Chapter 1241 – 1241. Dark Moon
I approached the black magician’s corpse.
Pierced by thousands of fragments, the black magician’s corpse resembled a hedgehog. Of course, that didn’t mean it was cute like a hedgehog.
I looked around once. I had to take this corpse and show it to Baron Ptelgar. Just thinking about it was a pain.
‘I could just get someone else to do it…’
Suddenly, I realized that this was the first time I had killed a black magician.
I had faced magicians a few times before. I had fought them on the battlefield after receiving missions.
‘But back then, I killed them on the battlefield. I’ve never chased a black magician and killed them in their lair like this.’
A magician’s lair is often called a workshop.
This place, filled with waste, was also clearly a black magician’s workshop. If I rummaged around, I might find something. Feeling a strong curiosity, I decided to report it later.
My heart began to race.
I was currently hiding my true level with Transparency magic.
On the surface, I was a 3rd-class battle mage. I possessed 25 mana rods. This alone could be considered excellent, but my actual level was 4th class, and I had 33 mana rods.
I had reached 4th class half a year ago, and since then, there had been no progress. I was still in the early stages of 4th class. It couldn’t be helped. My current living environment was not suitable for raising my magical level. There was a severe lack of materials and information about magic, and I didn’t have a workshop for personal research.
But I wasn’t impatient.
It was natural to experience stagnation as one’s level increased. How quickly and effectively one broke through this stagnation period depended on the magician’s ability, talent, and luck.
‘Even though it’s a dump like this, he’s a 3rd-class black magician. There must be something here.’
I put on gloves, took out a knife, and rummaged through the black magician’s corpse.
It felt strangely normal to touch a corpse. I think I was a bit surprised at first. Now, I felt nothing.
‘There are too many fragments stuck in him, it’s annoying. I should have killed him more cleanly.’
I roughly pulled out the fragments stuck in the corpse and checked his pockets and pouches. Something came out of his pouch.
‘…Medicine? Is it a reagent? It’s soaked in blood, so it doesn’t look like it can be used.’
Besides that, there were things like a pen and a stone fragment. The stone fragment also seemed to be a magical material… but it didn’t interest me.
‘Hmm?’
There was a tattoo on his left shoulder. It wasn’t very visible because of the blood, but it was definitely a pattern I knew.
I removed the fragments and wiped away the blood with a dirty cloth. The pattern was clearly visible. Three circles. A picture of a circle inside a circle.
‘The symbol of the Resistance Echoes… Was this guy a member of the Resistance?’
The Resistance Echoes was a force that resisted the class system. They were also called revolutionaries. The Resistance Echoes existed all over the world and mainly terrorized countries with class systems.
Nobles and royals were their sworn enemies. They believed that an equal world could only be created if the class system disappeared.
‘In my opinion, they’re just a bunch of guys who are pissed off because they don’t have anything.’
Well, whatever they did was none of my business. As long as it didn’t involve me. And what was important now wasn’t the Resistance Echoes.
‘Should I do it, or not?’
I held the knife and pondered.
Unlike ordinary magicians, black magicians had an organ called the ‘Dark Hole.’ It was a special organ that converted and stored mana into dark mana.
The ways to obtain a Dark Hole included organ transplantation, organ creation through special rituals… and so on.
‘In the original game, you could get a Dark Hole by killing a black magician. And it sold for quite a high price.’
If a mana awakener transplanted a Dark Hole, they could use dark mana even if they weren’t a magician. Then, if they gained experience and learned black magic, they would become a black magician.
‘…I’ll do it. It’s stupid not to extract the Dark Hole after killing a black magician. And I’m also interested in the Dark Hole.’
A special organ that converts mana into dark mana.
If not now, there would hardly be another chance to get a Dark Hole.
I gripped the knife tightly and cut open the black magician’s abdomen. The location of the Dark Hole varied from black magician to black magician. It could be under the heart, or next to the kidneys.
Fortunately, the black magician’s Dark Hole was located between the small intestines, so it was intact without any damage. I extracted the Dark Hole. It was about 3cm in diameter and looked like a black bead. I could feel dark mana from the Dark Hole.
‘The Dark Hole loses its ability to convert mana into dark mana the moment it’s extracted. But if you transplant the organ again, you can use the dark mana conversion ability.’
The extracted Dark Hole had the ability to store dark mana. It was a kind of dark mana battery.
‘I don’t plan on transplanting the Dark Hole. If I did, the purity of my mana would decrease, and it would be difficult to draw out the power of elemental magic.’
I looked around at the Dark Hole. I felt like I could use black magic using dark mana in this state. Of course, it was impossible right now because I didn’t know a single black magic formula.
I took out a handkerchief from my pocket and wrapped the Dark Hole. If it were an ordinary organ, I wouldn’t handle it so carelessly, but the Dark Hole was a special organ.
‘Next is corpse disposal. I can’t let them know that I took the Dark Hole… I have to damage it.’
Baron Ptelgar was a cunning guy. He would definitely suspect that I took the Dark Hole.
‘Let him suspect. As long as there’s no conclusive evidence.’
