Fortunately for James, the second page was not blank. He took a moment to fully absorb the rich feeling of the paper in his hands, noting that it was in pristine condition. Then, he noticed the unusual words on the page. The intricate characters of varying shapes were completely alien to James. Although the characters themselves were black, they seemed to glow a bit, making them seem iridescent. James could feel mana from the book.
"This is in another language. I don't think I can read it."
"Look again," the beanie said softly. "Those are runes. They are projections of intent, the written language of the dragons."
When he focused on the characters a second time, they wavered. Despite not knowing what the characters were, James was able to tell what the sentence meant. It was like the message that the author wrote was printed on in his mind.
He read out loud:
"To the one reading this book. This is the last major project which I will work on in my lifetime. I hope that you, who I have chosen to be my successor, will not only learn, but expand upon the knowledge that I have accrued."
Immediately, James was hit with an unexpected piece of information. His first impression was that he was hesitant to jump into this "successor" thing without knowing what it really meant. However, his thoughts were interrupted when the message in the book changed. The runes melted away, leaving only a short phrase:
[Language: English]
That sentence followed the rest of the characters and soon disappeared. The glowing runes were replaced with what seemed to be normal English. The characters looked like they were handwritten, but that didn't fool James, who had seen them appear out of nowhere on the pages.
"So this is your language? An alphabetical language, huh. "You've never seen written English before?" Again, James tried looking at the beanie but couldn't as he was wearing it. "Wait, how do you speak with me in the first place? I know you have magic telepathy, but you don't appear to know English."
"I learned a bit about languages from the man who wrote this book. He was constantly jabbering about. However, the language of the dragons is a special one. Through usage of mana similar to those runes, I am able to converse with you. Anyways, I shouldn't be the one explaining this to you. Look in the book. It should be called Dragon Tongue, Runes, or something like that."
James saw that the English characters were actually a table of contents.
"It's split into a few main sections. 'Introduction: My Legacy,' and 'Magical Knowledge,' and 'Other Information.'. Would it be in the magic section? Mana Core, Attributes, Dispelling Curses, Classification of Mana Beasts...oh wrong section. Here, Dragon Language and Runes.
Instead of page numbers, the book had different colored margins for each section of the book. It was an aesthetic James wasn't quite sure about.
"Well, at least the edges look cool." They had the same cool visual effects as the runes, but they didn't appear to have any mana in them, from what James could tell.
[Dragontongue, also known as Dragon Tongue, Draconic Language and Runic Language, is a form of language that uses mana to project intent directly from the mouth or the written language, known as runes.
It is the main language of both the dragon and many types of magically proficient societies, due to its flexibility and many practical applications. It has 2 main distinctions from other languages, to the point where some theorists refuse to call Dragontongue a language simply because it has uses other than communication.
First, Dragontongue passes over part of the language barrier. Since it is not words, but intent that is transferred through the medium of mana, if a person can manipulate mana and their intent correctly, they can communicate exactly what they mean without any flaws. This is opposed to all other languages, in which miscommunications occur frequently between even fluent speakers. Even if a person does not know Dragontongue, they may still be able to communicate with a person using it, depending on the proficiency of the speaker. In most cases, it will require a high level of intent delivery while using a low amount of mana, since most individuals who don't know Dragontongue are weaker and less magically proficient.]
"Like you," said the beanie.
"Kill yourself. Wait, you can read English?"
"No. In this book, there is a high level of intent delivery while using a low amount of mana, since it is talking to a weaker, less magically proficient individual."
James ignored him and continued reading.
[Second, due to the usage of mana in the utilisation of the language, magic may also be activated, including but not limited to offensive spells, enchantments, and abjuration spells. These are dependent on the mana used and the intent behind them. In truth the only difference between saying "I want to kill you" in Dragontongue and releasing an aura of oppression and intimidation is the intensity. A large amount of mana, focused destructive intent, and infusion with the dragon's own attribute will result in the dragon species' most iconic attack, Dragonbreath.*
*Footnote: Most likely as a result of their instincts, dragons use their mouths to release Dragonbreath and to communicate, which may have led to the misnomer "Dragontongue." In reality, Dragontongue has nothing to do with tongues at all.
