Chapter 3
Three Awakener team members were walking through the forest inside the gate, occasionally glancing behind them.
Following them were skeletons, carrying monster by-products and trailing behind them.
I said with shining eyes,
“This… has potential.”
Even though I only added the command to follow them and removed the combat commands from the existing ones, the skeletons were performing quite well as porters.
After all, the evasion and movement algorithms were already built-in.
At that moment, one of the skeletons dropped the by-products it was carrying when they got caught on a tree branch.
This hadn’t happened when I was leading them alone, as the leading skeletons would clear obstacles.
“I need to increase the evasion radius.”
Since the magic circle was only visible to me, I didn’t hesitate to generate a new one.
“I’ll link the evasion radius to the volume of the by-products… okay.”
After making a simple adjustment, the skeletons now passed through the trees, successfully carrying the by-products.
With an excited expression, I said,
“If I hire skeletons as porters, I can just sit back and make money.”
Though there were still a lot of things to patch, it was far easier, overwhelmingly so, than creating combat skeletons.
At that moment, monsters appeared, and the Awakener team quickly assumed battle positions.
However, one of the monsters targeted a skeleton acting as a porter and charged at it.
According to the pre-programmed commands, the skeleton started spinning around the Awakener team, dodging the monster.
I grinned and said,
“Good, good.”
Meanwhile, the Awakener team, after finishing the battle, said with astonished expressions:
“Wow… this is comfortable.”
“Yeah, we don’t have to worry about the porters.”
Battles were one thing, but Awakener teams also had the responsibility of protecting their porters.
But these were skeletons—lifeless beings.
“All it needs is a bag, and it would be perfect.”
“But what if it gets destroyed?”
The customers’ new complaint.
I paused for a moment, thinking.
“Destroyed…”
Right now, since I’m around, I can just remake them, but what if the customers take the skeleton porters without me and they get destroyed? What would happen to the by-products they were carrying?
Of course, human porters face the same risk, but I needed to find something special about the skeleton porters that would make them stand out.
“Wait. A bag?”
The reason porters carry bags is for storage.
And bipedal creatures aren’t naturally suited for carrying and storing things.
“Wait a minute. If I combine this well…”
I said to the Awakener team,
“Could you wait for a moment? I’ve just had a good idea.”
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The Awakener team, having received Han Ji-hyuk’s request, decided to take a short break.
“Not bad, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“At first, it felt strange having the skeletons follow us, but it’s actually a lot more comfortable than I thought.”
At that moment, one of the Awakener team members said with a slightly worried expression:
“But they look really fragile. It makes me uneasy.”
Since they’re just bones, they seem like they’d break with just one hit.
If they get destroyed, the amount of by-products they can carry would decrease, meaning less income.
“Come on, it’s free, so let’s enjoy it today. If they break, we’ll just make new ones.”
“That’s true.”
As they continued their conversation, Han Ji-hyuk approached, dragging something behind him.
“Sorry for the wait.”
“Oh, you’re done?”
The Awakener team turned to Han Ji-hyuk, but as soon as they saw what was following him, they were speechless.
“What… what is that?”
It was a large, oval-shaped basket made of bones, with a skull attached to the front, and three pairs of bone legs attached underneath.
With a confident expression, Han Ji-hyuk said:
“This is the Six-Legged Transport Skeleton MK.1!”
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I was the necromancer who was known as the best in undead creation in the history of the Seron continent.
For me, such a modification was no big deal.
I placed the by-products the skeleton was carrying into the bone basket of the transport skeleton and said:
“How about if we put them in this basket? There’s no worry of them falling, perfect, right? Plus…”
I turned to the transport skeleton and said:
“Monster appearance.”
At that command, the legs of the transport skeleton folded neatly, and it sat quietly as if it were a real basket.
“Monsters don’t tend to target inanimate objects, do they? This looks obviously like just a basket. It can simply wait until the battle is over, and when it’s done, we can just say, ‘Let’s go.'”
The skeleton stood up quietly again.
“And then, what if it just walks like this?”
