Blacksmithing Is Child’s Play for a Dark Mage - Chapter 51

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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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Episode 51
Building a harbor required capital. Naturally, the substantial income Tay earned was channeled once more into large-scale investment.
Though his earnings were considerable—Tay’s revenue from the Bone Spear alone rivaled that of a nobility with a medium-to-large territory of roughly two hundred thousand inhabitants; this placed him among the wealthiest of the barons, or perhaps at the level of an impoverished count—
he was pouring nearly all of it into territorial development.
Yet thanks to this relentless investment, the territory flourished.
So much so that people began arriving of their own accord, risking their lives to settle here without Tay needing to recruit them at all.
In this age.
With monsters spawning everywhere, ordinary commoners had to stake their lives merely to relocate between regions.
That so many would brave such danger to reach this place only proved how severe the famine elsewhere had become.
Caught up in the endless work of territorial development, spring had slipped away, summer had passed, and autumn had arrived.
Tay’s Territory enjoyed yet another bountiful harvest.
* * *
“With plenty of water and generous fertilizer, the crops are thriving…”
Tay knew nothing of agriculture.
In his previous life he’d never farmed, and he’d never even taken interest in farming itself.
All he’d done was gather a few serfs and villagers who had farming experience, organize their methods once, and thoroughly work the fields for them.
With so many Skeleton Soldiers, land reclamation became absurdly simple.
In truth, the hardest part of farming was clearing and preparing the fields.
Who could fathom how difficult it was to turn raw earth into arable land?
“How much do you think we’ll harvest?”
Tay sat atop his manor roof, gazing down across the territory as he posed the question to Lant.
“At least enough grain for three hundred thousand people to eat for a full year, I would estimate.”
“Impressive indeed.”
In this age, farming typically worked this way:
If a peasant household worked a plot,
that single harvest would feed three to four households for a year. Yet they’d lose roughly seventy percent of it and live in want.
But in Tay’s Territory, a population of merely ten thousand was yielding enough food for three hundred thousand.
Ten times the output of ordinary lands—a staggering achievement!
Moreover,
the ten thousand population included both slaves and free persons, yet not all of them worked the fields.
About three thousand were employed in Tay’s breweries, inns, Cooking operations, construction projects, and Harbor development.
Only roughly seven thousand engaged in farming.
And accounting for children among those seven thousand, the actual working population was even smaller. Yet this was the result.
Astounding!
“Bone truly has limitless uses.”
“When you first proposed using bone as fertilizer, I confess I thought you’d lost your mind.”
Tay chuckled softly at Lant’s remark.
Bone contained abundant calcium and numerous compounds suited to fertilization.
Ground fine and mixed into soil, it made excellent fertilizer.
But he employed other methods as well.
Using Decay Black Magic extensively, he accelerated the decomposition of organic waste—food scraps, excrement—then burned it once over to kill parasites and microorganisms before scattering it across the fields.
This proved extraordinarily effective.
Beyond the ten thousand residents, the floating population generated food waste and sewage beyond imagination, and reprocessing these into fertilizer was no trivial undertaking.
But behold—
that magnificent harvest!
And this was merely the beginning.
Though Tay possessed no twenty-first century Earth tractor, he had something better: Skeleton Soldiers with inexhaustible energy.
With thousands of them, using them to farm would yield production beyond current levels.
“While developing the Harbor, I’ll need to begin crafting that item as well…”
“You mean the Undead Control Item you mentioned before?”
“Yes, that one.”
Undead Control Items.
Among Black Mages who command the undead, control capacity was perpetually a concern.
Not every Black Mage could govern infinite numbers of undead.
Hence the need for items that expanded control capacity.
A 1st Class Black Mage fully equipped with various control-enhancing items could command roughly fifty Skeleton Soldiers or Zombies at maximum.
Though such cases were exceedingly rare.
Control items were expensive, and a mere 1st Class Black Mage would hardly possess such wealth.
Typically, they’d acquire one or two items, allowing them to control ten to fifteen undead.
Even this was considerable, making them quite effective.
A Black Mage, however, must choose.
Whether to use the feeble Skeleton Soldiers, or the Zombies—serviceable but barred from cities.
The reason is simple enough……
Zombies reek abominably due to decay. They cannot enter cities at all.
Skeleton Soldiers can.
They produce no stench.
Tay hadn’t created Skeleton Soldiers without reason. The odor problem was a critical consideration.
But Skeleton Soldiers are weaker than Zombies.
