Chapter 12: Grimoire of the Great Library (2)
rdBPRrRLike how I couldn’t touch astral bodies, astral bodies likewise couldn’t touch me. As someone who can’t perceive the spirit itself due to my Precept, I was pretty much invincible against astral bodies.gBYkhIX
yum0m‘Energy Drain, Soul Crusher and Overflowing Honey of Nightmare… was it?’STp
ybQCThose were the skills which would be poured out by the Unique Grade demonic spirit sealed in the secret room in Phase 1.YoR4GN
pqPOne party member would immediately be stunlocked unless their Magic Resistance was above a certain level all the way till the end of a fight.p1e
ODHAnd in Phase 2, the demonic spirit possesses one of the party members. It would possess a party member that is not stunlocked and in turn remove two people from the fight in an instant. It was well-known for being ridiculously difficult.8Omq
d6PIn the first place, it wasn’t made to be cleared. The true quest begins after being neutralized once, and it is an episode that truly shows how absurdly powerful ‘Unique Grades’ are.C7Z
R26IwHowever, I was not getting attacked by anything even though I was in the same place as a demonic spirit.Fvv
nZEThe spirit was probably in a fluster, not knowing why its attacks weren’t going through.oLe5
hT2ad“Sebancia Duke.”4r4
8cYy——!BhuNtzl
hVInrI couldn’t hear the response, but I could imagine it flinching after hearing my words, wondering how I knew his name.D4pDbay
iUABut this was only the beginning.5oLj
Uz3znE“800 years ago, you were the grand general lording over the southern continent – the Hero of the old kingdom. Even though you are a historical and renowned figure… there is a back story that most are not aware of.”ef5B5v
pQjPI recited the personal history of the demonic spirit which I got to know from the quest.4MSmkjP
Z3KPZWould he be angry? I honestly wasn’t sure. In the game, the dialogue wasn’t that long and I was the one possessed in the previous iteration.UJWgVf
7NYpJWBecause of that, I didn’t know about the details and all I knew was what I heard from Park Sihu and the other party members while advancing through the quest line.TDu
YzFDob“Your story is still quite famous in the south. There is even a book called the Truth of Castle Zapre.”6QlM
pPR1…………s0xMspk
tWUk“You were an ‘awakened’ vampire.”56z
1YRQ6cIn this world, there were things called ‘demonic molecules’, which caused a normal person to morph into a demi-human. They would change the elements of the body.RFp2J
AHIBhTurning into a beast on a full moon, growing horns, or being attracted to blood.btxXOnn
YpeC7Even though they could somewhat control themselves, their violent instincts, brutality and their inhuman appearances had made them longtime victims of ostracization as ‘humans that weren’t fully humans’.zgmvP
TO6AKPE“You awakened as a vampire. Then, you felt the unstoppable urge to suck blood and your servant became your first victim. You knew it yourself that no-one would be able to stop you if you left your castle.”hbq
3M5JAfter the first victim, Sebancia sucked the blood of dogs and pigs to control his urge, sent everyone apart from his wife and his daughter out of the castle and locked himself in his room to avoid any temptation.bHJvb
1bw0“You tried everything but couldn’t find a way to control your urge to suck blood. In the end, your frightened wife and your daughter also became potential prey.”SLrj4
TpAUHe was frightened of himself turning more and more impulsive. He was scared he might devour his own family.U0Hb5iq
H8ZFFk“You made your family run away and closed Castle Zapre, and sealed yourself with your magic into that book over there.”0ygr12W
P6o5That was the identity of the grimoires of this secret room. To be exact, it was just the one that I was aiming for.zokXFU
oCb…………YQ7
eS2It was about time for him to take the bait. Even though I couldn’t perceive his presence, I could still feel him carefully listening to my words.Sju
MZqMeo9Even though the Unique Grade demonic spirit of this place always attacked first, his nature in the system was still that of ‘Good’, and he spared our lives even in the previous iteration when we lost in a fight against him.c0bRN
