My setting is above yours!

Chapter 21 The Real Magic

Why is it my name?!

Ron stared in astonishment at the last file, his eyes widening involuntarily, and he instinctively took a step back.

The hairs on my back stood on end.

He was certain that he hadn't given himself away at all...

Now that the old magician is no longer considered dead by other magicians, he was certainly not targeted because he killed the old magician.

Assassination... There are other enemies lurking in the shadows, unknown to Ron, who have their eyes on him!
why? !

A bead of cold sweat broke out on Ron's forehead, his thoughts momentarily in disarray.

Police Department, Magicians' Association...

Thanks to Ron's cover-up and handling, these forces that might be hostile to him should not have even focused their attention on him!
For once, he felt a little panicked.

Where did this assassination commission come from?!
The thought had barely crossed Ron's mind when he saw the white and green "∞" symbol hanging on the client's chest.

Clearly, this commission came from Noah Pharma.

Noah Pharmaceuticals... Ron had absolutely no contact with them!

No, that's not right, it seems a little bit like that—

The wanted criminal who was killed by Ron and used as a scapegoat appears to be an employee of Noah Pharmaceuticals!
But that doesn't make sense...

The work uniform he was wearing proved that he was not a high-ranking employee. Such ordinary company employees were as numerous as grains of sand in a giant enterprise, impossible to count.

For companies, these ordinary employees have little value.

At least Ron was certain that the life of that wanted criminal was worth far less than the five zeros written in the file!
Is it too extravagant to use 500,000 credits to buy the life of Ron, an ordinary high school student?

Given the profit-driven attitude of these giant corporations, they would never be willing to pay such a price for an ordinary employee!

He frowned, but a cold laugh broke his reverie:
"Hmph... Old man, what, you want to take this commission too?"

The roguish young man snorted coldly at Ron:
"I advise you to be honest... You're practically half-buried, what's the point of being so ambitious?"

As he spoke, a hint of coldness crept into his voice:
"You need to understand this clearly: you have to be alive to complete this mission..."

A clear threat.

If Ron continues to show a willingness to accept the warrant, it seems this person wouldn't mind doing something drastic to him.

This guy... really wants to take down my wanted poster?
why?
Ron seemed to be thinking about it, and soon came to an answer.

Of these files, his arrest warrant was the easiest to complete.

Because he is a high school student, his ability in his file is still at Lv.1 and has not been updated.

So, what happens when a Level 1 superpowered individual is placed alongside a group of heavily guarded senior scholars and junior company executives...?

Even a fool would know that the Lv.1 high school student is definitely the easiest of these assassination targets to kill!
It's so powerful that even an old magician, considered outdated and only awarded the title of "master" through connections, can be easily defeated...

That's why this guy is so hostile towards Ron; he obviously just thinks Ron might be blocking his path to joining Noah Pharmaceuticals.

Although Ron didn't know why Noah Pharmaceuticals was hostile towards him, he could find out the reason later; the important thing now was to save his life.

Ron can't just let this commission slip away!

If this person in front of him were to accept this commission, Ron would likely face repeated assassination attempts from the shadows.

After all, if he had blocked the assassin's attack and killed him...

Therefore, Noah Pharmaceuticals will naturally send out more and stronger assassins to take his life after the assassin dies!
In this situation where the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light, the assassins also have the backing of one of the three giant corporations...

Ron didn't think he was capable of stopping so many assassins.

Therefore,
He must eliminate all his competitors here and become the sole recipient of the commission—

Only by keeping the commission in his own hands and becoming the first assassin to kill himself can he succeed.
Ron was able to postpone the assassination attempt until he took the college entrance exam!
And after he entered the college entrance examination hall...

At that time, even one of the three giants like Noah Pharmaceuticals would find it difficult to target him so openly.

After all... Noah Pharmaceuticals can't afford to be a monopoly on such an important occasion as the college entrance examination.

If someone dares to disrupt the examination room order, other giant companies will be happy to use this as a knife to cut a piece off Noah Pharmaceuticals.

Ron was lost in thought, but he didn't show it on his face.

He merely glanced indifferently at the roguish man before slowly walking with the capable woman beside him to the door of the underground laboratory.

"Hmph, what a spineless old codger, just as expected of a weakling..."

The roguish man cursed under his breath, snorted, and followed.

"Now that you're ready, I'll unlock the lab door—"

The client's tone became serious as he spoke:
"But you should be careful... because the ritual error was too serious and the laboratory was sealed for a long enough time, we have reason to suspect that forbidden creatures have appeared inside."

