She nodded happily at my words, accepting the gauntlets and placing them in her Armor Ring. “Thanks. Maybe my other skill that I learn could be mining, instead of a weapon? That would make it easier to harvest rare ores that we come across, or Mana Stones.”
I thought it over for a moment, and then nodded. I couldn’t make a Mana Stone without first knowing the spell to put in it, and if it were an unnatural ore I wouldn’t be able to produce it without knowing how it is created. “That works. Tonight, I’ll make a practice dummy for you to train on, since Denise is having a bit of trouble taking your attacks now.” After saying that, I heard a grumble from in front of me, but Denise didn’t deny it.
The rest of the day passed without incident, aside from a few monsters popping up that Denise dealt with. I thought about having her hold off to let me bind them, but I didn’t really want any of these as a summons. Maybe once we got back to the plains there would be some interesting monsters, but for now everything was too weak for me to be concerned with it.
Speaking of which… There are special rituals for summoning powerful creatures, aren’t there? Maybe I should ask Levy to look into that… Ritual summoning wasn’t something I had experience with yet, so I wasn’t familiar with the details. Groaning inwardly, I resolved myself to come up with the ultimate divination magic!
Of course, what I had in mind by calling it that was really just a giant library full of information in the form of a spell. How would you even go about making that? I spent the next few days deep in thought while the wagon traveled from the sands to the grasslands. I knew it would have to be divination, because it was a request for knowledge.
If I’m simply using this spell for research, then having access to books is important. So, rather than seeking all knowledge, I just needed to seek all books. With that much, there was a way to do it! I could make a Divination spell that collected information from books, just like I made one that gathered the information from the wind.
Of course, if I only asked for the raw information, my head might explode, or I’d go into a coma. The first time I felt such a rush of information from learning a single book instantly had caused me to black out. In that case, I needed to keep them in their material form, which meant I needed a space to store them. Suddenly, this spell has gone into the realms of both Origin and Divination.
Since I had made the Artifact World, I knew how to create a stable space. But in reality, I was making multiple spells here. The first would create the space, fill it with the books, and never be used again. The second would be a portal to travel between this ‘great library’ and my current location. If I were to do it the same as Artifact World, where it made the space every time, and collapsed it when I was done, then it would take massive amounts of mana each time I cast it.
So, my first project was the creation spell. The first diagram was the divination portion, which would scour the world and gather one copy of every book. The second was the Origin magic, which would first create a space large enough to store those books. Of course, just that alone was insufficient. I had to designate that they would be placed on shelves, which were spaced far enough apart to walk between. Next, the third diagram was another Origin spell, which created the library within this space and filled it.
I considered creating a fourth layer that would make the first layer’s effect ongoing, and add any new books to the library. But doing so would require a constant drain on my own magic, and I might run into the same problem that the first Archmage had when he made Heaven and Hell. As such, I left it with those three layers.
Please select a name for your spell
At first I had been surprised, since I did not use any unique runes in this spell, but then I remembered that I actually did! In my third layer, I repeatedly used my Twins rune in order to easily create copies of the books for my library. As such, this was a spell that had never been created before, so I was the one to name it.
Wisdom of Solomon has been added to your Spell List
For the creation of a Tier 5 spell, both Origin Magic and Divination have increased by 1 rank.
I blinked a few times, having not expected this to be a tier 5 spell. I had not even known that tier 5 Divination magic could exist, given the requirements. Of course, since I combined it with the magic of creation it became possible.
Seeing my astonishment, Cynthia furrowed her eyebrows, trying to figure out what was going on. “Uh, Jin? Is something the matter?”
“Oh.. sorry.. I just came up with something rather amazing…”
“Don’t praise yourself too much before you tell us what it is…” Denise laughed from the front of the wagon, and we were slowly approaching the forest before I knew it.
“Ah, sorry. Well, it’s something I’ve been working on the last few days. I kept thinking how inconvenient it was to always rely on Levy or Lilith for research, so I wanted to do something to take care of it. I.. might have gone a little overboard, and made a spell that would gather a copy of every book in the world for my own personal library…”
Cynthia sat there, blinking with a dumbstruck look. Denise, however, just burst out laughing. “Oh, seriously? You can do shit like that? And you wonder why I call you a cheat…”
Cynthia nodded her head firmly in agreement with Denise. “That’s really a bit too much, Jin…”
Suddenly, Denise lifted her head to look at me. “Wait, does that include other mages’ spellbooks?”
Blinking at the implications, I looked at the spell’s description. “Ah… if it’s protected from divination magic, the spell won’t copy it… So maybe? I’m sure some casters forgot to ward their books against that type of stuff.” I glanced towards my own grimoire, wondering if it was protected. Since it was an artifact, it should be assumed that it is.
“Oh, alright. Well, are you going to go ahead and cast it?”
