Blacksmithing Is Child’s Play for a Dark Mage - Chapter 101

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 101
Tay decided to finally tally up the real prize of this war.
And what was that?
A Level Up.
Once he’d finished the Gehenna Earldom subjugation, his level had jumped up by two notches.
As a result, both the Crazy Craftsman and the Warrior had reached Level 5!
Both were odd levels, which meant Skill Drawings were available!
Truth be told, Tay had felt a bit cheated before.
In the last battle, despite all his struggling, the Experience Points had trickled in so stingily that his level hadn’t budged a hair.
But this time, it had jumped up by two whole levels—what a stroke of luck.
‘Last time it wouldn’t move, and now it shoots up like this?’
The system’s criteria for Experience distribution made no sense, but as long as the level rose, that was victory.
Thanks to that, both the Crazy Craftsman and the Warrior could each acquire one job skill at random.
In other words, the thrill of Skill Drawing time had arrived again. The problem was that it was pure randomness—a gacha system. A gamble where you could hit the jackpot or pull garbage, where your palms sweated with every draw!
“Come on…… please, let something good come out.”
Tay, his face taut with tension, began with the Crazy Craftsman’s Skill Drawing first.
“Please something good. Please something good. Please something gooooood!”
The sight of him rubbing his hands together frantically, pleading to the void, hadn’t changed one bit from his old self.
Before the gacha, even the world’s mightiest Black Mage was nothing but a pitiful prayer-spam user!
While he was putting on that whole performance,
the system finally printed out its result.
-You have acquired a Level Up Reward Skill.
-You have acquired [Skill: Madness Control].
[Skill: Madness Control]
Rank: Legendary
Type: Passive
Control the madness attribute of items created by the Crazy Craftsman.
Function: Ability to select Madness Debuff properties when crafting items
“Yeeeeessss!”
Tay clenched both fists and let out a triumphant roar.
This was the jackpot—a Legendary Rank pull without a single dud in between!
Why was this such a good skill, you ask?
Originally, items created by the Crazy Craftsman always came with random Madness Debuffs tacked on.
They were like a double-edged sword—incredible performance bundled with vicious side effects.
Some of these Madness Debuffs were tolerable (obsessive-compulsiveness, a verbal tic, broken fingers), but others were truly hideous (I’ll leave those to your imagination).
But this “Madness Control” skill let Tay personally choose which debuff to include.
It was a game-breaking customization feature that turned random options into fixed ones.
“This is completely broken!”
Honestly, if the debuff was just obsessive-compulsiveness, it was actually quite useful.
In this impossibly filthy medieval world, obsessive-compulsiveness was almost a virtue.
In a society where eating with unwashed hands was the norm, obsessive-compulsiveness wasn’t a debuff at all—it was practically a hygiene buff.
Tay’s grin stretched from ear to ear.
“Excellent. Now for the Warrior skill.”
Tay immediately moved on to the second drawing, the Warrior skill Gacha.
-You have acquired a Level Up Reward Skill.
-You have acquired [Skill: Adaptation].
[Skill: Adaptation]
Rank: Legendary
Type: Passive
A warrior’s body is their life, and to protect that body, they have developed the power of adaptation.
Function: Develop Resistance to all things through adaptation
“Another Legendary?”
Tay’s eyes went as wide as lanterns.
“Woooah! And Adaptation?! This is incredibly good!!!”
Two consecutive Legendary Ranks in two gacha draws. His luck had come through in spectacular fashion.
Adaptation was a skill in the truest sense.
For example, if he ingested poison, his body would gradually acclimate to it and slowly neutralize it.
Of course, it didn’t work like cheap cheese—”instant transcendent lethal poison, one-shot adaptation complete!” Rather, he had to start with weak poisons and build up resistance step by step, slowly and steadily.
But even accounting for that limitation, this was an absurdly good skill.
With proper use, he could eventually become immune to all toxins, immune to blades, and capable of adapting to just about anything imaginable.
The pinnacle of survival skills—and a max-level broken skill at that.
“Damn. Those Fantasy Land bastards are all done for.”
Tay murmured the words with a vicious grin.
The thought that no poison dagger, no gleaming blade would ever best him again sent his lips curling upward so far they nearly touched his ears.
“Good. With this… at least until I stabilize the Gehenna Earldom, I can push my training hard.”
Tay chuckled, his expression wickedly pleased with itself.
* * *
Harundel Marquess’s War Camp.
Marquess Grimoire was slowly reading through a fresh report that had just arrived.
