▶ You have acquired the dark magic 'Curse of the Black Night (SSS).'

"Dark magic?"

Leon blinked in surprise. His last reward had been light magic, and now he was receiving dark magic. It felt strange to have two opposing forces—light and darkness—bestowed upon him in succession.

As soon as he received the reward, a heavy black-covered book descended onto his palm. Without hesitation, Leon opened the book.

Inside, the text was written in modern language with black ink, but the spell formulas resembled the rune-like structure found in ancient magic.

'I’ll need to get more familiar with rune-based spell formulas first.'

With that thought, Leon delved into the book. It wasn’t difficult to understand what kind of magic this was.

The Curse of the Black Night was, at its core, a curse. But it wasn’t just any ordinary curse—it had the power to threaten the very existence of its target.

As Leon read further, his eyes widened in shock.

Unlike other spells, this one didn’t have tiers or levels. It was a single, complete spell, and as long as Leon understood the formula, he could cast it immediately.

However, the spell had three stages:

1. Curse of Agony: The victim is plagued by relentless physical pain.
2. Curse of Oblivion: Once the pain reaches its peak, the target begins to lose their memories.
3. Curse of Erasure: The victim is erased from existence. They are severed from the world's causal relationships, disappearing not only from the physical world but also from the memories of others, as if they had never existed.

'Is this even possible…?'

Leon was stunned as he read the spell’s description.

No matter how powerful magic was, this level of power seemed almost impossible to believe.

'This is practically on par with the abilities of a god.'

Of course, such a powerful spell came with significant drawbacks. The Curse of the Black Night had several limitations. The most critical requirement was that Leon needed an item carrying the target’s scent—something they used frequently, such as a personal object, sweat, or blood.

Additionally, the curse’s effectiveness diminished if the target was stronger than Leon.

But these restrictions seemed reasonable, considering the sheer power of the spell.

"…"

Leon closed the book, deep in thought.

Mastering the Curse of the Black Night and his earlier light magic, Radiance of Creation, required a deep understanding of rune-based spell formulas.

For that, Leon needed to study the advanced version of Secrets of Creation, which contained detailed rune-based formulas for high-level spells. Before learning this advanced magic, however, he had to master the basics.

'I need to fully master the basics of Secrets of Creation and reach the second tier before moving on.'

Leon then turned his attention to the next task.

'There are still 29 gargoyle golem bodies left.'

He had 29 incomplete golem bodies that still needed their cores implanted. After finishing those, he would need to create new golem bodies, which would require special minerals.

Creating the gargoyle golem cores had proven tricky, and Leon had already failed several times. He expected it to take even more time to implant all 29 cores.

Over the next two weeks, Leon locked himself in the training room, focusing solely on constructing 30 gargoyle golems. As long as he had enough mana stones, there was nothing stopping him. However, getting the hang of the process took time.

Building golems didn’t require large amounts of mana, and Leon could continue his training quests simultaneously. There was no need to stay inside the orb for the entire process.

Even after creating 30 golems, he still hadn’t reached the second tier of Secrets of Creation.

'I need to make more.'

He had made about 200 golems to master the first tier. To reach the second tier, he would need to create even more.

Whether it was a scorpion golem, armor golem, or gargoyle golem, all required a special mineral known as white obsidian. This mineral, known for its high resistance to magic, was perfect for creating gargoyle golem bodies.

Fortunately, white obsidian wasn’t too hard to find in the market.

The real challenge lay in refining the mineral.

'I’ll need tools for that too... I wonder if I can find them in the market.'

He would need a furnace capable of withstanding high temperatures.

Leon decided to visit the market and see if he could find what he needed. If not, he’d have to request it from someone.

For the first time in a while, Leon left the training room.

Within the magical city of Astellia, there was also a marketplace that specialized in magical goods.

Leon retraced the route that Ria had shown him on their first day and headed in that direction.

