Chapter 31

Chapter 31

By the time early night arrived, Hector was able to leave the infirmary after unwrapping the bandages on his body and leaving only a few splints.

And even those would be gone by the day after tomorrow, leaving him completely fine.

No matter how many times he saw it, the efficacy of Acherandir was mind-boggling.

“Well then, good night, everyone. Rest well, Hector.”

Starting with Beanin, everyone dispersed to their private rooms.

Although Hector looked quite pitiful with his broad shoulders drooping,

Roan merely stared at him with contemptuous eyes.

‘What a guy, thinking of a spiritual beast as a mere tool!’

Meanwhile, returning to his room, Roan took his backpack out of the fortune pouch given by Harden and found “Deeper Darkness.”

Since there was no good reason to keep the rest out, he put them back into the pouch.

‘From now on, I can just put everything that seems a bit dangerous in here.’

To show such consideration for a disciple whose life was on the line.

As expected, Harden was a great Holy Spirit.

…Of course, if Harden knew what Roan was thinking, he would have flown into a furious rage.

Roan, naturally thinking of Harden’s items as his own!

In any case, Roan was also excited at the thought of learning “Deeper Darkness.”

‘In the game, there was just a set amount of time to learn a book…’

For instance, in the case of “Deeper Darkness,” it differed depending on stats, but it would register as a skill after about three months.

In reality, however, it was a complete mystery as to how he would learn the magic.

The moment he opened the book with such excitement,

Crash!

—Black magic! I smell black magic!

The sound of a door rattling open was heard, and then Hector rushed out into the living room, in a state of frenzy.

Roan frowned.

‘I was just about to study…!’

He threw open his door and spoke.

“Hector. I’m sorry about the Thousand Eye-socket Serpent, but please make some sense.”

“N-No, Roan. Seriously. The smell of black magic is…”

Hector flinched upon meeting Roan’s cold gaze.

However, Roan did not ease his pressure.

“Black magic in the holy land of Acherandir? Do you have concrete evidence?”

“N-No, I don’t.”

“I’m going to study now, so I’d appreciate it if you stayed quiet.”

“Yeah… I’m sorry.”

Creak—

Roan closed the door, glaring at him until the very end.

Outside, he could hear a dejected Hector mumbling, “I’m sure it was…”

‘Just opening a book causes this much commotion.’

It was a place where one could never let down their guard, regardless.

So what if a bit of black magic smell drifted in the dormitory!

Roan sat back in front of the book and tried to read the contents.

“Hm?”

But it was a bit strange.

The first page was completely blank without any content.

Soon, however, words in elegant handwriting began to write themselves on the white page, as if a ghost were writing.

Roan smiled brightly.

‘So this is how it works!’

An unexpected development.

How delightful.

The first sentence of “Deeper Darkness” began like this:

—Even black mages who lack confidence in their skills are welcome. This book is, after all, written to lower the barrier to entry for the ‘Abyss,’ which can be called the essence of black magic… —

Roan was deeply impressed and nodded.

‘As expected, black mages must have received character education first!’

Look at this kind writing intention.

Had it been holy magic, it would have said, ‘Priests without skill are recommended to go back and drink more milk.’

In fact, the preface of the book Atoga gave him read, ‘Unless you are willing to readily save even your enemy, reading this is not recommended.’

Highly satisfied, Roan turned the page.

Similarly, words and drawings emerged on the white paper.

—First, to handle the Abyss, outstanding control over black mana is required. Summon black mana, shape it into the following size and form, and imprint it onto the paper. —

Shhh—

“Hmm. Easy.”

Roan controlled his mana in an instant and created the exact shape in the drawing.

The shape of a sphere with intricate, thin cracks engraved on it looked difficult even to replicate, though he did not realize that.

As Roan easily transferred the mana shape onto the paper, the page automatically turned.

‘Fortunately, it seems it gets recognized even when passing through the False Divinity.’

