Genius of the Dark Magus Family

Chapter 3

Therne's eyes widened.  

Chris let out a sigh, raised his hand, grabbed the blade with his fingers, and pushed it aside.  

Was it because the reaction was unexpected?  

Therne shut his mouth in bewilderment.  

“What the….”  

“I understand.”  

“What did you say?”  

“I said I understood your warning not to tarnish the family's honor.”  

“!!”  

Chris calmly looked down at Therne as he spoke.  

“Do you have anything else to say?”  

“…….”  

Therne couldn't say a word.  

He had plenty to say.  

But why?  

As he stared into those condescending eyes looking down at him, he found himself unable to open his mouth.  

‘What is this?’  

Therne was flustered.  

A so-called genius, yet still an inexperienced child.  

He failed to recognize that the feeling Chris exuded at that moment was "pressure."  

Or perhaps, even if he did recognize it, he was in denial.  

After all, the idea of feeling intimidated by that disgrace of a family member was utterly absurd.  

Regardless, one thing was certain.  

His brother, Christien, was different from before.  

‘He changed? That bastard?’  

Impossible.  

Therne gritted his teeth and growled.  

“I’m warning you again—if you dare insult the name of Baren Khazar again, I will….”  

“You won’t let me get away with it, right? Yeah, I heard you the first time. Do you seriously have nothing better to do? You keep repeating yourself, even when I didn’t ask. Or maybe… do you want my attention?”  

“!!”  

Therne's face instantly turned red.  

Glaring at Chris as if he wanted to kill him, he abruptly turned on his heel and stormed off.  

‘I’ve dealt with enough brats in my time. You’re nowhere near ready to take me on, you little mutt.’  

Chris smirked.  

‘Still… I suppose he’s a little cute. He used to be cute when he was younger.’  

The truth was, Chris had met Therne before.  

In the past, during the Era of Destruction, their paths had crossed.  

Therne had been a fairly well-known Dark Being back then.  

But now, since he was still just a child, he seemed somewhat endearing.  

Not that it really mattered.  

Erasing all thoughts of Therne from his mind, Chris placed his hand on the entrance to the Punishment Cavern.  

Creak.  

The door opened.  

It was time to grow stronger.  

*         *         *  

The moment he stepped into the Punishment Cavern, complete darkness descended.  

‘Nothing is visible. I can’t hear anything either.’  

He flicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, but as expected, he couldn’t feel anything.  

It wasn’t just a simple deprivation of light and sound.  

Even his hands and feet had lost all sensation.  

‘Is this an effect of black magic? A type of curse?’  

The only sense that remained was a faint sensation at his fingertips.  

It allowed him to fumble around and feel the supplies he had brought with him—measures taken to ensure he wouldn’t starve to death.  

Spending too much time in a place like this would surely lead to extreme mental deterioration.  

Now he understood why this was where Dark Beings were sent for punishment.  

‘But it’s of little consequence to me.’  

He had been through all sorts of experiences in the past.  

Among them, he had even been a Treasure Hunter. And not just any treasure hunter—he had been one of the best.  

He had sought out all manner of artifacts to aid in the fight against the Magic Empire, earning him the moniker Seeker of Light.  

‘Not that it mattered in the end. The world was already falling apart, and there was no one left to properly pay for my discoveries, so I quit halfway through.’  

In any case, treasure hunting often required navigating ruins with limited sensory perception, relying only on faint hearing or weak touch to move forward.  

Compared to those experiences, this place wasn’t all that difficult for Chris.  

‘If anything, this is far better than the places I’ve been before. No traps, no risk of assassination. I’m completely isolated from prying eyes.’  

Compared to the hells he had once endured, this place was practically a luxury hotel.  

And the greatest advantage of all—  

‘With my senses sealed, I can observe my inner self more deeply. This is an opportunity money can’t buy.’  

Some advanced training methods even required deliberately cutting off the five senses.  

