NOVEL WEB Chapter 23: Book.
Chapter 23: Book.
Levi thought he would live alone until winter ended. However, he is wrong; in front of him is a scarred-faced woman, Clara. Right now, she is eating food like she is possessed. And the bald, skinny middle-aged man, Otis, looks like someone who is supposed to be in the hospital. According to Clara, Otis is her teacher's peer who studies primitive magic.
"I am full; your cooking is great." Clara touches her stomach.
"I agreed; I have been eating a lot of food in the capital city." Otis is wary of Levi at first, but after eating his food, everything is fine. Even if Levi tries to poison him, he is immune to most poisons.
"Why do you return so quickly? What about your business?"
"It’s done here." Clara opens her leather-buckled shoulder bag and takes out a book.
"What is this?" After reading the title, Levi is shocked.
"It’s a magic book from Manofrea Magic Academy."
"Thank you." Levi appreciates Clara's kind gesture. Even if she has other intentions for doing this.
"Cook me a burger for dinner." Clara grin.
-
Inside a room, Levi begins to read the book from the magic academy.
"Oh, if I make these changes, I can gather the mana energy faster." He realizes something the longer he reads the book. The book is not for students; it’s a personal mage's book about magic.
Gavin, the author of this book, said he had failed to break through into the master rank. He is at the peak of the adept mage rank, the pseudo-master rank.
However, the book is not complete; it’s like Gavin forgot to update the book or left it unfinished. Levi can understand if it’s the latter because the author might want to leave the complete book for his descendants.
For Levi, this is enough since he can break through as long as he uses his ability. But he doesn’t realize that even with large mana energies, not everyone can reach the master rank.
Closing his eyes, he thinks about the mission, and a text appears in his mind.
[Mission: Survive in the unknown world.]
[Reward: Advance Magic Elements Manual.]
[Death point required: 5000 DP]
[Further detail will be added when the mission starts.]
[Death point collected: 902.23 DP]
The next mission is to survive in the unknown world, which means the next mission will be harder or that it will take him a long time to complete the mission. Levi prefers mana energy as the reward. Since he can’t choose the reward, the only way is to finish the mission and hope the next reward is better. But he doesn’t have enough death points.
"What if I start to learn blood manipulation?" Levi hates pain, even after experiencing it so many times. However, this is his last life, and he needs to increase his chase to survive.
-
Clara and Otis walk in the fortress courtyard. They notice several monsters, and humans stay motionless like puppets. After closer inspection, they are undead. Levi has already ordered the undead not to attack them.
"Is Levi a necromancer?" Otis asked. The necromancer is rare, just like the primitive magic mage. However, it is not strange that some mages like to experiment with dark magic in secret. Some kingdoms in the past even specialized in necromancy and created the largest undead army. In the end, they all fall victim to internal problems and enemy kingdoms.
Since then, humans and other races have been afraid of necromancy and dark magic. Because the civilians and soldiers that died will be resurrected as undead and continue fighting in an endless war.
"I don’t know; the first time I met him, I thought he was a monster tamer. After that, I found out he is also a mage and warrior."
"It’s great to learn many things, but it’s hard for him to go far if he doesn’t focus on one."
"Leave him be; are you going to stay here?"
"Since I already follow you, I will stay."
"Let me tell you early, we might go to Pondover Forest when winter ends."
"Why?"
"I don’t know; that is what Levi told me."
-
Time goes by, the orange and red leaves fall from the trees, and the snow begins to fall. After one night, the whole Pondover Forest and neighboring kingdoms are covered in white snow. The time is ticking, and the kingdoms bordered by Pondover Forest and other dangerous areas are preparing for the monster tide.
Cirean Kingdom border temporary army base The soldiers are wearing fur clothes to protect themselves from the cold weather. At a time like this, what is the use of being stingy? In the past, a greedy general embezzled money for fur clothes, and other war supplies. What happened next was disastrous. The soldiers freeze to death or can’t fight. With so many deaths, the general should be responsible. But what happened instead was that they found a scapegoat because the general is related to the duke.
Inside the large camp, the general is rubbing his forehead. Something is wrong; the palace still refuses to send a master rank. He even asked for help from his other noble friend to find out why. They are also baffled by the king's action. Because of that, he sent a message to the crown prince to ask for help, but there was no reply.
"Should I flee?" After contemplating the idea, the general dismissed it because the punishment for fleeing is death, and he doesn’t have time to move his family while he is at the border.
"Sir, we received a letter from the crown prince."
"Letter?" The general while reading his expression changes to a relief. With this, he can focus on defending the border. The crown prince will send a master to the border.
The general is still perplexed as to why the king doesn’t want to send the master rank in the first place.
-
Cirean Kingdom Palace. Inside a throne room, the noble and minister are tense except for the high-ranking noble and the crown prince. Because the king's attitude has become distant. Even the servant has reported that most of the time the king doesn’t want anyone to disturb him, including the royal family.
Sitting on the throne is a middle-aged man with a crown on his head. "Is there anything else?" The people inside the throne don’t say anything. "That is enough for today." Without looking back, the king leaves the throne room. Only when the king is far away from the throne room do all the nobles begin to talk to each other.
"What do you think?"
"You are right; the king has changed."
Most of the nobles usually stay in their territory. However, this time they came to the capital city to confirm something. While they are discussing in quiet voices, the crown prince walks toward them.
"Crown price." All the people near the crown prince greeted him.
"Don’t worry, we are almost done with the investigation. When the result comes, we will know the truth."
The royal family was the first to notice the changes. At first, they thought the king was exhausted because of the kingdom's problems. But the queen and royal mistress have begun to suspect that the king is a different person. The reason the king's imposter is still not being captured is to maintain the stability of the kingdom.
The king, when he returns to his room, is sweating and his hand is shaking. He had disguised himself as a king for a long time, and people had already begun to suspect him.
"No, I need to escape now." The nervous imposter quickly goes to the bookshelf, takes out one ordinary book, and puts it on the table. When the book opens, there is a black screen, not a page. After pressing the screen, a static image appears, and soon a man wearing civilian clothes appears.
"Why are you contacting us? It's not safe."
"I want to escape from the palace."
"Your mission is not finished."
"They already suspected me, and the king's royal guard is acting suspiciously."
"How is the plan?"
"I manage to stop them from sending master rank and delay some war supplies to the border. However, I don’t know if they request other help."
"It’s already enough; we will create chaos in the capital city tonight. At that time, escape."
After the discussion ended, the screen turned black. Before the imposter can stand up, a sword is already on his neck.
"Your majesty, please follow me."
When the imposter turns his head, he can see a man wearing black clothes gazing at him.
"I will follow your order; don’t kill me." The imposter quickly presses the book cover, and white smoke comes out and covers the entire room. When the smoke disappears, the imposter is already gone.
However, the man is calm, and after that, several black-clad people enter the room.
"Has our man followed the imposter?"
"Yes, we will wait for the signal for the ambush."
"Report this to the crown prince."