G5b8SVThe original start of this quest was by getting neutralized and listening to his story.nvAN
Etf0“Ruina Duke, Cecilia Duke.”8no
JNe9qkm…!!y1O9
pnRf4j‘How do you know those names?’ was probably the question he was dying to ask, and it was most likely as surprising as hearing his own name.tXpIRT
l8SxX7“How about we have a little chat now? I can’t see astral bodies, you see.”4GNRX0
OikgAfter saying that, I walked up to the unconscious Lark and gave him a slap. Just enough to wake him up.jwvT7K
ujYBR“Uuugghhh…?!!”gqeU
JWHHis sleepy eyes suddenly widened into circles and he changed in just a few seconds.GOcc
EWCym“Brat…”o32P
KUmrXn“Sebancia Duke.”GlB
zOzolThe one inside Lark was Sebancia Duke – the Unique Grade demonic spirit sealed inside the grimoire.jvzXL
BtTV“How…”7r2P
aG4bMKN“That’s not the important part. You’re curious, aren’t you? About what happened to the two of them.”0rg5bn
VX3His wife, Ruina Duke, and daughter, Cecilia Duke.ERzkqg
0d9nThe side quest that was supposed to be given by the Unique Grade demonic spirit of the library was to gather information about the two people. Thanks to that, I had to go to the south for a business trip which was quite the hard work.BNdOJJ
rIWY“Can you tell me…”Rmw56BX
bGjTWgI couldn’t tell him fabricated stories because this vampire of the ancient times had the power to detect lies. No matter how skilled a player was at conversational skills, it was impossible to deceive the demonic spirit, Sebancia Duke.0Nl
tX3akZ“Ruina Duke escaped with Cecilia Duke, but the world was too harsh for the sheltered noble lady.”pZZ2
UNIHrX1This was something we discovered ourselves in the south from the diary left behind by his daughter, Cecilia Duke.YJV
K8ht“Ruina Duke was scammed. She worked desperately to pay the debt for the sake of her daughter, but she couldn’t live for long and died from overwork.”GqMLE
KMmWa4Sebancia’s expression conveyed through Lark’s face crumpled in grief. Although he had given a large sum of jewelry to his wife and his daughter, they didn’t have enough power to protect their belongings.lTq
4u1F“What happened… to my daughter, Cecil.”C4Zkk
C4cVr“Fortunately, it’s a happy ending for her. Her childhood was arduous but later she managed to become a mage and the greatest adventurer of the time.”WGpCne
BCcEVB“Can I… take your word for it?”XIVgwE
4k4U7“I read her diary. Besides, you can tell whether I’m lying or not can’t you?”GWXZPfC
Fv1“…Who in the world are you? How do you know me and my abilities?”5bSBnT
wigimrt“I just… have a bit more experience than others.”wuH
KNQRnrkI couldn’t tell him that it was from a game plot, so I glossed over it.wJunGGi
LvKy6RG“What do you want? Do you want that book?”l2vV3tM
6h8Sebancia asked while pointing at the red grimoire out of the two books, which was sealing his soul.VmVfn
Zrc“I’ll definitely be taking those… but I want your residues.”wU7x
95cP“My residues?”P5M
zLeYcX“There are some dangerous fights ahead of me so I need your Soul Dust to create a spear for myself. So it’d be great if you can go to heaven just like this.”Znz7gvC
dHfZ4KSoul Dust was the powder left behind with the disappearance of a demonic spirit. This ‘dust’ was a good ingredient for making weapons and gears, and the drops from strong demonic spirits were naturally more valuable.oKe
CZebBE4The highest level of Soul Dust was a must when creating an item that was beyond the Legendary level.8h3g2
8S6GiS4“…So you also knew about my grievance, huh.”KUogj0
2B5aOThe final goal of this quest was to satisfy the powerful vampire, Sebancia Duke, and let him disappear in peace. However, there was one more condition that had to be fulfilled aside from relieving his grievance.JQuIYg
J4byT5O“But you are way too weak. Your body, aura and mana – there is nothing good about you. Someone as weak as you won’t be able to handle this power.”ItbAfHx
gWhnK“Ouhh damn…”45k
l5LuRD6Please stop hurling facts at me; it hurts.Kn2
tdC5sPxWas this happening because of the level requirements of the quest? This was something I didn’t know about because Park Sihu was the one accepting the quest last time.V0j2
