Episode 4
Did he seriously just insult my dad like that?
I took a step toward him, and Verpure’s expression faltered with visible nervousness.
I murmured darkly, “Hey. What do you think happens… when a worthless half-blood like me completely loses it?”
“W-What?”
“You know,” I continued, my voice chilling, “there was this kid once, at the Tower of Necromancy…”
I raised a finger and jabbed it against his chest.
“He snapped, turned the entire place into a bloodbath, and got kicked out.”
“Should I give it a try?”
Verpure stumbled back, clearly shaken by my energy.
“Didn’t you say I should get out of the family quietly? But don’t you think it’d be fun if I made a scene before that?”
“Give me your blood.”
“Waaaah! You psycho—!”
Cursing loudly, Verpure turned and bolted like a rat with its tail on fire.
A few boys nearby snickered and clapped him on the back.
“Hey Verpure, why’d you run from her bluff like that?”
“Seriously, it’s her last desperate act.”
“S-Shut up! I was just… caught off guard!”
“Sure you were.”
His face turned crimson, burning with embarrassment. He looked ready to explode. Judging by the way he glared at me, he was definitely planning some kind of petty revenge.
Same here, Verpure. You think this is over?
“Ahem, young ladies and gentlemen. It is time. Please proceed to the stage.”
At last, the signal for the demonstration rang out.
Placing a hand on my chest, I calmed the dark energy pulsing within me.
My theory was flawless. Now that my power was full, there was nothing to fear.
Showtime.
“Alright, everyone! Over here! There’s something very fun waiting for you.”
The host of today’s demonstration, a mischievous little imp, beckoned the children with a playful tone.
In the center of the hall stood a round table, and on it, a large white box—big enough to fit a child inside.
“Your task today is to open this box and retrieve the key inside!”
“How do we open it?” asked a freckled boy, raising his hand.
The imp grinned dramatically, as if waiting for the question.
“Excellent! That, my friends, is exactly the challenge you must solve today!”
The children glanced at each other, unsure of what to do.
While everyone hesitated, a bold boy stepped forward—fox-like and smug.
It was Verpure.
With a confident smirk, he looked around, clearly aware of the adults watching him from behind the viewing crystal.
“While the rest of you are wasting time, I’ll go first.”
He strutted toward the box.
Of course, if solving the box was the task, it wouldn’t open with just brute force.
You’d need to use dark magic.
Verpure raised his hand and began chanting confidently.
“Arise, bringer of night!”
A dark mist swirled in the air like a skeletal figure.
From within the blackness, pale bones began to emerge.
He had summoned a low-tier undead: a skeleton pawn.
“Go. Open that box!”
The skeleton clattered toward the box with awkward, jerky movements.
It teetered and stumbled, occasionally falling as it moved with wobbly steps like a baby goat.
Some of the children giggled at the silly sight.
Verpure blushed with embarrassment and hurriedly barked more commands. Only then did the skeleton leap onto the table.
Its bony hand tapped along the surface of the box, but all it left behind were faint black smudges—likely from the dark energy. The box showed no signs of opening.
“Aww, too bad! A creative approach, but sadly, not quite enough!” chirped the imp.
Verpure’s face flushed deeper red.
The adults watching from the crystal just smiled warmly, wearing that familiar look: “Nice try, but still just a kid.”
“I wanna try too!”
With Verpure momentarily sidelined, the other children rushed forward, eager to show off.
Some summoned bone fragments that didn’t even form full skeletons. Others produced weak dark elements. A few even tried prying the lid off with sheer force.
But the box didn’t budge.
Only faint dark marks appeared on its surface.
Fuming with embarrassment, Verpure clenched his teeth.
He was the only second-tier dark core user among the tower’s trainees.
The others, stuck with first-tier cores, were barely capable of proper dark magic.
Dark cores had eight stages, but only three people in the world were known to have reached the top.
Most dark mages remained at the first stage their entire lives. Advancing even one level was a monumental feat.
And I’m stuck in a room with these weaklings—and still ended up humiliated?!
And to top it off, wasn’t there a half-blood in here who hadn’t even awakened their core?
Kalmia made some bluff about using dark magic, but I’m supposed to believe that?
Scowling, he turned toward me.
“Hey, Kalmia! Why aren’t you doing anything? That’s cheating!”
There was no rule saying everyone had to participate, so technically it wasn’t cheating. But Verpure raised his voice, trying to pressure me.
I had been quietly watching the others until now. I turned to him and smiled.
“Why? I was observing the box.”
“What are you, stupid? What good does watching the box do?”
“Look closely.”
I walked calmly over to the box and pointed at it.
“Don’t you see what’s changed?”
A girl blinked and asked, “Do you mean how it looks darker now? Like it’s stained?”
“Exactly. When you guys touched it bare-handed, nothing happened. But when the skeletons or dark energy touched it, it started turning black.”
“So what?”
Verpure frowned.
I replied evenly, “That means the box is reacting to dark magic, right?”
“Well, duh!”
“My guess is… once the box is completely black, something will happen. Maybe then it will open.”
The children’s expressions changed as they processed my words.
So caught up in trying to force the box open, they hadn’t paid attention to the changes happening to the box itself.
If the goal was to turn the entire box black with dark energy…
Then suddenly, the kids began unleashing every dark spell they knew.
Dark elements, poison, skeletons—everything they could muster was hurled at the box.
As they worked together, the box slowly darkened further.
Still, it wasn’t enough.
Verpure, showing off his newly learned spell “Dark Bloom,” suddenly paused mid-cast, unsettled.
He had meant to humiliate me… but instead, it looked like I was stealing the spotlight.
My observation had turned the tide, and now the others were following my lead.
If things continued like this, not only would I avoid disgrace, I might even be praised.
“Wait! Everyone stop!”
Verpure shouted, halting the others’ spells. The kids looked around in confusion.
He pointed his chin at me.
“That idea came from her. So it’s only fair she shows us her magic too.”
The children quickly caught on and smirked.
It was a well-known fact in the Tower that Kalmia couldn’t use dark magic.
Forcing me to try was just a way to publicly humiliate me.
“Well? Everyone’s stepped aside for you. Show us what you’ve got.”
I looked up and smiled innocently.
“Sure. Thanks!”
The kids blinked, stunned by my unexpected reaction.
I took a step forward.
“Rotten air.”
With clear pronunciation, my voice resonated in the air.
A thick wave of pitch-black energy burst from me like a waterfall, swirling and roaring around my small frame.
