Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: How to Turn Back Time
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Bookworms have a real talent for pissing people off.
They're literal bugs that chew through the books you've painstakingly collected.
If you don't clean them out periodically, their numbers explode in no time.
It's like they're testing your diligence.
You can't use pesticides or anything like that.
Spraying insecticide where there are books risks ruining the books themselves.
That's a side effect of the insecticides being strengthened to combat the Tower's bugs.
Insecticides don't cause serious harm to people anymore.
It's less about technological advancement and more because our bodies have adapted—and climbing the Tower strengthens us physically anyway.
Low-level Players sometimes even gain poison resistance from using the stuff. That's how potent it is.
NPCs come with all sorts of resistances by default, so they don't mind. The levels aren't super high, but they get the job done.
And the most important part? Insecticides don't work on bookworms anyway.
"Because bookworms aren't bugs to begin with."
They're only called that because they look like bugs.
Strictly speaking, bookworms are closer to spirits or fairies—mental entities.
Physical attacks don't work on them.
You can swing a flyswatter all you want; it won't catch them, and insecticides are useless too.
Only magic works on these tricky little bastards.
And with their massive numbers, you can't use area-of-effect attacks either.
Because you'd end up damaging the books too. They're utterly vile, holding books hostage like that.
Fitting for critters that live off books, I guess.
If half the name had to be wrong anyway, I wish it'd been "book" instead of "worm."
Then I wouldn't have to go through all this trouble.
Bookworms live up to their reputation as pains in the ass—unlike their name. That's why most bookstore NPCs are big shots.
They either have serious combat prowess themselves or enough cash to hire bookworm specialists.
Tower inspectors come around periodically to check on bookworms and book conditions.
That says just how dangerous bookworms are as a species.
Catching them before they mature isn't that hard. It's just a hassle, but with enough mana, you can manage.
Though you do need more mana than the average person, that's the catch.
Everyone agrees it's easier than dealing with full-grown adults, at least.
"When bookworms reach adulthood, their potential is nothing to scoff at."
Being alone so much lately, the self-talk just keeps spilling out.
"Ahem."
I cleared my throat awkwardly, feeling silly for no reason.
Anyway, bookworms grow by munching on words and sentences in books.
Sometimes you'll be reading, and a page in the middle will be completely blank—that's a bookworm's handiwork.
If they just erased the text, we wouldn't make such a fuss.
Like I said, they're mental entities.
They don't eat visible, physical stuff.
Their food lies in the unseen realm of the subconscious.
It's not the letters themselves they devour, but the lingering thoughts and emotions people attach to those words.
Eat the word "fire," and they gain fire-based potential. Combine it with "shoot" or "launch," and suddenly they can hurl fireballs from afar.
The longer they survive, the more words they absorb, making them harder to deal with.
That's why the Tower runs these inspections.
Fail the minimum standards, and you have to shut down.
Even passing limits what kinds of books you can import, based on your rating.
Skill Books are top-tier items among them—new or used, doesn't matter.
Since they can extract power from regular books too, they don't discriminate between used and new Skill Books either.
Only a handful of stores are licensed to sell Mythic or Legendary Skill Books.
"And ours is the least famous among them."
The others hold monthly auctions to rake in cash. Me? I'm always broke from buying books.
Sad reality.
Even bookworms don't picky-eat based on whether a book's used or not...
The fact that used Skill Books aren't in demand right now is just depressing.
"Time to clean."
Too many useless thoughts.
Cleaning should sweep those out of my head too.
When hunting bookworms, precision matters more than raw power.
They're hard to spot and quick to flee, but their defenses suck.
No need to crank up the firepower.
Doing so might damage nearby books, so caution is key.
Instead of picking them off one by one, find the queen's nest first.
No matter how many you kill, it's pointless without the queen.
If she escapes and sets up elsewhere, you're screwed. Their breeding rate is insane.
That's why you have to take her out before full egg-laying season.
Funny thing about bookworms: no matter how much you clean, they always sneak in a new nest after a while.
Most cases come from undetected eggs in incoming books, but not for me.
