Returning my gaze upon the Archangel’s silhouette, I decided to try and see how the guy looks if I were to stare at him using my Qi Vision instead. Since just about every high-level dude nowadays was seemingly able to stare right through me and check all of my hidden stats, then why should I not stare back at them in exchange? When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares right back at you, isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?
Coming out from the back of the glowing humanoid-silhouette were a myriad of stretched-out shiny energy tentacles that looked strangely similar to my own Spiritual-Root Branch-Tentacles, albeit in a much larger form and strength. They were equally distributed on both sides of the body, which allowed for them to be easily confused for “wings”, if you were to look from a distance at the “supposedly angelic” figure. The biggest difference that I could spot between my own branch-tentacles and the ones that the Archangel possessed was the sheer density of white Qi that was running through them, which literally caused them to shine with brilliant white light even when perceived with the eyes of a normal person. The guy was a literal floating giant spiritual root of immense power, and the body that he had built around himself was just something superfluous and made on a whim. The body was there to act as a sort of mental-comfort and interface-item for the benefit of us low-level people, so that the Archangel would not look so “alien” into the eyes of his spectators.
Is that what any real God-Like beings truly look when they manifest into the lower worlds? He does indeed not seem to be a person that has been created by the System. He looks more like a “Player” than anything else.
Timmy: That’s because he’s a “hired hand”, if you want to call him that. He's like a contracted Celebrity or Actor that comes to feature inside of a movie or TV show at the request of the Producers. They come in, play a pre-established minor or short role, and then, if the audience likes them, there will be even more cameos performed by the featured Celebrity in the future.
Indeed, now that I looked closer at the face of the Archangel, instead of looking like some Super-Buff Adonis Ideal Man-Figure, he looked strangely similar to an elderly mustachioed comic-writer, dorky glasses included, that I used to appreciate so much back on Earth, an author who had a penchant for cameos everywhere.
Shit Timmy, don't tell me that you guys have your grubby paws dipped even into the MCU as well!?!
"Hey, Mr. Archangel...I don’t mean to pry, but don’t I know you from somewhere else? You look VERY, VERY familiar..." I narrowed my eyes at him.
"UGHH....Maaaaybe? I’m quite popular on the Earths of many alternate Universes. I even own some of those planets myself. They are so much fun to mess around with! Maybe you came from one of those?"
"Then pray do tell, why on Momma System’s devious ass were you stuck within that book? I don’t think that there's anything on this planet that would be able to hold you, if you really wanted to break out."
"Oh Omnilords, don't get me started with that! I've been stuck in there for AGES. Contractual obligation and all that. I’d rather be stuck in a book for a few thousand years than have to deal with any Omniverse Lawyers, those guys are terrifying. They are even worse than any Devils you can imagine. I’ve been getting bored out of my wits while just waiting in here for the Hero of the Flame to show up. I have probably read just about every book and scrap of paper that there is to read inside of this Library, including all of those Manga and Anime things from this Universe's Version of Earth. I even read the labels on the bottles of floor-cleaning liquid-soap that the automatons use! I did not think that this Cameo I signed up for would take so long! I should have read the fine print more thoroughly."
"But, If I had not messed up the entire scripted narrative of the Hero of the Flame, then you would have been stuck in here for even longer! Who knows how many years it would have taken for Jin to reach a level beyond 50 and become actually capable of handling this entire Dungeon all by himself?"
"True enough. That’s why I am so glad that I got out of that musty old Tome so early into the storyline. Now I won't have to wait in boredom for the Hero of the Flame to find me, nor will I have to act like the “kind grandpa imprisoned in a book” to babysit him, since he thrashed the entire book on his own. Still, I guess that I'll have to find some other way to get the poor boy up to speed, since I can't just simply leave all of his Destiny hanging into the air like that. A lot of the Fire Skills that he was supposed to inherit from me and master to defeat his Enemies were written down inside of that shattered book."
"So? What’s the problem? You're an Archangel, why can't you just simply write him another Tome? If the spells inside the ruined Grimoire were supposed to be inherited from you, and they aren’t just some System made-up bogus spells, then it should be quite easy for you to create a replica of the former Tome and give it to Jin so he can study the contents as he grows up."
"Well, yeah, I could probably do that, but I don't think that I have the materials necessary at hand to create the book on me. There is also this Clause of Non-Interference with the player’s Destinies in the Contracts that we signed before coming here. It specifies that we cannot simply create items out of thin air as we please once we find ourselves within the confines of the world, and then give those items to the players, nor can we boost their Stats or Modify their Attributes in any way that is not sanctioned by the Mother System, because it could break the balance of the world."