The transport skeleton followed me quietly, trailing behind.
“What do you think?”
The Awakener team members gaped and said:
“Wow…”
“Can that really be done?”
“It looks so convenient!”
“I think I’ve seen something like this before. Didn’t they say they were developing something similar for gate transport robots in the US?”
What?
There’s a competitor?
Of course, my skeleton’s cost-effectiveness can’t be beat, but I’ll still show them for sure.
“Let’s test it out. Let’s go!”
“Ah, yes.”
So, while they all watched my transport skeleton MK.1 with fascinated expressions, we walked on and encountered another monster.
“Monster appearance!”
At the command, the transport skeleton automatically sat quietly in place.
And the result was…
“Ha!”
Just as I expected, the monsters didn’t even recognize the transport skeleton as an enemy.
It actually looked more like part of the pile of by-products, considering the bones inside the basket.
As a result, the monsters, which were rampaging in front of them, only attacked the Awakener team members.
“Perfect, absolutely perfect.”
This was the perfect worker to take responsibility for my retirement.
Once I finalize the macro and rent it out to the Awakeners for a cheap price, I can be free from this tedious labor.
Moved, I gently closed my eyes and said:
“Indeed, there’s no such thing as ‘impossible’ in this world.”
It’s true that desperation breeds creativity.
In the end, I found a new way to overcome my laziness.
While I was lost in my moment of inspiration, the Awakener team, having finished hunting, started loading the monster by-products onto the transport skeleton.
“This is actually really convenient.”
“This is amazing, amazing.”
I said, kindly, to attract customers:
“It’s an eco-friendly summon that doesn’t need fuel and never gets tired. Feel free to use it with confidence.”
The Awakener team, excited, asked:
“How much will you sell this for?”
This skeleton can carry at least the amount of three porters’ worth of cargo.
Since the cost of a porter is 30,000 won per hour…
“I’m not selling it, only renting it. The rental fee is 30,000 won per hour. This one can handle the work of three porters. Depending on the loading method, it might carry even more.”
The Awakener team said with excited expressions:
“30,000 won per hour?”
“That’s a third of the cost!”
Right?
It’s a sweet deal!
“Please spread the word, and I’ll make it even cheaper for you.”
“Haha, you’re more of a businessman than an Awakener.”
If being a businessman is more comfortable, why not?
I want to make money the easy way.
“Everything’s loaded.”
“Let’s go. Once you say this, it will get up and follow. Ah! I didn’t register the voice command.”
I cast the magic circle again and injected a new command into the transport skeleton.
“Say it.”
“Let’s go.”
At the Awakener’s command, the transport skeleton stood up.
“Whoa!”
However, because too many by-products were loaded, some of the by-products started to spill as it stood up.
“Ah, looks like I overloaded it.”
“Mm… Please wait a moment.”
I disassembled one more skeleton and added bones around the basket before setting a new command.
“Close.”
Then, the bones automatically covered the by-products inside the basket and closed it.
I proudly announced, like introducing a new product:
“Now, here’s the 6-Legged Transport Skeleton MK.2 with a cover function!”
“Whoa!”
“By the way, this comes with an additional option fee of 10,000 won per hour. What do you think?”
“Perfect!”
“It’s like a robot!”
Perfect!
This business is going to succeed for sure!
With a confident expression, I said:
“Let’s go! Until we make the perfect transport skeleton, MK.2 and beyond!”
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“Why are we coming here?”
An Awakener, urged by a friend, headed toward a new gate.
“Ah, is this a gate that’s about to reach its critical point? Are you here to hunt the last monsters?”
Once a gate reaches its critical point, it expels all the monsters inside before completely disappearing.
Naturally, before reaching that point, Awakener teams continue hunting, but it’s typical that they can’t completely eradicate all the monsters, including those hidden in corners.
So when the critical point is reached, Awakener teams gather to take out the monsters that the gate expels for one final battle.
If they’re lucky, they get the chance to hunt large numbers of monsters all at once.
But the friend shook his head.
“No. It’s not like that. There’s still a few days left.”
