Episode 53
“Never let arrogance take hold.”

Exceptional talent can sometimes be a curse.

That’s what happens when you become overconfident.

Nordian was determined that nothing like that would ever happen to Christian.

He deliberately spoke in a cold, stern tone.

[Now, we will begin the true transmission of Dark Magic Arts. Do not become arrogant—follow my teachings precisely.]

“Yes, understood.”

This was the moment Christian had been waiting for.

He focused intently.

[Listen carefully. This is the incantation of Dark Magic Arts.]

Simon, an outsider, wisely slipped away.

Nordian began reciting the incantation.

It was nothing more than chanting, but it stretched on for hours—a long, complex incantation.

“Have you memorized it all?”

To memorize such a complicated and obscure incantation—one that combined the flow of magical veins and arcane formulas—after hearing it only once?

Yet Christian answered calmly.

“Yes, I have.”

Nordian nodded.

He had expected as much.

After all, he himself had memorized the incantation in one go during his childhood.

But then—

Christian asked an unexpected question.

“Excuse me… may I ask just one thing? I don’t quite understand part of the incantation.”

[It’s natural not to understand the incantation on your first hearing. You should ponder it yourself and ask questions later…]

“No, it’s not that. The flow of the incantation you recited doesn’t match some other parts I know. I want to confirm whether I misheard something.”

[!!]

Nordian’s face stiffened.

“How did he figure that out?”

One of his little sadistic quirks was deliberately teaching parts of the incantation incorrectly.

To make it even harder to master.

Why would he do such a strange thing?

“Though inefficient at first, struggling to control Dark Magic helps build a solid foundation.”

But Christian had already noticed the errors after just one hearing.

It sent a chill down Nordian’s spine.

Trying to hide his surprise, Nordian replied in a stiff tone.

[Some variations were intentionally added to help you build your foundation. The perfect incantation will be taught once your basics are firmly established.]

Nordian stood up.

[Watch closely.]

He extended his hand.

From the small hand of his youthful avatar, a pitch-black magical energy blossomed.

It was the “Black Sword,” a blade forged by expelling magic outside the body.

A power only accessible from the rank of 3-star.

To Nordian, an 8-star mage, it was insignificant.

But the Black Sword he wielded was unlike any other.

It wasn’t just raw magical power.

There was something inexplicable, a subtlety even Christian couldn’t yet grasp.

[This is the single strike unleashed through Dark Magic Arts.]

Swish.

A light swing.

No fierce force behind it.

In fact, it had no real effect.

It merely sliced through the air.

Yet despite that, Christian felt a shiver run down his spine.

It was a dizzying shock, like stars flickering in the night sky.

‘Just now…’

In that single swing, countless shadows were contained.

Darkness, black, blood, yellow, blue, gray—everything.

Nordian’s single strike was destruction, death, curse, poison, illusion—all wrapped in an unfathomable darkness.

The Dark Magic that governs all shadows.

The power of Dark Magic Arts that controls that darkness.

Meanwhile, seeing Christian’s astonished face, Nordian was even more surprised.

“Hah. He recognized it?”

You see only what you know.

How many in the Dark Magic world could have understood the true meaning behind Nordian’s sword strike?

Nordian reaffirmed his resolve.

“This won’t work by ordinary means. I’ll need to provide even more difficult guidance.”

A tower built easily will fall easily.

One must grow by overcoming adversity from the ground up to achieve greatness—that was Nordian’s teaching philosophy.

“First, I must make him realize the difficulty of Dark Magic Arts.”

Because mastering countless types of darkness as if they were one’s own attribute made Dark Magic Arts unimaginably difficult.

Normally, the principle was to guide step-by-step alongside the student.

But—

“I’ll give you one month. Use the demonstration I just showed as a basis to practice the incantation on your own. In two weeks, I will check your progress.”

And with that, he vanished.

Seeing Merian’s startled expression, it was clear this was no ordinary situation.

But—

‘There must be some meaning behind this.’

Christian thought to himself again.

Though it seemed harsh, Nordian wouldn’t act without purpose.

Like the initial task he gave, there was surely a deeper meaning hidden within.

…Though that wasn’t the case at all, Christian misunderstood and thought Nordian had some ulterior motive.

“Let’s do this.”

For the record, there was one problem with Nordian’s approach.

Christian had mostly learned things on his own until now.

He had rarely received direct instruction.

In other words, this situation was very familiar.

In fact, he often learned without even knowing the proper incantations, so this was actually quite a kind situation.

Christian closed his eyes and pondered the incantation of Dark Magic Arts.

At the same time, he recalled the single strike Nordian had demonstrated.

True darkness that contained all shadows.

Time passed in an instant.

---

A month later.

“The time has come.”

“…Yes, Lord.”

“At this point, you should have grasped the difficulty of Dark Magic Arts.”

“……”

Merian remained silent.