"But, can you issue any Quest rewards instead? For example, to give Jin the Tome as a reward for releasing you from your imprisonment? I mean, shouldn't a [Grand Deed] as braving the Dungeon as a low level group, defeating the Guardian Boss and rescuing the “poor” shackled Archangel be rewarded properly?" I told Mykhail while rubbing my two fingers together.
"Hmm...that could Indeed work...but I’ll have to run that past the Mother System first. Wait a second."
The Archangel then closed his eyes, and assumed a deep meditative posture. As he was seemingly negotiating with the Mother System about what he could or could not do at this moment, all the other members of my group were giving me a deep stare of amazement as I had been getting all chummy-chummy with the glowing apparition like we had known each other from somewhere else. Of course, they had been failing to understand even half of the things that we were discussing about, Lingfeng included, so I did not expect them to comprehend what was currently happening.
"Ok, I have gained the Mother System’s approval to issue some Quest Rewards. Each one of you gets to pick an Item they desire and fits the Library narrative as a Quest reward and I also get to give you all something personalized from my behalf as well."
"Ok then, just so we can be precise, can that reward Item be made out of smaller components that are assembled together?"
"Um, sure...I guess? Mother System does not seem to have anything against that."
"Alright, then as my quest reward, I want...THE WHOLE LIBRARY! The Library is one singular Item and the books and tokens stored inside of it are merely small components that make up the whole!"
"WHAT! NO! YOU CAN’T DO THAT! THERE ARE TOO MANY DANGEROUS THINGS STORED IN HERE! THE ENTIRE LIBRARY WAS SUPPOSED TO GET BURIED OR BURNED AT THE END OF THE SCRIPTED NARRATIVE!"
"Well, then I'm glad that we are not inside the scripted narrative anymore, right? As an Archangel, you should know very well that knowledge is only as dangerous as its wielder, just like a kitchen knife or a firearm. I would rather know about every horrible thing that can happen in the world, rather than just pretend that they don't exist. You also know Who and What me and Jin are so stop being so hesitant. Is this how an Archangel honors the promises he just made? We just rescued you out of thousands of years of contractual imprisonment! Plus, we are still within the Beta stages, so us kids having access to such an immense Library should still be within the acceptable parameters of the Mother System, even if she won’t like it that we are ruining her pre-programmed scripts."
"Ergh...but...!"
"No buts! Library Please!" I extended my hand.
"UGH...I'm not sure that I can do that... I do not want to be accused of a breach in my contract…Lawyers…"
"...Look, I'm sure that we can negotiate a deal, If you catch my drift..." I cut the Archangel off as I began to wiggle one of the 5X-rated Angel Porn magazines in his direction.
"You! How did you get your hands on such a thing? Those things should have been items that were only available to the System Game Masters or the Special Guests! Those items are not something for mortal eyes to see!"
"I’m a Player. Of course I would have my own ways to access Unauthorised materials like these. It’s not like we’re cut off from the rest of the Omniverse, now are we? "
"HRRR...fine...WHATEVER! But do not blame me if your ass catches on fire if you misuse any of the knowledge stored in here!"
"WONDERFULl! I’m so glad you could see things my way!"
"You are a horrible manipulative little shrew, you know that, don’t you?"
"Haha! I’ll take that as a compliment, Mr. Archangel! Ok, soo...how do I get ownership of the Library?"
"You don’t. Permanently transferring the ownership of the Dungeon Core is way above the privilege-list operations that I currently have access to as a “Guest”. What I CAN do though, is add you and your friends to the “Friendly Users” list of the Dungeon Core, so it does nothing hostile against you anymore and allows you to read anything in here for as long as you want. But messing with any of the Automatons like trying to steal one or attempting to fight against them would get you banned from that list, so refrain from doing so. Also, you cannot take away any of the books stored in here, you can only retain the knowledge written inside with your own capabilities."
"Fair enough. It’s the knowledge I’m after in the first place, not the actual Physical objects."
"Alright...give me a few moments then." Said the Archangel as he summoned a large ornate pedestal right from the middle of the floor of the central Library column, a mounting which held up a huge red-glowing orb that seemed to be alive inside, as magma-like orange streaks continuously swirled inside of it like agitated wiggling worms.
"Is that the Dungeon Core? Looks Awesome!"
"Indeed it is!" Acknowledged Mykhail as he wiggled some of his wing-tentacles across the surface of the orb. "Alright...for you to be able to manifest your spiritual presence within the Library from now on, I will need to first attune the Dungeon Core to acknowledge your Soul-Signature as a “Special Privilege User Account”, so I have to apologise for my next gesture to you all." Said the Archangel as he plunged all of his wing-tentacles right through our bodies.
