The Hunter Association Hall smelled like cheap coffee and dried blood.
It was a smell I hadn't missed.
Hunters swarmed the lobby like ants. Some were polishing massive broadswords, others were shouting into phones, trying to haggle for better potion prices.
To them, this was a job. To me, it was a grocery store. And I was shopping for lives.
I pulled my black hoodie lower, obscuring my face. I didn't want to be recognized. Not yet.
I pushed through the crowd, heading straight for the "Free Agent" board. This was where the desperate gathered. The solo players. The outcasts. The ones who couldn't get into a decent guild.
My eyes scanned the digital postings.
[Looking for Healer! D-Rank Party. Split 60/40.][Need Tank for Slime Farm. Safe run.][LF DPS. Must have fire attribute.]
Useless. Safe runs meant no danger. No danger meant no saving lives. No saving lives meant no Debts.
Then, I saw it.
[URGENT: Goblin Cave (E-Rank). Tank & Support needed immediately. High clear speed required. NO HEALER. 4-man split.]
"No Healer," I muttered, a small smile touching my lips. "Perfect."
A party without a healer in a Goblin Cave was a walking coffin. Goblins used poison. Without an antidote or a cure spell, a scratch meant death.
They were begging to be saved.
I walked over to the reception desk where a group of three men were waiting. They looked impatient.
The leader was a mountain of muscle. He wore heavy plate armor that looked too shiny—probably polished to hide the cheap quality. He was chewing gum loudly.
"Are you the leader?" I asked.
The big man stopped chewing. He looked me up and down.
"Yeah. I'm Kang-su. D-Rank Warrior." He puffed out his chest. "You the Tank?"
"No," I said calmly. "Support."
"Support?" He squinted at me. "You look like you'd snap in a stiff breeze. What's your class?"
The other two party members—a skinny Archer and a nervous-looking Thief—snickered.
I didn't blink. "Necromancer."
Silence.
Then, Kang-su burst out laughing.
"A Necromancer? You mean a Bone-Boy?" He slapped his knee. "Hey guys, look! We got a grave robber! What are you gonna do, summon a ribcage to tickle the goblins?"
[Suppression Active.]
The mockery stung, but it was familiar. In my past life, this was where I would have shrunk back. I would have stuttered. I would have begged for a chance.
But today, I saw something else.
[Scanning Target...]
A grey window floated above Kang-su's head.
[Target: Kang-su (D-Rank)][Life Value: Low][Debt Status: None][Note: Overconfident. Prone to reckless charges.]
He wasn't a bully. He was a piggy bank.
"I have a summon," I said, keeping my voice flat. "It can act as a meat shield. It doesn't feel pain. It doesn't need a share of the loot. Just the entry fee."
Kang-su wiped a tear from his eye. "A free meat shield? Well, shit. If you want to die that badly, sign the waiver."
He tossed a datapad at me.
"Just don't expect us to save your ass when your little skeleton falls apart," Kang-su sneered, turning his back. "Great. A bone-boy. Don't get in the way."
I signed the waiver.
Kael Mors.
"I won't," I whispered. "I'll be right behind you."
[Dungeon: Goblin Cave][Difficulty: E-Rank (Adjusted)][Party Members: 4]
The gate rippled like a disturbed pond.
We stepped through.
The air inside was stagnant. It smelled of wet fur and rot. The cave walls were slick with moss, and the only light came from the luminescent fungi clinging to the ceiling.
"Alright, listen up!" Kang-su shouted, his voice echoing too loudly for a stealth mission. "I take point. Archer, you watch the back. Thief, check for traps. Bone-boy..." He waved his hand dismissively. "Just try not to trip."
"Understood," I said.
I stayed in the back. I didn't summon my skeleton yet. I needed to conserve mana.
We moved deeper.
Skitter. Skitter.
"Did you hear that?" the Thief whispered, his dagger shaking.
"Just rats," Kang-su grunted. "Stop being a coward."
I narrowed my eyes. My [Death Perception]—a passive perk of being a Necromancer—was tingling.
It wasn't rats.
The shadows were too deep here. The air was too heavy.
"Wait," I said.
"Shut up," Kang-su snapped. "I'm the leader here. I say we—"
RUMBLE.
The ground beneath our feet shuddered. Dust rained down from the ceiling.
"Earthquake?" the Archer yelped.
"No," I said, looking back at the entrance. "A trap."
CRASH!
A massive slab of rock, hidden in the ceiling, slammed down behind us. It sealed the entrance with a deafening boom.
Dust billowed out, choking us.
"Cough! Cough! What the hell?" Kang-su waved his hand through the dust, his face pale. He ran to the rock and slammed his fist against it.
It didn't budge.
"We're trapped," the Thief whimpered. "Oh god, we're trapped."
"Calm down!" Kang-su roared, though his voice cracked. "We just clear the dungeon! The exit portal opens when the Boss dies! It's just an E-Rank!"
I stood silently in the back, watching the dust settle.
This wasn't an accident. E-Rank dungeons didn't have mechanism traps like this.
Something had changed.
Skreee!Skreee!
From the darkness ahead, red eyes began to open. Dozens of them.
They weren't the small, fearful eyes of normal goblins. These eyes were burning with intelligence. And hunger.
"Those aren't normal goblins," the Archer stammered, backing away.
I looked at the grey windows popping up over the monsters.
[Target: Hobgoblin Scout][Rank: D]
They weren't E-Rank fodder. They were evolved.
Kang-su drew his greatsword, his hands trembling slightly. "Form up! Defensive formation!"
He looked at me. The mockery was gone, replaced by genuine fear.
"Hey! Bone-boy! Summon that shield of yours! Now!"
I smiled.
The market was open.
"Summon Skeleton."
Crack.
My brittle skeleton pulled itself out of the ground. It stood next to me, rattling.
"Good luck," I said softy.
The Hobgoblins shrieked and charged.
The investment phase was over. It was time to accrue some interest.