It would have been a disaster otherwise.

Seeing as he couldn’t exactly take it to Professor Beleck.

—Excellent. However, this is merely the basic level. Next is the multi-control test. —

Two drawings of slightly more complex shapes than before appeared.

“At the same time?”

Roan tilted his head but immediately moved his mana.

Although it took a fraction longer, it was done in an instant.

Once Roan imprinted it onto the paper,

…

“Hm? Is it broken?”

After a brief pause, the page turned.

‘It must be because it’s old.’

—…Truly excellent. It seems you have the basics down, but in truth, a more crucial basic for utilizing the Abyss is the compression of black mana. You must compress your mana by exactly 3.14 times, which will take quite some time. But this is only natural, so refer to the following tips… —

Roan read the text that emerged letter by letter and attempted to compress his mana.

Ssshh—

“Hmm?”

In the beginning, the concept of ‘compression’ was unfamiliar, so it took some time, but soon, the mana gathered according to Roan’s mental image.

‘Is this about 3.14 times?’

Sure enough, there was a point where the color subtly shifted near Roan’s estimate.

He immediately imprinted it onto the paper.

It was a point when “Deeper Darkness” had not even finished writing a single tip.

—…Already? —

The text that emerged from the book seemed full of doubt.

“Did I do something wrong?”

I mean, in the game, it took an average of three months, so is this a bit fast?

But the book itself called it the basics.

—Next is high-speed centrifugal rotation… —

Whoosh!

—Then, rapid deployment… —

Crackle!

Even after that, Roan instantly passed several tests that the book referred to as ‘basics.’

The book’s speed in revealing text grew slower and slower.

‘As expected of an old book, the loading takes quite some time!’

He was more than willing to wait that much.

While passing the tests wasn’t hard, actually moving his mana as instructed proved to be quite helpful.

It felt as if he had met a teacher, escaping the helplessness of studying alone.

On the other hand,

—T-Truly marvelous. At this level, you must already be more familiar with this than I am. Did you open me just to make fun of me…? —

Before he knew it, the book was addressing Roan in a very polite tone.

Roan was startled.

‘No, what a disappointing thing to say!’

Looking around, he picked up a quill and wrote on the blank space of the book.

—Please do not say that. I am learning a lot. —

Although he didn’t know if the book would recognize his writing, doing so made him feel a bit more at ease.

‘Deeper Darkness’ continued its words in a handwriting that was trembling considerably more than at first.

—…Then, this is the final step. If you study the mental image of the following passage based on what you have tested so far, you will be able to use the Abyss attribute.

O Erental flower blooming on a bright night of two moons, you survived curled up without burning in the fire spewed by the dragon. Now, a deeper and purer darkness beckons to you, so answer my call! —

And then, it added this:

—As a side note, no matter how outstanding your talent is, it will easily take you a month, so do not be disheartened. —

Roan frowned slightly.

‘A month is way too long.’

He couldn’t wait that long when he didn’t know when or where the Inquisitor’s hand might reach out.

Perhaps because he had passed the basic tests so easily, even this progression, which was much faster than usual, felt slow.

Roan closed his eyes and pondered deeply over the passage given by “Deeper Darkness.”

But before long,

A flash—

“Huh?”

Surprisingly, something came to mind.

Characteristics of black mana that even Roan wouldn’t have guessed if not for what he had realized in those few tests!

‘If I compress black mana and spin it rapidly, it will divide into demonic energy and impurities. What if I expand that and separate them completely? No, before that, the shape is…’

Furthermore, combining several elements he had seen during gameplay, it didn’t seem impossible to pull off.

An excited Roan.

Hurrying to test his sudden idea before it slipped away, he looked just like a child.

Roan moved his mana exactly as he had envisioned.

‘The Abyss is a process of making black mana even purer through a specific formula!’

It was truly the ideal result of combining his overwhelming background knowledge of “God & Devil” with his transcendent talent.

‘Like this?’