*Rrrrip* X7
"AAAAUCH! What did you just yank out of us? That felt SEVERELY unpleasant!"
"A little bit of your spiritual essences. Do not worry, it will cause you no real harm, you all just lost a little bit of your Cultivation progress." Said the Archangel as he placed the glowing Soul-Pieces that used to belong to myself and the others onto the surface of the Dungeon Core, causing them to become absorbed within the orb.
Immediately after the Core acknowledged my presence, I immediately saw a weird tattoo-like mark appear on top of my right hand, and then vanish away into nothingness as a ghost-like transparent blue figure came into existence right next to me while looking 100% exactly like myself. The ghostly figure mimicked my every gesture and action, but the feedback sensation that I was getting from it was rather weird, as it indeed felt like I was present in two places at the same time within my soul and mind. It was confusing to say the least.
"Ugh, what exactly is this thing?" I asked the Archangel as I poked my hand right through the blue ghostly projection of myself and felt only a slight electric tingle on my fingers.
"That's an Astral Projection of yourself that's being maintained by the Dungeon Core. As long as the Projection will remain within the confines of the Library, you will be able to pick up and read any of the items on the bookshelves or stored inside the Pillars dedicated for Tokens or Disks. Just think strongly about wanting to come back here whenever you are outside of the Library, and you will be able to activate this local Astral Projection of yourself and move throughout the Library freely. That should be plenty to cover your desired reward, right?"
"Yes, Mr. Archangel."
"Alright. Then HAND IT OVER!"
"Sure..."I fidgeted as I passed him the Angel Porn Mag. The instant he touched it, it vanished into thin air, similar to any Inventory stored items.
"Good. Now onto the next person. As far as you're concerned Mr. Fung, Mother System insists that you have recently raised a few Flags upon yourself, and she desires to “fulfill your wishes”, whatever that means. May I please have that cracked Golem Core that you are carrying?"
"Ugh...sure? Here, take it. *THUNK* Flags? What do you mean? I don't have any flags on me."
"He means that you jinxed yourself, Fungus. I did tell you many times to be careful with what you spout out of your mouth!"
"I did? When?"
The Archangel picked up the orb with a few of his wing-tentacles, and then began to examine it all over.
"I can probably fix the crack in the Core and make something out of the spare parts that are still inside of it. Are you willing to sacrifice all of your current Qi reserves to power the process? And don't worry, you will not lose any of the contents of the orb or access to the storage area."
"Yeah, sure, go ahead...I have no need for my Qi at this moment and can recharge it later anyway."
"Ok, then place your hand on the Dungeon Core and brace yourself. The experience will feel rather draining for a few moments."
Fungus did as he was told and placed his hand on the red orb of the Dungeon Core, allowing it to absorb all of his Qi. As soon as they were in contact, the Dungeon began to extend a myriad of those black system tentacles and proceeded to construct on the floor right in front of us what appeared to be a miniature-version of the previous Librarian Golem Boss from of the leftover spare parts that existed inside of the Storage, albeit with a ridiculously oversized head which was now hosting the previous golem core and displaying a couple of improperly-fitting Golem cameras for eyes, making it look like a Giant Golden Toddler with big googly eyes.
"Yeah, so...the old personality control matrix is totally broken, therefore a new one will have to be created instead. Mr.Fung, may I have a drop of your blood? Once the newly-created Golem will come in contact with it, it will forever become blood-bound to you and follow your every order from thereon. I have made sure that it will be able to upgrade itself once it finds more “compatible parts and materials”. All you will have to do is just “feed” them to it, and the internal processing mechanisms will do the rest. I also have to point out that keeping it powered up does consume a certain amount of spirit stones, but it's a rather cheap expense for what you get in return. It will only need about 1 Grand spirit stone for a whole month’s operation time at this moment, and I am sure you have plenty of those at hand already."
Great, so even with only those Grand spirit stones that we looted from the previous boss, we would be able to keep this new Golem up and running for almost 5000 years.
As soon as Fungus smeared a drop of blood on top of the new Golem baby, it sprang up to life and it gave Fungus a long and curious look before uttering its first words and rushing to hug the big gorilla-boy:
"DADA!"
The sheer panic that followed on Fung’s face, you couldn't have bought it with even two million spirit stones again.
"OOO, Daddy Fung really did get his first baby! PF...WAHAHAHA!"
Fungus was sporting a bitter expression on his face, not knowing what to think about our newly-acquired companion that was now glomping his leg.