2cBQfR“I will become stronger.”nAk3gzA
rdzzw“Anyone can make claims with their tongues.”WYEUpR
wAHrAs people say, a picture paints a thousand words. I took off my shirt and revealed the Precept engraved on my body.eQj
aGerJPW“You can read this, right? Pretty sure it used to be a common language 800 years ago.”oHj
lEOavdGRune was a type of magic that fell behind in efficiency over time in the rapidly advancing world of magic. But things weren’t as systematic 800 years ago, so it should have been quite common back in the days.hOSLmvi
ZHW4Sebancia read the rune letters carved on my body before staring into my eyes with a serious look on his face.u7yT
RDe“……A Precept. The power that was widely used by the great warriors of the Shadow Paradise, huh. To think you would engrave such ridiculous sentences into your body… You. Seriously, what in the world are you?”Nzz4
Esgh“Can you trust me now?”lGL8
U9QOPE“What an unsuitably enormous ambition for an ordinary man. Is the world going to be in danger soon?”TzESvU
pn5sj“Definitely.”PoJ
31E3“That means you will definitely become stronger then. This is that type of contract – one that lets you receive support from the world itself as long as it is related to the destiny of this world… Can you handle it?”yCy
677HXY“Everyone will die if I can’t. There is no other choice but to go all-in.”zuZTfs1
rz5CnTSebancia appeared content with my response and smiled before pointing at the grimoire.uDxo7I
qb8xYCB“Read it. That will be a small help to your ambition.”vWT
JwSvzI unhesitatingly walked forward and read the grimoire sealing Sebancia. After touching the untitled cover made of luxurious leather, I turned the page.SbT2SbF
Gyb8This wasn’t my first time reading a grimoire, because Park Sihu used to give me a few books after completing quests.IfZ3
ABcPlThe elegant letters which were most likely written by Sebancia quickly pulled my mind into it.hfinU
lI9avmAThe abilities of this world commonly classified into the categories of specialty and magic are further divided into innate and postnatal.rfJy
WdVzbThe readability of the book was quite good. Some grimoires were hard to read because of their terrible handwriting and legibility, but it seemed that Sebancia had been a good writer back in his days.SWDeWx
cYS9UI saw a warrior taking his last breath. He was barely standing in the midst of a bloody battlefield thanks to his intestines tied around a rockJkvNi
06frTmAI asked him, “O warrior, shall I end it for you.”gfLZF2
P5MHe replied, “It would be much appreciated if you give me water to satiate my throat.”2lsY
CN8JRespecting the tenacious warrior, I went to the nearby lake and scooped up water with my two hands to relieve his thirst. That was when something miraculous began to happen.QUai7B
Vh5leF……………………dZUlu6
702THOWhy the heck was this so gory? What? Standing with his intestines tied on a rock? He’s even more upright than a right angle triangle.8q7J
c61……………………As such, I have written down an imitation of his secret move.ejEQ
jhwYKA change occurred to my body after reading the entire book. I could feel my organs shifting and it felt very odd.nvSlD
VdEC“Done.”uFCP
ManMCThe specialty earned by reading this grimoire was the ❰Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior❱.jyWSre
uvnsAMO“Like how that warrior did not lose his fighting spirit, as long as you maintain your honorable spirit… your body will regenerate in the end.”7HCy
VOjJMn2“Don’t give an ambiguous explanation, and please make it clear. Do you mean I won’t regenerate if I faint?”mrsa
8zBND“…As long as your vitality is there, the regeneration will be maintained. Your vitality will also be greater than others.”6rqmN
x6q3NTl“Ohh.”EcclO
MS6It was Park Sihu who acquired ❰Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior❱ in the last iteration but he had never suffered from a severe injury, so this was my first time learning about its effect first-hand.AqAs
EfwI got the permission of Sebancia so I should be able to make use of this ability quite well.krr
52qCsQ4“Huu~. Thanks for that.”SKS