I inspect every book meticulously on arrival, so I can say that for sure.
They're not spawning naturally, so they must be infiltrating some other way—but I have no idea how.
With so many different books in huge numbers, maybe that's why they target here more.
I keep the quality high too, which probably draws them in.
Guess you could say I've got their seal of approval. "Bookstore certified by bookworms"—good marketing?
Looking around now, damn, there are a lot of books. Hard to believe there were only a few when I started.
"Have you read all the books here?"
Ber's question pops into my head.
My answer was no.
It wasn't about taste or interest.
Just emotions. Some books were too hard for me to get through.
The authors weren't serious criminals or people who'd lived tragic lives.
On the contrary, they were close to me.
The memories embedded in every page hurt too much to face.
Painfully buried recollections bubbled up to the surface and burst.
In the end, it was avoidance. Running away.
A space built to commemorate, yet I couldn't commemorate.
I gathered books to mourn, but couldn't let myself grieve freely.
I was a hypocritical lover of paradoxes.
A coward who utterly hated pain.
"Enough. Back to work."
Slap. I lightly smacked my cheeks to snap out of it.
Clean. And chase away these negative thoughts.
Early in nest-building, bookworms stay hidden inside with minimal outside activity, making them tough to find.
But who am I?
A guy who's spent his life with the Tower.
"Yeah, pretty impressive, if I do say so myself."
I grinned awkwardly. Lame bragging.
This sector was mine alone. Even the Tower couldn't touch it.
Finding a bug hideout was child's play.
I'd decided to clean today because my senses had picked something up anyway.
Sure enough, there was a nest plastered to the back of a dusty shelf.
As mental entities, it was half-material, half-phantasmal—translucent and shimmering.
If it weren't full of bugs, it'd be a beautiful sight. But knowing what it was, it just creeped me out.
"Ugh."
I hated bugs to begin with, and these had dared touch my precious books. Evil little shits.
"No mercy for you!"
Mana Butterfly
Precision gravitational compression – Nest eradicated. No collateral damage.
Mana condensed at my fingertips, gradually taking shape and expanding with my gestures.
It spread its wings gracefully, like a butterfly stretching after breaking free from its chrysalis.
I watched it flutter silently, peacefully through the air.
Tiny mana particles leaked out, sparkling in the light.
The butterfly alighted softly atop the nest, its vast wings enveloping the whole thing.
I clenched my fist.
The butterfly and the bookworm nest it cradled compressed into a single point.
Like intense gravity pulling everything together—then it vanished without a trace.
"Done."
Somehow anticlimactic. Like waking up too early for no reason.
I'd rushed over thinking the nest was huge or there might be more...
Not that it's bad. Catching it early is a win.
"Urgh."
Body still felt sluggish from waking up early after so long. I stretched lightly, shaking off the complaints and grogginess.
"How much time passed?"
Not as much as I'd thought.
"Can you turn back time?"
Thinking of time brought up Ber's question from her visit the day before.
She'd asked right before leaving, after hesitating forever—like she'd finally mustered the courage.
Was that the real reason she'd come by yesterday?
"Can you turn back time, huh."
I can turn back time even now.
With the Tower's permission, that is. It can't touch me, but I can't touch it either—so no choice.
And the Abyss has to approve too.
I told her that, and she nodded like she got it.
"What the hell are you scheming?"
Ber, the Old Man—everyone's been acting weird lately.
Like they're plotting something behind my back.
"Probably nothing to worry about."
I could maybe swing Tower approval somehow, but no way the Abyss would go for it.
I realized I was wrong a few days later.
The Old Man showed up out of nowhere.
"The Tower wants to meet you. Up for it?"
"Me? Why?"
"The Abyss will be there too. A three-way summit."
"That makes even less sense."
"It's about regression. Interested in joining?"
The Old Man eyed me like he was sizing me up. Total schemer.
This has to be their doing—him and Ber.
The 'Tower' wants to rewind time, the 'Abyss' opposes it.
And they're dragging in the one guy who can actually do it to hash it out.
Want me to mediate?
"Got it. Tell them I'm in."