"You should know better by now Fungus, the more you try to avoid something, the more it is likely to happen!" I gave Fungus a sadistic grin. "Congratulations on your first-assembled. What are you going to call it?"
"Ugh...I don’t know...you pick."
"UUU? So I get to be the Godmother? Awesome!"
Looking at the thing’s big googly-eye cameras, I immediately picked the first name that came into my mind, and altered it to avoid copyright infringement for cross-omniverse lawsuit safety reasons.
"Ok, then we’ll call him Will-E Fungus Core Jr. the First from now on!"
"FF...fine...Whatever!" Fungus acknowledged while trying to pry the Golem baby off of himself.
"Willy?" Asked the confused little Golem while pointing at itself in a metallic and squeaky child-like voice once he heard his new designation.
"Yes, that's your name from now on, little guy. Don't wear it out!"
"Willy? Willy? Willy! Willy! Willy! Willy!" The little Golem joyfully began to run around the room while calling his own name. Aaaw, ain’t he just the sweetest little thing.
"Cough!...Ahemmm..." The Archangel drew our attention back towards himself.
"Will-E! Come over here to Nana Trina. Let the nice Archangel finish his speech." I redirected the attention of the Newlyassembled towards me as I pulled one of the few leftover Old Librarian Golem shards from his Core-Storage and gave it to the toddler to chew upon.
"To you, young Hero of the Flame, I grant you a copy of my Fire Tome of Celestial Wisdom." Resumed the Archangel. "Well, you were supposed to get a better and more powerful version of this Tome, an actual Grimoire of Power Amplification, but you just wrecked it a few minutes ago when you released me, so I guess that’s all out the window. Still, this Tome will contain the same spells and skills that you would have gotten from the previous item, minus the Grimoire Item Passives. By the way, can I have some of those stacks of paper from your Golem’s core? It would facilitate the creation of the Tome."
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
"Sure...how many do you need?"
"About 2x500 should suffice. Also, I will require a Qi contribution for crafting the item as well. Is that ok with you, young Hero?"
"Sure...do I touch the orb like Fung did?"
"Yes, just place your hand on it. Ok, here we go!"
As soon as Jin also “donated” his Qi, the Dungeon Core grabbed the stacks of paper, then transformed them into a highly-decorated Fire Tome similar in appearance to the previous one, minus the Archangel symbol on the cover.
"Alright...there you go, young Hero. Learn the Mysteries contained within well, because they could decide the outcome of your now-unshackled Fate."
"I WILL ! I PROMISE! I REALIZE HOW FOOLISH I HAVE BEEN SO FAR! I WILL WORK HARD AND BECOME STRONG AND WISE AT THE SAME TIME! I WILL NOT DISAPPOINT YOU, ARCHANGEL SIR!"
"BZZeeh! Turn off your Caps Lock, Child! While I appreciate your spunk, there’s no need to shout like that, you know! I’m not deaf in any way!"
"S...sorry." Jin tucked his head down in shame while hugging his new Fire Tome.
"Ok...Next!" Said the Archangel as he gave the glowing-eye scan to Liliam as well. "Hmm...Girl, you are a weird one indeed. I see you have recently recovered from some injuries that were affecting your ears, but you have not yet adjusted to the new plethora of sensations coming from the world. I could give you a new Zither to replace the one you lost fighting the Librarian Golem, or I could adjust your mental state to a configuration more suited to that of a musician, so you would stop perceiving the world in such a weird way and hear the sounds properly. Which one will it be?"
"Definitely the Adjustment, Mr. Archangel! I want to be able to become a proper Singer instead of a dissonance-maker to scare off enemies!"
"Alright, but I have to warn you that this will hurt a little bit, plus you will feel really confused for a while, at least until you will get re-accustomed to the modified flow of information."
"It's ok! I'll put up with any sort of discomfort as long as I will be able to sing properly afterwards!"
"Ok...Here I go!" Replied to the Archangel as he plunged a series of his wing-tentacles straight into Liliam's head. After fiddling inside of her brain with some of the neuron pathways, the Archangel finally retracted his wings and gave her a thumbs up.
"You should be good to go from now on. I have fixed all of the mismatched keys and wrong sound-feedback-loops that I could find. You should be able to hear and sing like a normal person from now on, or even slightly better. But please, leave the testing of your new singing for later, as I already had enough of children screaming into my ears for one day."
Jin tucked his head down even more after that jab from the Archangel, until he was looking like a veritable turtle retreating into its shell.
