Chapter 115: Duncan (4)
Magic.
It is an art that only a select few, chosen by the gods, can wield.
Some say it’s mere arrogance, that even magicians are just ordinary humans.
However, no one could deny the feats achieved by magicians.
This included politicians, businessmen, and even members of royalty and nobility, whose relevance had long been forgotten.
How else could anyone claim that even the mighty gods were now overshadowed by magic?
Because of this, magicians took immense pride in the fact that they were magicians.
From the few who could be counted on one hand, the great Archmages, to those who could barely perform basic magic—magicians in name only.
But with that pride came a great cost, as magic demanded extraordinary talent.
First, one needed to possess a certain amount of mana, the driving force behind magic.
Then, one required the ability to control that mana—mana control ability—and mana affinity, the body's capacity to withstand the use of mana.
Lastly, intelligence was needed to understand, analyze, and construct the complex formulas of magic.
If even one of these traits was lacking, one would reach a growth limit or be unable to become a magician at all—and many people fell into this category, more than one might expect.
Duncan was one such person.
He was born into a reasonably well-off family, with an environment conducive to becoming a magician.
However, the amount of mana he was born with was too great, and because of this, he could not become a magician.
It was an ironic truth.
Excessive mana required an even higher level of control, but Duncan’s mana control ability was only average.
Every time he tried to use magic, he couldn’t handle the excessive mana, leading to failure due to overload.
And so, he had to give up on magic.
He was met with scorn, contempt, and ridicule from everyone.
Thus, Duncan left his home and wandered the cold streets.
Though not a magician, he had pride as strong as one, and in order to take revenge on those who belittled him, he sought power by other means.
That’s how he became a Pinkman, and after gaining experience, he aimed to establish his own Pinkman office.
Although that venture failed due to his lack of business acumen, resulting in him becoming Edith’s underling, Duncan didn’t lose his dreams and continued to gamble with his life.
To achieve his dream, to exact revenge, and, above all, to become the protagonist of his own life.
After all, wouldn’t it be far too tragic to live as someone’s mere sidekick?
However, he was now experiencing a sadness he had never felt before.
And it was all because of a mere Black Magician.
“St-stop taking it!!!”
Duncan screamed as he swung his Tonfa, breaking Oliver’s extraction.
Regardless, Oliver calmly combined the emotions and life force he had extracted, placing them into a test tube, while simultaneously admiring the mana he had also extracted, holding it in his hand.
His eyes sparkled like a child who had found a pretty stone on the street. After all, he hadn’t known he could extract mana.
He had been extracting as hard as he could to draw out life force quickly, and to his surprise, he had ended up extracting mana as well.
This was something he had neither learned, heard of, nor seen before. It was truly fascinating.
‘Is it done like this?’
Oliver extracted a portion of the mana he was holding and manipulated it in his hand.
It was similar to how he manipulated emotions, though in some ways, it was slightly easier.
While emotions resisted more the stronger they were, mana simply fluctuated in power.
Crackle—
The mana in Oliver’s hand suddenly transformed into blue Lightning.
“…!! What is this?!”
“Oh… it works?”
Duncan and Oliver each reacted in their own ways.
Oliver had mimicked the Lightning Mage he had fought in the past, and even he was surprised by the result.
Magic. It was distinguished from black magic, held in high regard by everyone, and Oliver had been curious to see how amazing it truly was.
But from what Oliver could feel, it wasn’t much different from black magic.
The basic mechanism was the same.
The practitioner controlled the energy source based on how they sensed it, understanding its flow and structure. They then projected an image from their mind, slightly altering the form and properties of the energy.
By doing so, the image or concept from their mind would manifest in reality.
Oliver didn’t feel any particular joy or wonder from using magic. Rather, it felt more like an extension of black magic to him.
Whatever it was, it was interesting.
Crackling—!
Oliver scattered the Lightning he had converted from mana onto the ground.
