Chapter 18: Black Mage (4)

< 18 : Black Mage (4) >

"——Revere. Worship. Offer."

In the hideout of the fallen thieves.

There, Eutenia performed the ritual of offering.

She drew complex patterns on the floor to make an altar, and gathered the ones who would be sacrificed in the center of it.

Around the altar, she wrote praises for the god in abundance.

Roan, who saw a proper ritual for the first time in his life, watched it with interest from beginning to end.

It was not an easy opportunity to witness a complete ritual of offering to the god.

Even from Roan's perspective, who had lived as a black mage for decades, this ritual was something he encountered for the first time.

"——Sing the hymn of life."

As Eutenia's last prayer declared the end of the ritual, the sacrifices on the altar disappeared with a white light.

Roan, who was watching the ritual, clapped his hands without realizing it.

The great being revealed his grace and accepted the offerings that were dedicated to him.

It was an amazing sight that Roan faced for the first time in his life.

What miracle in the world could be more surprising than this?

It was only natural for Roan to utter admiration from his mouth.

"That was amazing, Apostle."

"I'm a little embarrassed to receive applause."

"Not at all. Just by witnessing this ritual, I feel full of thoughts that the great one is watching over me."

"Is that so?"

"Of course."

Peter, who also watched Eutenia's ritual for the second time, had a trembling expression as well.

He glimpsed something that humans could not reach.

It was not something that he could get used to even after seeing it several times.

However, he looked uncomfortable towards Roan, who praised Eutenia's ritual.

A black mage and an ordinary village youth.

There was an insurmountable difference in perception between them.

No matter how much time passed, Peter would never understand a black mage.

"Now that the ritual is over, I want to take a look at your laboratory."

Eutenia hugged her book and looked around with a smile after finishing the ritual.

The number of people reflected in Eutenia's eyes was only six left.

Four of the surviving thieves followed Roan and converted.

They seemed to have surrendered to survive at first, but their eyes changed after the ritual.

If they received more education from Roan, they might become devout believers.

Of course, Roan, who would teach them, was showing more enthusiasm than anyone else in this place.

"Then shall we go and take a look?"

"Is that okay?"

"Of course. If it's you, Apostle, you can do anything."

Roan, who used to be angry when thieves came in, was now more actively guiding Eutenia than anyone else.

If he had a tail, he might have wagged it vigorously.

Thump. Thump.

Eutenia followed Roan's footsteps towards the tent with a relaxed pace.

Peter also followed Eutenia to the tent.

When they entered the tent on one side of the hideout, there was Roan's laboratory filled with all kinds of magical tools.

"Is this your laboratory?"

"It's not much, but these are what I've collected over my lifetime."

"There are interesting-looking cauldrons and glowing stones."

"Oh, that thing is a luminescent stone. If a mage charges it once, it can be used for about 10 hours."

Eutenia's eyes filled with curiosity scanned the inside of the tent slowly.

There were all kinds of magical items in Roan's tent.

A large cauldron placed in a corner.

Various animals preserved by magic.

Roan's research records written in neat handwriting.

And a few magic books on one corner of the bookshelf.

It looked shabby but it was full of valuable items for an inexperienced mage.

Magical items were expensive things even if you tried to get them in the city.

"There are magic books here too."

A hand stretched out from Eutenia's shadow picked up a book on the corner of the bookshelf.

Roan flinched at the hand that met his shadow.

Eutenia ignored Roan's reaction and turned the pages of the magic book she took out of the bookshelf.

Flip.

Her calm eyes began to scan the contents of the magic book.

The name of the magic described in the magic book was 'Lightning Arrow'.

It was a magic that shaped lightning into arrows and shot them at enemies.

It was also the magic that Roan used against the boss when he first met Eutenia.

The image of lightning that he had encountered once flashed through Eutenia's mind as she opened the magic book.

As Eutenia began to read the magic book, Roan opened his mouth.

"Oh, that magic is..."

"Is it a magic called Lightning Arrow?"

"Yes. That's right."

"It's interesting. He might like it too."

The Lightning Arrow in Eutenia's hand was a low-level magic.

Nevertheless, Eutenia felt a lot of possibilities from the magic book in her hand.

