Eric approached the garden and looked at the different types of plants. There were many sections, and each section had different types of herbs. He was able to identify most of them thanks to the knowledge he had gained from absorbing the botanical book. However, since it had been a long time since they had been left unattended, most of the plants had dried up and withered. Only a few were still green and vibrant with life.

Eric stopped in front of a section filled with plants that were still alive. The herb was an upright, branched perennial with smooth stems and fibrous roots. The flower heads were arranged in loose, terminal, flat-topped clusters. The flowers pointed upward and were clear, white, and tufted.

That's Grimroot Toxiflora!

Information about the plants surfaced in his mind. White Grimroot was a poisonous plant that could cause those who ingested it to experience weakness, muscle cramps, vomiting, constipation, thirst, delirium, and coma. And in extreme cases, death.

It's also a key ingredient in some potions.

In fact, all the herbs here were mentioned in the botanical book, so he knew how to use them. Information about certain potions that would strengthen his body surfaced in his mind. Some of the ingredients he needed to make those potions were here, which saved him the time of searching for them.

He reached for his hand to pluck it, but stopped himself. The poison could also enter a person's system by touching it and then wiping the mouth with that hand. Therefore, he was advised to wear proper equipment before approaching the plant.

Even though he knew how to handle the plant, it was only an instruction, and he didn't have any experience. Without knowing the condition of the plant, he was afraid that he would ruin it if he plucked it the wrong way.

After thinking about it for a while, an idea flashed through his mind. He covered his hand with a small piece of cloth and touched the branch with just one finger, and with one thought, the whole plant disappeared along with a piece of the soil in which it was planted.

After the plant disappeared, he looked in his inventory and found the image of a plant on a slate. Smiling at his success, he repeated the process with the other nearby grimroots. He took even the dry and wilted ones with yellow leaves but left those that were completely withered with signs of decay.

With all the grimroot in his inventory, he moved on to the next living herb.

He stood before a plant with leaves that were bright green, fern-like, finely divided, and serrated at the edges. The flowers were tiny, white, and arranged in small, umbrella-shaped clusters at the ends of branched stems.

Venom Leaf.

This was another herb poisonous to humans and animals, with typical human symptoms including dilated pupils, dizziness, and tremors, followed by slowing of the heartbeat, paralysis of the central nervous system, muscle paralysis, and death from respiratory failure.

What about the owner? He didn't live here to cultivate herbs, did he?

The knowledge he gained from the books unleashed a new fear in him. Fear of herbalists.

Herbalists are scary. I have to be careful if I ever have to deal with one. I don't want to shit myself for a month just because I pissed one off.

After picking the herbs, he moved on to the other plants and proceeded with the same method. Castor, befroot, lugivy... There were all kinds of herbs in the garden, both harmful and useful to humans. It was just a pity that most of them were withered and their effects wouldn't be good; only a few managed to stay alive by using some kind of strange method to preserve them for who knows how long.

His inventory filled up quickly as the plants took up most of the slots.

He stopped in front of the last living herb, this time being more careful than he had been with the others. In front of him was the deadly Nightshade. It was an extremely poisonous plant in its stems, leaves, berries, and roots. It could paralyze the body's muscles, including the heart. Even the slightest physical contact with its leaves could cause skin irritation.

Even though he was currently stronger than ordinary people, he didn't dare ignore the threat of the poisonous plant. Nature was always the strongest.

Covering his hand with a small piece of clothing, he touched the plant with just one finger. It immediately disappeared into his inventory.

When he checked his hand, he was relieved to see that he wasn't poisoned. Then he plucked the rest of the nightshades in the same way.

***

Eric wiped the sweat from his brow and smiled with satisfaction when he saw that he had swept the whole place, leaving only the weathered and decaying herbs. He had collected so much useful material that he couldn't wait to start experimenting with making potions.

There were so many potions with different effects that he wanted to make them right away, but he suppressed the urge and took one last careful look around the hall, scanning every inch with a scorching gaze. He had gotten so much from this cave that he couldn't help but get a little greedy. The self-satisfaction of a human was truly unlimited.

There! On the dead end of the hall, he spotted a small chest. Without hesitation, he headed for it.

On his way to the chest, he felt a slight discomfort spread through his body, making his legs stiffen a bit. He shrugged his shoulders to get rid of the numbness and continued on his way, not giving it much thought. It was probably because of all the blood he had lost, weakening his muscles and making him tired.

Arriving at the corner, he crouched down and removed the cobwebs, revealing another small wooden chest.

Is this gift season or what?

A subtle smile crept across his face. Eric couldn't hide his happiness when he saw the box. So far, he had gotten too many useful things from this cave that made him forget the pain and suffering he had gone through to get here.

He picked up the box but was surprised at how light it was. Even though the box was small, it was made of sturdy wood and couldn't be that light, yet he lifted it as if it were nothing. It was as light as a feather.