"And you, young Bard, I see you have a lingering darkness clouding your heart. You have a terrible suppressed fear inside of you, but it is born out of kindness. You are scared stiff that you will hurt other people by using your Heavenly-Given Lightning Powers, so you have retreated yourself inside the world of music and books to avoid the confrontation with your very own nature. Just as the girl previously said, albeit in different words, Power or Knowledge should not be Feared, but rather Controlled. If anything ever goes wrong, it should be blamed on the Wielder, not on the item that caused the harm. You should get over your fears of hurting others and focus more on controlling the outcomes of your own electrical outbursts by understanding how Lightning works and how it behaves in the first place. You are a Rare Breed even among the ranks of the cultivators, having been Blessed at birth with such high purity Lightning roots. It would be a shame if you did not reach your true potential. Therefore, I grant you another Tome of Knowledge, but of a different kind to that of the Hero of the Flame. This Tome contains no Spells of its own, but rather it describes the methods for you to better understand and focus your already immensely-powerful Lightning. Can I have some more paper by the way?" The Archangel turned to me.
Once the stacks of paper and the Qi-donation had been performed, Xibei received his own “Tome of Knowledge”, and I couldn't help myself but giggle when I saw the cover:
3-in-1 Discount Bonus Edition:
Physics 101
Electricity for Dummies
Tesla’s Legacy
Seeing such a Below-High-School Level Physics textbook being grasped by the boy with such a fanatic fervor, I couldn't help but sigh at the knowledge discrepancy that could be found between my previous world and this one, and it made me feel really bitter, since I knew that the ignorant state of the world could be all blamed on the Mother System’s machinations.
"Alright...next person then. Ms. Carmine, may I see that Pickaxe of yours? I believe there is something strange about it."
"Ugh...sure? But be careful wid ‘im. Gibbsn’s a sensitive fella!"
Immediately, the Archangel extended some of his wing-tentacles and embraced the Pickaxe gently, as he began to modify it in a strange way that none of us could comprehend. After forcing a lot of his own white Qi inside of the metal belonging to the pickaxe and making it glow for a short period of time, the Archangel finished upgrading the Pickaxe, causing it to now look a lot more “celestial” and “dignified” than before, sporting a lot of mysterious runes all across its surface which glowed in waves.
Just as the Archangel was handing back the pickaxe to Carmine, the metal tip of the item began to suddenly vibrate similar to a speaker's membrane, as the damn thing actually began to talk back in a metallic rusty voice.
"Oh! OOOOH! I can talk? I can finally talk! Oi! Oi! Dat you, Lass? Car! Carmine! It's meh, Gibbsn'! Watcha standin' there gapin ya mouth loike dat? Come give yer ol'pal Gibbsn' a hug! Thank yee and th' nine heavens fer yer kindness, Mr. Archangel, Ser." The talkative pickaxe began to deliver his grateful speech towards the Archangel as it was suddenly being smothered by Carmine. "Oi've been wantin' t' comfort the poor lass for so many years now, but I couldn't do anyfin' 'boutit. We’ve been stuck down inta dem tunnels fer such a long toime, oi didn’t think that we would ever get out o’ dere. Ok, Carmine Luv, I said a Hug, not Strangle! Yer' bendin me metal shaft! AAAARGH!" Yelled back the now seemingly-alive snarky little Pickaxe as Carmine was hugging it with all of her strength and bawling her eyes out.
"Ah Gibbsn’! I see ye finally gots an upgrede! I am so glad that ye can finally talk back t’ meh now! Fer a moment dere, oi thought that oi wuz going bonkers and talkin’ ta an inanimate object while being stuck down dere in dem tunnels. But oi wasn't insane now, was oi? Ye were always dere ta help meh through th’ hard times, Gibbsn'! Ooh! Look at all of dese new fancy statistics on yer shineh shaft! My, aren't ye a posh little bastard now!"
"Your pickaxe got upgraded? Do you mind if I appraise it to see it's statistics?"
"Ye ‘ear that Gibbsn’? She wants t’ see what a shineh new object ye are! Will ye allow it?"
"Sure lass, go ahead. Touch me like ye mean it and bask in meh gloreh!"
I immediately put my hand on the tip of the pickaxe and invoked my [Appraisal] skill:
[Gibbson]
Item Slot: 1hand/2hand Optional
Item Type: Axes and Picks
Item Material: Dwemmer Darksteel
Item Quality: Legendary/Sentient Tsukumogami Self-Upgradeable
Item Damage: 25-115 Piercing, 10-35 Slashing, 25-65 Blunt
Item Durability: 7998/9001 (A.R.)
Item Modifiers:
Durability Auto-Repair: 1%/Hour - Unrecoverable Breaking-Point at 50%.
