Sigil sighed continuously and walked out of the school gates. It is true when they say– Disaster strikes continuously. 

First was the emergence of the Carefree Alliance and now school.

“What are you thinking of?”

Alicia appeared behind him and tapped on his shoulders. On the back of her wrist, Sigil could see a strange mark. It was like a character of an ancient language. He then proceeded to look at the back of his own wrist. He had the strange mark too.

“I am just thinking about how so many changes can occur in one day.”

“Relax, it was only yesterday that we were ambushed. They didn't hurt us, though. We even have the right to enter the Grimoire world three times a week, unlike others.”

“Well, I didn't want such an honour.”

Sigil sulked.

The luxurious opportunities such as the right to enter the Grimoire World three times a week was only given to direct heirs.

It was the fault of that stupid gangster that he had to take an Ancient Oath and become one of the core members of the younger generation of the Branch of the Carefree Alliance in this area.

Pfft

Alicia laughed at his situation. It was true that he was quite unlucky.

Behind them was Bethany and others of the Grey Family. Even behind the group was Ricardo.

He could understand if things changed slightly after his rebirth. But now? A super faction emerged that didn't even exist in his time.

“You guys planned anything for today?”

Bethany followed and asked.

“Well, I wanted to go to the Elder's Library. But now, I have access to an even better information source.” Sigil showed his mobile phone.

He was talking about the application launched by the Alliance. 

“Well, I still have to complete the spell of Eight-winged ant. So I will be busy today.” Alicia spoke out.

“Um, can I join you?”

It was Ricardo.

After Sigil apologised to Ricardo, this was the first time they stood face-to-face.

“Sure.”

Sigil smiled towards Ricardo. Sigil wanted to befriend this variable and this looked like an appropriate time.

“I was thinking that we should explore the Grimoire World.” Ricardo spoke out naturally. His casual attitude surprised Alicia while Sigil and Bethany seemed fine.

Bethany's eyes shined.

“Are you sure? Even though we can enter three times a week, you can only enter once every two weeks.” Bethany spoke out.

Ricardo nodded.

Sigil looked a little thoughtful before accepting the proposal.

“We will leave after one hour.”

“Great.”

***

“Master! I want to come with you too.”

Martha acted like a puppy in front of Sigil. He seriously looked at the half-bent Martha and silently compared her to the Buxom beauty of the previous night.

He finally found a perfect competition for Martha!

“Believe me, I am not going for fun. And besides, I won't stop you. So, why are you acting like this?”

His words stunned Martha as pink colour crept up her cheeks. 

Sigil smirked as he held her chin and whispered into her ears.

“Is it because you want me to punish you?”

His hot breath caused a tingling sensation in Martha's body as the straightforward beauty blushed furiously.

“You are a bully!”

She ran away.

On a serious note, it was only Sigil, Ricardo and Bethany going for an exploration trip. After all, they just escaped with their lives the previous night. Who would want to go back this quickly?

Meanwhile, Sigil felt a little troubled. How will he take away the Grimoire of Inverse Witch? The whole place was probably stuffed with witches.

No matter how much he thought, he wouldn't be able to take away the already established Grimoire World for his own use. He could take away the core inheritances, but this thought made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

He sighed and shook his head. These are tough times and he needed to be more resolute.

After all, he hadn't even opened all of his energy gates. How can he dream of competing with the old Grimoire Masters?

He started packing his stuff for the trip.

After one hour, Sigil and Ricardo met at the predetermined location. Bethany still hadn't shown up.

Sigil sighed and called Bethany.

“Yeah, Beth. Are you coming? Hmm…. yeah, no worries. We will take care of ourselves.” He sighed and hung up.

“Supreme Elder Bert forbade Bethany to explore the Grimoire World.”

Sigil sat inside the car and informed Ricardo. They had decided to take Sigil's personal car to the Grimoire World.

“So… this is nice.”

Ricardo and Sigil were sitting in the car. Due to their past differences, there was still a little tension between them. 

“You don't have to talk. It will just make it more awkward.”

Sigil sighed at Ricardo's desperate attempt to lift the awkwardness.

“Do you have a plan?”

Sigil asked Ricardo.

“Excuse me?”

“I meant that you have only opened your second gate yet. What's your angle?”

Sigil asked once again. Since they were exploring together, he wanted to understand more about the purpose of his visit.

