True Magic

Why was it my name?!

Ron stared at the last file in shock, his eyes widening involuntarily as he took a step back.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

He was certain he hadn't left behind any traces...

Even now, the old magician wasn't considered dead by the Magicians, so he definitely hadn't been targeted for killing him.

An assassination... Some other enemy hidden in the shadows, one Ron didn't know about, had set their sights on him!

Why?!

A bead of cold sweat appeared on Ron's forehead, and his thoughts became tangled for a moment.

The Patrol Bureau, the Magician Association...

Thanks to Ron's concealment and cleanup, those forces that might oppose him shouldn't have had their attention on him at all!

For once, a trace of panic arose in his heart.

Where exactly had this assassination commission come from?!

The instant that thought surfaced, Ron noticed the white-and-green "∞" emblem hanging from the client's chest.

Clearly, this commission had come from Noah Pharmaceuticals.

But Noah Pharmaceuticals... Ron had never had any contact with them at all!

No, that wasn't right. There had been one little connection—

The wanted criminal Ron had killed and used as a scapegoat seemed to have been an employee of Noah Pharmaceuticals!

But that made no sense...

The uniform he had worn proved his rank hadn't been high. Ordinary corporate employees like him were as countless as grains of sand within a megacorp.

To a corporation, such ordinary employees held little value—

At the very least, Ron was sure that wanted criminal's life was nowhere near worth the five zeroes written in this file!

A full five hundred thousand Credit Points. Wasn't it a bit extravagant to spend that much to buy the life of an ordinary high school student like Ron?

Given the megacorps' profit-first attitude, they would never be willing to pay such a price for an ordinary employee!

He furrowed his brow, but a cold sneer interrupted his thoughts.

"Hmph... Old man, what? You want to take this commission too?"

The delinquent-looking young man snorted at Ron.

"I'd advise you to behave yourself... You've already got one foot in the grave. Why are you still trying so hard?"

As he spoke, a hint of chill entered his voice.

"You'd better understand this clearly. You may be able to accept this job, but that doesn't mean you'll live long enough to carry it out..."

An obvious threat.

If Ron continued showing any intention of taking this wanted order, this man apparently wouldn't mind doing something underhanded to him.

This guy... really wanted to take my wanted order?

Why?

Ron pondered it for a moment and quickly found the answer.

—Of all these files, his wanted order was the easiest to complete.

Because as a high school student, the ability listed in his file still hadn't been updated from Lv.1.

So, putting a Lv.1 Superpowered together with a group of heavily guarded senior scholars and mid-level corporate executives...

Even an idiot knew that the Lv.1 high school student was absolutely the easiest assassination target among them!

Easy enough that even an old Magic user, dismissed as an antique from a bygone era and only rated a "master" through connections, could deal with him effortlessly...

That was why this guy harbored such hostility toward Ron. Clearly, he only thought Ron might block his path into Noah Pharmaceuticals.

Although Ron didn't know why Noah Pharmaceuticals had become hostile toward him, he could investigate the reason later. What mattered now was staying alive—

Ron couldn't simply hand this commission over to someone else!

If the man in front of him accepted this commission, Ron would probably face assassination attempts from the shadows again and again.

After all, if he blocked an assassin's attack and killed the assassin in return...

Noah Pharmaceuticals would naturally send more and stronger assassins after him because one had died, all to take his life!

With the enemy hidden while he stood in the open, and with the assassins backed by one of the three major megacorps...

Ron didn't think he could fend off that many assassins.

Therefore,

he had to eliminate every competitor here and become the sole recipient of the commission—

Only by keeping the commission in his own hands and becoming the first assassin assigned to kill himself

could Ron delay this assassination attempt until the College Entrance Exam!

And once he entered the College Entrance Exam examination hall...

Even one of the three major megacorps like Noah Pharmaceuticals would find it difficult to make such an obvious move against him.

After all... at such an important occasion as the College Entrance Exam, Noah Pharmaceuticals couldn't dominate everything by itself.

If they dared disrupt the order of the examination hall, the other megacorps would be more than happy to use the matter as a blade and carve a huge chunk out of Noah Pharmaceuticals.

Countless thoughts ran through his mind, but none of them showed on Ron's face.

He merely gave the delinquent-looking man an indifferent glance, then followed the capable-looking woman beside him and slowly walked toward the underground laboratory's entrance.

"Hmph, a useless old fossil. Just as expected, he's a coward..."

The delinquent-looking man cursed under his breath, then snorted and followed.

"Since you're ready, I'll unlock the laboratory door—"

As the client spoke, his tone turned serious.

"But be careful... Because the ritual error was extremely severe and the laboratory has been sealed for a long time, we have reason to suspect that forbidden creatures have appeared inside.

Before forbidden creatures, even masters of the Necromancer School like yourselves might still meet with disaster..."