RDUNJ“Hmm… Are you not going to read that? I didn’t write it myself but I’m sure there won’t be any downside to reading it.”yMMsace
3OJb9WtSebancia said while pointing at the other grimoire. That grimoire would have the enchantment of a spirit-type skill called something like ❰Soul Warriors❱. It was what Park Sihu used quite often to create tankers.mM332kL
nE77“I have no talent in magic.”oPw1Y
GLLPlus, it was a spirit-type skill so I wouldn’t even be able to sense my own minions. I had already given up on the path of magic in this life. I was not good at magic formulae calculations, and also had no talent in understanding magic.6I3CM
YXSPabBIt was a different story for things like rune magic where letters themselves acted like spells, but I couldn’t use normal magic in the slightest.TfS2
nuMOBack when I asked Park Sihu about it, he said you had to be good at Mathematics to use magic.GNH
10WbRjMThe last time I studied for Maths was when I was a high school freshman, and people called me the CD case, because out of A, B, C and D, there were only Cs and Ds in my report.F2w
QBy“Hmm… I’m sure grimoires are still expensive though. Selling it should be quite helpful.”SKN
lY6zU“That’s for my friend who you are possessing right now. I promised to give it to him.”BNp8QlS
PdIo“Is it because of the Contract of Pledge cast on this brat?”db2D1
HbR5dt“Yes.”XFNFz3N
McyocAs expected of someone who used to be called a hero in the past, he noticed the contracting spell binding Lark and me.A2Sn3
TSUAewt“Right. Sir Sebancia. There is something to ask you.”rgK
rbVB“What is it?”9SIDCz
XOmW9V“A vampire’s urge to suck blood – is that thing controllable? For example, sticking to the blood of animals and stuff…”pLiNf
AKF“No. It is impossible. That impulse… Although I do not even want to think back to it, I felt like I would become a different person. It truly was eccentric.”4Hh
Hp7E“…I see.”vy1
buoLni“A vampire sucking blood is not simply to satiate their hunger through blood. That in itself is related to magic, because the powers of blood and the familiar of blood are both awakened by sucking in the fresh blood of a human.”pjXr
NghfPfSebancia paused and pondered to himself before raising a possibility.IbH
Unz5“If there is someone who can pull it off, then that person must be one with extraordinary talents.”zeDem
TQNqCaW“I see. And a few more things…”B1NsR
31wGFDIAfter asking a few more questions to Sebancia Duke, we finished our questioning session. I thought it was done but that was when Sebancia also threw me a question.XwxE
oREh9Z“…Is my castle still there in the south?”6Rf
YjTS2YQ“Hnn? It is.”PSwpn
dq10D4“If you happen to go there, have a look at my office. It might still be there.”gEP4
wVY“Huh? Is there something there?”dLisvtl
Jg4BqiaWe didn’t find anything in the previous iteration though?BozXGL
Ugu3In5“That is for you to see, Rune Mage. I wish you harbor the same caliber of courage as that warrior.”aOrMEE7
DO3Y“I don’t want to support my body with intestines though…”mvVb
oz80“There will be nothing you can’t do with that level of courage. Well… it looks like you already have it though.”Ze0
m9rmYxw“That’s an overstatement.”1o91
dQvyn“It is a rightful evaluation. As an ordinary man who is neither the hero nor the sage, pledging to save the world is not easy.”an6pn
pSEZ“……There was no other choice.”Gm4
VwehQThe world was going to be destroyed without me, so what else could I do?iVLTYMl
lnf“No. There was always the option of running away but you did not choose to escape. You have my respect.”bHNGXK
whyXPF“…”gM0SGC
wA5hMyb“And lastly, thank you for telling me news about my wife and my daughter.”FBgfW
fitWith that, Lark’s body began to collapse to the ground. He was falling face-first and looked like his nose would be crushed at this rate so I supported his body, as golden powders piled up neatly on the floor of the secret room.ZvaGr
OenLIt was an Epic Rank Soul Dust, which one might even mistake for gold dust.wQTpm7
5avfAfter laying Lark down on the ground, I collected the dust and placed it into a cloth purse. It might seem difficult to gather because it was powder, but Soul Dust of the same attribute gravitated to each other so all I had to do was pick up a few and have the rest follow in one piece.NLyf