That much was certain.

Dark Magic Arts could not be learned without guidance.

‘But what does it all mean?’

Merian thought inwardly.

Nordian’s teaching philosophy—that one must endure frustration and hardship to ultimately achieve great success—was truly old-fashioned.

Christian had probably just wasted a month.

“Merian, do you think my method is wrong?”

“…No.”

“Heh, no? I can see right through you. But Christian, this process is necessary for him.”

Nordian continued explaining.

“He has absorbed over 90% of the Sacred Darkness. Each time his rank rises, he will face a huge wall. So it’s important to build a solid foundation now, so it won’t collapse later.”

“……”

“Speed isn’t important for him. Even if slow, it’s crucial to climb each step steadily.”

Merian spoke cautiously.

“Christian is taking the Gongja exam. To qualify, he must reach 3-star within three months.”

“That’s impossible. Reaching 3-star in three months? Considering the purity of his Dark Magic, it’s out of the question.”

Nordian answered bluntly.

Christian’s current achievement was upper 2-star.

No matter how much of a genius he was, having absorbed over 90% Sacred Darkness, it would take at least two more years to reach 3-star.

Besides, what was the Gongja exam compared to building a solid foundation?

“Let’s get going.”

Nordian descended again into his youthful avatar.

He suddenly leapt through space and entered the training ground where Christian was.

[!!]

“!!”

Nordian and Merian’s eyes widened in shock, almost tearing from disbelief.

They witnessed something they never expected.

Christian was swinging a sword in midair, holding a blade wrapped in pitch-black magic.

The Black Sword.

A power only accessible to 3-star mages.

“Christian? You’re… at 3-star now?”

Merian asked in astonishment.

Christian turned his head and smiled brightly at Nordian.

“Thank you, Lord.”

[…Thank me?]

“Thanks to you, I was able to surpass the 3-star wall faster than expected.”

[…What?]

Christian’s voice was genuinely grateful.

“Didn’t you deliberately teach me incorrect incantations to awaken me?”

[…….]

Nordian fell silent.

He couldn’t understand what Christian was saying.

Christian’s nonsense didn’t stop there.

“It’s not just the incantation. The single strike you demonstrated—that was the enlightenment needed to reach 3-star, wasn’t it?”

No, it wasn’t.

The demonstration Nordian gave had nothing to do with the enlightenment of 3-star rank.

What did forging a Black Sword have to do with embedding all attributes of darkness into a single strike?

Yet Christian kept babbling things that made no sense.

“As you said, the 3-star wall was very high. But I found the answer in your teachings and was able to overcome it faster than expected.”

So what exactly had Nordian taught?

Christian recalled the past month.

At first, it wasn’t easy.

True to the highest level of magic arts, learning it alone was tough.

Especially the incorrect incantations mixed in made it even harder.

Like a cruel prank.

But Christian focused on those incantations.

“There’s no way these were added without reason. They must have been intended to help me somehow.”

The incantations Nordian mixed disrupted the flow of Dark Magic.

Why did he do that?

For what purpose?

Then Christian recalled the demonstration Nordian had shown.

A sword containing all attributes of darkness.

And then, an answer began to form.

“The important thing isn’t efficiency in controlling Dark Magic. Even if slow, the process of embracing all attributes of darkness as your own is necessary.”

Like drinking water and accidentally swallowing a leaf floating in the cup.

The master Nogaju’s teaching wasn’t simply to focus on mastering the manipulation of dark magic energy, but to fully embrace darkness itself.

Christian took those words to heart.

Dark magic energy was, after all, the power to control various forms of darkness.

Muttering the incantations repeatedly, he concentrated on the meaning behind each phrase.

How many times had he repeated it?

Suddenly, a flash of insight pierced his mind.

It was as if all types of darkness aligned along a single trajectory.

Of course, this didn’t mean he could, like a Nordian, channel every kind of darkness into a single sword.

It was just a vague impression—a fleeting thought.

Yet in that moment, Christian’s mastery leapt forward.

The first level was about accumulating magic energy within the body.

The second level involved projecting that energy outward.

The third level required materializing the energy externally into a tangible form.

Each stage demanded a different kind of understanding.

At the third level, magic energy—an intangible force—had to be shaped into a physical, concrete form.

It was like fixing a wave of light into a solid shape.

In other words, it was impossible by ordinary means.

To achieve this, one had to shatter conventional notions about magic energy, reconstruct their perception, and approach it from an entirely new perspective.

And the purer the dark magic energy, the harder this became. Pure darkness was inherently difficult to control.

Most people could create a black sword with only a vague understanding, but when the dark magic energy was of high purity, a far more perfect redefinition of perspective was necessary.

For Christian, whose magic energy was at full purity, this was a given.

Yet the clue left behind by the Nordian had sparked a revelation, and in that instant, his entire approach to manipulating magic energy was flawlessly redefined.