Episode 6: The Forbidden Library (6)
[A target similar to the target designated by [Famine] has been harmed!]
[F-Rank Curse, [Famine] grows into an E-Rank Curse!]
“Hm?”
The message about the curse’s growth was somewhat surprising news.
‘So this could grow too?’
After all, I hadn’t obtained it through my own ability; it had come as a demerit for using a forbidden book, so it was something I had never even considered.
‘Now that I think about it, it was weaker than expected.’
The presentation surrounding the curse had been quite flashy.
When the curse first appeared, the system had made a fuss, calling it a “very powerful” curse, and when I used the book, it had shown grandiose phrases about gods watching over me and whatnot.
But considering it took three seconds per measly F-Rank monster and twenty seconds each for bosses… compared to that backdrop, it had actually been quite weak.
‘Very strong… did that mean it was strong among curses of the same rank?’
Anyway, while there was a rank display, it seemed the descriptor placed before the rank indicated slightly different meanings for each.
By the way, if it was a similar target, it probably meant a human…
‘Then, now, people… just normal people seems a bit much, so should I hunt criminals or something…’
It’s not like I’m some pirate bounty hunter… Rapid thoughts swirled back and forth between the two messages.
But I soon organized my tangled thoughts and turned my attention elsewhere.
I’d set those matters aside for later. For now, I needed to finish sorting out this situation.
‘Anyway, I can extract Essence here too, right?’
Before even a minute had passed, I reached my hand toward the Black Hunters’ corpses.
Whether because they had dried up so abnormally that they felt like mummified relics rather than people, or because I had seen and heard plenty while brushing shoulders with hunters for three years… I didn’t feel much revulsion.
[A target from whom Essence can be extracted.]
[Would you like to extract Essence?]
As soon as my hand touched them, a message popped up as before.
‘Extract.’
At the answer I muttered internally, the message continued.
[Current Rank F.]
[Essence extraction probability decreases.]
[A special target.]
[The target’s Rank is higher than the user’s.]
[The correction value for special targets decreases.]
[Essence extraction probability is corrected to 30%.]
[Sorcery medium formation probability is corrected to 30%.]
Just as with the boss monster, correction values seemed to apply to humans too.
There was a rank restriction again, but 30% wasn’t a low number, so the rewards came out quite generously.
‘One medium, two Essences. Not bad.’
The fact that all three were E-Rank, which I had yet to obtain, was especially pleasing.
I scattered the corpses without a trace, put the obtained materials into my bag, and turned my gaze.
Since I had dealt with the strong ones, what remained now was—
“Bastard, wake up! Wake up!”
“P-, potion! Bring a recovery artifact!”
—these bastards, but it seemed there wasn’t much more I needed to do.
The guys gripping the corpses and wailing melodramatically weren’t paying any attention to me anymore.
I had been thinking of silencing them, but they weren’t people from Cheonhye’s side or my acquaintances; if I just quietly left now, it didn’t seem like information would leak.
My face wasn’t particularly memorable, and they hadn’t seen it for long, so at best rumors would circulate about a guy who kills people without laying a hand on them.
So, while those bastards were busy with their own affairs, I quickly finished off the boss monster, cleanly wrapped up the extraction, and headed straight for the exit to escape the dungeon.
Whirl—
My vision flipped and the background spun back.
And the first thing I saw was—
[Your Rank has risen to E.]
It was the rank-up message that appeared after consuming the dungeon clear experience points.
Normally, even soloing a few F-Rank dungeons and one high-grade boss wouldn’t have been enough; killing five E-Rank hunters higher than me seemed to have played a major role.
They say you get bonus experience for killing enemies above your rank, and that definitely seemed to be the case.
[You may currently activate a total of 3 talismans simultaneously.]
[[Tehimata-Style Sorcery Talisman] provides a Rank Up bonus.]
[You may increase the Rank of one currently held Tehimata talisman.]
Immediate benefits had followed alongside the rank increase.
“Oh, nice.”
The curse rank had risen, making the [Curse Collector Bracelet] unusable, and I had been worrying about whether to wait until dawn and sneak home when no one was around; this reward was perfectly timed.
Without hesitation, I chose the [Curse Collector Talisman].
