[Achievement unlocked! You have made ‘The Hungry Mansion’ your base. You have obtained the ‘Rare Achievement: People Live in This House?’
As a reward for the achievement, you gain the unique trait ‘Master of the Haunted House’ and additional experience points.]
[Unique trait ‘Master of the Haunted House’ has been activated.]
[Ownership of the mansion’s magic, curses, and summoned creatures has been transferred to you.]
Keeeeeeng…
The magic dwelling in the mansion slowly began to connect to me.
This was a very special benefit that one couldn’t obtain from a typical house that could be bought with money.
Now, if anyone wanted to challenge me, they must overcome the same obstacles I faced to even invade this mansion.
Of course, there were changes and weaknesses as the influence provided by the beings of the abyss faded away, but on the other hand, these could be compensated for or enhanced with my own magic.
I’ll create a truly terrible haunted house… one that absolutely no one can enter.
[Amazing Achievement Unlocked! You have stolen the power of a great old being from the bastard child of ‘He One Who Comes from the Darkness’. You have obtained the ‘Mythical Achievement: Heir of the Corpse Pile’.
As a reward for the achievement, you gain the hidden trait ‘Heir of the Corpse Pile’ and additional experience points.]
This was a higher trait than [Bastard of the Corpse Pile] which was owned by the previous owner of this house, the Hollow Lord.
It was a decent ability, but this trait also comes with penalties similar to [Madness of the Abyss].
[Hidden trait ‘Heir of the Corpse Pile’ activated. ‘Mental Illness—Killing Impulse’, ‘Mental Illness—Bizarre Rituals’, ‘Mental Illness —Dual Personalities’, ‘Mental Illness—Partial Amnesia’, ‘Mental Illness—Strange Tastes’, ‘Mental Illness—Altar Obsession’ are now afflicting your mind.]
The mental illnesses that come as a penalty… amount to six types. This might as well mean “don’t even play”.
There was just one time before.
There was a time when I defeated Hollow Lord and obtained [Heir of the Corpse Pile] in the same way as now.
Back then, I lacked the abilities I have now so I really had to struggle to obtain it. But with the reward came the attachment of six types of mental illnesses.
Unable to cope with such madness, I became unable to continue playing. Honestly, if I had completely abandoned the [Cthulhu World] game back then, I wouldn’t be in this predicament now…
In any case, it was such an inefficient achievement trait. That’s why I never repeated the same action afterward.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})But now things are different.
Crackle!!!
Blue sparks fly from my temples.
[System: The unique trait ‘Madness from the Abyss’ has been activated. The mental illness afflicting your mind has been nullified.]
This is it.
Now, I can skip the penalties and reap only the benefits.
[System: There are still unexplored areas within the base. Investigate the entire mansion to obtain the remaining rewards.]
That can be sorted out slowly.
[Experience Bonus: You have achieved a total of (3) achievements in the Hungry Mansion.]
[You have accumulated enough experience points to advance to the next level. Your level increases by 1.]
[You have reached level 31!
As a level achievement reward, you receive (1) bonus stat point to distribute freely.]
I invested the bonus stat point into my mental strength without hesitation.
Unless something unexpected came up, I planned to continue enhancing my mental strength next time.
My goal was to reach a pure 16, and later, with the addition of a +2 mental strength artifact, to achieve a total of 20.
Well, if I get another artifact before then, I’ll reconsider my choice.
[Since you have accumulated enough experience, you have unlocked the use of third-order magic. Please note that in order to effectively use third-order magic, you need to obtain or learn a grimoire containing third-order spells.]
[System: The ‘Spell Mastery’ trait has been activated. You automatically learn the basic spells of the third order.]
The addition of third-order magic became available with the unlocking of the third order, but the number of spells accessible at this level was significantly fewer compared to those from the first and second orders.
This was because from now on, the number of spells that could be considered basic magic would decrease significantly.
However, this wasn’t a major issue. After reaching level 30, the number of grimoires and unique spells available to me would dramatically increase.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Securing a proper base during this period was crucial for this reason.
In the end, my stats were as follows.
****
Kim Shin-hwa
Class: Mage Gazing into the Abyss
Level: 31
Magic Order: Third
Mental Illness: [Mask Obsession], [Ichthyophobia (fear of fish)]
Strength: 5(+3) (Ring of Corrupted Flames)
Health: 7
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 30
Mental Strength: 15(+2) (Body Snatcher’s Necklace)
Charm; 18
****
“Is this the end?”
Just settling the quest had taken quite a while.
As soon as the day breaks, I’ll go to the Geumchon neighborhood, gather the belongings I hid in my studio apartment, and then this dreadful moving operation will finally be over.
“Ah, of course, I still need to register everything and pay the fee to Tudor…”
Magical ownership of the mansion had indeed become mine, but there were courts and registrations here as well.
Since the previous owner had died, there were a few complications that were difficult to resolve clearly, but those could be handled by the shady merchants or brokers that roamed the back alleys of Paju.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})After the message windows that had obscured my view were neatly sorted out, I was just about to shift my focus elsewhere when a new message appeared.
