Translator: Wan ED/PR: Fan
Chapter 5. One step (2)
— My name is Russell Fall. I’m an ill-fated genius warlock.
How could he forget his first meeting with Russell?
It was the first time he saw someone call themselves a genius with their own mouth, so Lucion still couldn’t forget those words.
“So… Um, isn’t that what Master-nim said at our first meeting?”
Lucion swallowed spiteful words and asked.
[Right. I also said the reason I chose you is because of your outstanding willpower.]
Not even a drop of saliva moistened Russell’s lips as he smoothly brought up a story.
[The most important thing for a warlock is willpower.]
Russell pointed his finger at his head.
[Black magic was magic created to control Darkness, which possesses an ego and to block corruption.]
“I know that.”
Thinking that Russell’s words would grow longer, Lucion left the road and guided Syandra toward the forest.
[That willpower is the strength to control the Darkness. Even if you become corrupted, if your willpower is strong, you can avoid turning into a puppet used by Darkness.]
“Is my willpower that powerful?”
[You aren’t corrupted.]
At Russell’s short reply, Lucion instinctively clenched his fists.
Even though the ghosts couldn’t directly harm him, he endured their attacks and curses for a dozen years.
[You can be proud of it.]
“Really…?”
Lucion smiled bitterly.
[Anyhow, your willpower is already good at a basic level, so I think we can skip that part of training.]
“Then would I originally start with the willpower training?”
[Right. Before holding a ceremony to become a full-fledged warlock, we would start with willpower training. You skipped over that process.]
Lucion held a ceremony to face his Darkness to become a warlock straight away.
He heard that by going through that process, he would be able to perceive his inner world or his Darkness and use that Darkness.
“I don’t remember You saying that I should do willpower training at the beginning.”
[I postponed it to explain it to you now.]
At Russell’s shameless words, Lucion quietly sighed.
“Ah. Is that so? Then it must be so. There is no way my clever master-nim would lie to me, is there?”
Russell coughed lightly and changed the topic.
[The thing necessary to use black magic is not mana, but Darkness.]
Then Russell flicked one of his fingers.
[After holding a ceremony, you can use Darkness, but it’s not like you can use it straight away. You must go through one more step of feeling the Darkness.]
Lucion glanced at Russell and stopped Syandra.
[This is the most difficult step. Because the Darkness has independent thoughts, unlike mana, it rebels.]
“What would happen in the case that I can’t feel Darkness?”
[That’s the point, it’s the end. Because if you can’t control the Darkness, it’s going to show everywhere, and you’re just going to become a corrupt warlock who squanders the image of warlocks.]
“Can’t a corrupt warlock be brought back to normal? I don’t have to just blindly wait for that end, right?”
Russell smirked at Lucion’s question.
[What do you think?]
“It’s possible.”
[Well, I’ll explain the way next time, so first, let’s start with feeling the Darkness.]
Russell postponed that topic.
If he tried to teach everything at once, would the teaching be any fun?
Russell looked at Lucion’s expression, which completely twisted, and giggled.
[Anyhow, this phase is also called the wailing wall. There are many guys who, even though they received a blessing of Darkness and held a ceremony to become a warlock, are unable to cross it.]
The face of Lucion crumpled even before it, crumpled even more.
[However, that’s about other people, you can just jump over to the feeling the Darkness phase.]
“And what’s the reason for it again?”
[Because of the black magic I made. That’s right, I’m talking about the contract.]
“… Um, are You asking me to give You permission?]
[Exactly.]
Russell grabbed Lucion’s shoulder straight away.
‘…!’
Lucion suddenly felt coldness spreading through his body.
He felt as if he was hit by the cold mid-winter wind with a naked body and unknowingly let out a white steam from his mouth.
‘Cr-crazy…’
He confirmed with his two eyes that, in a moment, black smoke spread around his body.
‘That’s Darkness?’
“Hieeek!”
Syandra was startled by the Darkness that suddenly jumped out and went wild.
But even when startled, sensing that Lucion was about to lose his balance, Syandra steeled itself straight away.
Grit.
Lucion’s teeth shuddered.
The coldness that spread through his whole body disappeared, but the aftereffects were too big.
[That’s Darkness. It’s very cold, right?]
Russell’s hand was holding Lucion’s shoulder like before, without letting go.
[And the first time will hurt a bit.]
At the end of Russell’s words, the black smoke that spread outside scared Lucion’s body entered his body again.
“… Keuk!”
For the first time in his life, Lucion instantly felt his vision turn dark.
He thought that was how it felt to drink poison.
He didn’t even realize that his body was tilting because of the feeling of acid melting his insides.
Syandra quickly knelt down so Lucion wouldn’t get hurt.
