Chapter Title: Wizley Village (2)
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'What in the world...'
Ribel had seen necromancers before. He'd also seen the skeleton warriors they summoned. That's why he could say this with certainty.
The skeleton warriors currently massacring the goblins and orcs were on a completely different level from any he'd encountered before.
No skeleton warrior could fight with such skill, move with such speed, or possess such raw power as these ones battling right now.
'Is it that black aura?'
There was no other explanation for the unnatural strength these skeleton warriors displayed.
"Ribel!"
At someone's shout, Ribel snapped out of his daze, having been mesmerized by the skeleton warriors' slaughter. He yelled back.
"Support the skeleton warriors! Loose your arrows!"
A few archers nocked and fired their arrows at the goblins and orcs. But the struck monsters ignored the hits and charged the skeleton warriors even more ferociously, intent on destroying them.
In response, the skeleton warriors continued their flawless combat prowess, slaying goblin after goblin and orc after orc. Even Dante, watching from the sidelines, found the display bizarre.
It was as if professional soldiers wielding swords and shields were fighting, not mere skeletons.
'They mentioned an overhaul to the AI for undead summons in the game. Is this the effect of that?'
Dante recalled the major rework one user had done to the necromancer class, including an AI patch. It reduced the summons' idiotic behavior and made them act more in service to the player—a feature added to the class improvement mod. He figured this was the result.
'Yeah. It didn't make sense for mere skeletons—not even death knights or liches—to guard all four directions just because I told them to protect me.'
Remembering how the skeletons had behaved on the way to the village, Dante smiled. No matter the reason, this situation was costing him nothing.
As the fight dragged on, one goblin let out a hideous screech and bolted for the forest. The orcs stayed and battled to the end, but the skeleton warriors cut them all down.
Once the skeletons pursued and finished off the fleeing goblins, another level-up message appeared before Dante's eyes.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ 📛 Name: Dante - Lv 6 💼 Job: Necromancer ⭐ Trait: Max Skill Level ⚡ Strength: 11 💪 Stamina: 26 💨 Agility: 11 ✨ Intelligence: 26 ♦️ Karma: 997,424,457,999
"Level 6 in the blink of an eye. Nice."
He'd burned through a lot of karma learning skills he absolutely needed, but with over 997.4 billion still left, there was no real cause for worry.
'Honestly, that one skill ate up way too much karma.'
It was a skill that didn't even exist in the original game. Upgrading a must-have cheat skill for beginners to the highest rank had cost a bundle, but with karma to spare, Dante had no regrets.
As the skeleton warriors raced back to him after wiping out the monsters, Dante dismissed them.
With a flash of light, the skeletons vanished. Ribel approached Dante and said,
"Thank you so much for your help, Mr. Dante."
"No need. I'm planning to impose on you all for a while, so this is the least I could do. More importantly, we need to deal with those monster corpses. If we leave them like that, they could rise as zombies."
"You're right. So, about that..."
Ribel trailed off, and Dante nodded.
"I'll help out."
"Thank you, Mr. Dante."
Dante joined Ribel and dozens of villagers heading to dispose of the bodies. The villagers began stripping the corpses one by one.
Monster hides made for valuable materials. Goblins were too weak to be useful, but orcs' bones could craft all sorts of items.
It wasn't for nothing that monster hunting was the easiest way to make money in this world.
'It's also the easiest way to die.'
Monsters were tough precisely because they paid well. Proof? Without the skeletons on the way here, Dante might have died.
'Goblins hiding in the brush and sniping with arrows. Total bastards.'
Shaking his head inwardly, Dante quietly approached an orc corpse, extended his hand, and activated a skill he'd prepared for moments like this.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Harvest
A glow emanated from the orc's body, turning it to dust. Then,
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Acquired 'Orc Hide x5'. Acquired 'Orc Bone x3'. Acquired 'Orc Molar x2'.
In the game, you looted monster corpses for items. There was a skill to get more and better loot, and its ultimate version was called Harvest.
It automatically extracted the maximum items from a corpse the moment you used it, storing them straight into your inventory. The pinnacle of looting skills—no need to pick anything up manually.
'And I raised this one to Master rank, the highest grade.'
He used Harvest again, and this time, light poured from multiple monster corpses at once, reducing them to dust. Their items neatly filed into his inventory.
'Normally, inventory weight is limited. But not for me.'
Another cheat bundled with infinite karma mode: unlimited inventory weight. Stuff as many items as you want—no limits.
Not the flashiest cheat, but it massively boosted player convenience. You could fit every item in the game if needed.
"That's the Harvest skill, isn't it?"
Ribel commented as Dante used it. Dante nodded.
"Very useful once you learn it."
After Harvesting several more corpses, Dante told Ribel,
"This is enough for me."
"Pardon? But these monsters were all taken down by you, Mr. Dante. We planned to give you all the byproducts after processing."
"I'll be staying here a while, so think of it as payment for lodging."
Ribel hesitated, then nodded reluctantly.
"I hate to impose, but I'll gratefully accept. We're in dire need of money right now..."
"It's fine."
"No, really. You slew the monsters, and now you're giving us the byproducts too. I can't thank you enough."
Dante just nodded lightly and said,
"Then, please take good care of me while I'm here. In return, I'll help with monster hunting. It's safer for me that way, hunting with you all."
"We'd be eternally grateful."
Dante smiled inwardly. This should score major points with the villagers.
'I can sell the junk items in my inventory at the village's general store. They won't suddenly pull a realism card and limit purchases, right?'
In the game, merchants bought hundreds of goblin hides no problem. Reality wouldn't allow it. Dante hoped this world skipped that realism and waited as the villagers finished gathering valuables from the corpses.
They piled the remains in one spot, and a woman who looked like a mage stepped forward, casting a fire spell.
Flames erupted in midair, incinerating the bodies. To Dante, who'd summoned undead but never seen real magic up close, it was mesmerizing.
"Alright, let's head back!"
Ribel called out, eyeing the burning pile.
"Back to the village, Mr. Dante."
"Got it."
Together, they crossed the wooden wall encircling Wizley Village and entered.