Even if you are all masters of necromancy, you might still stumble before forbidden creatures…

He tapped on the holographic screen of his personal brain-computer interface, and the emerald ring on Ron's finger glowed slightly, immediately triggering a pop-up window on the brain-computer interface.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a personal accident insurance policy, with "Noah Pharma" as the beneficiary.

"Sign this insurance policy. After you go in, I will wait for you outside."

If any of you don't make it out alive, we'll use this insurance payout to bury that poor man..."

The guarantor spoke with such conviction, as if he cared deeply about Ron and his two companions, which made Ron somewhat uneasy.

Before we get to that, could we please change the beneficiary of the insurance policy?

They truly live up to their reputation as a giant corporation that squeezes every last drop of value from every passing goose. Even if they fail to complete their mission and die in the underground laboratory, they will still extract every last bit of value from them!
But this insurance definitely won't apply to Ron...

Before even entering the underground laboratory, Ron could already vaguely sense a resonance emanating from within, thanks to his [Ignorant Servant].

According to the client, due to serious errors in the ritual and the excessively long period of sealing, forbidden creatures have appeared in this underground laboratory…

Clearly, there were already several corpses inside, waiting for him to take control!

Once inside this underground laboratory, Ron felt like he was on his own turf. How could he possibly die at the hands of these corpses?
However... it's not entirely without danger.

Ron silently signed the insurance policy, glancing at the roguish man beside him out of the corner of his eye.

Putting that woman aside, she clearly had no grudge against the old magician Karen; she simply wanted to work for the giant corporation to complete this commission...

But this roguish man clearly had a grudge against him.

Although he didn't know exactly how the old magician had offended him, Ron was certain of one thing—

Whether it's due to past grudges or because they're both vying for the assassination commission targeting Ron himself...

If he gets the chance in the underground lab, he'll definitely try to sabotage Ron!
However, considering that he is a so-called necromancy magician, the magic he can use should be similar to that of Karen.

If that's all there is to it, with a player level that has just reached Lv.2, the [Death] pathway sequence eight for job advancement...

Perhaps, that's enough.

Ron stared thoughtfully at the man's back, silently waiting for his client to unlock the door to the underground laboratory.

"Click..."

The crisp sound of mechanisms snapping shut came from the round, heavy iron door, which slowly opened.

Looking inside, you can see a biological laboratory with bloodstains everywhere and a messy environment.

Only two motion-activated lights on the ceiling were still flashing in the laboratory; all the other lights were off, apparently smashed by the walkers.

This underground laboratory was clearly quite large, likely one of Noah Pharmaceuticals' secret labs. A piercing wail echoed from the depths of the laboratory. The capable-looking woman looked at Ron and his companion, speaking in a friendly tone:

"These zombies seem to be hiding deep inside the laboratory... Considering the forbidden creatures that might appear inside, perhaps we should put aside our previous grudges for now?"
It's better to resolve conflicts than to let them fester. There are so many monsters inside; the three of us working together will make it safer for us to complete this mission..."

"I'm not like you guys, unable to even handle a forbidden creature... Get out of my way!"

She tried to show enough goodwill, but the thuggish man just arrogantly scoffed, shoved her aside, and walked straight in.

"Hahaha……"

The capable woman chuckled twice, then looked at Ron:
"He seems reluctant, Master Karen, I wonder if you..."

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

Watching Ron's departing figure, the capable woman couldn't help but curse under her breath:
"Damn it... Beren is one thing, but you, a person who got in through connections, also look down on me?"
"I really didn't know I was trying to save your life! If you go alone and someone tries to harm you, what will you do then!"

Feeling frustrated, she sighed, cautiously explored the entrance, and then entered the underground laboratory.

"Click..."

The steel doors of the laboratory slowly closed, and would only reopen after they had cleared out the monsters.

……

Ron walked slowly and deliberately through the laboratory, heading towards the corpse he sensed.

He actually saw through what the capable woman was up to...

That guy was probably afraid they'd be caught off guard and wanted to use her and Ron's combined strength to intimidate the thug and maintain the facade of a team and friendliness...

With the three of them working together, they first dealt with the undead monsters in the laboratory.

Obviously, this is not a good thing for Ron.

It wasn't just the thuggish guy who wanted to kill Ron... Who says prey can't become hunter?
Ron also wanted to kill this guy to ensure he could take on the assassination job...

He walked silently through the laboratory, the dim lights barely illuminating his path.

Ron had to be careful to make sure he didn't bump into anything.

He saw a lot in the laboratory—

Body bags, culture chambers, dissection tables... and even a blood pool!
Although these things are now covered in dust, with broken culture chambers and dried-up blood pools, they still send chills down one's spine.

