Chapter 17
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Scene 017 Moon Magic
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We were stepping into empty air.
Just like when we'd climbed the Stairway of Truth.
Except this time, our bodies were flipped upside down.
If I craned my neck to look up, the Great Wall of Truth snaked along the ridgeline like a serpent.
Wendy already had her eyes squeezed tightly shut.
She clutched my collar in a death grip.
Hm, better than when we were climbing the stairs.
Keep pushing forward like that, Wendy.
"Follow me."
Myoil took the lead and started walking.
The handstand version of Void Step, I suppose.
It felt exactly like treading across a transparent ceiling.
But there was nothing particularly uncomfortable about it.
I turned to Myoil, the mystical spirit wielding such profound magic.
"...Are you from the Cremont family?"
The magical noble house, Cremont of the Earth.
Only someone tied to that family could pull off advanced gravity-reversal magic like this.
Myoil slowly shook his head.
"Heh heh. You think so? Before I became a spirit, I was just a guest hanger-on at the Cremont house. I picked it up by peeking over their shoulders back then, nothing more."
Magic isn't something you can master just by watching it a few times.
Especially earth-attuned magica secret among secrets handed down through the generations.
This old cat must've been a once-in-a-millennium genius to manage it.
Character Profile.
Name: Myoil.
Age: 1237 years.
Occupation: Director of the Magic Library, Great Wall of Truth.
Trait: Hidden Master.
"...You're humble."
"Heh heh heh. You're too kind. Meeting you face-to-face like this, Tristan, you seem so different from the rumors I've heard."
"Rumors, huh."
"Yes... not a single good one among them. I worry you might have quite a few enemies."
"Enemies..."
If I had to put a name to it, I'd be the enemy of the world itself.
Most of the characters despise me.
Some are downright itching to kill me.
Unfortunately, I'm not ready to take on the world just yet.
Traits tailor-made for self-destruction.
Curses keep me from using magic.
And my physical prowess is nothing special either.
Through Patience, I learned how to wield my traits.
But it's not enough.
I need powerthe kind that lets me triumph over any foe.
We kept walking, and the scenery overhead whipped by faster and faster.
Eventually, we came to a halt atop a remote peak, detached from the endless fortress of bookshelves.
Myoil flipped through the air with a somersault, and suddenly our feet touched solid ground.
"We've arrived."
It was a small shrine.
An ancient one, concealed in thick forest and invisible from the outside.
"You can peruse the ancient magic tomes here."
"Ughhh... this feels so sussss..."
Even as empty flattery, it was hard to call this a place trod by human feet.
Moss blanketed the stone walls and roof, with rampant weeds growing thick everywhere.
I stood before the shrine's firmly locked door.
"This archive is the most special spot in our entire library. By rank, nothing short of a VVVIP pass gets you in."
Myoil gestured to the purple access pass in my hand.
"In other words, only the master himself can enter. Even I lack the clearancenever been inside."
"I see."
Looks like I'm the first.
I held the purple card up to the door, and it began to hum faintly in resonance.
Right before pushing it open, I hesitated.
"Is something wrong?"
"Myoil."
"Yes."
"I hear you're quite the chess player."
"Oh...? That's right. I enjoy it a fair bit."
"Good. Wendy."
"Y-yes...? Huh?"
Suddenly called out, Wendy cocked her head.
"Learn a few moves."
"...?"
"I'm interested in chess myself, but as you know, I'm too busy to study it properly."
"C-Count...?"
"Besides, as my exclusive maid, you ought to know how to play."
"Count... why are you doing this to meee..."
"Have it down by the time I come out. I'll learn from you later."
I turned to Myoil.
"I'll be right backtake care of her for me."
"Oh dear, that's a heavy burden on these old shoulders. I'll have to teach her 'thoroughly' so you're ready to learn later. Heh heh heh."
"Coooount!!"
Wendy wailed.
Sorry, but this'll be good for you in the end.
No helping it.
Ignoring Wendy's cries, I pushed open the archive door.
A voice echoed at once.
Archive Number 1257742 - Magic Subject - Ancient Magic Archive opened.
In a flash, my consciousness got sucked right through the door.
I was sitting there as if I'd been in the spot all along.
No big surprise.
I'd seen how the archives worked in the original story.
Into the empty space, I said,
"Keyword search."
Please enter your search term.
A message window blinked into view.
"Ancient magic that doesn't use mana."
0 matches out of 56,321 total.
Hm... wrong angle.
I paused to think, then spoke up.
"Forgotten ancient magic."
7,431 matches out of 56,321 total.
Better, but still too many.
"Add keyword to results... oldest ancient magic."
15 matches out of 7,431 total.
Almost there.
"Add keyword again... Moon Magic."
1 match.
This was it.
"View."
In that instant, a book floated up before my empty gaze.
So worn and ancient, its original color was impossible to tell.
This was the book I'd hunted high and low for.
Name: Book on Moon Magic.
Description: A book about Moon Magic, which existed long, long ago.
Appraisal Value: Current value cannot be determined.
Moon Magic.
This was probably... the only magic I could learn.
All the pieces were in place.
I worked the message window to pull up info on one of my traits.
Trait: Greed
Rank: SS
Details: If there's something you desire, you must claim it to feel sated. You yearn to comprehend your target from head to toe. Possess it. Monopolize it.
Your greed has no bottom, no end.
The more you feed that bottomless hunger, the poorer your soul grows.
This trait is one of the seven deadly sins.
About time I put this to use.
Just like with Wrath, I focused.
And then I... began to crave the 'knowledge' held within this book.
Squish.
Hot if Wrath was fire, Greed was pure stickiness.
A viscous emotion welled up and overflowed in my chest.
It seized the book right before my eyes and swallowed it whole.
You 'greed' the book's knowledge!
Knowledge poured into my mind.
It was scripted in ancient tongue beyond my comprehension, but the concepts? I'd seen them in the setting.
Magic manifests by burning the mana inside a human body.
Tristan can't cast because there's zero mana in his.
No fuel whatsoever.
Moon Magic consumes mana too, being magic and all.
But not the mana in your own body.
It draws from the mana all around you instead.
The moon doesn't shine by its own light.
It merely reflects the sun's.
Same principle with Moon Magic.
It channels the mana pervading all thingsnot your internal reservesto make magic happen.
The one and only path for a mana-less Tristan to wield spells.
I kept my focus locked.
First, grasp the long-forgotten lore of Moon Magic.
Build on that to infer knowledge absent from the pages.
Then gobble up that fresh insight with raw greed.
Squish.
My mana-less body started taking in the new magic.
I understood it.
But that wasn't enough.
I turned my greed on other ancient magic tomes as well.
Basics handed down by nameless wizards of yore, all the way to applications.
Their hard-won tricks.
The full history of the spells born from it all.
"...I'll greed it all."
Squish.
I let out a breath.
You use 'Patience'!
Your 'Greed' is crushed beneath 'Patience.'
'Greed' rampages!
Squish squish!
Greed and Patience yanked back and forth.
I focused once more.
Back to that moment I'd barely held back the hair trigger aimed at Millium.
I recalled my 'Patience'fierce as my own wrath.
Squish.
In that instant, the sticky overflow in my chest ground to a halt.
You successfully 'patient' your 'Greed'!
And with that, realization dawned.
I'd become a true magician at last.