Hmm, it couldn't be empty, right?

He lifted the lid, which came off surprisingly easily. Looking inside, he found only two things. The first was an object that looked like a round quill pen with a strange inscription on its surface and some yellow papers underneath.

I guess I got my hopes up too high. It's already a surprise to find everything I've done. Wishing for more is nothing but greed.

Inwardly disappointed, he reached for it, but the moment his hand touched the quill, a virtual window appeared.

Item: [Memory Quill]

Type: Artifact

Effect: Turns any written content it touches into a book of knowledge.

Use: [3 uses left].

So this is the thing that created those books.

Bringing it to his eye level, Eric scanned every detail. The pen didn't look any different from an ordinary pen, yet it had such a magical effect. He was thankful that he had the ability to identify things, even if he couldn't control it; otherwise, he would have thrown some things away.

If we're back on Earth, this item would be a dream for everyone.

He was sure that this pen would be tempting to anyone who had a job that required them to memorize a large amount of information. Especially students. They would do anything to get their hands on this pen.

This could come in handy when I'm feeling lazy and don't feel like reading a book.

Eric couldn't think of any other use for the pen other than shortening the time he had to read books, so without further thought, he put the pen in his inventory.

He turned his attention to the papers and held them close to him, reading them over.

"Tomorrow will finally be the day we attack the main dungeon, and those guys from the Dark Guild have come to me again. I question my decision to join them, but such thoughts are useless at this point. It's not like I had much choice in the matter, but I intend to hold up my end of the bargain since they promised to protect me after the raid.”

Reading through the first few days of entries, it seemed that these journals belonged to someone named Thomas. He was recording his days and how he lived each day in fear of being discovered by the temple.

The Temple? As if remembering, Eric reached out his hand, and a tag materialized in his hand. It was the same tag he had found on John's body.

He read the information on the tag again.

This guy was also a member of the temple; is this where I am now?

He put the tag in his pocket and continued reading the next set of papers.

"They betrayed me... Those bastards from the Dark Guild betrayed me! I should never have trusted them!"

Eric noticed a few old drops of blood on the paper as he read through the wobbly lines.

"I knew from the beginning that they were just using me, but I didn't expect them to turn their backs on me right after the raid."

Eric flipped to the next page.

"Fortunately, I didn't tell them what I was really capable of, and they didn't understand the full extent of my abilities. So, after being ambushed by twenty Rank 3 and two Rank 4 warriors and mages, I was able to escape thanks to my ability to manipulate the earth. Fortunately, their earth mage died in the raid, so they couldn't stop me from escaping. Hehe serves them right!"

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Eric could almost feel the raging emotions written in the journal. Thomas felt scared, sad, happy, and angry after experiencing betrayal by people he trusted.

"After escaping deep into the Forbidden Zone, I hid in this old ruin that I found during one of my explorations. But even though I escaped, I couldn't leave the temple's forbidden zone because I still had the stigma on me."

Flip!

"That item, that beautiful purple orb I got from the dungeon, was the reason the Dark Guild approached me in the first place. Only someone like me could get it; that's why they tried to use me to get it. But after they failed to ambush me, I took the orb."

The next few pages mentioned how Thomas had the same experience as him when the orb merged with him and he discovered its magical healing effects. But as Eric continued to read, a few written lines caught his attention.

"A new ability appeared on my interface after the orb merged with me: a healing power. But what is the secret of the orb? The interface only mentioned that it was a fragment, but it didn't say what kind of fragment. I knew the orb wasn't normal artifact, but it's beyond anything I've heard of being found in a Grade 4 dungeon before. It could be compared to the items found in the legendary Grade 6 dungeon."

Interface, he mentioned interface in his journals. Does that mean he had a similar system?

It took Eric a while to absorb all the information mentioned in the journal. It was the first time he had read about the interface, even though he had absorbed a great deal of knowledge about the world.

He said that the Dark Guild approached him because only someone like him could get the item they wanted. Did he mean someone with a system? Does that mean that people with a system aren't common, and only a special few have them?

Eric pieced together what little information he had and came to this conclusion as he continued to read the following pages. According to what was written in the diary, the interface users were few and far between, and Thomas had never met anyone like him, but he had heard stories that he wasn't the only one and there were other people like him, but they were just too rare on the continent, and the chances of meeting someone were pretty slim, so the Dark Guild tried to win him over as soon as they knew about him.

But why did they betray him?

If the Dark Guild knew about the system, they should have known about Thomas' potential. But why did they betray him instead of investing in him? Just for that purple orb?

Eric couldn't help but feel that the members of the Dark Guild had made a mistake. He admitted that the purple orb was a valuable magical item, but to him, its value couldn't be compared to that of a system user. The orb could only heal you, but the system user could become stronger as long as he hunted monsters.