“Yeah… I probably should.” I glanced to my book, and then had an idea. “I need a marker to get into the library once I’ve made it…” Smiling, I cast a quick bit of Origin magic, making a book titled ‘The Way In’. On its cover was a unique symbol I crafted to serve as a marking. Of course, the pages of the book itself were blank, but it was still a copy of a book, meaning the spell should take it.
Looking through my spells, I found my newest one and sighed, getting ready to cast it. “I am the lost king of knowledge, who seeks to gather again my power. My armies of words, my legions of tomes, I call upon you now. Present yourself, shoulder to shoulder, so that all who see you know the might of wisdom.” The air around me began to glow, and I saw my mana dropping rapidly. “May my lore endure for countless years, and inspire hope for generations. Wisdom of Solomon.”
As I finished speaking, I felt consciousness slipping away from me. Every drop of mana was consumed, and the light around me shot into the air. After about fifty feet, it exploded into a wave of energy that swept over the horizons. In front of me, I saw the new book I had created briefly emit a warm glow. Had it not been for my insane recovery rate, I likely wouldn’t have been able to stay awake after that casting.
Still, my mana did not rise above fifty-percent, even after several minutes. The reason was clear, as a tooltip had arisen after the casting of my spell.
Wisdom of Solomon has been cast successfully. Until the spell has been completed, 50% of your mana will be used to fuel the spell. It is possible to enter the library before all of the materials are gathered. Estimated time to completion: 36 hours
Again, my mana recovery rate probably was the only thing that saved this from taking weeks instead of days. Behind me, Denise let out a slight whistle, smiling a bit. Meanwhile, I was already making my next spell. This was a simple teleportation spell that would allow me to move between ‘twin’ objects. Until I could get in there and make a portal similar to a Hellgate, this would have to do. In fact…
“Wings of light, signs of beginning, may my voice reach the farthest corners.” I heard the familiar tone as the spell was cast, quickly met by
the voice I was looking for.
“Ah, Jin! There you are. You haven’t called me in a while..”
“Sorry, Lilith. I have a question for you, and an offer I think you’ll like.” I grinned a bit as I spoke.
The demoness on the other end gave off a small laugh. “An offer, you say? Do tell, and I’ll always answer a question if I can.”
“Well, how much effort does it take to establish a permanent gate to Hell?”
“Hmm… normally, it would take quite a lot. The gate has to be made of pure obsidian ore, and of course we have to get there to build it. With your magic, you might be able to make it yourself. Why?”
I explained to her the spell I had just made, and said that I would like to link it to the Hellgate system. Her reaction was… well.. “You… you just don’t know when to stop, do you?”
Lilith began laughing happily after saying that. “Really, Jin. First you give us unique magic, and now you offer a literal repository for all knowledge. If it is a Grand Magic like you claimed, it might even have crossed dimensional boundaries to take books from Heaven and Hell. Oh, I need to tell Dremor about this, he’d love it.”
When she spoke, I realised another possible effect this spell might have had. If it crossed dimensional boundaries, like my Message spell did, then it might have grabbed books from the real world as well! Of course, it would just be downloading copies from the internet, but still that is a whole other world of knowledge. Part of me considered taking back my offer, but now it was too late. Once I got into the library, I’d know for sure. If I was right, I could just explain it.
“Alright, well I’m just about to give the place a visit. You said a real obsidian door is needed, so afterwards it just needs to be enchanted with the Hell’s Gate spell, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Pretty simple, huh? Of course, creatures that aren’t supposed to be in Hell still can’t use those gates without permission.” Lilith spoke with a proud voice now, as if admiring her own work.
“Nice. I’ll open the gate once I’ve made it, and you can come check it out. The library itself won’t finish being stocked for a day and a half, but it is safe to enter before then.” After that, we said our goodbyes, and Lilith thanked me again before the call disconnected. At the same time, I had finished the basic spell I wanted to use to enter the library the first time, and named it.
Twin Travel has been added to your Spell List
Seeing that we were just beyond the edge of the forest, I looked to the others. “Want to take care of this real quick? There are a couple things I need to do before heading to Dariel’s place as well.”
The two women exchanged a glance, and just shrugged. Denise spoke first, in a defeated tone. “Sure, let’s get this over with. Just remember that you won’t be able to spend too much time there. The Unity won’t sail if you aren’t on board to pilot it, and we won’t always be able to wait around for you.”
“I know, I know.” I smiled to her, and cast the Twin Travel spell on the four of us, targeting ‘The Way In’. For a moment, we felt compressed, like the air around us collapsed, before we were deposited on a cold stone floor. There was a constant sound of stone moving, and the area was just dimly lit enough that I could see the farthest wall expanding outwards. The shelves around us were already loaded with books, though most of them had fallen off the shelves from our arrival.
