I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 72

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 72

 

Before starting new research, it was natural to examine existing studies first.

 

Therefore, after Shtidy’s work hours ended, Jude headed to the underground library with the others.

 

“A-are all of these books?”

 

An endless feast of books stretched before them.

 

From ones as thick as a human torso to thin ones made of just a few sheets of paper stacked together.

 

This was the first time he’d seen so many books gathered in one space. While it wasn’t his first time seeing books related to Magic Theory, he’d never even thought of reading the books in Master’s research room since he’d be severely scolded just for touching them.

 

“That’s right. Even if we sell everything else, we don’t sell books. They’re the foundation of our Magic Tower.”

 

He had seen many books when he infiltrated the bookstore in Belive Territory, but that couldn’t compare to the library of a Magic Tower with nearly hundreds of years of history.

 

Even though this was clearly underground, how vast it was. The ceiling height seemed to combine several floors, and the air was fresh too. If he hadn’t seen it directly, it would be hard to believe this was the same building as the other crumbling spaces.

 

“In such a wide place, can you find the materials you want?”

“I’ll teach you how to search. If you input the keywords you want here, ta-da. What appears here is the location, so you just go and find it. For items that are checked out, it shows who borrowed them too, so you can see clearly.”

 

Then Jude glanced at Shtidy who left to find the searched materials, and manipulated the artifact.

 

“Nothing.”

 

He tried to find papers with Master’s name on them, but no matter how much he searched, nothing came up. It was strange. Just searching through the absorbed memories, he could recall the titles of dozens of papers Master had written.

 

He suddenly remembered what Melissa had said. Could she have cleared away the materials beforehand?

 

‘Probably not.’

 

Even if she was once an Elder, it didn’t seem like she, as an outsider, would have that kind of authority. It would be much more reasonable to think that after Master became a Dark Mage, the Magic Tower erased his traces.

 

“Are all the Tower’s materials here?”

“I suppose you could say that.”

 

Telon, who had been pondering for a moment, mentioned one place.

 

“Except for what people have borrowed or what’s in the Forbidden Library?”

 

Forbidden Library.

 

At this quite meaningful name, Jude’s eyes lit up.

 

“Even if they’re called forbidden books, there’s nothing great about them. It’s a place where useless things are gathered, like papers whose errors have been revealed over time. Though there are occasional stories that dangerous research is included there…”

 

Master Sevian was said to have been noted for his outstanding talent even in the Green Magic Tower.

 

In a Magic Tower that valued knowledge, would they really have eliminated all the papers he wrote in the past, even if he became a Dark Mage?

 

If he hadn’t known about the Forbidden Library’s existence, he might have thought so, but now that he knew, he couldn’t help but think Sevian’s papers were there.

 

“What do I need to do to enter the Forbidden Library?”

“You need to get permission.”

“So, from whom…”

“It’s better not to be interested. I’m telling you it’s not very useful, you know?”

 

But with continued urging, Telon, who still hadn’t given up his attachment to the new researcher, had no choice but to speak.

 

“Well, I guess it can’t be helped. When I first entered the Magic Tower, I was curious about the Forbidden Library too.”

“Thank you, brother. I’ll definitely visit your research room next time.”

“You promised? Hmm, the library management is handled by one of the Elders. Originally, access to the Forbidden Library would also be under that person’s jurisdiction.”

“That Elder you mentioned is…?”

 

Telon paused briefly at Jude’s question, then spoke with difficulty.

 

“…They’re not here now. They moved to the Blue Tower.”

“…What?”

“You’ll probably have to speak to the Tower Master to get permission.”

 

Cracks appeared in Jude’s smile.

 

Because he remembered what Melissa had said just a few hours ago.

 

* * *

 

In the Magic Tower’s library, Jude was able to build up his lacking Magic Theory from the basics.

 

Though he had learned these things to some extent through Master Sevian’s memories, there were holes everywhere due to absorbing an incomplete soul. Of course, that wasn’t entirely useless.

 

With each turn of the page, memories surfaced as if recalling what he already knew.

 

The Magic Tower’s library was like an oasis to Jude. He rapidly absorbed knowledge and quenched his thirst.

 

But even so, Jude’s expression was not good at all.

 

The Forbidden Library. There was no way to enter the place where clues about Master might remain.

 

Through his battle with Sevian, Jude thought he had overcome most of the emotions that remained with him. But when he thought he couldn’t verify the clues right in front of him, he couldn’t feel good.

 

“The Blue Tower is the problem…”

 

From what he heard, it seemed the Blue Tower had caused more damage than the Red Magic Tower, such as taking away Green Magic Tower personnel.

 

Thanks to that, it was true that he could easily enter the Green Magic Tower, but now he was already affiliated with the Green Magic Tower. The Blue Tower was no different from an enemy.

 

-…Wasn’t it that you temporarily entered to find Holy Sword Materials?

“It’s just a feeling. A feeling.”

 

However, no matter how much they cursed the Blue Tower that wasn’t present here, nothing would change.

 

Time had already passed late night and was approaching dawn.

 

Even though the Magic Tower was overflowing with mages who stayed up all night, the library had been devoid of human footsteps for a long time.

 

Jude nodded his head and muttered.

 

“Good. I’m infiltrating.”

 

In preparation for this situation, he had asked Telon about the location of the Forbidden Library in advance.

 

At one corner of the library, at the end of a dusty corridor, he looked around. Just as he had confirmed several times, no people were visible.

 

“…This should definitely be the right place.”

 

He placed his hand on the wall, but it was just a hard wall where nothing could be felt. It was hard to believe there was an entrance to the Forbidden Library here.

