Ryo closed the library doors before teleporting to the core of the dungeon, standing right beside the almanac that had formed from the inception of this Library Dungeon. The pages flipped quickly to what was undoubtedly his favourite section, the Compendium. It had handily named itself that too.
{Summonable Monsters}
{Your DP - 31}
- Goblin - 80% Normal, 20% Glittery - 3 DP
– 50% Bronze, 30% Silver, 10% Gold, 5% Red, 3% Blue, 2% Black
- Glasya-Labolas - 70 DP
- Glasya - 20 DP
- Labolas - 20 DP
- Walleye - 5 DP
- Umichron - 30 DP
- Achron - 1 DP
– 50% Horned, 50% Not Horned
- Hollowkind - 450 DP
Ryo looked at his options, debating on if he wanted to spend his DP so early on in his dungeon ownership days. 'I could buy ten Goblins, and be pretty much guaranteed two of those glittery ones. Two bronze Goblins would be a devious force, but then again, unless they underwent significant evolution through fighting, they wouldn't be tall enough to do anything but fight.' Ryo admitted, deciding against the Goblins for the moment. All the other options had some potential as well, but Ryo kept looking back at the Hollowkind. It was Human-like, and, if it was summoned under him, would be loyal. However, he was way too poor at the moment for something like that.
Ryo teleported up to the top of the staircase, deciding to walk up the smaller helical staircase up to the bedroom that he had found upon his first entry. Walking up it gave him a bit of time to think. 'What happens when stronger adventurers find this place, seeing a Human, a Demon and a Monster teamed up? Will it be cause for "extermination", as the Guild so lovely labels quests that involve killing.' Ryo asked himself, his hands reaching the door.
'So what? What do I care? Humanity hasn't been able to achieve its full potential for two hundred years due to their incessant desire to kill Demons and take their land. Despite the fact that we are many echelons weaker, they keep trying. Have they truly forgotten about their magical past?' Ryo continued, opening the door. He saw Inquisax sitting on the edge of the bed, scribbling something into the pages. "So, what're you writing?" Ryo asked, leaning against the open door. Inquisax slowly placed the notebook on the bed, standing and stretching his back.
"Nothing of your concern, Ryo. Don't worry, nothing horrific." Inquisax replied, walking over to him. "Any reason for why you're up here? Matter of fact, why did you use the door instead of teleporting?" He asked, confused.
"Just respecting your privacy. I didn't know if you were in here or not, but since you are, I have a question." Ryo explained, walking over to that lantern he had seen earlier, the eternal flame still flickering. "I know that this was owned by a Demon, but wasn't the technology for this found by a Utopian researcher, and applied specifically in the castle?" Ryo questioned.
"Oh, this thing? Us Demons have had fire sources like this for at least five hundred years ago. I'm willing to bet that the researcher that "discovered" it made some form of deal with a Demon. Probably had his body modified in some way. Demons tend to like that as a form of payment, as some find great joy in tormenting and transfiguring Humans." Inquisax told him, picking up the lantern. "It's quite a primitive design too. Probably made by the previous owner, as it was here when I last resided here."
Ryo heard a banging noise coming from the front of the library, shocking both himself and Inquisax. They teleported to the desk, noticing the sound was definitely coming from outside the doors. Ryo could almost hear the sound of someone yelling, but since the doors were closed, he couldn't make anything out. So, to fix that, Ryo slowly opened the doors using Psychokinesis, trying not to scare anyone on the other side.
"God, I thought you guys were going to keep me locked out forever." A familiar voice complained, floating inside the building while holding a book about magic. Kyren had returned with her book. "This thing is way too complex for me. Have you got anything simpler?" She asked, placing the book beside Ryo's more advanced copy.
"Hmm…" Ryo murmured, still unfamiliar with the amount of books in this library. After all, it was a massive area, with, at the very least, two hundred thousand different books. "I don't know, let me check." He said, teleporting to the magic section of the library, right behind the counter. He quickly trawled through the books, attempting to find one that would suitably work for Kyren.
