Levi found it difficult to move, even after healing his injuries. 'Pain' is something he never knew about nor could get even if he wished for it. The empty robot had now awakened his first sense of emotion.
'But why Pain?'
It could be anything, but maybe because of how much he was getting hurt, the sensation came to him.
'Then why not fear?'
He almost was on his deathbed, so why did he not fear losing his life? Instead, he didn't care about it and wanted to relieve the burning sensation on the wound again and again. Levi wanted to experiment with his newfound feelings.
'I might become a masochist if this keeps on happening. But now is not the right time.'
Levi walked towards the table as the barrier around it slowly started to dismantle on its own. Even after all those aura blades bouncing around, the table didn't have a single scratch and looked brand new. There were many papers there, written in a language that Levi couldn't comprehend. Despite that, he took every single one of them, hoping someone could decipher it for him or maybe it could be useful to someone else.
But he wasn't there for those stacks of papers but for a brown-coloured book with a gold-coloured border on it. However, it wasn't there. Except for the stack of papers, he just stored and a glass of ink with a quill, nothing else was there. The table also didn't have any sort of drawer, nor did Levi sense any sort of magical contraption in the table.
If the skill was hidden in those stacks of papers, he would have already gotten that skill by just looking at it. He took out every piece of paper again and checked them one by one. He imbued them with mana, even the blank one, but nothing happened. Thinking the ink was the solution, he even wrote a letter on every piece of paper to activate something, but nothing happened.
'How did that dumb Brian manage to solve this problem?'
Levi started checking the table. Tapping it in a rhythm, writing anything and imbuing it with mana, he tried everything, but nothing worked. When he touched the table, he did feel a small bump right in the middle of the table. It felt as if two half-tables had been connected.
'Only one way to find out?'
Levi just smacked the table in the middle, perfectly breaking it in half. As he had guessed, it was made by joining two compartments. There was a small compartment inside the table, and Levi could see the corner of a book. It was a small book with about a hundred pages He lifted the table upside down, and the book slid out.
Like how Brian had described the book briefly in the game, it looked the same. Except Levi felt revolting when he picked it. A darkish crimson aura oozed out of the book.
The book just by its visual, screamed.
"Don't open."
But Levi didn't care and quickly turned the pages. Like last time, in the library, his eyes were blinded by the bright light coming from the book. Once it ended, squinting his eyes, Levi checked the stats to see no addition in his skills collection nor did the book disintegrate. Instead, writings that he could understand started appearing on it.
"If you are reading this then f*** you for destroying my favorite table. I liked it, you know why? Cause I f***ing created it. It took me three years to make that table. I had to get a tree from the Yornalk ON MY OWN and then create it by MYSELF. Do you even realize how hard it is for a mage like me to do carpentry without any prior training? Also-"
Levi kept reading the book and found that half of it was filled with how this annoying guy made the table. The next 30 pages of the book were just curses thrown at Levi who destroyed the table. Levi didn't mind it and kept on reading until he reached the last five pages of the book.
"I do hate you for destroying a table I used for half my life, but there is someone I hate more than you. For now, you don't need to know about that guy, after all, I cannot trust a random stranger to do my work for me. Turn to the next page, and you will get the skill."
As the book said, Levi turned the book and unrecognizable characters appeared on it, glowing and blinding Levi again. This time he did find the skill he was hoping for.
[
Master of Combat (Cursed)
-User will gain the knowledge of a fledged martial arts fighter who trained in his art for more than fifty years.
-Can use any weapon without any prior experience -Your body starts moving on its own to your motive of fighting without you even having to think about it. -
Will consume 1 mana for every second of use.
Curse:
Once you get this skill, the user won't be able to learn any sort of other weapon art except magic. ]
Levi read the description of the skill in bewilderment.
'What in the hell of a plot change is this? Brian never had something like this.'
In the game, Brian's stats would be shown for a while when the player would confront him, but Levi had never seen this skill even after all those times he played "Trial of Heroes".
'Fist to Fist, that is what the skill is supposed to be and what is this ridiculous curse.'
