[I began creating this grimoire in preparation for my death. It is not yet completed, during the time I am writing this. If you are reading this sentence, the grimoire has been activated using a fragment of my soul, and I am dead. After all, without my will, this book would not be a grimoire.

Note: The last part of this section was written in only a few minutes.

It has come earlier than I thought it would. I don’t know if I will survive this encounter, so I must finish this book now. Unfortunately, and as usual, I left the hardest part to write until the end. However, everything else, most importantly the guides to magic, has been fleshed out in more detail.

I have chosen you, as someone with both the necessary magical talent, as well as someone who exhibits the required moral character, to inherit the work. You will be my successor. I would have said ‘disciple,’ but I am dead.

Ajartum said that being the student of a lich would be pretty cool. I shouldn’t have let myself get distracted.

You have both the necessary type of innate mana control and have been judged as a morally responsible person either through one of the dungeons or through ‘that’ association. If you don’t know what I am talking about, you came from the dungeon. Sorry, but I cannot tell you any more unless your strength is sufficient. You will discover it through the help of this book.

I should have mentioned that I created some of the dungeons. That’s why you were able to get this book through the dungeon if you did.]

James paused reading for a moment here. “I feel like I have read the plot summary of a novel. Although, I guess I’ve been experiencing novel-like things for a while now. I am in the novel.” He stroked his nonexistent beard as he mulled over the contents of the book. “Hey beanie!”

“What?”

“What if you were a lich? I’d be the student of a lich.”

“...that would be cool.”

James didn’t get the reaction he wanted, so he went back to the grimoire.

“Okay, so this seems like an amazing opportunity to be the student of a sage and learn magic and all - if it’s real. I would trust the book, because the dungeon gave helpful books to every other explorer, but the fact that he said he was the creator is a bit troubling.”

[I know you may have trouble believing me.]

“Shit, he read my thoughts!”

[Thus, allow me to give you a present.]

The grimoire began to glow. A magical formation appeared, out of that formation appeared a small bracelet. James instantly knew that it wasn’t normal.

As he brought out his dungeon card, James realized he hadn’t checked any equipment with his card for a while.

[Bracelet of Elucidation

Rarity: Unique

Quality: S

Restrictions: Must be the owner of the Dendeston Grimoire

Mana Reservoir - Can store mana with an efficiency of 98%. Capacity 1000 Mazols.

Precision : Helps the wearer direct the flow of magic.

Special Ability Clairvoyance: The wearer syncs with the Dendeston Grimoire and can access information from it without opening the Grimoire ]

“This…that’s a fancy name.”

It was clear that the Bracelet of Elucidation was a top tier artifact. It wasn’t quite as mysterious as the beanie and the grimoire, but maybe this was closer to being a “real” artifact than the other two. Although he couldn’t use it yet, it would help in combat. He guessed it would allow him to have a portable “tank” of mana, and thus continue to use magic even when he had almost run out of magic power.

According to the card, the bracelet also had the ability to help him control mana. This was actually what he was looking forward to the most - judging from its description, it would help him use magic.

James used his card to identify the grimoire as well.

[Dendeston Grimoire

Access restricted to owner: James Lu]

Like with the beanie, he couldn’t get any information on it. However, there were no question marks on it, unlike the time he had tried to appraise the beanie.

The bracelet itself was made of small chain links. It was a muted silver color, which looked nice but wasn’t garish. It wasn’t the type of bracelet that would make him a target for robbers. James also liked the fact that it didn’t make him look effeminate. However, like most magical artifacts, it emitted a pressure. The Hermes’ Boots and the broken Berserker’s Armor couldn’t compare to it.

James slipped the bracelet onto his wrist, where it changed length slightly and fit snugly without moving. He would be able to fight with this on.

“Are you not wary of that bracelet?” asked the beanie. “There are items out there with terrible curses on them. They can make you explode, eat you from the inside out, and make you lustful to the point of...fuck. I was planning to say that you would become bestial, but the nominalization of that is bestiality. Actually, that’s not necessarily wrong…”

James nearly choked due to laughter. When he calmed down, he shook his head. “I get what you’re saying. But, I don’t believe that it’s cursed. This came out of a grimoire that I got from the dungeon. And every other explorer has used these magic tomes. They’re also available in the shop for a shit ton of points. If a curse was really on the magic tomes, every explorer would know. Moreover, I didn’t sense anything wrong with it. I’d expect a curse to have oppressive mana on it, similar to that of an undead.”

