It had been a few hours since I had entered the Library.
It was a secluded place filled with digital data accessible in real time. Some of the information was also conserved in books and other documents, but such methods are archaic and very expensive nowadays.
I was alone in the library—technically. If you didn't count all the eyes spying on me.
I could feel that I was being observed, but it was mostly because those who were watching me weren't exactly subtle.
In fact, the way some of them glared at me was enough to know it was a warning.
The message was clear: stay in your lane and don't fuck around.
They could feel reassured. I wasn't about to try anything—yet. I was more interested in the information I had found about the Necromancer.
That I was alive at all still felt like a dream, but gathering information helped chase away some of the fog clouding my mind.
Necromancers, whether monsters or Hunters who obtained that class, held a D-rank classification.
The first thing I understood was that the term 'Necromancer' was extremely vague. They encompassed all types, depending on the undead they used and whether they focused on curses.
Necromancy was a vast school of magic. Still, they all had the same basic archetype — they raised the dead, kept them between themselves and their enemy, and picked you apart from range. They created zombies for soaking up hits, skeletons for faster melee harassment, and if they were skilled, maybe a wraith or a bone construct as a trump card.
Necromancers were control fighters, not brawlers. They relied on their minions to buy time, and they hated being forced into close combat. Every second you spent wading through their summons was a second they could load you with curses, rot your gear, or cut your stamina with soul magic.
They were glass cannons in theory, but that was only true if you could reach them. Most competent Necromancers fought like spiders — they would set up terrain choke points or trap routes and keep reanimating whatever you've just killed.
Their weaknesses?
Their magic had line-of-sight reliance. Many of their spells and commands needed them to see their target or the corpse they were controlling. Break their vision, and you bought yourself time.
That part made me frown. After all, we were first attacked by the undead far from the Boss gate. This meant that either the Necromancer was strong enough to bypass this weakness, or he had a way to observe his summons from afar.
I noted this and continued reading.
Their army's excessive Mana drain was also another weakness. Maintaining an army eats through the Necromancer's reserves. Force them to waste Mana on throwaway summons, and you'll bleed them dry.
To parry this weakness, Necromancers used magical circles, which converted external Mana into energy, or Mana tanks, they had to keep filled.
This was something else I could target. It wouldn't stop the Necromancer from using a few powerful monsters, but at least we would avoid getting swarmed if the battery was destroyed.
The chief weakness of the Necromancer was his fragile body. Most were physically weaker than the average fighter. If you got past their wall of undead, you could put them down quickly… assuming they didn't have a hidden escape skill.
Another weakness was corpse dependency. No bodies meant no reinforcements. Burn or destroy the corpses, and you cut their options down fast.
Last, there was the standard Holy magic.
Necromancers wouldn't die just by being hit with some Blessed Bolts, but at least holy magic significantly increased the damage they received.
This part was quite complex, as the book's author went off on a tangent about the nature of Holy power, and wondered what could be considered as "truly evil." This was not a debate that interested me. All I needed to know was that Holy magic and weapons imbued with sacred power were useful.
Jana seemed to suffer from PTSD. However, if I could get her to bless a few weapons, our situation might change.
I assumed the Necromancer was D-ranked, which meant he wasn't at the level where his summons could act entirely independently of his will. If I could hit him hard enough, fast enough, his entire undead army would collapse with him.
One problem was getting that opening.
The Death Knight was another problem.
I'd only caught glimpses of it before everything went to hell, but that was enough. Even Iron Fist had succumbed to him.
It wore full plate armor, the blackened steel etched with runes, and moved like the armor wasn't even there. That wasn't something you fought head-on unless you were suicidal.
A Death Knight wasn't just a strong corpse. It was a warrior that had been something terrifying in life, bound to unlife with a core of necrotic Mana. Its strength was on par with a high-tier melee fighter, with speed to match, and enough resistance to shrug off most magic. The worst part? Death Knights didn't tire. Every swing was just as fast and heavy as the first.
There were two ways to deal with one. You could strip its armor and shatter its Mana core, or you could hit the core through the armor with something strong enough to punch clean through. Neither was easily done without serious gear or skills.
The author jokingly added that one could also try to negotiate with the Death Knight. Your chances were minimal, but not zero.
I ignored that ridiculous advice. Life was not an anime, and I did not have the gift of tongues to convert enemies into allies.
Remembering the fight in the dungeon, I thought about something no less headache-inducing than the Death Knight.
The Slime Golem.
That thing was just… wrong. Sure, I'd seen slime before — gelatinous, corrosive blobs that were annoying but predictable. That one hadn't been just slime. It had been packed with corpses. Limbs, skulls, armor scraps — all suspended in the mass like trash in a landfill. Every strike that didn't go deep enough was just swallowed, digested, and absorbed.