Can tunnel through any type of material, no matter how hard
150% Faster ore mining speed
1000% Faster tunneling and hole creation speed
125% Better chance of finding gemstones and spirit stones
While Gibbson itself is aware of any Enemy:
30% better hit rating - increases chance to strike target
35% increased critical damage
Grants the following passive skills while being wielded:
[Tunnel Mental Map]: You will always know in which direction you are digging, and where all your previous tunnels can be found.
[Structural Integrity]: The tunnels you dig using this pickaxe have a very low chance of collapsing on top of your head. You will instinctively avoid dangerous or unstable areas while tunneling.
[Packed Earth]: The leftover earth you move with the pickaxe will get packed into the walls of the tunnel you are creating, so you will never have to worry about running out of space because of the leftover debris.
[Treasure Sense]: Sense the presence of rare gems, ores, spirit stones and buried treasure in a large radius around the user. This detection is not impeded by any obstacles that may be found in the way, including any walls, floors, plain earth or rock formations etc.
Description:
Beloved Pickaxe and Trusted Companion of the Dwarven Adventurer Carmine Mc'Kracken, this item has gained a sentience of its own after being talked to for so many years and after receiving a Blessing from the Heavens to awaken its potential.
This item also does 10% more damage against Elf and Dragonkind if the user is under any type of [Enrage] effects.
Unlike Soulbound items, this Pickaxe can be used by anybody, but there is no chance that you will ever find Carmine apart from her beloved Gibbson for too long.
"Well, that most certainly is a super useful item! I'm glad that you got yourself an upgraded item, Carmine. And to you, Mr. Gibbson, I am excited to see that you have finally found your voice. Please continue to take care of Carmine from now on!"
"Will sure do, Lass!"
"And finally, the last Dungeon Reward. To you, Elder Lingfeng." Said the Archangel as he lay one of his hands on top of the chest belonging to the Windmage. "A boon from the Heavens. Before you hit level 100, you will not encounter any more Heavenly Tribulations, and will be able to transition smoothly throughout the levels. You need to watch over these children, Guardian. Especially those two over there. They will be highly troublesome to deal with!"
After he finished distributing the System Rewards, the Archangel retreated and thought deeply for a few seconds before refocusing his attention back onto us.
"Also...from my behalf...the last Bonus Reward! Because you all seem to be wise enough to value knowledge more than anything else, here is a boon for all of your learning speeds. Consider this as my own personal addition to the whole “System Reward Package” that was owed to everybody *Wink*"
*System Chime*
Timmy: You have been granted access to a Hidden System Feature by a Higher Power. The [Instantaneous Book-Spirit Learning] Hidden Skill has now been unlocked in your menus and is available for purchase.You must first spend Skill Points to enable the use of this Skill. The skill progress bar has been added to your status screen.
Description:
Touch any object that has any written words upon it to permanently memorise its contents. You will obtain a perfect memory of the things you have read when using this skill which will never decay because of forgetfulness, but this does not include the capacity for you to actually understand whatever you have memorized. That will remain dependent on the rest of your mental faculties. You will now also obtain the ability to interact with hidden texts that are more “spiritual” in nature across the world and cannot be accessed through regular physical means.
Timmy: This is a Legendary skill. It requires 5 skill points to unlock.
Timmy: If you do not currently have 5 skill points available, if you choose so, the next five level-ups will be reserved for enabling this skill.
Timmy: Of course, this does not apply to you at the moment, I'm just tossing the info out there so you can tell the rest of the morons.
Timmy: Do you wish to purchase this skill?
Of course, my lovely little circuit board!
Timmy: [Instantaneous Book-Spirit Learning] has now been enabled.
At more advanced levels of this skill, you will be able to access even more ways to interact with texts found in your environment, including remote viewing and learning.
"There is one more thing that we need to talk about, young Hero of the Flame, so pay attention." The Archangel refocused on Jin. "When, and if, you ever make it past level 50, you will have to come back here to this place and meet up with me once more. This whole Library and all of its guardians were supposed to be a Trial of Maturity for yourself, but since this place cannot be used for such a purpose anymore, I am certain that Mother Earth will find some other way to Test you once you have reached the upper limits of mortality." Said the Archangel as he grabbed the goosefeather quill away from the nearby Skeleton Scribe's body. As soon as the quill got moved, the entire assembly of bones crumbled into a glowing dust cloud which strangely began to spread itself across the upper level evenly, revealing a rather large runic circle that was embedded and carved directly into the floor itself, making it almost impossible to spot with the naked eye.