The beanie sighed. “...you really do have the same magical talent as him.”

“Talent?”

“He could detect pretty much any type of mana. Usually, mana radars are expensive tools, but he was better than any tool you could make.”

This caused James to scowl lightly. He did have abnormally sensitive mana detection. However, being compared to a great sage kind of hurt when he couldn’t even use magic.

When he put on the bracelet, James didn’t feel any immediate change, so he turned to the book, hoping to find a clue.

[You may be able to tell that this grimoire, as well as the item just given to you, is much more than the average magic tome or artifact you would find in the dungeon. This is special treatment for you, my successor. The qualifications you had to meet include a form of innate magical talent (I will explain later in the book), and tenacity. Thus, instead of giving you an artifact at the start of your dungeon conquest, I merely increased your chances of getting orbs. Once you had surpassed the 5th floor, you had met the qualifications, excluding basic morality checks. I apologize for any inconvenience that may have given you, but I hope the preferential treatment I will give to you now will more than make up for it. Worry not: had you been killed, your consciousness would have been knocked out of the dungeon, and your body would have been unharmed.]

There it was. Within a few sentences, nearly all the questions James had about the dungeon had been answered. There were still a few problems, though.

First, why had James fought tier 2 goblins on the first floor? If the dungeon was made by someone, that would explain why it was systematic and well organized. It would also explain the stat system. So, the goblins were definitely out of place. Even now that he had been boosted and learned actual fighting, he wasn’t confident fighting against that group. Surviving that had merely been luck.

Second, even an increase didn’t account for the stupidly high rate at which James was getting orbs and drops. Equipment was something the other explorers rarely got, and James had already gotten 4, if you counted the beanie. He’d even broken one.

Of course, there was the chance that the author was spouting horseshit, but to James, it was practically non-existent. He found no inconsistencies, and the way the author wrote left James with absolutely no doubt, similar to the way simply listening to the beanie made him trust it. He wondered if it was partially due to the intent of Dragontongue. He felt both the beanie and the will of the grimoire were being partial to him, and if they didn’t like him, he’d be dead.

[I wish you well. I hope you can continue in the work I have started, making progress in the research of magic and help stabilize the balance of mana, to the benefit of all of the worlds. That is all I have to say.]

“I’m kinda being forced into this whole successor thing, right?”

“Are you going to turn this opportunity down?” The beanie would have raised an eyebrow if it could.

James swallowed hard. “No. Not after being given that type of item. I don’t think anybody could turn that down. Any normal person.”

“To be fair, the item he gave you is pretty good. But it’s not that impressive.”

James laughed, but it didn’t sound humorous. His face went slightly pale. “It’s not about the bracelet itself. I think the bracelet is having some effect. I can feel it.”

“What effect?”

“I can detect mana even better. More importantly, I can understand the intent from the grimoire and you better, simply from learning what intent is and the bracelet.” James leaned back against the cushion he had brought into the training room.

The beanie went quiet for a moment. James had already shown extreme talent in combat, and he would already be considered a good fighter if one ignored mana. Sure, the beanie helped, but natural talent was a big part of it. But his aptitude for conjuration-type magic seemed to be miles beyond it. It had only been 30 minutes since James had learned of Dragontongue, but he was able to “listen” to it. This was unheard of.

“You didn’t particularly hide your intent. Rather, you were specifically expressing your intent in order to talk to me. When I tried to listen to it, I nearly pissed myself. Not because you were trying to dominate me with your intent. But your presence was insane, even with a little amount of mana.”

“Anyone who can control their intent can do such a thing,” said the beanie.

“But not so naturally. If I did that, I’d be straining myself. But you are carrying it around. That amount of presence is natural for you.”

James asked the question he’d been hesitating to ask.

“Who are you really?”