Warlock of War: My Ares System

"I guess that's a yes," I muttered before entering the room.

It was so small you'd think a hobbit lived here as in order to actually navigate the small place, you had to bend down.

The furniture was very small, fitting for the tiny room.

Clink Clank

All of a sudden, a pile of tin cans stacked in the corner had tumbled next to our feet, revealing a large rat that glared at us with blood-red eyes.

"It's alright. It's just a rat-"

When I turned to calm down Treyni, who I knew hates little critters, I noticed she was already gone and outside of the entrance to the room.

After laughing a bit, I saw it bear its buck teeth towards me, so I instantly killed it without hesitation.

"That thing definitely has the bubonic plague or some shit like that," I muttered to myself before shifting through the small room once more.

There wasn't much besides the large cobwebs, though strangely, I had the feeling of being watched… and it came from above.

But all there was, was a giant cobweb with a tiny, harmless spider who had ten eyes and ten legs…

"Wait," I muttered before shooting my gaze right back at it.

But, now it was gone, leaving a trail of black smoke with its exit.

A spider doesn't have ten eyes and ten legs… Was that a monster? No, monsters can't leave their dungeon, which means… It was a familiar.

I heard about this ancient class that some people thought was good back in the day, but now there were practically no people who used this class as it was terrible.

[An Anonymous Goddess is watching you]

"Or it could be a goddess... Geez," I muttered.

…

After a few minutes of an unsuccessful search, I made my way back to the library, where I picked out the two books that I thought fit me perfectly.

One was for my sniper, and the other was for my spear.

"Are these the ones you would like?" One of the guards asks me.

"Yes, thank you very much," I replied before going back down the stairs and entering the regular library, where I sat down at a table and opened the book.

The more I read, the more I felt myself getting drawn in, and this only stopped once I finished the book.

[You have successfully learned: Empower]

It was late in the afternoon, so I knew I had time to complete the other one, plus I still had a question that I needed an answer to.

[You have successfully learned: Scout]

After another few hours, when it was early in the evening, I had finally finished the second skill book and made sure to check my status.

Of course, they were there, but I wasn't too excited.

[Empower] just gives you a tiny boost in strength, but I guess you can use it to buff somebody besides yourself.

[Scout] allows me to read an enemy's location at most twenty meters away from me, so it's slightly useful for when I'm sniping.

"Old lady, how come people don't just read everything inside the library. The time you can spend in there is infinite, so I don't understand,"

Well, I kind of did understand, but I just wanted some clarification, and acting clueless was the best solution to that.

"You do understand,"

But, the librarian knew me too well.

"Nah, I actually don't know. Please enlighten me with your angelic words,"

She laughed a bit before starting her explanation which was much shorter than I had initially anticipated.

"Well, we'll know if somebody is absorbing more than one book. Plus, the infinite time is, so people don't have to stress about which book they want. But, reading too far into the prologue will trap them inside, causing them to lose one of their selections,"

"Huh… I see. But how do you know? Is there some sort of system?"

"I guess I'll tell you since you're such an interesting character," The librarian said as she sat down at my table, whipping out a cigarette and taking a puff of it.

"Fooooo… The guards have a skill that lets them watch over the room the entire time. They may be outside, but their vision connects with every knick and cranny inside that small ass library," She smirked before taking another puff.

"I see… Well, I found a secret lever inside that opened up a small room that was fit for a hobbit. Any idea about that?" I asked.

A twitch of the eyebrow, slight dilation in both eyes, slight lean in…

"Huh? Maybe we should get the headmaster to check that out. Don't want anybody living here rent-free,"

I put on a mask before brushing off the topic and sliding the two empty skill books towards the old woman.

"Well, that's a shame,"

I waved goodbye before I made my way to my room.

After taking a shower and brushing my teeth, I changed and hopped into bed, where I rubbed the silver ring around my ring finger.

"There's something there… but I can't go back anymore. That was my one and only time," I muttered before turning and glancing at the vial of blue liquid.

There's also this... What do I do with that? Do I drink it? But when I placed it on my tongue last time, it began to burn the inside of my mouth… I couldn't adjust even with [Toxic Immunity] and [Toxic Body].

"*sigh*... I have to think outside the box. Not do the basic things…."

…

Early next morning, I tried applying tiny drops of the blue liquid to my armor and sword, but the result was a catastrophe.

"M-My… Armor… and sword. They melted away,"

Everything I had melted away due to this damn blue liquid, but at least I had one last piece of equipment from which I had a good feeling.

"I have to fully commit now," I muttered before swallowing a large gulp of saliva and pouring a tiny drop on my silver ring.

Ding… Ding… Ding

Surprisingly, the ring sparkled as if it was reacting with the blue liquid.