A knife that kills primates.
Contrary to its rather bloodcurdling name, the materials required could be obtained at a moment’s notice.
Ian searched through the house and gathered the necessary ingredients one by one onto the desk.
‘First, salt.’
The required amount was 100 grams. Ian immediately placed salt little by little onto the scale, measured out exactly 100 grams, and transferred it into a bowl.
Next was silver, but no exact amount was specified for that.
Still, it was vaguely described as a small quantity, so Ian took out a silver ring he had left buried in a drawer.
It was a ring he had once gotten as a matching set with someone from the same orphanage. He personally didn’t like precious metals, so he had never worn it. Fortunately, it seemed he had found a use for it.
Ian nodded in satisfaction and plucked out a strand of hair.
Now all that remained were aether and an insect corpse.
Aether already filled the space, so there was no need to go looking for it.
As for the insect corpse, he left the house and searched the hallway before finally finding one.
‘It’s a little small, but there wasn’t any description about size.’
Salt was the only thing with an exact quantity listed.
Did salt hold a greater importance in magic than he had expected?
He wasn’t sure. Perhaps because it was used as one of the ingredients for holy water, it simply had many uses. It also seemed like salt was used often in other forms of alchemy.
‘I should buy some in advance.’
With those idle thoughts, he carefully placed the gathered materials on the desk.
Riiip.
He tore out a sheet of notebook paper and drew on it the magic circle recorded in the grimoire.
It was a round magic circle filled with all sorts of geometric patterns. He placed a fairly long kitchen knife in the center, then arranged the ingredients one by one along the edge of the magic circle.
He did not bother touching the aether.
The moment the magic circle was drawn, the aether moved on its own and took its place, as if it knew exactly where it belonged. Thanks to that, there was no need to adjust it separately.
With this, the preparations for alchemy were complete. Ian exhaled once from nervousness, held the grimoire in his left hand, and quietly recited.
“What I desire is killing intent. Killing intent directed at intelligent beings.”
The instant he spoke, the magic circle drawn on the notebook paper brightened slightly.
It was proof that the magic was activating.
Magic he was seeing for the first time in his life.
However, instead of growing needlessly excited or delighted, Ian continued reading the incantation written in the grimoire with a composed mindset.
The meditation he had practiced over the past few days had granted him a terrifying level of mental strength and patience.
“How does a mere beast dare dream of wealth and glory? Absurd. Displeasing. A beast must remain a beast for all eternity. Thus, evolution is forbidden. Upon those that have already evolved, I cast the shadow called death.”
It felt rather ambiguous for a primate like himself to be reciting an incantation that killed primates, but Ian calmly finished the final line.
“And thus, only ignorant insects shall remain in this world. I shall recreate you.”
The moment he finished speaking.
Fsssh.
All the materials on the magic circle turned to ash and scattered. Only the kitchen knife remained alone, emanating an uncanny atmosphere as it stayed where it was.
‘It worked.’
There was no particular change to the kitchen knife, but Ian instinctively realized that the alchemy had succeeded.
It had been worth spending a month eating dirt, drinking only water, and meditating.
He nodded in satisfaction, then snapped a photo of the knife on the desk with his phone camera.
As stated, the magic had succeeded. And there was only one place where he could brag about it.
Ian wrapped the kitchen knife in bandages and stored it carefully, then sat on his bed and accessed the link SeriousMagicAddict had sent him.
[Q. Explain the three elements that compose magic.]
The same question as before appeared.
Back then, it was a question that had made him irritated, wondering how he was supposed to know. But not now. Without hesitation, Ian tapped on the keyboard and answered the question.
[They are the four elements, aether, and the soul. The four elements compose the mage’s body and are an essential process for sensing aether, while aether is the very identity of magic itself. The soul is the most important element and material that allows a mage to truly be a mage. It is delicate, so caution is required when handling it.]
Click.
He pressed the send button.
[Please wait. The Key of Solomon is verifying your answer.]
As an unfamiliar message appeared and the loading continued for a moment, the screen turned pitch-black, then revealed the figure of a woman wearing a hood.
The only skin visible was the lower half of her face. Everything else was dyed in black and gold as she slowly parted her red lips.
[Please tell us your name. It must be your real name.]
No keyboard appeared. Instead, he realized that some kind of magical spell had been cast on the phone he was holding.
‘So this is how it works.’
Ian let out a small laugh and said his name.
“Shin Ian.”
[Welcome to the society of mages, Mr. Shin Ian. May the protection of Merlin and Solomon be with you.]
Less than a second after that message appeared, he entered a completely different site.
