Chapter 24
The Book of Dragon Chants (4)
Ian stepped on the corpse of the gargoyle.
It became a slimy sticky liquid.
It shouldn’t be called a corpse anymore.
‘It seems most of the traps have activated.’
But he must hurry.
Mana traps are not single-use traps.
Whenever it restores its mana, it would be ready to activate again.
Hence, it wouldn’t stop its function completely, unless Ian removes its mana source.
It was a similar mechanism to the chilling magic on the wine container.
And the source was Ian’s target.
"I meet you earlier than I thought."
Ian approached the golden table on the lowest floor of the underground.
A single book sat neatly on the table there. There was no dust on it even after it had pa.s.sed many ages.
It had an impressive appearance that was decorated with jewels.
"The book of dragon chants."
It was the very source that operated the systems of the underground of the old ivory tower.
The book itself had a function of storing mana.
"And this note is still here."
[It is not an item that humans dare try to possess.]
[Especially you, who is reading this note now]
That’s all about the notes.
Being honest, the first statement of the notes was quite true.
Most of the humans wouldn’t able to understand the book’s very first sentence.
Of course, Ian didn’t agree with the second statement of the note.
‘Who would write this?’
The old ivory tower where no more mages were left.
Someone used this area as his home.
And the wine containers must have been his masterpiece.
‘A dragon, most likely?’
But what dragon would have left a note in the human language?
A note that’s teasing the founder?
A mystery that Ian had thought about in his former life.
But the conclusion was that he didn’t know.
But.
*Burnn!*
The note got burned whenever it was touched.
Even a single message was enchanted with a spell.
This mysterious man who hid the book of dragon chants here, he must have been a great mage.
‘And a freak.’
After Ian wiped off the ashes on his hand, he picked the book up from the golden table. Mana was spreading to every part of the underground through the table. Especially the mana which must be disconnected, the mana that connected to the mana traps. Otherwise, his hesitation would let the traps be activated again. In that case, Ian wouldn’t be able to survive.
*Whirrrr……*
The sound of disconnecting the mana from the table was echoing through the area.
Now the mana traps and the chilling magic on the wine containers was dispersed
‘In this life,’
Ian looked at the book in relief.
Indeed, it was an astonis.h.i.+ng item.
A perfect proof that dragons once lived in this world.
An ultimate power that returned Ian to the past.
‘I may approach this experiment in a different way….’
While planning, Ian opened the book.
His hand muscles still remembered his former action.
However, something strange happened.
"…..huh?"
Ian couldn’t take his eyes off the book.
He just couldn’t. It was different from the former life.
‘Empty s.p.a.ce….?’
It was supposed to be filled with dragon words.
But now, between the words, there were many empty s.p.a.ces replacing the words.
It seemed like some specific words are missing.
‘What happened?’
Ian looked through the book carefully.
What kind of words were missing?
‘Oh my.’
After reading it several times, he could make one conclusion. The cause may be uncertain, but there were things the missing words had in common.
‘Words from the golden dragon tribe.’
Golden dragon tribe.
Dragons who had a golden hide and scales.
In old legends, they were the tribe who managed the time-s.p.a.ce dimension. Of course the legend was true, Ian proved it himself by returning to his past.
‘Only the words of the golden dragon tribe are missing’
The Golden dragon
‘How?’
Ian already gave up thinking about the impossibility of this situation.
Dragon chants and time rewinding itself were unrealistic things.
It was already far away from possibility and impossibility.
However, he needed to find out the reason it was missing.
It must be very critical and important for further dragon chants researches.
‘Maybe because I already used it?’
It was the deduction that was the most likely to make sense.
Ian rewound time with the golden dragon chants.
What would this mean? It meant that when he restores his power, he could control time with his will. Ian used to feel quite excited about it.
‘And if these chants had regulation of time control….’
Ian paused his thinking for a while.
He closed the book, then arranged his mana.
To recite words of the Golden Dragons.
‘……!’
As he had expected.
The words of the Golden Dragons that were missing in the book, Ian couldn’t recite any one of them.
Dragon chants were not just a word that could simply be spoken out using his tongue.
They were spoken through mana, which literally meant a word whose root came from mana itself.
There was only one conclusion that he could make.
Once dragon chants were used, they vanished.
So they’re likely to be single-use words.
Not only the dragon chants of the Golden Dragons, but all dragon chants that were recorded in the book.
‘I had a hope that I could rewind time again and again.’
This was a shocking truth he never expected.
One of his greatest insurances had disappeared.
And what would have happened if he never knew about it?
A heavy burden was added on his second life.
"Hmm."
There were no more benefits to be gained from meaningless worry.
He decided to collect the things he needed and think about future problems later.
Ian investigated underneath the table.
If it’s the same as in his former life, there must be a box somewhere.
A box that will be very useful.
‘There it is.’
Ian’s hand reached towards the box.
He pulled its handle.
*s.h.i.+d*
The box was pulled as it came out from the drawer.
Inside it, there were precious treasures.
It was the very reason that Ian didn’t want to receive money as his rewards.
‘There is no reason not to take it.’
It would be very useful whenever he needed money.
It was better for Ian to prepare some money for future use. He may ask someone to support him financially, but the best money was the money he can use without any third party’s help.
‘First, let’s take the most precious,’
He wanted to take it all if possible.
But he couldn’t take it for now.
He had brought only one bag, a small one at that.
He had no choice.
‘I feel like I am a tomb raider.’
Well, actually it might be a good way to describe him.
He visited a ruin without any eyes on him.
He found a secret pa.s.sage.
He took ancient artifacts and treasures, and he was reluctant to leave the rest of the treasures he couldn’t carry.
It was a perfect way to describe him.
‘But why….’
Now his bag was filled with the greatest rank of jewels.
He obtained the book of dragon chants, and the eyes of the gargoyle.
‘…Do I feel so satisfied?’
Ian felt hardened.
It even wiped away the shock of the missing dragon words.
It was an awkward feeling.
A feeling of a successful tomb raider.
Should he shout out ‘Jackpot!’ for now?
"…..Let’s move out haha."
The bag full of treasures, Ian carried it on his back.
He wanted to leave this place quickly.
To remove this awkward satisfaction.