Blacksmithing Is Child’s Play for a Dark Mage - Chapter 32

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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 32
Even as Tae received their thanks,
“Master! That swordsman over there — the one drained of all his life force — he’s shriveling up. Is that all right?”
Dialogue called out excitedly.
Tae turned to look.
The swordsman whose life force had been drained was withering before his eyes, his skin shriveling as he aged at a horrifying speed. As though decades had passed in mere seconds.
This was the side effect of Life Force Absorption.
For the victim, it meant their very ‘life’ was being pulled away.
“……He’s not dead, so that’s fine.”
“To spend that much life force just restoring a single finger! The efficiency of Black Magic seems rather poor! Much like myself, if I may say!”
Dialogue was engaging in self-deprecation.
“You’re plenty efficient. Besides, that’s how Life Force Absorption works. You’re borrowing someone else’s life force, so waste is inevitable.”
As Tae replied, Ahs added from beside him,
“Precisely. The conversion efficiency of life force is roughly one-tenth. Restoring even a single finger requires a substantial quantity.”
“One-tenth? So… I drained ten years of this man’s life force just to put one year back into Rant’s finger?”
“Roughly so.”
“That’s terribly inefficient.”
“Black Magic is the very epitome of inefficiency. But in exchange, it makes possible what no other method can achieve.”
Tae nodded at Ahs’s explanation and surveyed his surroundings.
Corpses and the wounded. And Skeleton Soldiers.
There was far too much to clean up.
“Right. Let’s handle the aftermath.”
Tae issued orders to the Skeleton Soldiers.
“Gather the bodies in one place. Set aside any equipment worth keeping. Bind all the living ones.”
Clatter. Clatter.
The Skeleton Soldiers began moving with mechanical precision.
Then Tae turned his attention to the bound Black Mage, Desh.
A Class 2 Black Mage who had surrendered.
This one would certainly prove useful.
‘The Thieves Guild’s information network. One Black Mage. And the surviving swordsmen.’
The force-building that Rant had spoken of.
Its first foothold had rolled toward him of its own accord.
“……luck is on my side, it seems.”
Tae chuckled softly to himself.
* * *
Tae offered the surviving swordsmen a choice.
Become his slaves, or be sold off as Criminal Slaves?
As had been mentioned before, even criminals could be enslaved through the Oath of Truth in this age.
In particular, those convicted of violent crimes like robbery and murder faced lifelong servitude without exception.
In other words, he was asking them to choose: work under him, or be sold elsewhere.
Naturally, every face darkened at the proposition.
Half chose to serve under Tae; the other half elected to be sold off as Criminal Slaves instead.
The thought of what might happen to them as slaves under a Black Mage was simply too terrifying.
Anyone who’d spent time in the Thieves Guild knew all too well what kinds of human experiments Black Mages conducted.
In the end, Tae had the Security Force called in to sell off the half (the Security Force handled such transactions, though they charged a fee), while the remaining half became his slaves.
Slave Binding Magic required Class 3 or higher, so Tae had to spend money bringing in a Class 3 Black Mage.
Still, he’d managed to acquire several lifetime slaves, which was well worth it.
Six swordsman slaves. One Class 2 slave.
Excellent.
He sold off the equipment the slaves didn’t need, then brought them to the Thieves Guild Headquarters and stripped it of all its wealth. His fortune had ballooned dramatically.
Even rotten fish has some value.
Though small, the guild had operated in this world long enough to accumulate considerable wealth.
The result:
Tae’s fortune had swelled to 32,000 Goldmanta Gold Coins.
That was the equivalent of 3.2 billion in modern currency—a staggering sum.
Of course, Tae was capable of earning tens of billions per month, but that was looking forward; he hadn’t actually accumulated that much liquid wealth until now.
Yet here he was, having earned this much all at once!
Naturally, he deposited all of it in the Goldmanta Bank, with its fortress-like security.
Unlike banks in twenty-first-century Earth, the Goldmanta Bank didn’t pay interest; instead, it charged enormous storage fees.
But it was the only place in this world where money could be kept absolutely safe, and it even offered something like credit cards, so he had no choice.
Because of this, the fact that Goldmanta the Golden Dragon is the richest being in the world—wealthiest and most powerful—is something everyone knows.
And immensely strong too.
Being a dragon, strength was inevitable; moreover, the Golden Dragon’s army, sustained by such staggering wealth, was something even the mightiest nations preferred not to contend with.
In truth, had the Golden Dragon founded a kingdom, it would have become the world’s supreme power, yet this dragon was famous precisely for running only a bank and undertaking no other ventures.
In any case.
Tae dealt with the attackers, liquidated and organized the seized assets.
During this time, he also purchased land and buildings near his stone-walled house to rebuild his power base.