Originally, the skill was something that enhanced the holder's hand-to-hand combat skills without any curse attached to it. Being able to wield any weapon of his choice without any practice was overpowered but as the saying,
"I fear not the man who has practised 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practised one kick 10,000 times."
Wielding 1000 weapons won't matter if someone in front of him can kick his ass in one shot. Plus, this skill would really be good when his rank would be higher. A skill corresponds to the user's rank except the Fist to Fist skill, which automatically was A rank and wouldn't change but now each weapon Levi would wield had the technique of an E rank.
And the curse killed his idea of practising a new archer art. On the bright side, he could learn magic but losing the ability to learn for a human is killing their potential to evolve.
'It is what it is. I should have been more careful, after saying not to trust the plot.'
Levi turned the pages of the cursed book and started reading the few lines it generated.
"I know, the curse sucks, but that is your punishment for destroying the table and also I cannot give you such power without any drawbacks to it."
'At least mention the curse, you son of a b***h' Levi couldn't help but curse the mage as he kept reading.
"You now are a vessel… a vessel to the desire of this mighty mage, but there are no consequences for not following it. If you want to unlock the last power, I have left in this world, then put a drop of dragon's blood on this page. Then you shall receive your ultimate mission. Complete it, and you shall receive the greatest thing I ever created. Until then good luck finding a dragon."
Levi closed the book and cursed the mage again. Not because of the curse that was put on him but the objective of getting a dragon's
blood. Curiosity of gaining new power did come up to him but the objective of getting a dragon's blood immediately killed his motivation.
'Getting a drop of dragon blood huh? The mage must be quite delusional to have such high expectations for his "vessel". '
Levi knew how hard it was to encounter a dragon because nobody in the game ever encountered a dragon. Even the Dracon Family whose ancestors got their powers from dragons hadn't seen a dragon for three hundred years. They didn't name their family rhyming with dragon out of respect… but out of utter fear to remind the world not to mess with those mighty creatures.
When a dragon is born, they are immediately A-ranked and the only being to surpass S-rank. Levi did have [Essence], the absolute bullshit of a cheat, but he too felt a bit intimidated to fight, let alone injure a dragon.
However, dragons do exist. These are the only beings along with elves that didn't go extinct, even if they didn't reproduce. It was like a law of life itself.
As long as nature exists, these two creatures are bound to be created alongside it.
Though Levi had no intention of finding a dragon nor making it angry. He didn't like his life but didn't prefer death as well.
'Looks like your desire will never be fulfilled.'
Levi then left the room and walked the same path he did when coming here. As he walked through the pipeline, he reached the place where he met the talking barrier. The barrier which had a face on both sides expressed its shock at seeing Levi walk, unscathed.
"HOW?"
"By killing everything inside there." Levi gave a simple answer as he walked through the barrier without having to answer a riddle this time. The barrier impatiently called Levi. "Wait."
Levi stopped and looked back at the barrier. The shocked face didn't leave it as it kept staring at Levi.
"I have seen about ten people enter the barrier and felt their strength as they walked this death of a tunnel. Though they never reached me, I can tell their power far exceeds yours. Then how? Why are you the one to get here and even beat it? What kind of magic do you know, or is there some divine relic helping you?"
The barrier felt utter shock. It could feel its existence disappearing so it had to fulfill its curiosity before it ceased to exist. Levi could see the glitter in the barrier's eyes. In a low voice, he answered,
"They just weren't born with the power to believe in anything."
Levi then slowly walked away, leaving the barrier confused but a bit satisfied.
"HAHAHA! I have to admit, though I didn't meet a lot of people, you truly are more special than them. I will cease to be in a few minutes so until then show me how special you are."
Those words of the barrier made goosebumps spread through Levi's body as he felt the heat on the whole tunnel rising. Soon he could hear a screeching noise echo throughout the space.
'That barrier, he is like his own creator. This perhaps might be the end of the journey.'
Levi thought as he could see the horde of Flesbolds running at him.