Ron, with a curious mind, opened the body bags and even saw some things that were hard to understand—

White hair and pointed ears, a seemingly lifelike girl's head;
A dried-up corpse with cat ears and a cat tail, but with a deformed face and as thin as a rake;
There were also fragments of shattered, scale-covered animal flesh, some of which even exhibited distinct human characteristics…

What kind of experiments did Noah Pharmaceuticals conduct in this place before?
Cloning, gene editing and culturing, or something else entirely?
How exactly did this creature come into being...?

Ron couldn't figure it out, so he could only carefully discern the path and slowly walk towards the location of the corpse.

After a while, as the corpse in his senses got closer and closer, Ron suddenly found himself in a rather brightly lit area.

The walls here are painted white and green, and the surrounding area is filled with the strong smell of disinfectant, making it seem like a medical area inside a laboratory.

Walking towards the corpse he sensed, Ron pushed open a door in the medical area, only to find himself inside an operating room—

The silent "patient" lying on the operating table was, in my perception, the corpse!

Beneath the corpse, dark green magic array patterns could be clearly seen on the operating table, though they were somewhat blurred due to the friction from the corpse.

In addition, Ron also keenly felt a chill that was constantly trying to invade his body.

Upon closer inspection, it was clearly some unclaimed death magic, seemingly emanating from the magic array beneath the corpse, indiscriminately transforming all life in the surrounding area.

No wonder this corpse could turn into a shell...

Having been tainted by such a potent death magic, it was only natural that it would turn into a corpse.

The death magic in this room was overwhelming. If Ron hadn't already advanced to the Sequence 8 [Death] pathway transcendent with his Lv.2 player level...

He himself might also be gradually tainted by these deathly magics, affecting his physical health.

But now... this death magic is only nourishing Ron's body.

He paid little attention to the lingering magic of death, his gaze sweeping across the operating room before suddenly spotting a blood-stained notebook on the surgical instrument table beside him—

notebook?
In Ideal City?

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

He picked up the notebook with a puzzled look and opened it, finding rather brief notes inside—

On January 28th, I obtained the finger bones of a corpse from a small cavity that appeared in the outer suburbs of 'New York'.

On February 17th, I conducted research on the finger bone from the corpse. The magic attached to it was beyond imagination. Perhaps I can use this finger bone to trace the glory of my ancestors.

On March 19th, I discovered an ancient ritual from a bygone era at the association. Perhaps I can use finger bones as the primary material to reach the extraordinary...

On April 26th, I succeeded...

Before Ron could finish reading the notebook, he suddenly smelled something unusual.

Cold, bitter, numb...

The dense magic of death transformed into a dark green mist, which suddenly filled the entire room.

What's going on...? Is this necromancy?
Ron immediately realized what was about to happen—

That guy... he's going to make a move on him!
The next moment, a cold laugh came from behind Ron, confirming his guess:

"You still want to steal my commission... I'll teach you what a true master of necromancy really is!"

Let me show you what real magic is!

Real magic?
This guy seems to be planning some kind of one-hit kill move...

Ron frowned, covered his mouth and nose, switched to the potion sequence in the Dimensional Update Manual, and cautiously observed everything around him.

But the thick, dark green fog obscured his vision; he could only see a dark shadow approaching, but he couldn't make it out at all...

Naturally, they had no chance to escape the attack.

A cold, illusory scythe suddenly emerged from the thick fog, swiftly and accurately slashing towards Ron and piercing his back.

Ron collapsed to the ground, his body rapidly losing temperature, becoming as cold as a corpse.

Looking at the old magician slowly collapsing, lifeless, his body turning pale, Beren snorted coldly, his tone tinged with contempt:
"Hmph... Useless old man, so lacking in vigilance, he really is just a piece of trash who only knows how to use back channels."

He strolled over leisurely, intending to plunder Ron's body and see how much wealth the old man had amassed over the years...

But suddenly a strong, withered hand grabbed his neck and lifted him up!
Ron dusted himself off and stood up unharmed.

Then, looking at Beren, who was gripped by the corpse shell and filled with terror, he chuckled softly:
"A master of the Necromancer school...right?"

His body was cold, his skin pale, and his eyes were tinged with a deathly green, like a corpse just resurrected from the dead...

He leaned close to Beren's ear and whispered in a hoarse voice:

"I wonder if the magic tricks you use, Master, can be compared to real magic..."

The words fell,

The chilling necromantic flames bloomed wildly in Ron's hands.

It gushed out from Belen's seven orifices!

　It's incredibly good! It's my friend's new book, the plot is amazing, and the world-building and style are somewhat similar to my book, so I'm recommending it to everyone.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)