The prerequisites for learning Dragontongue and runes are not completely defined yet, but in general, those who decide to learn it are already powerful beings and are overqualified. I, however, recommend you to acquire it as early as possible. Once you have developed enough to invocate middle tier magics whilst avoiding magical dispersion, and have accumulated about 700 Mazols of magical power...]
James stopped reading at that point, since he didn't understand anything. He would need to read the introductory section to magic that he saw in the table of contents.
"Oh, those last few sentences reminded me that this book is for the author's successor. It says 'you'."
"That is indeed you." The beanie always made the most acidic remarks without trying.
James tilted his head.
"Okay, I think I roughly get it. But it was hard to read. Why does the author have to bust out the complicated words? He even used the word 'whilst'. Also, what does abjuration mean?"
"An 'abjuration spell' is a fancy term for barrier magic. A conjuration spell is a typical invocation of the elements. However, if you make a wall of fire, that is technically a conjurated abjuration spell-"
James stopped the beanie before it could go any further. "Not you too, please. Actually, I've heard those terms before. I think that's from D&D."
"Well, since intent is being communicated, Dragontongue would be automatically translated into words you understand, unless you don't get the concept at all. As for how Viaan was able to write in English, I do not know. He studied linguistics when he wasn't eviscerating his enemies or preparing to eviscerate them."
James felt like he heard something disturbing, but decided to not heed it.
"The author's name is Viaan? Okay, I'm going to read this introductory section."
Because he had gotten distracted by Dragontongue, he had yet to really take a look at the book.
As James read the chapter, his face became serious. He became more and more focused, and his brows kept furrowing until he felt a soreness in his face, realized what was doing, and relaxed. It took him about 20 minutes to read the entire section, including rereading to make sure he completely understood everything - the author used some complicated words. James almost considered them pretentious.
A quick summary of what James just read:
The author of the book/grimoire was named Viaan de Dendeston, born a minor noble in the fallen empire of Ursea, in the world of Alnar. At a young age, he expressed an extreme talent for magic, and garnered the attention of the emperor and the imperial magician society.
When Viaan was 13, Ursea, along with some other countries, was destroyed by a massive dungeon outbreak. Floods of monsters swamped the continent. The strongest monster in the horde was a type of Lesser Demonic Chimera, which single handedly annihilated the Fort of Bahnur.
Viaan escaped with his mother and a few other nobles. Practicing magic as hard as he could, and teaching the others in his group as well, he wandered the ruins of the continent, searching for other survivors. They had to avoid monsters and scavenge for food to ensure their own safety as well.
Viaan's mother died of a disease. Some members were lost to monster attacks. Eventually, only he and his small group remained. These were the elites, the ones who managed to survive. They crossed the ocean out of desperation. They reached the land on the other side. At this time, Viaan was 17.
The countries on this continent had fared better against the invasion, since most of the monsters were landlocked. However, the massive disturbances caused by the ecosystem caused some sea-dwelling monsters to surface, which did cause some damage. Viaan slowly built a new life in one of these countries called the Kingdom of Kalo Ursted.
Kalo Ursted gave Viaan temporary security. During this time, he had not lost his knack for magic, and the events he experienced during his adolescence had only made him stronger. He quickly absorbed all sorts of magics and mastered them, and started developing new magic of his own. It didn't take long before he was deemed the best magician in the country, and then the world.
He became known as 'The Great Sage' and 'Viaan the Volcano,' due to his specialty in earth and fire magic (the author expressed his distaste for the latter). James, however, liked the name.
The only one who could stand up to him was his best friend and rival, Ajartum the God Blade, who had been a native of Kalo Ursted. He was a warrior.
Ajartum and Viaan became heroes that saved Alnar, becoming exalted throughout the world. The author didn't go into detail on this.
Later on, Viaan was granted permission to ascend to a higher realm.
According to Viaan, he couldn't provide any more information about the higher realm to the reader unless they were qualified. James would have to grow to find out.
Of course, James wanted to dismiss this all as a joke, but he couldn't. However, to him, all of this was not as concerning as the next part.