NOVEL WEB chapter 26
Chapter 26: The True Purpose of the Black Book
The strength of a late-stage first-tier warrior does not provide Mu En with a sufficient sense of security, for just like when he faced the assassin earlier, aside from allowing him to run fast enough to shield Celicia from harm, it was utterly useless.
“The protagonist’s strength as a warrior should only be late-stage first tier as well.”
“But she can use magic! She has divine blessings! And various items!”
“Now, if she encounters a purely magical mage or a purely martial warrior, fighting across two tiers probably wouldn’t be a problem!”
Thinking this way, Mu En increasingly felt the vast gap between himself and the protagonist, Ariel.
—In the original book, Mu En Campbell was able to exert his influence over the protagonist for those twenty chapters simply because of his noble status!
……
After thinking for a moment, Mu En added one last line to the paper, after “become stronger.”
→ Face the protagonist, Ariel, and be able to protect himself.
“This is my ultimate goal for now.”
Mu En didn’t believe he could surpass Ariel, so he settled for a compromise. Since the conflict between him and the protagonist couldn’t be resolved for the time being, he at least wanted to ensure that he could withstand Ariel’s retaliation without losing his life.
But even this was incredibly difficult to achieve.
Having read the original book, he knew all too well what kind of formidable character Ariel was.
After all, she was the protagonist of a “Feng Ao Tian” novel; if she wasn’t impressive, how could she possibly be so arrogant?
“Ordinary methods definitely won’t work; I need to find other means!”
……
……
Mu En took out the black book once more.
After thinking it over, the only thing that could possibly serve as his “cheat” was this book, which usually just wrote his diary automatically and occasionally made him have unreliable prophetic dreams.
Moreover, Mu En had once again discovered some of its unusual traits.
“The evil god flames that the assassin obtained through the ritual—there’s no way that even a powerful defensive magic artifact could withstand them! You must have done something!”
Mu En caressed the mysterious black book, murmuring softly.
“And at that time, I did indeed sense your disturbance.”
“If you have any other functions, please show them to me!”
Mu En opened the black book again.
The black book was no longer the unreadable tome it had been when he first opened it; now it was filled with dense records of Mu En’s experiences.
From the moment he acquired the black book until now, every detail was meticulously documented, even the incident with Celicia was recorded in great detail.
“Damn it, why does it feel like I’m reading a dirty book, and I’m the protagonist in this dirty book?”
Mu En cursed under his breath and skipped over that part of the narrative.
Then he finally noticed something different.
“The text here is red.”
The entire black book was filled with black text, but when it came to the record of the assassin who attacked Celicia, the words “assassin” were a blood-red color.
“Why? Is there something different about it?”
Mu En pondered, and then his fingers instinctively rested on those two crimson letters.
Suddenly, the red text emitted a tremendous allure, as if it were pulling at Mu En’s very soul.
Before he could even scream, everything went dark, and he lost consciousness.
……
“What’s going on? Where am I?”
Mu En stood up from the ground, a look of confusion on his face.
Just a moment ago, he had been in his own room, and now he found himself in a strange place.
Surrounded by darkness, he could see nothing.
“No, it’s not dark.”
Mu En looked down at his hands.
The fact that he could see himself meant that the surroundings were not truly dark.
The illusion of darkness was due to the black background here.
Black walls, black floor, black ceiling.
Even the boundaries between them were indistinguishable, as if he were standing in a fog.
“Could it be, this is the space from the black book?”
“But what use is it here? A storage room?”
As Mu En pondered this, he suddenly heard a strange sound.
Clack.
It was like the sound of a maid from the duke’s household walking on marble floors in her leather shoes.
Mu En raised his head.
Unconsciously widening his eyes, he revealed a look of horror.
Because not far from him, a figure was approaching.
A person dressed as a maid.
It was unmistakably the uniform of the duke’s maid, which explained why the footsteps sounded exactly the same.
But the problem was, the maid’s face…
It was that assassin.
“How could this be? Didn’t you die?”
And why were they here?
The assassin did not answer.
They simply lifted their face, revealing a gaze as cold as machinery.
A chill suddenly flashed through Mu En’s heart.
But before he could react, he felt a blur before his eyes.
The assassin vanished.
The assassin reappeared.
Just like when he assassinated Celicia, in an instant, an inexplicable distance was crossed between the two.
Then… a flash of cold light passed by.
Mu En felt a chill rise on his neck.
The world spun around him.
The last thing Mu En saw was the bloodied dagger in the assassin’s hand, and… a headless corpse.
……
……
“What the hell!”
Mu En jolted awake from his desk.
Due to his sudden movement, he accidentally knocked over the chair, causing him to lose balance and fall to the ground.
However, he paid no attention to the slight pain and instead kept feeling around his neck with both hands.
“Thank goodness, thank goodness, my head is still there.”
Mu En let out a sigh of relief.
He almost thought he had really kicked the bucket again.
“So that just now… was it my dream?”
No, that’s not right; it wasn’t a dream.
The sensation of death still lingered on the skin of Mu En’s neck, making it impossible for any dream to feel that real.
Mu En got up and looked again at the black book.
The black book remained in place, the bright red characters spelling “Assassin” were strikingly eye-catching, carrying an inexplicable allure.
“Could it be that…”
Mu En suddenly had a guess.
But confirming this guess required practice.
So he reached out his hand again, wanting to touch the red characters.
Only, his hand trembled a bit.
Even though there had been no pain from the quickness just now, the taste of death was not something easily borne.
“Damn it, I’ve died more than once or twice already, what am I afraid of?”
Mu En suddenly steeled himself and slammed his trembling hand down.
……
In the black space, just like that time, the assassin in the maid outfit stood there.
Her appearance, movements, expressions, and even her strength were no different from what Mu En remembered.
But her expression was icy, not like that of a living person.
“Sure enough, she is not the assassin herself, but a record constructed by the Black Book, just like my own records.”
“This record is more detailed, more real, and one could even say… it’s almost indistinguishable from the real person!”
Looking at the assassin, Mu En seemed to understand everything, and a somewhat morbid excitement crept onto his face.
“I think I understand the true function of the Black Book now.”