Chapter 10: Wisdom Library
It was around 10 A.M.
After leaving Riverdale's Amber Bank, Charles didn't stop anywhere and quietly went towards Ivy Street.
As Charles strolled along the bustling streets of Riverdale City, he was enveloped by a vibrant and energetic atmosphere. The city seemed to pulsate with life, with every corner brimming with activity and movement. The air resonated with the lively symphony of sounds accompanying him on his journey.
The spirited shouts of the enthusiastic shopkeepers echoed through the air, their voices filled with urgency and enthusiasm as they advertised their wares to passersby. Amidst the lively chaos, the continuous chatter of the eager customers added to the lively ambiance, creating a pleasant hum of conversation.
Adding to the sensory experience, the steady rhythm of the creaking carriages provided a nostalgic backdrop. The wooden wheels rolled over the uneven pavement, their familiar sound blending seamlessly with the city's lively energy. And punctuating the symphony were the occasional neighs of horses, their powerful and melodious calls cutting through the urban soundscape.
As Charles walked on the well-trodden road, he couldn't help but absorb the sights and sounds around him.
After a few minutes of walking, he reached Ivy Street, arrived in front of Life Church, and walked in. While walking on the aisle, he glanced at the surroundings and soon zeroed his gaze on a middle-aged man in a bishop robe. At that moment, Bishop Reynolds stood before Goddess's statue, clapped his hands, and chanted an incantation.
It looked more like a poem with short verses.
Charles also walked before the Goddess's statue and recited the usual prayer. After that, he turned his gaze toward Bishop Reynolds and said slowly.
"I got the money to pay the debt, Father."
Bishop Reynolds's eyes widened a little as he heard his words.
"You agreed to that request?" He raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked.
Nevertheless, he was indeed shocked by his action. As for how he knew about what happened in the Amber Bank? No one knew.
On the other hand, Charles was startled by his reaction and sighed. He more or less understood the situation and smiled forcefully.
"Do I even have a choice?" Charles shifted his gaze into the Goddess's blue eyes and refuted.
"Yes, you had another choice. If you have chosen that choice, you wouldn't have offended the 'Divine One of Wealth.'" Bishop Reynolds glared at him and said coldly.
It was a foolish decision to offend a Lawful Church from his perspective.
Charles didn't mind his glare, though. He looked up at the high ceiling and muttered like a real Charles,
"If I agreed to that request, I would have lost my house and the land by now. Moreover, I would have disappointed my mother."
"FOOLISHNESS! What would you gain?!"
"He did the right thing." A cold female voice interrupted Bishop Reynolds's talking.
Simultaneously, Charles and Bishop Reynolds swiveled their heads in perfect synchronization, their attention instantly captured by the striking presence to their left. Standing there was a woman with cascading locks of long, deep-blue hair resembling the ocean's depths. Her hair gracefully framed her face, drawing attention to her captivating features.
The woman had wide-set blue eyes, like two shimmering sapphires that sparkled with an otherworldly allure. Nestled above her delicate lips was a celestial nose, its graceful curve adding an ethereal charm to her countenance. Her complexion radiated a warm olive hue, lending an earthy elegance to her overall appearance.
Notably, the woman's eyebrows were trimmed short, accentuating the natural contours of her face and drawing further emphasis to her piercing eyes. She was clad in a standard gray robe, which draped her figure with an air of modesty and simplicity, yet it couldn't conceal the air of mystery and wisdom that seemed to surround her.
"Mother!" Charles turned his face into a surprised one and called out in excitement.
On the other hand, Bishop Reynolds's face showed a dejected expression.
With a caring smile, Eve walked towards Charles with light footsteps, opened her arms wide, and hugged him.
"You have changed, Charles." She whispered in his ears while rubbing his messy hair.
'Did she find out about me?' Charles's heart skipped a beat. But he turned his face solemnly and responded like a responsible son.
"I'm a matured boy, Mom."
Eve's smile widened as she released him and patted his shoulder.
"You did an excellent job. But I need to talk with you about the 'Serial Killer' incident later." Saying so, she turned her face colder and shifted her gaze towards Bishop Reynolds.
"I heard about your petty schemes, Father Reynolds. You seemed to be hell-bent on confiscating my land." Her tone was cold as chilling ice.
On the other hand, Bishop Reynolds averted his gaze toward the Goddess statue and remained silent.
"Are you after something?" Eve asked further and looked at his shadow.
"Although I don't know what you are after, I can tell that material will bring great danger to this city." She said as she was peeking at Bishop's future.
"Should I take that as advice from the Predictor?" Bishop Reynolds suddenly retracted his gaze, stared back into Eve's eyes, and asked coldly.