Because of the weight-class issue mentioned before.
A typical Skeleton Soldier weighs barely twenty kilograms, and shatters pathetically in close combat.
Zombies have no such problem. They’re simply corpses as they were, retaining their original body weight.
In any case, whether commanding Zombies or Skeleton Soldiers, every Black Mage inevitably craves an Undead Control Item.
Even this industry has its hardships.
But the Undead Control Item Tay meant to create was something different—it would let even ordinary folk command the undead.
The plan was simple: if there’s no tractor, substitute Skeleton Soldiers instead.
Such items do exist in the world.
The world is vast, and diverse items are constantly being made.
So. I found the crafting method!
Even a 2nd Class Black Mage can make it!
The materials are expensive, which raises the unit cost.
“For now I plan to research ways to lower the per-unit price. Lant, you start by expanding the administrative staff.”
“Yes, understood.”
The brief meeting concluded.
* * *
An Undead Control Item.
This is what’s currently being sold on the market.
Copper Necklace of Skeleton Domination
Quality: Poor
Grade: Common
A ring of Black Magic crafted by a 2nd Class Black Mage who studied enchantment magic.
It enables the control of a single lowest-tier Undead.
“I’ve never seen a magical item with a Common grade before.”
Tay muttered irritably.
When examining an object with the Madness Measurement Eye skill, the system window displays the item’s information.
So he’d bought one being sold on the market and looked it over—the thing was dreadfully shoddy.
Common. Uncommon. Rare. Magical. Unique. Legendary. Divine.
Of seven Grades, the lowest tier—how pitiful could it be?
Objects assigned the lowest Grade are things like pebbles and sticks found by the roadside.
Even a cook’s knife from a smithy achieves Uncommon Grade; this didn’t even reach that, showing how contemptible it was.
“Tch. Having a sample makes the work easier, so I bought it… though I wish I’d chosen something better.”
Grumbling thus, Tay picked up the ring.
“Design Drawing by Madness-Tinged Imagination.”
Snap!
This skill was the very source that allowed Tay to craft all manner of deranged contraptions.
All the recipes from his past life were stored within it, and simultaneously, the skill enabled him to design entirely new creations.
-Design Drawing by Madness-Tinged Imagination has unfolded.
-What shall you design?
“A bracelet. One capable of controlling up to twenty lowest-tier Undead. Material: bone.”
-Conditions confirmed.
-Calculating.
-Please infuse Derangement.
“Alright.”
He poured in the Derangement he’d accumulated thus far.
In fact, to create the Bone Spear, he’d been carefully maintaining and managing the enslaved maddened individuals, extracting Derangement from them all along.
Moreover, the number of slaves had grown.
He’d purchased additional maddened slaves through a slave merchant.
Derangement as a mental resource remained invaluable.
Whoooosh.
Derangement poured in, and the skill activated.
-The Light-Footed Perfectionist Ring of Skeleton Control has been completed.
[Light Obsessive-Compulsive Skeleton Control Ring]
Quality: Superior
Grade: Rare
A skeleton control ring crafted with Derangement infused into its making.
The wearer develops a mild obsessive-compulsive tendency toward cleanliness.
Can control up to twelve low-tier Undead.
“Ohhh… an excellent option dropped!!!”
Tay let out a cry of jubilation.
It couldn’t be helped. As a Crazy Craftsman by Class, anything he crafted came with some sort of defect.
The Bone Spear alone — didn’t it break your fingers when you threw it?
But this one came with a mild obsessive-compulsive tendency as a negative mental trait.
Actually, this is a genuinely excellent option!
Why, you ask?
This world.
Living filthily was the standard. Sanitation was an absolute mess, and periodic epidemics swept through this mad realm because of it.
Though to be fair, Earth in my past life wasn’t much different if you looked at the sixteenth century.
But here’s the thing.
Mild obsessive-compulsive tendencies?
With this, you’d have no choice but to wash frequently!
It’s a magical item that improves the wearer’s hygiene!!!!
So of course he had to cheer.
“Yes! This is it! This is exactly what needs to happen!!”
Tay let out another shout of triumph.
This is it! This is what we need!
My Territory will become clean!
“Perfect. Mass production. Right away.”
Tay immediately decided to create additional Automatic Item Crafting Machines – Bone Edition.
And using these,
he would mass-produce this ring.
The beginning of a labor revolution.
Being a Black Mage Makes Blacksmithing Too Easy
Author |
Automaton G
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Samyang C&C Corporation
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Editorial Department
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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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