It reminded him of when he used to play with emotions back in the Joseph family.
The Lightning crackled loudly and split into several branches, leaving black scorch marks on the ground.
Oliver tried controlling the Lightning.
The eight disorderly branches merged into three, then shrunk further until they matched the number of his fingers.
When Oliver clenched his fist slightly, the Lightning thickened and condensed into a single strand.
“Hmmm…”
With that sound, Oliver reinforced his control over the Lightning, condensing it into a small sphere in his palm.
It resembled a blue marble, but if examined closely, one could see tiny bolts of lightning storming inside, trapped by a thin membrane.
Crack—
Oliver clenched his fist.
The Lightning that had been transformed from mana reverted to pure mana under his fist.
Duncan’s eyes widened again, but Oliver, indifferent, continued to focus on the mana before him.
He tried changing the mana into fire, just as he had done with Lightning. Then, using the mana, he manipulated the molecular structure to raise the temperature to the point of causing an explosion, or conversely, he lowered the temperature to form ice crystals.
He even conjured a small whirlwind in his palm.
While it wasn’t quite as fun as manipulating emotions, magic certainly had its charms.
“...What are you?”
“Pardon?”
“A Black Magician who can also extract mana… Are you a rare case?”
“I’m not sure. I just found out about it myself. What exactly does a ‘rare case’ mean?”
Duncan didn’t answer Oliver’s question but instead posed another.
“Then how do you know how to control mana? And not just one element, but multiple?”
“I was just copying what I saw people do in the past.”
“...”
“Lightning, explosions, mana bullets, and… ah, Spatial Magic. That one’s a bit tricky.”
Oliver said this as he failed to create violet-colored Spatial Magic.
The small portal that had started to form vanished before it could fully open. Considering that Spatial Magic was one of the most difficult types of magic, it was to be expected.
Of course, Oliver didn’t know this, so he merely felt a little disappointed.
Still, overall, it had been an enjoyable day. He had nearly died a few times, but thanks to Duncan, he had been able to have some fun with mana.
As he looked ahead to express his thanks, something strange caught his eye.
Rage, resentment, hatred, jealousy, spite… Duncan was overflowing with so many negative emotions that they were leaking out of his body.
“Are you alright?”
Oliver asked out of concern. He had never seen someone with such intense emotions before; they were enough to drive a person mad.
Indeed, Duncan’s eyes had turned predatory, like those of a wild beast.
“Why… Why… Why… Why!!! Why is a lowly Black Magician like you!!!”
Duncan shouted, his voice filled with mana, as he lunged forward.
Oliver, aware of the holy magic item Duncan had, manipulated mana to attack.
‘Explosion Magic and Lightning Magic…’
He combined the two most effective magics he had encountered on the spot.
He split the mana into two types, transforming them, then merged them in his hand, clenching his fist.
He thrust his fist forward.
[Chain Explosion Bolt]
A spell created on the spot. Immediately, an explosion laced with Lightning erupted in a chain, engulfing Duncan as he charged.
The narrow alley was completely blocked, leaving Duncan no escape but up. Oliver anticipated this and prepared another spell.
[Holy Light!!!]
The radiant light shone brilliantly, weakening the Lightning explosions significantly.
Duncan broke through the magical attack head-on and shouted.
“The power of the great gods can weaken not only black magic but regular magic as well!!!”
New information.
Oliver was intrigued, but strangely, he wasn’t afraid.
It was a situation where Duncan could very well kill him, yet he felt no fear.
Instinctively, Oliver looked at the mana in his hand, along with the life force and emotions stored in the test tube.
And he thought of Puppet’s artificial soul.
It was simply a combination of emotions, life force, and mana, but its nature was entirely different.
Thinking of this, Oliver decided to combine the three.
“Ugh…!”
The backlash was stronger than he had expected.
Now he understood why Puppet had used so much equipment.
