The Messenger of Death

"Huh?"

Alex stared hard at her buttocks but he couldn't see through the cloth. He was certain that what she was wearing is a see-through garment, and he thought that his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Nana chuckled. "You can stare all you want, you still wouldn't be able to see what you thought you were going to see. Although the garment is a see-through one, there are runes inscribed on it, a censoring kind of rune."

[Arrhh! This woman is a tease, we fell for such clickbait. I'm disappointed.'] Al complained.

"So that's why I couldn't see anything, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me." He indirectly admitted that he had been trying to sneak a peek at her buttocks.

"That's some confidence you got there Alexander. Blatantly admitting that you were trying to look at what could get you blind." Nana turned to face Alex as she said.

"Calling me Alex will be fine." His reply got Nana laughing. "You are a natural aren't you? Let's continue." She turned and continued to lead the way.

Not long after when they reached the end of the long hall she stopped walking and so did Alex.

"This is where the beginner's epoch books are said to start from, every book on this floor is a beginner's epoch book. From the first to the fifth floor, you can get what you need for both rune mastery and alchemy. From the sixth, that's where you can get martial skills. The shelves to your right are all books and things about Alchemy and to your left, rune mastery, which one do you want to start with?"

"Rune mastery." He replied shortly.

They walked to the closest shelf on their left. "If you want to take a book out of the shelf, here's how you do it."

She proceeded to tilt a random book on the shelf, and at a certain point it stopped tilting and a blue-like neon light appeared right on top of the book that she tilted. '2 LD-EC,' that was what the light projected.

"Hand me 2 LD-EC." Nana requested, and Alex willingly did as she asked. He handed it to her and she let it drop on the neon-like lights that hovered above the book.

-Zznn!

The ECs disappeared as soon as it came in contact with the neon-like lights. Nana then picked the book out and said; "And that's you do it," She flashed an innocent smile at him and handed the book to him.

"You should start with this one, it's a guide for beginners. There are also encyclopedias on beasts and plants, if ever feel like you want to read something up on them then you can tell me. I'll show you where they are."

Alex had a neutral expression on his face when he collected the book from her, but deep down he was so excited that he felt Goosebumps when his hands came in contact with the book.

He couldn't help but imagine the things he could do with runes. He was completely fascinated by runes.

"Walk down this row and at the end of it you will see a place to sit and begin your study, you are not permitted to take any book out of the library, but you are allowed to duplicate them. If you need me for anything you know where to find me." Nana ended the conversation with a wink and she left.

['That woman, how can she keep on teasing us like this. Need her for anything? Hmph. I doubt she'll be able to fulfill my needs.'] Al was offended by Nana's tease.

['She was talking to me, not you, mutt.'] Alex pointed out as he made his way to the end of the roll.

['I am you, rabbit.'] Al said in retort.

['Alright, I have heard you. Now please be quiet so I can focus on this book.'] Alex had found a place to sit. A simple wooden table and chair, nothing fancy.

['Getting excited over runes. You look like a kid that is about to watch an adult film for the first time.']

Alex ignored Al, it was the easiest way to get him to shut up. Alex opened the book and the first thing he read was the Author's name.

"Sheldon Shellie. A guide to the mastery of runes."

"Remember, a true runemaster isn't restricted by the ideal or morality of the majority. Everything is possible if you can pay the price. There is always more to learn, and most of all, not everything is permissible.

When you know what this truly means then a whole new world of rune mastery would be open for you to comprehend."

Alex suddenly felt enlightened by these words he just read. It wasn't anything profound but yet, it felt that way to him.

He flipped the page and proceeded to read the first topic of rune mastery. Although he has been able to inscribe runes without any equipment, he was only able to do one kind of inscription at the moment, to enforce. He too felt like he needed to start with the basics.

"Nature and identification of runes." That was the title of the first topic.

"Runes are inscriptions that contain the most basic form of rule-bending laws…" Alex continued reading, he spent hours going through this book. As he read, it was very easy for him to understand, to him, it was like remembering what he had forgotten. Some of the memories he got from Daemon started getting clearer.

Roughly 13 hours later, there were multiple books in front of Alex, he had gone through all the books in front of him and he was still fascinated by what he had been reading. He should no sign of being tired.

['So basically, the rune is another word for magic? From what we've seen that's all I can insinuate.'] Al mentioned.

['In simpler terms, yeah it's like magic. The difference between it and cultivation is its source. One draws energy from the already existing QI in the body and environment, while the other burns life-force.'] Lex explained.

['Hey, don't tell me that you plan on turning into a book worm?'] Al asked Alex.

['Maybe, who knows?']

['You've been here for almost 13 hours, don't tell me that you plan on reading every book about rune mastery in this library?']

['That's a nice idea.'] Alex said.

['What!? I wasn't giving you an idea you fool.']

Alex laughed at Al's reaction. ['I am just kidding. My aim is to use the skin crawler to duplicate every book I let it scan. That way I wouldn't have to come to the library for anything. These books are helping the memories get clearer, but it's very slow. Despite everything that I've gone through I still haven't been able to remember much.']

['Grace did say that it will get clearer when you get stronger. Maybe the limitations are from your current strength.'] Xander voiced his opinion.

['True. Let's get to scanning so that I can move to alchemy and other interesting things about this world…']

Alex walked from row to row, shelf to shelf, removing books and scanning them one by one.

['Can't you just attempt a mass scan? If it's possible then you don't need to pay for anything before you can access any of the books.'] Al suggested.

['You know, at times you say reasonable things. But only once in a while.'] Alex smiled as he said to Al.

He looked around to make sure there was no one looking at him. Even as he was the only one in the library apart from Nana, he didn't want to take chances that could lead to the revelation of his skin crawler. After checking his surroundings and the coast was clear he proceeded to carry his plan out.

"System, attempt a mass scan."

-Ping!

*Initiating mass scan shortly.

-Ping!

*Mass scan ready to be initiated, please indicate what you would like to scan.

Soon Alex's view from the mask changed. Everything in sight had a layer of green on it. He stepped back and said;

"Scan every book insight. Begin."

-Ping!

*Mass scan initiated. Please remain in the current position till the scan has been completed.

*Mass scan: 2/100 completed.

"Haha, it's working." He felt good that he didn't have to pay for anything anymore.

['This is like having a cheat code.'] Lex mentioned.

['Cheat code or not, this is a good feeling. My money doesn't have to be wasted on such useless information.'] Al expressed his opinion.

['The only thing useless today has been you Al.'] Alex went at him for insulting what he is fascinated about.

['Yeah, yeah. Be fast and head to where the Alchemy books are. Perhaps we can create cocaine in this world and sell it. Kekeke.'] Al cackled.

['I rather make a pill that kills a part of the brain. That way the chances of killing you would increase.'] Alex chipped in.

Alex stood in his current position for roughly 3 minutes before the scan was complete. He scanned the books on several shelves then moved on to the side where alchemy books were.