He tapped the holographic screen of his personal neural interface. The emerald ring on Ron's finger glimmered faintly, and a pop-up immediately appeared on his neural interface.

Looking closely, it was an accidental injury insurance policy, with "Noah Pharmaceuticals" listed as the beneficiary.

"Sign this policy. Once you enter, I'll wait outside.

If any of you fail to come out alive, we'll use the insurance payout to bury that poor soul..."

The guarantor spoke with such conviction, as though he truly cared deeply about the three of them, that Ron could barely hold back a laugh.

—Could you at least let us change the insurance beneficiary before saying that?

Truly worthy of a megacorp that plucked every feather from a passing goose. Even if they failed the mission and died in the underground laboratory, Noah Pharmaceuticals still intended to squeeze out every last bit of value!

But this insurance definitely wouldn't apply to Ron...

Before he had even entered the underground laboratory, Ron could already vaguely sense a resonance coming from within through [Ignorant Servant].

Considering what the client had said—that forbidden creatures had appeared because the underground laboratory's ritual error had been severe and it had been sealed for too long...

There were clearly already several Corpse Shells inside, waiting for his control!

Once he entered this underground laboratory, Ron would be entering his own territory. How could he possibly die at the hands of these Corpse Shells?

Still... that didn't mean there was no danger at all.

Ron silently signed the policy, the corner of his eye glancing at the delinquent-looking man nearby.

The woman could be set aside for now. She clearly had no grudge against the old Magic master Karen and merely wanted to work for a megacorp and complete the commission...

But this delinquent-looking man was clearly his enemy.

Although Ron didn't know exactly how the old Magic master had offended him in the past, Ron was certain of one thing—

Whether because of some past grudge or because they were now competing for the assassination commission targeting Ron himself...

If he found an opportunity in the underground laboratory, he would definitely strike at Ron from the shadows!

Still, considering he was supposedly a Necromancer School magician, the Magic he could use should be roughly similar to Karen's?

If that was all he had, then with Ron's player level having just reached Lv.2 and his advancement into Sequence Eight of the [Death] pathway...

perhaps that would already be enough.

Ron stared thoughtfully at the man's back as he silently waited for the client to unlock the underground laboratory door.

"Click..."

A crisp mechanical sound came from the round, heavy iron door as its mechanisms engaged, and the door slowly opened.

Looking inside, they could see a biological laboratory covered in bloodstains and left in complete disarray.

Only two sound-activated lights on the ceiling still flickered weakly. All the other lights had gone out, seemingly smashed apart by the walking corpses.

This underground laboratory was clearly quite large. It was likely one of Noah Pharmaceuticals' secret laboratories.

A shrill wail came from deep within the laboratory. The capable-looking woman looked at Ron and the other man, speaking in a friendly tone.

"It seems those walking corpses are all hiding in the depths of the laboratory... Since forbidden creatures may have appeared inside, why don't we put aside our earlier differences for now?

It's better to resolve grudges than deepen them. There are so many monsters inside, and only by acting together can the three of us complete this commission more safely..."

"I'm not like you lot, unable to deal with even a forbidden creature... Don't block my way!"

She tried to show sufficient goodwill, but the delinquent-looking man merely scoffed arrogantly, shoved aside the woman standing in front of the door, and strode straight inside.

"Ha, haha..."

The capable-looking woman gave an awkward laugh, then turned her gaze toward Ron.

"He doesn't seem very willing. Master Karen, I wonder if you..."

But before she could finish, Ron shook his head and silently entered the underground laboratory.

Watching Ron's retreating back, the capable-looking woman couldn't help cursing under her breath.

"Damn it... Belen is one thing, but even you, some connected bastard who got in through the back door, look down on me?

Don't you know I'm trying to save your life? Go on by yourself. Let's see what you do when someone stabs you in the back later!"

Feeling frustrated, she sighed and carefully inspected the entrance before entering the underground laboratory.

"Click..."

The laboratory's steel door slowly closed. It would not open again until they had cleared out the monsters.

Ron walked steadily and unhurriedly through the laboratory, heading toward the Corpse Shells he had sensed.

He had actually seen through what the capable-looking woman was trying to do...

She was probably afraid they would suffer a disastrous setback, so she wanted to use her combined strength with Ron's to intimidate the delinquent-looking man and preserve the appearance of teamwork and goodwill...

Then, with all three working together, they could first deal with the undead monsters in the laboratory.

Clearly, that was not a good thing for Ron.

The delinquent-looking man wasn't the only one who wanted to kill Ron... Who said prey couldn't become the hunter?

Ron wanted to kill that man too, ensuring that he could accept the assassination commission himself...

He walked silently through the laboratory. The dim lighting barely illuminated the path ahead.

Ron had to distinguish his surroundings carefully to make sure he didn't bump into anything.

