Fire Mage

Chapter 731: Grimoire

"Charles? You mean that old man I battled 20 years ago?" Marcus asked. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Both are the same. But you should worry about yourself. Unlike 20 years ago, all those four kids have grown strong enough to even face off a Legend Rank Mystic. I even heard the news that a young kid named Noel managed to kill a Legend Rank member of the Unseen Legends." Sasha warned him again.

"Prepare everything and come to the Dreamforge City in 30 minutes." Saying so, she cut off the connection from the other side, resulting in the illusionary projection turning into light particles.

Once the crystal returned to normal, Marcus slowly turned his attention towards the black-covered book and furrowed. "Should I have no choice but to use it?"

He took this strange book after defeating a woman named Edith 20 years ago and decided to do some research. After his resurrection, he focused on his sub-class and researched the mysterious artifact continously.

After some trial and error, he learned it was a grimore of a higher being.

"Although I haven't used it for fear of being cursed or taken over by another will, it seems I have no choice but to gamble." He muttered as he walked closer to the black-covered book and picked it up.

"Normally, one needs to sacrifice a part of their life force to awaken the sleeping grimoire and then make some contract with the higher being to which this grimoire originally belongs. As long as that higher being accepts the contract, I'll get a big boost of support from the other side. In exchange, I have to sell my soul." But he had already made a slave-like agreement with Sasha. Even if he didn't sell his soul, he would be under her for his lifetime like a puppet.

"Haa, I should ask the Professors to gather up and prepare the teleportation array circle." He muttered as he took out a silver ring from his space ring and contacted someone through the spiritual imprint.

A few seconds later, a female voice came from the other side.

"Hello, Lord Marcus! Do you need something?"

"Liana? Can you gather other professors and prepare the Teleportation Array circle? I have to go to Dreamforge City in 30 minutes to attend an urgent matter." Marcus said solemnly.

"Y-Yes, Lord Marcus. I'll go call others now." Without waiting for his response, the Mage named Liana cut off the call.

"Should I bring the professors too?" Marcus thought but soon shook his head.

He knew that they wouldn't even stand against a normal Rank-5 Mage and might become baggage for him.

"Now, all that's left is for me to get more trump cards to survive this ordeal."

Saying so, he took out a knife from his space ring, made a small cut on his palm, and let a few drops of blood fall onto the black-covered book.

In two seconds, Marcus noticed that the fallen blood droplets started to creepily absorbed into the book, causing the black-covered book to vibrate slowly.

At the same time, Marcus felt a sudden headache out of nowhere and almost stumbled.

Simultaneously, he felt that the surroundings started to crack and soon shattered before enveloping him in absolute darkness.

In a blink, Marcus stood in an empty void and felt his heart beat as loud as drums.

"Are you the one who awakened me?" A creepy male voice came from the void. Even though the being spoke in a foreign language, he managed to understand the meaning behind it.

He only flustered for a moment and soon bowed his head.

"I'm a mortal from Edhen World, Your Excellency. Even though I don't know who you are, I came here in the hope of finding help to save my pathetic life."

"I'm nothing more than a fragment of my Will infused within the book. Hmm, why do I sense the power of Sasha in you?" The voice went silent for a moment and soon added.

"Go on. Use me wisely and help her."

A second later, Marcus noticed the surroundings started to crack again and soon found himself returning to the underground hall.

Before he could even open his eyes and look around, a strange, eerie black flame enveloped his body as a whole and started burning him.

"Argh!!" Marcus screamed due to pain and asked for help, but no voice escaped through the metallic door. He slowly fell as he sensed the burning sensation that appeared all over his body and tried his best to brush off the black flame.

But soon, he noticed that no flame appeared at all!

Alas, the burning sensation remained, causing him to scream continuously. Moreover, a sharp headache appeared in his head, causing him to grab his head with both hands and fall onto his knees.

Drops of blood started dripping from his nose and mouth and painted the concrete floor.

The pain remained in his head and body for more than 15 minutes before disappearing.

At that moment, Marcus had already vomited blood all over the floor and felt like he had undergone a significant change.

Although no changes appeared on his body, he felt that his sense had sharpened to a considerable level.

"What did that strange voice do?" A strange fear crept up to his heart.

He slowly stood up, removing the bloodied grey robe, and looked at the wooden table to search for the book.

But instead of the black-covered book, he saw an empty wooden table.

"W-What happened?" He hurriedly closed his eyes and soon noticed a similar book was floating in his mind.

Simultaneously, a foreign power entered his mind and sent him information about this book.

"It's hiding in my dark space?" But what stunned him more was the information about this book and the new abilities he could borrow from it.

It was a Destiny Series Grimoire book. Thanks to the authority of the higher being, he could borrow some of its power and use it during life and death. Although all the mysterious spells could be borrowed only once per month, he felt it was worth the sacrifice.

'Destiny Life-Revive, Destiny Life- Heal, Destiny Life- Nullify, Destiny Life- Sacrifice, Destiny Life-Thoughts Dissary.' Although Marcus had yet to learn how good the Grimoire's abilities were, he decided to use them only in an urgent situation.

"I know the artifacts I possess won't do any good against those kids or Charles. Haa, I should get going." He sighed deeply, wore another robed dress, and started walking towards the exit door of the underground basement.

He soon entered the long corridor of the Iron Tower, moved to the staircase, and started flying towards the seventh floor. Unlike the Rebirth Tower, the Iron Tower didn't have any artificial spirit or teleportation circles to travel from one floor to another.

Due to the lack of rune technology, the Iron Tower lost the most talented mages and mystics.

Shaking those useless thoughts away, Marcus soon arrived at the top floor and noticed more than ten blue-robed mages standing in the teleportation hall. Nine mages stood at every corner of the array circle and were already chanting in ancient language.

Meanwhile, only one woman stood at the hall's center and wrote strange numbers on the floor using red blood-like ink. She was a brown-haired woman in her late twenties and wore a unique red robe.

Next to her lay a fist-sized blue crystal shining and releasing dense spatial-elemental energy in the air.

"Lord Marcus, I almost finished writing the coordinate to the Dreamforge City and got everything ready." She said as Marcus walked into the grand hall and continued to write the coordinate numbers on the floor.

A few seconds later, she finished writing the coordinate number and hurriedly stepped away from the teleportation array circle.

Meanwhile, the dense spatial elemental energy continued to gather at the center of the hall and soon formed into a strange crack.

At that moment, a mysterious power came from the blue crystal, scanned the whole teleportation circle, and soon mingled with the gathered spatial energies.

Soon, a small crack appeared in the space and formed into a 2-meter large portal.

"Thanks for your hard work." Marcus quietly waited until the portal became stable and started walking closer.

He soon stepped into the portal and disappeared from there.

He reappeared more than 400 meters above the ground a moment later and started falling in the air.

But he seemed to have expected such a situation as he released his wisdom power and balanced his movement.

He lowered his gaze gradually, allowing his eyes to settled upon the vast expanse of the ground beneath. There, sprawling before him, was a colossal city, enclosed by imposing walls that rose to a towering height of six to seven meters.

In stark contrast to the Iron City, the Dreamforge City revealed a distinct architectural layout. It featured a singular entrance, a departure from the multiple access points of its metallic counterpart. Moreover, the city was encompassed by expansive waterbodies reminiscent of a grand river. However, upon closer inspection, one would discern the presence of mutated crocodiles and mysterious marine magical beasts, their forms lurking beneath the surface.

"They are already mobilising an army and seems to have gone in a defensive mode." Marcus muttered as he manipulated the wisdom power and moved towards the entrance fortress-like area.