Before Eric was distracted, he shook his head and turned his attention back to the journal. What the Dark Guild was thinking had nothing to do with him.

" After tidying up the ruins and making a decent place for myself to live, I went into the forbidden zone and started hunting monsters. I'll grow stronger and make those bastards from the Dark Guild pay the price for their betrayal. Even the temple won't survive my rage. Just wait; I will obliterate them both. I don't care if they were two of the top four powers in the world."

It looked like Thomas had found a goal to strive for and wasn't just hiding in the ruins in fear. Eric gained respect for Thomas after reading the methods he would use to capture the Dark Guild members and torture them to death.

Eric, of all people, understood better than anyone what vengeance could turn a man into.

"Damn it! I met a tough monster today. The system identified it as Ralos, a reptile-like creature. I managed to kill him, but that fucker had deadly venom and managed to poison me, fuck!"

"It burns; damn it, I feel like my insides are on fire. It feels like they were melted by the poison before being repaired by the orb. This is pure torture! Why am I suffering like this? I can't take it anymore."

Eric read through the journal while Thomas poured out all his anger and sadness. According to the information in the papers, the orb could only heal injuries and did not have the power to regenerate lost body parts.

He read until the last page, where he found a warning.

"If you're reading this, it means I'm already dead, so read carefully what I'm about to tell you. When the purple orb fuses with you, you must be careful. It would indeed heal any injury you suffer, but I have discovered that the orb needs energy to heal you. In other words, it would drain your magic power to heal you, and the more serious the injury, the more energy it would require to heal you."

"That's not the most worrisome part. The real problem is when you run out of magic power while you're still injured. When that happens, the orb will drain your life force instead. So, if you get too badly injured and run out of magic power, you might get killed by the purple orb instead of dying from your injuries."

"What!!" Eric couldn't help but blurt out his shock after reading the warning. He read the information over and over again, but there was no follow-up information. It only mentioned that the healing process was passive and that he had no control over it.

Shit! I didn't expect it to have such a dangerous side effect!

Even though the orb was a life-saving item, it was also equally dangerous to his life.

Could this be how Thomas died? He remembered the skeleton with the purple orb on it and assumed that it was Thomas. Did he die from the poison, or did the orb drain his life?

Remembering the state of the skeleton and what happened after he took the orb out of it, he shuddered and felt a chill run down his spine. He didn't want to end up like that.

Then I just have to avoid getting hurt. But was that possible? He was in the forest full of monsters, and it was inevitable that he would get injured since he would be forced to fight them.

Then, all I have to do is increase my magic power as much as possible so that it doesn't deplete too quickly.

With the system, he could increase his attributes every time he leveled up. So he decided to invest his future free stat points in Magic Power from now on.

And the Constitution as well.

He remembered the [Iron Wall] skill he had obtained from the room earlier. This skill would also passively consume his magic power, but it also had another amazing effect. The higher his Constitution, the less damage he would take.

Having decided what to do next, he turned his attention back to the diary and read through the pages he had skipped. Eric flipped through the pages and read some interesting information revealed in the journal.

It looks like I will have to involve myself into a troublesome situation to fix my problem.

After he was done reading, he put the journal back on the chest and shoved it into the inventory.

But just as the chest disappeared from his sight and he stood up, his body suddenly swayed as if he were drunk. A feeling of weakness overcame him, causing him to fall to the ground. Fortunately, he used his hand to break his fall before kissing the ground.

What's wrong with me?!

As if answering his question, a window appeared in front of him.

[Insufficient Magic Power]

Insufficient? Has the orb already drained all of my magic power?

After reading the warning, he had already expected such a result since the orb healed all his wounds, but he hadn't expected it to drain his mana so quickly. Fortunately, it healed all his wounds, and it wouldn't drain his life force as long as he wasn't injured again.

I should rest until my magic power is restored.

He didn't know the method to absorb mana from the atmosphere, so all he could do was rest and hope that his magic power would be restored in time.

But does the lack of magic power cause paralysis?

He hadn't expected that he could barely move just because his mana had run out. Such a side effect could be quite bad in certain circumstances.

I should rest a bit until I'm 100% before I try to get out of this ruin.

Eric sat down and leaned against a pillar, but before he could close his eyes, he heard a boom.

Startled, he looked in the direction of the stone door. His eyes widened as he saw it blown apart, stones scattering and falling to the ground.

Something is here?! Is it a monster?

He quickly scrambled to his feet, clutching his dagger. Eric squinted his eyes as he tried to peer through the remaining haze of the dust cloud. Three figures emerged from the dust, all of them armed and carrying various types of weapons.

What are they doing here?

Eric eyed the intruders. He knew they weren't normal. Not only had they blown up the heavy door he struggled to open, but the fact that they had made it this far meant that they had also passed through the arrow traps, something normal humans wouldn't be able to do.