Chapter 78: The Library of Scrolls

CLAAAANK!

But somehow, something from the creature still managed to survive.

Its skull rolled across the ground before coming to a stop roughly two meters away, and Declan walked toward it, staring down into its ghostly hollow eyes, which still burned with pitch-black flames despite the rest of its body having been reduced to ashes.

Its jaw moved slightly, a couple of incomprehensible words tumbling from its mouth in a voice that sounded as though they were being dragged from the depths of its dying consciousness.

"Woe... me... failing... Lord... Achilles..."

Those were its final words before the runes etched across its skull gradually dimmed, causing the last remnants of the creature to crumble away into ashes.

The moment it disappeared completely, the nano gauntlets covering Declan’s hands began melting into dark liquid metal, splattering across the ground and scorching the surface wherever the molten material touched. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

[That’s about three weeks of effort, gone.]

The system panel flashed before Declan as he silently stared at the molten remains.

These things were his own creations, essentially a higher version of the Nano Photon Blaster that provided significantly greater protection for his hands while also allowing him to release far more destructive energy, but gathering the materials required to construct them had taken him more than two weeks of battling Radiorats throughout the wastelands, and he had even spent 400 points to obtain several additional rare components for the gadgets.

Yet all of that effort had been consumed by the attack that had erased the bone titan.

"At least now I know what they’re capable of."

Back at X Guard Academy, Declan had never actually tested the gauntlets in combat, and although he had known they were powerful, he had never been certain how much stronger they were compared to his ordinary Nano Photon Blaster.

Now, he knew exactly what they were capable of, and they were certainly worth making again once he returned to the Academy.

Turning away from the bone titan’s ashes, Declan shifted his gaze toward the path between the two mountains and began walking forward, continuing until he had reached roughly twenty meters from the entrance before finally speaking.

"Hey, system. Reactivate Connection."

The command was given, and in the next moment, the faint connection in his ears returned as the NCEG’s monitoring channel came back online.

"Oh, we’ve gotten his connection back. Hey, Declan, can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can," he responded curtly.

"Where is the bone titan?"

"It’s dead. I exhausted all of its energy."

He glanced down at his combat suit before continuing.

"I was protected by the nanosuit, so there wasn’t much damage."

He spoke calmly, and a breath of relief immediately came through the connection from the other side.

"That’s really good. Do you still think you’re up for exploration?"

Declan looked backward for a moment before turning his gaze toward the path ahead.

"Do I have any other choice but forward?"

There was no portal behind him, meaning that if he didn’t continue deeper into the area, he would most likely be stuck there indefinitely, so what other choice did he have except to brace himself for whatever danger awaited him and keep moving until he eventually found a way out?

"Very well, then, but be more careful. Remember, you’re an explorer, not a combatant. The first priority is Survival." the voice said.

Declan nodded before resuming his steps forward.

Beyond the entrance between the mountains was nothing but darkness stretching as far as his eyes could see, and although there was nothing immediately visible within it, he somehow felt the hairs along the back of his neck rise, an instinctive warning that danger could be waiting somewhere beyond the darkness.

Even so, Declan firmed his resolve and took his first step into the darkness, his figure disappearing into the narrow passage.

The moment he did, a familiar sensation washed over him, the unmistakable feeling of stepping through a portal spreading across his body as the creeping darkness momentarily encroached upon his senses before clearing in the next instant, leaving Declan standing inside a vast hall.

It was a hall of darkness, with countless crimson motes of light whooshing silently through the air and providing just enough illumination to reveal the enormous structures surrounding him.

"Are these..."

All around him were what appeared to be shelves, except they were impossibly large, towering so high into the darkness that Declan couldn’t immediately see where they ended.

"Move closer to the shelves," the voice instructed through his earpiece.

Declan walked forward until he reached the nearest shelf, and what he saw immediately confirmed his suspicions.

"Scrolls," he muttered.

Wrapped together and packed into every available space within the towering shelves were countless scrolls, with seemingly endless rows of them stretching farther into the darkness.

"Try picking one up."