“… Ma-Master-nim. This…”
[I thought it was a freak, but no, that’s a high-breed horse.]
Russell calmly clapped as he spoke.
Seeing that scene, Lucion bit his lips, seething.
[No matter how you look at me, it can’t be helped. Darkness is in the process of making paths to run through your body in the future, so it will hurt.]
“Neigh.”
Syandra stared at Lucion.
It seemed to be asking if he was okay, but Lucion couldn’t move a finger.
His whole body was drenched in cold sweat.
[See. It will be fine soon.]
Russell looked at the state of Lucion’s body and ran his mouth.
Though he was teasing, just as Russell said, the pain suddenly disappeared, and Lucion was left dumbfounded.
He felt a surge of useless annoyance.
“Shouldn’t… You tell me about such things beforehand?”
[I said it would hurt a bit.]
“How is that a bit?”
At Lucion’s sharp voice, Russell giggled while smiling.
[Anyhow, now that you felt the Darkness, you will understand the difference from before. Try to breathe in and out slowly.]
Lucion leaned against Syandra and slowly drew a breath.
He felt something in his body moving on its own, but even though it was cold, it didn’t actually feel bad.
Reading Lucion’s changing expression, Russell smirked.
[Since your body has now adjusted to the Darkness, it won’t hurt like before unless you completely use up the Darkness.]
“…?”
At the information that it may hurt again, Lucion hesitated.
[Did you forget that Darkness has no form? After it’s all used up, the Darkness that fills up again would be a completely new Darkness, so you will have to take time to adjust again.]
“… I’ll have to keep repeating it?”
Lucion spoke with a hardened face.
What was that shitty thing?
The pain a moment ago was something he didn’t want to experience again.
[That part is very shitty indeed…. Well, as much as it’s shitty, the Darkness’ regeneration speed is quite amazing, unlike mana.]
“Enough that it’s worth enduring the pain?”
[Enough that when having a battle with a powerful mage, you would be able to mess around for two more days even after the mage runs out of mana?]
That was a much bigger gap than Lucion thought.
If it was that amazing, such fortitude had quite a value, regardless of whether he liked the pain or not.
[Now, the pillar of black magic can be said to be debuffs. But, before learning magic used to indirectly influence opponents, we will start with the basics.]
At the words that quickly skipped over the topic, Lucion looked at Russell with an absurd look.
[You still don’t know how to crawl, so how can you try to run? Don’t you know that the basics are the most important?]
“I thought you were teaching me for self-defense.”
[Assuming that you aren’t found out by people, you can do things on your own by just learning the basics. Black magic isn’t as stiff as ordinary magic.]
“The biggest problem is how to not be found out.”
Lucion pressed his lips.
[But put it on hold for now.]
Russell paused for two seconds, then spoke again.
[No matter how much you cut yourself off from the world, you must have heard that black magic is devious.]
“Yes. I heard that we’re called devious bastards.”
[It’s a fact.]
Russell nodded lightly.
[It was made this way to avoid piling up negativity as much as possible.]
“Please tell me more details.”
[One of the conditions for piling up negativity is your negative emotions. The representative emotion is murderous intent towards another person.]
Russell held up his fingers.
[Second, unreasonable violence using the Darkness. It doesn’t matter if the other party has negative feelings towards you.]
“Why is there such a difference if I’m going to hit them anyway?”
[Because Darkness is especially easily influenced by negativity. The difference between an uncorrupted warlock and a corrupted warlock is like a sheet of paper.]
At Russell’s answer, Lucion nodded.
[Third, murder. No matter the reason, never do that. In the case that you’re not able to, the negativity piles up tremendously.]
Russell’s folded his middle finger.
[Fourth, acts insulting death. For example, necromancy. Of course, it’s not a problem if you ask the dead person for permission. That’s it.]
“That’s quite complicated.”
Lucion struggled to get up and looked at Russell.
[In exchange, black magic is powerful. I didn’t lie when I said that even if you just learn the basics, you can do on your own.]
Lucion also knew that the black magic was powerful.
Although corrupted, he rose to the position of mid-boss within two years of learning black magic in the novel.
Wasn’t this an enormous advancement?
[Your world will probably be completely turned upside down.]
Russell smiled proudly.
[While on this subject, let’s get to it. Do you see that tree over there?]
“Rather than a tree, You can bring out a ghost before me. Because most of my world is built from ghosts.”
[… Are you sure?]
Russell knew how much Lucion hated ghosts.
Making up one’s mind to change and face the beings one feared the most in the world were two separate things.
“Yes. Didn’t I become a warlock and had You become my Master-nim so that You could tell me how I can bring ghosts to my feet?”
[That’s true, but… will it be okay?]
