Bro, I'm not an Undead!

"Well... that wasn't as epic as I expected it to be..." Skullius said as he walked towards the gates of Inhone City.

The sun was already high up, beating against him like a heavyweight champion in the sky and yet, he didn't feel himself getting the annoying heavy sensation from its heat.

His Discount Human form was way stronger now and he couldn't help but be more thankful as he discovered more and more about just how much had lost some of his previous shortcomings.

Right after making the fancy declaration on levelling up himself and Red Rage, Skullius had... immediately done so.

He had decided that withholding experience wasn't productive. Even though the amount he had wasn't nearly enough to level him up as much as he wanted because of the 3x multiplier on the experience required, he would at least salvage the levels he could for himself and Red bro.

At that moment, Skullius had roughly 15,000,000 Exp.

While this seemed like a huge figure, the Discount Human couldn't help but grumble.

It was far from enough to get him much.

From the remnants of experience that were left after he killed the last members of the Ideal Ark except Benzard, finishing off the Cursed Knight, the Gremlins, Jackpot, the mercenary he killed before getting to Inhone, the 8 Capital Knights he killed in the library and the Cluster Beasts he had killed on his party up with Stylla, Fore and Bron, this figure could only be this much.

Skullius left 2,500,000 in reserve for his Discount Human form and the potential speedy summon he wished to get when he found the suitable candidate.

The start up experience for Tier 1 was 2,000,000 Exp to get to Level 2 which Skullius gave up along with another 6,000,000 to get to Level 3.

He used what was left to boost Red Rage a level, wondering later if having a different coloured core eliminated the problem of having such inflated experience point requirements.

Right after levelling, Skullius and Red Rage both decked in full armour, with the Penetrator giving his Apostle the armour he had requested from Frock along with all the weapons he had bought to the prodigious underling, had searched and found three white Clusters which they absolutely demolished.

Skullius kept upgrading the equipment he had given Red Rage with [Unbound], using the Null Life Essence points they had reaped until the Apostle was became an ideal fighting force with a mastery of many weaponry at the level of <Uncommon> to <Rare>.

The use of the new skills and weapons by Red Rage had heavily pleased Skullius, making his socket flames flare furiously in excitement.

"Kek... now you look more like an Apostle..." Skullius had said.

The Discount Human sighed as he recalled those moments a few hours ago.

Unfortunately, he hadn't fought strong monsters as he had hoped, as with his Penetrator form he was confident that he could deal with creatures at the level of Guddhar easily.

Now he had to go back to being tactical and mingle with the humans to get more knowledge as he entered the city again.

Such a bother.

During his decimation of Cluster beasts, he had also been visited by the ever present Doom Factor 1 which required its due and this time, he had given it enough mana for 3 days as he had enough of that as the tall skeleton.

Another problem off his back for now.

Skullius approached the gates and though he didn't notice it, he gained quite a lot of looks from the men and women who stood in the line to get into Inhone.

Particularly the women.

As he donned his linen white shirt which accentuated his new toned and muscular upper torso, the shiny, dark brown leather pants that outlined his sturdy legs along with a pair of black shoes covering his lower body, a few women smiled and couldn't stop staring at this line-cutter.

On top of that, there was also the multiple Conqueror's Halos around Skullius that made many gulp and even applaud at him for seeing as he was alone, many commonfolk were led to believe that he had single-handedly cleared multiple Clusters.

Which he had done.

Skullius walked up to the front where he met with the same Capital Knight he had seen on the first day he had come to the city.

When the man saw him, he visibly frowned and inquired in a slightly gruff yet respectful tone.

"Are you a mercenary, sir?"

The Knight wouldn't disrespect any personage that held a Conqueror's Halo but he did despise those that were full of themselves as a result of it.

The dashing young man before him didn't have anything on him that would tie him as a mercenary so he had to verify as Conqueror's Halos alone weren't truly an indicator.

Skullius took out his identification from the spatial storage ring and flashed it at the Knight who inspected it.

The Discount Human didn't believe that as a mercenary he would have to wait in this line also to get into the city, which is why he had cut it.

The aspect about the privileges of being a mercenary that he was most interested in however, laid in the fact that he would automatically gain citizenship.

He hoped to get that settled soon.

The Capital Knight nodded at Skullius, his expression loosening a bit.

"Thank you for your service," he said in a neutral tone, allowing Skullius entry.

The Discount passed and immediately began walking towards the Guilds Association.

His first order of business was to verify with the Association that he had cleared a Cluster, as he had taken the head of the bee Cluster General he had obliterated on his own as proof.

Luckily it hadn't been turned to ash.

Also, he hoped to get some information about how to get a blue core.

On his way, it was the same as when he had been at the gates.

Women gave him prolonged glances with some even making an effort to call to him.

This made Skullius uncomfortable, for he did not what they wanted.

He hurried to the Guilds Association building where he found many mercenaries with and without Conqueror's Halos rushing in and out.

The Discount Human hurried over to one of the long lines where mercenaries were delivering their evidence to get money and record that they had cleared the Cluster they had accepted the request for.

'I guess there's still that many Clusters around. So many mercenaries...' Skullius thought as he looked around.

The line moved pretty fast, with Skullius' turn reaching pretty fast.

He took out the bee's head which was almost as large as his upper torso and gave it to the woman who sat behind the counter.

The woman quickly stored it in a fancy spatial storage ring which was leagues above his own.

The woman then asked for Skullius' identification which he gave and when she saw it, she cocked her head back and looked back at him.

"Y..you're the new Mage?" she asked in a rather loud voice that attracted the attention of the many mercenaries that heard.

All eyes turned to Skullius who face palmed and squeezed a response through his teeth.

"Yes..."

The woman bit her lips as she flushed with excitement.

'The hell?' Skullius was visibly concerned with this. 'Should I run?'

He felt the many presences of mercenaries stare at him as those who hadn't been here to witness his induction took in his figure.

"Heh... so that's the Mage? He doesn't look like much. Just a pretty boy with no experience if you ask me! So what if he cleared multiple Clusters? Any one of us can do it."

"He seems to be pretty weak at the moment. Strange. I thought you had to have at least a blue core to qualify for the Academies? He's pretty handsome though, that's a plus."

"Ah~. Come on, loosen up guys. We have one more Mage in the Association! That paired with those two from the Ideal Ark and we'll be a force to be reckoned with!"

Differing opinions were heard around the Association building and soon, many began to approach the Discount Human who stared daggers at the woman behind the counter.

Now he had to deal with this.

Skullius was about to make a run for it and return later when a thunderous presence stormed the Guilds Association Hall!

Everyone immediately quieted down as the heavy clank of armour sounded, approaching the counter where Skullius was being showered with opinions.

Six men donning dark armours with their faces showing some rather edgy details appeared.

At the forefront was a tall man whose body radiated overwhelming power, his eyes that shot towards Skullius bearing a heavy weight to them.

Skullius met the man's gaze and frowned.

Soon, there was barely a meter's distance between Skullius and these men who were from the third strongest Guild in Inhone.

The EdgeKings Guild.

The man who led this group opened his mouth and inquired in a rather masculine voice.

"So you're the Mage I've heard about?"

Skullius didn't reply, narrowing his eyes as he wondered what was about to happen.

"Hmph! I suppose there's no need to question it with all the attention you've drawn," the man said.

'Obviously,' Skullius thought.

The man then wore a harsh make of a face and spoke in a domineering tone.

"Join my Guild or you'll be sorry!"