The magic that her master used was different from the ordinary magic in terms of scale.

It was much harder to make complex magic bigger.

The precision of the formula required by the caster changed depending on the scale of the magic.

That's why high-level magic that applied effects to a wide range of areas required more complex and diverse changes.

But Eutenia realized that she didn't need such things.

Complex formulas were nothing but struggles to increase the range and reduce the consumption of mana.

Eutenia Hyrost. She was an anomalous being who received mana from the god like the sea.

Mana efficiency was something that Eutenia didn't need to value.

Eutenia's eyes sparkled as she read the magic book.

"Does he... have an interest in magic too?"

"I learned magic because it was his will."

"...I see."

"Can you give me some space for a moment? I feel like reading when I see the book."

A hand moved from Eutenia's shadow brought a chair to her.

Eutenia sat on the chair that the shadow brought and began to turn the pages calmly.

Roan, who declared that he would occupy the tent, looked at Peter with a questioning look.

But Peter just nodded his head at his gaze.

The two of them eventually left the tent with awkward expressions.

Inside the tent, Eutenia's time alone began.

*****

There are moments in life when you have to deal with sudden and urgent problems.

For me, yesterday was one of those moments.

I had no time to even play the game because of the sudden rush of schedule.

Considering that I had logged in to the game almost every day since I started it, it was quite an unusual thing.

"Ugh..."

I grabbed my dull head and lifted my upper body, and the sunlight coming through the window met me.

Ten in the morning.

Or maybe eleven.

The sun was already close to the zenith.

I picked up the water cup that I had left on the bedside table and moistened my throat.

Gulp. Gulp.

The lukewarm water that had cooled down went down my esophagus.

My dry throat felt relieved.

"Ha... I feel alive now."

I still felt a bit sluggish, but I felt like I had regained some consciousness.

I reached out and picked up the smartphone that was on my bedside.

It was to check if there were any messages last night.

As I operated the smartphone and checked the message window, the icon of the game that was on the main screen caught my eye.

Come to think of it, I couldn't play the game yesterday.

I didn't know what happened in the game while I was offline.

It wasn't a passive game since Eutenia started moving.

I clicked on the game icon and launched the game for the first time in a while as a mobile game.

"I wonder if anything happened last night."

Lately, I left Eutenia alone and hunted on the opposite side of her route.

I was curious what Eutenia had done in the meantime.

I scrolled down and looked at the logs that came up during the day.

Was there a lot of things that Eutenia did last night?

Today's message log was longer than I expected.

The first thing that came up was the message of offering sacrifices.

It seemed that Eutenia had offered more sacrifices.

Was it because she had the <Fanatic> trait?

She was very active in offering sacrifices.

Looking at this, I thought I had picked a good character.

"Huh? What's this..."

And below that, there was an unexpected message.

I received a new magic book from Eutenia as an offering.

The name of the item I checked by opening the inventory was <Magic Book: Lightning Arrow>.

Judging from the fact that I didn't remember getting a magic book from a draw, it was sure that it was an item offered by Eutenia.

You can also get a new magic book from an offering by an apostle.

It was an unexpected thing for me.

"You can get magic without drawing?"

You can get a magic book without a 10-draw.

My evaluation of this game changed a bit when I learned that fact.

It might not be such a pay-to-win game after all.

Of course, considering that I only got a magic book now, the probability itself didn't seem very high.

Squeeze.

I clicked on the inventory and clicked on the magic book.

It was to learn a new magic by using the magic book.

-You acquired <Lightning Arrow (Lv.MAX)>.

-You can now use Lightning Arrow magic by consuming mana.

The name of the new magic was <Lightning Arrow>.

Similar to <Lightning> magic that I used before, it was a magic that shot lightning at targets.

It was natural to test it when you got a new magic.

I threw magic at a nearby village to test it out.

Kwaaaaang!

A heavy streak of lightning struck down on the village, causing damage to a wide range of areas.

It looked more like a javelin than an arrow.

"Wow..."

Crackle. Crackle.

Tiny sparks flew around where the magic hit directly.

The damage that <Lightning Arrow> inflicted on enemies was 30.

It was twice as much as <Lightning>.