The Boundless Necromancer

Chapter 52: Administrator (4)

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‘A discipleship?’

I stared blankly at the Monarch.

She then smiled as she finally started to explain what she meant.

“Administrators are bound to the tower… but that doesn’t mean we can’t provide anything.”

“Does that mean you get extra perks?”

“It’s a little ambiguous… but yes, I guess they’re perks.
There’s a couple of them, and discipleship is the most relevant to challengers.”

“When you say discipleship, is it a subordination contract…?”

When she was how taken aback I was by the idea, she swayed her head.

“A discipleship is just how challengers can receive sponsorship from administrators.”

“Sponsorship…”

“And when the challenger grows stronger and climbs higher, the sponsoring administrator receives perks from the tower.”

“Is that it? Are there any other conditions?”

“I don’t know about on our end, but there’s nothing really on the challenger’s end.
Although, there is one condition that we’re both subject to.”

“…?”

“Once the contract is complete, neither the challenger nor the administrator can form discipleship contracts with anyone else.”

“That’s all?”

“Yes.”

It made sense.

The tower probably had a reason for the meetings with the admins.

Everything she said didn’t seem made up, and she seemed to be telling the truth.

There was a chance she was trying to trick me, but it didn’t seem likely.

Rather than a trick, this felt more like yet another attempt from the tower to strengthen the challengers.

I had my suspicions, but not to the point of disbelief.

But I still had to make sure that this wasn’t an elaborate illusion.

“First of all, can you tell me what exactly is this ‘sponsorship’?”

“Once you finalize the contract, you can unlock something called an ‘exclusive marketplace’ where you can purchase special skills or powers.”

“And?”

“I can sponsor the special points that are used as the currency in that store and you can also get these points every time you clear a trial.”

“Hmmm…”

“I guess there might be a couple of details I missed but… That’s about it.
Discipleship with other administrators wouldn’t be any different either.”

“I see…”

I stood still thinking about the consequences of my decision.

Would there be any problems that might arise later?

Plus…

‘Am I on the losing end of this deal somehow?’

I thought about it, but it didn’t seem like there was a way for me to lose anything.

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And the tower always rewarded risks.

‘The meeting with the administrator was supposed to be a reward.
This shouldn’t harm me in any way.’

After coming to a conclusion, I looked her in the eyes and started speaking.

“Would it be possible to meet with other administrators?”

“No.
Well, maybe later but…”

“It’s basically impossible at my current state.”

“Exactly.”

We sat in silence for a bit until I nodded.

“I’ll do it.”

None of it seemed like a lie, and I didn’t want to miss out on a perk because I was suspicious or wanted to find another administrator.

“That was quick.
Do you trust me?”

“You did say that you were bound to the tower.”

And it was a privilege for only the pioneers.

“Hmmmm… You’re smarter than I thought.
No, maybe it’s just your instincts?”

She licked her lips sensually.

“I can’t miss out on a competent and gutsy challenger.”

She looked at me like she was looking at a piece of well-marbled meat for some reason, but…

I tried to be as stoic as possible.

“Are we agreeing to a contract then?”

“Yes, from this point on, I will be your sponsor.”

It was then.

「 Do you agree to enter a sponsorship contract? 」 

I clicked ‘accept’ without hesitation and…

「 The contract has been officiated.
」 

「 The contract exclusive marketplace and SP (special points) have been unlocked.
」 

「 You are the first party that administrator ‘Iron-blooded Monarch’s’ has contracted with.
」 

「 As the first contractee, all your stats increase by +1.
」 

Messages popped up and covered my field of vision.

‘Is this what a contract is supposed to be…’

After scrolling down, I even saw that each of my stats was increased by 1.

‘She said that administrators couldn’t be in contract with more than one challenger at once…’

This probably meant that the contract becomes void once the challenger dies.

As I was reading the messages—

「 Confirmed that the meeting with the administrator has ended.
」 

「 You will soon move to the waiting room.
」

The Iron-blooded Monarch glared at the message as the tower cut our time short.

“Hm… I guess we’ve run out of time.
It was fun, pioneer.
I’ll see you later.”

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Before I could even respond, my surroundings changed again.

「 You have entered the 8th floor waiting room.
」

 

***

 

“…”

I was left with a weird sense of peculiarness as my dream-like meeting ended.

The fact that I’d have to fight challengers from another world after the 20th floor sounded like a fairy tale.

‘Did I really enter a contract with an administrator…?’

But…

“Exclusive Marketplace.”

