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Chapter 89: Skill and Class Conflict — A New Spell Acquired
🕑 Added 2025-05-12 17:26:49 +0000 UTCLyle stared at the information revealed by the appraisal spell, his brows rising in surprise as his eyes flickered with intrigue.
"If this magic artifact was man-made, then fine," he muttered. "But if it formed naturally… now that would be something else entirely."
In this strange world, naturally formed magic items did exist. One example was "The Frost Pain," one of the four sacred relics of the Lizardmen. It was forged from the ice taken from the center of a lake—during the only time it had ever frozen over, despite being a lake that never froze.
Unfortunately…
Lyle didn't have access to Advanced Item Appraisal. Otherwise, he could've identified the creator directly—an ability so powerful it could even reveal the manufacturer of divine relics.
"Energy Capacity: 300... Wonder how that's calculated."
He glanced again at the appraisal data, frowning slightly.
"It takes 100 energy to summon a Skeletal dragon. So that means… I can summon up to three?"
But that didn't quite add up. He distinctly remembered that Khajit had spent five years gathering enough power to summon just two bone dragons.
Lyle narrowed his eyes at the inconspicuous artifact—the so-called Orb of Death—wondering where the remaining 100 energy had gone.
Could the orb have… eaten it?
Thump.
The Orb of Death suddenly trembled in the hands of the Flame Archangel, releasing a faint glow of iron-black light.
Lyle's gaze fixed on it, and an intense desire bloomed in his heart. He wanted—needed—to hold the orb and examine it closely.
The moment that urge surfaced, his danger senses screamed.
That's not normal.
If he hadn't been on guard, he might have been caught off-guard by this mental manipulation. But Lyle had come prepared.
"Undying Will!"
Lyle chanted quickly.
This was a defensive spell specifically designed to resist charm, compulsion, and other mind-influencing effects. The moment it activated, the urge to grab the orb evaporated.
Even so, he remained vigilant.
After all, Khajiit also knew this spell—and still succumbed to the orb's influence. Clearly, Undying Will wasn't a perfect safeguard.
Ignoring the faintly pulsing glow of the orb, Lyle turned his attention to the flood of newly unlocked skills on his interface.
These were spells he had seen Khajit use during their battle.
[Negative Ray]
[Tier-3: Summon Undead]
[Tier-3: Create Undead]
…
[Flames of the Dead]
[Armor Enhancement]
[Lesser Strength Boost]
Aside from Undying Will, Lyle hadn't rushed to learn any of them.
But then, his eyes sparkled.
"Summon Undead… now that's interesting," he murmured. He'd recently developed a fondness for summoning spells.
He quickly sifted through the interface.
[Spell Discovered: Tier-3 – Summon Undead
Level Requirement: 15–21. Requirements met.]
[Consume 1 Skill Point to learn?]
[Warning: This skill conflicts with 'Angel Summoning'. Proceeding may cause unknown consequences.]
Lyle blinked.
"Skill conflict?"
What was that about?
He frowned and scrolled through the rest. Not just Summon Undead, even Create Undead displayed a similar warning.
Of the necromancer's signature trio—Summon, Create, and Control—only Control Undead had no conflict alert.
Skill conflicts weren't hard to understand conceptually. The problem was…
"There weren't any such mechanics in YGGDRASIL, were there?" Lyle muttered, puzzled.
Then, he remembered a tidbit from the light novel version of the game. Something about summoned beings originating from other worlds. Like when Albedo questioned how the Elf King could be sure the earth elemental he summoned was the same one every time.
Could it be… that lore detail had actually become real in this world?
Lyle gave his head a small shake.
With both Summon and Create Undead flagged as risky, he wasn't about to gamble.
Sure, those spells could expand his arsenal, but they paled in long-term value compared to Angel Summoning. Especially when the final boss was a bone-obsessed lich king. Summoning undead in front of him felt like waving a "convert me" sign.
