Chapter 36: Foreboding.
The moment Felix turned the first page of the aura cultivation manual on the table, his eyes turned wide in confusion.
"What the hell even is this?"
Laid before him, the book was written in a text he had never seen nor heard of in his life.
His earlier excitement completely died down as he speechlessly stared at the unfamiliar language in the book and sighed.
"This is not Earth, so ofcourse it won't be written in English or any other language.", he scratched the back of his head and though more about it.
'Wait, if the language here is different, then how can I talk with everyone just fine?'
He got confused and called out the system.
"System, can you tell me how I can converse with everyone in this world normally when I don't even know their language?"
[Answering the host. The system has a built-in function that allows the host to converse with any sentient being in their own language.]
Felix was impressed with the system as it could let him talk with anyone who knew how to speak.
"Wow, I didn't know you were that useful."
He sarcastically praised the system that never helped him except for creating skills.
"Anyways, can you also create a skill that lets me read any texts from a language?", he imagined the power and ability of such a skill.
[Processing the skill's power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill successfully modules.]
[Ding!]
[Skill Name: Universal Reader.
Description:
There are countless languages in the universe and this skill allows the user to understand and read every language that he encounters.
Cost: 20000 skill points.]
"What!!??"
He read the description and let out a shout when he saw the high cost of the skill.
"System, don't you think twenty thousand is a lot of skill points for this skill?", he couldn't help but question the system about the abyssal amount of skill points required to learn the skill.
[Does the host not understand? This skill allows you to read every language there is in the universe and such a feat is not something a mortal could ever achieve in their life. So, the cost of this skill is fair.]
"Maybe you're right."
Felix sighed and also realized that the skill to read and understand every language was a lot more impressive than he had previously thought.
Imagine you could read all the books in the world and gain knowledge. Even those books written in lost and secret languages, if he had that skill, he could get to know about everything stored there.
Not to forget all the manuals and different techniques that were from ancient times and kept hidden in different languages, this skill would let him be the only one to decipher them.
'This skill will prove to be very useful in the future but I should focus on learning this manual for now.'
He shook his head and came back to creating a skill to understand the book in front of him. This time, he thought of creating a different skill.
"System, try creating this skill."
[Processing the skill's power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill successfully modules.]
[Ding!]
[Skill Name: ???
Description:
Allows the host to read and understand any one language.
Note:
This skill only works on the first language host sees.
Cost: 10 skill points.]
[Does the host wish to use 10 skill points and create this skill?]
"So this type of skills can also be created huh."
Felix nodded while rubbing his chin and agreed with creating this skill.
"System, create this skill."
[Please name the skill.]
"Just name it as First Language.", he didn't waste time naming it.
[Ding!]
[Successfully created a new skill.]
After it was all done, he stared back at the content of the book. Slowly, the words started to make sense to him. A few seconds later, he could totally understand what was written inside the book.
Now that he understood the language, he focused his mind completely on learning how to cultivate aura and become a warrior without any other thoughts.
The room turned silent with only the occasional sound of pages turning as the bright sun gradually set into the horizon.
*****
"Crash!"
A large table was broken into several pieces when a powerful hand hit it with a strong force.
"Fuck those bastards! How could they fail to complete such an easy mission!"
An angry voice echoed inside a dark room as a short and hideous-looking man twisted his face while getting up from his chair.
"And YOU!! Didn't you say that they'll do the job perfectly and there was no need to send the most powerful guys for the job."
He shouted at the man wearing a black robe who was kneeling on the ground before him.
"Guild Leader, the mission was just to kidnap a bunch of kids. So I didn't think there was a need to send stronger members because that would only raise suspicions", the kneeling man sweated buckets while replying to his leader.
He was the one who secretly issued the mission in the Twilight Chaos guild in the disguise of a businessman on the orders of his guild leader. But even though he successfully issued the mission specifically for the unofficial members, the other members who were tasked to kidnap them failed to do so and in the end died on their mission.
This angered the guild leader, who was planning to use the kids from their enemy guild as hostages and make them do unfair negotiations in the upcoming council meeting.
"What do you mean just a bunch of kids!! Those little fuckers ruined all of our plans and now their guild will be alerted of our actions."
The guild leader slumped back on his chair with an angry and exhausted expression now that their plan backfired.
His previous devious plans all went down the drain. Even though he wanted to lash out his anger at the man in front of him, he couldn't afford to do so as he was a capable person from his guild.
Suddenly, the door of the room opened in a frenzy as a man wearing a suit ran inside in panic and fell on the floor.
"You! Don't you have any manners!", shouted the robed man at the person who entered the room without knocking.
"T-That....yes.....G-Guild Leader! There's an urgent news!", the man stuttered before remembering his reasons and shouted.
The guild leader sitting on the chair frowned as a bad premonition went inside his mind.
"What is it? If it's not something important then you will receive a heavy punishment for intruding in the room."
The man's pale face was in shock before he regained his bearing and quickly replied to his leader getting straight to the point.
"T-The Twilight Chaos guild issued war on us."
His answer silenced the room as the guild leader's face turned from stern to dumbstruck at the sudden turn of events.
"W-What did you say?"
He thought he heard wrong as there was no way they would issue war on something so small. In fact, the last war between guilds that happened in Edenmont City was many years ago.
Also, the Twilight Guild was known for its mysterious and secret way of handling things, so he never thought they would outright issue war on them.
The man gulped and brought out a scroll that had the personal seal of the Duke of the city.
The moment he stared at the blood-red scroll with black engravings, the guild leader's heart sank into the deepest of terror.
"No way....."
A war between guilds was to be supervised by the highest-ranking noble of the city. So the scroll with the Duke's seal was enough evidence to know that there was going to be a war in the near future.
The guild leader shakily took the scroll from the man and read its content with growing horror.
It was decided. There would be a war between several guilds as its contestants. As for whether it was a conspiracy, a battle for power, or the never-ending competition between the guilds, the real reason for the war was surely not for kidnapping a bunch of kids.