It was filled with Tay’s dazzling achievements: the conquest of the Gehenna Earldom in a single day.
“…Truly, magnificent.”
As Grimoire set down the report, a faint smile spread gently across his lips. His carefully chosen pawn was soaring far beyond expectations—there was no reason not to be satisfied.
“I suppose I too must bestir myself soon.”
Here was his vassal, far to the south, performing such brilliant feats, while he himself lingered sluggishly behind. It reflected poorly on his standing as a marquess.
* * *
Meanwhile, in a certain chamber of Gehenna Castle.
Tay had begun intensive training with his Adaptation skill.
“Ugh~~ It hurts~~”
A Venomous Snake hung from one of Tay’s forearms, sinking its fangs deep into his flesh.
It was the very pinnacle of self-inflicted suffering—willingly inviting poison into one’s own body.
But that wasn’t all.
Beneath one foot lay ice, letting the chill seep into his very bones; beside the other foot, flames roared, bathing him in their heat.
Poison, cold, heat.
A comprehensive debuff package—three flavors of agony applied simultaneously in full force.
To any observer it would have been a grotesque, appalling sight, yet inside Tay’s mind, system messages sang with unbridled joy.
-Cold Resistance is rising.
-Heat Resistance is rising.
-Poison Resistance is rising.
‘Hah. The Adaptation skill really is the best.’
Agonizing didn’t begin to cover it.
Yet all that pain was converting directly into stats, accumulating steadily layer upon layer.
To think he’d someday experience the saying “pain makes you stronger” so literally, with every fiber of his being.
‘Grind never lets you down, does it.’
It was in the midst of Tay gritting his teeth and savoring the agony that Partan entered the chamber. After seeing with his own eyes the bizarre scene of his lord’s self-administered torture, he maintained his composure and spoke.
“My lord. The vassals of the Gehenna Earl have arrived.”
Only then did Tay cease his training. He swiftly removed the Venomous Snake hanging from his forearm and straightened his disheveled posture.
“Show them in.”
“Yes, my lord.”
As Partan withdrew, Tay smoothed out his rumpled clothes with quick, practiced motions.
For someone who had just moments before been bitten by a snake and scorched by flame, he regained the dignity of a lord with impressive efficiency.
Soon after.
The vassals of the Gehenna Earl began filing into the chamber one by one.
Once they had entered, the Gehenna Earl’s vassals began introducing themselves to Tay, each in turn.
Among them stood at least one proper baron bearing an inherited title—old nobility, true silver-spoon aristocracy with generations of pedigree.
Yet even that impressive family backing wielded little influence in this setting.
Before the sorry fate of being a defeated nation’s vassal, titles and lineage were equally worthless.
Once the introductions had concluded, Tay spoke slowly.
“As you can see, this is hardly a pleasant meeting, so let’s dispense with all ceremony and proceed directly to the matter at hand.”
Tay cut straight to the heart without a trace of excess.
“You have all already paid the price. So today’s gathering exists solely to offer you a choice.”
The vassals’ eyes fixed upon Tay in unison.
“Leave your domain. Or stay and work under me. Choose one.”
Tay held up two fingers. Then, with a slight motion, he folded one down.
“Let me be clear: there is no third option where you simply remain idle and embedded. I will not tolerate uncertainty in my domain.”
In other words, there was no margin for half-measure, no room for potential troublemakers to linger. Depart or serve—the choice was binary. Option three had never existed.
“Should any of you possess enterprises, I swear I shall acquire them at fair market price.”
Tay’s tone sounded less like a lord and far more like a seasoned businessman.
“With payment of the price, our business between us is already cleanly settled. So going forward, no further entanglements—let us proceed on rational terms.”
The vassals began murmuring among themselves, stirring with unease.

Whether to leave or stay and work—it was a crossroads that defied easy resolution.
And the fact that their new master was none other than a Black Mage only complicated matters further in their minds.
“I’ll give you ten days. Think it over carefully and decide at your own pace.”
Ten days of deliberation—for a choice that would reshape their lives, it was neither short nor long, but somehow both.
And so Tay ushered his vassals from the room.
The moment they had withdrawn,
Tay pressed the Venomous Snake against his forearm once more. He had resumed his interrupted self-torture—or rather, his Adaptation training—without delay.
A Black Mage is far too easy for a blacksmith
Author |
Automaton G
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(Co.) Samyang C&C
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Editorial Department
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The contents of this book may not be used in any form or by any means without the written permission of (Co.) Samyang C&C – Dream Books.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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