4XTL0WAn exceptional ingredient which could only be gained at around Level 50 was already in my hands.Tvi8sv1
kXhIkd“Uuhhh…”b8zwX8b
2mszw“Did you wake up?”qLkihI
agYQ9“My head… hurts”Llit
dMl6“You were possessed by a demonic spirit until just then.”MK0ZB
ePQ“Why does my jaw hurt as well though?”svzJKQb
NsYb“Who knows.”TKnLs
ImpCXKI quickly handed the grimoire over to Lark, who was touching his swollen jaw.u0Nra
JRg7epI“I, is this the grimoire?”tisaXj
Iu8p“Yeah. Hurry up and read it. We have to leave soon.”1pRooJ
PsGMhILark received the grimoire with shivering hands.54nOX
QOG6“Can I… really read it?”wZdt9U
y70K“What do you mean? That was the contract.”CNabo
00Ow“T, that’s true but…”GURiF
fKwWasn’t the contract too favorable for me in the first place…? That appeared to be the question in his mind.rRf4Ys
PWOAESD“It’s okay for things to be sometimes given to those who don’t try.”gizUVL
UCzHJ“…”0mW
hRZ7RSAfter a while, we walked out of the secret room. Lark seemed touched by the fact that he had obtained a medium-ranked spell despite not doing much himself.0SM
tY5“T, thank you! I won’t forget what happened today! Thank you so much! Seriously!”imusw
0Bufu“Alright.”n6w
MoxKiTdIt wasn’t my fault that he had a miserable end in the previous iteration…Yet I still felt a strange sense of guilt dissolving away.8K2A
FtWI fed him the first spoon, and after that it was up to him. I could only hope that the boy wouldn’t fall into despair and that he wouldn’t hate himself in this life.B7Na
4BOH– Buzz! Buzzz!FN0m1d
5bWT“Mhmm…!”9KDWX
vEepIt was then. The sentences of Precept engraved on my body turned blazing hot. Ugh… It felt as if I was being scorched with fire.lQwK
ZoBnyP8“That’s a success.”rTyw0V
ZVT7gIgIt seemed that the Duty of the Precept, the one that I wouldn’t disregard the misfortune of the good, had been successfully fulfilled. I looked at the system message which I hadn’t seen for a while.y6HkUu
tcDDqW『Duty Fulfilled – Sebancia Duke』
※ Difficulty: BxWn
6CBYrRP※ Reward: Even distribution of 80 pointstTH
PliBDuSomething did pop up, but what was ‘Even distribution of 80 points’ supposed to even mean? Can’t you be a bit more nice?Ntw8ij
CguY“…Status Window.”YBUx9sH
TE7『Access denied due to insufficient qualification.』j2PCfRj
e9ZXXGeez, for fuck’s sake!bY4oTI
41xw“Huu…”3ExZG
3Feuw0Although I wasn’t sure because of my practically useless system window, those points were probably talking about the status points of a character.tu1eeTN
2iBG0HzA player’s status in ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱ were divided into Strength, Agility, Aura, Mana and Dexterity.MUS6h
wdxdt5QThe common rule of thumb was to go 3, 1, 1 depending on the skill tree you were after.cJMWEPL
25ly‘Can I not even pick the stats I want…?’ti9X
DBVwodwIt was a shame because using all the 5 stat points given per level up into the necessary stats were the most efficient way to grow a character… Hold up. 5 points?FP2v3
Q2Wy2I“Wait, I got 80 points?”bx0Gga
N4TLN80 stat points was something you could only get through 16 level ups in the game. I didn’t get any level up announcement, so that meant the reward of the quest itself was 80 stats.pJYAhN
XUkeP2AEven though Sebancia Duke’s quest had a difficulty rank of B, it wasn’t a quest that gave an enormous amount of experience points that equaled 16 level ups.bBwcPJ
nXJ29– Gulp!YNS
RIvtiAlthough there was the penalty of everything being an equal distribution… Maybe there was no cap for my stats then?mCr0
0BUcWWas this a synergy created from the system and the effects of the Precept?sFVFW9S
Nij9aPAs a reward for doing something good, I got an Epic Rank Soul Dust, a specialty, and… a tremendous increase in stats.ePwzw
6dZMc“Huhu… Jackpo… Huuk?!”R9fAG7
vNHZdW, what was I trying to say just then? I almost copied the habit of that disgusting dude!EiL6B0
1xbUnC‘How horrendous.’hgEeR
tZg8jI’m different from that psychopath. It felt terrible so I decided to avoid copying his habit at all cost.5QFSk
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