Upon entering Nero's room, he flopped onto the bed. Today, he was mentally exhausted. From becoming an adventurer to completing missions and realizing that there were people or creatures much stronger than he had imagined.

Due to fatigue, he didn't feel like doing anything, so he fell asleep right away.

The next day, he woke up early, feeling refreshed after some rest in the bloodstream, and got up.

The day was sunny, which made his mood more cheerful. After taking care of himself, he left his room and headed to the dining hall to eat.

Today, he could afford a good meal, and luckily for him, the dining hall was empty except for the staff. After ordering himself a decent meal, he savored it without haste.

It was the first time he felt satiated in these days, leisurely heading towards the library, contemplating the upcoming study of magic.

Approaching the library door, he intended to open it, but before he could do so, the door opened by itself.

It turned out that a man was coming out of the library, looking somewhat startled.

His steps were a bit awkward, causing Nero to step aside to let him pass.

But it was strange, as the man walked past Nero, he inexplicably felt annoyed.

It was the first time he felt this way since entering this world. Because of this feeling, his gaze subconsciously scanned the man.

As a result, he noticed that the man tightly held his other hand, the place where most people had storage devices, just like Nero.

Observing the man walking ahead and disappearing around the corner of the corridor, Nero's irritation finally subsided. He took a deep breath and, contemplating what had just happened, pushed the door and entered inside.

Although he was very curious to find out what was going on, his thoughts returned to studying magic.

Regaining his composure, he entered the same room as before and approached the spot where the book he was reading had been placed, but it was missing. Thinking that someone might have taken the book for reading, he searched for another book to deepen his knowledge.

.............

Meanwhile, the man whom Nero had just encountered hurriedly walked. His movements seemed somewhat suspicious, but since it was morning, no one noticed.

Soon, he reached the gates of the academies and, upon exiting, boarded a transport and headed towards the city.

After an hour, at an unknown location.

In a dark room, a door opened, and rays of sunlight illuminated the layout of the room. The room seemed cluttered, clearly untouched for a long time.

Upon entering, the man glanced at the dilapidated street before hastily closing the door and walking towards one of the cabinets located in the innermost part of the room.

In the man's hand appeared a square object with intricate patterns. Soon, these patterns lit up, and in response, the cabinet, which previously had no markings, clearly displayed them. After waiting for a moment, the light passed, and the man opened the cabinet, revealing a passage leading downward instead of a normal cupboard.

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

Stepping down and descending, in front of the man appeared a dead end made of stone. Repeating the same procedure, the stone lit up and split in the middle, revealing a door as both halves moved aside.

Passing through another passage, after a few seconds, a room appeared before his eyes. In the room, several people were already present, wearing cloaks and covering their faces with masks.

The room was circular and empty, except for an eight-pointed black star on the floor. On the sides, numerous similar passages could be seen, from where the man had emerged. These eight passages corresponded to the star's vertices. Everyone stood near one of the passages.

There were eight figures, and then all of them simultaneously, as if knowing each other's thoughts, raised the same square devices as the man did and displayed them.

Simultaneously, the light flashed on eight devices. Afterward, the man took a book out of his storage and showed it to the others.

"You finally got this book, Sixth."

"Yes, and I was wondering why the gathering occurred. It seems our plan took a step forward. Although if I had done the task, it would have been much faster than the Sixth."

"Third, you greatly overestimate yourself. If it were you, I could be 100% certain of your failure."

"Second, do you want to fight?!"

"Alright, alright, stop it."

The conversation and chatter, which almost escalated into a fight, were finally interrupted by one of the figures standing near the man. Leaving the dispute behind, he looked at the man and said,

"Though it took nearly 70 years, you did well."

"Thank you, First."

"Hmph."

At that moment, the Third grumbled.

The Sixth also ignored him and then showed the book to everyone.

"Yes, according to the information we obtained 234 years ago, the coordinates of a special artifact we have been searching for are in this book."

"But we also learned that this artifact indicates the locations where the prohibition devices were supposed to be."

At that moment, one of the figures spoke up.

The Sixth nodded.

"Yes, our goal now is to find this artifact because blindly searching for other artifacts would take too long and may not be successful. You all know the cunning and intelligence of the Mertons from the lost continent."

"Yes, you're right. I suppose even if we learn the location of the first artifact encrypted in this book, it won't be easy to obtain it."

At that moment, the First spoke again.

"So how do we decipher this book?"

"Oh, that's not a problem. We found out that the elder of the Senwor family also inherited a similar book. It is assumed that if we have both these books, we will learn how to decipher it."

"So, do we raid them? Or do we use other methods?"

The Second asked.

"We can directly attack; this is not an academy where powerful hidden people lurk in the shadows."

"Should we inform the Lord?"

Sixth asked, looking at the First, who shook his head.

"Not yet, because we don't have the artifact yet. It's not worth bothering him over this trivial matter. Alright, today's meeting is over. The attack on the Senwor family will happen once we have planned everything and received notifications and instructions. Return to your positions."

Nodding, everyone turned to leave, but at that moment, the First called out to the Sixth.

"Yes, Sixth, be cautious because according to the latest information, riders will come to the academy. They have discovered some of our actions, which has increased their activity."

After uttering the final words, the First turned and left. During that time, fear flashed in the eyes of the Sixth when he heard the First's words, especially the word "riders," causing him to tremble.

................

Nero was unaware that a series of actions had begun that would be catastrophic. He simply continued reading the book.

<........ First of all, what do the mana particles mean?...>