Chương 61: Interlude 5

The Mathemancer I knocked on the door of an old friend. I haven't come to visit in a long time, but the younger generation was stirring things up, and it would be good to chat once more. The door opened, and his glowing white eyes looked at me.

"Still alive, you math head? Come in, I have a new blend of tea some young elf legend brought down," The Librarian said as he let me enter his home in the Last Bastion.

"Thank you. I was feeling lonely and wanted to stretch my legs," I replied as I took a seat at his table.

"Bah, you just wanted to test your skills against monsters while trying to mentally level with as little effort as possible," he said, seeing through me immediately. I preferred to think over as many improvement paths for skills before working on them periodically. However, it wasn't my only reason for going to the dungeon.

"There are some interesting developments. Elena is going all in on her son. She wants me to crush him when he attends my College of Advancement," I replied as tea was carefully poured.

"Tier 3?" I asked while observing the tea pouring.

"Tier 4. I found an upgrade to Empowered Tea Skills. Enlightened Tea Skills," the Librarian said with a smug grin. I frowned since we had been competing in tea making for a long time. I sipped the tea, and it was quite good.

"I will have to step up my game," I replied with a touch of mock despair.

"Elena also discovered something fun. That Slice skill of hers changed."

"Ah, yes, she sold me the information. Quite interesting, you would want it too," the Librarian said with a smile.

"Half of whatever you paid."

"A green soul fruit," he replied, and I paused in my enjoyment of the tea.

"Is it worth that much?"

"Yes. She has discovered something new." That word, new. That got my attention immediately. I frowned and pulled out a green soul fruit, tossing it over. The Librarian caught it and tucked it away.

"She pushed the level of her skill to 101."

"I would say impossible, but I experienced it myself. You must have a guess or some record?"

"No. Most people don't focus everything they have on a lesser-tier skill like Elena has. It truly is a discovery. A skill going over level 100. It appears each level is a bottleneck, an increasing one."

"When she went to the 25 th layer?" I asked and got a nod in response.

"She must have pushed that skill far beyond what it should be capable of, forcing the System to adjust. It is a useful confirmation of the collective unconscious theory regarding skill advancement."

"Not that it is that useful on its own," the Librarian said, and I nodded.

"But a useful data point. Have you thought about her request?" He sighed heavily.

"This place is to my liking. I feel at ease. I'm always learning. To go back out into the dungeon proper, fighting my way down to my death, especially with that brute Blood Gore, is not something I am looking forward to."

"But you have to be curious, and this is our last chance for a proper expedition, old friend."

"That is the only reason I am entertaining such a thought. We are the last of our generation ever since Bastian ran off… That foolish man."

"But he wanted to get answers as well."

"He just enjoyed fighting. The man was insane. An amazing baker, but insane. A shame there wasn't a third from Elena's generation, but Blood Gore truly earned his title of Butcher."

"What trouble is he causing now?"

"Fighting somewhere on the 23 rd layer. He still harbors delusions of defeating Elena and us. She wants to bring him along?"

"He can be trusted, if only about this one thing. And if both of us go, we need two people on the front line."

"And how deep would we go before turning back?"

"The 35 th layer."

"To see if there is anything beyond a violet monster core. Intriguing," my old friend replied.

"What about you and your College? I have seen a couple of your graduates down here. Not very impressive." This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"I will hand it off to someone else. Elena wants to send her kid there. Even though I am retiring to go on an adventure, it will be interesting to see how it evolves in my absence. And what about you and this place?" Bastian might have founded the Last Bastion, but it was The Librarian who maintained it for all these years.

"Unlike you, this place actually needs someone to stay all the time and keep order. Probably a council or some other nonsense like that."

"You know councils never work out," I pointed out.

"I know, but show me another person at our level of strength who wants to sit around here all day dealing with powerful babies," he muttered.

"You just like learning about all the skills and other tidbits of knowledge. Anything else new?"

"Nothing of importance. Just renamed skills that do similar things."

"You should share that knowledge and let me do a study."

"And let you get ahead in our little race?" he asked, and I just smiled.

"Bah, you and your studies. I will admit that some conclusions are interesting, but that is all."

"That is fair. We have not uncovered any grand truths. I keep hoping, but it seems the answer lies in fighting our way down through the dungeon itself."

"And can you still hold your own in a fight?"