[System: ‘Summoned Creatures—Necromancy Golems’ are requesting magical power. The amount of magical power requested by the summons will be automatically transferred according to the established contract.]
Then the magical power was automatically taken away.
[System: ‘Summoned Creatures—Necromancy Golems’ are requesting magical power. The amount of magical power requested by the summons will be automatically transferred according to the established contract.]
With the transfer of the ownership of Hollow Lord’s properties to me, issues that had not needed management so far had arisen.
My magical power continued to be drawn out.
“Ah, the magical ownership transfer process hasn’t been completed yet.’
The direction the magical power was flowing toward…
It was the first floor.
[System: ‘Summoned Creatures—Necromancy Golems’ are requesting magical power. The amount of magical power requested by…]
“Damn it, stop taking it!”
I hurriedly ran down to the first floor.
***
Screech… Screech, screech…
The state of the first floor was truly a sight to behold.
The traces of battle were still clear to see, and more importantly, right there…
[System: ‘Summoned Creatures—Necromancy Golems’ are requesting magical power.]
Screech… Screech, screech…
It was the necromancy golems.
After the former owner of the mansion Hollow Lord disappeared, everything in the mansion became mine.
Naturally, the necromancy golems that Hollow Lord had controlled also became my property.
The problem was that just because ownership was transferred to me, it didn’t mean that the current state of things changed.
Creak… Screech… Screech… Screech, screech… Screech… Crack, snap! Crunch, crunch!
“Ah, how noisy!”
The golems were made up of all sorts of junk, utensils, and furniture.
Every movement they made was accompanied by creaking and grinding noises.
These creatures were all pressed against one wall near the living room and were attacking each other in awkward postures.
Moreover, most of them are even burning with fireballs attached to their bodies.
This meant that even if left alone, they were structured to eventually fall apart on their own.
Once a necromancy golem was damaged beyond a certain point, it would initiate the process of repairing its body according to a set procedure.
Of course, the repairs weren’t free.
[System: ‘Summoned Creatures—Necromancy Golems’ are requesting magical power. The amount of magical power requested by the summons will be automatically transferred according to the established contract.]
Once again, chunks of magical power were being sucked away.
“Haaah…”
Who could I blame?
I was the one who had created this situation.
First, let’s extinguish the flames.
Snap!
With a flick of my fingers, I erased the magical flames clinging to their bodies.
This action alone significantly reduced the relentless drain of magical power.
“Now, I need to get them out of the wall…”
Though I had extinguished the fire, the necromancy golems were still unable to free themselves.
Screech, screech… Screech… Screech…
Regrettably, it was impossible.
These creatures were not physically stuck in the wall.
Stuck in the wall.
It was exactly that bug that often occurred in 3D games.
In this mansion, and in the world of [Cthulhu World], there were walls and objects that looked perfectly solid yet, for some reason, could be passed through as if they had no substance.
Among the stagnant waters, some would remember such spots and use them as tricks to shorten their travel paths.
However, it was forbidden to overuse them.
Among these “holes”, some could trap you while passing through and render you immobile.
Crack! Crunch! Crackle!
In their desperate attempts to escape the wall, they would flail about, collide with each other and cause mutual damage.
Then they would repair themselves.
[System: ‘Summoned Creatures—Necromancy Golems’ are requesting magical power.]
Stop taking it!
“What was bastard Hollow Lord thinking when using such things…”
Including the corpse golems, which were a lower version of the necromancy golems, there were as many as 30 of these creatures.
Although their patron, [He One Who Comes from the Shadows], did provide magical power…
“He was actually maintaining such a crazy system.”
The reason Hollow Lord had struggled in the recent fight even though he was wielding the magical power of a being from the abyss like [He Who Comes from the Darkness] was exactly this.
From Hollow Lord’s perspective, it seemed he thought of it as an endless spring.
That’s probably why he maintained such an inefficient system.
But even a small problem could lead to this disaster.
“Alright, let’s stop the commentary now.”
First, I had to solve the problem of the necromancy golems continuously draining my magical power.
I raised my magical power toward the necromancy golems and formed a hand seal.
Fwoosh!
Dozens of large and small magic circles appeared around me.
These magic circles created from a complicated array of symbols and blasphemous patterns orbited around each other or spun on their own while interacting with each other.
I moved my magical power while observing this dazzling scene.
Ziiing…
Several magic circles flew towards me.
My will and the magic circles synchronized.
“Let’s see… are they connected?”
I touched a nearby magic circle with my finger and issued a command.
“Stop.”
Thud.
The necromancy golems that were each flailing in their own unnatural way simultaneously ceased their movements.
It was a scene that could be described as creepy.
However, the only emotion that surged through me as I faced this scene was sheer delight.
It felt like I had received an enormous box of toys.
After examining the magic circle further, I issued a new command.
“Disassemble.”
The moment the command was given, the bindings that held together the components of the necromancy golems were released.
This meant that the assorted items clinging to the wall began to pour down all at once.
Clatter! Crash! Tinkle…
“Good, that was simple. Though something did break.”
Now it’s time for the fun part: reassembly.