“Oh, I just want to look around and experience the wilderness for myself.”

Ricardo explained.

“Oh.”

Sigil nodded.

'Not even little girls will for that excuse.’ Sigil shook his head and continued to drive. The rest of the journey took place in awkward silence between the two.

They couldn't reach for the radio station as it would mean that they were admitting that things were awkward.

This caused the whole situation to be even stranger.

After some time, they finally reached the edges of Chestcovia City that was covered by a hemisphere of light.

‘A protection spell.’

Ricardo hadn't seen the site yet. When he saw the light hemisphere, his eyes shined with a reminiscent expression.

Outside the hemisphere were a couple of Witches stationed by the Southern Branch of Carefree Alliance.

“Stop! Identify yourself.”

“Stop screwing with me, Ivan.” 

Sigil looked at Ivan angrily.

“Whoa, Sigil. Calm down, why so anxious?”

When Sigil heard Ivan's question, his anger flared once again.

“This! It's because of you.”

When Ivan and his partners saw the Ancient Oath's mark, they simply chuckled and shook their heads.

“Yeah! Sorry about that. Alright, you have a time limit of one day. After that, the talisman will expire. Your friend here has to pay for the talismans, though.”

Ivan took out two talismans and passed them to Sigil.

“Nope, you caused me some emotional damages. You will pay for the talisman.” Sigil immediately shook his head and passed one of the talismans to Ricardo, bringing him in.

Ivan only let out a hollow laugh and allowed them to pass through.

“Be careful! The rules of non-killing are no more inside the Grimoire world.”

Sigil simply waved at Ivan's warning and entered the hemisphere. He then chanted the spell alongside Ricardo.

“Omnira Gretre Hirner Valisry Ciaruss!”

A blue light fell on both of them and the next thing, Sigil was transported to the Grimoire world. But there was one thing strange, Ricardo wasn't with him.

“Wow! He should write a book on ‘Acting normal amongst friends’.”

Sigil was speechless. Did Ricardo act without even giving a single thought? How was he going to explain his mysterious disappearance to Sigil?

“Well, it's certainly easier for me. Inverse Witch, teleport me to inheritance ground.”

His view shifted once again and he was in front of Inverse Witch, who was bowing in front of him.

“Welcome, Master!”

She greeted cheerfully.

“Did you do it?”

“Yes! As per Master's request, I planted 30% of rare herbs from each of the areas here.”

She pointed towards the numerous medicinal plants near the bank of the lake.

“Give me the report on all the living species left. Exclude the normal animals.”

“Yes! Currently, there are 1348 incomplete monsters, 189 complete monsters while we have 918 infant familiars, 37 Adolescent familiars and only 1 adult familiar.”

Hearing her words, Sigil felt shocked. One had to know that complete monsters and Adolescent Familiars had a battle power of a Chakra Stage Expert while the Adult familiar had the battle power of a Grimoire Master.

This was the true foundation that can create strong witch's family. But since he had already decided on something, he won't take a step back.

“Alright, give me the details on all the familiars. Also, list out the core inheritances left behind by the Inverse Witch.”

Since it was already decided, he started acting on his plan.

***

Meanwhile, Ricardo was moving extremely quickly. Even though his speed was way lower than Sigil, he was using some mysterious movement Technique to increase his speed.

His destination?

The waterfall of Devil's Piss.

Right now, Ricardo's light grey eyes were red in colour. His vision was filled with various colours.

“The energy from the two gates won't last long.”

In his countless years of experience and travel to other continents, Ricardo already knew a lot of mystical methods that could be used by a human in the realm of the gate opening. Even though he had only opened his second gate, he can still compete with stronger opponents.

As he kept his speed, he suddenly heard a rustling sound in the surroundings and immediately punched towards his left. Unlike Sigil, Ricardo's punch was tricky and quick. He did not waste any movements and could release an explosive power even when he wasn't in the posture of attack.

Ggrrrr?

A surprised growl was heard as a shadow dodged the punch by a hair's breadth.

'An Emerald-Eyed Shadow Familiar.’

Ricardo looked calm as he saw the true appearance of his opponent. Unlike Sigil, Ricardo knew the name of the familiar and it's true use.

