Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Corridor Az-359 was originally a bookshelf where books regarding the miscellaneous art history of the Holy Empire were gathered.

A place that people with dangerous thoughts would not even spare a glance.

In fact, not only those kinds of people, but ordinary students also did not visit often.

As proven by the dust piled on top of the books.

There, Roan began to pull out several books.

The History of Downward Curves and Representative Canvases Utilizing Them

On the Unique Sculpture Culture of the Lebon Region

A Study of Cardinal Densrop’s Painting Style

The Miracle Holy Painting Created by Ten Thousand Brushstrokes

Observation of Regional Differences in Popular Murals

Five volumes in total.

Since the bookshelves were so vast, finding all of these books was a chore, but it was actually a very simple principle once known.

If you gather the first letters of these five book titles in Korean.

‘Talk about a unique taste.’

The embarrassing password, ‘Long Live Harden,’ is completed.

However, since those with hostile ideologies toward the Holy Empire could never think of such a password, in a way, it could be called the safest.

Roan stood in front of the bookshelf at the end of the corridor holding the five books.

A bookshelf that was empty, as if there were no books to shelve yet.

One might wonder what was strange about it, but in this massive Elont Grand Library, this was the only empty bookshelf.

Among them, on the bottom of the shelf matching eye level.

‘A line is drawn where these five books fit perfectly.’

Roan slotted the books he was holding in order.

Click—

At the same time the last book was shelved.

Slide—

At the end of the corridor that had been blocked by a wall, a new staircase leading downward was generated.

It was because Harden had set up corridors and staircases leading to the principal’s office to generate in various places throughout the library.

Just so that, on the extremely off chance someone discovered this gimmick by accident, they would consider it a trap and not dare to come near.

However, Roan descended along the stairs without hesitation.

Slide—

Once his body had completely crossed over, corridor Az-359 concealed the secret passage as if nothing had happened.

Clack, clack—

Every time Roan descended the stairs, the light-stones matching his position brightened his vision like sensor lights.

Not long after, a luxuriously decorated space appeared.

On a marble table that only great nobles would use, a feast that would make one’s eyes widen was laid out.

A fragrant smell wafted softly, seeming to tempt him to eat it right away.

— How impressive of you to find this place! The food is my gift, so eat to your heart’s content and get lost. Headmaster Harden —

Even phrases like this were written, but.

‘You must absolutely never eat it.’

Roan walked past the table without even sparing it a glance.

The moment he picked up even the tableware laid out on top of it, he would be sent straight to the principal’s office.

The next room was a storehouse packed full of somewhat rare holy-related ancient books.

It was a sight he had already seen dozens of times on the monitor, but Roan clicked his tongue again.

“Talk about dedication, complete dedication.”

At this rate, wouldn’t it be better to just not store them in the school?

Such thoughts occurred to him, but it would be a futile concern.

Of course, if one touched these books too, Molley would come immediately.

The last, third room.

Here, surprisingly…

‘It is filled with cleaning tools.’

There were only musty, foul-smelling things like old brooms, dustpans, and rags.

A structure designed so that even if someone avoided all the previous traps and reached here, they would turn back in disappointment.

And in a corner of this storehouse sat a statue of Serena, the Goddess of Wisdom and Order, whose right wing and left arm were half-broken.

Roan slowly knelt in front of the statue.

Beside it lay a rag draped over a bucket containing dirty waste water.

Splat—

Roan put the rag into the waste water without hesitation.

And then, with the wrung-out rag, he carefully wiped the broken wing, arm, and the face of the Goddess in turn.

Finally, kissing the top of the Goddess’s foot.

Creak…

Along with a subtle mechanical sound, the head of the Goddess statue spun smoothly.

The brick in the direction the Goddess stared.

That was precisely the ‘key.’

Roan set the rag back over the bucket and firmly pressed the brick.

‘May the most noble divinity reside in the dirtiest place.’

A passage from Serena Scriptures Chapter 3 Verse 18, which was practically lost now.

In order to head toward the hidden room of Acherandir, one had to obtain this content from outside the empire.

…Or remember the entire history spanning over 5,000 years like Harden.

Rumble—

The wall opened little by little around the brick Roan pressed, and another passage leading behind it revealed its form.

Normally, if it were a passage to such a secret location, one would expect a gloomy atmosphere that stimulates instinctive terror just by looking at it and a cool wind rising up, but.

Flash—

Acherandir was not such an easy place.

Pure white marble, high-grade light-stones emitting holy light, statues of gods carved from holy stones, and holy symbols were abundant!

Even a great black mage who overcame all sorts of temptations and went so far as to kiss the top of the Goddess’s foot would flee in terror upon seeing this sight.

Since they would suffer all kinds of debuffs and actual damage just by approaching.

‘If I envelope myself in plenty of my black mana and descend, it should at most be a severe body ache…’

Therefore, Roan was also making a fair amount of mental preparation for passing through this corridor.

Since resistance to opposing attributes was proportional to the talent stat, there was a trustworthy corner.

Just as he was strengthening his resolve, thinking that.

‘Huh?’

Roan ended up tilting his head at an unexpected internal reaction.

To be precise, False Divinity was a bit strange.

He had thought it only acted on energy emitted from the inside to the outside until now.

