He squeezed the shiny gold coin in between his well-nourished fingers as the other party's ghastly own, signed the confirmation documents that their goods had been delivered safely by the, all and powerful, aptly named Gold Tiger. Picking out a piece of morsel next to his sunset-colored canine, he ordered the beast of a man next to him to pick up the brown bag that his customer had placed on the table, his heart jumping in glee at that one unmistakable jingle that his ears always liked.
Finally, out of this creepy hole...
"... You know one of these very fine days, I'll arrange a meeting with our leader so that you can tell him about the expansion plans that you were telling us about...,"
"RUUUAAAGGHHH!!"
... An inhuman scream; a fine inhuman scream that cut through his speech like hot knife through butter. Readying himself to the bloodcurdling tune that the damned shriek wrought forth upon them, Gold Tiger's protector wrapped its clawed hand around the unique hilt strapped onto its back. Its senses were sharper than ever and the heavyset engines that their kind took pride in were raring to go...
... but it seems like a more potent danger lay in the room with them...
... across from where Gold Tiger sat...
... sorry...
"!"
... atop the beast's strange hilt.
Trailing not too far behind, the momentarily bewildered's senses caught on, rerouting its being back to action. It pulled at its weapon's hilt to shake off this being that somehow displeased it, with the ghost like movements that weaved through its radar just a few seconds earlier.
And to add more salt to the wound, this customer who could move as free as the wind,
"?!"
could also as much weigh as heavy as he wanted to. An irony compared to how slender he looked. The clawed hands powered through the struggle, but it was all for nought as the weapon didn't even budge,
"Relax... I just had my office in an unfortunate place, that's all,"
Now the customer could feel the unnatural honed strength of the Tiger's guard, but that's it, he only felt it and also somehow acknowledged Gold Tiger's eye, be it luck or not. The guard slowly freed its hand and lowered it back into the depths of its cloak after deeming any further progression of aggression unnecessary. Sensing the beast's aura pulled back within, the slender figure blinked back behind his desk, evading their senses once more.
"I would like to thank you once more for dropping by with our materials in perfect condition and I look forward to doing more business with you. Dura will escort you back as I tend to other 'loud' matters, see you then."
The customer shook Gold Tiger's clammy hand paying no mind to it and waved farewell to his guard, his serpent-like eyes and the beast's green eyes meeting. Dura, who stood outside, opened the door for the duo, his gaunt figure courteously leading them out of the room.
He did a final bow to his superior before turning and gently closing the door behind him.
"..."
"So, what do you think of 'him'?"
He twirled the pen between his fingers with unseen magics while a darkness creeped up the wall before him.
"'He'...,"
the ghastly tone paused for a bit, dark threads of energy eroding the pen to black specks before resuming,
"... might be the reason, that pig has survived its number of runs."
"And that 'pig' was lucky enough to hear our little going-on downstairs, but eh, a little message will do the trick,"
"..."
"Any~way...! I think I'll go and see how our products are faring, like the hard worker that I am...,"
"... Hm."
"Wh~at...?"
"... Go,"
The darkness, without warning, collapsed back into the ground leaving the other caller still on the line,
"... nice talking to you too, by~ee."
"..."
"..."
"..."
I don't think he's calling back...
"Product time then!"
"..."
"...;;;,"
She held him even tighter against her bosom evidently aware of the wreck she was stirring. Park could only pray that the barrier between them and the triggered brother outside would hold...
... even if a series of whites had slightly broken through.
"Haha, I think you should hurry up Medani, it seems someone doesn't approve of my husband!"
Please don't say that.
"Why are you even angry brother, you tried to chew him, you couldn't...,"
(I will rest him within the void till he turns to bones.)
"?"
"?... ! Oh right, I forgot, where are my manners? Boop!"
She gently tapped his head,
[WARNING!
Forceful access to a new skill has been detected
WARNING!
A candle nor a light has been detected
WARNING!
Forceful acquisition of skill may have unforeseen consequences...
...
...
... Request granted, exception order by #@%5461 has been acquired...]
"...,"
[... temporary resources will be issued to learn mysterious language,]
A smaller notification window opened up,
[You have obtained:
Temporary Candle x1, Temporary light x1]
and closed shortly after, the prior notifications resumed,
[sight of user will now resume.]
(Huh? 'Sight of user will now resume?',)
(! What the...?!)
"...?"
"?"
"?"
"... that... was too fast...,"
[Event: Learn
00:25:00
00:24:59]
The final window, hovering above his head, turned translucent...
"Boop!"
(Rezva...?)
[+1]
"Boop...!"
[+1]
(It's okay Medani, my husband will not drop from this, I can already feel his stubborn vitality kicking in...)
Blood gushed from Park's nose with the third tap. He could feel instant assimilation to the knowledge blessed to him within the three taps and maybe many more, judging by the two, little brother's reaction.