 

-It’s a basic level barrier.

“A barrier?”

-Illusion, camouflage, perception manipulation, mana absorption, impact absorption, and so on… Nine spells layered together.

 

Even at first glance, it didn’t sound basic at all.

 

The level of each individual spell varied depending on which spell was used for the same effect, so he couldn’t tell just from the Demon Lord’s words alone.

 

However, arranging nine spells so they wouldn’t conflict with each other to form a single barrier was a method he had never even imagined as a mage who had just learned the basics.

 

-Still, they’re just human spells. It won’t be difficult.

 

The Demon Lord closed his mouth as if he had lost interest.

 

Therefore, Jude said.

 

“Open it for me.”

-…?

“I said open it.”

-What’s with this sudden attitude? I don’t need to follow your orders. You should know that, right?

 

At Jude’s confident words, the Demon Lord asked, rarely flustered… no, bewildered.

 

-Did you eat something wrong?

 

But Jude didn’t care.

 

“If I tell you to open it, you’ll open it. Why are you talking so much?”

 

In the end, it was the Demon Lord who gave in first.

 

-Fine. I’ll open it for you. But instead, I have a proposal for you…

“I don’t want to hear it.”

-…What?

“I said I don’t want to. Why should I listen to your proposal? If I don’t, what can you do about it?”

 

The Demon Lord, who seemed speechless and only let out a hollow laugh for a moment, answered simply.

 

-Then I won’t unlock this barrier.

“…Ah.”

-…Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll just help you this time.

 

After a brief meaningless argument, the Demon Lord sighed.

 

-This is structured to automatically unlock when a specific mana pattern is applied. Control your mana as I tell you. Pay a little more attention to deception. Yes, that’s right.

 

The Demon Lord instructed him to emit a certain amount of mana at regular intervals.

 

-An artifact that emits a unique wavelength serves as the key. If you know the pattern and can replicate it, you can easily break through. There aren’t many who can do this…

 

Though he was a bit nervous, by following what the Demon Lord taught him, he was able to learn the pattern without any problems before long.

 

-…You learned it?

“Why? Didn’t you teach me so I could learn it?”

-Yes. …That’s right.

 

The blocked wall disappeared, revealing an entrance. It was an utterly dark space, but when he stepped inside, the ceiling brightened, making it easy to look around.

 

“Let’s see. It should be here somewhere…”

 

After wandering around inside the Forbidden Library, Jude discovered an artifact that looked exactly the same as the one he had seen outside.

 

After several operations, Jude searched for his master’s name, Sevian, and discovered that a considerable number of papers were gathered in one place.

 

It was curious.

 

From what he had confirmed in the library, most other papers were organized by topic regardless of author. If that was the case, there was a high possibility that the gathered papers were deeply related enough to be considered a single topic.

 

Derivative research. Or follow-up research, was it? Like Shtidy’s research direction, the kind where initial research influences subsequent research. Sevian’s research seemed to be of that type as well.

 

Finally passing the bookshelf, Jude finally found Sevian’s name and read the title of the paper.

 

[Basic Experimental Report on the Effects of Artificial Mana Injection on Living Organisms – Year 971, Sevian.]

 

Year 971.

 

Not long after Sevian had entered the Green Magic Tower. As if symbolizing his still inexperienced days, the title itself defined it as merely a simple basic experiment.

 

However, Jude made an ambiguous expression.

 

[Mana Injection Experiments on Animals and Records of Abnormal Reactions – Year 973, Sevian.]

 

The period when these theses were written was definitely included in the souls that Jude had absorbed. However, he had never seen any memories related to the theses he was looking at now.

 

[Physical Improvement and Limitations Through High-Dose Mana Injection on Human Subjects – Year 974, Sevian.]

 

And those experiments were things that Jude couldn’t imagine the Sevian he knew from that time would have thought of or conducted.

 

[Artificial Mana Affinity Enhancement Through Rituals Experiment – Year 975, Sevian]

 

Experiments that were clearly conducted on humans. Jude pulled out his Master’s thesis from the bookshelf.

 

The thesis was densely filled with various experimental methods, side effects, and limitations. Written in his Master’s handwriting, which was all too familiar to Jude.

 

-Are you disappointed?

“No.”

 

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t shocked. But if asked whether he was disappointed, he wasn’t at all.

 

Ever since discovering his Master’s research journal in Andril, he had already known how many human experiments he had gone through to create the Six Arms.

 

However, a new thought did occur to him that perhaps his Master’s ostracism at the Magic Tower wasn’t solely due to his exceptional genius.

 

After letting out a hollow laugh, he looked at the title of the next thesis.

 

There was a topic written that was completely unrelated to the previous ones.

 

[Recreation of Existing Creatures and Phenomena and Their Limitations – Year 978, Sevian.]

 

Did he want to create a dragon or something?

 

Since such research had been popular for quite some time, it wouldn’t be particularly strange if his Master had been absorbed in such studies.

 

Thinking he might pass along any useful content to Telon, Jude pulled out the thesis.

 

But before he could even read the contents, the title of the next thesis caught his eye.

 

[Clarification of the ‘Hero’ Phenomenon Through Myths and Legends and Possibilities of Recreation – Year 981, Sevian.]

 

With that thesis being the last one, he had now looked through all of his Master’s theses gathered in this place.

 

However, Jude remained frozen in the same position he had been in when trying to pull out the thesis, unable to move for a while.

 

What Master Sevian had wanted to create wasn’t something like a dragon.

 

A Hero.

 

He had tried to create God’s representative with human hands.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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