Blacksmithing Is Child’s Play for a Dark Mage - Chapter 80

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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 80
“I’ll keep it moderate, so don’t worry.”
“If you say so…….”
Aas withdrew.
Tay finished speaking, then settled deep into his chair and closed his eyes.
Now there was something he needed to do.
Draw a skill!
He hadn’t yet spent the skill points he’d gained when he reached Black Mage Level 5.
He’d put it off while sorting out the harbor, but now he finally had the leisure.
‘Please. Something good. I’m begging you!’
Tay spent his skill points with fervent prayer.
-You have acquired a Black Mage skill as a reward for reaching the next level.
-You have acquired a level-up reward skill.
A system message materialized.
-You have learned the skill ‘Evil Creator’.
[Skill: Evil Creator]
Grade: Special
Type: Passive
When you create something belonging to Black Magic,
the result becomes considerably superior.
Function: Adds 1 additional option when crafting creations
Tay opened his eyes.
‘What’s this now…….’
He read the skill description twice.
When creating something that belongs to Black Magic, an additional option is added to the result.
In other words, when he made Skeleton Soldiers, they would gain an extra option, and when he crafted Black Magic items, they would gain an extra option too.
‘This is actually a pretty useful skill.’
No, it was far more than useful.
Tay was a necromancer who churned out tens of thousands of Skeleton Soldiers, and also a crafter—a Crazy Craftsman—who fashioned all manner of magical equipment.
An additional option on every creation?
That meant every single Skeleton Soldier would gain an extra option.
‘I’m quite satisfied with this.’
Tay nodded to himself.
Aas seemed to sense it and poked his head out from the shadows.
“What new ability have you obtained?”
Tay gave him a brief explanation—a passive skill that adds an extra option to anything he creates through Black Magic.
Aas’s eyes widened slightly.
“So an ability on par with an Authority has appeared.”
“Authority?”
“In the demon world, certain high-ranking demons possess a similar ability—infusing their own power into their creations. That is called an Authority. But…… it is not an ability a lesser demon could ever possess.”
Aas regarded Tay with a gaze that was more curious than wary.
“Hmm…… Contractor. You are certainly peculiar.”
Tay chuckled.
“Well…… stick with me, and you’ll get plenty of scraps falling your way too, so look forward to it.”
“I don’t know what ‘scraps’ means, but…… I believe I grasp the intent.”
Aas shrugged.
Tay rose from his seat and spoke.
“All right. Now…… shall we go pick up some Dark Magic Tomes?”
“Quite so.”
Aas nodded.
“You are now Class 3. You can rightfully call yourself a mage.”
“Exactly.”
Some call anyone who uses magic a mage, but in truth, mages themselves don’t consider anyone below Class 3 a proper mage.
From Class 3 onward, you were a true mage.
Because from Class 3 onward, you could cast spells with enough power to truly warrant the name ‘magic.’ Below Class 3, magic was honestly more of an auxiliary tool—reinforcement, detection, small-scale attacks. Useful, but not enough to turn the tide of war.
Class 3 was different.
Area attacks, large-scale summoning, spatial manipulation, high-level curses—a single Class 3 mage could shift the flow of battle itself.
But Tay?
He was only cheating through the Hunter System.
And even that was specialized for brute-force tactics—he didn’t actually possess any particularly remarkable magic.
With Death’s Dominator, he could command Skeleton Soldiers infinitely, and with Hell Heart of Undying Life, he could spend Dark Mana without limit. That was all.
He didn’t know a single formal Class 3 Black Magic incantation.
“Well then, shall I go have a look?”
Tay threw on his coat and stepped outside.
* * *
Tay had ridden hard from his Territory to Harundel.
Though he grumbled about the distance and inconvenience, there was no avoiding the trip—
because this was the most prosperous city in the realm.
And so he arrived at Harundel’s Magic Book Street.
Tay stood frozen in front of the display case of a Black Magic specialty bookshop.
“Class 3 Dark Magic Tomes cost this much!?”
He was reeling at the price tag.
Class 3 Dark Magic Tome.
One thousand Goldmanta Gold Coins per volume!
In Korean money from his past life, that was a billion won!
No—what kind of Dark Magic Tome costs a billion won!?
But then again, from Class 3 onward there were wide-ranging spells that could change the tide of battle…… so thinking of it as tactical weapon procurement, perhaps it wasn’t so expensive after all?
Still, it was a staggering sum.
“Obscenely expensive,” Tay muttered.
He shook his head.
Class 2 Dark Magic Tomes ran between one hundred and three hundred Gold Coins per volume.
Pricey, yes, but manageable.
But jump to Class 3 and the cost multiplied tenfold.
“Actually, that’s precisely why one becomes a true mage at Class 3,” the shopkeeper said, as if accustomed to such reactions.
He spoke with the ease of long experience.
“Creating a Class 3 grimoire is difficult in itself. Only a mage of Class 3 or higher can inscribe the spell directly, and the parchment used must be special parchment capable of holding magical power. The ink must be enchanted ink as well. Materials alone run hundreds of Gold Coins.”
Tay sighed.
It wasn’t that he lacked funds.
His Territory’s income was substantial. But a thousand Gold Coins per volume meant ten volumes would cost ten thousand—and to properly master Class 3 Black Magic incantations, he’d need at least a dozen tomes.
“I’ll take five volumes for now.”
“Much obliged, Baron.”
Tay withdrew the coins with genuine pain.
No wonder they say mages are poor.
* * *
“That was an absurdly expensive purchase.”