Sssss—

‘Again!’

Since it was an incredibly complex process and he was practically starting from scratch, Roan did go through a few trials and errors, but

each failure brought Roan’s abstract thoughts steps closer to reality.

‘First, the most important thing is compression…’

The concentration of 3.14 times that the book had instructed.

However, that alone was not enough.

6.28 times, 9.42 times…

Each time he added that level of compression, the color of the pure white black mana grew slightly darker.

Pop—!

As the mana repeatedly burst from failing to withstand the compression, Roan molded the shape by relying on his senses and talent.

The optimized shape looked just like a budding flower.

‘Next is rotation.’

Sssshhh—

The flower bud, which spun slowly at first, gradually began to rotate faster.

Surprisingly, in that process, the outer layer and the core separated, peeling away like a flower blooming.

The impurities within standard black mana were being driven outward.

The impurities that separated in this manner dispersed into the air and vanished.

The new mana condensed around the rotating mana sphere gradually filled Roan’s body.

‘With this, I won’t have to worry about my mana pool.’

To begin with, the Abyss was an attribute that boasted tremendous efficiency even in the game.

‘I thought it was some cheat skill since it just replenished mana as much as it was used…’

To think such a principle was hidden behind it.

However, Roan’s satisfaction was short-lived.

Pop—!

The pure black mana, which had been wavering unstably, exploded once again.

Even though it was a very small amount, its power was already extraordinary.

‘What is the problem?’

To resolve the instability…

‘Recall the contents of the book. Something I haven’t used yet…’

Roan found the answer in no time.

He bloomed a flower bud in each of his hands.

Leaving them as they were would only cause them to explode like before.

Before that happened, Roan brought his hands together as if clapping, slowly bringing the two essences close to each other.

Woooong—!

At first, the reaction was precarious, as if it would collapse at any moment, but soon the two essences began to mix, finding their places like the opposite poles of a magnet.

Furthermore, thanks to that resonance, the absorption of external mana became much faster.

It felt as though he could draw up black mana almost infinitely.

‘This is it!’

Confirming this, Roan was overjoyed.

God & Devil—it was not about already knowing the answer from playing it.

How sweet was the achievement obtained through his own strength!

Before long, a new mana that was distinctly different from his usual black mana was flickering in his hand.

Normally, under the effect of the False Divinity, it would have appeared as a white holy power.

‘This is…’

But now, it was a mana mixed with a murky gray aura, much like Roan’s hair.

A complete property that was beautiful enough to feel dangerous, yet possessed a stability like Mount Tai.

Roan stared down at it with enraptured eyes for a while before finally imprinting it onto “Deeper Darkness.”

—…—

However, no words emerged in the book.

Roan tilted his head.

‘Was it wrong?’

The aura he felt was perfect, though.

However, after a brief moment, writing began to appear on the paper.

—…Are you a demon god? —

“A demon god?”

Roan tilted his head.

As a player, he encountered so much content outside of “God & Devil” that he used the term ‘demon god’ quite often.

‘But was there a demon god?’

In the world-view of “God & Devil,” the term ‘demon god’ had never appeared.

—No. That cannot be. It must be a trick of a devil trying to test the fragment of my foolish will left in this book. What you have shown is indeed the Abyss. I have lost. —

“What on earth are you—whoa?”

But he had no time to think deeply about it.

Whoosh—!

Along with the text that seemed somehow resigned, black flames suddenly consumed the book!

Before Roan could even do anything, “Deeper Darkness” was reduced to a handful of ash.

And then,

Bang—!

“This time it is real black magic! I felt it clearly, Roan!”

Limping while holding an axe, Hector kicked Roan’s door open.

“Sigh… think whatever you want.”

Roan let out a hollow sigh.

‘I guess not all black mages are to be trusted!’

He had thought of it as his first true teacher,

but to think it would burn itself to ashes out of jealousy just because its disciple completed the Abyss a little early!