'Where have I heard this name before' Aurum wondered.
[DING! When host was still a delusional young child, you looked up at many different books and searched up the internet on how to get forbidden powers]
'AHHH! STOP IT! SYSTEM DON'T BRING BACK THE PAST!' for Aurum his past was a taboo topic. He wouldn't let anyone talk about his past especially that topic.
Aurum, who was still pleading the system to stop, tried to step in the library but halted due to the system again.
[DING! Host's current level will go back to 0 and all skills and abilities will be lost. However, host can use 95% of your CP to negate this effect.
Would you like to spend your CP YES OR NO?]
'WHAT?! 95% of my CP? System are you trying to scam me? At the moment I got 28,000,000 CP. So if I accept system's offer then he would take about 26,600,000? Damn.... This better be worth it' Aurum reluctantly agreed.
The moment he stepped inside the library, he felt that he was completely robbed off except for his clothes. Dmitri who was exhausted, watched Aurum go through the library without stopping.
'I'm not dreaming am I? He went into the library right? Why didn't his power reduced at all? Even minor gods would get their power reduced if they stepped in the library' Dmitri was shocked that his jaw was even dropping.
When the ancient gods were still fighting off against the current gods, they would enter this library to uncover all of the secrets that was kept from them. However, when they enter the library, all ancient gods had their power reduced massively that it would look like they were a gifted one. This was one of the reasons why the ancient gods were defeated during that time.
======================================================
At the gods realm, they couldn't find Aurum when he was still at the temple. This made all of the gods frantic as they won't know what he would be doing. However, after Aurum stepped foot outside the temple, all gods immediately locked their perception onto him so that they wouldn't lose sight of him the next time he vanishes. Therefore, they all felt relieved once they have done what they did.
Moreover, when they saw Aurum heading towards Index Librorum Prohibitorum, they all felt happy except for one god.
"NO! THAT HUMAN MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO GO INSIDE THAT LIBRARY!" the Almighty One's hand smashed the table while shouting frantically.
"Almighty One, calm down!" Zeus tried to talk to him.
"CALM DOWN?! HOW CAN I CALM DOWN?!" Almighty One's eyes were practically bloodshot at the moment.
"What's the worst thing that could happen? Besides, if he enters your forbidden library, his power would get reduced no? So why panic?" Odin asked while being confused.
"You don't understand! I don't care if it was before the war of the ancient gods but now that it happened, all of the places where the ancient gods were sealed will be revealed to him. Moreover, every single thing in there is recorded including our weaknesses, how we destroyed everything, our children, and how we got to our current position! If he knows all of that, even if his powers are taken away, what if he tells that Celestial Being what he saw in there?!" he explained to them indignantly.
"It's fine! Look, we can just kill the Celestial Being by ourselves and when that brat gets out, we can finish him up too y'know?" Odin said somewhat carefree.
When the Almighty One heard that, he felt a little bit of relief but he still can't shake the feeling that everything is not going according to plan. When they saw Dmitri opening up the seal, Zeus and Odin looked at the Almighty One with astonishment. They never imagined that the Almighty One was so powerful that he could create a rather complex seal. However, they were similarly shocked too at the methods that Dmitri used to open up the library. As far as they saw, even both of them would not be able to unseal it with that short amount of time.
When they saw Aurum heading towards the library, they immediately sent a notice to all gods.
"Today is the day we will kill that human! When he enters the library, his powers would be diminished. First we will kill that Celestial Being at his side and when he goes out, we will smite him to death! Gods and goddesses join us to kill this human to end our worries!"
Instantly, everyone in the gods realm equipped their items. All of them haven't used it since the time where the time where they overthrew the ancient gods. However, the Almighty One, Athena and Snotra didn't do anything. They just watched them go and descend down at the mortal realm.
"Why didn't you go down with them?" the Almighty One asked.
"Both me and Snotra discussed this through and arrived at a conclusion where Aurum's power may increase instead of decreasing and we will keep tabs on him here so that we can report this to our Father" Athena responded.
The Almighty One praised them inwardly as they made a good decision. The three of them were keeping tabs on Aurum's movements. They all were silently watching him until the Almighty One watched Aurum go inside the library without being hindered.
"IMPOSSIBLE! HOW CAN THIS BE?!" the Almighty One watched in fright.
"What happened Almighty One?" Athena asked while turning her gaze towards him.
"Normally, everyone who would enter there would get their powers diminished. Even I, myself, can't get away with that curse. However, this human just went in there without sacrificing his power! He is still in his optimal state even till now!" the Almighty One explained hastily.
"Quickly call back all the gods and goddesses who descended! I cannot guarantee their safety if they still continue on what they're doing!" he added.
