Chapter 12
『Translator: RainTL』
༺ Grimoire of the Great Library (2) ༻
Like 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.
‘Energy Drain, Soul Crusher and Overflowing Honey of Nightmare… was it?’
Those were the skills which would be poured out by the Unique Grade demonic spirit sealed in the secret room in Phase 1.
One party member would immediately be stunlocked unless their Magic Resistance was above a certain level all the way till the end of a fight.
And 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.
In 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.
However, I was not getting attacked by anything even though I was in the same place as a demonic spirit.
The spirit was probably in a fluster, not knowing why its attacks weren’t going through.
“Sebancia Duke.”
——!
I couldn’t hear the response, but I could imagine it flinching after hearing my words, wondering how I knew his name.
But this was only the beginning.
“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.”
I recited the personal history of the demonic spirit which I got to know from the quest.
Would 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.
Because 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.
“Your story is still quite famous in the south. There is even a book called the Truth of Castle Zapre.”
…………
“You were an ‘awakened’ vampire.”
In 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.
Turning into a beast on a full moon, growing horns, or being attracted to blood.
Even 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’.
“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.”
After 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.
“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.”
He was frightened of himself turning more and more impulsive. He was scared he might devour his own family.
“You made your family run away and closed Castle Zapre, and sealed yourself with your magic into that book over there.”
That was the identity of the grimoires of this secret room. To be exact, it was just the one that I was aiming for.
…………
It 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.
Even 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.
The original start of this quest was by getting neutralized and listening to his story.
“Ruina Duke, Cecilia Duke.”
…!!
‘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.
“How about we have a little chat now? I can’t see astral bodies, you see.”
After saying that, I walked up to the unconscious Lark and gave him a slap. Just enough to wake him up.
“Uuugghhh…?!!”
His sleepy eyes suddenly widened into circles and he changed in just a few seconds.
“Brat…”
“Sebancia Duke.”
The one inside Lark was Sebancia Duke - the Unique Grade demonic spirit sealed inside the grimoire.
“How…”
“That’s not the important part. You’re curious, aren’t you? About what happened to the two of them.”
His wife, Ruina Duke, and daughter, Cecilia Duke.
The 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.
“Can you tell me…”
I 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.
“Ruina Duke escaped with Cecilia Duke, but the world was too harsh for the sheltered noble lady.”
This was something we discovered ourselves in the south from the diary left behind by his daughter, Cecilia Duke.
“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.”
Sebancia’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.
“What happened… to my daughter, Cecil.”
“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.”
“Can I… take your word for it?”
“I read her diary. Besides, you can tell whether I’m lying or not can’t you?”
“...Who in the world are you? How do you know me and my abilities?”
“I just… have a bit more experience than others.”
I couldn’t tell him that it was from a game plot, so I glossed over it.
“What do you want? Do you want that book?”
Sebancia asked while pointing at the red grimoire out of the two books, which was sealing his soul.
“I’ll definitely be taking those… but I want your residues.”
“My residues?”
“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.”
Soul 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.
The highest level of Soul Dust was a must when creating an item that was beyond the Legendary level.
“...So you also knew about my grievance, huh.”
The 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.
“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.”
“Ouhh damn…”
Please stop hurling facts at me; it hurts.
Was 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.
“I will become stronger.”
“Anyone can make claims with their tongues.”
As people say, a picture paints a thousand words. I took off my shirt and revealed the Precept engraved on my body.
“You can read this, right? Pretty sure it used to be a common language 800 years ago.”
Rune 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.
Sebancia read the rune letters carved on my body before staring into my eyes with a serious look on his face.
“......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?”
“Can you trust me now?”
“What an unsuitably enormous ambition for an ordinary man. Is the world going to be in danger soon?”
“Definitely.”
“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?”
“Everyone will die if I can’t. There is no other choice but to go all-in.”
Sebancia appeared content with my response and smiled before pointing at the grimoire.
“Read it. That will be a small help to your ambition.”
I unhesitatingly walked forward and read the grimoire sealing Sebancia. After touching the untitled cover made of luxurious leather, I turned the page.
This wasn’t my first time reading a grimoire, because Park Sihu used to give me a few books after completing quests.
The elegant letters which were most likely written by Sebancia quickly pulled my mind into it.
The abilities of this world commonly classified into the categories of specialty and magic are further divided into innate and postnatal.
The 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.
I 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 rock
I asked him, “O warrior, shall I end it for you.”
He replied, “It would be much appreciated if you give me water to satiate my throat.”
Respecting 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.
……………………
Why 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.
……………………As such, I have written down an imitation of his secret move.