The next instant, the whole church hall suddenly turned gloomy.
A heavy sigh escaped from Eve's mouth as she saw Bishop Reynolds's attitude and shook her head.
"All I can give you is a warning. Whether you listen to it or not, it's your choice."
Eve muttered as she turned her gaze towards Charles and added,
"You should pay the debt first."
With a relieved sigh, Charles took out the five golden cards and gave them to Bishop Reynolds.
"It's my defeat." Muttering displeased, Bishop grabbed the five golden cards and muttered a strange incantation.
The signed contract scroll appeared before them a second later, and the words started disappearing.
After that, the scroll was bathed in golden light and turned into white particles.
Once the process was over, Eve and Charles didn't stay inside the Life Church and returned to 45 El Street.
While walking, Charles explained everything in detail while adding a few extra bits to Eve. He also told her he got the 'Trickster' and 'Apprentice Fire Mage' Class Gems in the underground prison hall and made a fake story.
"That's what happened, huh? But what's your sub-class again?" As they arrived before the 45 El Street compound gate, Eve stared at him in confusion and asked.
"Trickster." Charles felt something was amiss and replied after a short pause.
"Trickster…Trickster…I never heard of a Class-Gem called 'Trickster' in my life. No, the history records have no 'Trickster' Class-Gem." Eve opened the iron compound gate while muttering and shook her head.
'Never heard of the 'Trickster' class? Interesting. From the looks of it, the 'Game System' deliberately used the Class selection order and manipulated me to pick up the 'Trickster' Sub-Class. But what if I chose the 'Trickster' Class as the Main Class?... Well, I have no power to change anything now. Moreover, the 'Game System' appears to be helping me. So, I don't think I have to worry about it for now.'
Yes, for now.
In truth, Charles had long decided to search for the origin of this game system later.
'Even Classes' names differ from the 'Mystic Worlds' game. I need to gather more information first.'
"Don't worry about it. So, what gift did you get from your father through the 'Inheritance Gift'?" Eve walked on the concrete path after opening the compound gate and asked.
"I got the [Inspect] skill, Mom. Is it something special?" Charles turned his face like a curious kid as he followed in her footsteps and asked.
"Special? Hmm, it's a little bit complicated. Unlike other skills, learning this [Inspect] skill through training is almost impossible. You can only get this skill through an 'Inheritance Gift' or by becoming the 'Blessed ones' of the God of Wisdom. In truth, [Inspect] skill is a rare basic skill. With this, you can easily find the enemy's original name, age, race, body attributes, and even hidden skills. But the reason why it became a special skill is due to the power of its upgraded versions. The more you upgrade this skill, the more powerful it will become. Your father managed to upgrade this [Inspect] skill to Rank-4 [Wisdom Sight] skill and achieved many things." Eve said solemnly and soon froze as she opened the house entrance gate.
The next instant, a rotten smell assaulted their noses and caused them to take a step back.
A second later, Eve covered her mouth and puked at the entrance. Charles also covered his mouth and groaned in displeasure. Although the security guards removed the assassins' bodies, they didn't clean the house!
Blood trails appeared all over the areas, and the living hall looked like a rotten house.
Eve first regained her senses, glared at Charles, and dragged him to the nearby shop. They then brought some natural detergents and started cleaning their two-storied house.
It took two days for them to clean the house thoroughly. After cleaning, they brought white paint and painted the house.
The mom and son duo spent their time in their house for the next few days and made it anew. Charles also acted more like the 'real' one and completely replaced the 'real' Charles's place.
Charles asked Eve about True Lords when they were having dinner on a particular day.
"Who are these True Lords, Mom?"
"Why are you asking now? Tsk, I will tell you. The 'True Lords' is a business organization, and the current Nightwind family leader is the main member of the True Lords organization. This organization assassinated Harry because they discovered his position in the Wisdom Church. Moreover, Harry seemed to have discovered something through [Wise Sight] skill but got assassinated."
"When I returned to our house from the market, I saw his body lying on the cold floor. Before I could understand the situation, security guards stormed into our house and arrested me for poisoning my husband. Later, I escaped prison with your grandfather's help and took you away from my mother's home. I knew they would come after your head, so we both left the Ember Kingdom, leaving no trace behind." She said while taking a bite of grilled steak.
She also added that Martin must have acted alone to gain favor from Nightwind's family head and not to worry about them for now. But Charles knew that the beaten wolf would never back down.
While chatting, he took a sip of the red wine and asked further,
"But why did you choose Riverdale City to hide, Mom? Is there something special about this city? Or is there something special about this house?"
