Aaran panted and lay sprawled on the ground. While the pom-poms were a decent support weapon, using them was exhausting.
"At least we won," Aaran smiled.
As much as Aaran desired rest, there was more work to do. He sat up and noticed the familiar smoke coming out of the hobgoblin. Aaran brought his core out and absorbed the hobgoblin's soul.
[450 mana gained from absorbing Elite-tier hobgoblin soul.]
[Elite soul absorbed! A skill will be absorbed from the soul at random.]
The next moment, a book appeared in his hands.
"Interesting… so I can get skill books from absorbing souls."
Aaran's admiration for necromancy soared at the moment. Learning new skills was important for one's growth. Unfortunately, there weren't many ways to earn skills… naturally.
Most people were born with skills or learn from masters. The only other way to learn skills was through skill books. But those were hard to come by and very expensive, like the one in his hands.
"Even a common-grade skill book could fetch five gold. Though I'll have to get it appraised first."
To put it in perspective, in Aurelia, a single gold coin was enough for the middle class to live comfortably for a year without worries or jobs.
That's why the [Soul Absorption] was a cheat skill.
"It makes me wonder if that's why the dark magicians were hunted like rabid dogs."
From what little Aaran knew and experienced, necromancers had endless growth potential. Since they were associated with darkness, it was natural for the empire to feel threatened by them.
There's another reason for their hostility. But it's not like they'd tell anyone about it.
Another notification popped up before him, along with a white tattoo of a chest on his hand.
[An authority has been awarded for your entertaining performance.]
+++
Name: Eternal Vault
Rank: Divine
Description: After years of prayers and sacrifices, the forgotten gods awarded this authority to a king whose hunger for riches was insatiable. No one knows how he met his end, but the mark of the gods remains, now bound to a worthy successor.
Functions:
— Storage: Constitutes most of the vault. Can store anything, even corpses and undead within. Objects inside remain in a preserved, timeless state.
— Material section: The second half of the vault. It is used to store repair materials necessary for automatic repairs.
Enchantments:
— Auto repair: As long as the [Materials] section has enough components, the inventory can automatically repair damaged items inside the [Storage] section.
— Auto-Sort: The inventory organizes itself automatically, making item retrieval easier.
— Weightless: The user feels no weight from their stored items, no matter how heavy the load is.
+++
As Aaran read the description, his eyes shifted towards the hobgoblin. Its body was riddled with wounds, beyond saving with his basic necromancy. But if the inventory could repair anything, then maybe he didn't need to lose a precious pawn there.
There's no harm in trying.
Aaran pointed his palm towards the hobgoblin. The invisible tattoo showed itself, sucking the corpse inside.
Quick and effortless extraction.
After scanning the [Charm Store] countless times after his rebirth, Aaran knew no storage space came even close to the vault. But after opening the vault, Aaran realized something.
[Insufficient materials. Cannot proceed with repair.]
I need materials.
Without a second thought, Aaran pointed at the mind-controlled goblins and gave the undead one command.
"Kill them, but make it clean."
Within seconds, the undead dragged the corpses to Aaran. He assigned them to the material section and waited. A second later, the repair timer on the hobgoblin's corpse started ticking down.
[Insufficient materials. Proceeding with partial (27%) repair.]
Aaran sighed. He hoped the two corpses would be enough, but it wasn't like he lacked goblin corpses.
"Fetch me all the goblin corpses."
Since the goblins killed by the hobgoblin weren't in the condition of being used as materials, the undead left to retrieve the one they had killed earlier.
As they left, Aaran checked the final notification.
+++
The Dream Dungeon will be converted into a Daily Dungeon.
— The difficulty would increase proportionally to the user's stats/level.
— Summoning restriction has been lifted.
— The Charm Store usage restriction has been lifted.
+++
The words flashed before Aaran, but he wasn't paying attention to them anymore. He was busy jumping around the boss room.
The daily dungeon was a treasure trove for him. He could enter the dungeon and farm mana every night. The biggest issue in his path to becoming a necromancer was pushed aside. His mana deficiency wasn't an issue anymore!
But it was just the beginning. The dungeon had turned into a gift that kept on giving.
While dancing around, Aaran tripped over the discarded hand cannon.
"Son of a—!"
Aaran wanted to curse but was shocked into silence when he turned. The hand cannon slowly shrank until it was the size of a regular revolver. It felt as if Aaran's touch had triggered something in the weapon.
The gun had completely changed its appearance. It wasn't bulky anymore but felt as light as a feather when Aaran picked it. Strange red symbols were engraved on the barrel, while a strangely light black metal made up the body.
+++
Name: Twilight Requiem
Rank: ???
Description: A revolver crafted by the great blacksmith, ???. The masterpiece was left incomplete for unknown reasons. The weapon deals two types of damage as long as Darkness and Divinity are available for use.
Skill:
[Duality]
— Abyss Rounds:
>> Made of darkness, these bullets can phase through any non-living obstacle to hit their target.
>> Deals 15% of target's missing HP as [True Damage]. If used on a divine creature, it deals double the damage.
>> Eclipse: Lower the target's total defense by 20% for 5 seconds. Critical hits increase the duration by 3 seconds (stacks up to 3 times.)
>> [LOCKED.]
— Judgement Rounds:
>> Made of divinity, the bullets ignore defensive buffs and other damage-reducing resistances.
>> Restores 30% of the damage dealt as HP to the user.
>> Reckoning: Increases the damage to enemies by 7% after being hit. (stacks up to 3 times.)
>> [LOCKED.]
Special Features:
— Featherweight: Made with an unknown metal the weapon is virtually weightless and strangely produces almost no recoil.
— Adaptation: Can instantly switch between Abyss and Judgement rounds based on the user's wish. No manual reload is required.
— Defect: As an incomplete weapon, the weapon sometimes alters the bullet trajectory, misfiring three out of twelve times.
+++
This weapon is broken… literally.