Gary was roused from his sleep, feeling an object nudge against his shoulder.
He opened his drowsy eyes to the sight of Shasa repeatedly jabbing her foot into him with a sense of eagerness. If he wasn't so tired, he might have commented on the enthusiasm she put into her swings, though his body certainly noticed.
he sent a sharp swat toward her leg before she had the chance to land another blow upon his already sore shoulder.
Seeing that he was awake, she stopped poking him and pulled back her foot, motioning for him to get up.
"Get up big boy; you're next."
He rubbed his eyes as he tried to fully awaken, and sluggishly sat upright.
Letting out a loud yawn, he vacantly looked at Shasa. "Found anything?" He asked.
"Wouldn't be telling you to start reading if I did."
"Fair enough." He stood up and patted the dust off of his clothes. "How far through are we?"
Her face tightened at the question, "Not very. Maybe a fifth? There is still a long way to go."
Contrary to Shasa's frustration, he found that reassuring. Gary did not care how long it took to read through it. He was more concerned about running out of pages and finding nothing useful.
He wasn't going to panic when they had only read a fifth of it. If anything, the more pages they had left to read, the better.
"Eh, we'll find it eventually." He shrugged as he began walking over towards the Compendium. He placed his hands on the table with his face directly looking down at the book.
"And how long will 'eventually' be?" She scoffed.
The corner of his mouth curled up into a smirk. "Who knows? But if you hear me laughing my ass off in the next hour, you can expect some good news."
"Hmph, I'll be sure to listen for it."
Waving goodbye, she left him to his devices, and Gary turned his focus to the Compendium as he got ready for a lonely reading session. Most had decided to make use of the safe zone the palace offered to catch up on sleep, making for a quiet night.
The minutes began to pass as went through page after page, yet he did not feel the passing of time.
It was fun for him. How could it not be? As a true adventurer, 'fun' and 'money' had a special correlation, and reading the Compendium was equal to counting the change he kept hidden under his floorboards: he never grew tired of it.
He had created a game as he read the different sections, the goal being to appraise just how much each one was worth, and add the total together. Only thirty minutes had passed, but the sum had reached a staggering amount.
Of course, he was no master appraiser, but that fact did not dampen the mood.
Shaking his head along to a little tune he hummed, he entered into a rhythm as he read, analyzed, calculated the value, and moved on. This continued until he came across one page. His attitude remained the same for the first few sentences, and he had even considered slipping to the next page. But as he continued on, his prior look of calm morphed into pure shock.
If anyone else were awake to see his hanging jaw and bulging eyes, they would immediately break out into song and dance thinking he had found the answer to the demons.
But it wasn't.
Instead, what Gary had found was a healing potion formula. Herbs, brewing, the end result: they were all rather unassuming. It was almost weird seeing the Compendium have such a plain entry sit amongst its legendary counterparts, like a janitor sitting on a pedestal within the Pantheon of Gods.
But that was just it! the key part was that it was unassuming. Namely, the ingredients.
'Pure water, dandelion leaves, pine root, Becker's grass...' He read with realization. These were all dirt cheap and easily accessible. Hell, some peasants would resort to eating half of the ingredients listed in times of famine.
The effect was not bad either, as it performed just as well as the average healing potion in the market. Though holy water still did a far better job.
'Though I'm not surprised it doesn't bring that up. I doubt a demon could even survive a swig of that stuff.'
His hands remained frozen against the sides of the book, even after he finished reading the page several times. By now, he should have continued on in his search, but his heart refused to let him leave the page. He could forget about everything else he read until he got back, but not this.
'No way in hell I'm selling this bad boy. This could corner the entire potion market!'
Gradually, a possessive desire was lit within his soul.
As his outstretched hand steadily approached the page, he remembered the existence of his teammates.
His head shot around several times, looking for any sign of activity. The movement was obvious, with him resembling a beggar who had found a coin purse in the road, and would have looked extremely suspicious to any onlooker.
Thankfully for Gary, no one was around to witness his actions, and he held his chest as he let out a quiet sigh of relief.
but after thinking of his teammates, a conflicted emotion came over him.
'I really shouldn't,' he thought, rubbing his hands together. 'They already hate me as it is, and I'm dead if I get found out.' Brandus was crystal clear on that fact.
'But, does it matter though? I mean, they are gonna get plenty of dough from this trip; what is one measly page?' Gary grit his teeth, and the look in his greedy black eyes became a bit more decisive.
'And if they do get worked up over a single page, then they are even bigger cheapskates than I am!'
Giggling, Gary reached down to the side of his boot, pulling a small blade out. It resembled a scalpel, with the handle being thrice as long as the edge.
Gary held the blade against where the page met the spine, like a surgeon preparing for an operation, and slid the blade down in a calm and steady manner. The sharp edge of the blade cut splendidly, and the hand of its wielder did not tremble once. It was as smooth as it was practiced. Previous trips to the library had given him plenty of opportunities to hone this niche skill, as well as earn the curses of all librarians.
With the final flick of the blade, the page was liberated from the Compendium and was quickly stuffed into a storage bag.
Gary scouted the room once again, reassuring himself no one witnessed the theft. Finding no one for the second time, his caution melted away as triumphant joy coursed through him. His shaking body felt like he had taken the most potent energy potion.
It started with a single tap of his foot. Then a step. A little hop soon followed.
It transitioned into performing a full dance, his voice and footsteps as silent as the imaginary music he danced to.
Giving the invisible audience a final twirl, he turned his attention back to the Compendium. Skipping back to his original spot with a bright smile, he started reading once again, acting like the brief intermission never happened.
The only difference was the scalpel that whirled between his fingers as he looked down.
His reading speed increased as well, and the blade now fell upon any page that caught his fancy. Inhibition no longer existed in his dictionary after he made up his mind, and the number of missing pages soon grew to the point they could have formed a separate, smaller book.
Delight was clearly written on his face as he zealously flicked through the pages. It was a treasure hunt taking place inside a treasure, and he was loving it. Plus...
'Nothing is better than a two-for-one deal!' He thought, flipping a freshly cut page over to check the back. It turned out to be a sword skill called 'Armor Breaker'. He nodded his head in contentment before tossing it in the bag.
Picking out the best sections was nice, but the mystery of not knowing the bonus page was thrilling. Gary was essentially gambling without the risk of losing money. It added another layer to the fun.
"...Hehehe..."
He reveled in the feeling and soon came across another good find.
'Oh- a formula for improved magic cores?' That thought was all it took for the knife to be put to paper. 'Don't mind if I do...'
Once the page was free, he twisted his wrist to read the back, pushing a pair of nonexistent glasses up the bridge of his nose in judgmental fashion.
But the scholarly appearance did not last long.
The moment after he started reading, time felt like it had stopped for Gary as he stood still, not moving a single muscle, '...Holy fuck.'
'HOLYYYY FUCCKKK!'
His grip over both the page and reality loosened, and he let the paper slip through his fingers and float downwards, revealing his listless expression.
Reaching down to his waist, he gave himself a hard pinch to make sure this was really happening. A sharp pain was his answer, though he still could hardly believe it.
Bending over to pick up the paper, he checked both sides to make sure he saw it correctly. Reading it thoroughly, he looked up towards the sky in marvel at his luck.
'Well, God-fucking-damnit.'
"Please tell me, dear Goddess," He inquired the divine, "how I am supposed to explain why the page we are looking for isn't attached to the book?"