Guillotine Steelworker had said that the seal he'd made was only possible for Golems to create. Lee Shin-Woo didn't think Guillotine was lying, but he believed he could do it.

It's possible to replicate a Golem's mana pattern, so there's no way it'd be impossible to replicate the seal.

However, it wasn't something he'd be able to do in the foreseeable future. Thus, Lee Shin-Woo opted to thoroughly examine each Golem to the best of his ability, indulging in the knowledge contained in their cores. Then he broke apart the low-ranked Golems to familiarize himself with their very structures.

"What are you trying to achieve by that?" asked Jin.

"I'm going to control the Golems."

"You're going to control Arema Steelworker?"

"Nope. I don’t think that’ll be possible."

Lee Shin-Woo had yet to catch any glimpse of the highest authority over the Golems. He believed he would be able to figure it out someday by examining the Golems more thoroughly and absorbing more cores, but this wasn’t the time.

For starters, his goal was to obtain Guillotine Steelworker's administrator seal so that he could gather all of the abandoned Golems in the Empire and create his own army. If he told Arema Steelworker, the Golem would be rendered speechless and fall flat on his face.

"I'm not doing this just to destroy Golems, so don't worry. If that's all I was going to do, why would I have taken the train and come out here? We have to take care of the undead nearby, too."

Jin snorted. "Yay, I'm so happy..."

They activated the elevator through the general administrator seal and went outside. While the western part of the Empire consisted of stiff highlands, the landscape here was completely different. They wanted to check where they'd surfaced, but that was impossible.

"I wonder where our seniors are."

"They should be at the heart of the Empire."

Lee Shin-Woo and Jin had grown drastically, but their seniors were mostly level 6, or perhaps even higher. They still had a lot of catching up to do.

Of course, even if they did reach their seniors’ level, they absolutely wouldn't be able to stand before them and reveal themselves. Was it possible to overcome their deep-seated hatred towards the undead just by claiming to be heroes? Honestly, Lee Shin-Woo didn’t feel very confident right now.

[Trespassers detected.]

[Prioritize repelling trespassers.]

"Anyway, just take them down for now," said Lee Shin-Woo.

"You!"

"Fighting them no longer makes me stronger."

A Golem's greatest strength was their sturdy base, but that could be a weakness as well. They were unaccustomed to irregularities. Lee Shin-Woo had found them easy to deal with from the very beginning, since having an irregular, almost formless fighting style was his specialty.

Jin took that as shameless boasting, but like always, he couldn't deny it.

"I want to observe the Golems more thoroughly,” Lee Shin-Woo said. “So, charge!"

"Ugh, I guess it can't be helped..."

Jin gallantly galloped forth with his body enveloped in steel-like mana. Lee Shin-Woo saw the Golems switch their battle formations to face Jin. Leisurely, he observed their mana patterns. Since he had kept his administrator seal running, all of the Golems aggregated on Jin.

"I've been fighting too much lately,” Lee Shin-Woo muttered. “I’m tired."

No one would say anything if he took a quick break in between analyzing the mana, right? He nodded to himself and watched the Golems. However, he started to get bored from doing nothing but observing and studying. He decided to open the chatroom.

[Mr. Lee Shin-Woo has entered.]

[Ye Jin-Jin: It's been a while!]

[Lee Shin-Woo: Yeah, it has. You're still alive?]

[Lloyd H.K.: Jeez, I have no idea who's the senior and who's the newbie here.]

[Prince Altania: Lee Shin-Woo, how far are you from level 5?]

[Lee Shin-Woo: I should level up soon. I only have about 10 more stat points to go.]

It was a lie, of course, but they thought of 10 stats differently than he did, so that was the appropriate response here.

[Prince Altania: Holy shit. That’s really close. I know his starting stats were good, but... He can’t be more talented than me though, right?]

[Yasunori Akira: You’re not that talented among heroes. Isn’t it strange that you're comparing yourself to Lee Shin-Woo, who everyone has high expectations for?]

[Prince Altania: What? You want a piece of me? Are you looking for a fight?!]

[Yasunori Akira: Pfft.]

They’ve always been friendly with me, Lee Shin-Woo thought suddenly after each and every one of his seniors greeted him. Ye Jin-Jin knew about his true nature, but how would other seniors react when they saw him? Would they accept him? Would they reject him? Would they pity him?

The more he learned about the Underground Empire and the heroes brought to this world, the more he thought about him being an undead. Perhaps it wouldn't be as simple as he thought; at some point, the seed of doubt had been sown and continued to grow.

