Chapter 44
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Translator: MJK
Chapter: 044
Chapter Title: Just a Coincidence
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The library's basement storage room was incredibly dark.
No proper lighting at all—it was a place shrouded in pitch blackness.
Flicker...
The librarian shone a light with his candle lamp.
But the feeble glow from the candle wasn't nearly enough to illuminate the entire basement. It barely managed to light up the immediate surroundings.
At that, Andy channeled his magic.
'Light Element.'
Mana particles gathered at the boy's fingertips. Rearranging them into a light element formation would produce a brilliant glow.
Flash!
A sphere of radiant light formed at the boy's fingertips and rose into the air. The clear, bright light chased away the darkness, illuminating the entire dim basement storage room.
The librarian let out an exclamation of awe.
"Wow... Lighting magic, huh? That's incredibly bright."
"It's hard to find books in the dark."
"Thanks to you, it'll be much easier to search. Appreciate it."
Andy brushed off the librarian's thanks and surveyed the basement storage.
It was roughly the size of Estelle's workshop—pretty spacious. Piles of books were stacked haphazardly all over the wide space.
Searching through each one for the books he wanted would take some time, no doubt.
No wonder the librarian had said it could take hours.
"The academic texts are gathered over there. This way, please."
The librarian led Andy toward a stack of books in one corner.
But Andy didn't follow.
His gaze was fixed on an even more remote spot—a haphazard pile of books in one corner of the warehouse.
Andy pointed at the neglected books in the corner and asked,
"Why are those books just dumped there like that? They look way more abandoned than the others."
"Ah, those..."
The librarian glanced at the spot Andy indicated and explained.
"Those are books slated for disposal."
"Disposal?"
"Books that are too worn to read comfortably, severely damaged, worthless, or contain subversive content that needs to be destroyed. They'll be tossed into the fireplace as kindling soon enough."
Andy nodded at the explanation.
Sure enough, the books piled high in the corner looked particularly beat-up.
Many had torn or shredded covers, and some were half-burned or waterlogged and crumpled.
Andy headed toward that spot.
'It's coming from there.'
The boy touched his chest.
Hummm...
He could feel his circle resonating.
The pile of books casually stacked in that remote corner. The closer he got, the more his circle reacted.
"Mr. Mage?"
Ignoring the librarian's puzzled stare,
Andy rummaged through the pile.
Various books passed through his hands and were set aside.
Worn and damaged ones, singed ones, mouse-eaten ones, books with grotesque titles praising demons, ones with overly provocative covers...
Amid all those,
the boy finally found one book.
'A book with no title.'
A neatly bound leather-covered book caught his eye.
Looking at it made the boy's soul itch. An impulse stirred in his chest, as if he'd regret it forever if he didn't take it right now.
The boy reached out and picked it up.
In that instant, he felt it.
'My soul is rejoicing.'
His soul's reaction.
It responded with intense joy.
His heart pounded. A pleasant thumping. The beats mixed with anticipation and delight felt refreshingly light.
Flip.
Andy flipped open the cover. There, familiar yet not quite letters adorned the page.
Strokes and shapes intertwined in complex patterns, resembling a maze at first glance.
A familiar script.
'No doubt about it. This book... it's in the same format as the first magic book I ever got.'
A sequence of what looked like a maze of cipher text. It was unmistakably similar to the one on the magic book before he unlocked it.
Definitely the same type.
Andy spoke softly.
"You said these books are slated for disposal, right? Fuel for the fireplace."
"Yes? Oh, right."
"Then, can I take this one? It's going to be burned anyway."
"Uh... well..."
The librarian looked troubled at Andy's words.
After finding the books at the library, Andy headed straight to Estelle's workshop.
His steps toward the workshop were light.
'Got a new magic book.'
He wore a pleased smile.
The magic book he'd obtained first. He'd stumbled upon another in the exact same format and now had it.
It was just one of the discards anyway, so the librarian had handed it over without fuss, saying it was fine.
'It probably wasn't allowed... but he seemed scared of me. That's how I got the book.'
Smuggling out a book marked for disposal wasn't exactly proper.
But the librarian had already been rude to Andy multiple times.
He'd dared to treat a mage like a beggar and insult him. If Andy had a slightly worse temper, things would've gotten serious long ago.
So the librarian had taken an extremely submissive stance toward Andy and handed over the book without protest.
The boy hoped.
'I hope this book has info on forming a second circle. Then I could reach the second circle soon.'
If it contained knowledge about second circles, he could break through the wall and advance his realm.
With eager steps, he arrived at Estelle's workshop.
"Estelle, here are the books."
"Thanks. Took a while, so you must've gone down to the basement?"
"Yeah, it took some time to find them."
"Figures. They usually shove academic texts in storage. Good job."
Andy handed the books to Estelle.
She took them with a satisfied nod. Looked like he'd found everything she needed.
But then she gave him a curious look.
"Andy, what's that book?"
"Oh, uh..."
Estelle's words made Andy realize his mistake.
He'd shown her the extra book he'd snagged. In his excitement over getting it, he hadn't thought to hide it properly.
'Anyone could tell this isn't ordinary just by glancing at it...'
Andy worried. What if she recognized its value and got greedy?
Estelle didn't seem the type to covet a young boy's possession.
But knowing the mystery this book held made it hard for Andy to relax completely.
