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"And so, I kept hitting him until he vomited all the money he was about to swallow! This dumb shit!"

"""Ahahaha!"""

A series of laughs echoed around the saloon building. It is already the afternoon and the boys were done cleaning, helping in the kitchen, disposing of the trash and doing all the minor chores. They finally got their time off earlier than usual as Jordi claimed thanks to Leon's speed.

To catch the last rays of sunlight this day, Leon went to the backyard and avoided the places where the hooligans gather. He then found himself the perfect wall and started climbing up the wall of the saloon until he reached the second story and from it to the roof. The roof seemed to be covering a third story or an attic as how the people of this culture built them so the roof on top of it was flat even though it is built with roof tiles.

Leon found a spot to sit on and through his [Space-Time Magic: Storage] spell, he pulled out a total of 14 books. Back when he woke up for the first time in the academy, he found those books lying on a shelf and the reason he took them without even looking was the probability of them containing both evidence and knowledge that he may or may not need. The idea was inconclusive at first but it is now the right time to take a rummage through them.

"Geography of Northern Agartha by the Research Council of the First Royal Academy. Notes on the Hymn of Light by Minister Emile of Rossantte. Strategic Battles of the First Empires by Van Sal. The Arcane Theory by Magus Arnold the Old. Art of the Illustrious… The High Society… The Accounts of King Alvis… Relations of Nations…"

An overwhelming amount of academic books almost made the eyes of Leon blur. The way in which these books were written was overwhelmingly boring if not too boring to read. It made no sense how the previous Leon was good at Academics.

Yet under this amount of books, he finally found what he was looking for. A leatherback journal tied with a strap and had no title on it finally saw the light. The air felt cold in Leon's skin as his heart started to beat faster when he was undoing the strap around it. He didn't know why he was having this strange feeling of forebodings as a fiery sensation gripped his core yet the fabric of his being knew what it was.

He just didn't make sense of it until he opened the first page.

He frowned…

These were just notes. Not anything personal either… simply class notes. The handwriting was nothing special either and it only showed how dedicated he was in his studies, nothing…

Then Leon gazed at the side of the journal and unlike its starting pages, the ending pages seemed to be heavy with the color of ink reaching as far as their sides. He flipped the first page, the second, the third… nothing but boring notes until the last entry then the empty pages started. Leon then flipped the journal and started from its back.

[Leave me alone!]

[Get out of my head!]

[Who do you think you are to do what you like with me!]

Sweat drenched the skin of Leon the moment he saw this. His semi-white shirt started sticking to his back and his brown pants and vest felt as if they were tightening themselves on him.

Shady felt as if Leon was talking to him, shouting at him from within for taking over his body, demanding him to leave. But Leon wasn't.

This feeling had nothing to do with Shady to begin with, it was all Leon… all his frustrated emotions the moment he wrote those words were coming back to him.

Shady, or the current Leon, panicked. He just closed the journal as the world around him felt more natural again. As if he could breathe. As if the dark cloud above him was lifted.

Should he read it again?

But… he may remember… he will remember what happened to him… to Leon.

Is it a bad thing?

It depends. Does he want to remember it? As far as he can tell, he's lucky that his memories suppressed those of the previous Leon. That kid had it rough and from the way he wrote, it seemed that he has been through a lot. Awakening that pain is a hindrance to him at the moment.

"Survival! That's the priority! Focus on that now."

He took the journal back to his Storage Space and took a breather to chase away the bad vibes.

Distracted and sweaty as a wet dog, Leon undid another button on his shirt and moved the cuffs further up as he waved with hands scratched his head to make the blood flow. The air even helped as it gave him a good breeze carrying the whiff of the river nearby and refreshed his mentality that was on the edge.

"So… the past seems pretty hairy. Let's get to the meat and potatoes of this world. Magic!"

To distract himself from the worries, he grabbed the book which was titled "The Arcane Theory". Not even skipping the book's intro.