By doing so, concentration could be maximized, forcing the practitioner to focus solely on themselves.  

Coincidentally, the task Chris was about to undertake required such sensory deprivation.  

If it weren’t for the Punishment Cavern, he would have had to find another way to shut off his senses.  

‘First, I need to improve my physique.’  

This body, befitting a disgraceful wastrel, had lived an utterly debauched life.  

Despite his young age, he had been exposed to countless harmful substances, leading to severe toxin buildup.  

His body was in a deplorable state.  

‘But that’s fine. I’ll just undergo rebirth.’  

A shocking notion.  

Rebirth!  

Upon reaching a certain level of enlightenment, one's physical constitution could undergo a transformation.  

A reborn body would regain perfect health, making it an ideal vessel for mastering swordsmanship and other martial arts.  

For any swordsman, this was the ultimate aspiration.  

But only a select few ever achieved it.  

It required not only deep enlightenment but also a great deal of luck.  

Yet here he was, intending to undergo rebirth at will?  

‘Because I can forcefully induce rebirth.’  

Forced rebirth—such a thing was unheard of.  

It was an unbelievable story.  

But it was real.  

‘I once learned a secret technique from an ancient ruin.’  

Ordinarily, it was an impossible technique to perform.  

It required an extremely advanced knowledge of medical science, an innate talent for mana manipulation, and the ability to use Body Morphing Arts.  

No one in the world could meet all these conditions.  

No one—except Chris.  

‘After all, I’ve worked as a doctor before.’  

Not just any doctor—he had been called a Divine Healer.  

He had studied medicine relentlessly in pursuit of wealth, only to end up penniless, suffering under the weight of his reputation as a saint.  

‘I even amazed heroes and archmages with my mana control.’  

And finally, there was Body Morphing Arts.  

He knew how to use that as well.  

Before the Era of Destruction began, there was a time when he had escaped his hellish family and wandered the backstreets.  

During that period, he had dabbled in all sorts of skills—thievery, street performances, gambling. Among them, he had also spent time in a circus, where he learned Body Morphing Arts.  

Of course, the acrobat’s version of Body Morphing Arts was crude at best, but after some modifications, Chris had refined it into a perfect Bone Compression Technique.  

For all these reasons, he was capable of forcing rebirth.  

‘Let’s begin.’  

Chris took out a mana stone.  

Each stage of rebirth required mana stones infused with different types of energy, but fortunately, he had managed to gather them all.  

‘First step—purging impurities.’  

He extracted mana from a white mana stone.  

Then, he directed it toward the areas where toxins had accumulated.  

Sizzle.  

The purifying power of the white mana burned away the impurities.  

It was a tedious process.  

But an essential one.  

Even the slightest impurity left behind would result in failure. Worse, it could cause severe internal injuries, leaving him crippled for life.  

‘This is why extensive medical knowledge is necessary.’  

It wasn’t enough to understand the major mana channels—he had to grasp the full anatomical structure of the body.  

He had to cleanse every single area where impurities might lurk, carefully guiding the white mana to purify them all.  

This was why an exceptional sense for mana control was required.  

Fortunately, Chris’s mana manipulation ability was beyond comparison.  

No, it wasn’t just mana control.  

It was the same with everything he did.  

- You’re completely insane.  

A remark made by Evan, the hero, one day.  

- You should have been the hero instead.  

Chris shook off the unnecessary thoughts.  

After meticulously burning away every last impurity, he moved on to the next stage.  

Chris took out a mana stone infused with the energy of fire.  

This was the Refinement Stage, the process of strengthening the body.  

‘Ugh. This part really hurts.’  

But he had to do it.  

Chris shut his eyes tightly and focused on his goal.  

‘To rise to the pinnacle of the Magic Empire and save the world… yeah, right.’  

He shook his head and shouted his real ambition in his heart.  