As time passed, other thieves’ guilds naturally filled the void left by Black Finger.
But they already knew.
A new force had arrived in the Slum.
Because of this, members of rival thieves’ guilds wouldn’t dare show their faces near Tae’s stone-walled house.
A sort of neutral zone had been created.
Naturally.
Tae paid no mind to such things.
He didn’t extort protection money from the poor around his home.
Such petty schemes weren’t worth his time anyway.
What needed his attention now was something else entirely.
Acquiring slaves was fine.
But he had to figure out how to put them to use.
* * *
“I’m Pit, a Silver Badge mercenary.”
“I’m Serin, a Silver Badge mercenary.”
Through the Silver Shield Guild, he’d hired a full twenty bodyguard mercenaries.
Two of them were Silver Badge mercenaries!
In fact, these two Silver Badge mercenaries took half of the one thousand gold paid monthly—five hundred gold each.
That is, skilled fighters earning two hundred fifty gold per month.
In Korean currency, that’s twenty-five million won!
“If you work in two shifts, the guard duty should be straightforward. Usually there won’t be much trouble.”
“With so many Skeleton Soldiers crawling around, what’s the real reason for hiring us?”
The burly middle-aged Pit asked. One-eyed, he was said to be a veteran mercenary.
Not merely an Aura Beginner, but an Aura User.
Beginner. User. Practitioner. Expert. Master.
Aura mastery was divided into these five tiers, and reaching User alone qualified one as a low-rank knight.
In other words, he received the Silver Badge because he was knight-rank.
“It’s more convenient to maintain Size Inflation this way.”
Tae spoke casually.
Pit nodded at his words, seemingly satisfied.
“Well, as long as the money comes in, I’m content.”
“I’ll set up an awning in the courtyard and arrange a post where you can keep watch.”
“That works for me.”
Serin remained silent while Pit conversed, yet she seemed to have no particular reservations about the job.
Thus a two-shift guard unit under these two Silver Badge mercenaries began operations, and Tae continued manufacturing and selling Bone Spears.
Meanwhile.
He also decided how to deploy the slave swordsmen and slave Black Mage.
First, the Class-2 Black Mage, Desh.
He knew far fewer Black Magic spells than expected.
So Tae procured a Black Magic Tome and forced the Black Mage to train and master its spells.
“You’re telling me to master all of this within a month?”
“If you don’t, you’ll be punished.”
“Ugh… I understand.”
His intention was to assign Desh the creation of Black Magic items in his stead.
Just selling Black Magic items alone would generate substantial income.
He also tasked Desh with managing the manufacture and sale of Bone Spears, work that both Tae and Rant had previously handled.
What about the swordsmen?
“From now on, you’re running the Sewers.”
He sent them into the Sewers on automated farming runs.
Their job was to go to the Sewers, hunt monsters, and bring back the proceeds.
Because of Slave Binding Magic, they couldn’t disobey orders, creating a perfect automated farming team.
If they died?
Then they died. What else?
What a mindset!
It took roughly two months to settle everything.
And Tae earned himself a new reputation among the Slum dwellers: the Skeleton Black Mage.
* * *
“Good. I’m ready.”
Tae had earned an enormous fortune, so he spared no expense in purchasing items money could buy.
Crafting things himself was satisfying, of course.
But if gold could secure something superior, wasn’t that the sensible choice?
Thus Tae’s current equipment stood as follows:
Head: Mental Protection Circlet
Neck: Curse Amplification Necklace
Chest: Misthium Alloy Chain Shirt with Trapped Souls
Wrist 1: Soul Storage Bone Bracelet / Wrist 2: Soul Storage Bone Bracelet
Left Hand Finger 1: Black Magic Power Amplification Bone Ring / Left Hand Finger 2: Black Magic Power Amplification Bone Ring
Right Hand Finger 1: Health Recovery Ring / Right Hand Finger 2: Health Recovery Ring
Waist: Demon Summoning Belt
Legs: Misthium Alloy Chain Pants with Trapped Souls
Feet: Health Recovery Ogre Leather Shoes
Weapon: Ghoul Bone Staff
Purchasing all of it had cost him a staggering ten thousand Goldmanta Gold Coins.
Walking treasure worth a billion, essentially.
Had Tae not struck it rich with the Bone Spear—his massive hit product—he never would have dared acquire such items.
The Misthium Alloy in particular had been absurdly expensive.
With preparations complete,
Tae began to move.
Leveling up. And building power.
He set out to accomplish both at once.
The Black Mage’s Too Easy as a Blacksmith
Author |
Automaton G
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Editor-in-Chief |
Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
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UCI |
G720:N+A063-20260511100
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blog.naver.com/dreambookss
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@dreambookss
Submissions |
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No part of this book may be used in any form or by any means without prior written permission from Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – 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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