Chapter 75: The Mad Mage

"Phew, I can finally get some rest." Daniel slumped down into the chair in his room at the inn.

It had been almost ten minutes since they returned to the inn. Eva, exhausted from all the stress and events that had taken place, had gone straight to her bedroom and fallen asleep.

"I never expected to face something like this in this city," Kayn said, casting a tired glance at Daniel.

He had come with them to the inn and even rented another room for a while. He was tired too—but something more important was on his mind.

He needed to collect payment for his help. He hadn’t gone through all that trouble for nothing.

"Looks like I found someone who can actually compete with me in loving money," Daniel said, fully aware of why Kayn had come to their room.

"So, tell me—how much do you want?"

"Ten gold bars," Kayn said seriously, making Daniel almost choke.

"Ten gold bars? Are you serious?" Daniel felt like he had misheard. Ten fucking gold bars? Sure, he didn’t currently have financial issues, but that didn’t mean he was filthy rich with unlimited reserves.

"You paid five gold bars just to ask that Black Scar guy one question. Naturally, I deserve more for everything I did. Honestly, I’m even giving you a discount."

"That makes sense, but I paid that money so he’d cooperate. Otherwise, we’d have to fight him and suffer major losses," Daniel argued, but Kayn just shrugged.

’This bastard...’ Daniel wanted to curse him out but held himself back. He opened his inventory to take out ten gold bars.

To his surprise, he only had fifteen left. Seeing his gold reserves dwindling gave him a sharp sting in his chest.

"Could you give me a little discount? Like... eight bars?" He made sure to act like he only had eight left.

"Sure, no problem," Kayn agreed without much fuss. From Daniel’s expression, it was clear he really didn’t have ten.

Still, eight gold bars was a win for him. From his point of view, it was actually a low amount—after all, he had nearly died.

Daniel handed him the eight gold bars. Kayn took them and was about to leave the room, but he hesitated a bit, then turned around.

"As a friend, I recommend you don’t get involved with the Corruption Worshipers. Stay as far away from them as you can."

"What’s with the sudden warning?" Daniel raised an eyebrow, surprised that Kayn would suddenly say something like that.

"What happened today couldn’t be avoided... but for your own safety, it’s best not to get involved with anything related to them. They’re more dangerous than you think." Kayn sighed. From his tone, it was clear he had no fond memories of Corruption Worshipers.

"Thanks for the warning, but I’m really curious—how did the Corruption Worshipers come to be? Do you know anything?" Daniel asked with genuine curiosity.

Due to his access level, he hadn’t been able to find any information about the Corruption Worshipers in the Online Community. But after confronting one, his curiosity had only grown.

"Yeah, but it’ll cost you—two gold coins," Kayn said.

Daniel opened his inventory, pulled out one coin, and handed it to him. Kayn grumbled, but Daniel told him even that was more than he deserved. After a bit of back-and-forth, Kayn finally accepted the single coin.

"The origin of the Corruption Worshipers goes back almost two centuries—maybe even a bit more. To explain them, first you need to understand Corruption Beasts. Do you know how they’re formed?"

"I heard that beasts exposed to the Corruption Aura slowly lose their minds and become Corruption Beasts," Daniel answered. That information wasn’t exactly hidden—it was fairly well known.

"That’s right. But do you know how much stronger a beast gets once it becomes a Corruption Beast? The transformation gives them a four- to eightfold power boost—and it almost makes them immortal."

"Even if you destroy their body and soul, they don’t die. You have to destroy their Corruption Core. Killing Corruption Beasts below rank B isn’t too hard, but the stronger they get, the harder they are to kill—until you reach the ones known as Corruption Sovereign," Kayn explained.

"A Corruption Sovereign is on par with a Heavenly Climber. In all of history, no one’s ever managed to kill one."

"Though, about a century ago, a mage known as the Mad Mage fought one of the Seven Calamities. He’s considered one of the most powerful mages in history and managed to seal one of them."

"Mad Mage?" Daniel muttered in surprise, reflecting on what Kayn had said.

He was already familiar with the Seven Calamities. From what he knew, they were the only Corruption Beasts comparable to national-level Awakened and Heavenly Climbers.

"Yeah. No one knows his real name—most of his records were erased by the world’s leaders in an attempt to suppress the spread of Corruption Worshipers," Kayn replied.

"What does he have to do with them?"

"Well, you could say he’s their creator. The Mad Mage was a s half step Demi-God rank, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t reach it. So he came up with a crazy idea: to capture one of the Seven Calamities and experiment on it." Kayn sighed. If it weren’t for that mage’s stupidity, the world might be in a much better place.

"Well, I don’t know what to say." Even Daniel had to admit it was a pretty idiotic thing to do. Though honestly, he couldn’t say for sure that he wouldn’t have done the same.

"Yeah. After a lot of research on Corruption Beasts, he developed techniques that let a person use Corruption Aura to enhance their power—except his techniques were designed so that the user wouldn’t lose their mind like the beasts do."

"His techniques gave users weakened versions of Corruption Beast traits. For example, they could boost their power by two to four times. Killing them was harder than normal, but not to the extent of a Corruption Beast, where even body and soul destruction doesn’t stop them."

"Is that why the Grand Mage didn’t kill Azarath today?" Daniel reasoned. It sounded stupid, but he felt that might actually be the reason.

"Yeah. He could’ve killed him, but it would’ve taken a lot of effort—and in the Grand Mage’s eyes, it wasn’t worth it," Kayn answered.

"In short, Corruption Worshipers can also devour Climbers. By doing so, they can absorb around 1.5 to 2 percent of their stats," he added and then fell silent.

"I see." Daniel nodded. Strangely enough, the Corruption Worshipers’ abilities seemed like a weaker version of his own skills.

Was it just a coincidence—or was there something much bigger going on?

Daniel sighed, feeling a headache coming on. He hadn’t expected such a long and twisted history behind the Corruption Worshipers. Apparently, the Mad Mage never reached Demi-God rank—but he left behind one hell of a legacy.

Over the past two centuries, many have tried to destroy the Corruption Worshipers—but the temptation of power has only caused their numbers to grow.

Kayn asked if Daniel had any more questions, saying he was getting sleepy and wanted to go.

Daniel said no, and saw him off.

After Kayn left, Daniel was about to go to bed himself—but then there was a knock at the door.

"Damn it, you just left—did you forget something?" Daniel thought Kayn had probably left something behind and went to open the door.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked in shock when he saw who was standing outside.