Gulp, gulp—

It was greedily swallowing the external holy power and converting it into black mana!

“Oh.”

Roan admired honestly.

He hadn’t thought of such a thing; was it a rather admirable fellow?

At this rate, it was fully worthy of being called an authority!

Woooong—!

However, the circumstances of False Divinity seemed slightly different.

The circuit converting vast holy power into black mana began to tremble ominously.

As if it were telling him to quickly pass through while it endured, since it would reach its limit soon.

False Divinity was actually heating up gradually.

‘Tsk, I knew it.’

Roan rebuked it as an authority that was only fuss, and began to run busily down the passage.

As long as there was a time limit, he had to break through quickly before it turned into a debuff.

Since he had class tomorrow too, he didn’t want to suffer from aftereffects all day.

Tremble—

Meanwhile, False Divinity vibrated as if wronged.

No, having done this much, it deserved gratitude!

***

“Pant, pant…”

Roan, who barely escaped the corridor, escalated rough breaths.

‘Was it originally this long? How much money did they pour into it?’

Just what kind of corridor did they make so long!

He ran for three minutes at a full sprint even though every single thing was a precious treasure.

Not only Roan, but False Divinity, which converted holy power into black mana, had also reached its limit.

Most of the converted black mana escaped to the outside, leaving only a small amount in his dantian, but the amount was substantial.

However, if he dragged time a bit longer, there was no telling what would happen due to overload.

“Whew…”

Roan looked around the secret library after taking a breather.

The interior of the secret library he finally reached was very ordinary.

A spacious room filled with the smell of paper, as if it were another reading room of the Elont Grand Library.

Of course, if there was a difference.

Seeking the Roots of Black Magic

The Relationship Between the Dark Attribute and Black Mana

Tracking the Demon King Forgotten in the Records of the Holy Empire

Can Black Mages Integrate into the Empire?

It was filled with books of titles that looked unusual at a glance, and junk emitting an ominous aura.

At this rate, looking at even the covers would secure a deep interview appointment with Kaina.

Although he had entered to obtain a black magic book in the first place, Roan also felt a bit tense thinking about that.

If it were the game, it would just be game over, but here, his head would literally blow off.

Gulp—

Roan slowly moved his steps to find ‘Deeper Darkness.’

Since black magic books did not have very good binding quality like the books of the Holy Empire, he had to pay some attention.

‘Just how tough is their life that they can’t even print books properly…’

Even this was a snippet showing the circumstances of the poor black mages.

In any case.

Not long after, Roan was able to find the book he wanted in a corner of the secret library, where old books were piled randomly.

Like other black magic books, it was a handmade book with a crude cover, paper hand-bound with thread.

Deeper Darkness

Written by an unknown ancient black mage, this book allowed one to learn ‘Abyss,’ a mana of a more evolved attribute beyond the basic level of black mana.

High-attribute mana like Abyss was an essential attribute for using other high-level black magic, let alone ‘Shackle of Grey Life’ which Roan aimed for.

“At least there’s worth in coming all this way… Ah.”

Roan turned back and approached the place where junk was piled up.

Since he had gone through the trouble of coming all this way, it was a pity to leave carrying only a single black magic book.

Rummage, rummage—

‘Where was that… It was around here.’

After rummaging through several graves of junk, Roan was barely able to find the item he wanted.

It was a grey censer large enough to fit a small scented candle.

Its name was ‘Tomb Censer.’

Although looking ordinary, it was an item mixed with a small amount of becadium, which belonged to high-grade metals.

Its basic performance was a 30% increase in the effects of ‘scented candle’ category items.

And if that candle was a black magic-related effect, it gave an additional 20% bonus.

However, if that were all, Roan wouldn’t have bothered to find it.

‘So this is the core ingredient for the Life Vessel.’

For convenience, the Life Vessel, to be precise, the ancient black magic ‘Shackle of Grey Life’ which Roan aimed for.

The Tomb Censer could be used as a container to fix the life force of that magic.

Roan put ‘Deeper Darkness’ and ‘Tomb Censer’ in his bag.

“I should head out now.”

Since he had obtained everything he needed.

Roan headed toward the entrance.

Woooong—

At that moment, False Divinity vibrated again.

“What.”

When Roan spoke as if rebuking it, False Divinity trembled even more roughly.

Woong!

It was as if it were saying like this.

Have some conscience!

Converting holy power into black mana in the first place was a miracle-like thing that could not even be dreamed of unless it was an authority.

To use it up to the brink of overload and return immediately without rest?

Although the one blowing up would be Roan’s dantian anyway, False Divinity also was half-fused with that dantian now, so it could not just pretend not to know.

‘Hmm. True.’

Roan nodded in agreement only then, and False Divinity felt relieved.

‘My mistake for expecting anything from you. What a useless authority.’

Woooong—!

Of course, it was half a joke.

Roan also knew full well how great of an effect this was.

Since even searching the entire “God & Devil” universe, this phenomenon was a first.

And since he knew False Divinity had such an effect, the ways to utilize it were endless.

‘Right, let’s rest for a bit first.’

Flop—

Roan sat down, leaning his back against a nearby bookshelf.

‘But how long has to pass to go out again? Surely I don’t have to wait until tomorrow…’

Woooong!

False Divinity voiced its grievance as if it had suffered blasphemy from Roan.