Chapter 4

Whoosh!

As soon as his words ended, a circular magic circle began to etch itself into the ground.

And then,

A skeleton soldier holding a worn-out sword with most of its teeth missing appeared from within the summoning circle.

Tap. Tap.

The skeleton soldier, seeing its master, knocked its upper and lower jaw bones together to express its joy.

[Skeleton Mastery]

Summons a skeleton soldier using a corpse as an offering.

As the skill level increases, the number of soldiers that can be summoned simultaneously increases, and a wider variety of skeletons can be summoned.

-Current number of summonable subordinates: 1

-Current summonable types:

1. Low-level Skeleton Soldier

The 'Skeleton Mastery' skill obtained through leveling up allowed Youshinyun to summon skeletons, the most basic of his summonable creatures.

However, due to the low skill level, he could only summon one low-level skeleton soldier.

But Youshinyun had no particular complaints.

While its combat ability was somewhat lacking, it could still perform reconnaissance duties effectively, and his summon had a clear difference from those of ordinary necromancers.

'This is my first summon, huh.'

Even though he had possessed a force numbering in the thousands in his previous life, the feeling of having a first summon still gave him a strange sensation.

His eyes sparkled.

'Well, let's play a bit.'

He drew up dark mana and began to channel it into the skeleton soldier.

Tap!

The skeleton soldier, following his command, began to swing its sword in the air.

At first, it moved awkwardly, like a marionette doll jerking on strings.

Whoosh!

Swish!

As time passed, the skeleton soldier's movements became increasingly agile and precise.

It was gradually becoming a graceful dance of the sword, far beyond what one would expect from a low-level summon.

Though the skill level was low, Youshinyun, in his previous life, had reached the pinnacle of necromancy.

His unparalleled ability to control summons was being fully demonstrated.

Unfortunately,

Whirr.

The skeleton's sword dance was never completed.

Suddenly, another magic circle appeared on the ground, and the skeleton soldier vanished without a trace.

"Hmm."

Youshinyun let out a faint sigh as the situation ended anticlimactically.

The reason for this was simple.

'Already used it all up?'

The dark mana Youshinyun had absorbed in the Blood Mist Valley had been completely depleted.

The ring of the mana heart had already lost its luster.

In fact, not everything had gone well for him.

There was a significant problem in this world.

The amount of mana in existence was drastically insufficient.

The amount of mana distributed in the atmosphere was far less than half of what it was in his previous world.

This also affected the amount of mana that could be extracted from corpses using the Corpse Extraction skill.

The amount of mana stored in corpses was also significantly less.

Moreover, the Corpse Extraction skill was primarily designed for use on monster corpses.

Monsters carried mana stones in their bodies, allowing for the absorption of a considerable amount of dark mana each time.

If the dark mana extracted from a monster corpse was 10, the amount extracted now was barely 1.

He couldn't help but feel a deep sense of regret.

What good was it to be able to grow the container quickly if the water to fill it was so scarce?

'Is there any way?'

Youshinyun thought hard but could not come up with an easy solution.

There was no way to make the nonexistent mana abundant or to create nonexistent monsters.

A completely new approach was needed.

'Then, perhaps...'

Swoosh.

He turned his head and began to look at the other colored auras with a subtle expression.

There might be a way.

But only for a moment.

He abruptly turned his body and stood in front of another white area nearby.

'To prove it, I need to qualify first.'

He thought to himself and said,

"Corpse Extraction."

He resumed his work.

Part 2

Several days passed.

During this time, Youshinyun consistently went to the Blood Mist Valley at night and continued to perform Corpse Extraction until dawn without a break.

But despite his efforts, the amount of dark mana was still woefully insufficient.

In the midst of this busy situation,

'This...'

Today, he faced another obstacle.

Hiding his body in the darkness, he scanned the area in front of him again.

In his line of sight were warriors patrolling with blue swords drawn.

Youshinyun furrowed his brows.

'This won't work either.'

The paths they patrolled were the same walls he had been sneaking over.

Suddenly, the security around his room had become much stricter.

Or rather, 'surveillance' had intensified.

There was only one person who could have given such an order.

'It must be that guy's doing.'

Youshinyun's mind conjured up the image of Yujinshang, who was smirking.

Anger boiled within him.

He regretted not having the 'Invisibility' skill, which would make his body transparent.

After a moment of contemplation,

He accepted the reality and turned his body.

'I'll go back to my room and find a new escape route.'

He moved silently and slipped back in through the window.

It was no easy task to squeeze his bulky body through.

The moment he was completely inside,

'...!'

Youshinyun's eyes widened in surprise.

In the center of the room, he saw the back of an intruder standing still.

He quickly channeled dark mana from his mana heart throughout his body.

Whoosh!

He swiftly moved behind the intruder.

By wrapping his body in dark mana, he gained a slight physical enhancement, though not significant.

"..."

The intruder showed a frightened reaction, but no sound escaped due to Youshinyun's hand clamped over the mouth.

Youshinyun immediately turned the intruder around to see the face.

A pale, frightened face of a young boy came into view.

'Wang San?'

Even as he saw the trembling eyes of the intruder, Youshinyun did not relax his guard.

