Chapter 8 : Genius (2)

“Beginner’s Guide to Dark Magic” by Leoden.

I chuckled lightly and closed the book.

Back then, it was nothing short of a ray of hope for me.

It was a treasure I held dear and read obsessively, to the point where I memorized every single word.

There was no need to spend time reading it again.

Instead, the book that caught my interest was about another branch of dark magic—something you might call the secret arts of witches.

I had expected to spend all my time taking on trials to earn stats, resources, and equipment, just as I had been doing.

Never did I think I’d have to learn something new again.

“This feels… good.”

The sensation of learning something and improving my skills was one I’d forgotten long ago.

There was no reason to resist it.

“U-Um, Master… Who is this woman?”

It was then that I encountered a rookie I had never seen before—a young man with blonde hair who still had a boyish face.

Judging by his appearance, carrying a load of goods on his back as if he’d just returned from work, he was clearly one of Leoden’s earlier disciples.

“This is Eden, your senior disciple. He’s a novice climber who recently entered Edelion,” Leoden introduced.

As expected, my guess was right.

The boy Leoden introduced was named Eden.

He seemed as bewildered by me as I was curious about him, staring with a dumbfounded expression that left him speechless.

“Wait, wait! A disciple? Her? You said I was your last disciple!”

“Didn’t I stop taking disciples for a while? Things have changed. There’s no choice.”

Eden widened his eyes in disbelief, seemingly coming to terms with the situation at last.

Honestly, I couldn’t understand why he reacted like this.

When I trained under Leoden, there were over ten of us, all jumbled together.

“Perfect timing. Eden, show her around. I’ve got urgent matters to attend to.”

And with that, Leoden suddenly remembered some pressing business and left me with Eden before disappearing.

The two of us were left alone in the shop, with an awkward silence descending between us.

Though I could have broken the ice, I decided to quietly observe Eden, my junior, who was frozen in confusion, unsure of what to do.

“Hmm, not without talent.”

I glanced at him with my Eye of Insight, peering into his inner potential while his gaze remained fixed on the floor.

Could it be that Leoden’s perspective had shifted in his later years?

When he accepted me as his disciple, he prioritized desperation over talent.

Now, it seemed he was picking people with potential.

“Ahem, your name is Shin Jia, right? Must be from Earth. The name feels familiar.”

“That’s correct.”

In the end, it was Eden who awkwardly broke the silence.

Technically, he was supposed to guide me as my senior.

All I had to do was stand there and listen.

“Why… of all things… a dark mage?”

And just like everyone else, Eden’s reaction was no different.

Back when I desperately chose to learn dark magic and walk the path of a dark mage, people understood, saying it was justifiable.

But now, they all reacted the same way—questioning why I chose this path.

My answer, however, remained the same.

It was the optimal path to reach the highest floors of the tower and beyond, something even Leoden had acknowledged.

“The top floor of the tower, and beyond that? Ha! What nonsense… No, never mind.”

Hearing my answer, Eden scoffed in disbelief before quickly realizing his mistake and shaking his head in apology.

“I’m different from you. I just need to find a way to live decently, and that’s enough. I couldn’t say it outright to Master, but I’m sure he knows.”

“That’s a perfectly valid choice.”

“If you have money and power, you can enjoy most of what you had outside the tower—or maybe even more. There’s no need to risk your life climbing to the hellish upper floors.”

Eden spoke casually, but a hint of fear showed through his words.

And indeed, many chose to give up climbing the tower and spent their lives here instead.

No, most people chose that path.

Over hundreds of years, their descendants had built a massive society throughout the tower.

Some of the strongest on the upper floors scorned such people, calling them useless, cowardly livestock, but I had no particular thoughts about them.

It was natural to fear death and pain.

While that philosophy didn’t align much with dark magic—where taboo acts are committed without hesitation to gain power—it wasn’t impossible to coexist with it.

It was simply a choice, and in the end, the responsibility for that choice lay with the individual.

In the tower, the weak are inherently exploited by the strong.

Those who choose to be weak should have no complaints when they are exploited.

“You might change your mind soon enough. Anyway, since Master accepted you, I’ll follow along. Come with me; I’ll show you the living quarters.”

Perhaps because of my calm response, Eden seemed more relaxed as he led me to the small rooms and living spaces attached to the shop.

Surprisingly, nothing had changed much since I left this place.

He must be earning money somehow, but where was it all going?

“This place used to be crowded, but after Master stopped taking disciples due to old age, people left one by one. In the end, I was the only one left.”

Eden explained the empty space and began talking about the past.

When he first came here, I was already on the upper floors of the tower, so we had never crossed paths before.

