Today is the 26th of April 2020

Six days have passed since the last time I wrote.

The reason being... I was too damaged to write.

GodPineappler, thank you! You saved my life.

If you ever need help with anything, write it in the comments. I will do my best to help you.

 

I am so happy to talk to all of you again.

I will continue the story from where we left off... my first contact with another being:

She wrote: "I was looking for you!"

 

I answered: "Who are you? Why are you looking for me?" 

 

"I can't tell you that. It's for your own good"

 

"Then, how am I supposed to trust you?"

 

"You are weak, little book. You saw my hand, right? I'm just holding you like a child. Had I used more force what would have happened? You would've been teared apart and all your pages would scattered, covering the ground. 

I didn't kill you. You have great potential and you might be my enemy in the future.  I envy you, and that's why I ripped your page. I thought  you could tell me how to get over my constant agony, but I guess I was wrong.

You are too fragile, you need to get stronger, shrewd. "

 

"I'm weak? I thought that 50k MP was a lot. How weak am I? I want to know"

 

"HAHAHAHA. You are so funny. Let me tell you, you are weaker than an ant!"

 

"..."

 

 "You don't believe me, do you? Then let's make a comparison! You know of demon king Gerald! Do you know how many MP he had?"

 

"..."

 

"Billions"

 

"..."

 

"Don't worry, I'll give you a gift. It will make you stronger. Just free a special page and I can give it to you"

 

"Why are you helping me?"

 

"I am only helping myself. Once you are strong enough you will know how to find me. And I hope you'll choose to help me."

 

I merged two hearts of mana and she started drawing. 

 

A black majestic throne carved with figures in relief of battles with dragons, demons, and humans.

A king in black armor was sitting on that throne. One of his hands was holding a huge scepter. His face was grinning.

 

Just before the last stroke of the drawing, she wrote: "I'm almost done. Do you need to ask me anything before I go?

 

"Can you tell me more about the world we are in?"

 

"Yes, but if I did that, I would spoil the fun to your readers.

Can you give them a message?"

 

"What message?"

 

"Hi reader! Don't make Book-San slack off and make him get heat resistance as soon as possible or I will kiss you!

See you later reader! See you later Book-San!"

 

A kiss? Heat resistance? While I was wondering what she meant by that and how I could even understand the language of this world she drew the last line and the drawing was complete.

On the top of the page, some words appeared: "The Greatest Leveling System"

 

---

Contract between: Demon king Gerald and Book-san

Requirements: None

Do you want to adopt this leveling system:

Yes | No

---

 

The more the story progresses the more questions I have.

Wasn't Gerald dead? How could I make a contract with a dead person? Who was that woman?

 

She is gone now and I am now where I was before.

Should I trust her? Should I accept this gift? I feel like she was telling the truth but I don't want to trust strangers. 

 

But I am a book. I want to be read. I want to be the best book. Do I want to tell you a boring or interesting story?

As far as I know I can stay in this place all my life. Maybe I will be able to read other books and tell you more about the world.

But I don't want to!

I am as bored as you are. She didn't tell me about the world because she wanted me to explore it. And I will. I have this opportunity, I don't want to waste it. I want to go out. I don't care if I don't find anything or if I waste my time. I don't care if I have to work hard for nothing. Am I not wasting time by being here? What is a waste of time anyway?

Is life itself a waste of time? In that case, I will waste it in the most interesting way I can think of!

I want to see the world!

So please, great demon king Gerald, give me eyes.

I want to see what life is like.

 

Gerald smiled. The drawing smiled. What a sinister smile it was. Black, root-like things shot from the throne and grew to reach every special page. They pierced the hearts of mana and transformed them. They transformed all my ink in all the special pages. It became darker. The mana inside the mana spheres had more black spots.

 

---

The Greatest Leveling System is converting your skills

Heart of mana has been upgraded.

Scanning apparatus building page has evolved into mana control talisman lv1.

Ink beetle building page has evolved into Ink beetle lv1 summoning page.

Spell building page has evolved into Skills building page.

Magical book lv1 skills have been added to Skills building page.

Scan has evolved into Narrator lv1.

---

 

Wow, a lot of things happened, but I'm more interested in knowing what Narrator lv1 does?

As I think about using the skill some mana spheres move to a root of a page. It starts sucking in their mana. I see the mana control talisman glowing and a vision gets transmitted to my mind.

It is not too clear but I can see something.

I can see some books. Actually, lots of them. Some tables, some chairs. I'm on a bookshelf. Light is shining through a window and the candles on the tables are not lit. There is nobody in the room.

But the light coming from the windows is strange. It looks gray. Are there clouds outside? I use Narrator again and the shade of gray gets darker.

What is going on?

 

For some reason at that moment I remember something that the woman says:

"Don't make Book-San slack off and make him get heat resistance as soon as possible or I will kiss you!"

Heat resistance, why am I thinking about that at this time?

I use narrator once again. I look at the room more carefully and I see a closed door. Some smoke is passing trough the gaps.

I look at the windows again and the light has turned almost black.

There's not doubt now. The library is on fire.

As if to reaffirm my thought the fire kicked the door down, entering the room. It started to burn the other books, slowly coming to me.

I need heat resistance now if I want to survive!