Declan reached forward and grabbed one of the scrolls, finding that it had been stored inside a strange container that felt surprisingly light despite appearing equally solid and heavy.

He pulled open the cap before turning the container upside down, causing the paper inside to slide out and unroll like a ribbon until it stretched across the ground near his feet.

Declan picked it up and slowly examined its contents, his eyes moving across the strange symbols carved into its surface.

"Can you read it?" Declan asked.

"No. I’m not versed in Archrone," the NCEG voice replied.

’Archrone? That’s the language spoken by the Ember Race.’

Declan’s thoughts immediately turned toward the unfamiliar language.

"But there should be a translator sometime later," The voice continued.

"For now, I just need you to slowly skim through the scroll with your eyes, making sure you pass over every letter."

Declan did exactly as instructed, carefully scanning the entire scroll from beginning to end, and it took him roughly two minutes to complete.

"Good."

Declan rolled the scroll back up and returned it to its container before placing it back on the shelf, but when he turned around and looked at the seemingly endless collection of scrolls surrounding him, he couldn’t help but release an unconscious sigh.

"Don’t tell me I’ll have to go through every scroll."

"Those scrolls, Declan, contain priceless alien historical knowledge and possibly information about arcane arts that could potentially save millions of Nexians’ lives during the next Ember War."

"Yes, it all has to be recorded, and the more information we can recover, the better," the voice replied.

Declan’s brows furrowed as he turned another look toward the endless shelves, which seemed to stretch into the darkness without an end.

"And it’s not like your life is in any immediate danger, so take your time going through them."

There was a brief pause before the voice continued.

"Let’s start with five hundred scrolls."

The voice finished, and Declan could only sigh tiredly.

He had come here expecting an exciting adventure into an unexplored alien ruin, yet he had somehow ended up being assigned to go through ancient scrolls.

Unfortunately, that was still part of the mission, leaving him with little choice but to comply.

Declan began going through each scroll, carefully scanning them one after another as he worked his way through the ancient collection.

Whatever secrets these scrolls contained were likely things that, despite being the one who had discovered them, the NCEG group would probably consider far too valuable and potentially dangerous for him to possess, which was precisely why they were only comfortable allowing him to examine them because they knew he couldn’t understand Archrone.

But Declan had his own plan.

While he scanned every scroll with his eyes as instructed, he simultaneously activated another feature of his system.

[Eyes Save Feature Activated!]

[What the host sees is now being recorded for eventual remembrance.]

The system panel flashed, and Declan gladly continued.

It was a new feature that allowed him to save everything he saw while it was activated, meaning that as he looked through the scrolls, he was also saving their contents so he could translate them later.

He went through each one, time and time again, climbing higher and higher into the shelves until his head eventually reached the farthest top of the shelves, where an iron hatch lay.

"That’s enough."

The voice in his head instructed, and he hummed slightly as he put down the scroll he was holding.

He turned upward, eyeing the lock on the wall, and was about to push it up and get out of there when a reflection caught his eye on the door panel.

He couldn’t see it before, but now that the level he was on was so high above the ground where he had entered, there was something unusual embedded within the floor.

Not a scroll, but...

"Hey, can you feel that ripple?" Declan suddenly asked.

"What ripple...?" the NCEG voice suddenly called out.

But in that moment, Declan ordered,

’Hey, system. Temporarily sever connection.’

In the next moment, the strange feeling in his eyes disappeared as the NCEG eye scan was removed, and the second his movements were no longer under monitoring, Declan turned his gaze downward.

Now he could see it.

The entire library, the entire arrangement of shelves, and even the ground itself were all shaped like a scroll, forming one enormous structure covered in symbols made from the shelves and the ground itself.

’It’s like... It’s like the library itself is one big scroll of its own...’

He mused silently to himself as his eyes scanned through the enormous structure, picking up on every detail.

A sudden headache set in right then, making his eyes dizzy the second he finished going through the symbols.

’Did I exert my brain too much?’ he mused silently, rubbing his eyes as he felt the dizziness gradually clear.

He shrugged at the bizarreness, deactivated the system feature, and then ordered it to restore the connection.

"Declan, you okay? We lost connection there for a moment..."