“I have to turn it upside down as Master-nim said, correct?”
Russell stared at Lucion.
Seeing not even a bit of hesitation, he soon took a breath.
[Good. If that’s what you want.]
Snap!
Russell snapped his fingers.
Seeing the ghosts who appeared from somewhere like fishes swarming to a bait thrown into a river, Lucion instantly felt his heart sink down with a thud.
[Aye. Hasn’t it been a while since someone came to see me?]
A ghost looking like a man with a scar on one of his eyes sneered at Lucion.
Lucion unknowingly held his breath and clenched his fists.
[This bastard will do.]
Russell snatched the bastard by the neck at once and snapped his fingers again.
The swarming ghosts started to flee in a hurry as if they saw something scary.
[Lucion. You remember that ordinary ghosts and humans can’t see or touch each other, right?]
“I remember.”
[But you can do it with the Darkness.]
When Russell smirked, Lucion also smiled wickedly.
[A wa-warlock? You?]
The ghost stammered.
The ghosts’ worst enemy was not a priest but a warlock who could see the ghosts.
Russell ignored the ghost’s words and flapped his mouth.
[Now close your eyes and make Darkness move to your hand. If it whines that it hates it, you can push it by force, so don’t be flustered.]
‘Whines…?’
He had no idea at all what he meant, but Lucion recalled that cold sensation and closed his eyes.
After he quietly drew a path towards his hand in his head, the Darkness started to move.
‘There is no whining?’
He merely saw the Darkness being confused, asking where it should go.
[Tell it the path. The method doesn’t matter.]
At Russell’s voice, Lucion thought for a moment.
‘Move to the place I’m pointing.’
Together with the thought of placing a marker on the destination like in a strategy game, Lucion gave an order.
Finally, the Darkness moved to Lucion’s hand.
Swish.
Like a flame, Darkness appeared in Lucion’s palm.
Lucion’s eyes opened wide in that instant.
“In my hand… Darkness appeared.”
[Wa-warlock! A true warlock!]
The ghost shuddered and screamed at the mere existence of the black smoke.
‘Is Darkness so obedient?’
Because Russell possessed 20% of Lucion’s body thanks to the contract, he saw how the Darkness moved.
And was astonished by what he saw.
It was impossible to move Darkness to one’s hand on the first try.
Even if Lucion was in a hurry, he planned to only make him get accustomed to the sensation of personally moving the Darkness.
‘Is Lucion’s Darkness special?’
Russell hid his doubts.
[Wa-warlock-nim. I was wrong! I’ll never show up in warlock-nim’s eyes again!]
Lucion ignored the ghost’s dog sounds and looked at the Darkness.
‘The smoke is extremely noticeable.’
Because Darkness had no form, it flew around as it liked.
No matter how he looked at it, anyone would think that he was a warlock when seeing it, so Lucion made a resolution once again.
‘As expected, I have to learn the aura’s form.’
[Do you feel the Darkness connected to you?]
“Yes. I feel it.”
[Do you know the difference between a warlock and a mage?]
“The Darkness… awaits my words.”
Even though he knew how absurd it sounded, Lucion mentioned it.
There is no way that he could hear anything, but it seemed like the Darkness was whispering to him, ‘What can we do?’.
[That’s right. Spells? Magic formulas? As a warlock, you need none of that. As long as you feel the Darkness connected to you, you have a right to control it. So, order it to whip him!]
‘Whip him!’
Lucion ordered it immediately as if he was waiting.
Shaaa.
The Darkness at Lucion’s fingertips stretched out towards the ghost.
Somehow, it seemed as if the surroundings became colder.
Whack!
The Darkness turned into a sharp whip and hit the ghost.
Naturally, no blood flowed out, but a black wound appeared on the ghost’s body.
“…Ha.”
Lucion let out a breath with difficulty, together with a cheerful sound.
The black smoke that appeared in his hand earlier disappeared.
[Augh….]
The ghost stared at him as if he lost his soul to the pain.
He glimpsed deep fear in that gaze.
‘He is scared of me. The ghost is really scared of me.’
Lucion bit his lips.
The emotions slowly surging in him made his chest hot.
‘I’m more.’
As Russell said, his world have changed.
The times of past suffering quickly flashed in his head.
‘I’m no longer those bastards’ prey…!’
He was no longer someone who had to fear ghosts.
‘Now those bastards will have to fear me.’
With a happy heart, Lucion looked at Russell.
Russell’s mouth was wide open as if he was infinitely shocked.
‘Is it possible?’
*~*~*
Translator’s note: (… I don’t think role reversal is a good way to deal with an abuser, but…) Congratulations Lucion, I’m glad you’re moving on.
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