Chapter 152: The Book (1/2)
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Krav Maga has reached level 5. Host has accumulated a sufficient amount of level 5 proficiencies to initiate a combination.
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Will you fuse your Close Quarter Combat Proficiencies?
Yes/No
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Rakna exhaled when the notification finally arrived. He had been training for nearly three hours now and it was close to midnight. He had also ordered Trii to increase gravity to 200 while he practiced against the dummies. It tired him faster but it benefited his growth so it was all the better for him.
When he accepted the prompt, his mind became clearer for a second then welcomed a new set of close combat theories. Even though most of his fighting skills were driven by his instinct, it wasn't a bad thing to possess.
'Now that this is done, there's just the Kzanaria left. But I can't 'feel' how to use it like Vow of Accord or Astral Projection. Is it something that happens spontaneously?' He thought and sat down cross-legged after Trii had called back the dummies.
”Let's visit that library then. Who knows, maybe I'll find something there,” he muttered and began to channel his soul power to enter his meditation. ”Ah, and Trii, keep the gravity at this stage. I might as well let my body get used to this pressure in a relaxed state.”
|| Understood. ||
Rakna closed his eyes and let Soul Breath do its work. Before he knew it, he was already standing in his soul realm. He had gotten the hang of this place and entering was significantly easier than when he first did it.
He looked around and didn't find any trace of Higure or Fray. Rexam was flying in the sky under the twelve moons and when his eyes fell on Fenriu, the wolf yawned and pointed at the library above him with one of his tails.
Rakna nodded. ”Thanks,” he muttered and used one flash step to get to the building. Though, the way his skill manifested in his soul realm appeared different. It was as if he had emulated it with his will alone.
”Then again, this place is my soul. I can probably control it to some extent,” he muttered and held out his hand. He concentrated a bit and without notice, a cigarette appeared in his hand. He huffed and put it in his mouth. He then snapped his fingers and it was lighted. ”As expected,” he muttered and opened the door of the library.
The interior was very similar to what it was in Fray's Quest but one large difference was that there was an open second floor above him. Rakna hummed and tried to sense the presence of the lioness and storyteller. He raised an eyebrow and started walking in their direction as he eyed the books he passed by every now and then.
He walked up the stairs to the second floor and ultimately reached a door. When his hand touched the knob, he nearly gasped as a terribly familiar feeling washed over him. For a second, he almost felt like his uncle was standing in front of him with Karma's blade at his neck.
He scowled and opened the door in full. What he saw in there was Fray standing in the corner of the room as if he was scared to even move by a centimeter while Higure was sitting in front of a pedestal with a large black and red book open on it.
”Honestly speaking, Rakna, I have a hard time believing this man was human,” the lioness said as she carefully turned a page with her paw. ”On a completely other level compared to you.”
”You don't need to tell me that,” Rakna retorted and walked to the book as well. The closer he got, the clearer he could feel the domineering presence of his uncle. He took a look at the page Higure was reading and after a while, he sent a blank look at Fray. ”Really? Did you also have to write his vacations when he was sixty?”
Fray shrugged and waved his fan in front of his face. ”My magic can be rather… futilely detailed.”
Higure chuckled and closed the book. ”Do you want to take a look yourself, devourer? I'm sure you don't know everything about your uncle, right? At best, you must be aware of the main lines but not much more.”
”I don't need to,” Rakna said and glanced at the book.
”Well, I would not recommend it. The longer that book stays open, the stronger it becomes,” Fray said. ”It may be a bit hard to tell for you two but as the creator of it, it is clear to me. At this rate, it might become something independent from Rakna's soul.”
”It's that bad?” Higure asked surprised.
”Definitely so. Also, there was something I forgot to mention,” the storyteller mused. ”When I used Tale Magic to look into that man's life, there was an irregularity…”
”What kind?” Rakna asked.
”Correct me if I'm wrong, but from your perspective, Arimane Blade suddenly disappeared from the surface of the Earth overnight, right?”
Rakna frowned and looked at him. ”Yes. He did. are you saying that even your magic wasn't able to find out how he disappeared?”
”Exactly,” Fray closed his fan and walked out of the room. Rakna and Higure followed him out and they closed the door behind them. ”But that is not all of it. Not only was I unable to discern how he went missing… but his tale in itself is not finished.”
Rakna froze when he heard that. ”…you mean he's not dead.”
”There is a high chance, yes. Moreover, there is no way that a normal human can have a connection that powerful to the World, to the point that it affects a book about him,” Fray said and leaned on the railings of the second floor. ”Tell me, do you think it possible for him to have been a dweller of the supernatural world without your knowing? Enough to be able to even fool my magic?”
Rakna rubbed his eyes. ”How would I be supposed to know? Frankly, everything's possible with that old man. But if he could use magic, there are too many inconsistencies. Many things transpired which he would have never let happen if he had abilities to stop them. So, I lean toward no. But as I said, everything's possible. So, as far as I know, he might have already become some sort of God of Death somewhere after his disappearance.”
Fray tapped his fan on his other hand a few times. ”Well, there is no point in discussing this right now, is there? Now, I assume you came here to look for hints about Kzanarias, right?” He said and extended his hand toward a few shelves. ”There isn't anything specific. I have several stories about guardian angels, soul beasts, and spiritual incarnations. Kzanarias are similar to those.”