「 Contract Exclusive Marketplace 」 

「 SP – 1000 」 

「 Category: Skills 」 

「 Category: Powers 」 

「 Category: Items 」 

「 Contractor: Iron-blooded Monarch 」 

「 Note: Administrator ‘Iron-blooded Monarch’s’ first contractor.
」 

“I guess it wasn’t a dream…”

The reality of my meeting finally set in as I opened my new marketplace.

‘I really did get into a contract with her…’

It was like an illusionary bubble popped and I was snapped back into reality.

“…”

This was all real.

The Iron-blooded Monarch, and our contract.

And…

‘The fact that intruders will start invading us.’

She said that intruders could take our trial rewards for themselves.

That meant we’d start running into more and more challengers.

“God damn it…”

I sighed, but switched my attention to the panel in front of me.

My head was filled with thoughts about what I could go through in the future but…

Honestly, nothing had changed.

I was set on climbing the tower.

And I was prepared to face intruders along the way.

Then there was no extra decision to be made.

「 Browsing the ‘Category: Powers’ tab of the exclusive marketplace.
」 

‘First, I have to get stronger.’

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Enough to be able to crush whatever gets in my way.

「 Category: Powers 」 

「 Listing (1/3) 」 

「 Power: Serenity (C-) 」 

「 Power: Iron Soul (A+) 」 

「 Power: Winter King (D+) 」 

“There’s not as many as I thought.”

Powers were one of the things that the tower gave us when we got our radiances.

Well, what we got were ‘innate powers’ which might be a little different but—

They both seemed to be powers of some sort.

‘I thought they’d be more useful than skills but…’

Most of the powers had a pretty low rank as well.

One difference was that the ‘innate power’ that I got with the radiance didn’t have a rank, but these did.

‘Is there a difference between the two?’

I wanted to get a look at the other options before I read any details but…

「 You currently do not possess the authority to open listing (2/3).
」 

「 You may browse listing (2/3) starting from the 10th floor.
」 

“What the…”

I wasn’t even allowed to look through all of them.

And then I finally read the notes on the bottom.

「 (!) You may fill the power listings with administrator’s sponsorship or other deals.
」 

「 (!) Initially, the only powers you can browse are those of your contracted administrator.
」 

「 (!) You currently only have the authority to browse powers in listing (1/3).
」 

It looked like there were other ways to get more options in the store.

“What do they mean by making other deals…?”

I was curious but didn’t think about it any further.

‘These questions and powers and whatnot…’

They just seemed to be motivators for challengers to keep climbing the tower.

“…”

The tower wanted challengers to reach new heights. 

That was probably why the worlds start merging after a certain point.

That made sure that the winners of the trials kept climbing higher.

‘Why?’

I couldn’t comprehend it.

“I guess I just have to keep climbing if I want to figure it out…”

Every once in a while, the tower tried to allure you to climb in this way.

Whether you wanted to get stronger or figure out the truth…

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“There’s nothing left to do but stay optimistic.
What else could I do…?”

Before I started the 8th trial, I looked more closely at the powers.

「 Power: Serenity (C-) 」 

「 Price: 1,000 SP 」 

「 Explanation: You are able to make a logical judgment no matter the situation.
Status ailments like fear or confusion are reduced during combat.
] 

‘It’s not good or bad.’

It was like a higher-tier psychological resistance skill. 

In essence, it made you more calculating and made you more resistant to psychological status ailments…

‘It doesn’t really increase my firepower.’

I also never experienced those types of ailments, so I didn’t know if I needed it.

「 Power: Iron Soul (A+) 」 

「 Price: 6,500 SP 」 

「 Explanation: A soul that a few cold-blooded, heartless monarchs are born with.
All weapons skill proficiency increases 2.32 times faster.
New weapons skills start out at 10% proficiency.
」 

“Ooh…”

Now, this was a battle-related skill.

The option for the proficiency increase was amazing but the extra 10% on all weapons skills really caught my eye.

‘My Hunter’s Daggermanship skill recently reached its limit too…’

I couldn’t help but be drawn to it knowing that all new weapons skills I created would get an extra 10% proficiency. 

But…

‘I don’t have nearly enough SP.’

After all, I only had 1,000 in my possession.

Regrettably, I scrolled to the next power.

「 Power: Winter King (D+) 」 

「 Price: 800 SP 」 

「 Explanation: A power found in some leaders of the north.
Your stats temporarily increase in the cold and you do not take damage from the cold.
」 

“It’s umm…?”

The last one didn’t seem that good either.

It technically had a battle-related component but…

It only activates in the cold?

‘I guess it’s technically an immunity of some sorts, but it’s not widely applicable.’

I wasn’t really drawn to it either.

‘What should I buy…’

It would be best to buy something right now so I wouldn’t go into the next trial empty-handed. 

‘This might be my best bet…’

I finally made my decision.

 

——