Interlude: The Hero Dreams of a Bamboo Spear (2)

Learning black magic entails the pain of shaving away at one's soul.

This is not a literary exaggeration. Unlike ordinary magic, which harnesses the flow of nature, black magic truly uses one's own soul as the price.

Only two kinds of people can endure such pain.

Those stained by hatred for others to the point that they are willing to carve themselves away.

Or those who never placed much value on their own souls to begin with.

Kael was the latter.

As his master had endlessly repeated, he believed this world was a false one.

Otherwise, he could not understand the contradictions of this world.

Even though there was a goddess, and people who actually wielded the goddess's power, the world's evil never disappeared. Divine retribution did not exist, either.

The rich used their wealth to enjoy ever greater luxury, while the poor struggled in poverty their entire lives and despaired before a hopeless tomorrow...