Chapter 1241

<Chapter 1241> 1241. Dark Moon

I approached the dark mage’s corpse.

The dark mage’s body, pierced by thousands of shards, looked like a porcupine. Of course, not in a cute way at all.

I glanced around once. I need to take this corpse and show it to Viscount Ftelgar. Just thinking about it makes me want to sigh.

“Hmph… I could just send someone else to do it…”

Suddenly, I realized this was the first time I’d killed a dark mage.

I’ve faced mages before. Encountered them on missions, fought them on battlefields.

‘Those were battles in open combat. This is different—I hunted this dark mage down and killed him in his own lair.’

A mage’s workshop is commonly called a study.

This trash-filled place is technically the dark mage’s study. Maybe if I rummage around, I’ll find something useful. Though my curiosity was piqued, I decided to save that for later.

My heart started pounding.

Right now, I’m using Transparency Magic to conceal my true level.

On the surface, I’m a Level 3 Battle Mage. I have 25 mana nodes, which is impressive enough—but in reality, I’m Level 4 with 33 mana nodes.

I hit Level 4 half a year ago, and since then, there hasn’t been any progress. I’m still in the early stages of Level 4. It can’t be helped; my current environment isn’t ideal for advancing. There’s a severe lack of magical resources and information, and I don’t even have a proper workshop for personal research.

That said, I’m not getting anxious about it.

It’s natural for advancement to slow as you reach higher levels. How quickly and effectively you break through these plateaus depends on your skill, talent, and luck as a mage.

‘Even though I don’t trust this dump much, this guy was a Level 3 dark mage. He must’ve had something worthwhile.’

I put on gloves, pulled out my knife, and began searching the dark mage’s corpse.

Strangely, handling a corpse no longer bothers me. At first, it did give me pause, but now? Nothing fazes me anymore.

‘Too many shards stuck in here—it’s annoying. Should’ve killed him cleaner.’

I roughly pulled out some of the shards and checked his pockets and clothes. Something turned up.

Potions? Reagents maybe. Soaked in blood, they’re probably useless now.’

Other than that, there were pens and pebbles. The stones might be magical materials or something… but they didn’t interest me.

There was a tattoo on his left shoulder. It wasn’t very clear due to the blood, but I recognized the symbol.

After wiping away the blood with a dirty cloth, the emblem became visible: three circles, one inside another.

“The Resistance Echoes’ insignia. Was this guy part of the Resistance?”

Resistance Echoes opposes the class system. They’re also known as the Revolutionary Army. Operating globally, they mainly target nations with rigid class structures, committing acts of terrorism.

Nobles and royals are their sworn enemies. They believe eliminating the caste system will create an equal world.

“In my opinion, they’re just bitter because they don’t have what others do.”


“It’s all I can do…’

Meh, whatever those guys do doesn’t matter to me one bit. As long as it doesn’t involve me. And right now, the Resistance Echoes isn’t even the priority.

“Should I do it… or not?”

I fiddle with the knife in my hand, deep in thought.

A black mage differs from a regular mage because they possess a special organ called the Darkhole. This unique organ converts mana into dark mana and stores it.

There are various ways to obtain a Darkhole: organ transplantation or creation through a special ritual, among others.

“In the original game, if you kill a black mage, you can get their Darkhole. They used to sell for quite a fortune, y’know.”

If a mana-awakened individual transplants a Darkhole, even non-mages can use dark mana. From there, by gaining experience and learning black magic, one can eventually become a black mage.

“…I’m doing it. It’d be stupid not to extract the Darkhole after killing a black mage. Plus, I am interested in it…”

The special organ that converts mana into dark mana.

This might be my only chance to get a Darkhole.

Gripping the knife tightly, I slice open the black mage’s abdomen. The location of the Darkhole varies between black mages—it could be under the heart or attached to the kidney.

Lucky, I guess? In this case, the black mage’s Darkhole was nestled between the small intestines, completely undamaged. I extract the Darkhole. It’s about 3cm in diameter, resembling a black pearl. I can feel the dark mana emanating from it.

“The moment you extract a Darkhole, it loses its ability to convert mana into dark mana. However, if you re-transplant it as an organ, you can regain that ability.”

An extracted Darkhole retains the ability to store dark mana, essentially functioning like a dark mana battery.

“I don’t plan on transplanting this Darkhole. Doing so would lower the purity of my mana, making it harder to wield elemental magic effectively.”

I inspect the Darkhole carefully. Even in its current state, I have this feeling that I could use the dark mana to cast black magic. Of course, since I don’t know a single incantation for black magic, it’s currently impossible.

I pull out a handkerchief from my pocket and wrap the Darkhole carefully. Normally, I wouldn’t handle an ordinary organ so casually, but this is a special organ.

“Next up, disposing of the body. They can’t find out I took the Darkhole… so I’ll need to damage it convincingly.”

Lord Ptergal is cunning. He’ll definitely suspect that I stole the Darkhole.

“Let him suspect. As long as there’s no decisive evidence, I’m fine.”

I channel some recovered mana and cast a spell. Using wind magic, I mutilate the black mage’s corpse. It wasn’t a pretty scene.

