Lady Emlyn let him keep the Journal for now, as he tried to study it a bit in case he found some kind of clue. But, the more he studied them, the more he felt like he had seen them somewhere before but couldn't remember where.
After keeping at it for a couple of hours, he took a break and decided to look over another item he had received not that long ago.
He focused on his System to open his inventory, which currently only contained his Kester Die and Empty Character Die. He hadn't looked at the Empty Character Die's description yet, and this was a good chance to do so.
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EMPTY CHARACTER DIE (B-Rank)
Description: A special die that can store a copy of a creature and create a special die out of it. The chances for the capture to work are as follows.
Unranked: 100%
D-Rank: 99%
C-Rank: 75%
B-Rank: 20%
A-Rank: 0.01%
S-Rank: 0.0001%
Uses left: 1
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Zarin expected it to be something like that, more or less, when he read its name. Still, in the end, it wasn't as powerful as he thought since there was a chance for it to fail.
He had seen how powerful Kester was, and he was still a D-Rank character, so he couldn't imagine what the power of a B-Rank Person or more was.
Still, he hadn't faced any other monsters other than the wolves he had encountered when getting out of the cell. He had heard some stories for a few or mentions about some attacks at different villages, but none appeared in this one.
The servant creature of the Dark Knight was probably a humanoid monster. Still, he wasn't sure of it, as nobody mentioned it.
He also tried to call Ais to help him, but nothing happened. He still didn't know how that last 'gift' of hers worked.
He returned to studying the Journal since he didn't need to sleep. He had noticed that with his new body, as long as he had enough SP. If his SP was low, sleep helped restore it faster, but not sleeping didn't consume SP.
Still, he continued having some sleep time now and then, as it was an excellent way to relax after a long day.
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You have studied a Special Item enough time to get an Identify Roll.
Die Type: D6
Complete Success Numbers: 5,6
Semi-Success Numbers: 3,4
Failure Numbers: 1,2
Do you want to make the roll now?
YES/NOW
Warning: The roll can't be repeated or manipulated by Skills
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A grin appeared on Zarin's face. He wasn't sure that something like that would happen, but something inside him was telling him that there was a way.
He understood that his Dice Master power and his System worked a lot like in a game, so he had tried to do actions like a Player would do in the game. Players could appraise something by just studying it for a bit of time, but in games, it didn't take as long as it takes him now.
Still, that was faster than what time he would usually have to spend without the help of his System.
Still, even if he had this outside help, there were chances of failure, but he trusted his high Luck.
He picked to make the roll now.
The panel turned into particles of light, which created a ball of light, and then turned into a 6-sided die hovering in the air.
Zarin got it in his hand and could feel that gravity was affecting it once more once he touched it. He tried to use his [Dice Manipulation] on it, but it didn't work on it as expected.
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and made a small prayer.
He then made the roll and paid attention to the die as it rolled to the floor. He was in a room by himself, so the small sound of the die rolling on the floor wasn't heard by anyone else.
The die finished rolling, and the result was a 4. That means that he got a Semi-Success.
After a couple of seconds, the die turned back into light particles, which vanished as fast as they appeared.
After that, nothing else happened, and Zarin didn't feel any different. So he picked up the Journal once more and checked its first page.
Even if the writing on it was the same as before, he understood fully what was written. As he kept reading it, he encountered no problem understanding even a single word reading of it.
'What would have happened if I rolled a Complete Success?'
He kept reading it, as it looked to be the adventures of Lady Emlyn's father since the day he came to this world.
There were descriptions of his different skills, and benefits he got from eating other creatures, and how he defeated each of them. He mentioned various quests, people, and everything he did during his adventure days.
Zarin was giving it a quick read and focused only on parts that sounded useful to him, but many things were written on it. Of course, he couldn't read everything in a single night, but he had the time to do it over the next couple of days.
He spent close to six hours studying it before deciding to stop for now and get some sleep. He would have to work on his daily tasks in a couple of hours.
But as he did so, another panel appeared.
____________________
KNOWLEDGE LEARNED
You have acquired Knowledge - Otherworlders
Progress: 10%
Note: Reaching Knowledge at a certain percentage(s) will reward the user
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This was the first time Zarin had heard of the Knowledge term in his System, and Ais hadn't mentioned something like that. But he knew that Ais had just let him know over basic details.
None of his actions had led him to gain Knowledge like that, and he couldn't feel any difference from earning this.
Still, the potential rewards piqued his interest.
So instead of going to sleep, he kept reading the Journal to increase his Knowledge. He was, this time, reading it more carefully from the start, as he wasn't confident what details affected the progress.
But didn't take long for another notification panel to appear.
____________________
CONDITION GAINED
You just gained the EXHAUSTION I condition
Effect : SP Consumption +100%, SP Regeneration -50%
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The last panel surprised Zarin, as he hadn't encountered it before. He had thought of the possibility that conditions like that could exist at some point. But the fact that he didn't gain one when he had his SP almost at 0 back at the cell, and his need for sleep wasn't that much, had led him to believe against the possibility that they existed.
Still, he didn't mind, as the current effects weren't that heavy. His tasks took little of his SP, but the increase in consumption would make them somewhat challenging.
He understood from the name that if he continued exhausting himself like that, the condition's effect would increase, leading to EXHAUSTION II, etc.
He didn't know how much he needed to rest to get rid of the condition, but he played it safe for now. He put the Journal aside and went to bed for a couple of hours before Gele could come to wake him up for today's tasks.
Gele came to wake up each day, and most times, he was already ready before she got to his room, but he made it look like he was still sleeping. He understood that Gele didn't have many things to do to help around other than helping her mother with cooking a few times.
Zarin wasn't sure about the details but had heard the Gele had some kind of illness that made her weaker than a person of her age should usually be. Fortunately, it didn't look like the kind of illness that had her spend most of the day in bed.
Zarin had noticed and learned about that on his first day in the house, so when Lady Emlyn gave Gele the task of making sure he woke up in time, he started acting.
This time he was going to need Gele to wake him up, as he really needed some sleep, but he didn't plan to get back to his world to help around.
As he went to bed and hours passed, there were no signs of Gele.
At a point, Zarin's inner clock rang, and even if he was still exhausted, he noticed that it should be past the time that Gele would typically come to wake him up,
'Did something happen?'
He got up and out of the room and looked around the house, but there was no sign of anyone.
He went outside and checked the corner where the boys usually played, but nobody was there. Next, he checked the field for Lady Emlyn, but it was also empty.
With a great worried look, he moved towards the center of the town to see if he could find anyone that may have seen anyone in the family.
Soon he noticed that people started moving toward the gates in a hurry. It looked like something interesting was happening there once more.
Zarin hurried to check it out but noticed that the crowd wasn't at the gate but at a platform some meters across it.
Over the platform, there was Lady Emlyn, Alth, Alos, Gele, and Heymon, one next to the other, on their knees and with their hands tied behind their backs in that order from left to right.
At the left of Lady Emlyn stood two figures, with one being Mayor Oriel, while the other Zarin didn't recognize him.
But he recognized a symbol that existed in the cloak of the second figure. It was a dark circle with twelve dots surrounding it at an equal distance from each other. It looked like a round table with its chair if you looked at it from above.
He had seen the same symbol engraved on the armor of the Dark Knight, over at the chest area.
It didn't take long for Zarin to understand this symbol.
The Dark Council.