She ignored the buzzing of the crystal and reached for the book.
At first, she put her hand on it and used her heavenly essence to envelope the object.
Although she is just a Category 1 and can't control the heavenly essence outside of her body, it doesn't mean that she cannot perform basic functions like this.
A navy blue energy covered the book, soaking it in its purity.
After a while, Lilith cut off the flow of the heavenly essence. Hmm... There's nothing suspicious about it, I think it isn't a problem to take a look.
Its leather cover didn't have any title or something to signify what was inside it, so she had to read it.
Her brother busied himself with the furniture, and she opened the book to look at its contents.
She flipped the cover and observed the first page.
[Tome 3 of The Dragonblight's Legacy.]
Lilith tilted her head. Legacy?
After reading the text, she looked down at a paragraph. The book was written in Aetherian, so she had no problem understanding it.
[This is a highly confidential property of the Dragonblight family of the Draconic Empire. It mustn't be shared with outsiders or those of the family not permitted to be in possession of it. If you have come across this as an outsider, notify the family immediately. Any breaches or violations of the rules shall be punished with death.]
Reading that ominous threat, she curved her lips slightly and shamelessly went to the next page. Not only am I reading this, but I've killed its owner. Come get me, bitch. I would like to kill more reptiles...
The next page was a boring set of rules and stupid threats that she couldn't give a fuck about, so she just went to the next page.
[Chapter 1: Rank 1 Ascension]
[There are many methods to ascend to a Rank 1 Heavenly Ascender, but the standard one is the most reliable and trustworthy. To shed your mortal shell and become a Heavenly Ascender, creating a Heavenly Core is the...]
It looked like it was a guidebook of sorts, belonging to the heritage of a powerful family. To save time and confirm whether this thing was worth stealing, she skipped a few pages.
[Rank 1 Spells]
[Fire Pathway:
...]
Her eyebrows perked up in surprise. It seems that it wasn't just a simple guidebook, it had spells as well.
For each spell, a complex diagram was drawn and explained. It described how to successfully invoke the spell, the required flow of heavenly essence, the timing of the activation of a certain area in the pathway... and much more.
She ignored the spell for now and flipped faster through the thick book.
[Mind Pathway:
...]
[Storm Pathway:
...]
Lilith was somewhat taken aback, there were spells of two other Pathways. She didn't expect this book to have more than one.
But even when she reached the end of the Rank 1 Spells, the book was far from completed.
She had a suspicion on her mind, and she flipped to the next page to confirm it.
[Chapter 2: Rank 2 Ascension]
Just like I thought...
The book now was more valuable than she had initially thought.
As she expected, this chapter was just like the earlier ones. It contained information about how to advance to a Rank 2, as well as Rank 2 Spells of the same three Pathways that she had read.
Which also meant...
She flipped through the second chapter.
[Chapter 3: Rank 3 Ascension]
Nodding to herself in satisfaction, Lilith opened her bag and put the book there, she would read it later in a safer place.
"Although you are a Calamity of the Soul Pathway, and not a Heavenly Ascender of the mentioned Pathways, this book is still valuable..."
Lilith looked up at Noah, even though it appeared that he was observing the bookshelves at the side, it seemed like his focus was still with her. Right... He isn't really in the material world...
Her brother looked back at her, a little more serious.
"... Too valuable, even. Lily, the background of the man that you had killed isn't simple. He isn't comparable to the countless other soldiers that you had slain... You must be careful, not all families hand out their legacy without too much worrying about losing it."
She thought for a few moments, then nodded to him.
"Un, they wouldn't want to risk their most valuable inheritance that easily... Which means that this book isn't that special. They just don't want it to be spread publicly with zero control."
Noah approved of her deduction.
"Yes, and if this book has Rank 3 Spells and isn't considered to be their most valuable asset... It means that they have at least a Rank 4 Heavenly Ascender in their faction."
Lilith frowned. She didn't even know that Rank 4 existed, she only knew of Rank 3...
"Rank 4? Noah, is it the highest Rank?"
Her brother, at her question, sighed helplessly.
"I'm not sure myself... I heard rumors of Rank 5, but I must admit that I'm ignorant regarding the possibility of something higher than a Rank 4."
She felt somewhat troubled, she is only a Category 1 Calamity, it is still a long way to be up to par with Rank 3 and 4.... Much less something higher.
Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz!
The crystal continued buzzing, the caller insistent on having contact.
She had to go now, it turned out that staying longer wasn't that wise.
With those thoughts, she went to the drawer and opened it. Valeric had given her a healing potion from there before, so there must be some other things.
She reached for it and pulled out a crimson whip. It had a flow of heavenly essence inside it.
Lilith felt great to find a crafted item, but her happiness was soon turned into a scowl as she injected her heavenly essence inside.
It wasn't a problem with the weapon itself, it's just that...
She felt that there was a foreign heavenly essence residing inside it, possibly a tracker.