CHAPTER 7: TABLE OF CONTENTS

Soren’s frown deepened as he noticed the words fading away slowly. In the end, all he was left with was more questions than answers. He slammed his hand against his forehead and clicked his tongue. “Fuck!”

He was hoping to obtain more information from this entity he had come to call ‘Unknown’. But it seemed that was too much to ask for. He rubbed his temples slightly before thinking back on all the events that had just happened. The storm brewing within his mind had yet to cease its tempestuous winds. Emotions were continuing to swirl inside him, and long forgotten memories lingered on in the back of his mind.

He was reminded of what happened just a few moments prior to him receiving a message from Unknown. The memories of corrupted whispers of the rift ended abruptly, even though his mind was on the brink of collapsing. Although he wasn’t entirely sure, he theorized that Unknown might have had something to do with it. After all, he was the one who allegedly concealed those memories from his mind in the first place. If that theory was true, then it would certainly make sense as to why he survived being consumed by that spiritual entity that attacked him. If it had consumed his memories, the corrupted ones from the rift would have certainly been too much for it to handle.

This was all speculation, however. He couldn’t be completely sure as to exactly what happened after he lost consciousness. However, if Unknown’s claim of sending the ‘Malevolent Hex’, as he called it, after him was true, then it would certainly make sense that the entity would not have been able to handle the corruption hidden within his memories. The attack was designed to fail in the first place, and Soren understood why.

It was to warn him. To show him what exactly this world had to offer if he let his guard down.

His lips slightly curved into a smile as he slowly stood up within the umbral darkness of the meadow. That bastard was right. I need to get my shit together. This isn’t a video game or a fairy tale. This world might be even more dangerous than Earth…

He looked down at his hands. They were shaking. No amount of bravado could ever allow him to forget the helplessness of knowing your core being was slowly being consumed and not having any way to stop it. He clicked his tongue once more and shook the feeling off.

There was no time to mope around. His way back to Earth was almost certainly blocked. Even with the ability Unknown spoke of, this world was most likely going to be his home for a very long time. Not to mention, the last few words Unknown spoke about certain factions chasing him the moment they found out about his connection to scribe-of-worlds.com was certainly not a motivator for him to rush back to Earth so quickly.

Soren looked over the meadow and past the twisted treeline obstructing his vision once more. He could see countless fireflies and other bioluminescent creatures lurking around in the darkness. The dozen or so large mushrooms he spotted in the morning were also now glowing in a faint, cyan blue hue.

Sigh, I can’t believe how much time has passed… [Eyes of the Fairy] is too powerful for me to handle in my current state—I should only use it when necessary. He decided it was best to stay in the relatively safe meadow he was currently in rather than risk roaming the woods without purpose. Navigating in the dark was certainly not a good idea.

I should try to use the light emanating from my Soul Weapon to see better. The Records immediately recognized his thoughts and began to glow in a faint, radiant gold.

First thing’s first, I need to check my status sheet again. Since Unknown unlocked that ‘Forgotten Rune’ for me, a new skill should be displayed. At least, according to him…

There were still a lot of questions he had no answers to. Like for example, what exactly was Unknown and his purpose? The being’s last line about becoming enemies after he discovers the answer he seeks made it seem like it was an inevitable outcome. But why? Why did Soren and this entity need to become enemies? Did he steal his girl or something? The thought made him shudder for a second before he went back to flipping through the ethereal pages.

Status

Name: Soren Andersen

Race: Human

Age: 22

Vocation: Scribe

Soul Weapon: The Records (Unique) (Tier 1 - Tome)

Skills:

[Record] (Rank 1) - Chronicle the information around you.

[Eyes of the Fairy] (Rank 1) - See the unseen.

[The Faerie Court] (Rank 1) - Enter the realm of realms.

Titles:

[Traveler] - You have embarked on a journey across space and time. Echoes of the rift will no longer shatter your sanity.

Rune Collection: ???

Everything he read seemed the same as before, except for the extra line underneath his two known skills.

“Enter the realm of realms… [The Faerie Court]? What?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

He frowned slightly. This was not what he had in mind. According to Unknown, the skill he had obtained from the ‘fragment of a fragment of a forgotten rune’ was said to have the ability to return him to Earth. Nowhere in this description was Earth mentioned, unless he was supposed to interpret the ‘realm of realms’ itself as Earth? He shook his head—all of this was baseless speculation. He would need to test the skill himself to find out what it could do.

However, there were still two things holding him back from immediately trying it out. For one, his usage of [Eyes of the Fairy] before had clearly shown signs of having side effects, so what was there to say the same thing won’t apply to this new ability? Traveling back to Earth would entail passing through the rift—a location that almost cost him his life the first time he passed through it. Although his [Traveler] title has the effect of protecting him from the rift’s influence, he couldn’t be completely sure how effective it would truly be. If he wanted to test it, he would need to be in a fairly better situation than he was currently in, as well as more prepared to face whatever could happen the moment he entered this supposed ‘Realm of realms.’