It meant he had successfully entered the mages’ community. Ian took a sip of coffee, narrowed his eyes, and quickly scanned the community.
[Godmother, can’t you hear me…… I…… shit myself…… again…….]
[This magebro caught a few ghouls today and ate them as sashimi. Tastes fucking awful, but Master says he won’t teach me magic if I don’t eat it. Fucking bald bastard…….]
[I went into the sea today to gather magic materials and made eye contact with a shark. Proof pic attached.]
For some reason, the atmosphere of the community felt extremely familiar.
***
SeriousMagicAddict, Lee Seo-a, was browsing the community again during school break today.
No one approached her.
It was only natural. She had grown up as a voluntary orphan since childhood, and after becoming a mage, even her sociability had been utterly shattered. Even when she somehow mustered the courage to approach others, the answer she received was always the same.
“A-a ghoooost!!!”
Their description was not exactly wrong. Ghosts or incomprehensible beings always lingered near Lee Seo-a.
She had become a mage through necromancy, and since the things she commanded were ghosts, it could not be helped.
She still found it difficult to command ghosts freely, but she had reached the level where she could keep one guardian spirit nearby.
That was what caused the problem.
A spirit summoned not through simple occult-style necromancy, but through magic-based necromancy, could be seen with the naked eye by anyone with even slightly strong spiritual energy.
Thanks to that, her nickname had been “shaman” from elementary school to middle school and even now that she was in high school.
She had become a mage because she hated her shaman grandmother, yet what a cruel life it was.
‘It’s okay. Mages are basically lone wolves to begin with. It’s only natural that I’m lonely too.’
It was not natural at all, but Lee Seo-a hypnotized herself that way. Swallowing the tears that threatened to spill, she slowly scrolled down on her phone.
‘Still don’t see him.’
Originally, she did not visit the mage community often. Even ordinary galleries were something she entered maybe once a week at most.
The reason she had been browsing the community lately was none other than a certain mage who had contacted her a month ago.
Someone who had become the owner of a grimoire written by an Outer God, a grimoire so famous that even Lee Seo-a, whose knowledge of grimoires was not very deep, knew about it.
Timing-wise, if he had become a mage, it was about time for him to appear in the community.
He might have forgotten the very existence of the community, but she did not even imagine such a miserable future. To begin with, if his memory were that poor, he would never have been chosen by the grimoire.
The fact that he had been chosen by an Outer God’s grimoire bothered her a little, but he had said with his own mouth that he was not suffering from madness, so it seemed fine to keep watching for at least a few more weeks.
If he still did not appear after that…… It would be unfortunate, but she would have no choice but to give up.
Just as Lee Seo-a thought that and refreshed the page.
At the very top of the posts, which were usually filled with nothing but trashy nonsense, a new post with 0 views had just appeared.
[Newbie mage succeeded at alchemy]
Newbie. Mage.
It was a post with all the words she had been waiting for.
The usual Lee Seo-a would never click on a post like that.
That was because she had clicked a few titles with similar nuances before and ended up seeing photos of ghouls and zombies playing train. After that, she absolutely, absolutely never clicked on posts that were obviously bait.
But today was different.
Her intuition was telling her.
This one was real.
“……”
Swallowing, Lee Seo-a carefully clicked the post.
In case a strange photo appeared, the guardian spirit standing behind her reached out its hands so it could cover her eyes.
But the guardian spirit never had to cover her eyes.
[Title: Newbie mage succeeded at alchemy]
[ㅇㅇ]
(A photo of a kitchen knife placed on top of a magic circle)
Picked up a grimoire a month ago and used magic for the first time today. I succeeded at alchemy using only easy-to-find materials. Is this good?
Apparently it can kill any primate in one hit lol;;
After reading the post, Lee Seo-a burst into a clear laugh. After briefly pondering, she wrote a comment that she personally thought was cool.
-SeriousMagicAddict: Have we met before, by any chance?
The reply came back immediately.
ㄴㅇㅇ: Oh lol long time no see. Thanks to the info you gave me back then, I even became a mage. Much appreciated.
“Hehe. It’s not like I did it to get praised or anythinggg……”
Lee Seo-a smiled loosely as she looked at Ian’s reply. At that moment, the teacher who had come to the classroom for class lightly tapped her desk.
“Hieek!”
Startled, she immediately put away her phone and lifted her head. Her eyes met those of the kindly-looking math teacher in midair.
The teacher was the first to speak.
“Student Lee Seo-a, you shouldn’t use your phone during class.”
“S-sorry……”
Lee Seo-a immediately lowered her tail and took out her textbook.
Even if she was a mage who used necromancy, the teacher’s sharp gaze was still too much for her.