“I’ll… have someone else take care of that.” I chuckled slightly, before moving to the nearest wall. The book we used to travel here was the first that the spell had copied, so it was right next to the first wall, which from our perspective remained unmoving. Rubbing my hands together, I approached the wall and kneeled down in front of it.
Placing my hands on the stone floor, I stared at the wall in front of me. “As one who knows the truth of origin, I cast aside and write anew. Behold, my truth that withstands eternity. Behold, my key of salvation. Shine forth and spread your wisdom.” Strands of blue light began shining out from me, traveling along the wall in front of me like threads sewing together reality.
This spell takes time, so my mana could recover almost as fast as it was used. This was a good thing, since I was currently operating on only half of my energy. Those strands of light began weaving together into masses of black rocks, which then molded together into a giant slab of stone.
For the next step, the spell was frozen, awaiting me altering the design to fit my purpose. Of course, a single slab was not a door, so I made hinges fastening it to the walls, and a cut down the center to turn it into double doors. Finally, I made handles so that the door could be opened.
Then came the last step. Hell’s Gate was a Tier 4 spell consisting of two layers, so I had to be careful with my mental image of the enchantment. I put all of my concentration on that formula, allowing my various skills to kick in and make corrections. After another five minutes, the door had been completed.
You have established a new Hellgate! The Hellgate system now also connects to Solomon’s Library.
Infernal Magic has increased to 28
Enchanting has increased to 27
I let out a sigh, and then waiting for my magic to rise back up. Next, I used Create Intermediate Object to create spools of Mana Silk, simulating the silk created by silkworms that had eaten the fruit of a Mana Tree. All in all, I created four spools of thread, which I placed in my Artifact World.
Finally, I used my Sculpt Earth and Stone spell to engrave a symbol on the floor in front of the Hellgate. This was the same symbol I had used on the book in order to mark my way in. Afterwards, I stood up and walked over to the large black doors. Grabbing the handles, I slowly opened them.
Waiting for me on the other side were two demons, both of which I recognized. The first was Lilith, wearing a flowing red dress that clung to her curves. The second was a blue skinned demon with three horns and pitch black eyes. His mouth was spread in a smile, and his body was hidden beneath a black robe. I recognized this man as one of the demon generals, Dremor.
“So, you actually made it.” Lilith stepped through, before turning around to look at the gate. “Could use a bit of work, but it’s a good first gate. Also, a bit dim here, don’t you think?” Despite her criticism, she was still smiling widely.
“Yeah, I was going to see if someone could take care of that once it stopped expanding.” I pointed a thumb back towards the far wall, which was still moving farther and farther away. “It would also be nice if someone could ward the place so that the books created here can’t be taken out. This library won’t be very useful if all the books are removed.”
Lilith let out a light laugh, nodding. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do. You’ll also need some seating areas. Since you are grabbing every book in the world, as well as possibly Heaven and Hell, this place could become as big as a city.”
“Yeah. Also, you mentioned it crossing dimensional boundaries before. If that happens, I think it might copy books from my world, too. The Message spell says the same thing, and it was able to call people I knew back there.” I decided to warn her in advance. “I doubt the spell will sort things, so it could be hard to tell for a while what came from where.”
Lilith’s smile grew wider at my words. “So, we might get some knowledge from your world as well?”
“Yeah..” After I confirmed that, Lilith let out another happy laugh, almost jumping into the air.
“I hope there are some stories about the Lilith from your world in it!”
I chuckled, shaking my head. “Also, I need it understood that there can be no fighting here. I plan on giving a key to this place to Dariel, once I work out how to make one that doesn’t rely on the Hellgates.”
Lilith nodded at my words. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure everyone knows that this is purely a place for research. Maybe some of Levy’s creations can be put to use sorting the books by subject and region of origin..”
“Oh? Are they that intelligent?” I was surprised, for something to be able to look at a book and
sort it by subject, it would need a level or intelligence beyond a simple monster.
“Some of them are. And I know that our own mages would be more than happy to come in here and help out. Needless to say, this place goes well beyond any single library.”
“Yeah… I was tempted to make an object to place in here that would refresh the spell every week or so, to search for any new books. I just am not sure how I’d power it, since it would be inconvenient for me to lose half of my magic for a day and a half every week.”
Dremor, who had been listening silently up until now, decided to speak up. “Why not have it gather the magic from the library’s occupants? Instead of being at a set interval, it just fires whenever enough has been gathered. “
I nodded, listening to his suggestion. “I’m not really sure how to make an enchantment work like that. If I left you the details of the spell, would you be able to work it in?” He blinked when he heard me offering him the spell, causing me to laugh. “I’m not worried about you stealing it. Really, what would be the point in Hell having more than one of these libraries?”
The Dive: Birth of a Hero Page 27