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Chapter 77

“A secret?” I asked. “What is it?”

“If I knew, it wouldn’t be a secret.”

“Once again, I must remind you we’re the same person.”

“I’m not being coy. After reading every book, I discovered that there are no secrets held within them. This got me thinking that their secret must not have been within the books themselves, but the books in relation to the library. In other words, the books themselves were some kind of veiled message.”

“And?’

“And, after considering the order from which the books were left, I was able to determine a cipher built within. In essence, I saw a pattern. I won’t bore you with the details, but I believe if you place the books in the correct order, you will be able to open a hidden chamber underneath the library.”

“No, please bore me with the details. I feel like I’m missing something here. I wouldn’t say we’re dumb, but neither would I call myself that smart. I may have Mind Division to think about thinking multiple things at one time, but I have no background in cryptology.”

“Cryptology background wasn’t needed. Rather, I discovered the use of another skill.”
“What is it this time?”

“The skill knowledge skill Succession has a party to play in my discovery.”

“Succession? The process from which areas change over time?”

“Perhaps, that’s how it is used in ecology, by the skill had evolved for us. In essence, it’s a skill that allows us to quickly observe patterns.”

“Pattern recognition, is it?”

“Mm… as soon as I finished Replication and found nothing of note, Succession came up as an option. My mind then began to reorganize the data looking for patterns. What I ended up discovering was that everything was in proper order except for a handful of books. If these books were placed in proper order, I believe that something should happen.”

“Something?” I frowned. “I feel like I need a bit more than something.”

“The books are being protected. In reality, they have no right to have survived the spatial storm. Most of these books are aggressively average and contain no mana. Therefore, I can only conclude that these books must be protected in some other way, likely by the library itself.”

“I suppose then, I’ll have to give it a shot.”

I wasn’t going to waste all day arguing with myself. The protective barrier around Erika and the noble was getting smaller all the time, and I had no clue when the gate would open again allowing them to escape. I left the relative safety of Erika’s bubble without alerting either of them. Immediately, the spatial storms started to strike me, but I ignored all of the damage while keeping a focus on rapid Mitosis.

This state was permanently sustainable. My HP was nearly five hundred billion. Even losing 60,000 HP a second, it would take three thousand years for my HP to be completely depleted, and that was assuming that I couldn’t heal at all. With my healing, it was hard to say how long I could remain in this environment, but I wasn’t worried. The strikes felt more like a tickle than an attack.

Once I returned to the library, I emptied the books back onto their shelves, placing them back where they had originally been. I hadn’t made particular notes on where the books were originally, but I found that my memory was considerably better than it had been in my former life. If my mind had been like this during my university education, I wouldn’t have had to struggle through four years of science education.

Now that I thought about it, my memory of my science education had also seemingly become enhanced. Even words I had only read in passing were now easily recalled. It had to be a result of my skills or perhaps my numerous levels of evolution. At a single glance, I had memorized the location of every book and was able to put it back into place. I also remembered the contents of every book. Even though it had been my other half using the Replication skill, the information ended up in my mind eventually, although there had been a bit of delay.

After making sure every book was returned to the point before even Erika touched it, I went ahead and made the modifications that my other half had recommended. Once I slid the last book into place, I was awaiting something, a click or a shudder, but after a minute passed, there were still just the crackling noises of the spatial storm.

“Erika…” I quickly realized the problem.

My former self had only been able to base it all on the books available in the room, but Erika had also taken several books with her when she left. I had managed to include the ones dropped on the ground, but the ones she had stored inside her ring weren’t included. One or more of those books must have been needed to complete the puzzle.

Feeling slightly annoyed, I left the library and returned to the courtyard. Some time had passed, while I sorted an entire library of books from memory, although I hadn’t kept track of how much time. Their dome of protection had collapsed to a space only a few meters wide. Other than them and the astral gate, the rest of the courtyard had fallen to spatial storms and fog. There wasn’t even enough room for me to enter without being detected.

“How many barriers do we have left?” The noble asked through clenched teeth.

“Just two…” Erika was staring out at the storm with a wide-eyed look, her former optimism having been warned away with time.

“Why is it lingering so long?” He snarled. “I thought you said this storm went away!”

“And you said your father would rescue us by now!” Erika shot back just as angrily.

I watched the pair of them while considering my options. My eyes couldn’t help but fall on Erika’s ring, which she had managed to recover from the noble after he searched through it and found nothing to his liking. I wasn’t a thief, and I only had a few stealth skills. I was confident about remaining a fly on the wall or running away, but I had no confidence I could sneak up on someone. The pair were already on full alert, and as far as they should know, I was dead.

There was still the option of putting them in my Luminal Space, but I still understood too little about it. It could kill them, but perhaps more worryingly, it could kill me.  In general, I’d prefer if the girl didn’t die, if for no other reason than she had treated Mara well.

Crack!

The second to last barrier shattered, and the barrier this time put them right against each other. They faced each other back to back. The noble was glaring at the storm like he wanted to bite it, while Erika was looking increasingly terrified. I decided that the best option would be to wait until the storm collapsed. While the noble pulled whatever final cards he had to extend his life, I would snag Erika and allow the storm to finish him off. I had a theory that I hadn’t tested yet, and Erika was as good of a chance as any.

More and more astral cracks struck the final barrier. It was almost like the storm knew that they had run out of defenses and was eagerly making a final strike to wipe them out. Either that, or we had reached the apex of the storm. Now that I noticed, I was getting hit about three times as much as before. It was all still a drop in the bucket for me, something I could ignore.

A creaking sound came from the barrier as cracks started to form along it. It was about to go out. It was in that moment as Erika’s face turned helpless that the lights on the astral gate began to shine. The activation of the gate seemed to push back the storm slightly, and a few moments later a new portal had formed similar to the one the noble had arrived on.

“Son, are you in there?” A deep booming voice came through the portal gate, powered by mana.

“Yes!” The boy cried out immediately. “There is a spatial storm on this side! I can’t hold out much longer. Can I come through?”

There was a brief moment of silence as the only sound was the continuous cracking of the barrier, which lasted a bit longer thanks to the activation of the astral gate.

“I have stabilized this portal for the moment. You may proceed.” His voice answered.

Erika let out a cry filled with relief. “We can finally escape!”

She took several steps toward the portal. However, then she spun around, although she wasn’t fast enough to block the noble’s sudden attack. He struck her right in the abdomen with a single open hand.

“Who said ‘we’?” He asked. “He said I may proceed. You were never mentioned.”

“Y-you…” Erika looked up at him in disbelief as blood leaked from her lips.

As she collapsed to her knees, he snorted and then walked through the gate. He had already used some kind of magical technique on Erika though. It was clear she couldn’t get up or chase him. She collapsed to the side, her eyes widened open as she stared at the portal, freedom and safety so close but so far away. At that moment, the barrier shattered, and Erika’s vision turned black.