But the way he described the place as “crowded” was familiar to me.

“I didn’t come here to reminisce, but…”

The corners of my lips began to curl up involuntarily.

Ironically, despite how terrible the end had been, those grueling times had become overly romanticized in my memories.

“Are you really okay with this? A place like this seems too dirty and gloomy for someone like you.”

“In the end, it’s just a place where people live. It’s better to be practical than needlessly extravagant.”

“Hmm…”

I spoke my honest feelings, born from experience, but Eden scratched his head with a strange expression, as if trying to interpret my words.

Did he think I would scream about how I couldn’t live in a cramped, filthy place like this?

If only he knew I had lived surrounded by piles of bleeding corpses before.

“Witchcraft is similar to dark magic, but its foundation is entirely different. If you start off on the wrong foot, you’ll never get it right.”

That evening, I sat in the small room that had been assigned to me, with a glowing stone lamp illuminating the worn-out desk.

I focused on the open book before me.

The book, which Leoden had personally compiled, contained all the information he had gathered about witches.

It described the founder of witches, Marya, as well as the methods used by previous great witches to structure their magical power.

Structuring magical power is the first step in preparing to use magic.

Although it’s possible to use magic without structuring it, the efficiency drops significantly, making it essential.

For all magicians, including dark mages, the heart is the center of magical structure.

Magical energy is gathered in the heart and circulated from there.

When this structure is solidified, the heart becomes an unconscious magical battery and transformer.

A mage’s ability to wield magic depends on the output and level of this structure.

“…What a strange place.”

Of course, witches also have a specific organ for structuring magical power.

But it wasn’t the heart.

The passage I read, describing how witches gather magical energy in the womb, brought a bitter smile to my face.

I rubbed my lower abdomen lightly over the organ I’d had for less than a week.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what advantage this had over using the heart.

The book claimed witchcraft was exceptionally fast and powerful, but taking it at face value felt risky.

“Might as well give it a try.”

This step, a beginner’s move to awaken as a witch, wasn’t particularly difficult.

It was just a matter of shifting the process from the heart to a different area.

Of course, for a novice who knew nothing, this would be incredibly challenging.

Even most masters, who only worked with the heart, couldn’t guide anyone through structuring magical power elsewhere.

For someone to figure it out on their own would require extraordinary talent.

However, I had already mastered the ability to move magical power freely, even without completing a structure.

And with the passive skill Mana Control (P)—a reward for defeating the Alpha in the tutorial—it was even easier.

“…Are you serious?!”

As I sat properly, following the book’s instructions, a faint noise reached me through the wall.

It was Eden and Leoden talking.

Annoyed, I got up and focused my hearing.

Thanks to the poor soundproofing of the old building, eavesdropping wasn’t difficult.

“It’s your right to take in disciples, Master, but you know we’re tight on living expenses. Adding another mouth to feed means more costs!”

“Do you think I accepted her without any thought? She has considerable mana reserves and talent, but even so, it’ll take at least a year for her to learn the basics.”

“So, what do we do for that year?”

“Why are you so worried? She can work, too.”

To my surprise, Eden was pressuring Leoden.

It seemed Leoden’s dreadful financial sense remained unchanged.

“Nothing comes free. Until she gains enough skill to take on practical missions, she can do odd jobs like you did.”

“You’re not seriously planning to make her do heavy labor with those frail limbs, are you?”

“Are you mad? Why waste that pretty face on something like that?”

Leoden clicked his tongue at Eden’s incredulous tone.

“You know as well as I do—if someone has either good looks or a decent body, they can rake in money. She’s got both. Honestly, she’d earn much more doing that than pretending to be a climber.”

“Master, don’t tell me…”

“What kind of lunatic do you take me for?”

This time, a loud thwack and a short yelp from Eden signaled that Leoden had smacked him.

“You know about Loren’s upscale restaurant in the downtown area, right? They’re hiring stunning women as waitresses. With that salary, the three of us could live comfortably—or even four!”

Leoden chuckled as if he’d already figured everything out.

It was clear he was about to start exploiting his disciples again, just as he always had.

“Ridiculous.”

I was, of course, appalled.

Doing housework or menial chores was one thing, but I absolutely refused to do the backbreaking labor I’d done in the past.

It would be a complete waste of time and effort.

And serving strangers with a forced smile?

That was even worse than grueling physical labor.

Absolutely impossible.

“I guess there’s only one solution.”

Sighing, I reached for the dark magic book I had tucked away in a corner.

They planned to use me as an ATM for the year it would supposedly take to reach a beginner’s level.

I couldn’t let that happen.

I hadn’t intended to do this, but now I had no choice but to achieve a miracle and reach that level in just one day.