A change occurred to my body after reading the entire book. I could feel my organs shifting and it felt very odd.
“Done.”
The specialty earned by reading this grimoire was the ❰Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior❱.
“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.”
“Don’t give an ambiguous explanation, and please make it clear. Do you mean I won’t regenerate if I faint?”
“...As long as your vitality is there, the regeneration will be maintained. Your vitality will also be greater than others.”
“Ohh.”
It 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.
I got the permission of Sebancia so I should be able to make use of this ability quite well.
“Huu~. Thanks for that.”
“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.”
Sebancia 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.
“I have no talent in magic.”
Plus, 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.
It 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.
Back when I asked Park Sihu about it, he said you had to be good at Mathematics to use magic.
The 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.
“Hmm… I’m sure grimoires are still expensive though. Selling it should be quite helpful.”
“That’s for my friend who you are possessing right now. I promised to give it to him.”
“Is it because of the Contract of Pledge cast on this brat?”
“Yes.”
As expected of someone who used to be called a hero in the past, he noticed the contracting spell binding Lark and me.
“Right. Sir Sebancia. There is something to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“A vampire’s urge to suck blood - is that thing controllable? For example, sticking to the blood of animals and stuff…”
“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.”
“...I see.”
“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.”
Sebancia paused and pondered to himself before raising a possibility.
“If there is someone who can pull it off, then that person must be one with extraordinary talents.”
“I see. And a few more things…”
After 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.
“...Is my castle still there in the south?”
“Hnn? It is.”
“If you happen to go there, have a look at my office. It might still be there.”
“Huh? Is there something there?”
We didn’t find anything in the previous iteration though?
“That is for you to see, Rune Mage. I wish you harbor the same caliber of courage as that warrior.”
“I don’t want to support my body with intestines though…”
“There will be nothing you can’t do with that level of courage. Well… it looks like you already have it though.”
“That’s an overstatement.”
“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.”
“......There was no other choice.”
The world was going to be destroyed without me, so what else could I do?
“No. There was always the option of running away but you did not choose to escape. You have my respect.”
“...”
“And lastly, thank you for telling me news about my wife and my daughter.”
With 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.
It was an Epic Rank Soul Dust, which one might even mistake for gold dust.
After 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.
An exceptional ingredient which could only be gained at around Level 50 was already in my hands.
“Uuhhh…”
“Did you wake up?”
“My head… hurts”
“You were possessed by a demonic spirit until just then.”
“Why does my jaw hurt as well though?”
“Who knows.”
I quickly handed the grimoire over to Lark, who was touching his swollen jaw.
“I, is this the grimoire?”
“Yeah. Hurry up and read it. We have to leave soon.”
Lark received the grimoire with shivering hands.
“Can I… really read it?”
“What do you mean? That was the contract.”
“T, that’s true but…”
Wasn’t the contract too favorable for me in the first place…? That appeared to be the question in his mind.
“It’s okay for things to be sometimes given to those who don’t try.”
“...”
After 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.
“T, thank you! I won’t forget what happened today! Thank you so much! Seriously!”
“Alright.”
It 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.
I 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.
- Buzz! Buzzz!
“Mhmm…!”
It was then. The sentences of Precept engraved on my body turned blazing hot. Ugh… It felt as if I was being scorched with fire.
“That’s a success.”
It 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.
『Duty Fulfilled - Sebancia Duke』
※ Difficulty: B
※ Reward: Even distribution of 80 points
Something did pop up, but what was ‘Even distribution of 80 points’ supposed to even mean? Can’t you be a bit more nice?
“...Status Window.”
『Access denied due to insufficient qualification.』
Geez, for fuck’s sake!
“Huu…”
Although I wasn’t sure because of my practically useless system window, those points were probably talking about the status points of a character.
A player’s status in ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱ were divided into Strength, Agility, Aura, Mana and Dexterity.
The common rule of thumb was to go 3, 1, 1 depending on the skill tree you were after.
‘Can I not even pick the stats I want…?’
It 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?
“Wait, I got 80 points?”
80 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.
Even 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.
- Gulp!
Although there was the penalty of everything being an equal distribution… Maybe there was no cap for my stats then?
Was this a synergy created from the system and the effects of the Precept?
As a reward for doing something good, I got an Epic Rank Soul Dust, a specialty, and… a tremendous increase in stats.
“Huhu… Jackpo… Huuk?!”
W, what was I trying to say just then? I almost copied the habit of that disgusting dude!
‘How horrendous.’
I’m different from that psychopath. It felt terrible so I decided to avoid copying his habit at all cost.