And so, spells like Flames of the Dead and Negative Ray were also dismissed—too dependent on a necromancer-centric fighting style.
After some careful thought, Lyle narrowed down the list to three possibly useful spells:
[Lesser Strength Boost]
[Armor Enhancement]
[Control Undead]
After another moment of hesitation, he dropped the first two.
Buff-type spells didn't stack. If you had Lesser Strength Boost and Greater Strength Boost, casting one would override the other. Waste of a skill point, in his opinion.
That left Control Undead.
And that one... did make him a little excited.
He hadn't forgotten the massive stash of corpses in his inventory—over a thousand goblin bodies, plus fifty ogres. With this spell, those corpses could finally see some posthumous employment.
Even better, this gave him a use for high-tier monster corpses in the future. Waste not, want not.
"So frugal it hurts," Lyle muttered with a smirk.
Then he focused, selecting the spell.
[Spell Selected: Control Undead (Tier-3)]
[Requirements: Base Class – Necromancer]
[Warning: This class conflicts with "Living Being" status. Choosing this path will result in continuous exposure to negative energy, causing persistent debuffs.]
The prompt made Lyle freeze.
He'd overlooked something crucial.
If skill conflicts existed, then class conflicts were bound to follow.
Necromancer was, after all, a class designed for undead and monster races. Like Khajiit—whose living body had been gradually warped by necromantic energy until he became… something in between man and ghoul.
In fact, Khajit had spent five whole years hiding in E-Rantel, absorbing negative energy for a ritual that would turn him fully undead.
In other words—he gave up being human on purpose.
Before Lyle could even finish processing that horrifying reality, the interface shifted again.
[Trait Activated: Genius]
[Class conflict neutralized]
[Class "Necromancer" acquired successfully]
[Skill Acquired: Control Undead]
[Skill Points: 40 → 39]
[Skill: Control Undead (Tier-3)]
[MP Cost: 15]
[Description: Manipulate the corpses of the dead. The higher the caster's level, the more corpses can be controlled. Control strength scales based on level differential.]
"…Huh?"
Lyle blinked in disbelief.
He'd always thought his "Genius" class was a bit underwhelming since it didn't come with typical class bonuses. But maybe that was exactly the point—it let him sidestep the nasty downsides too.
The night was still, cloaked in a blanket of eerie darkness.
Gravestones and withered trees littered the area, casting long shadows that painted a grim backdrop. It stood in sharp contrast to the warm glow surrounding Lyle, created by the six angels floating protectively around him.
Under the light cast by the Flame Archangel, Lyle turned his gaze from the system interface back to the Orb of Death, still nestled in the angel's hands.
Its shape was irregular, its surface rough and gray. Without the faint black-iron shimmer pulsing from it, you'd probably mistake it for a rock someone picked up near a riverbank.
Expressionless, Lyle extended a single finger and gently touched the orb's surface.
Instantly—
"Mortal. Death is the destination of all. The only eternal truth. I represent the will of Death."
"Do you seek eternal life? Power everlasting? I can grant—"
The voice, chaotic and dripping with temptation, surged into his mind.
Then it abruptly stopped.
Lyle had already shoved the orb back into his inventory.
"Just as I thought. Even Undying Will can't block that thing's whispering entirely."
He rubbed his temples.
Until he figured out how to deal with the will inside the orb, he wasn't going to mess with it.
As for how he planned to destroy that will?
He'd already worked it out.
That's where the Cursed Knight class came in.
Its class ability granted a curse so powerful it could destroy equipment below level 40. And wouldn't you know it—Orb of Death was level 40.
Of course, the class came with its own curse. Players who chose it couldn't equip anything below level 40 either. The curse didn't discriminate—it'd break your gear too.
That was why Lyle rarely bothered buying fancy weapons. He'd just ruin them anyway.
Originally, the plan was to get the Cursed Knight class first, then grab the orb, and finally break it with a well-placed curse.
But then he'd unexpectedly gained access to scroll crafting… so the plan shifted a bit.