[[F-Rank Curse Collector Talisman – Tehimata] rises to E-Rank.]
I immediately activated the changed talisman, inserted the now E-Rank [Famine], and turned on the [Talisman of Swiftness] as well within my increased talisman limit of 3, quickly leaving the area.
* * *
I caught a taxi and went straight home.
Having not cleaned and having walked around in dirt-caked shoes, dust was floating about everywhere; the house was much dirtier than when I had just returned last time.
However, the emotion I felt crossing the threshold was completely opposite to back then, when it had just felt like shit.
Unable to hide the subtly rising smile, I ran straight to the inner room and down to the basement.
Thump-thump-thump—stairs descending as fast as students rushing to the cafeteria.
And upon soon reaching the end and entering the study, the message I had been waiting for popped up.
[Current Rank E.]
[The bookshelves of the E-Rank Danger world are unlocked.]
Simultaneously, whoosh—lanterns blazed to life in the darkness, and the single bookshelf visible against the black background instantly multiplied to eight.
Seven newly opened bookshelves.
This time, it wasn’t just one book each; every shelf held at least two or more.
“Oh, nice.”
Truthfully, the total didn’t even amount to thirty books, but knowing what kind of power each book held, that alone was enough to be thrilling.
I immediately moved deeper into the study.
But as I approached, things I hadn’t noticed last time began to catch my eye.
“They all look different.”
The design of each bookshelf was vastly different.
Not just the shape, but the material, the symbolically carved patterns, the paintings—everything was completely heterogeneous.
Each bookshelf seemed to have its own concept.
“Let’s start here, then.”
I examined the newly opened bookshelves from the nearest one.
A bookshelf that looked carved from a single massive ancient tree was much larger than me, yet, unbefitting such large capacity, only three books were casually placed there.
As I approached the shelf, when the distance was sufficiently closed, a message appeared.
[This area is within the influence zone of the very strong curse, [Misfortune]!]
[This area is within the influence zone of the strong curse, [Nature’s Wrath]!]
[This area is within the influence zone of the strong curse, [Yeokmasal]!]
New types of curses, equal in number to the books.
Befitting the name Forbidden Library, all three seemed to be cursed books, forbidden tomes.
[Curse immunity.]
Ignoring the clamoring notifications, I grabbed one of the lodged books.
Then, as expected, messages rampaged at seizure-inducing levels.
[This book is a Forbidden Tome (禁書)!]
[Upon use, a strong curse will harm you!]
However, this time the message was slightly different from before.
“Seems like just reading is fine.”
Last time it said the curse would harm me just from reading, but this one said the curse activated upon use.
“Well, that’s convenient for me.”
If a curse stuck every time I read, I couldn’t check all the contents here.
Even operating talismans at max, I can only hold 3 now, so if I read all the books here, I’d end up laden with over twenty curses.
But if it cuts me this much slack, I can at least verify all the information.
I decoded the three books in succession.
[Deciphering via Kashulien’s method.]
[A book converted by the System.]
[Applying conversion to deciphering.]
Simultaneously, pure white light shot up from the books, and the unreadable titles changed shape, settling back into familiar forms.
–Luck Manipulator
–Dark Elf’s Void Crop Cultivation
–Exiled Guardian’s Secret Manual
Titles that roughly revealed their contents.
I wanted to check the specific contents, but couldn’t.
Perhaps because the conversion happened during deciphering, unlike before deciphering when I could flip through them, after deciphering the pages wouldn’t turn past the cover.
“A bit of a shame.”
Setting aside my slight dissatisfaction, I examined the remaining bookshelves in order.
–The Traveler’s Arrow
–Shriek of Young Death
–Poem of the Blind Torch
…….
And so, the final bookshelf.
–Tiandi Fuchang (天地復唱)
–Nitian Sejie (逆天色界)
Three books lodged in a somewhat antique bookshelf made of dark ancient wood.
After deciphering two of them—
[This area is within the influence zone of the very strong curse, [Contempt]!]
[[Contempt], the very strong curse, is currently E-Rank.]
[It annihilates all life of E-Rank or lower within the zone!]
Amid the rising warnings, I grabbed the last remaining book.
But this time, yet another different message appeared.