He saw many things in the laboratory—

Body bags, incubation chambers, dissection tables... even a blood pool!

Although all of it was now covered in dust, with the incubation chambers shattered and the blood pool dried up, it still made one's spine tingle.

With a curious mindset, Ron opened those body bags and even saw several incomprehensible things—

The head of a white-haired, pointed-eared girl, seemingly lifelike;

A dried corpse with cat ears and a cat tail, but a deformed face and a skeletal body;

And fragments of flesh from a creature covered in scales, some pieces still displaying obvious human characteristics...

What experiments had Noah Pharmaceuticals been conducting here before this?

Cloning, gene editing and cultivation, or something else?

How had they even created such creatures...

Ron couldn't figure it out. He could only carefully identify the route and slowly make his way toward the Corpse Shell.

After a while, as the Corpse Shell in his senses drew closer and closer, Ron suddenly realized he had entered a fairly brightly lit area.

The walls here had been painted white and green, and the air was thick with the smell of disinfectant. It seemed to be the laboratory's medical area.

Following the Corpse Shell in his senses, Ron pushed open a door in the medical area and discovered that he had entered an operating room—

The silent "patient" lying on the operating table was precisely the Corpse Shell he had sensed!

Beneath the Corpse Shell, deep green ritual markings were clearly visible on the operating table, though they had become somewhat blurred from friction with the body.

Besides that, Ron keenly sensed an icy cold constantly trying to invade his body.

On closer inspection, it was clearly unclaimed death magic, apparently leaking from the ritual array beneath the Corpse Shell and indiscriminately transforming every living thing nearby.

No wonder this corpse had become a Corpse Shell...

After being tainted by such dense death magic, becoming a Corpse Shell was only natural.

If Ron had not already reached Lv.2 in player level and advanced into a Sequence Eight supernatural being of the [Death] pathway...

then even he would likely have been gradually contaminated by this death magic, with his health affected.

But now... this death magic would only nourish Ron's body instead.

He paid little attention to the leaking death magic. His gaze swept across the operating room, and he suddenly spotted a bloodstained notebook on a nearby instrument table—

A notebook?

In Ideal City?

Ron was somewhat stunned, unable to understand for a moment why anyone would still use such an outdated medium for recording information.

Puzzled, he picked up the notebook and opened it, finding several brief entries inside—

[January 28. I obtained a Corpse Shell finger bone from a small Hollow that appeared in "New York" in the Outer City.]

[February 17. I studied the Corpse Shell finger bone. The magic attached to it exceeded all imagination. Perhaps I can use this finger bone to trace back the glory of my ancestors.]

[March 19. I found an ancient ritual from the previous era at the Association. Perhaps I can use the finger bone as the main material and touch the supernatural...]

[April 26. I succeeded...]

Before Ron could finish reading the notebook, he suddenly caught an unusual scent.

Cold, bitter, numb...

Thick death magic transformed into a murky green mist, suddenly filling the entire room.

What was going on... Was this necromancy?

Ron immediately realized what was about to happen—

That guy... was going to make a move against him!

The next moment, a cold snicker came from behind Ron, confirming his guess:

"Trying to steal my commission... Let me teach you what a true master of the Necromancer School is!

"I'll show you what real Magic is!"

Real Magic?

It seemed this guy wanted to use some kind of move that could kill in a single strike...

Ron frowned, covered his mouth and nose, and switched to the Potion Sequence in the Dimensional Update Manual, cautiously observing everything around him.

But the dense murky green fog obscured his vision. He could only make out a shadow approaching, but he could not distinguish it clearly at all...

Naturally, he had no chance to evade the attack.

A cold, phantom scythe suddenly emerged from the thick fog and slashed at Ron with speed and precision, cutting straight into his back.

Ron fell to the ground, his body rapidly losing warmth and turning as cold as a corpse.

Watching the old Magic user slowly collapse without a sound, his corpse turning pale blue-white, Belen snorted coldly, his tone tinged with disdain:

"Hmph... Useless old bastard. So lacking in vigilance—just as expected of trash who only knows how to pull strings."

He sauntered over, preparing to search Ron's corpse and see just how much wealth the old man had accumulated over all those years...

But then a strong, withered hand suddenly seized his neck and forcibly lifted him into the air!

Ron dusted himself off and rose from the ground completely unharmed—

Then, looking at the utterly terrified Belen, who had been caught by a Corpse Shell, he gave a light laugh:

"A master of the Necromancer School... is that right?"

His body was cold, his skin pale blue-white, and his eyes stained with the lifeless green of death, like a Corpse Shell that had just risen from the grave...

He leaned close to Belen's ear and whispered hoarsely:

"I wonder whether the Magic used by a master such as yourself can compare to true magic..."

As his words fell,

chilling Necromantic Fire bloomed wildly in Ron's hand,

bursting forth from Belen's seven orifices!