘Negative Mana.’

At that moment of joy,

System messages appeared one after another.

[You have gained 100 experience points.]

[Your experience points have reached the maximum.]

[Your level has increased to 2.]

[Some skill seals have been lifted.]

[The seal on the skill, ‘Skeleton Mastery (E),’ has been lifted.]

[The seal on the skill, ‘Enchantment (E),’ has been lifted.]

[Your Strength stat has increased by 3.]

[Your Agility stat has increased by 2.]

[Your Health stat has increased by 4.]

[Your Mana stat has increased by 3.]

[The proficiency of the trait, ‘Necromancy (E),’ has slightly increased.]

[The proficiency of the skill, ‘Spirit Extraction,’ has increased by 3.0%.]

‘Level up already?’

He couldn’t hide his surprise.

Just using the skill once, and he already leveled up.

Even if he had hunted several low-level dungeon monsters alone, it would have been barely possible.

Leveling up as a player was not an easy task.

But the surprising part didn’t end there.

‘Why did the proficiency increase so much?’

Skill proficiency was notoriously slow to increase.

Yet, it had increased by 3% just from one use.

Both values were increasing at an unbelievable speed compared to his previous life.

After much contemplation, Youshinyun could only come to one conclusion.

‘It must be that I’m getting additional experience and proficiency now.’

It meant that the system was giving him extra experience after the forced reset.

It reminded him of the experience event given to returning players after a long absence.

While he always thought the interface system felt like a game, the absurdity of this situation hit him.

‘Well, if they’re giving it, I should gratefully accept it.’

However, regardless of the circumstances, it was beneficial to him.

There was no reason to refuse.

Youshinyun then turned his attention to the other messages.

‘As expected, sealed skills are unlocked when you level up.’

He remembered seeing a phrase in the status window that said skills would be unlocked when certain conditions were met.

It seemed that leveling up was the solution.

However,

‘Should I try an experiment?’

Youshinyun took a bold step further.

The negative mana that had entered his body was quietly stationary, rooted in his head without any movement.

It was inert.

Unlike the highly active ‘positive mana’ used by other hunters, this was a characteristic unique to negative mana.

Hum!

Then, Youshinyun began his experiment.

He started to force the negative mana to move within his body.

When he forcefully pushed it, the silent negative mana rebelled and showed a completely different side.

It began to rage uncontrollably.

Drip.

‘Grr!’

A stream of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth due to the massive shock from within.

Negative mana was not docile. It was a fierce beast defending its territory.

Youshinyun’s body trembled like a leaf.

As the negative mana passed through his body, which was full of toxins, it bristled.

The pain felt like being stabbed mercilessly by knives and needles all over his body.

But Youshinyun endured without even a small groan.

‘This moment is the most crucial!’

He clenched his teeth and tried to send the negative mana to a specific location.

Boom! Boom!

The negative mana began to relentlessly pound the wall of toxins blocking its destination.

With each collision, his vision blurred.

If he lost focus even a little, he would lose consciousness.

The worst-case scenario could happen.

‘Just a little more!’

He held on to his mental focus until the end.

Then,

Boom!

A massive firework sound echoed in his ears.

‘Done!’

He rejoiced inwardly.

The negative mana had successfully entered its final destination: the ‘heart.’

Upon reaching the heart, the negative mana began to show a different form.

It started to rotate in a whirlwind around the heart, taking on a shape.

It was like a ‘ring.’

[Conditions met. Skill unlocked.]

[The skill ‘Negative Mana Heart (D)’ has been unlocked.]

As the message appeared, a smile finally spread across Youshinyun’s face.

‘Success.’

His experiment was a success.

Or, more accurately,

‘It’s possible to unlock skills through methods other than leveling up.’

[Negative Mana Heart]

Level: D

Proficiency: 0.0%

Unlike dragons, who are born with the blessing of mana, humans need to artificially create a circuit and heart in their bodies to store and handle mana.

The more circles surrounding the mana heart, the more negative mana it can store.

-Current number of circles: 1

‘Great! It’s a stable flow.’

The negative mana that had entered the mana heart was now actively circulating through the mana circuit in his body.

His face, which had regained its color, was now flushed.

The negative mana repeatedly moved through the mana circuit, burning away the toxins that had accumulated in his body.

Although it was only a small part of the mountain of toxins, it was already showing significant effects.

The terrible pain gradually subsided until it was no longer felt.

“Phew, now I can survive.”

Youshinyun sighed in relief, feeling the single ring that had formed in his heart.

He had not lost the hidden piece that was the source of all his power from his previous life.

In fact, necromancers do not use a mana heart.

The mana heart is a skill used by mages, elementalists, and knights who use positive mana.

Necromancers store negative mana in a ‘mana library’ created in their ‘brain.’

That’s why the negative mana extracted through Spirit Extraction was initially stored in his head.

However, using the brain as a storage space for negative mana was extremely risky.

After all, it was the brain.

Even a small mistake in drawing out the mana could result in severe side effects, such as becoming a fool.

As the amount of negative mana increased, it would gradually deteriorate the mind and physical abilities.

Therefore, in his previous life, Youshinyun had attempted the extreme method of forcibly moving the negative mana to his heart and creating a mana library there.

And as a result,

He became the only person in the world to possess a ‘Negative Mana Heart’ composed of negative mana.

Now, he no longer had to worry about any side effects.

He proudly puffed out his chest with a sense of accomplishment.

“Alright, then.”

It was time to check the new skill he had just obtained.

Whoosh!

Youshinyun focused the negative mana flowing in his mana heart into his hand.

Then he cast the skill.

“Raise Skeleton.”

Wulin Saga: Reincarnated Ranker