‘I’ll become the Demon King and bask in the greatest wealth and luxury!!! And, I guess, save the world along the way!’  

At that moment, scorching heat surged into his body.  

The process of refinement had begun.  

Crack, crack.  

With eerie sounds, a miracle started to unfold.  

The beginning of Rebirth.  

*         *         *  

Time passed after Chris entered the Punishment Cavern.  

Seven days had already gone by.  

Count Khazar, Chris’s father, furrowed his brows.  

“He still hasn’t sent a rescue request?”  

“No, my lord. Should we check inside?”  

The Khazar household’s butler, Cox, spoke with concern.  

With his pale complexion, he bore the features of a half-vampire.  

For a vampire, he was unusually sentimental, and he had often worried about Chris in the past.  

“He may be in such a broken state that he’s unable to call for help.”  

That was a possibility.  

Count Khazar gave a slight nod.  

The Punishment Cavern was an utterly dreadful place.  

At first, people dismissed it.  

How bad could it be to merely have the five senses sealed?  

That was what most thought.  

But such thoughts crumbled soon after entering the cavern.  

Perfect silence.  

No one was there. Nothing could be felt.  

Within that void, an overwhelming fear took hold.  

Even if one screamed, they wouldn’t hear their own voice.  

As time passed, madness was inevitable.  

‘Perhaps I was too harsh. Even Dark Beings with iron wills struggle to endure the Punishment Cavern.’  

Count Khazar scowled.  

Given his son’s mental fortitude, it wouldn’t be surprising if he had completely broken down in there.  

‘How did things come to this?’  

He let out a deep sigh.  

His son, Christien, hadn’t always been like this.  

He was once a child full of promise.  

Had his exceptional talent made him arrogant?  

Little by little, he had gone astray—until he was utterly ruined.  

‘If he’s going to keep living like a worthless insect, it might be better for him to become a cripple or die this time.’  

It wasn’t a cruel thought.  

In his own way, it was a father’s concern.  

But as a Dark Being, his way of thinking was different from those of outsiders.  

If his son was going to continue disgracing his own honor and living like a worm, perhaps it was his duty as a father to end his life himself.  

However.  

- I will change.  

The last words Christien had spoken came to mind.  

And the look in his son’s eyes as he said them kept resurfacing in his thoughts.  

There had been something different about him.  

‘Again. After being deceived so many times, what more am I expecting?’  

He scoffed and shook his head.  

“And… there’s something else to report. It appears that the young master took some dangerous items into the Punishment Cavern.”  

“What?”  

Count Khazar furrowed his brow.  

A bad feeling crept over him.  

“He took a Phantom Dream Stone.”  

“!!”  

Count Khazar gritted his teeth.  

Phantom Dream Stone.  

A type of mana stone that induced hallucinations.  

It provided an effect similar to narcotics, making it a popular alternative among nobles and the wealthy.  

Unlike actual drugs, Phantom Dream Stones existed in a legal gray area.  

“Hadn’t he sworn to quit using those?”  

Among the many disgraceful things Christien had done, indulging in Phantom Dream Stones was, of course, one of them.  

“That is true. However… given that he took one with him this time….”  

The butler trailed off.  

Count Khazar slumped back into his chair, drained of all strength.  

So much for change.  

He must have snuck the Phantom Dream Stone inside to secretly indulge in hallucinations while hiding away in the Punishment Cavern!  

“To lose himself in hallucinations inside a place where all five senses are cut off… Who knows what kind of side effects that could cause? We must open the Punishment Cavern immediately! If we don’t, we cannot guarantee the young master’s life…!”  

“…No. Leave him be.”  

“…Pardon?”  

Count Khazar’s voice was as cold as ice.  

“Just let him die.”  

His eyes held not even a speck of hope anymore.  

*         *         *  

At that moment, inside the Punishment Cavern.  

‘I’ve succeeded in Rebirth.’  

Chris let out a long sigh.