[This book is a Forbidden Tome (禁書)!]
[Upon reading, a very strong curse will harm you!]
“Hm?”
Unlike the other books that cursed upon use, this one cursed upon reading, like the first one.
“Why is only this one different?”
A question that briefly arose.
And it didn’t take long to reach a conclusion.
“Is this the best one?”
Rewards proportional to penalties were a core mechanism of the system.
Then it was obvious that this book, which didn’t even allow seeing its information, would have a stronger ability.
“I’ll go with this one.”
I immediately used the deciphering method.
[Deciphering via Kashulien’s method.]
[A book converted by the System.]
[Applying conversion to deciphering.]
Simultaneously, notifications followed ferociously.
[[Contempt], the very strong curse designates you as its target!]
[[Contempt], the very strong curse harms you!]
[[Contempt], the very strong curse is currently E-Rank.]
[[Contempt], the very strong curse annihilates you!]
[Current Rank E.]
[Target for annihilation!]
[Curse immunity.]
[[Contempt], the very strong curse has failed to achieve its objective.]
[[Contempt], the very strong curse wanders around the designated target.]
Along with that, within a range similar to [Famine], dark red energy began crackling intermittently like sparks around my surroundings.
However, despite such a form, perhaps because it was a curse that only affected living things as before, there was no immediate special reaction.
So, I deliberately approached a nearby landscaping tree.
Then, even though the leaves didn’t touch the sparks, crack—they instantly turned to ash and fell.
Moving a little closer so the trunk was within range, creak—the bark turned black as ash and crumbled, and the inside instantly became the same state and scattered.
“Oh, strong.”
An effect far faster and more immediate than [Famine].
Moreover, the effect range was clearly visible to the naked eye, so it seemed easy to adjust the distance.
“But does this only work up to E-Rank?”
The description said so.
It seemed to be a function that only killed weaklings in exchange for strong effects.
It was somewhat of a strange effect in a way, but from the perspective of me working alone, it was rather quite good.
“Useful in a pinch.”
At least in the E-Rank dungeons I’d have to run for the time being, I wouldn’t have to worry about dying surrounded by monsters.
“But if I kill them like this, extraction will be difficult.”
However, it seemed best not to use it often if possible.
Corpses needed to remain for me to extract materials for sorcery talismans; if I turned them to ashes in an instant like this, such work would be impossible.
“For now, let’s store it away as much as possible.”
But I didn’t have enough talismans to store away [Contempt] as well.
Right now I had one E-Rank [Curse Collector Talisman], but two curses.
“I should store this one first, right?”
But [Contempt], which basically had a visible color, stood out more, and its effect was extreme.
And while I could manage [Famine] by quickly brushing past people, [Contempt] would kill a civilian the instant I brushed past them.
So, I released [Famine] that had been trapped in the bracelet and sealed [Contempt] inside it.
I’d have to go out again to make a new [Curse Collector Talisman] anyway, but until then, moving like this seemed somewhat better.
“The organizing is mostly done… then shall I try using it now?”
I lifted the book whose title had cleanly changed through deciphering.
–Yue Long Xia Shu (越龍下術)
A title that sounded like it came straight from a martial arts novel; I quite liked it.
[Upon use, you can acquire [Yue Long Xia Shu].]
[Will you use it?]
“I will.”
An affirmation shouted immediately.
But I couldn’t use it.
Instead of a message about perusing the record as before, a message that doused my inflated expectations appeared.
[Current permitted book use count is 0.]
“Ah.”
I had glossed over it then, but there had been such a mention when I used the first book.
That the remaining count was one.
“Then I can’t use it anymore?”
As if reacting to my muttering, the system kindly returned an answer.
[You can recharge available use count through the Forbidden Library’s Request.]
Fortunately, there was a way.
[Will you accept the request?]
I shouted affirmation, of course, and in response, a certain system window appeared.
But the contents were quite serious.
[The Forbidden Library’s Request]
–Clear a C-Rank Dungeon
–Time Limit: 168 Hours
–Death Upon Failure
Time limit, one week.
Failure means death.
The request, for me—who had barely reached E-Rank—to clear a C-Rank dungeon….
“Wow… fuck….”
I think I’m pretty fucked.