Finally, he found one. A book titled "Demon Magic For Dummies: How To Learn Demon Magic In The Simplest Ways". Ryo couldn't believe his eyes when he saw it, finding it somewhat insulting, but it was perfect for this. He teleported back to his desk, placing the book down in front of him. "Does this work?" Ryo asked, pulling out the large logbook with "Loans" on it.
He went to the entry with Kyren's loan of "Magical Mayhem: Maniacal Spells For All Demons To Know" and left a tick beside it to showcase that it had been returned. As he was doing that, he heard Kyren provide a noise of approval, so he also wrote down "Demon Magic For Dummies: How To Learn Demon Magic In The Simplest Ways" with her name beside it.
"Yep, I'll take this one!" Kyren told him, flapping her translucent wings with vigor. "This one seems a whole lot easier, even if it's going to take longer." She told him, floating away with the book. The second she left the library, Ryo saw a now-familiar text in his peripheral vision.
[You have obtained 1 DP!]
"Thirty-two Defence Points. I'm not even a tenth of the way to summoning a Hollowkind, but that's alright. I'll keep pushing on until I can." Ryo said to himself, thinking about what he should do next. He didn't want to delve into Aragoth's dungeon for a while, and as he stood there contemplating his choices, he felt a breeze brush against his chest.
His clothes were tattered and in bits. "I need new clothes." Ryo admitted, teleporting out of the Dungeon and into the Utopian capital of Eilera. While he would've rathered going to a Hyandean shop, there was one particular place that sold decent, cheap clothing. Kevin had introduced him to the place while buying him his robe.
Ryo appeared outside a relatively small shop named "Armond's". 'Armond is the name of the owner, if I remember correctly.' Ryo reminded himself, walking into the shop that could have easily been mistaken for someone's house. He expected the smell of fabric to fill the air, but nothing like it reached him.
He looked around, taking a look at a wide variety of clothes similar to his own, just in different colours. A person standing behind the counter gave him a nod, but said nothing. They left Ryo to his own decisions.
Ryo took a gander at some of the clothes there, and set his eyes on a perfect outfit. Something plain and simple. A black shirt, brown pants, and a brown jacket. It was somewhat stylish, being simple in colour, and wouldn't draw any real attention to himself. Ryo brought the items up to the counter, paying only four small silver coins for all of them. That was just a little bit more than a mug of cider. He put on his new clothes, deciding to buy a second of each item. Just in case this pair got destroyed in some form of combat.
'Thinking about combat, do I need a staff?' Ryo asked himself as he walked out of the shop. 'Honestly, I don't think I do. All these Demon spells rely on you pushing mana throughout your body, not your staff or anything like it, so it'd only help when I'm casting Human magic.' Ryo reasoned with himself, teleporting back to his library. He had gotten more brazen with his teleports recently, as he hadn't even bothered to check if anyone was near.
He teleported into his chair, picking up his magic book, deciding to flick to page two hundred and two, the page right after the Theoretical Advancements skill.
[Conceptual Magic Sub (Daughter) Spell]
'Echo Of Nothingness'
'Echo Of Nothingness: The ability to create a void where concepts cannot take hold. An empty zone where nothing can "mean" or "become" anything.'
'This spell allows one to prevent reality from happening inside a limited area.'
'In order to learn this spell, you must empty your mind of all emotions and thoughts. Visage a blank void, one where not even light can penetrate. Inside this area, no magic may be cast, and people may not move, other than the caster. All they can do is watch. Time passes normally, but all bodily functions cease. Blood freezes mid-fall, sweat beads to the skin.'
'Once this is imagined, pour mana into your hand and eyes. Place your hand in front of your face, palm face sideways so that you are staring at the side of your index finger. Pour mana from your eyes, staring at your finger, and it shall be divided in two. This will create a twenty-metre radius hemisphere of "Nothingness", which is the 'Echo Of Nothingness' spell.'