It's a relief that I met Ye Jin-Jin when she was still naive and left a good impression on her.

Maybe it’s the right decision to hide the fact I’m undead, he thought as he calmly started a conversation with his seniors.

[Lee Shin-Woo: Not much happened while I was away, right?]

[Lloyd H.K.: Ah, now that I think about it, you don’t know a newbie has entered, do you?]

[Lee Shin-Woo: A newbie...?]

Of course, he was already well aware that it was quite normal for heroes to trickle in, but it felt a bit strange that he already had a junior. Then Prince Altania spoiled the mood.

[Prince Altania: What a mannerless brat. They came in just a little while ago and left right after.]

[Erian Rendu: Mannerless? They could just be extremely individualistic, Sir Altania.]

[Lloyd H.K.: Individualistic, huh... That's the most dangerous tendency to have. If you're not as strong as Akira, that is.]

[Yasunori Akira: Don't call me by my first name… Well, whether they’re skilled or just arrogant, we’ll know the answer soon.]

[Ye Jin-Jin: How have you been, Mr. Lee Shin-Woo? I’ve finally reached level 4!]

[Shino Rendu: Huh, you've been dawdling all this time, yet once you found a man, you've become unstoppable.]

[Ye Jin-Jin: W-What are you talking about!?]

While his seniors quarreled among themselves and went back and forth between their friendly banters, Lee Shin-Woo told them about his experience while leaving out some of the more inconvenient details. He heard them talk about the situation in the Empire, and he tried to ask about the twelve generals, but alas, he didn’t get much from them.

[Prince Altania: Ha, the twelve generals? I'll be straight with you. We haven't even reached the capital, let alone the major city. It's kind of discouraging, but it's impossible to fight a general before you're level 7.]

[Lloyd H.K.: That might not be enough. Even level 7 heroes equipped with level 4 items could only barely take a general down while pushing themselves to the limit. That’s what our seniors have told us before, remember?]

[Prince Altania: Hmph, as long as you and I are there, we can do it.]

[Erian Rendu: I'm level 6 now, too! Lloyd, when the time comes, you can count on me!]

It was immediately clear to anyone entering the chatroom that the heroes were like top class celebrities! Lloyd, who had won over even the haughty prince, was especially a dazzling presence, and Lee Shin-Woo felt a pang of jealousy.

If he had still been human, could he have been like him? He snorted at such fruitless thoughts and left the chatroom. Jin was still rampaging about and vigorously breaking the Golems.

"What the hell, man! You weren't even watching! You were doing something else, weren't you!? Hmph!"

[Ceasing function.]

[Ceasing function.]

"Of course not," Lee Shin-Woo calmly replied with a laugh, watching a group of Golems falling from a single kick of Jin's hind legs.

Jin had adapted much faster than he'd expected. Lee Shin-Woo decided to learn basic horseback fighting with him once Jin had gotten proficient enough in combat.

"Hey, you should help out, too!" Jin yelled.

"Are these all of the Reinforced Cores... Tch. Let's quickly take care of the rest."

As soon as Jin had finished taking care of all the level 4 Bronze Golems, Lee Shin-Woo joined the battle. Since fighting level 3 Golems was unlikely to give them any combat experience, it didn't really matter if he destroyed them instead of Jin.

However, Lee Shin-Woo had a eureka moment: he could summon copies of the same equipment recorded by Bone Armory!

"Go, Triple Axes!" Lee Shin-Woo exclaimed.

"Woah..."

They kept fighting, and Jin, who'd gotten slightly confident in his abilities, saw Lee Shin-Woo destroying the Defense Type Golems left and right with three Melting Bone Double Axes flying across the battlefield, which swiftly destroyed his self-esteem.

Meanwhile, Lee Shin-Woo was too excited by the new possibilities to be considerate of Jin's feelings. The three giant axes flew like boomerangs, plowing through the Golems like natural disasters. He even blew up one of his axes once it reached an area where several Golems had gathered!

"Explode!"

A poison mist burst here and there across the battlefield, turning the Golems into rock dust. Level 3 Golems were nothing more than target practice to Lee Shin-Woo. The advantage his level and equipment granted him was absolute!

[Ceasing fun...]

[...Function.]

"Hah!"

[Ceasing function.]

It was really satisfying to take out his anger of bowing down to high level Golems on these lesser ones.