“Other people may fall for your tricks. But I know that you have the power of enhanced vision only. Your fur is a rare material for spells and pieces of disguising equipment. But you aren't truly valuable until you reach the Adolescent stage of the highest tier.”

Ricardo smirked and immediately left the Black Panther and ran straight for the Devil's Piss. 

Before the Panther could catch up to him and attack him, Ricardo jumped and took a dive inside the pool of green-coloured liquid.

“Master, someone just entered the first ground of inheritance.”

Inverse Witch spoke out as she saw Sigil studying the information on all the familiars present inside the Grimoire World.

“Hmm? Show me the image.”

Sigil commanded and the image of Ricardo looking around the pool in confusion could be see seen from the surface of the lake.

Sigil's pupils contracted and he immediately felt that he had seen past the layers of cloud that were blocking his vision. Seeing Ricardo there, Sigil immediately connected most of the dots.

Ricardo was feeling confused because he couldn't find the strange statue at all. Even the metal tablet with the clue on it wasn't placed on the deepest part of the pool.

It was Sigil! Before getting transported away, he commanded the Inverse Witch to remove the various tests for the inheritance ground. After all, it wasn't needed and if someone found it, they would know that the inheritance ground had already been inherited.

“Let him swim around as much he likes.”

Sigil stopped paying attention to Ricardo.

Instead, he started to look into the core inheritances of the Inverse Witch.

It was the Inverse Grimoire, the egg of Mirror Panda, Various research on the three main studies of the Witchcraft, An adult Familiar and an unknown mysterious egg.

The mysterious egg would surely be a precious treasure since even the Inverse Witch couldn't see through it. Before she could hatch the egg, she met her unfortunate end.

“How much space can the Grimoire store?”

Sigil asked, his gaze emotionless.

“Previous Master had already stored her library inside the Grimoire. Meanwhile, Master can store at most 46 Familiars.”

“Damnit!”

He gritted his teeth. If it wasn't for the new establishment of the Carefree Alliance, he could have taken the whole Grimoire world for himself and it could be used as a foundation to increase his own strength.

He took a deep breath and looked towards Inverse Witch.

“Take this list. Transport everything on the list inside Grimoire. Also, transfer all the core inheritances inside the Grimoire.”

Inverse witch accomplished the task within moments and looked a little hesitant.

“Master, if you break off the connection between the Grimoire World and The Grimoire, then this world wouldn't hold up for long.”

Of course, she wouldn't want that. After all, her real body committed so many frauds to creates such a Precious Grimoire World. She couldn't just cut it off.

“That is the only way.”

Even Sigil was reluctant. But this was the only way. 

He waved his hands towards Inverse Witch as she nodded reluctantly. Her body let out a brilliant light and every part of the inheritance ground started to disintegrate. Sigil closed his eyes and when he opened them, he was standing in his previous location. 

On his hand was a thick silver book with silver plates on its surface. The book had a brilliant metallic lustre.

It was a Grimoire!

Since Sigil inherited the whole Grimoire World, he also inherited the Grimoire of Inverse Witch. A Grimoire is a book filled with magical spells. The Grimoire in Sigil's hand had many illusion and space type spells.

He willed with his mind and the Grimoire immediately shrunk. It kept on shrinking until it became palm-sized and Sigil put it in his bag.

He looked at this Grimoire World and sighed. Once the connection between the Grimoire and the Grimoire World was destroyed, the Grimoire World would slowly collapse. 

The collapse would start from the outer area and end in core regions.

Now, he set towards the location of Devil's piss to meet up with his strange friend.

It looks like he is more valuable than imagined.

Sigil mused silently.

On his way, he did not encounter his feline stalker as it had already been stored inside the Grimoire.

With Sigil's speed, it didn't take long before he reached near the Devil's Piss. The moment he reached the periphery of the region, he could see Ricardo coming out of the water with a confused look.

“Hey! Where were you? I was looking for you for such a long time.”

Sigil shouted and walked near the waterfall. He placed a handkerchief on his nose since the smell was really terrible.

“Oh… uhhh… I don't know but I was transported here.  When I arrived, I was ambushed by a familiar. Since I am not strong enough, I had to jump inside the pool.”

Ricardo explained after thinking of something.

'What a liar!’

“Oh… sorry about all that. I hope you are not hurt.”

Even though Sigil felt a little speechless, he didn't show it on the surface and successfully feigned concern for Ricardo.