As Leon flew through the city, his flight was interrupted when a group of people who had been flying in the same direction approached him.

"Leon, greetings!" one of them called out.

"…Hello? Do you know me?" Leon asked, somewhat puzzled. He could understand being greeted, but knowing his name felt strange.

The young man dressed in blue robes laughed heartily. The blue robes symbolized that he was an ordinary disciple.

"How could anyone not know you, Leon? You’re the one who even gave the tower master something to ponder! It’s only natural that everyone knows who you are. In the future, you’ll surely represent our faction!"

"…That’s quite an exaggeration," Leon replied, feeling uncomfortable with the sudden attention. He couldn’t think of a better response.

The problem was that more and more people were approaching to greet him.

"It’s an honor to meet you. I’m…"

"Leon, I’ve been wanting to meet you!"

Previously, Leicia had intervened to keep the crowd at bay, but today, Leon couldn’t count on such help. He was forced to greet each of them politely, though he was growing increasingly tired.

Soon, nearly ten people had gathered around him.

At that moment, three more disciples approached. They greeted Leon warmly, but their expressions soon turned sour as they shifted their gaze to the man who had first greeted Leon—Jackson.

"Jackson, already kissing up to people, huh? How pathetic," one of the newcomers sneered.

There was no attempt to hide the sarcasm and disdain in their voice.

Jackson frowned and responded immediately, as if they were already familiar with such exchanges.

"Seeing your faces in the morning is already unpleasant enough. Why don’t you just go on your way?"

"Seeing you squirming around, grasping at false hope, is just too amusing to pass by."

"You think being disrespectful will make Kalderick care about you? He’d be more disgusted seeing this spectacle."

One of the three scoffed. "Oh, I didn’t realize you knew Kalderick better than we did."

"Getting all high and mighty just because Kalderick is behind you, huh? If word gets out that you’re blocking a personal student’s path with such arrogance, I’m sure Kalderick would be thrilled."

"And what about you? Trying to manipulate a personal student with your smooth-talking isn’t exactly innocent either."

Before long, the group of disciples surrounding Leon split into two factions, glaring and snarling at each other.

But it was all just talk.

It was rare for anyone to escalate things by using magic in such situations, as that would be seen as going too far. Open conflict between disciples of the same faction was generally frowned upon.

Leon, watching the scene unfold, sighed inwardly.

'So there are factions here too.'

That much was easy to guess. It was natural for such a large group to have internal divisions.

It also explained why so many people were eager to approach him.

'They want to recruit me into their faction.'

But since no one had explicitly brought it up yet, Leon kept his thoughts to himself.

'Not that I have any interest in joining a faction.'

Leon’s goals were simple: stable training. He didn’t care which faction was stronger or who belonged to which group.

Looking at the two groups still bickering around him, Leon decided it was time to make his exit before things got even more bothersome.

"I have some things I need to take care of, so I’ll be going now."

At his words, one of them finally responded, "Ah, we didn’t mean to hold you up."

Thankfully, they didn’t try to stop him and let him go without any trouble.

Taking the opportunity, Leon quickly slipped away and made his way to the marketplace.

Once there, Leon browsed through various shops before finding a mineral shop.

Inside, numerous magical minerals were displayed, and Leon quickly spotted the white obsidian he had been searching for.

Leon asked the shopkeeper, "How much is this?"

The shopkeeper glanced at the ivory-colored mineral in Leon’s hand before replying, "10,000 mana stones per kilogram."

"…"

Leon was at a loss for words. He had just over 50,000 mana stones left, and 1 kilogram wouldn’t be nearly enough to create the number of golems he needed.

'I didn’t think I’d ever run out of mana stones…'

Now he understood why golems were considered a luxury item, even though their performance was widely acknowledged.

After all, Leon had been relying on the mana stones he had taken from other magicians' pockets to support his activities. It was no surprise that he was running low now.

'I’ll need to find a way to replenish my mana stones…'