"A last gesture of goodwill from a...former Friend, and an Alpha tester. This teleportation circle will allow all of you to travel back and forth from inside of the Library to the outside world in your real, physical forms, but it is attuned to function only for persons that have broken beyond the level 50 barrier. The Mark that I have left imprinted upon you all, besides the remote viewing function, it also acts as a key for this runic circle. Once you are outside, you can go to any valid Teleportation Circle from any Sect or City, and use it as an access point to travel down here. Still, the secondary function will only activate after your Level Requirements for using the Library's teleportation circle have been met, which is to go above level 50."
"And with that, I think we are done here." Concluded the Archangel.
"Mr. Archangel, I do not mean to complain, but how are we supposed to get out of this Library? There is no way for us to get back to the surface, as the bridge that we used to come here has collapsed because of the conflict that is occurring at the top. Some stalactites fell onto the bridge, so it shattered into many pieces and fell in the chasm, and we apparently cannot fly over the gap either.
"No, you do not need to worry about the flight restrictions anymore, since of you have that Library Admittance Mark imprinted upon yourselves. Your Guardian should be able to ferry you across the chasm on his flying sword easily. After that, you can just simply use that new Upgraded Pickaxe belonging to the dwarf lady to dig your way out quickly. In all honesty though, I would urge you to take a lot of caution before you go up to the surface again, because a lot of things are not as simple as they seem. There are much stronger Evils tugging at the marionette-strings of those sects currently attacking the Blue Mountain of Books which you need to be wary of! I cannot spoil the narratives too much, but consider yourself forewarned."
"Isn't there anything you can do to help with the fight on the surface though? You are an Archangel afterall! You cannot simply leave Demons to do as they please!"
"I don't think it would be a wise move for me to stick my wings into the conflicts of mortals like that. You guys need to learn how to solve your own problems, and not expect some sort of Deus-Ex-Machina to come and save your asses!"
"But, you're supposed to be one of the Good Guys! You're supposed to CARE if people are suffering! What's the point of abiding to your stupid contract, if you compromise your very own morals by doing so? While we may be indeed trapped inside the narratives created by the Mother System, the suffering felt by the people which are currently being sacrificed at the surface level by the demonic sect is as REAL as it gets! You can't simply just ignore it and run away like nothing ever happened! And if you do, I don't think people will like you very much after that, myself included!"
"HRRRR! You're a glib tongued little one, aren't you? Fine! I'll see what I can do about the Demonic Sect once I get to the surface. If things are as bad as you describe them to be, I might actually have to take action! Therefore, this is farewell for now! Take care, children!" Said the Archangel as he began to float towards the ceiling of the library, and then pass right through the bedrock like it wasn't even there.
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Once Mykhail finally rushed out of the Blue Mountain and the Heavenly Library, he immediately encountered what were the final clashes occurring between the Demonic Sects and the Orthodox Cultivators plus their Templar allies.
Unfortunately, it did not look like the demoniacs were going to run out of human sacrifices before the Templars ran out of Eternal Army skeletons, so both sides were slowly but surely grinding themselves down into pieces until only the Elites were left in the game.
Senior Knight Johnson, Senior Knight Fall and Lew the Guardian Troll were all facing against the summoned Demon Overlords, and even though they kept wounding the monsters, the Overlords just kept healing themselves back up over and over by siphoning the energy from the sacrificial circles where the Demonic Masked Priests continuously kept killing peasants.
As the Archangel witnessed one of the Masked Priests cut the throat of a peasant little girl, he suddenly felt an overwhelming wave of anger overcome him, as he decided to simply ignore all of those stupid limitations imposed by his Guest Contract and make all of these Demonic fuckers paid in blood!
When the Archangel unsheathed his sword and pointed towards the sky, all of the clouds immediately transformed themselves into literal burning waves of fire, seemingly intent on bringing down the Real Apocalypse against the members of the Demonic Sects in the following moments.
*乇乂匚乇ㄥ丂丨ㄖ尺!*
Yelled the Archangel as he unleashed the Fury of the Heavens upon the Sect and proximities.
A Rain of Fire began to fall on top of the entire Sect, instantly turning any of the Demonic Sect members into cinders and ash without them being able to retaliate in any way, then doing the opposite to the “good guys”, as the flames began healing all of the orthodox cultivators and Templars, and resurrecting all of the fallen sacrificial peasant-victims and fallen righteous-combatants.
As soon as their healing supply had been cut off and feeling the burn from the Archangel's Holy Flames, the three Demon Overlords finally fell to the joint assault of the Senior Knights and the Eternal Army in a swift single push, triggering the end of the entire War Event against the Blue Mountains of Books Sect.
As the Archangel sheathed his sword back into its scabbard, he spotted an old acquaintance amidst the crowds.
