ㄴ Anon(61F)(OP): What's a Magic Eye?
ㄴ Anon(248F): It's the collective term for any ability that manifests through the eyes.
ㄴ Anon(710F): …If you awakened that sense on your own, learning Carve-based Black Magic should come pretty naturally. The 2nd-circle skill you need to learn goes down a lot faster if you get Magic Eye down first.
ㄴ Anon(546F): Can't she just skip straight to 3rd circle?
ㄴ Anon(710F): nononononono
.
There had been suggestions to go straight to building the 3rd circle, but they were shot down by the Floor-710 Death God's objections.
The insistence that she needed to read up on the basics of Instant-Kill-based Black Magic during the safe period was not something anyone could argue her out of.
"Guess 3rd circle comes after this…"
With that thought, she read the post Floor-710 had put up.
______
Title: Training Method for [Death Mark], the Derived Black Magic of [Sentence of Death – Carve].
Author: Anon(710F)
You already went ahead and built 2nd circle right away, so… since you've got a long road ahead before you reach Death Mark's 4th-stage Instant-Kill derivative *Sight*, I'll skip stage 1 and go straight to the stage-2 Carve derivative.
The name is [Death Mark].
It's a curse-type Black Magic built by degrading the principles of Carve. You stack death brands on a cooldown cycle, and once the stacks hit the threshold, the target dies.
How many stacks it takes to kill varies wildly by target—depending on their resistance, you might not be able to kill them at all, or if your magic power is high enough, one stack might do it instantly.
So how do you learn it?
First, you need to stare intently at a corpse…
...
..
.
[Comments]
Anon(324F): damn you're posting fast lmao
ㄴ Anon(349F): probably had it all backed up waiting for the chance lol
Anon(248F): where'd the regular go, why's some 700-floor nobody teaching her?
ㄴ Anon(556F): I heard the old man had a mental breakdown~
______
She read through the whole thing.
The training method, summarized in one sentence, was this:
'You need to look at a lot of corpses.'
Apparently all she had to do was pull the remains of the female mages she'd killed out of her inventory, lay them out, and stare at them all day.
"Everything about Black Magic asks for something gory…"
That seemed to be the pattern.
Though it was still a lot better than necromancy, where you shoved blood in and out of corpses.
…Thanks to the Spirit Blood Tea Rite, her stomach had gotten considerably stronger.
The moment she made up her mind to try it right away—
"Hmm…"
An idea flashed through her head.
ㄴ Anon(61F): Senior, going by what you said, wouldn't it be more efficient to look at a wide variety of different corpses?
ㄴ Anon(249F): ?
ㄴ Anon(657F): where are you gonna find multiple corpses.
ㄴ Anon(421F): she means turning tower monsters into corpses, right?
ㄴ Anon(643F): if there aren't any, just make some ㅇㅇ
ㄴ Anon(438F): the mindset is genuinely unhinged.
ㄴ Anon(249F): there's literally no scenario in her head where she loses the floor climb, like;;
ㄴ Anon(641F): tower = corpse refill station lmaooo
Floor-710 then gave a somewhat reluctant approval.
ㄴ Anon(710F)(OP): Haah… figured you'd say that. Don't push yourself too hard. The moment it feels like too much, stop immediately.
ㄴ Anon(61F): Thank you!
ㄴ Anon(435F): she got time off and she's still trying to keep climbing lmaooooooo
"It's called time off, but…"
It wasn't actually a break.
During the time her safety was guaranteed, she had to get as strong as possible.
That was why she'd been in a bit of a rush choosing her circle, too.
She absolutely had to squeeze in at least one more sleep cycle within the next ten hours.
She couldn't afford to miss the chance to gain experience without burning a Fatigue Recovery Potion.
If she blitzed through to around floor 80 and then used the remaining time off to sleep, that would be maximum efficiency.
"Blood Knight, get ready."
⟨…By your command…⟩
She pressed the floor-climb button toward floor 62.
Creeeeak—
The door opened.
What appeared was:
[Defender: Elite Venom Lizardman (62F)]
A massive bipedal reptilian monster, its entire body slick with venom.
It was flicking its tongue.
Hssssss—
"Blood Knight, attack."
The Blood Knight kicked off the floor and launched forward.
BOOM—!
At the same moment, the Lizardman spewed a jet of venom.
Just as the venom was about to pour over the armor—
Shhhrrk—!