Eve swallowed the grilled steak and replied with a smile,
"I felt some familiarity when I came here to buy this house. I also used the [Intuition] skill and found out this house has some relation with the Nightwind family. After checking deeply, I discovered that this house's first owner and 23-hectare land were the same people. He was Eddie Nightwind. I then realized that it must be the power of 'Fate' which brought me to this city.'"
A strange, uneasy feeling appeared in Charles's heart as he heard Eve's words.
'This might not be a coincidence. Oh, the poor mother of Charles, didn't you feel something was off?' Charles looked at the innocent-looking face of Eve and sighed heavily.
'Someone must have told Eve to go to Riverdale City. Then, aren't we under someone's surveillance this whole time?' A grim expression appeared on his face.
Seeing his serious face, Eve made a fake cough and added,
"You are overthinking nowadays. Eat first."
Charles nodded and picked up the roasted meat using a fork.
…
June 12th, Year 6396, Second Arcane Era.
It was around 8 A.M,
Charles walked out of 45 El Street and went to Riverdale's City Library while thinking deeply.
'What is she going to do with 500 gold coins?'
Last night, Eve came to his room and asked him to lend her the remaining 500 gold coins. At first, Charles didn't put much thought into her request and gave her those five golden cards.
He thought that she must spend it on hiring more guards. But now, he suddenly felt curious.
'From the looks of it, she seems already aware of our current situation. But why is she always look calm?... She acts as if everything is under her control.' Charles suddenly thought of something and soon widened his deep-blue eyes.
At that moment, he recalled Eve's Main Class and felt suspicious.
'She works as an Astrologist and has been practicing Astrology for over 15 years. If she lived in the Nightwind Family, she could have reached a high rank like Rank-2 or even Rank-3 Mystic. However, she didn't have enough money to buy the Class gem needed for her rank up all this time. But after the kidnapping incident, she probably understood that depending on others wouldn't fix her problem and decided to use the money I got earlier.' Charles stopped walking when he realized her intention.
'She is going to buy Astrologer's corresponding Class-Gem!'
'Hmm, that explains her calm attitude. Her [Intuition] skill itself is a powerful one. Wait a minute… Isn't the [Intuition] skill look more like my [Sixth Sense] skill? Hmm, it's better to learn more about my sub-class later.' Charles nodded thoughtfully.
'I wonder what upgraded versions of my 'Trickster' Sub-Class skills will be.'
He mused in thoughts and continued to walk.
After a few minutes of walking, he made a right turn and reached Elm Street.
It was where Riverdale's Wisdom Library was located!
He looked around and soon nodded as his sight landed on the four-storied building. After a few seconds of walking, he arrived in front of the building and entered.
Simultaneously, Charles took out his 'City Lord's Token' and showed it to the blonde-haired male librarian.
After seeing the token, the male librarian nodded and gave him a short explanation about the library.
Wisdom Library was divided into multiple sections.
The first and second floors were composed of history, science, class, and war-related books. Anyone could walk in and read the books if one spent enough entrance fees.
As for the third floor, most books stored on the third floor were about magic and religion-related books. Only Church members, Nobles, and recommended individuals were allowed to enter and read those books.
As for the fourth floor, Charles learned from the male receptionist that it was filled with books related to the last Planar War, artifacts, and extraordinary incidents.
Thanks to Ethan's generosity, Charles could enter the fourth floor with the token and read all the books!
Shaking his head, he first went to the Class related books and searched for information about the 'Trickster' Class Gem.
He skimmed through the Class-related books for the next five hours and sighed in disappointment.
'There was no information about the 'Trickster' Class Gem. But-' He smiled lightly and held another book in his hand.
It was the Astrologer Class book!
He read the book for a while and soon smiled as he looked at the last page.
'Astrologer's corresponding Class is Prognosticator.'
'Unlike Astrologers, who could only make a vague guess about a person's fate, Prognosticators would be able to see the strings of a person's fate and even manipulate them to some extent!' Charles was surprised as he read more.
'Manipulating the strings is influencing other's actions and changing their course of action without alerting them. Is that even possible?' He was somewhat scared by this mysterious skill.
'After all, the unknown is always scarier.'
He sat in front of the reading bench for a whole minute and pondered deeply about these skills.
Although he learned basics from Charles's remnant memories, he was still clueless about the magical Edhen World.
'I must not get influenced by such skills.'
He soon closed the book and read more about other unique classes. Although they only stored Rank 1 Class books in the Wisdom Library, he was still shocked by various unique skills.
Some skills allow the Mystics to read memories, some disrupt thoughts, some rob emotions, and there was even a skill that could turn a person into an idiot for a short time!
After reading about all the unique skills, he placed those books in the correct sections and walked out of the Wisdom Library around 7 P.M.