When both Athena and Snotra heard what he said., they both trembled thinking that the loss that they might suffer would be extremely massive. They hurriedly left the room to send the message to every single one of them who agreed to the attack earlier.
'Dammit! Why is this happening? Is my power weakening because of that?' he thought.
==================================================
Aurum who went inside the library was speechless. Every single shelf in it was filled with books with some ancient writings that he couldn't understand. Some books were even floating at the air just because there is no available shelf to be stored in.
He walked towards a bookshelf and grabbed a book. He tried to read it but found out that he couldn't.
'F*ck! I'm wasting my precious time here if I can't read any goddamn books here!' he inwardly cursed while appraising the book.
[DING! Grimoire of the fallen angels written in Hebrew. Host can translate this by buying the language acquisition skill from the shop]
'Oh... I take back my words.... Your the best system! Okay go ahead and buy' he confirmed.
[DING! Host bought Language acquisition skill for 400,000 CP.
You will acquire [Ancient language Hebrew]
Please select acquisition level...
Level I : (100 CP cost)
-You can converse with a few words
Level II : (200 CP cost)
-You can converse enough in a normal conversation
Level III : (350 CP cost)
-You can converse fluently
-You can read a few words
Level IV : (1,000 CP cost)
-You can converse fluently
-You can read and write for ordinary use
Level V : (1,500 CP cost)
-You can converse with any words related to the language
-You can read and write with any words related to the language]
'Wow... Does this mean that I can learn languages without even studying it?! HAHAHA I'm too damn lucky!' he thought.
He instantly selected the level V without any hesitation due to having 1 million CP. When he took another look at the book that he held, he found that he can read it normally without any difficulty.
'This language acquisition skill is really convenient! With this gathering information should be easy'
At first, Aurum was very motivated to get the information he needed to gain absolute control on his skills. However, an hour passed but he still didn't get the books that he needed. He was getting impatient as the minute passes by.
Finally, he can't take it anymore, he slammed the book that he was holding and threw it away.
"GAH! This is not going to help me... Well it might but it will take me hundreds of thousands of years! I don't have that much time dammit! System do something here!"
[DING! Host can use his ethereal form to posses the grimoire allowing the host to see its contents. However, the hosts current intelligence is low so you would only be able to remember some fragments when you are going to return to your body.]
"Well I could just gain some insight while I'm in ethereal form right?"
[DING! Host soul would be vulnerable to soul attack while in the ethereal form state.]
"Well lucky for me I'm the only one here"
[DING! Host assumption is wrong. There are currently 10 million damned souls wandering at this library. 70 percent of them are trying to invade the host body. However, fortunately your body is made out of dragon flesh, if not for that you would already been broken from the inside starting from your soul]
When he heard that there are currently 7 million souls trying to invade his body, he couldn't help but shudder. He doesn't know how to use his soul properly at the moment but who would have thought that the moment that he would use it, many damned souls would be attacking him.
"System spend five hundred thousand CP to level up my ethereal form"
[DING! Ethereal form has leveled up to II]
'What the actual f*ck?! I spent five hundred thousand CP for that but it just leveled up by one?' he froze at the spot when heard the systems announcement.
Aurum didn't expect that by spending that much CP he, at the end, would lose. He was out of options right now except to read the books all the way.
'Hais... Guess I failed this quest of mine' he helplessly thought.
He picked up another book from the shelf. When he read the title he was motivated once again. He finally found information on something that might help him break past through this damned souls situation.
"He he he~ At last, even if this isn't the main thing I'm looking for, this will still help me" he chuckled.
What he was reading right now was the book about the studies of Morgan Le Fay. Legend tells that he was the half-sister of king Arthur, who wielded the Excalibur, and she specialized on using magic. One of the things that she studied but didn't succeed was the use of one's soul. The only reason why she didn't succeed was because her soul wasn't strong enough. However, it is a different story for Aurum, who fused the soul with Azi Dahaka and Mazda.
After a couple of hours, he finally finished reading and he used ethereal form. As soon as his soul went out of his body, many damned souls rushed towards him like he was a madman. Aurum just stood there with an expression of disdain towards the soul. Once the damned souls touched him, they were forcefully fused with his soul. As he did this, the memories of the damned soul was transferred to him.
[DING! Host gained 10 (+10 exp) and 100 (+100 CP) for killing a damned soul
Congratulations! Host learned how to use Soul searching]
Aurum ignored the notification and just focused on searching through the memories of every damned soul that touched him.
Soon, all the damned souls no longer approached him and even started to back away. He was inwardly surprised that the souls tactfully retreated.
"Since you guys won't come then I'll go to you instead. Let's play a game of tag shall we?"