It still moved like a normal slime, slow but relentless. You had to destroy the core and neutralize the mass before it stitched itself back together around another corpse.
The combination was nasty. The Death Knight as a wall, the Slime Golem as an area controller, and the Necromancer pulling strings from the rear. This was what made Necromancer so dangerous. Given enough time and resources, a prepared Necromancer could fight well beyond their rank, and the one I wanted to fight seemed plenty prepared.
The worst of all this? He was a Lich. That meant killing his body wouldn't be enough.
Somewhere out there, hidden in gods-knows-what kind of warded vault or cursed pit, was his phylactery, the anchor tying his soul to this world. Thankfully, the phylactery would most likely be in the dungeon, so I hoped that finding it wouldn't be too hard.
Destroy the body without finding that, and all I'd do is buy myself a few weeks before the Necromancer came back, stronger and angrier than before.
Liches were the worst kind of monsters. They had the same tricks as a Necromancer, but their experiences spanned decades, sometimes centuries. Every fight they survived became another lesson, another countermeasure waiting for the next idiot who thought they'd found a weakness.
I was the idiot this time, it seemed.
And the magic… it wasn't just Mana anymore. Liches worked with soulstuff, threading it through their curses, their summons, even their own bodies. Damage that should kill them outright just slowed them down.
One saving grace was that, unlike most Dark Mages, Necromancers and Liches rarely dealt with demons. There was something about how both used Souls and so were more of competitors than anything else.
If I were going to take him down for good, I'd need to either find that phylactery or strip him so bare of resources that he couldn't recover before someone else finished the job. Both sounded impossible. But I'd already died once to him.
And I wasn't planning on letting it happen again.
Dying was painful and quite scary, if I had to be honest, and though it seemed like I needn't fear death anymore, I still feared the pain.
Facing him despite my fears and the risk of dying was crazy, but I wanted to win. I wanted to plunge my bullets or arrows deep in its cranium and make that condescending attitude of his vanish, along with the soulfire in its eyes.
I closed the data window and pinched the bridge of my nose.
This was not something an I-ranked hunter like me should try to hunt down myself. If this were truly not a dream, I should just inform the Guild or sell the information. I am sure I could get a great price.
But things are different now. I am not just a random Hunter anymore.
'Status,' I called out inwardly and marveled at my status screen.
Only a few things had changed, but those alterations were enough for me to feel like a new man.
—-
[Name: Cain Bishop
Affiliation: Training Center
Title: Failed Genius, Lowest Ranked Hunter, The Weakest, Seed of Ouroboros
Race: ????
Rank: I
Age: 21
Negative Status: Corrupted Magic Circuit, Gaze of the Abyss
Main Class: [Maker]; [Time Sovereign ]
Sub Class: Ranger
Time Sovereign Skills: [Save]; [Load]; [Pause], [???]
Maker Skills: [Projection (B)]; [Analysis (A)]; [Reinforcements (B)]
Ranger Skills: [Archery (D)]; [Hawk Eyes (C )]; [Focus (C)]; [Tracking (D)]; [Silent Steps (D)]
Karma Points: 1851
Strength: I-5
Speed: I-5
Dexterity: I-5
Endurance: I-5
Mana: I-5
Resistance: SSS-159
Combat Capacity: ???]
[System Notification: Unique Bloodline detected.]
[Unique Class: Time Sovereign, unlocked]
[System Notification: Determining qualifications to enter the Tower of Trials… Pending...]
So many questions filled my mind when I saw this for the first time.
First…My race was unknown? That was confusing, but the sad thing was that I had no one I could ask about it. All I could do was continue looking at my renewed status.
While my new race was a mystery, at least my class had now been revealed. For years now, I had wondered about my unique power, and now I knew.
[Class: Time Sovereign
Rank: Unique
Death is never the end. It's just a new beginning.
Description: A class born from the Authority of the Black Snake that Eat its Own Tail, Ouroboros.
As a Sovereign class, it's the highest possible Tier related to time manipulation. One that defies even Death.
Grow by consuming the Karma they accumulate across timelines and bringing forth countless possibilities to life while defying pre-determined Fate.
Warning: The Authority dwelling in your body is still fragile. If your Determination falters, this power may dilute until it vanishes.]
The explanations were clear enough. Seeing the skills I had, I could understand what kind of class this was. I was itching to try them now, but using skills in the Library was forbidden.
The only vague thing was this 'Determination.' How did I know if I had enough of it?
My questions increased even as I received more answers. The only reason I wasn't going crazy thinking about all the implications was because I knew I needed to focus.
'Growing by devouring Karma, huh.'
My eyes trailed over the Karma Points section, and it suddenly expanded.
