Second World

”Are you sure?” Jack asked. ”I donʼt believe if you said you have no desire for those tomes.”

”If I donʼt have enough power, these will just bring misfortunes,” Arlcard replied. ”Do you know the reason why the Maxius family was so keen on chasing after my vampire father after even a century had passed?”

”Because of these tomes?”

”The black one, to be exact. My vampire father stole it from the Maxius patriarch. They never explained what sin he had committed, did they?”

”No,” Jack shook his head.

Arlcard touched his fingers on the Book of the Damned, ”The ceremony my vampire father used to heal his wound came from this book. The ceremony required innocent blood, which was why the children were targeted. However, there was another crucial ingredient that my father lack to carry out the ceremony often, a blood-infused crystal.”

Arlcard took out the red-colored crystal that was on the altar before, indicating that this was the blood-infused crystal he was talking about. ”Each ceremony will consume one of these stones. The method to create this crystal is also recorded in this tome, but he needs one magic crystal to create one blood-infused crystal, and magic crystal is not something that comes easy.”

Jack knew the rarity. After all this time, he had only got himself on one, not including the ones given freely by Wilted Tree.

”That all changes when this divine tome arrives into this town,” Arlcard pointed to the Book of Creation.

Arlcard had mentioned a fool who came to this town two months ago, bringing something that ended up in Aubelardʼs hands, which sped up his healing process. So Arlcard was talking about this Book of Creation. Jack also remembered Wilted Treeʼs story about an outworlder who found this book but had carelessly allowed a native to steal it before the outworlder linked with the book. So this was where the Divine Treasure ended up.

”I have seen how treasures caused suffering to the people around them,” Arlcard continued. ”Unless I am powerful enough, I do not wish to get entangled with the mess. Take them away. I know you outworlders craved treasures more than anything else.”

Jack picked up the Book of the Damned. He observed it for a while then said, ”I will bring this back to the Maxius.”

”Why? That tome will surely be a valuable asset for you outworlders,” Arlcard said. ”You just need proof of my vampire fatherʼs location to complete your quest, right? You can bring back a lock of his hair or the ornamental crest he always carries with him. You will find it if you search his body. You can even bring back his whole body for that matter. Why do you want to throw away such a valuable treasure?”

”If I do that, the Maxius family will never stop searching for this tome. Which meant they will come to this town to search for it. They will find out about you and they will hunt you down. Giving them this tome meant peace for you and this town.”

Arlcardʼs eyes flashed a surprised glint, which turned to gratitude. He was silent as he stared at this outworlder. He did think about such a possibility. In fact, after finishing returning the deceased children to their families, he planned to leave this town for good and find asylum somewhere else. He never thought this outworlder would be willing to let go of a treasure for something that brought himself no benefit.

Jack stored the Book of the Damned. He then picked up the Book of Creation. ”Are you really sure about this?” Jack asked again.

Arlcard didnʼt reply. He instead pointed to one of the openings on the wall. ”That way will lead you to the secret exit at the graveyard, which you entered partway before encountering the draugr. You can go back to town via there.”

Jack nodded and asked, ”By the way, what are you going to say to the villagers when you bring back the deceased children?”

”The truth,” Arlcard replied.

”If you donʼt mind, I advise against that,” Jack said.

Arlcard gave Jack a questioning look.

”While it might be noble to let everyone know the truth. It serves no purpose. Even if you tell them that you helped in taking Aubelard down, they will still hold you responsible for being related to Aubelard. People in grief and rage hardly listen to reason. I propose you tell them that these were all done by a beast or an outsider vampire. You can show the townsfolk Aubelardʼs body, they donʼt recognize him anyway, just donʼt tell them he is Count Dante, your father. Inform them instead that Count Dante fell in the effort of taking down this vampire. Itʼs a good thing Charlene is unconscious the whole time, so the only one who knows the truth is only me, you, and Jonathan.”

Arlcard made a frown hearing that, ”I find it a bit much to let this vile devil receive the honor of being remembered as a good man in this town.”

”Count Dante is, Aubelard is not. Since count Dante is not real, it makes no difference,” Jack said. ”Itʼs up to you. Iʼm just saying my piece. Whatever you decide is up to you. If you agree with me, I can persuade Jonathan to go along with this story.”

”No, I will talk to him myself if I decided so,” Arlcard said. He then turned and headed to the room with the deceased children. Jonathan was still inside there.

Peniel came to Jack after Arlcard left, Charlene trailing behind. ”That is a beautiful book,” the little girl said.

”He gave you the book?” Peniel asked with surprise.

”Yeah… I canʼt link with this, right?” Jack asked.

”You can if you have a death wish,” Peniel replied.

”I guess I will give this to Jeanny or John. What does this book do anyway? This is one of the two divine treasures that you say bestow no combat ability, right? Like the Chalice of Space possessed by Master.”

”Yes. This is the divine treasure of the light element. The one who has this book can copy anything as long as they are not an artifact or another divine treasure.”

”Copy? Anything?”

”Yes.”

”Even legendary grade items?”

”As long as they are not categorized as an artifact. Of course, you still have to give something in return. This Book of Creation accepts payment in the form of mana cores. The higher the grade the more mana cores required. In other words, if you have a ton load of mana cores, you can copy almost anything.”

”Even legendary weapons?”

”Iʼm not going to repeat myself!” Peniel rebuked.

”This means that if I get any high-grade equipment. I can copy them. Hey, if I copy enough numbers of super rare equipment, I can then fuse them with my Transformation Prism. With these two items, I have a sure way to get unique equipment without having to rely on lucky drops!”

”I must applaud you for figuring that out. However, although your theory is wonderful, it is not applicable. Do you think it is cheap to use this Book of Creationʼs ability? I did say if you have a ton load of mana cores. How many do you have at this moment?”

”Um… Four hundred twenty…”

”Well, with that number, I say you can copy one piece of super rare grade equipment.”

”O–One…?”

”One,” Peniel affirmed. ”Now, do you see how farcical your idea is?”

”Well, that just means I need to collect more mana cores,” Jack did not let go of the idea.

”I praise your optimism,” Peniel said. ”There is a better use of that book other than copying equipment, you know.”

Jack thought for a second before saying, ”the magic crystal?” Aubelard had been using the book to copy the same thing and Jack just got one himself. If he used the book, he didnʼt need to run around hoping more of this material to drop.

”Yes. The number of mana cores required to copy materials is generally less than equipment. Still, even with your current mana cores, you can only copy two magic crystals.”

Jack nodded. He stored the Book of Creation. He would discuss with Jeanny and John later about how best to use this divine treasure.

Arlcard and Jonathan were still in the other room. Jack decided to take Charlene and leave first through the way Arlcard mentioned earlier.

On the way, Jack studied his exp bar. He had received a huge exp after killing both Aubelard and Ephiltes. Although a large portion of Aubelardʼs HP was not dealt by Jack, he had dealt the killing blow, so he still got a large portion of the exp. While for Ephiltes, he didnʼt deliver the killing blow, but Jonathan who did was under his command, so he still got the exp benefit.. His Archer class which was set to receive all exp had jumped up seven levels to level 24.

😉