[ … It is with great pleasure that I put in your hands the Theory of the Arcane Mystokinesis… And without further ado… The source of Magic is the Eternal Power of Creation, the source of Chaos that envelopes and impacts all matters and energies. Matter in its forms, what is Solid, what is Liquid and what is Gas as well as the Energies of which takes the forms of Fire, Light and the Absence of Light known as Darkness or Shadow. United together, they form the fabric of reality on which lays the foundation for the dimensions mundane and alien alike all falling under the laws of Space and Time which is the noblest of all magics which contradicts the common beliefs that suggest it as Light, Holiness or Life… ]

As he was finally distracted by the text, he slowly became more absorbed as he read and it took him by surprise. The level of understanding of the scientific facts in this world is fairly high. The book spoke about the Ionized Gases and the Plasma as well as the discovery of interdimensional waves which were clearly referring to the Radio.

It broke down the Ways of the Arcane Arts into two. The Way of Elements and the Way of Sorcery which the author insisted on calling it the Academic Sorceries to differentiate between it and the Bloodline Sorceries which are inherited forms of magic through birth.

The Elements seemingly seven and were featured in the Game as each character minor or major only used one for the sake of convenience. These elements are Earth, Water, Air and Fire as the Four Basic Elements, the Light Element and the Shadow Element are the High Elements of Creation and the Space-Time Element or as the author kept calling it the Dimensional Element turned to be very rare and horrifyingly powerful.

Now there was a character in the Game that wasn't released yet and was featured on the cover of the new Update which will feature more storylines and DLCs. That girl was promised to be a cut above the rest being the only 6-star character and the user of the Space-Time Element.

"Speaking of which… I have it too." Leon laughed as he made a book appear and disappear through his storage.

Aside from the Seven Elements, there were the Seven Academic Sorceries which depend on these Elements and are extremely powerful in some cases. The Combat Magic being the most basic and learnable by all even the previous Leon who had the [Power Attack] technique equipped in his spellbook. There are also the Illusion Magic and the Spiritual Magic being two branches of non-combat magic yet heavily relied on the Elements to be earned. One of the most valuable sorceries is the Alchemy Magic which is really the heart and core of all magic incantations Somatic or Vocal. Follows it two of the most debatable sorceries, the Magic of Life and the Magic of Death. Finally to end with the most powerful Magic known, the Knowledge Magic which can change the tides of wars.

"Holy Shit!"

Leon knew about the Elements from the Game as they were those flashy buffs and attacks with the elements any geek love. On the other hand, those Sorceries were game mechanics at best or sometimes monster powers.

This opens the door for a whole new world to him and in his case, he can control all those powerful sorceries and cool abilities.

But he has no idea how to develop them.

The book surely teaches the Arcane Theory but… it is 700 pages long… and the font is tiny and looks like an ancient manuscript. He has to spend at least a few months reading and experimenting in order to…

Wait a minute!

"Read? Like…"

Leon opened the System menu and looked at his spells.

[Knowledge Magic - Read]

"Hmmm?!"

And the idea came to him in the form of a why not.

Why not use this spell "Read" on that ginormous book "The Arcane Theory" in order to gain the information in an instant?

Just to be clear, if the future Leon only has one regret, it is that he can't use the Space-Time magic in order to return back in time and beat the crap out of the current Leon for doing this stupid thing.

Something about reading 700 pages of pure Arch Nerd-level seemed appealing to him at the moment.

And he said the magic word while looking at the book.

"Read!"

< Analysing… 0.001% >

Only a screen appeared and a count-up started moving on it.

Nothing painful… nothing dangerous…

Actually he may have felt no pain… no cold… no air… nothing at all.

It started with a strange sensation above his head growing a little closer to the upper surface of his brain. Then it became sensible like something warm with its heat increasing on a horizontal scale then it felt like…

*screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech*

… as if a hot knife's blade was scratching against the top of his brain as if something was scratching against metal.

A wet sensation came from his right ear, the hand that inspected it had a red liquid on it. The same happened with his nose and eyes.

And a violent spasm!

Sometimes people had to learn the hard way that Power and the Knowledge regarding it always come with a price.

< [Mental Resistance Lv.1] was added to your status! >

< [Hearsay Resistance Lv.1] was added to your status! >

< [Hemorrhage Resistance Lv.1] was added to your status! >

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