How many weeks has it been? I exit the last book and look around. 189.448 books. I now know everything from gardening in tundras to the breeding rituals of a creature called a Hox bull. At some point I just had to sit there a few days just thinking about what I now knew.

To say that I now know a lot would be an understatement. I now know for example that the distance from this worlds second moon seems to be 90.000km less than Earth's moon but for some reason doesn't seem to affect the first moons gravitational pull. And this world may have magic but apparently even they can't explain this.

I also know that the amount of different recorded bird species on this world is 247. While the recorded amount of dragon species is a low 25. And apparently the amount of recorded lifeforms in the ocean is 1.287. But the actual explored ocean is only 3% so the recorded number is probably only a fraction.

Or did you know that the apparent melting point of adanantite is twice that of tungsten? Thats a nice fact considering that there are only two none magical methods of smelting it in this world. While the flame of a white fire dragon also comes close to this melting point it is quite unlikely to actually melt from a dragons attack.

Yes I know all of these things now. But do you know what I still don't know? HOW IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS THIS PLACE IS THERE NOT A SINGLE BOOK ABOUT MAGIC?!

Don't get me wrong. We have magic metal theory and magic monster theory. There are 67 books about entchants and rune work. BUT THERE ISN'T ONE! BLOODY! BOOK! ABOUT! LEARNING! MAGIC!

Nothing! No how skills affect magic or how to cast spells. Or how to bloody get a skill for casting! All I know is that you need a medium through which you have to direct the flow of mana or you need the appropriate skill.

I sigh and sit/float on a chair. I spent probably months learning all of this. I even got a skill from it called "perfect creation" which apparently helps you craft things of immeasurable strength. If you have hands.

I sigh again and bury my face in my blurry hands. I know now how to craft golems and automatons. Also I know the difference between those and living objects. I could probably craft some amazing golems and magical robots now if , and that's a big if, I had access to magic and hands.

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I lay my head on the crafting bench in front of me. The person who worked here last was working on a gauntlet. I can tell that much now from absorbing the metal crafting knowledge of 394 books about crafting with metal and similar things. I wonder why they stopped? From what I can tell it's quite the good work. They even got out of their way to carve runes and magic circles for different effects.

The 756 books about enchanting with etching would call this a failure since it would make the material too thin but that would only be the case if you used it for combat. I shift my point of view and look at the mosaic with the book on the pedestal. That is the only book I haven't possessed.

The mosaic is beautiful and depicts a knight in full plate armor with three scratches on his helmet and a man in a orange robe. They have their arms over each other's shoulder and seems quite happy even though you can't see eithers face. I wonder who they were? Did they build this place?

I look down before the pedestal where the man in the orange robe lies face first on the floor. Or rather his skeleton. Yep you heard me right, that guy from the mosaic is totally dead. I didn't notice him at first but after a while I noticed his corpse. His robes are in tatters and his hand is outstretched toward the book. He never reached it.

I stand/float and walk/float over to him. I wonder who you were in life. I don't wanna touch him. I don't wanna disturb him. From the lack of a magical aura I can tell that his robe or anything on his is special after all. Yep learned that too. Some of the hammers on the worktable have more enchantments on them than this guy.

Well well well I guess your book is all that is left now my friend. I really hope it's a grimoire. Those can be used as a casting medium and can be used to store spells. Also magicans write their knowledge on them so I really hope it's not a really fancy cook book again. I already read 334 of those. They were as useless as the 996 books about language I read. Though I speak a lot of languages now.

Now to the pedestal book. It's big. I would guess it's hight by about 40cm and it's thickness no less than 10cm. It's also between 30 and 25cm wide. It's bound in a black leather that seems to absorb the light around it. The corners are tucked away in tiny golden triangles. The whole surface is covered in golden etchings. They glow and pulse weakly. Yep this thing is magic. Also in the middle is a orange metal disk that resembles a wickedly laughing pumpkin. Weird design choice. The book is held closed by something even stranger though. A silver dragon is coiled around it. Or a silver ornament of a dragon that is swallowing its own tail. The eyes are closed. I also can feel a incredible amount of magic from it.

On the spine is a long sentence. Huh weird. It's in english? I read aloud.

"Thou art I, I art thou, to my comrade I swear this vow. Skin to bone, steel to rust, ashes to ashes, dust to dust! In my comrade eternally I lay my trust!"

"Vow of the comrade confirmed. Beginning soul absorbtion."

And everything went black.