[KP Log: Lifetime Accumulation]
Recent Combat: Necromancer Gate (Party)
- Slimes (F) ×25: 125 KP → Party Share (50%): 62 KP
- Zombies (F) ×3: 24 KP → Party Share (50%): 12 KP
Subtotal: 74 KP
Training Period: Sedated Goblins (5 Years)
- Goblins (F, weakened) ×1,521: 1 KP each = 1,521 KP
Dungeon Gate: Civilian Rescue
- Goblins (F) ×7: 8 KP each = 56 KP
- Rescue Bonus: 100 KP
Subtotal: 156 KP
Dungeon Break (8 Years Ago): Civilian Rescue
Civilians Rescued ×2: 50 KP each = 100 KP
Strong Fate Bonus: Both individuals possessed significant fate threads, amplifying karmic reward despite Cain's low rank.
----------------------------------------
Total KP Accumulated: 1,851 KP
----------------------------------------
[System Tip: KP — Karma Points — are awarded for affecting Fate. Yours and the others.
Defeating enemies, completing objectives, performing acts of significance that affect other entities, saving people or committing great evil. Morality is irrelevant. The more fates affected, the more points received.
Stronger foes and riskier achievements grant higher KP. At the moment, KP may be spent to upgrade Stats and purchase Skills or buy modifications later.]
[Note: Stat tier upgrades require KP. Tier transition costs ("Gate Fees") increase sharply at higher levels. Certain penalties apply to Mana because of Corrupted Circuit status.]
The panel hovered in front of me, faint blue light bleeding into the dark.
1,851 KP.
A number that seemed neither large nor small. It resulted from my meager efforts over the years and, if the explanation was to be believed, the Fates I changed.
In a way, this felt like a jab. As if someone were telling me that this was all to which I amounted. The sum of one life.
It…hurt, if I had to be honest. It stung a little. But, it was also proof that my life was not entirely worthless.
I focused on the events from eight years ago, and seeing the 100 points I had received then, made me smile a bit, uplifting my mood.
Though it was quite sad that inequality between people existed even before Fate.
I closed my eyes and took a deep calming breath.
My mind was sharp now.
Rather than whine and cry about how little I had done in my first life, it was better to focus on how I could use those points to change my current existence.
Thankfully, I understood the concept of KP. This was something with which I was already familiar.
Coins.
The Constellations sponsored people who climbed the Tower and could receive coins, which allowed them to access a store. Here they could buy potions or weapons, and sometimes even class-related skills.
My situation seemed to be different, be it in how I acquired the coins or points and in the way I could spend them.
My heart started beating fiercely in my chest.
The one problem that had plagued me all this time: my stats.
Perhaps?
'Bring my mana to F-rank.' I commanded, almost impulsively. But the answer I got in return was disappointing.
[You do not have enough Karma]
[Note: Mana upgrade will incur Corrupted Circuit Fee (+25% applied).]
I wanted to curse in disappointment, but I also felt so good I wanted to cry. Perhaps I didn't have enough points now, but eventually I would.
Leaving my I-rank position was possible now.
The corruption was still causing me problems, but when compared to everything I had gotten, this seemed like nothing but a minor inconvenience.
I wiped the tear at the corner of my eye and looked at the skill options.
Many skills of different ranks appeared, almost dazzling me. There were so many good ones! But the price of some made my eyes twitch. From A-ranked skills that cost tens of thousands of points, to D-ranked skills that seemed more affordable.
In a way, this made my current status more impressive than I had first thought. My Maker skills were at an all-high ranking.
I smiled as I thought.
'Buy the C-rank skill, Holy Lance.'
If I were going to fight a Necromancer, then getting a few Holy skills would be useful.
But, I was disappointed.
[You do not meet the stats requirements. Stats requirements for C-rank skills are to have at least 3 stats at D-rank or above.]
This was interesting. I wonder who established those limitations. Was it done intentionally, to stop me from buying extremely powerful skills from the start, or was it a limitation of my own authority?
Since no answer was coming, I performed another test.
'Buy the F-rank skill, Light Bolt.'
[You do not meet the stats requirements. Stats requirements for F-rank skills are to have at least 2 stats at G-rank or above.]
My eyes fell on my stats again.
[Strength: I-5
Speed: I-5
Dexterity: I-5
Endurance: I-5
Mana: I-5
Resistance: SSS-159]
Well…
The requirements were clearer now. For any skills I wanted, two or three stats had to be at least one rank lower than the rank of the skill I wanted.
Since my Resistance stats were already to SSS, didn't this mean I only needed one or two stats to meet the requirements?
This was great news.
So I searched for H-ranked skills, since they would match my current status.
Sadly, I received this notification.
[The lowest rank available in the shop is F-rank.]
This was…quite upsetting. But at least now I had a clear goal.
Time to raise my stats!