awaken in a cozy reading chair, wrapped in blankets, with cold tea out on a stand. I seem to be half way through reading Sage Helith’s Hell Economy. With a yawn I get up, put the book on my shelf, and stretch for a bit. You know I could just stay here in my comphy cellar. Really, why did I think so hard about leaving this place? Well, I know why… but I need to make sure eventually. It may be best to prepare for the worst you know. I decided to look through my collection of Sage Helith books. Most are wrapped in covers to keep them away from prying eyes. Also to protect them, they are hardy, rune infused things, but you do need to take care of the things you own. I look for the books I have, hell economy seems quite useful, and if i ever need to... hell economy... I will keep it around. I seem to have 3 other books than hell economy, a thin one simply named, eh, Carpentry? Another one is named “guide to spirituality and the divine economy”. I don’t really know what the difference between the hell economy and the divine economy is but it’s probably another weird convoluted energy based system. I mean in hell economy emotions are an important “resource” for “hell demons”. How does someone actually harvest such things? Do they Torture them? Give them some sort of fulfillment in life? Actually the book somewhat says what they do now that i think about it. They make some weird industry categorized around sins, although it does not make much sense. Like Greed for example, how do you make an industry around greedy people? Producing greedy people and harvesting their greed, I think, was the only way, but for Lust... I think it was… Brothels? really i don’t necessarily understand that book all that well. Harvesting emotions… Like I'm quite stressed right now, how does that turn into a tangible resource? Why exactly do they classify the system under sins in particular, and how exactly does that make everything more efficient? I should keep this “divine economy” book on the backburner, as I barely understand hell. Why should I understand heaven? I should honestly start being more productive.

The last book? Yes, another thin one, “Advanced Warfare '', reading that title sent a chill down my spine. Sage Helith is one of the most intelligent people in history. What exactly does she think is an “Advanced'' version of warfare? Its not good practice, but fuck it, my lifes almost over anyways.

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Introduction to Advanced Warfare

This book is a dedicated guide to the pinnacle of warfare, it has no other copies. The book you have in your hand is the only one ever conceived. Reality has its limits and one can subvert those limits and ignore those limits to strategically gain an advantage. What is the limit to technology? What is the limit to magic? It's a very disappointing realization but I take great joy in telling you that these systems aren’t forever. These systems are flawed and one cannot subvert them, for good reason. Although that's the information at the highest level in this novel, you're probably some pathetic lowly creature that can’t destroy something at the flick of their wrist. Limits are Limits but one must understand the ground in order to understand the sky. So I've included all the information needed to understand this information. Although I have included a catch, you need to complete a bunch of random tasks for my amusement. By opening this novel you are now hereby immortal, you will not die, and this book can’t be destroyed, you are now my servant, and that means you will gain great power. Although if you ever come up to me and proclaim yourself my servant i will kill you. Now, what type of immortality? You will simply never age, you will die of disease, you will die of poisons, you will die of hunger, you will be killed. Why should I give a weapons manual to someone who can’t die? think about it! You can’t feel the thrill of battle! You can’t feel the adrenaline of killing something on the brink of death! You can’t even have the experience of your arm being ripped off from sheer recoil and raw power! It would be a crime to take those types of things away from you, and yes, some of these things are in the task list. Now onto the task list.

[page 1, Advanced Warfare, Sage Helith]

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Honestly I don't feel anything, so this “immortality” or “curse'' is probably nothing special. And even if it is pressing, I would not know for a long while. I'm about 35 years old, I still have quite a bit to go, or at least i think i still have quite a bit to go.

This book is really really dangerous, I'm probably not going to touch it for quite a while. I think back on how I got this book, mostly because I think I got it for cheap. Such a thing should not necessarily be in my hands. Books like this would make a killing if sold to a country, or really somebody who can utilize strategic weapons. No matter how condescending, destroying something at the “flick of your wrist” is not a convenient thing to have. In fact this book is a perfect example for why these books are so heavily persecuted. This book I have laying on my shelf for who knows how long. Is a book capable of telling you how to make strategic weapons! I really started to look at the book, the book is thin, being thin usually means if it has little to no information. In the trade of bookselling Thin books are usually sold for cheap. As usually they just have a simple spell, or recipe, or really just something random sage helith decided to put into it. Of course this is a lucky situation as if the introduction is true. This means that it's a compendium, or magic book. Making this book, who knows how large, as compendiums can hold an almost infinite amount of pages within. It’s common practice to not look at introductions, the only thing that would be looked at when selling or buying a book would be its title and size. Mostly because a lot of these books have weird curses, and spells grafted into them. Just by reading the introduction you may be binded like I am apparently binded to this book. And binding means that the book can’t leave you, so you can’t ever sell it. It also means that whenever you actually open a book it's a gamble, a fun one, but still a gamble. So I'm guessing people saw the lofty title of this book and thought it was a trick by Helith. Helith is definitely not the nicest person, and a lot of her books potentially kill people. I would have never cracked open these books if I was not in a situation where the future is grim. Honestly this almost reminds me of buyers I see in the black market for these books. They were ravenous, almost addicted to them, you could con 'em out of a lot of gold, but it bothered me somewhat. I was never necessarily sure why they are so interested in these cursed things, but it's somewhat understandable now that I have cracked open a few. Knowledge is quite valuable after all.