A greatsword wreathed in a blood-mist split the Lizardman's scales open first.
[Floor-62 Elite Venom Lizardman Defeated]
[Promotion Reward: 6,100G Acquired!]
[Experience Points Gained.]
The earring glimmered.
"Clean."
She stared hard at the fallen Lizardman's corpse.
Following Floor-710's advice, she concentrated magic power into both eyes—her vision warped strangely, and over the monster's body, hazy red and black lines began to appear, like heat shimmer rising off hot pavement.
'So those are the lines of death.'
She rotated the 2nd circle in her dantian and imagined driving her magic power into the most vulnerable point where those lines converged.
"Hmm…"
But they were only faintly visible.
Nothing happened before the corpse disappeared.
Floor 63. Floor 64. Floor 65.
She blew through them fast.
The pattern was simple: open the door, Blood Knight slices it apart.
And each time, she fixed her gaze on the fallen monsters' corpses and trained Death Mark.
Just before the floor-66 monster's corpse vanished—
Flash—!
For just a split second, a faint red brand flickered into existence on the corpse's chest plate, then disappeared.
"Feels like something's starting to happen…"
She moved on to the next floor.
[Defender: Four-Blade Automaton (67F)]
A puppet holding curved blades in all four of its arms.
"Oh."
She felt a quiet flicker of anticipation—this might be the first time she'd get to see a proper sword exchange.
"Blood Knight, show me some swordsmanship."
The Blood Knight charged.
The automaton crossed all four curved blades to meet it.
CLAAANG—!
The moment the greatsword collided head-on with the four blades.
A single exchange.
Crack!
Clatter!
"Ah…"
Her expectations were dashed. Two of the four curved blades couldn't withstand the Blood Knight's raw strength and shattered to pieces.
The Four-Blade Automaton stumbled backward in apparent confusion.
"Hmm… I wanted to test it more."
It felt like a waste to end it here.
She wanted to get a precise read on the Blood Knight's physical stats—especially its agility. It was also a good opportunity to gauge whether she herself, having just pumped her remaining stat points to bring agility up to 50, could manage that kind of movement.
"Blood Knight, no sword. Just dodge."
The Blood Knight released its attack stance, greatsword still in hand, and stepped back.
The Four-Blade Automaton rushed in immediately.
Swish! Clang! Thud!
A rapid flurry of the puppet's consecutive strikes.
But the Blood Knight deflected every single one with minimal movement, letting them slide off with ease.
A slight twist of the torso, a half-step back—and the enemy's blade couldn't even graze the breastplate.
'Fast. And precise.'
She narrowed her eyes and tracked the Blood Knight's footwork.
"I can't do that yet…"
Reaching agility 50 had made her own body lighter, but that level of fluid movement still seemed out of reach.
Once that judgment settled, there was no reason to drag it out any further.
She gave a small nod.
"Kill it now."
The Blood Knight used the momentum of deflecting the last attack to spin its body around.
Shhhrrrrk—!
The greatsword swept through the air and cleanly sent the automaton's torso flying.
[Floor-67 Four-Blade Automaton Defeated]
[Promotion Reward: 6,600G Acquired!]
[Experience Points Gained!]
She walked slowly toward the fallen automaton's corpse.
"I wonder if something non-living like this still counts as a corpse…?"
She drew magic power up into both eyes and stared hard at the dark crimson lines rising like heat haze over the body.
Flash—!
She drove her magic power into the point where the lines converged, and a red brand was carved in.
"Oh."
For the first time, something was actually progressing.
But the corpse disappeared shortly after.
She lifted her gaze from the floor and moved toward the next level.
Floor 68.
BOOOOM!
[Floor-68 Undead Tree Defeated]
[Promotion Reward: 6,700G Acquired!]
[Level Up! 72 → 73]
[3 Stat Points Acquired!]
She didn't get her first level-up until clearing floor 68.
She split the 3 stat points between Strength and Agility, 2 and 1.
Next floor.
BANG—!
"Ugh…"
Floor 69 ended in an instant because the enemy attacked first.
Hmmm—
She finished her Death Mark training all the same and headed to floor 70.
[Defender: Stone Gargoyle Veteran (70F)]
The floor-70 gatekeeper was a gargoyle that flew through the air and pelted her with chunks of stone.
The stones regenerated automatically at its feet—from where, she had no idea.
"Blood Knight. Attack."