Five thousand Goldmanta Gold Coins!
Fifty billion won in Korean currency!
A staggering amount!
So expensive it scarcely seemed real!
And what’s more—
Dark Magic Tomes weren’t abundant to begin with, because Black Magic itself was restricted in numerous ways.
Because Black Magic itself involved borrowing power from infernal demons, tampering with minds, or raising the dead.
It couldn’t be helped, really.
Yes, discrimination is only fair.
Tay nodded inwardly at that bitter truth.
In any case, with so many Black Magic spells forbidden, there were only eight Dark Magic Tomes available for purchase in the first place.
He’d bought five of them with gold in hand, and now he spread them out before him, examining each one carefully.
Skeleton Warrior Creation.
Ghoul Creation.
Corpse Explosion.
Necro Dark Magic Imbue.
Soul Suppression.
Five Class 3 Black Magic incantations in all.
“So they won’t sell the demonic branch, and naturally not the mind-affecting school either……”
Demonic. Mental. Necromantic.
All three fell under the classification of Black Magic, yet in truth only the necromantic school—necromancy—had been properly released to the public.
Demonic-class Black Magic was naturally almost nonexistent.
Just basic demon summoning taught at Class 1, perhaps?
Because—
too many Black Mages had summoned higher demons and caused absolute mayhem as a result.
The same went for Parksan, who had attacked before.
Tay rested his chin in his hand and analyzed each one methodically.
“Skeleton Warrior Creation…”
Skeleton Warriors. These were Undead of a higher tier than Skeleton Soldiers.
If Skeleton Soldiers were lower-tier Undead of the skeleton lineage, Skeleton Warriors corresponded to the mid-lower tier.
Unlike Skeleton Soldiers, which were merely bones set upright and animated by Dark Mana, Skeleton Warriors had Dark Mana deeply infused into the bone itself.
The skeletal structure was incomparably harder than Skeleton Soldiers, and more importantly, combat instincts were imprinted within them—and these creatures could channel Dark Mana into their blades.
In short: they were formidable.
They were essentially an upgraded version of Skeleton Soldiers.
“Ghoul Creation…”
Ghouls belonged to an entirely different lineage.
If zombies were lower-tier Undead of the corpse-eater lineage, then Ghouls were mid-tier.
One step above Skeleton Warriors.
Which made sense.
In the end, the difference came down to having intact flesh and muscle versus not having them.
Skeleton Warriors had only bone, but Ghouls came with flesh and sinew attached—and that alone made their raw physical strength completely different.
They possessed muscle, claws, fangs.
But that wasn’t all.
Their bodies were hardened by Dark Mana, so ordinary steel blades couldn’t wound them.
In martial terms, you might call it blade-resistance.
When you strike with a sword, it feels like hitting solid metal.
Because of this, they were extraordinarily difficult to dispatch unless struck with weapons imbued with magical power—or an Aura Blade, or a weapon blessed with holy radiance.
You could break them if you delivered the kind of physical impact that would shatter steel, but… was that easy to do?
That was why Ghouls were stronger than Skeleton Warriors.
Moreover, starting from the Ghoul level, the corpses didn’t rot, so they produced no stench.
Practically speaking, they were far more useful.
In fact, producing Ghouls rather than Skeleton Soldiers would have been more advantageous in terms of combat power.
‘But there’s a problem,’ Tay thought.
Tay narrowed his eyes.
Ghouls required considerable materials.
Skeleton Warriors needed only bones, but Ghouls required a complete corpse.
And it had to be a fresh one—before decomposition set in.
On top of that, the Dark Mana infusion required five times as much as a Skeleton Warrior, and the magical components used in creation were expensive.
The cost of making one Ghoul could produce three Skeleton Warriors instead.
‘If I go for a war of attrition, Ghouls are a bit…’
Tay’s strategy was numbers from the start.
More ordinary units beat fewer elite ones—that was Tay’s principle, wasn’t it?
From that perspective, Ghouls lacked cost-effectiveness.
Of course, later when resources became abundant, fielding a Ghoul regiment would have merit, but for now, Skeleton Warriors were far more attractive.
Besides, there were tricks he could pull with Skeleton Warriors.
Specifically, grafting extra bones onto them to increase their size and weight.
By using Bone-Shaping Dark Magic to fuse additional bones and enlarge the skeleton, you’d create a medium-sized Skeleton Warrior—a step up from standard ones.
He was already using this technique with medium-sized Skeleton Soldiers, so adaptation was straightforward.
A medium-sized Skeleton Warrior could easily match a Ghoul in combat.
“Let me look at the rest…”
Corpse Explosion.
Literally a spell that turned corpses into bombs. You overdose a corpse with Dark Mana, triggering detonation—and the destructive force was considerable.
It could even be used to detonate zombies or Skeleton Soldiers for a suicide attack, giving it immense tactical value.
Necro Dark Magic Imbue. A spell that granted Dark Magic effects to weapons or armor.
Until now, he’d been outfitting Skeleton Soldiers with cheap, low-quality gear produced at a blacksmith.
But now he could craft weapons and armor from bone itself!
With just this Necro Dark Magic Imbue, it was possible!
If he could add extra effects to Bone Swords and Bone Shields, the entire combat strength of his Skeleton Soldiers would rise. And if he combined that with the Evil Creator skill?
Being a Black Mage made blacksmithing absurdly easy.
Author |
Automaton G
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
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Editorial Department
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Without written permission from (주) Samyang C&C – Dream Books, the contents of this book may not be used in any form or by any means.

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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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