Chapter 27
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Labyrinth Library
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Gained experience via [Lust Absorption lv.2] effect.
After staggering back to the mansion dead drunk, I slept it off and woke to this welcoming message.
The system notification I hadn't checked amid last night's booze haze felt like it was whispering, "Had fun last night, didn't you?"
Seeing the system message made it hit home that everything from last night wasn't a dream. I'd let my guard down since things had been quiet for a while, but to think I'd suddenly fall into a Heat status ailment... At least my luck's been holding lately—Rena didn't seem to notice a thing. I guess I should be grateful that the last shred of my reason kept me from going all the way.
Sufficient experience accumulated. Acquired [Physical Reinforcement lv.1].
[Physical Reinforcement lv.1]: Enhances overall physical functions.
As if to console me, another message arrived about acquiring a new skill: [Physical Reinforcement]. It's a skill you get from training your body, but I never imagined I'd pick it up after just a bit over a week of effort. Looks like the experience from [Lust Absorption] went toward unlocking this one. The description's pretty half-assed, though.
Let's see... No other skill levels went up, and [Lust Absorption] is the same... What the hell? Semen taste and aroma increased? Why the sudden random effect? This skill just keeps getting weirder the more I look at it.
I cleared the system messages and got dressed. I had somewhere to be today.
Alensia had tipped me off that starting today, I could access the library's second floor. I'd been able to go to the first floor for a while now, but I'd been holding off until the second opened up.
"Ian, time for your morning training."
...Swordsmanship practice first, then.
"Welcome to the Labyrinth Guild Library. Adventurer Ian may access up to the second floor. Attempting to enter unauthorized floors will result in detection and potential revocation of your adventurer license. Please proceed with caution."
Honestly, I'd never made it to the library before, but I'd subconsciously assumed it was no big deal. Tied to the Labyrinth Guild and all, I figured it was stuffed with labyrinth intel or combat manuals—nothing more.
Especially the first floor—Alensia had told me not to get my hopes up, so I'd pictured something like a casual neighborhood library back on Earth.
But the moment I stepped into the first floor, I was floored. The hall was way huger than the building looked from outside.
The books were meticulously sorted by category, and even with tons of people reading, there wasn't a peep of noise.
"First time, I take it? The library interior features around twenty enchantments, including spatial expansion, noise cancellation, auto-cleaning, and humidity control."
As I gawked like a country bumpkin, the receptionist kindly explained the library's features. Spatial expansion... I'd learned about that magic from the spatial pouch—it's advanced stuff that only upper-level mages can handle, and the bigger the scale, the more skill it demands.
Plus, enchanting multiple spells on the same object ramps up the difficulty exponentially. That's why bags with both Spatial Expansion and Lightening enchantments cost a fortune.
"One of the Labyrinth Guild committee members holds the title of Archwitch and absolutely adores books. She designed it herself and applied all the enchantments. Rumor has it over half the books on the third floor and above are from her personal collection."
"She loves books so much she built a whole library...?"
"If you snag any book-type loot from the labyrinth, donate it here instead of the Magic Tower—Lady Vivian sometimes hands out personal rewards based on the book's value."
The Archwitch who built it is named Vivian. Books from the labyrinth, huh... Good to remember.
I thanked the receptionist and headed straight up to the second floor. Plenty I wanted to look up.
The second floor had fewer people than the first, but the sheer number of books held its own. I hadn't scoured the entire first floor, of course, but at a glance, the second floor's collection was insanely vast too.
Thankfully, there's a magic tool that works like a search engine. Made by that Vivian mage, apparently.
I punched in some keywords that piqued my interest, and a few promising books popped up.
'Let's see... Otherworlder, skill acquisition conditions, skill penalties, skill experience... Mana circuit damage? Try combining these.'
The intriguing ones: Otherworlders and Their Link to the Labyrinth, World Creation Myths, Skill Experience and the Labyrinth, What is Resistance Training? 2... There's a volume 2, huh. Anyway.
I picked the most fascinating one, and it politely indicated its exact location. Feels a lot like Earth libraries.
I pulled out books at random and started reading.
'Who created the labyrinth?' Interesting, but pass.
Skills Possessed by Otherworlders listed stuff like Level Up, Interpretation, Hypnosis, Persona Excretion, and more—but nothing on my Sensory Block or Lust Absorption. Pass.
Skill Experience and the Labyrinth... No mention of skills like Lust Absorption; just experiments on experience gain efficiency by floor. Pass.
'How Were Beastkin Born? Why's this under Otherworld... Holy shit.'
The leading theory on beastkin origins: an Otherworlder with the Explorer of Possibilities skill banging a beast and spawning them... Let's bury that. Apparently, Otherworlders with that skill pop up now and then.
All fascinating stuff, but not what I was after. Then, amid hypotheses on skill experience, one caught my eye.
