The Villain's Story

Chapter 843: The Knowledge within the Darkness(3).

”Do not.”

Sabrina declared firmly.

Maxwell and Alan barely managed to suppress their laughter as Sabrina sat across from them, head down in embarrassment. Emma watched from the railing of the second floor, confused as to what was going on.

”Don’t you dare.”

She repeated, but still, even if Alan could contain his laughter, mainly because he didn’t want to make her mad. Maxwell wasn’t the same.

”Buha!”

A while ago, a few ’inquisitors’ had appeared at the mansion, holding Sabrina in chains. They had explained she had ’stolen’ Alan’s medallion and attempted to access the forbidden parts of the library.

Alan’s medallion could grant access, but as Sabrina had guessed, it had ancient magic inscribed onto it that was directly linked to Alan Peccator. She was lucky, actually. Very lucky.

Even though most of the species under the reign of the House of Death were still unaware they had a potential heir, the higher-ranked members were not the same. They knew of Lanesha’s son, and it appeared as if his identification medallion was stolen to guarantee entry to the most secure halls of knowledge.

It sent... quite a lot of alarm bells. Sabrina had barely escaped with her life, for if anyone who wasn’t in Alan’s party had done it, furthermore, her own medallion had her identity as Azmakul’s student.

She was spared precisely because of two dragons, her boyfriend and her teacher... and she was lucky, insanely lucky

And ashamed, after all... She knew that this had a high chance of happening, but the allure of it all had overshadowed her caution. Her domain was reacting to it, and she felt like she had to answer.

She did the stupidest thing imaginable, and what was worse? She was perfectly aware that it could happen.

It was why she sprawled on the floor as if she had no bones, muttering to herself with a face of pure shame.

”I can’t believe I thought that would work... I’m not Alan... Am I?”

”Hey, why am I getting dragged into this?”

”Because this is something that you would do...”

She stood up all of a sudden, approached Alan, and pinched his cheeks as she stared right into his soul.

”Am I turning into you? Huh? You got a little smarter, and I’m becoming dumber? Is this normal between couples?

”I don’t think so?”

”It must be. ARGH!”

She screamed in despair, letting him go, and sprawled back on the floor again.

”This is a taint on my record... this trip is ruining my mind...”

As she went on and on about her mistakes, Alan turned to Maxwell, hoping he could calm her down.

”Why are you looking at me? She’s right; she isn’t normally that dumb. You’re rubbing off on her.”

”...”

”Thats right!”

Alan sighed; the blame had come on himself. It couldn’t be; even he didn’t think he would do something like that... surely. Nonetheless, what was done was done. The inquisitors had delivered her back to the mansion and handed Alan’s medallion to him.

He looked at his medallion, engraved with the crest of House Shivalkulan. An idea popped up in his mind.

He looked at Sabrina and said.

”I can take you there. If this thing can allow me access, I can just say you’re with me, can’t I? Considering how much the inquisitors respected me and what I am, they should allow it?”

He turned to look at his medallion once more and muttered.

”Besides, I want to go at the deepest level too. I think I can find something useful there.”

Maxwell turned to look at Alan and slowly nodded.

”Yeah, both of you are rubbing on each other.”

As Sabrina heard this, she immediately got up and looked at Alan with drool running down her mouth.

”Really?!”

She pulled him by his collar back and forth and ended it with a solemn hug.

”When are we leaving?”

Alan, blushing from the contact, muttered.

”Soon.”

He didn’t mind leaving as soon as possible, but he would prefer if he got something to eat before departing. However, he did have an interest in visiting the library.

The lower layers likely held some sort of clues, and if it meant he could get more affection from Sabrina, why wouldn’t he do it? At this point, as she rubbed her cheek on his, he was getting more fired up to go as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to eat in this world. The residents mostly enjoyed bread and milk, and they had run out of ingredients a while ago. Therefore, Alan cried inwardly as he departed for the Central Church, with Sabrina in tow.

He really wanted to eat some meat, but it seems he would have to wait until he got out of this world. If he was still on Lanekia, or even the Realm of Shadows... a quick portal would have solved the problem.

----

The first layer of the library held all the common knowledge, from the history of the major species and every written work there was in the Alliance, as well as some works from the Dragon Empire and the Clan of God Beasts. It was all the knowledge the Church of Darkness had deemed normal and what the average mind could handle. Because of the long history of the universe and the vast amount of species that inhabited it, those blessed with knowledge or not, it was large. Massive.

Instead of a massive library where one couldn’t see the end no matter the degree of optical enhancement used, it was instead composed of reading rooms, where the reader could merely put in the request of what they wanted to read.

From fictional novels to historical texts. Everything that the common mind could handle was present here. The second layer, smaller than the first, delved deeper into this topic.

The most famous works of their time, those that even surpassed them, and information on the most trivial of historical events. The degree of knowledge in the second layer was merely a tier higher than the first.

It followed the same format as the first, however. Likely because of the sheer size of the knowledge. It was the third layer where the scale seemed to go lower. The third was specialized knowledge for the forces of the Church of Darkness.

It held details of every known planet, the exact amount of military strength, and delved deep into the first comings of the Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Dark Elves, and and Duerger. It held the events of the first epochs of every species that had made themselves known in the Alliance and the universe. Furthermore, it also delved deep into magic, martial arts, and techniques, and even stepped into the realms of transcendence.

Unlike the first two layers, which were mostly filled with useless knowledge and works of fiction, the third held truth. Every piece of work that the Church of Darkness deemed ’useful’ and capable of use by beings below the realms of transcendence, or even beginning to step into the realm of transcendence.

It dived into the specifics of every planet and the specifics of every species and their specialties from the perspective of politics, combat potential, and the like. It was a treasure trove of actually useful knowledge that was a benefit to have.

However, even then, it was still gargantuan. It was the fourth layer that resembled an actual library one would find on Earth, albeit a few times bigger than the biggest one there. The fourth held materials solely above the layer of transcendence.

It did not deal with the knowledge those below Epic would find helpful. It was a trove of transcendental knowledge tailored to fit epic, legendary, and mythical beings, and even some divine knowledge. Not a single martial art, magic, or anything related to combat present here could be regarded as weak.

All the knowledge here came from beings who had stepped into the transcendental realm, their experiences, their insights, and more. It had detailed accounts of every being who had stepped into the realm of transcendence, as well as forbidden knowledge that the Church of Darkness deemed ’dangerous.’

It also delved deep into the history of the Abyssal Realms, the Celestial Realm, and the important worlds of the Dragons and the God Beasts. Any piece of work in the fourth layer was an extremely rare find in the outside world. It held everything of value.

The fourth held all the secrets that the Church of Darkness had tried their best to uncover and contained actual guides to step into the realm of transcendence, whether it be Epic, Legendary, or Mythical. Alan had grabbed a few of these guides as well, storing them into his inventory.

He was sure they wouldn’t mind.

It contained complete knowledge of these three realms and was only available to the highest ranking military officers of the Church of Darkness, high-ranking members of the House of Death, or the high priestesses of the Church.

It contained the most important information that the Church had been busy collecting and verifying since its creation. Furthermore, it was only later that Sabrina found out that she was granted access here only because her medallion showed that she was Azmakul’s student.

Any other member of the party would have been denied access. It came as a surprise to Sabrina as well.

The fourth was basically the end, classified knowledge that the empires of the universe tried to secure... but the library held two more layers.

So what was the knowledge that even the fourth layer was too safe for be?