He still did not trust anyone.

Youshinyun spoke in a low voice.

"I'll let you go, but you must be quiet."

Wang San nodded repeatedly.

Youshinyun released his grip.

"Huff, huff."

Wang San, freed from his grasp, gasped for breath.

Youshinyun, watching him, said in a cold voice.

"Entering my room without permission, what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Youshinyun's reprimand made Wang San bow his head deeply in apology.

Entering the master's room without permission.

'It doesn't seem like he was sent by Yujinshang...'

He was curious about Wang San's purpose.

"Hmm, never mind. Why did you do this?"

Wang San hesitated for a long time.

He seemed to have something to say.

Tension filled the room.

Then, Wang San said something unexpected.

"Master, are you planning to go out again tonight?"

Wang San knew that Youshinyun went out every night.

Youshinyun pretended not to know and asked.

"What do you mean, go out?"

"Recently, you've been leaving your room every night."

Should I take action?

Youshinyun looked at Wang San with icy eyes.

Wang San, startled, stammered.

"Ah, I haven't told anyone, so you don't need to worry."

He didn't seem to be lying.

Silence filled the room again.

Then, Wang San spoke cautiously.

"Follow me."

Wang San led the way somewhere.

Despite his doubts, Youshinyun followed after a moment of consideration.

'Where is this?'

Wang San led him to a dilapidated warehouse within the courier agency that had been abandoned for years after the agency's decline.

"Ugh!"

Wang San went to a corner of the warehouse and moved a wooden box as big as his body.

Then,

'That is?'

A hole large enough for a person to barely fit through appeared.

Youshinyun looked at Wang San with a questioning gaze, and Wang San spoke cautiously.

"This is a secret hole that is only passed down secretly to long-serving servants. I am the only one who knows about it now."

In simpler terms, it was a secret passage.

It was the perfect solution to his current predicament.

But there was one problem.

'If this place is discovered...'

He would likely get away with no punishment.

But Wang San, who was already in Yujinshang's bad books, might not be so lucky.

He could even be killed.

Wang San waited silently for a response.

Youshinyun, watching him, said in a low voice.

"...You know that my current situation is not something anyone can easily believe."

Wang San's face showed unmistakable disappointment, as if he felt Youshinyun didn't trust him.

But Youshinyun's next words were unexpected.

Youshinyun approached Wang San and said.

"So, let me apologize in advance."

"..."

Youshinyun's palm was already on Wang San's head. Wang San instinctively felt an indescribable fear.

"It will just be a slight sting."

Whoosh!

As soon as he finished speaking, a dark purple aura rose from his palm.

The aura flowed through his hand into Wang San's head.

Wang San's eyes immediately became hazy.

Youshinyun confirmed that the 'Enchantment' skill had worked.

[Enchantment]

Level: E

Proficiency: 0.0%

The most basic mental control skill of necromancy.

When used on someone who has opened their heart to the caster, it can enchant their mind to hear the truth.

Using it for too long can exhaust the target's mind.

Most people only know that necromancers' power lies in summoning undead.

But in fact, mental control skills were another specialty of necromancers.

Mental control skills were a powerful ability.

Once successful, they could make the target act as the caster wished.

Of course, the conditions for the skill were hard to meet, and if the target was well-prepared, it could be easily countered.

Wang San met the condition of 'someone who has opened their heart to the caster,' so the enchantment was successfully activated.

Seeing Wang San's unfocused and dazed expression, Youshinyun felt a twinge of guilt but knew it was necessary.

All potential dangers had to be prevented.

Youshinyun asked his first question.

"What is your relationship with Yujinshang?"

"I have no relationship with Master Yujinshang. He just dislikes me. The reason he dislikes me is..."

'Hmm?'

Youshinyun was taken aback.

Wang San's response continued endlessly.

The effect of the enchantment was too strong. It was almost as effective as a higher-level skill like 'Charm.'

'Ah, I see.'

He could naturally infer why this was happening.

The residents of this world were extremely vulnerable to mental control skills.

'I need to end this quickly before any side effects occur.'

Youshinyun changed his question.

"Why do you follow me so loyally?"

It was the question he was most curious about.

The next moment, Wang San began to speak.

Wang San had been an abandoned child, a weak and sickly beggar who often got beaten by Wang Chao. In unbearable pain, he had wished for his life to end.

But Youshinyun, even as a child, had saved Wang San from a beating and made him his servant.

After waking up, Wang San, for the first time in his life, ate warm rice with tears in his eyes and made a firm resolve.

He would dedicate his newly given life entirely to Youshinyun.

Whoosh.

After confirming everything, Youshinyun immediately canceled the enchantment.

'A loyal fool.'

Youshinyun now fully understood what kind of person Wang San was.

"Ugh! Ow! Huff!"

Wang San groaned and, upon seeing Youshinyun, was startled.

"Tsk, you're in for a tough road."

"Wh-what do you mean, Master?"

Youshinyun said to the bewildered Wang San.

"What do you mean? I'm congratulating you on becoming my subordinate."

Wang San's face brightened.

Thus, Youshinyun gained his first subordinate in the martial world.

Martial World's Reincarnated Top Player