[Contract Accepted.]
The blue letters burned into my retinas, hovering in the damp air of my apartment.
I didn't feel a surge of mana. I didn't feel my muscles bulging or my bones hardening. I felt… exactly the same.
Hungry. Tired. And weak.
"System," I whispered. "Status."
Ding!
[Name: Kael Mors][Class: Necromancer (F-Rank)][Title: Death's Contractor (Unique)][Mana: 120/120]
[Skills:]1. Summon Skeleton (Lv. 1)
Summons a basic skeletal minion. Durability is comparable to dry wood. Max Summons: 3.
[Unique Traits:]1. Death's Ledger (Active)
Tracks Life Debts. Current Collection: 0/100.
I stared at the skill description. "Dry wood."
Even the System was roasting me.
In the Hunter industry, F-Rank Necromancers were basically janitors. We couldn't fight. Our summons were too slow to tank and too weak to deal damage. We were used to carry luggage or act as bait.
But that was before.
"Summon Skeleton."
The mana in my veins churned—a sluggish, cold sensation. The shadows in the corner of the room twisted.
Clack. Clack. Thud.
A pile of bones spilled out of a black rift and assembled itself.
It stood five feet tall. It held a rusty, chipped dagger. It looked like it would collapse if I sneezed too hard.
"Walk," I commanded.
The skeleton took a step, its leg joint clicking loudly. It wobbled.
"Attack that chair."
The skeleton raised the dagger and swung.
Snap.
The dagger hit the wooden chair. The chair didn't break. The skeleton's arm did. The radius bone snapped in half, and the hand went limp.
I put my face in my hands.
"Unbelievable."
This was my army? I was supposed to hunt Park Jin-ho, an A-Rank awakened, with this? It was like trying to stop a tank with a toothpick.
I dismissed the summon. The bones dissolved into smoke.
I needed to understand the Ledger. The contract said I had to "Collect 100 True Souls." But to collect a soul, they had to owe me a debt. And to get a debt, I had to save their life.
"Save a life," I muttered, grabbing my hoodie. "With what power?"
I stepped out of the apartment.
The air in the hallway smelled of boiled cabbage and cigarettes.
"Hey! You!"
I froze.
A heavy-set man in a grease-stained wifebeater was blocking the stairs. My landlord.
"Mr. Park," I said, keeping my head down. Old habits died hard. "I'll have the rent by Friday—"
"Friday? You said that last week, you little rat!" He poked a sausage-like finger into my chest. "If you don't pay up, I'm throwing your junk on the street. Hunters? Hah! You're just a glorified cosplayer!"
I gritted my teeth.
Suppression. The world loved to kick you when you were down.
I looked up to apologize, but the words died in my throat.
[Scanning Target...]
A new window popped up above the landlord's bald head. It wasn't the blue system window. It was grey, like tombstone granite.
[Target: Landlord Park][Life Value: Negligible][Debt Status: None][Potential Yield: 1 Soul Fragment (Trash Grade)]
My eyes widened.
I could see it. I could see the value of his soul.
"What are you staring at, freak?" He spat on the ground near my shoe.
"Nothing," I said, stepping around him. "You'll get your money."
"Trash grade," I whispered to myself as I hit the street. "Sounds about right."
The city was alive. Neon signs for "Guild Recruitment" and "Dungeon Loots" flickered in the rain.
I walked toward the convenience store, my mind racing. The Ledger didn't specify human lives. It just said "Souls."
Did quality matter?
If I saved a billionaire, was it worth more than a beggar? If I saved a dragon, was it worth more than a goblin?
SCREEEEECH!
The sound of rubber tearing against asphalt shattered my thoughts.
I looked up.
A delivery truck was hydroplaning across the wet intersection. The driver had lost control. The massive vehicle was drifting sideways, tires smoking.
And right in its path, frozen in the headlights, was a dog.
A scruffy, golden retriever mix. It was limping.
"No time," I hissed.
My body moved before my brain could calculate the odds. I sprinted.
But I was F-Rank. My agility was barely above a normal human. I wasn't going to make it. The truck was too fast.
I need reach.
"Summon!"
I didn't summon the skeleton next to me. I threw my mana forward, visualizing the rift opening in front of the dog.
Whoosh.
Black smoke burst from the asphalt three meters ahead.
The skeleton materialized.
"Push!" I roared.
The skeleton didn't have a brain, but it followed the will of its master. It didn't attack the truck. It threw its bony body at the dog.
CRUNCH.
The truck slammed into the skeleton. Bones shattered like glass. The sound was sickening.
But the impact had done its job. The skeleton's lunge knocked the dog sideways, tumbling it onto the sidewalk just as the truck's tires roared over the spot where they had been standing.
The truck slammed into a lamppost. Crash!
Silence.
I stood there, chest heaving, rain plastering my hair to my face.
Did it work?
I looked at the sidewalk. The dog was whining, shaking, but alive.
Then, the world turned grey.
[Condition Met.]
The Grey Window appeared over the shivering dog.
[Target: Stray Dog][Life Value: Low][Debt Status: OWED][Life Debt Formed: Complete Salvation.]
It worked.
A spectral red chain materialized in thin air. One end was wrapped around my wrist. The other end shot out, wrapping around the dog's neck like a leash.
I felt a tug. A connection.
[Rule 2: You may 'Call' the Debt at any time.]
I stared at the dog. It looked at me with big, watery eyes. It wagged its tail tentatively.
If I snapped my fingers now... the dog would die. And I would get +1 Soul.
I looked at my hand. The power over life and death. It was intoxicating. It was terrifying.
"I won't collect," I whispered.
[Debt Archived.]
The red chain faded from view, but I could still feel the weight of it in the back of my mind.
I grinned. The rain tasted sweet.
The system had a loophole.
I didn't need to fight monsters to build an army. I didn't need to be strong to get strong.
I just needed to be the guy who saves people when they're at their lowest. When they're desperate. When they're dying.
I needed to be an Loan Shark of Life.
I looked at the smoking truck, then at the gathering crowd.
"Time to find some bigger clients."
I turned toward the Hunter Association building. The Guild Registration closed in an hour.
It was time to find a party that was doomed to die.