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I put Advanced Warfare into my general pouch to keep for later. I look at the other Helith books left, I put Hell and Divine economy into my general pouch. I Don’t Want To Care About Whatever The Divine Economy Is. I do look at carpentry. It's a thin book similarly to Advanced Warfare so it's probably just some chair or something. I decided to look just to check.

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Introduction to Carpentry

This book is a dedicated guide to the pinnacle of Carpentry, it has no other copies. The book you have in your hand is the only one ever conceived. Reality has its limits and one can subvert those limits and ignore those limits to strategically gain an advantage. What is the limit to technology? What is the limit to magic? It's a very disappointing realization but I take great joy in telling you that these systems aren’t forever. These systems are flawed, but one cannot subvert them, for good reason. Although that's the information at the highest level in this novel, you're probably some pathetic lowly creature that can’t make something absolutely sublime. Limits are Limits, but one must understand the ground in order to understand the sky. So I've included all the information needed to understand this information. Although I have included a catch, you need to complete a bunch of random tasks for my amusement. By opening this novel you are now hereby Binded, this book will never leave you until your life falls before its pages. Its pages will reset on death meaing progress will be defaulted. You may have a few questions, for one why exactly is there only one of these books. Carpentry is a common profession, a common way of doing things, why not give the knowledge of such mastery to everyone? If everyone was good at carpentry: Buildings would always be stable, every carving sublime, every bow mastercraft, everything within perfection. It's a problem with making carvings sublime, it's a problem with beauty. Beauty is not a universal concept. It has no bearing other than the bare basics of reality. To make everything sublime eliminates the concept of Beauty, and that's not necessarily something I want. Value is contextual, The concept of Value itself can easily be lost or even thrown out. Concepts can be easily lost, but they must be maintained in order to keep your anchor to reality. And even then, you probably don’t necessarily understand the true power of absolute mastery. That information must be earned through the task list. So, Onto the task list.

[page 1,Carpentry, Sage Helith]

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Another task... book... thing… Really I don't want to bother with this right now. I throw it into my general pouch.

I look around for more things to bring with me, i look at my blankets, i have many as its the main thing i know how to sew. When it comes to my hobbies I have 3 main ones, Alchemy, Hunting, and Book Collecting. Sewing I only dabbled in, or at least dabbled to the point I could repair my own clothes. I can also make blankets and coats out of pelts, although if you ask me to make anything else I would probably fail. Maybe I could make a shirt, it’s somewhat similar to a coat. Although of course I have never made pants. I learned it because the local tailor did not like me and would give ridiculous rates whenever I needed something repaired. The tailor would give many people free service in the village, but I guess I was a far exception to that. The pile of blankets I owned would probably not fit into my general pouch. So i guess i have to pick favorites, i have a few that are quite nice, they are my hunting trophies. I live in a fairly cold neck of the woods and many monsters and beasts have fluffy fur. That fur can be made into some amazing blankets, although thinking about it I don't remember seeing my blankets on my bed. I guess I was preoccupied with getting my bag, although I will double check. Walking up the stairs and checking my room, I can't help but be surprised that the roof was still blown off. The bed was broken and it seemed they took all of the blankets, the mattress was on the floor although I think that was my own doing. I opened the closet I knocked over earlier, all my clothes were stolen. A look at the floor by the closet, most of my clothes are stolen. Most of the stuff that was left behind are old old clothes. I guess they have a sense of quality. From that I feel that it was incredibly lucky that they left my bag, maybe because it was damaged? Sadly I go back into the cellar. I pick out my favorite blanket on the reading chair, made from a Shadow Wolf pelt. A Monster who blends into darkness, and has the most wonderful sheene on its pelt. I wrap myself into it, sitting there, obstinately just doing nothing.

I sit there for a long while, until I get the motivation to actually do something. I wrap up my blanket and put it into one of my pouches. I definitely need to protect my things, it seems like I don't have the power to defend myself. Or at least, I did not try to defend myself, I just ran and hid. I am the one to blame for things going this way. I knew this would happen one day... The demons would come... Taxes are cheap on the border. It's why my parents settled down here, in this little old town. Border towns have no name, for good reason, they last a generation, maybe two. Before the demons come to invade again. common... repetitive... The demons. Always coming along and killing everything once their new lord or king or whatever comes over. My parents strongly suggested I leave, like Willam did. Ah William, Stupid, Stupid, brother William. Why exactly did he have to leave? Of course I still could stay here! Yes, yes, yes I could stay here! I definitely can stay here. Stupid, Stupid, Ken ingnoring reality once again. You really must have some sort of talent for that or something. At least I'm living for myself, Or maybe I think I am living for myself. I don’t feel too good about it but it is necessary, those people are dead! My parents are dead! their opinions don’t have a “Say” about how “I” should go about things. William is a puppet to how things are supposed to go, the damn idiot! Getting out of my haze I grab only what is needed, a herblore book, a firestarter, a tent, everything I would need to live by myself. No mourning, no second thoughts, just what is needed. I get out of my cellar and look at the sky.

It is midday.

I see a large Murder of Albon Crows.