[Labyrinth mana isn't naturally absorbed, so it yields no extra skill experience. Thus, we captured a criminal and force-injected labyrinth mana inside the dungeon for testing.
The criminal soon mutated into a monster-like form from the overdose. But right before the change, a Emotion skill user confirmed that some of the criminal's skills had leveled up, and new ones had been acquired.]
Force-feeding labyrinth mana turns you into a monster? Anyway, this experiment's effects sound closest to my [Lust Absorption]—leveling skills and gaining new ones without even entering the labyrinth. The effect triggers regardless... but this is the nearest match so far.
"Interested in that book?"
"!!"
While I was reading, a girl I'd never seen sidled up next to me.
I whipped around to find a girl in dark purple robes, heavy dark circles under her eyes—nothing ordinary about her. She looked like a middle-schooler just hitting high school age...
"I took part in that experiment myself. We were trying to harness labyrinth mana to recreate something like a Skill Stone, but couldn't suppress the side effects, so we scrapped it."
No normal person drops lines like that. I averted my eyes from her, checking the publication date on the book in my hand.
Labyrinth Year 880
...For reference, it's currently Labyrinth Year 1002. Meaning this experiment's over 120 years old.
As I eyed the date, the girl's bored violet gaze suddenly gleamed unnaturally, and I felt my secrets laid utterly bare.
"Hmm... You've got remarkably few skills, huh? [Heavenly Touch]?"
"What the—?!"
No way—did this girl just read my skills? First time anyone's done that since the temple on my first day here. Who the hell is she?
And [Heavenly Touch]? If she saw my skills, shouldn't [Lust Absorption] or [Sensory Block] catch her interest instead?
"Judging by your reading choices... You're an Otherworlder, right? Skills: [Swordsmanship], [Physical Reinforcement], [Stealth], [Heavenly Touch]. Is [Heavenly Touch] the one you got on transfer?"
From what she said, she did read my skills—but seems she missed the Sensory Block derivatives. Small mercies?
"Who are you?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry. Caught you off guard? I have this hobby of peeking at strangers' skills."
"I asked who you are."
At my wary tone, the bored-looking girl drawled lazily.
"This library's owner."
"...No way, the Archwitch?"
"Hate that title."
Holy shit, why's a Labyrinth Guild committee member here?
"The books you're reading are the kind only Otherworlders pick up. I rigged it so if someone binges that category in a short time, it pings me."
"...Why bother?"
"Otherworlder skills are always intriguing. Yours are... pretty vanilla for a transfer bonus."
Well, yeah—[Heavenly Touch]'s great, but it wasn't what I got on transfer.
Vivian, appraising my skills, tossed me a small glowing purple gem and turned to leave.
"Wait, you're just going?"
"Yeah. Curiosity satisfied."
"What's this gem?"
"Payment for peeking at your skills without asking. If you find books in the labyrinth, bring 'em here."
With that, Vivian vanished as tracelessly as she'd appeared. The gem in my hand was the only proof she was ever there.
A so-called Archwitch popping up out of nowhere... Just for curiosity's sake? No clue why she read my other skills but missed [Sensory Block] and [Lust Absorption]... Lucky break for me, though. The temple clocked my [Sensory Block] on day one. What's the difference?
Still, casually snooping on people's skills...
A chill ran down my spine. No idea why the others slipped by, but this could happen again.
I gave up digging for more info in the library, pocketed the purple gem, and headed back to the mansion. Felt too uneasy to stick around.
Back home, I showed Alensia the gem and asked what it was.
"This! No way, Ian—you met Lady Vivian?"
"Yeah, at the library."
"That's rare... She has a skill to discern others' abilities and occasionally peeks at ones that catch her eye. Then hands out one of these gems as apology."
Apparently, her popping up to scan skills isn't a one-off. At least she doesn't target Otherworlders specifically? Not that I'm hiding it, but better kept quiet.
Still, snooping without permission and tossing a random gift? Thinks that'll square it?
"Lady Vivian's a master of spatial magic. The gem's a medium she crafted—attach it to a bag or pouch, and it auto-expands the space. A genuine magic tool."
...Okay, that might actually make up for it. Not some fixed bag—an attachable inventory? What kind of OP item is this?
"Even intermediate adventurers struggle to get one, let alone beginners. Advanced adventurers all have basic spatial backpacks, but even they covet Vivian's space gems. Cherish it."
She said I could sell it but doesn't recommend—only Vivian makes them, so it'd draw too much attention.
I clipped the gem to a pouch on my belt and reached in—space ballooned massively. And it lightens the load too; I tested with junk, and the weight barely registered.
Still... turns out I hold grudges pretty well. I'll shelve this for now.
And with this gem... solo labyrinth runs might actually be doable.