"I will not be caught lacking. Unlike you. You and your redirection skills. Most annoying things ever conceived," The Librarian said, and I just smiled. The more people became enraged by them, the happier I became. We had been rivals and friends for a long time, competing in everything. From skills, to how far we went into the dungeon, and even our respective knowledge-gathering strategies. He preferred to set up here in the Last Bastion, gathering information from the front lines.

I preferred methodical study and analysis of large quantities of data. Both had their strong points, but it appeared he had gotten ahead with his tea-making skills, and Elena had sold him her knowledge. But she knew I was coming here and didn't try to sell it to me as well, which would have been quite rude. She might be a brute, but she was thoughtful in her own way. That was why she had charged double from The Librarian, knowing he would drag out half the cost from me.

"What do you think we will find down there?" I asked after a long silence, while we enjoyed the tea.

"Nothing good. I expect some ultimate monster. I am more curious about the 26 th layer since no one has returned from there."

"The environment could be too hostile. I will prepare the equipment if you gather up the materials. I made a list," I said and pulled out a sheet of paper. The Librarian took it and let out a scoff.

"And there goes most of the wealth we have saved up after all these years. What about Elena?"

"Investing in her son. It is frankly ridiculous," I replied.

"If you are saying that…wait, she gave him two soul fruits?" I nodded in response to this question.

"Hah, and a Mega Elixir as well. Well, it is Elena after all. Only she would think out such a reckless plan."

"It purged the potion toxicity from his body. I have already run a comparative test against another candidate. Unfortunately, it caused irreversible harm."

"Let me guess, experience and levels?" That is what I liked about The Librarian. He could keep up with me, even if we were rivals. He pushed me to be better.

"Indeed. Confirming there is some massive soul absorption mechanism going on with experience. Also explains why soul mages all went insane," I added.

"And the kid? She wanted a soul skill from my collection."

"Stable, inquisitive. But the weight on his soul is immense. But her intuition is spot-on. No one else would have dared risk or waste a double soul fruit like she did on her own kid."

"Elena treasures family. It's her only mental weakness, and even that will fade in time."

"What? I thought she had a child to create a legacy?" If she truly removed her mental weakness, she might become the strongest supreme legend ever to exist.

"That might be the public guess, but such a thing must have multiple reasons behind it. She knows her mental weakness and is working to correct that. She can't go back in time, so having a child, seeing him grow up, and getting frustrated and tempering her love will harden her heart," The Librarian explained.

"Elena having hidden depths? Well, she is the most interesting of us people in our small elite club. System only knows what goes through Blood Gore's head besides mindless violence."

"That brute is dumber than a box of rocks, but that is also his greatest strength and weakness. I would say he is not much better than a monster, but he has some base cunning," The Librarian said, and I nodded in agreement at this. One did not become a supreme legend by being stupid. He was just very single-minded and focused in a completely different direction than the rest of us.

"Bastian always had the worst taste in disciples. At least the rest of that trash has died off."

"Still, they are useful in a front-line role, testing out traps. The man must be indestructible or close to it by now."

"That was his goal the last time I talked with him. Elena has that planned for her son as well, if I had to guess. She isn't one to overlook what a full set of resistance skills can give."

"She is aiming higher than that."

"Immunity?" I asked.

"Higher."

"Absorption. Does she want her son to get a Tier 6 support skill? She was always the most ambitious. Just looking at her, I feel two centuries older than I am. So much energy, so much drive, so much passion."

"Makes me remember the Eternal Emperor. It's a shame how it went at the end."

"Only you would think that. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say. Sometimes you need new modes of thinking. You know, there is talk of a republic forming where people vote on their leaders."

"Voting?" My old friend cackled.

"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. They will elect someone without the right skills; that is why nobility exists."

"Well, Genoa, an island nation, is considering becoming a republic. Each person gets several votes equal to their level, and there are term limits. They wanted me to review their rules about exploits. It could work."

"Since it involves counting, you like the idea. And the nobility? What do they think?"

"Waiting to see it fail. But if it succeeds, we could see a new era. From Empire to Nobility and now to Republics."

"Power is the only thing that matters. Tempering those with power so they don't become like Blood Gore is crucial. A Republic with voting, what is next? Bah, let them come down into the dungeon and taste the truth of the world." I just smiled. The Librarian was a fan of the Eternal Empire. Probably the only one who was alive during its existence and still thought that. That was why I knew the concept of a Republic would get him riled up. It was amusing, and a bit of pettiness for having surpassed me in tea making.

END BOOK 1