Ryo read that, his eyes opening wide with surprise. He could understand how it worked, due to the Theoretical Advancement skill, but the fact it did something like that was actually diabolical. Did he want to try it? Absolutely.
Ryo closed his eyes, imagining a fully black space, which was decently hard, considering his mind kept wanting to think about books. However, after about thirty seconds, his mind cleared, and all he could imagine was darkness. He ran mana into his right hand and his eyes, still keeping them closed as he brought his hand up to his face, palm to the left.
His eyes opened wide, but nothing happened. Ryo blinked, feeling the mana well up behind his eyes. His eyes flicked back to the book, reading the instructions again, but he had followed everything correctly. His eyes had mana behind them, as did his hands, and his mind was as empty as could be. Why wasn't it working?
Ryo felt a drop of black ichor dribble from his tear duct, all the mana in his body contained in that single tear-shaped drop of mana. His body grew weak, his legs refusing to listen to him anymore. His head hit the table in front of him, knocking him out cold. His breath grew shallow, yet never stopped. His mind remained empty, not a single thought running through his conscious or unconscious mind.
Ryo woke up about three hours later, a ringing pain in his head and a lack of air in his lungs. His vision was blurry for a second as he stood up, grasping the table like it was the lifeline that would save him from death. "De… definitely… not doing… that again… for… a while…" Ryo said while panting, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.
'How do Demons learn stuff like that?!' Ryo asked himself, flicking back to the "Regular Tier" levels of magic. He checked the Index, which he forgot books like this could have, and read the labels underneath Regular Tier.
"Mental… Boost… Utility… Observation And Communication…" Ryo read, taking a quick glance at Boost magic. He didn't bother looking at the short summary, as he could very easily tell what it was going to be about, but he wanted to at least look at one of the spells for it.
[Boost Magic Canopy Spell / Parent Spell]
'Boost Veins'
'Boost Veins: The boosting of the veins inside the caster's body. This improves blood flow and mana circulation, allowing for more efficient mana use.'
'This spell is the basis for all magic that involves the enhancement of your own skills and those of the people around you. Only people who have learned this spell can benefit from it, as this directly infuses the veins of the caster with mana.'
'To perform Boost Veins, you must imagine your blood as a newfound mana circuit. Push mana throughout each and every vein in your body. This works best if you can overload your veins' normal mana capacity, as it provides a significant boost unlike if you are incapable of doing so.'
Ryo closed his eyes, much like how he did with Echo Of Nothingness, but this time, he took a deep breath, imagining mana coursing through his body. Not concentrated in any specific spot, but as if it was energy to be used, blood yet to begin its flow. He pushed mana forward, a surge of energy coating his veins in a newfound heat. Blood pumped faster, his heart beating with a new, quickened rhythm, but he didn't feel like he was going to die. His heart was beating for a reason, and that reason was to learn.
Ryo looked around, debating on what he wanted to do as he slowly brought his heart rate down to normal levels, stopping the mana flowing around his body. He had clothes, a new spell, thirty-two Defence Points. He did still have more spells to look at, but he himself could admit that learning all these spells so soon would be a bit insane.
He looked around the library, seeing Aragoth reading a book about how to properly raise a Goblin, as well as the over two hundred thousand books that laid there, it seemed like an almost monumental task to read all of these. You'd want to be a Demon, with the lifespan of one as well, to read everything.
'Maybe I can ask Clone about why it's so hard to learn spells like Echo Of Nothingness?' Ryo asked himself, deciding to go test his theory. He sat down on his throne, closing his eyes. A small nap might bring him to Clone, and if it did, that'd be quite useful for the future.
"Hello, Ryo." A familiar voice told him. "So, new spells, huh? You sure know how to keep my life interesting, don't you?"
"I didn't even know I had fallen asleep, Clone. Time to get to business."