“Then why come all the way here? There are similar-level gates nearby.”
The friend grinned and said:
“This one’s a bit special.”
“Special?”
“You’ll see when you get there.”
So, the Awakener team arrived at the gate.
Then, the invited Awakener rubbed his eyes and said:
“What… what is that?”
When one Awakener handed money to a man sitting at a stall, a strange creature with a bone basket and three pairs of bone legs attached to its back followed the man.
The Awakener team then entered the gate with the creature.
“It’s called a transport skeleton. It’s a summons that’s much more convenient and cheaper than hiring porters.”
“I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“Isn’t it amazing? That’s why I wanted to try it.”
“Is it safe? What if it suddenly jumps up and starts attacking or something?”
“That won’t happen. It doesn’t even have hands, how could it attack? Besides, if it were that dangerous, do you think people would be using it?”
“Well… that’s true.”
“Let’s go check it out.”
The Awakener team approached the stall.
The man sitting at the stall took a sip of coffee and said:
“Ah~. Welcome.”
“I’d like to rent one.”
“I recommend two. Each can carry the load of three porters. While it won’t carry things for you, it has an excellent storage capacity, so you can just bring in the monster carcasses whole. The cost is 30,000 won per hour for one. Even if you rent two, it’s still cheaper than hiring six porters.”
The Awakener responded with a surprised expression:
“One can carry the equivalent of three porters for 30,000 won per hour? That’s less than half the price? Is this for real?”
“Of course. If you’re skeptical, ask the other people who have used it.”
At that moment, the other Awakener team, who had already rented two, gave a thumbs up and said:
“Definitely use it. Especially the MK.2. The MK.2 has a cover function, and if you load it properly, it can even carry the equivalent of four people’s worth.”
The man at the stall clicked his tongue and said:
“Just remember, if you exceed the proper load, you’ll be responsible for any damage.”
“Come on, we tried it, and it handles that much with ease.”
“It’s built tough, so that’s fine, but still, please follow the usage guidelines.”
Hearing their conversation, the Awakener team looked amazed and said:
“It can carry the equivalent of four people?”
“That’s enough to bring a whole monster, right?”
The reason for collecting the monster carcasses is to prioritize the most valuable parts and reduce the overall load.
And now, with this all-purpose transport equipment, all those worries are solved.
One Awakener asked, looking at the man at the stall:
“What’s MK.2?”
“MK.2 has the cover option. It costs an additional 10,000 won, and if you want the MK.3, with automatic collection functionality, it’s an additional 20,000 won.”
“Uh… which one is better?”
“The MK.2 is the most popular. The MK.3’s automatic collection feature isn’t bad, but since it’s still in beta, it’s not perfect yet.”
“Then I’ll take two MK.2s.”
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“Thank you! Have a great hunt!”
Perfect.
This is truly the life where I can make money just by sitting.
“Hehe.”
I took another sip of coffee and, to kill time, pulled out my new portable game console and said:
“This is the paradise I’ve been looking for.”
Why work?
I can just have skeletons do it.
This is so much fun.
“I’m glad I became a necromancer.”
This is how you quietly make money with skeletons.
Then, I’ll just live a carefree life, making money while lounging around.
I’ve already worked enough in Seron.
“Let’s see… Should I try this game next?”
While I was fiddling with my portable game console, a new customer arrived.
“I’d like to rent an MK.2.”
I gave a regretful expression and said:
“Ah, the basic model and MK.2 are all rented out. We only have the MK.3 left.”
“MK.3? Ugh, that automatic collection feature isn’t very good.”
“It’s still in beta…”
“Can you just rent it without the automatic collection feature? I only need the cover.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
“Sigh. It can’t be helped. Just give me the MK.3.”
“Of course! Thank you!”
Even though the unnecessary option was added, the Awakener had no choice but to rent it.
Selling options is a basic part of the business.
As the Awakener team reluctantly took the MK.3 and entered the gate, I leaned back in my chair and continued playing my portable game console.
“Business is good~.”
Thus, my transport skeleton business quickly became the hottest item in the area.
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