Rezva shortly after broke into a beat, tapping away in joy to a hum that she beautifully sang as she marveled at Park's sponge-like abilities. Medani stood by, having already pulled the rest of the students that she was saving out of danger while her brother modestly shifted his being to the tune, enjoying his eldest sister's musical prowess. The unique round of blessings, journeyed on their remaining twenty-four minutes and roughly forty seconds left. Rhythms flowed, tempos changed and finally...
A number of taps later.
"Aa~nd stop! How are we feeling??"
"Haha...,"
He should have died a hundred times over all that blood loss, but, oh what a gift the First law is. He shut his eyes for a bit, seeing the clock read 15:00 then 14:59,
They'll think I was murdering people in here.
"... I think our guest still wants to play; he looks healthy and strangely not pale!"
"Okay, 3, 2, 1...!"
Fourteen minutes and fifty-eight seconds later... with guest appearances...
"That. Was. Fun! So much fun...! You can now do your thing Medani... you know, every contribution matters...,"
"Move!"
{The Weights of Truth have responded to the special phrase and are now activating]
"Someone did his research."
"The Medallion?"
Park offered the glowing piece of metal to the old man.
"..."
"I hope you are aware of the consequences."
"I come before you to speak nothing but the truth."
"..."
The old man looked at Park for a quick minute.
"I trust you mean well."
"We shall now begin."
"Step into the circle."
Another glowing circle formed right beside the High Magus.
"..."
"Did you allow the fifth library to copy your scripts for any benefits?"
"No."
The old man placed the weights on the piece of fabric.
It didn't take too long.
The glow faded away.
"..."
"Innocent."
Gerena heaved a sigh of relief.
"A replica."
"Huh?"
Park felt a breeze move past him.
"Your medallion..."
The old man stared at the dust carried away by the wind.
"...it was a replica."
"Oh."
"I offer my condolences if you had any sort of attachment to it."
"It's ok."
"It came quite in handy."
"Thanks Anu."
"The Last library remains."
The happy elf welcomed them in.
"If you could please lead the way child?"
The doors went shut.
It took a hot minute before a massive boom was heard.
The other libraries stood with their mouths wide agape. Leinharr was no exception either.
Whatever their proxies had witnessed they too had witnessed it.
Three other consecutive booms followed.
The bull spoke up,
"They are actually going to win it this time."
Leinharr couldn't accept it.
"Second place...? Me...? Impossible... How...?"
"Easy there."
"I can tell you from experience that the first few days are usually rough, but it will clear up."
The bull looked back to the closed leafy doors.
"This V guy is a piece of work."
A gnome spoke up,
"Just Phenomenal."
The bull answered back in full agreement with the statement.
"Exactly."
"Here they come."
The doors creaked open.
{Congratulations]
{Hidden quest has been fulfilled]
{Leave a last impression on ???]
{Reward: Library Upgrade, Favor]
"Why is it hidden?"
{The first sector has finished analysis]
"Ah. This."
"What's wrong with him?"
"He doesn't look too thrilled."
{7/7]
"What?"
"Please ignore him. He does that sometimes."
The High Magus stared at Park.
{Rewards will be issued shortly...]
{The Damned's gift is slightly reacting...]
"High Magus?"
"Sir?"
He smiled.
"Yes?"
"Could we hurry up. We still have a lot of work left to do."
The colleagues turned to look at the mess behind them.
"We'll make sure to provide the required remunerations."
"A... And we hope to see more of this "V" next time."
"Hopefully."
Gerena said shaking their hands.
"They may even be in this room right now."
The lady said.
"What?"
This rattled Gerena a bit.
The other colleagues including the High Magus chuckled.
"Thank you again so much for such a beautiful spectacle."
"..."
The lady turned to look at Park who was still staring off into space.
"I have to do it again?"
"Goodbye Park."
Park absently waved back.
Leinharr's proxy spoke up,
"You're being rude to them, you mutt."
A dark man at the front raised his hand.
"Let him be."
"He's in the midst of reaping his efforts."
"We need to wrap this up."
"..."
A while later.
"I want to thank you all for such a wonderful day today. There were some highs and lows but all in all it ended well."
"To all who are present here I wish you a safe journey back home and may the light guide your path and shun the darkness from you."
They all repeated the chant with their left hand outstretched.
"May the light guide your path and shun the darkness from you."
A huge magic circle spanning up to the libraries appeared.
"Is he actually going to do it?"
The Magus spoke his last.
"A small gift to you all."
"Goodbye."
They vanished with the respective libraries following suit.
White specks of light ascended to the sky.
"..."
"Looks like they won."
"Never seen that old monster smile."
"Did he say his name was Park?"
The figure stared at the white specks which were now vanishing.
"I wonder how he will do in his exams."
"..."
"Can't wait."