"Lew! My old, Faithful Friend! You have kept your promise even after so many years? I would have not held it against you if you had felt bored after a few hundred years of guarding this place! I most certainly got tired of waiting for the Hero to finally show up!"
"Impossible, Master! How could I ever renege my promise? I said that I would Guard the entrance to the Dungeon while you slumbered, and so I did!"
"And now, your duty is fulfilled. Yet, I feel the need to ask for your services once more, to safeguard something that might even hold the destiny of the entire world within its grasp." Said the Archangel as he pushed a finger against the forehead of the troll, imparting a new mission upon his mind.
"Do not expect this to be an easy task. This Quest will be quite challenging, especially for such a lazy creature like yourself."
"It does not matter, this Fallen One shall follow the will of the Master eternally."
"And to all of you good Templars and brave Cultivators, I wish there were more people willing to Sacrifice themselves in such a way to fend off the Evils of the world as you did during this conflict. You have my eternal gratitude for what you have done here this day! Therefore, let this remain an example for the history books of what humanoid-kind can achieve when you all put your hatreds aside and work together against the common Enemy. May the Light forever shine upon your path!" The Archangel incanted as he spread his Light upon everybody present, granting them his Permanent Blessings which increased all of the damage done against Evil-Aligned creatures by 5%, as long as the user remained on the side of Good.
Feeling themselves engulfed in the glorious Light of the Heavens, everybody remained absolutely stunned at the miracle that had just occurred.
After granting everybody his Blessings, the Archangel lifted himself up into the air, and then simply dissipated into a myriad of light-motes that rushed up towards the Heavens in disarray.
"Was that..."Senior Knight Fall remained propped against his huge claymore, not knowing what words to utter anymore.
"Yes...that was the Archangel Himself…" Replied Lew in a hoarse voice while wiping the fresh demon blood from his face. "Do not ask me why, nor how he showed up here, because I have no clue whatsoever. The Will of the Heavens is not ours to question, but our victory here during this day will most certainly be remembered as an extraordinary event for ages to come."
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Somewhere in his own Palace of Summer, Prince Hongmu opened his eyes after something had interrupted his meditation, and began to stare at the now-extinguished Soul-Flame candles belonging to the group of infiltrators that he had sent at Ifritt’s request to stir up the Demonic Sects and get them to attack the Blue Mountain of Books.
The connection with his minions had suddenly been cut off, and all of their Soul-Flame candles had instantly been extinguished, signaling that they had either been soul-trapped, or simply sent packing into the reincarnation cycle by force without any way to fight back. Whatever had killed them had been insanely strong, merciless, and thorough.
"Ifritt...You were right. A large and unknown force is indeed stirring inside of the Blue Mountains of Books. The scrying spells that were supposed to find the Tablet have indeed revealed its presence within the Sect, even if it had been for only a brief moment, but after that all of my servants suddenly died a couple of days later. I don't even know what happened, since everybody simply vanished away from my monitoring spell, even the distant passive observers that were never supposed to engage in any sort of combat. Also, the Templars now at least suspect the existence of a Blessed Child in addition to the discovery of the new Hero of the Flame within the Sect. Is the Blessed Child that Girl you wanted me to kill, the one who destroyed your previous soul container?
"I cannot see how it could have been anybody else. The way she drained and redirected all of my Fire Qi away from the Tome itself wasn't any regular spell that I knew of. I don't think it was a Spell in the first place, I think it was just her natural ability of doing that. I felt her spiritual roots when they touched my book, and she most certainly isn't a fire-attuned cultivator, yet she tossed away all of the Fire Qi that I had accumulated inside of my book without any problem until the damn thing cracked from the cold. I could not hurt her even a little bit! Having the Blessed Child and the Hero of the Flame fall into the hands of the Templars is the worst thing that could happen right now, even when it comes to your plans of becoming the next Emperor! We do not know the extent of our foe’s abilities, or that of their knowledge. I can only urge Master to be very careful with his next actions, and to not do anything brash that might attract any unwanted attention onto ourselves. For now, we should simply keep on using the Demonic Sects as our expendable minions and cover screen, and have them probe deeper into the true extent of the capabilities which can be displayed by our enemies. If we can constantly send people to try and attack the Boy and the Girl wherever they may be, some of them might finally succeed. And even if they don't, we will have at least gathered enough data to know who or what we are facing against. Also, if we could get our hands on the Tablet, it would be an immeasurable boon for your ascension to the throne. Many secrets of the Heavens are rumoured to be contained within that Tablet. Fury Bone most certainly rose in power by a lot after he got his hands on it, and I don't think that he even knew how to use it properly"