Inside the shop.
'Here you are...'
The book that Jareth held in his hands was the artifact that he was looking for. This old book is a 'grimoire' that suits the current Jareth very highly.
…
[Item name: The Grimoire of Amplification]
[Ding! This item is in a 'sealed state' right now. Unseal it for more information…]
Seeing the system notification, Jareth shook his head, he knew that this would happen.
'Well it's never easy to get a strong weapon so easily… but I have the knowledge of the game and I know what I need to do next, so it's easier for me…'
In the game, Jareth had to follow an extremely long and difficult hidden quest to finally get this grimoire unsealed.
'It's not that difficult to unseal it, the only thing that's difficult is to find out how to actually do that…'
Jareth has already done the quest in the game, and thus he already knew what he needed to do next. Due to this knowledge, he didn't have to go and find ways to unseal this grimoire.
…
Jareth brought out some money and put it on the counter where the skeleton of the dead mage lay.
'Okay…'
After putting the grimoire in his space ring, Jareth walked towards the gate. He tried to open it but it didn't budge at all.
"Please pay before leaving, dear customer!"
Hearing the voice of Donna, Jareth tilted his head in confusion.
'Hmm, I already put the money on the counter, in the game that was the way to leave the place…. Is this doll broken or something…'
After contemplating for a while, Jareth shook his head and walked towards the skeleton.
'If the first method doesn't work, Then I can only try the second method…'
In the game, things had different probability of happening.
Some of the players found that even after putting the money on the counter their character couldn't leave the shop, and Donna kept repeating the same words as she did just now.
That was an in-built rare scenario that rarely happened due to its low probability of being triggered.
'Well I didn't encounter it in the game personally, but as I was a die-hard fan, I read about it on some random forums… now that I think about it, I was so down bad over this game I even put my pocket money to 'top-up'… sigh~'
Thinking this far, Jareth shook his head and stopped himself from getting distracted.
He raised his head towards the skeleton.
[Grade-6 Magic: Fire Arrow!]
'May your soul rest in peace…'
The counter and the chair were built from wood and thus it immediately caught fire due to Jareth's fire attack.
In just a few seconds the whole counter burnt away and only ashes were left in its place. The skeleton bones, the money placed on the counter, the nearby chair, etc. everything burned and turned into ash.
(It's a fire caused by a magic attack, it is much more intense and violent than normal fire… so don't compare its burning speed with real-life fire… moreover, Jareth had full control over it so it didn't spread anywhere else.)
The fire that Jareth caused didn't even produce smoke, it was efficient and fast.
'I think this was it…'
In case this rare scenario happens, you just have to burn the skeleton along with money notes, and this will apparently make the soul of the dead mage rest in peace.
This way the door will unlock automatically.
*CLINK*
And sure enough, after Jareth burned the skeleton along with money, the sound of a lock unlocking resounded throughout the shop from that door.
'Let's go then…'
When Jareth walked out of the Shop, the doll collapsed into nothingness. The floor of the shop broke and all the books and cabinets fell down in the basement along with all the debris.
It seems the shop has fulfilled its purpose after the mage's soul finally achieved peace.
Oblivious to all this Jareth walked out and headed back to his car.
'Next to the Garden of Night-witch flowers…'
…
National Hero Memorial.
Jareth's Luxury car entered the parking area of the vast Memorial grounds.
After the car was finally parked in its designated spot, Jareth got down and ordered the driver to wait there for him.
The driver was also a properly trained individual, he didn't ask any questions and his expressions stayed the same as he nodded at Jareth's orders.
(The driver was getting high pay to just wander around with Jareth, so why would he care about anything else… money can make anyone numb after all…)
Without caring about it too much Jareth walked towards the garden directly behind the huge main building.
The main building here has many statues placed in it. All these statues are made in honor of some past heroes who achieved great merits for humanity and did many famous and great deeds.
While walking towards the back garden, Jareth was contemplating various things in his mind.
'Come to think of it… isn't Nathan's statue also placed here…. I wonder how Nathan would have felt when they invited him to inaugurate his own statue… that must have been a funny sight to watch…'
Most of the statues placed here are made in the image of the dead heroes who did great deeds for humanity.
Although Nathan has also obtained great merits by saving several cities from dungeon outbreaks, it was still weird to put his statue beside those of the dead ones.
When the players discovered this fact, it became a classic meme to troll the fans of Nathan in the forums. Later Nathan became famous among the players as 'The statue man, Nathan'.
Some players even speculated that the presence of this statue must be foreshadowing the future plot in which Nathan might die. But that old guy was too tenacious he refused die and they had to plot a lot to deal with him.
'Although he is kind of an annoying character who meddles with the protagonist many times, he is still a good character after all; moreover, he is the reason why the university is still standing peacefully…'
Nathan's existence is like a barrier that protects the students from the dangers that lurk in the outside world.
The various demon cults like 'False Dome' don't dare to attack the university in his presence, but if Nathan disappears, the university will have to face continuous attacks from the demonic cults.
'The existence of the Ivan university is a great headache for the demonic cult afterall…'
The Ivan University gives rise to several excellent mages for the human race every year and these mages protect humanity from the influence of outside threats like the demon cults.
If the demon cult members somehow are able to get rid of the University and all the talented students studying in it, they could easily cause great damage to the whole human race.
If all the talented children in the university die, there will be a huge decline in the number of strong mages in the future.
Several mages die every year at the hands of monsters or demonic cults, the only way to replenish their numbers is by making the university pump new mages out in the world.
If the new mages stopped appearing, the number of the mages would continue to decline and in just a decade there would not be enough mages left to defend even the capital city from the influence of the Demonic cults.
'Sigh~ this world is cruel and dangerous, people can die in a blink of an eye here, I better get strong as fast as possible, otherwise I will also be disposed of by this cruel world eventually…'
Jareth's facial expression remained as cold as ever, but his eyes flashed with determination.
'I will survive no matter what…'
…
…
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved Author here! The stealing spree goes brrrrr..
Question of the day.
If given the choice, would you also steal the protagonist's chances or not?
1. Yes. (Let the protagonist die in a ditch I don't care! Gimme those epic chances first!!)
2. No (I wouldn't want to interfere with the plot too much…)
3. Others (Tell me in the comments.)
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.