Chapter 1639 – 1639. God’S Atlantis
“This is an interesting situation. Heavenly Demon. Let’s make a deal. I will provide you with equipment to arm the undead and gear used by necromancers.”
“What’s the price?”
“I want the exclusive rights to trade in the Golden Desert.”
“Fine.”
Harmo burst into laughter at the negotiation that ended in just one second.
“Hahaha. You’re very decisive. This is the first time a negotiation has ended so quickly. Heavenly Demon. Aren’t you curious why I’m making this offer to you?”
“You must be doing it because it’s profitable.”
Harmo.
He’s known as the great merchant of the West. He basically doesn’t do anything that would be a loss for him.
And I know that Harmo isn’t just a merchant who only knows how to trade. He’s also skilled in combat, enough to become a member of Helten. Depending on the situation, I can’t easily be sure of victory against him either. It’s better to cooperate than to make him an enemy, as that would be troublesome.
“That’s right. I believe that the Heavenly Demon will become the new ruler of the Golden Desert.”
“Yeah. I have no intention of losing. So, let me tell you this in advance. If you demand an outrageous price just because it’s exclusive, I’ll cut off the deal.”
“Don’t worry about that. You and I aren’t in a normal relationship, so would I try to rip you off? Actually, the exclusive trade rights are just for show. What I really want is the gold from the gold mines. The gold in the Golden Desert is of high quality and has special properties, making it a material that many crafting specialists seek. Just sell the gold exclusively to my merchant guild.”
I stared at Harmo. I could sense hostility from him. Not towards me, though.
“Did something happen with Hatep?”
“I met Hatep this afternoon. As you can see from the guild’s procession, the Lycos Merchant Guild was supposed to trade a large quantity of goods with Hatep. It was such a large amount that I had to come myself. But today, I was turned away at the door. The trust we had built over three years was shattered in an instant.”
“He refused the deal? What kind of goods did you bring?”
“Daily necessities, weapons, and armor needed in the desert. Hatep, on the contrary, told me to sell him gold. I came to buy gold, so would I have gold to sell? I had no choice but to be chased away by Hatep. According to other merchants, Hatep has been obsessed with gold since yesterday.”
“Obsessed with gold, huh? What can he do with gold? Is he making something new?”
“I don’t know the details, but it must be related to the special event happening in the Golden Desert right now. The timing is right.”
“Seeing that you know about the special event… that guy might have gained a skill like me.”
“Are you aware that Hatep has dispatched troops?”
“I encountered his scouts last night. I turned them into mummies and am using them well.”
“Hatep has amassed wealth by exploiting the gold mines. Hatep is somewhat hot-tempered, but he’s not stupid. He invested his wealth in his army. His army is strong. Be careful.”
“I know they’re not an ordinary army. That’s why I’m wandering around the outskirts like this. I can’t win if I engage in a head-on fight right now.”
“Heavenly Demon. With your current army, you can’t defeat Hatep’s army no matter how many you have.”
“That’s why I plan to arm the undead with weapons and armor.”
“That’s not enough. You need to raise the level of the undead, not just equip them with weapons and armor. I saw earlier that you only have low-level undead.”
“I tried to create high-level undead, but it didn’t work out.”
“Haha. I thought so. That’s why I said I would provide necromancer equipment. Here, this is the contract.”
I checked the contract he handed me.
Famous merchants use special contracts befitting their reputation. Contracts that curse you if you break them. But the one Harmo handed me was an ordinary contract.
“This is an ordinary contract, not befitting the reputation of the great merchant of the West.”
“I choose contracts depending on the situation and the opponent. Expensive and special contracts aren’t perfect. You can exploit the loopholes in the contract, and there are ways to break the contract’s curse. For someone I trust, an ordinary contract is enough.”
I wrote my name on the contract.
Harmo carefully took the contract and stored it in his subspace. He then took something out of his subspace and handed it to me.
“I will fulfill the contract. This book will be helpful to you right now.”
I received an old book. It was in terrible condition. Not only was it old, but there were also blank spaces on the pages. It meant that there was no content there.
‘If he’s not trying to trick me, then it’s not an ordinary book.’
「Book of the Dead (1/3)
Increases control over the undead.
You can learn how to create low and mid-level undead.
The stats of the undead you control increase by 5%.
Mana increases by 10.
Rank: A」
It was a good item.
For a necromancer, it was unbelievably good for an A-rank item.
“1/3? Is it not a complete item?”