Whenever a Golem's function ceased, the surviving ones would exchange information amongst themselves and run away from him; Lee Shin-Woo mercilessly chased them down and destroyed them all. It was truly a cathartic experience.

[Bone Original Core]

[Reinforced Autonomous Defense Type Bone Core - Original Core Synchronization Rate: 58%]

"That’s one and a half core... Tch."

"You look really scary right now," Jin grumbled.

Lee Shin-Woo had thought he would be able to create two complete Bone Original Cores, but that was probability for you. He clicked his nonexistent tongue and put away the half complete Original Core before taking out the complete one. Jin stepped back, already apprehensive.

"No need to be afraid. I’m the one who will be absorbing them for the time being to match your growth rate."

"Oh, thank you!"

Lee Shin-Woo activated Bone Reinforcement with the Bone Original Core. Despite it being only his second time absorbing an Original Core, the effect was noticeably worse; still, it increased his strength by 7, agility by 11, endurance by 9, and magic by 6!

At the same time, an unfamiliar memory flowed into his mind. He got lucky; he was able to acquire a memory of the creation of a code to control the Golems.

[The Golems must serve the Emperor. No one else can command us.]

[We've only just completed your seal, Sir Arema. The seal holds the highest authority, second only to the Emperor.]

[...Ha, and the pattern can only be created through a Golem's mana. Isn't that interesting?]

"..."

Lee Shin-Woo shook his head and recalled the appearance of the seal. He realized then why Guillotine had said it was impossible for others to recreate it.

All beings are born with mana that possesses a specific set of innate characteristics, and artificial life forms were no exception. Golems stored and manipulated mana with their inorganic body, which was what the high-ranked seal was created with.

Arema Steelworker's seal could only be conjured with the mana that made up his core; in other words, it could only be used by him. It was truly an effective security measure.

The issue isn't the mastery it’d require to handle mana. It's like using orange juice to make clear ice… It'll take a while.

Lee Shin-Woo clicked his tongue. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but now he didn't know where to start. It should be similar to converting his mana into acid or flames, but he wasn’t proficient in that regard yet...

"Shin-Woo, what's wrong? Does your head hurt?"

"No, not at all."

Lee Shin-Woo acted nonchalant and looked up. Although Jin could tell that he wasn’t telling the whole truth, he didn’t say anything about it. If Lee Shin-Woo could still put on a front, he must be alright.

I can’t just hang around here, Lee Shin-Woo thought. I was right. I had to work on it while dealing with other matters.

Lee Shin-Woo recognized that his skills were still lacking and made up his mind. He wasn't giving up. He simply decided that he wouldn't rush. This would be a side project for him as he went about his business.

"Come on, let's go down,” Lee Shin-Woo said. “How can a person live off killing Golems?"

"You must have dissociative identity disorder, right? Right?"

Despite his complaint, Jin followed Lee Shin-Woo down the highlands and surveyed their surroundings. Unfortunately, it didn’t really help. Their seniors seemed to have been here before, and there weren’t any undead in the area. It had been thoroughly cleared.

The fact was even more apparent to them once they entered one of the cities on the outskirts. The air was refreshing, and no undead could be spotted.

"Huh."

"Let's go somewhere else,” Jin said in resignation, having figured out what Lee Shin-Woo wanted. “There might be another city or a dungeon nearby."

Lee Shin-Woo firmly shook his head. "There's a place we need to check before we leave."

"Why? Can't you see that the city's wiped clean?"

"No. There's a place that’s unlikely to have been cleared."

"Which is...?"

Jin tilted his head, but Lee Shin-Woo simply grinned and took the lead. All Jin felt was a sense of foreboding, but he followed Lee Shin-Woo regardless.

[You have discovered the Polluted Sewer Facility. All stats increase by 5 while inside.]

And less than three hours later, they entered a desolate, hidden underground facility. There were elite skeletons lining up before them while radiating jet-black mana.

[My name is Paul Thirteen... I have to punish the erroneous Emperor!]

[What a pleasant surprise that there are still this many who follow General Seagald!]

[We have all been given a name and a purpose!]

[Paul Zero!]

[Paul Zero! Paul Zero!]

"Yes, yes. I know my name is Paul Zero, so you don't have to keep shouting it."

"Shin-Woo… What was your original goal again...?"

"Well, I figure we might as well do this while we’re here."

On that day, eight new elite skeletons were born, and their names started from Paul Thirteen to Paul Twenty.

A budding force no one knew about was gathering within the Empire.