“This isn’t enough. Once my mana recovers, I’ll need to burn the body further.”

I avert my gaze from the black mage’s corpse and search the surroundings. Even though it’s a shabby place, it’s still the dwelling of a black mage—there must be something useful here.

“There it is.”

After rummaging around for nearly 40 minutes, I finally found what I was looking for.

One item was a spellbook. It contained research on a third-tier black magic that manifests a biological bomb as a tattoo.

“So, you were conducting your own research, huh? Trying to elevate the biological bomb into a non-verbal spell using tattoos?”

Though I didn’t care why he was obsessed with biological bombs, it was quite groundbreaking.

“Hmm. The tattoo-based biological bomb succeeded. You were working on enhancing its power, weren’t you?”

The other item I found was a cage made of reinforced glass. Inside was a white mouse with a biological bomb magic circle drawn on its body.

“When the black mage died, the biological bomb magic circle lost its dark mana and became just a plain tattoo. It won’t explode. This is just an ordinary mouse with a magic circle tattoo now.”

Magic circles come in various types. The two main categories are activation-type and sustained-type. The biological bomb magic circle is of the activation type.

I picked up the spellbook. It was more like a research manuscript, which made it even more helpful to me.

“It’s disappointing that the only magic written here is the biological bomb black magic, but it’ll still be useful.”

The incantations for black magic themselves aren’t particularly special. Though the circuits seem slightly twisted, they’re not difficult to understand.

The black magic circuit…


There’s only one special thing—it doesn’t react to regular mana, but only to dark mana.

‘If I can only handle dark mana, that means I can use dark magic too, right?’

After rereading the spellbook, I unleashed a fire spell and burned it. Then I glared at the Dark Hole in my hand.

‘Let me try manipulating the dark mana within the Dark Hole. Like grasping mana through its flow…’

The dark mana inside the Dark Hole didn’t budge.

‘This isn’t working.’

I narrowed my eyes. After trying several other methods, I opened up my astral spirit as a mage.

Through the astral plane, I perceived the Dark Hole. The Dark Hole resting on my palm felt like it had become a part of me. I could feel the dark mana.

Here’s the problem: for mana to become magic, it needs to be processed. It transforms mana into a magical formula through something called a mana conduit.

‘The Dark Hole is outside of me, so I can’t use my own mana conduit. But…’

There’s no rule saying the process of converting mana into a formula must go through a mana conduit.

‘Right in front of me, there’s something perfect.’

A magic circle drawn on the body of a mouse trapped inside a glass cage.

The dark mana from the Dark Hole flows into the mouse. The magic circle activates. Simply injecting dark mana wouldn’t suffice; it activated because I fully understood the magic circle.

‘Success!’

I could feel the connection between the bio-bomb magic circle and the Dark Hole.

[Barrier]

First, I covered myself with a barrier.

‘Explode!’

BOOM!

The mouse explodes. The glass cage shatters, and the shockwave shakes my barrier. The explosion soon fades away, leaving pieces of the mouse’s blood and innards scattered on the floor.

“Hah, hahahaha!”

Laughter erupted.

Mages cannot use dark magic. That was the common sense of this world.

But just now, that common sense shattered. And it happened absurdly easily.

‘Who would’ve thought my astral could dominate and utilize an unimplanted Dark Hole… Can other mages do this? No. Impossible.

If it were possible, it would’ve been discovered already. Even in the original story, it was firmly stated that mages cannot use dark magic.’

Giggling nervously, I manipulated the watch and sent a message to Room 212.

[Mission Complete.]

“Fwahahaha! Who would’ve thought I’d find and kill a dark magician within a day! How did you manage to find them?”

Count Ptelgar mocked the dead body of the dark magician while asking me. I gave him a brief explanation, starting from visiting the tattooist.

“Heheh. So he moved around like an idiot, huh? The police must be going crazy trying to chase after you right about now.”

“It doesn’t matter. I completely concealed my presence.”

“Room 211, was it? Quite impressive. Come work under me. I’ll make sure your salary is nothing to scoff at.”

“I thank you for your high appraisal, but I’m a soldier.”

“You can always leave the army later, right?”

“Leaving the army isn’t something I can choose freely. I need permission from my superiors, and there’s no way they’ll grant it.”

Count Ptelgar twisted his lips, clearly dissatisfied. But he quickly composed himself. Even if he was a noble, he had no authority to interfere with the military.

“Anyway, if you ever decide to leave the army, let me know. I’ll treat you well.”

“Yes, sir. I will.”

I said something I didn’t mean at all. Count Ptelgar pointed at the dark magician’s corpse with his chin. The bodyguards standing behind him dragged the corpse away.

“A dark magician without a Dark Hole, huh?”

“The battle was intense.”

“You didn’t steal it, did you?”

“…Absolutely not.”

“Hmph, fine. I’m satisfied that we caught and killed the dark magician. Now that I think about it, Resistance Echoes targeting me pisses me off.”

Count Ptelgar extended his short, thick arm toward the prostitutes. They approached him with fake smiles and embraced him. He glanced at me and spoke in an irritated tone.

“What are you staring at? Get lost already.”

Hiding my murderous intent toward him, I left.