Yet, contrary to his fears,
"Huh? A dungeon book? That's rare. Never thought I'd see one in a library instead of the Magic Tower."
"...Dungeon book?"
"Books that come from dungeons—the ancient magic empire ones that mages raid."
Estelle handled the book casually, as if it were no big deal. Not shocked by its value, more like, 'Huh, here of all places?'
Was this book not that rare after all?
'No, wait— a book from a dungeon?'
Curiosity piqued, Andy asked,
"This came from a dungeon?"
"Yep. One of the old-era items that turns up there pretty often."
"...Items from dungeons should be valuable, though."
Dungeon finds were relics from the ancient magic empire that perished a millennium ago.
Andy figured they had to be worth something.
'Dungeons yield amazing artifacts all the time. This book could be one too.'
Dungeon items usually meant artifacts—things impossible to replicate with modern magic or tech.
From handy everyday tools to game-changing superweapons.
This book might be an artifact too.
After all, hadn't he—who'd never sensed mana before—awakened to magic just by reading it?
It probably had some special effect. Must be valuable.
But against Andy's expectations,
"Nah, not at all. Dungeon books come out way too often. They're basically junk."
"Junk? Why? It's from a dungeon... Knowledge from the ancient magic empire should be precious, right?"
"Sure, it might hold valuable knowledge—from the ancient magic empire, after all. But knowledge hidden so no one can access it is just dead knowledge. Here, look."
Flip. She turned a page of the dungeon book.
What appeared was a jumble of bizarre, maze-like script.
Estelle shrugged.
"As you see, dungeon books are written in cipher. And not just any cipher—insanely advanced stuff."
"Can't you decipher it?"
Glance. Andy eyed a book on the table titled Cipher Algorithms.
Mages had advanced math, science, and more. Cryptography must be pretty developed too.
With mages' skills, they should be able to crack it...
But it seemed more difficult than Andy thought.
"Hundreds of years, countless mages have tried to decode dungeon books. No luck. It's beyond imagination—complex and advanced. Consensus is our current magic system can't touch it."
"..."
"That said, it's not like we've learned nothing about them. The content, author, even creation date are unknown... but we did figure out one thing."
"Something? What is it?"
"The key to these books is the 'soul.'"
"The soul?"
Andy looked at the book with puzzlement.
The soul as a key? What did that even mean?
Estelle continued.
"Dungeon book locks—it's a theory, but not confirmed... They probably respond to a specific person's soul, unlocking the cipher and revealing the content. A soul-responsive cipher. Pretty wild, huh?"
"Whose soul would that be?"
"Who knows. Maybe royalty or nobility from the ancient magic empire a millennium ago? Someone of high enough status to access the locked knowledge."
"Royalty or nobility..."
"Anyway, for a dungeon item, it's not worth much. Common, and unreadable. Even in my old Magic Tower, we'd just leave them in storage since they took up space and served no purpose."
"..."
Andy fell silent. The barrage of unexpected info required some mental sorting.
Misreading his silence,
Estelle patted his shoulder encouragingly.
"Disappointed it's worthless? Don't be too bummed. It's not bad as a decorative piece. Looks decent, right? And it's still a dungeon find."
Estelle handed the book back to Andy as she spoke. His expression was complicated as he took it.
After finishing up at the workshop, Andy returned to his inn room.
He stared at the single book before him and murmured softly.
"A dungeon book..."
The mysterious book from which he'd learned magic. And this new one before him.
Both from a dungeon.
Andy recalled Estelle's words.
'Soul-responsive lock. So when I first got that book, did my soul resonate and unlock it?'
Back when he'd unlocked the first book,
Andy had been overwhelmed with intense emotions.
Disappointment, sorrow, despair, rage—all mixed, leading him to break down in tears.
And that's when the book unlocked.
He could still see it clearly.
As if consoling his pitiful sobs, a warm, brilliant light burst from the book... flooding the dark, cramped storage room with golden radiance.
Andy speculated.
Probably his turbulent emotions made his soul surge, resonating with the book and unlocking it.
But something felt off.
"Why was I able to unlock the book?"
Per Estelle, dungeon books unlocked for specific souls.
Likely ancient magic empire royalty or nobility.
Yet Andy—a mere orphan—had unlocked it, as if responding to his will.
Why?
Suddenly, the boy thought,
'What if... I'm a descendant of ancient magic empire royalty?'
Andy chuckled and shook his head at the notion.
Ridiculous fantasy. A mere orphan turning out to be noble blood? Absurd.
Just coincidence.
He just happened to be born with a soul that could unlock it and happened to encounter the book.
A string of coincidences. That's all, Andy thought.
But did the boy know?
That miracles born from chained coincidences were called 'fate' in common parlance.
That coincidence was merely another name for fate.
"...Anyway. Time to unlock it."
Sorting his thoughts, Andy picked up the book.
With its details organized in his mind, he was ready to unlock it.
He sharpened his soul sense.
'Resonate my soul with this book.'
Stirring his spiritual energy, he connected with the book.
Like resonating with ambient mana particles. He touched it with his soul sense.
And Andy felt a strange sensation.
As if his soul's will meshed with something. Like a key named soul unlocking a virtual lock.
The boy instinctively knew the book's lock had released.
Right then.
Flash!
A brilliant light erupted from the book.
Golden radiance filled the room.