However, the biggest reason behind this decision would have to be his hesitation to return to Earth immediately. If what Unknown had said was true, there could be many enemies lurking around his neighborhood already looking for him. The rumors around that crappy website he found were most likely true—his current experiences ascertain that. From serial killers to cannibals, all kinds of stories were attached to that website’s name. And this was besides the info Unknown mentioned about entire organizations marking him as a target as well. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to go back in time and slap his past self to death. How could he be so stupid?

He shook his regrets away once more and observed the ethereal page. The event log from before showed up beneath the information regarding his status. Aside from the letter from Unknown, the two lines regarding him recording the Blue Silver Grass and the malevolent hex known as a Memory Void Spirit intrigued him. At the time, he was not in the right state of mind to fully observe this section of information, and the letter from Unknown also drew his attention completely.

He looked down at the event log more closely. Since the night was long, he might as well use the time to explore his Soul Weapon further. I wonder how I can view all the recorded information in this book?

Just as the thought approached his mind, The Records reacted immediately and began to radiate in an even more etheric golden hue as the pages suddenly turned on their own. Words written in pure English came into view—ones he had not seen before.

Table of Contents

Recorded Alchemy: ???

Recorded Magecraft: Secrets of The Records

Recorded Mysteries: Malevolent Hexes, The Rift

Recorded Runology: ???

Recorded History: ???

Recorded Mythology: ???

Recorded Theology: ???

Recorded Sciences: ???

Recorded Realms: Earth, Yarian

Bestiary: Memory Void Spirit

Herbarium: Blue Silver Grass

Mechanica: ???

Musica: ???

Ludologia: Chess

Lexicon: English

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.

.

Bingo. His smile widened. This was exactly what he wanted. A compilation of all the information recorded within his book aside from the status sheet present on the first page. But what made him truly excited was the possibilities presented on the different sections of the table of contents.

A simple ability like [Record] could blossom in so many ways was not something he ever expected. From mysticism to biology—his Soul Weapon was able to record anything. He decided to take his time and slowly read more about each section—starting with Magecraft.

Aside from the name itself, the ritual he conducted being categorized under this section gave him ample hints at what it meant. Though, he was not completely sure as to why it was even present on the page in the first place. He hadn’t used his [Record] skill on it. The same could be said with the mention of The Rift, the realms of Earth and Yarian, and possibly the most odd of all of them all: Chess.

Even with all his experience in the game, it didn’t make any sense as to why it was mentioned in The Records in the first place. He theorized that his [Record] skill might also work passively somehow. Despite the sour memories it brought back to him, Soren decided to ignore it for now and focused his thoughts on bringing up the information about the ritual itself. The pages responded to his pleas and shifted accordingly—words describing the procedures he had grown familiar with were reflected in his eyes.

Secrets of the Records (Bestowal Type Ritual)

Ingredients:

* 13 Atlas Moth wings.

* 480 milligrams of squid ink.

* A sheet of paper.

* Human blood.

* A regular wooden altar.

* A wax candle of any kind.

Just like the information he had read on the website, everything was the same. The instructions below the ingredients section listed out the steps methodically. You start by placing the ritual altar in a dimly lit area and making sure it was free from any dust or residue that could disturb the ritual’s formation. Then, using your own human blood, you write the intended question on the sheet of paper and place it on the altar with the wax candle on top of it.

The hardest part of the ritual had to be the sigil, however. During Soren’s first few attempts, he was never able to fully replicate the shapes and runes described in the sigil correctly—his disgusting art skills always ended up leaving them deformed. It took him countless practice sessions to finally draw the sigil correctly. The next step would be to light the candle and burn the moth wings every 30 seconds while reciting the incantation listed on the website.

However, even after completing all the steps correctly, all his attempts ended in failure. He tried contacting others on the website who simply told him to focus his mind better—advice he scoffed at, dismissing it as delusional comfort for those who couldn’t accept the possibility that this was all fake. Oddly enough, none of the people he spoke to had even heard of the ritual he was trying to conduct. That alone should have made him more suspicious about the ritual he was attempting to recreate but by that point, he had already sunk too much time into this to chicken out.

And so, he decided to persevere anyway. If their advice was true, then all he needed to do was figure out a way to calm his mind and focus it entirely on the incantations of the ritual. And what better way to do that than drugs? He knew a few dealers in college and decided to buy some of their stuff the night before he attempted his sixth try of the ritual.

The result? Well… It worked. Turns out, drugs are good for you.