“Isn’t there blank space? The remaining parts must be hidden somewhere in this desert. Maybe someone has them.”
“Where did you get this?”
“I bought it from an exile. As you can see, the effect is exclusive to necromancers, so it was relatively easy to buy. I was originally going to get rid of it right away… but necromancers are so rare that I’ve kept it until now.”
I opened the Book of the Dead and studied its contents.
“Sacred characters… hieroglyphs. I can’t understand them even if I look at them. Can the Heavenly Demon read them?”
“No. I can’t read them either. But I understand them.”
Harmo looked puzzled. He can’t read it, but he understands it. It was a ridiculously contradictory statement.
But I really did understand the contents of this book.
‘It must be because of my Black Magic Aptitude (SSS) skill.’
I got up from my seat.
“I know how to make mid-level undead. It’s surprisingly easy. I should try it out.”
“I’m curious how you’ll do it. May I watch?”
“I don’t care.”
I went outside the tent and approached the undead army. The dead stood still, not moving at all, following my orders. As I approached, they raised their heads and looked at me.
I looked at the undead and muttered something. I was reciting the spell written in the Book of the Dead. Even I didn’t know what I was saying. Every time I recited the spell, a little bit of mana was drained.
The moment the spell ended, the three ghouls in front of me shattered and began to merge into one. The merged mass of flesh wriggled and then split in half, revealing a new undead.
“Kieeeeeeeek!!”
It was an enhanced ghoul. It was 1.5 times larger than a normal ghoul, and its claws and teeth were much sharper. Above all, poison was dripping from the enhanced ghoul’s body. If attacked by an enhanced ghoul, you would be poisoned.
“Oh! You created an enhanced ghoul from three ghouls! I see how it works. You create a higher-level undead of the same type by using three lower-level undead!”
“No. It’s true that I use three lower-level undead as materials, but the undead that are created are random.”
I recited the spell again. The spell was shorter than before. I had become accustomed to this spell.
Three ghouls were disassembled and merged. The egg made of flesh pulsated a few times and then cracked open. A new undead appeared.
“Clack clack clack!”
A skeleton holding a staff appeared, clacking its jaw. It was a skeleton mage.
I continued to cast spells. This time, I decided to create several at once. Thirty low-level undead turned into ten cocoons. The cocoons split open, and mid-level undead were born. The types were all different.
“Is this how you normally create mid-level undead? It seems too easy.”
“That’s how special this Book of the Dead is.”
I gave a rough answer to Harmo and continued to cast spells. The more I cast, the more accustomed I became. After repeating it four or five times, I could create dozens of mid-level undead at once.
The undead army, which had numbered over a thousand, had shrunk to a third of its original size. On the surface, it seemed like the army had weakened, but the quality of the undead had increased. As a result, the army had become stronger.
“At this rate, you’ll be able to create high-level undead easily.”
“I don’t know, since the method for creating high-level undead isn’t written here.”
Book of the Dead (1/3)
I would probably have to find additional Books of the Dead to create high-level undead.
And I had a way to find the Book of the Dead. As soon as I thought about the Book of the Dead, a mark appeared on the desert map.
The corners of my mouth turned up as I confirmed the locations of the second and third Books of the Dead.
‘My plan has changed. I’ll get the Books of the Dead first, and then kill the ruler of the Golden Desert.’
I received weapons and armor from Harmo. I equipped the skeleton knights with weapons and armor.
“I will provide the weapons and armor as promised, but I would like them back after the job is done. It’s too much of a loss to provide thousands of them.”
“I will.”
I didn’t plan to keep the undead army forever either.
I entrusted the captured beauties to Harmo. It was too dangerous to take the beauties with me.
“I’ll take them safely to the Scorpion Desert, so don’t worry.”
“Also, tell Enas. Tell him to prepare the army so that they can be deployed at any time when I order it.”
• • •
I roamed the desert, attacking tribes. It was to increase the number of undead. As soon as low-level undead gathered, I turned them into mid-level undead. Ten mid-level undead were much better than 100 low-level undead.
When I had about 700 mid-level undead, I encountered the Golden Desert army. Three thousand desert warriors riding camels blocked my path.
‘The quality of the equipment they’re wearing is different. It shows that they’ve spent a lot of money.’
In the desert, camels were no different from horses. There were 3,000 of those expensive camels.
“Hear me, Tutankhamun!”
The voice of one of the desert warriors echoed loudly. Mana was infused into his voice. I moved my gaze to find the source of the voice.