Duncan, having shattered the Lightning explosions with his mana-infused tonfa, healed his body with a necklace and charged at Oliver again.
Though exhausted, he was still strong enough to kill Oliver, but Oliver ignored the burns on his hands and continued trying to fuse the life force, emotions, and mana.
It was quite difficult.
‘I have no choice.’
In the end, Oliver drastically reduced the amount of each—emotions, mana, and life force—and managed to forcibly suppress the backlash.
He then infused this mixture into the shadows, activating Bind Shadow.
Due to the different ingredients, it was faster than usual. Even more surprising was that the shadow tentacles moved as if they had their own will, acting with greater skill than Oliver’s perception allowed.
It was as if they knew exactly how to capture Duncan.
Though Duncan was worn out, his failure to react in time proved how formidable the shadow tentacles were.
Realizing he was trapped, Duncan hurriedly activated his holy magic item.
[Holy Light]
But to his shock, the shadow tentacles ignored the divine light, unlike previous black magic or regular magic. Instead, they seized Duncan’s shoulders, neck, waist, and knees.
“What… What is this?!”
Duncan panicked. He tried to resist, but the shadow tentacles were too strong for him.
At that moment, Oliver felt as if the shadow tentacles were speaking to him.
Though it was just a feeling, Oliver instinctively responded, changing the mana within the shadows into Lightning.
“Grrraaaaagh——!!!”
With a powerful Lightning shock, Duncan let out a strange noise.
His body stiffened grotesquely, leaving him vulnerable, yet he tried to neutralize the damage by releasing mana.
His unyielding will was his driving force.
Oliver couldn’t help but admire him.
“You’re truly impressive.”
With that, Oliver raised both hands into the air.
Then, just like before, he extracted as much emotion, life force, and mana as he could.
Sssshaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh——!!!!!
“Grraaak——!!!”
As Duncan’s resistance weakened due to the massive loss of will, life force, and mana, the Lightning shock struck directly at his brain.
His entire body trembled violently as he wet himself, and even began foaming at the mouth.
Oliver, feeling a bit of pity, spoke.
“You can hold on a bit longer! You can still… Ah.”
Oliver stopped extracting, letting out a sigh of disappointment.
It seemed that continuing would kill him. Releasing the Bind Shadow, Duncan collapsed forward, trembling intermittently.
It was a bit unfortunate.
“Are you alright?”
Oliver asked as he approached Duncan.
He was genuinely concerned. There had been various incidents, but thanks to Duncan, he had enjoyed an interesting experience… and there were still questions that remained unanswered.
“Mr. Duncan… why were you seeking power? I didn’t get an answer. Mr. Duncan?”
Oliver asked politely, but Duncan, unconscious, couldn’t respond.
Sigh… How disappointing.
At that moment, Duncan muttered a few words.
“The Tower of Magic… proof… revenge… I… am not… defective…”
Oliver listened carefully, noting the seemingly unrelated words.
Then, something unbelievable appeared before his eyes.
It was the same beautiful light he had seen only a few times before—first with the Lightning Mage, then with Joseph, and then Joanna!
Without hesitation, Oliver took out an empty test tube and began extracting the beautiful light.
He extracted every last drop, fearing it might disappear, filling the test tube completely.
Standing up abruptly, Oliver closed the lid and gazed at its contents.
It wasn’t a dream—it was reality. In gratitude, Oliver laid Duncan’s body flat, tidied his shoes and clothes, and offered his thanks.
“Thank you. Truly, thank you, Mr. Duncan.”
Oliver gently closed Duncan’s eyes and patted his chest twice, offering a short prayer for his soul.
For a few moments, a brief silence fell over the alley.
“Phew… Now, would you mind coming out?”
Oliver spoke into the darkness.
His voice was met with silence, but soon, the sound of footsteps echoed, and a group of men appeared.
Among them, the one who seemed to be the leader—a man in a pink suit—took off his fedora and greeted Oliver.
“Hello.”