I drew out my slightly recovered mana and used magic. I used wind magic to damage the black magician’s corpse. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
‘This isn’t enough. I’ll have to burn the corpse additionally when my mana recovers.’
I turned my gaze away from the black magician’s corpse and rummaged around the area. No matter how shabby the place was, it was a black magician’s lair. There must be something there.
‘Found it.’
I found it after rummaging for almost 40 minutes.
One was a magic book. A magic book containing research on manifesting a 3rd-class black magic, a biological bomb, as a tattoo.
‘Did he research it himself? He was trying to sublimate the biological bomb into arcane magic using tattoos.’
I didn’t care why he was obsessed with biological bombs, but it was quite innovative.
‘Hmm. The tattoo biological bomb was a success. He was conducting research to increase the power of the biological bomb.’
The other thing I found was a cage made of reinforced glass. There was a rat inside the cage. It was a white rat, and a biological bomb magic circle was drawn on its body.
‘As the black magician died, the biological bomb magic circle became a simple tattoo with the dark mana evaporated. It won’t explode. This is just an ordinary rat with a magic circle tattoo.’
There were various types of magic circles. The main ones were activation type and continuous type. The biological bomb magic circle was an activation type.
I picked up the magic book. It was a book closer to a research paper. That’s why it was even more helpful to me.
‘It’s a shame that the only magic written is biological bomb black magic. But it’s still helpful.’
The black magic formula itself wasn’t special. It felt like the formula was a bit twisted, but it wasn’t difficult to understand.
There was one thing special about the black magic formula. It didn’t react to ordinary mana, only to dark mana.
‘…If I can handle dark mana, I can use black magic too.’
I reread the magic book and set it on fire with fire magic. Then, I held the Dark Hole in one hand and glared at it.
‘Let’s move the dark mana of the Dark Hole. In a way that controls mana…’
The dark mana of the Dark Hole didn’t budge.
‘…Is that not it?’
I narrowed my eyes. After trying a few different methods, I opened the magician’s spirit, the astral.
I recognized the Dark Hole with my astral. The Dark Hole on my palm felt like it had become a part of me. I could feel dark mana.
There was a problem here. For mana to become magic, it had to go through a processing process. It was to change mana into a formula through the mana rod.
‘Since the Dark Hole is outside, I can’t use my mana rod. But…’
There was no rule that the process of converting mana into a formula had to be done only with a mana rod.
‘There’s something perfect right in front of me.’
The magic circle drawn on the body of the rat trapped in the glass cage.
Dark mana moved from the Dark Hole and seeped into the rat. The magic circle was activated. It wasn’t just about pouring in dark mana. It was activated because I fully understood the magic circle.
‘I succeeded.’
I could feel that I was connected to the biological bomb magic circle through the Dark Hole.
[Barrier]
First, I wrapped my body with a barrier.
‘Explode.’
Bang!
The rat exploded. The glass cage shattered, and the shockwave shook the barrier. Soon, the explosion disappeared. There were pieces of the rat’s blood and guts on the floor.
“Ha, hahahahahaha!”
I burst out laughing.
Magicians could not use black magic. That was common sense in this world.
But just now, that common sense was broken. So easily that it was absurd.
‘To think that my astral could control and use the Dark Hole without even transplanting it… Is it possible for other magicians? …No. It’s impossible. If it were possible, it would have already been known. The original work also stated that magicians cannot use black magic.’
I chuckled and manipulated my watch to send a message to No. 212.
[Mission complete.]
•••
“Puhahaha! To think you’d find and kill a black magician in just one day! How did you find him?”
Baron Ptelgar laughed at the black magician’s corpse and asked me. I explained, in a roundabout way, from the time I went to the tattoo artist.
“Keke. So you acted like a fool. By now, the police are probably trying to chase you.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve completely hidden my appearance.”
“No. 211, was it? You’re quite capable. Come work under me. I’ll give you a salary that’s second to none.”
“Thank you for your high evaluation, but I am a soldier.”
“You can just retire.”
“Retirement is not something I can choose at my own discretion. I have to get permission from my superior. And there’s no chance that permission will be granted.”
Baron Ptelgar twisted his lips as if dissatisfied. But he soon composed his expression. No matter how much of a noble he was, he had no authority to interfere with the military.
“If you ever retire, contact me. I’ll treat you well.”
“Yes, I will.”
I said something I didn’t mean. Ptelgar pointed his chin at the black magician’s corpse. The guards standing behind him dragged the black magician’s corpse away.
“I heard that the black magician didn’t have a Dark Hole.”
“The battle was fierce.”
“You didn’t take it, did you?”
“Absolutely not.”
“…Hmph. Fine. I’m satisfied that you caught and killed the black magician. To think that the Resistance Echoes would target me. Thinking about it again makes me angry.”
“……”
Ptelgar stretched out his short, thick arm towards the prostitutes. The prostitutes gave him fake smiles and snuggled up to him. He glanced at me and said in a testy voice.
“What are you looking at? Get out of here.”
Hiding my murderous intent towards him, I went outside.