The Blood Knight grabbed the greatsword and leaped upward, but the gargoyle irritatingly gained altitude and slipped out of range.
Thud!
Whoosh—!
It kept doing that.
There was no sign of the fight ending.
The gargoyle wasn't even bothering to attack her as she stood still in the back.
"Maybe I should come up with some commands…"
She wondered if she should take direct control.
Up until now she'd held back on giving orders beyond "attack," not wanting to interfere—but in a stalemate like this, specific instructions seemed necessary.
"Blood Knight, hold."
She stopped the Blood Knight, which had been chasing the ground beneath the airborne gargoyle.
Then she added this command:
"Taunt."
The Blood Knight tilted its head.
It seemed it couldn't parse commands that were too abstract.
"When I say taunt, beat your chest hard."
At that, it slammed the flat of the greatsword against its own breastplate. Bang. Bang.
KREEEE!
Whether the taunt actually worked, the gargoyle immediately moved in for its next attack.
The moment the gargoyle wound up to throw a stone—
"Reverse grip on the sword!!"
She called out the command, then—
"Dodge!"
She had it evade the incoming rock.
And timing it to the next attack coming in—
"Throw it like that and hit it!!!"
She said, and—
The Blood Knight followed her command and hurled the greatsword like an Olympic javelin thrower.
SHWEEEEEE—!!!
CRASH!
Direct hit.
The gargoyle's wings shattered and it plummeted to the floor.
THUD!!!
"Finish it!"
The Blood Knight crushed the fallen gargoyle's face with the greatsword.
[Floor-70 Stone Gargoyle Veteran Defeated]
[Promotion Reward: 6,900G Acquired!]
[Experience Points Gained.]
"Now we're talking."
It seemed to handle detailed situational commands just fine.
It felt like controlling a game character herself, which was genuinely fun.
"Necromancy… might actually suit me pretty well."
The climb after that was relentless.
Floor 71. Floor 72. Floor 75.
She mixed and matched various commands for the Blood Knight, refining her tactics, while simultaneously staring down every corpse to steadily train Death Mark.
"Break through and spin!"
"Shove it back!"
"Two backsteps!"
With every command, the Blood Knight executed her intent.
She was starting to wonder if it was directly wired into her brain.
"Is this the power of the Spirit Blood Tea Rite…"
Probably, yes.
Every drop of blood that made up the Blood Knight had passed through her body at least once.
She'd driven her magic power into it stitch by stitch from the inside and expelled it herself—it wasn't strange at all that they'd become one.
Bang!
It was still early days, so sometimes the timing slipped and the Blood Knight took a hit, but that was fine.
"Blood Command."
Magic-laden blood flowed from her fingertips and immediately repaired the Blood Knight's damaged armor and bone structure.
Her role was multifaceted.
Healer and commander—and in a crisis, she could step in as a dealer herself, personally cutting off a target's breath with an Instant-Kill skill.
She still had a long way to go, but it felt like she was getting a preview of what a fully-rounded build would feel like.
And then—
[Floor Climb Request]
Creeeeak—
The door to floor 80 opened.
[Defender: Magneta Iron Golem (80F)]
It felt like something she'd seen around floor 20.
"Last time it was a stone golem."
The material had changed this time.
It was a golem made of massive chunks of iron fused together.
And around its body, a bluish magnetic field crackled and spat sparks.
"Screams gimmick mob."
The moment she saw the monster's name and appearance—
She could identify both sides' weaknesses.
"Blood Knight, charge!"
She sent it in dumb and direct first.
The Blood Knight raised the greatsword and kicked off the floor.
BOOM—!
The golem simultaneously swung one of its massive iron arms.
CLANG CLANG CLANG—!!!
The thunderous crash of metal on metal.
That was the moment.
Hmmmmm—!
The blue magnetic field radiating from the golem's body expanded.
The Blood Knight tried to pull the greatsword back, but—
Clack!
The greatsword snapped flat against the golem's leg armor and wouldn't come free.
"Blood Knight! Break away!"
She issued the command, but—
Clank—!
The Blood Knight's steel armor was dragged in by the magnetic field and slammed fully against the golem's torso.
"Oh… just as expected."
She hadn't anticipated it would end up in quite such a ridiculous pose, though.
"Kind of looks like an emergency exit sign…"
Anyway, this was her side's weakness.
She stepped forward to exploit the golem's weakness next.