Chapter 30: Failure and Findings
Jaden continued his 2-star spell training without eating, determined to learn all of them. After a total of six of the allotted seven days had already passed, a blue screen appeared before him.
[Level up!]
[Host has reached level 9!]
————[Profile]————
Host: Jaden Cross
Age: 18
Job: The Shutter Summoner [SSS]
Job Description: You can capture and summon anything using your camera and grimoire.
Rank: Initiate [9] → Adept [10]
Enhanced Stats:
Strength: 9 (5↑)
Agility: 9 (5↑)
Intelligence: 14 (5↑)
Spirit: 14 (5↑)
Charisma: 9 (5↑)
Affinity:
Elemental: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Ice, Lightning, Darkness, Light.
Mark: Shadow, Soul, Death.
————[Profile]————
’Picturebook.’
————[Picturebook]————
Entries Catalogued: 1
Sections: [Summons] [Spells] [Arts]
[Summons]
Mistwraith – [E]
Description: A being of flowing mist and a glass-like body.
Abilities: Mist Form, Wraith Claw
Summon Cost: 30 Mana
[Spells]
[1-star spells], [Firestorm Slash ★★ - Unmastered], [Blazing Cyclone ★★ - Unmastered], [Lava Burst ★★ - Unmastered], [Storm Splash ★★ - Unmastered], [Dust Cyclone ★★ - Unmastered], [Earthen Wall ★★ - Unmastered], [Shard Barrage ★★ - Unmastered], [Twilight Veil ★★ - Unmastered], [Umbral Chains ★★ - Unmastered], [Soul Bind ★★ - Unmastered], [Mournful Wail ★★ - Unmastered]
[Arts]
[ Iron Body Form★ : 80%], [Shattering Fist ★ : 75%], [Dashing Step ★ : 77%], [Basic Sword Forms ★ : 69%], [Falling Petal Sword ★★ : 20%], [Gale Steps ★★ : 24%]
————[Picturebook]————
Jaden looked at the screens before him with a dark look... he had failed to achieve his objective.
"Damn it!" he muttered with gritted teeth.
Annoyed, he punched the wall nearby as he stood there with a dejected look on his face. He placed his right hand on his face and cursed under his breath.
"Blasted hell, what was all that pain for? Just for me to fail?"
Jaden wasn’t mad because he didn’t do well enough... he simply didn’t have enough resources to reach his objective, but that would still be an excuse at the end.
He pulled at his hair with a furious look before taking a deep breath and taking his time in exhaling it.
"There are ways I can use... But they would be way too dangerous."
Shaking his head, he began to walk towards the door leading to the room with spell books; however, he stopped in his tracks and looked towards the door leading to the room with martial arts...
’What if there are still martial arts I can learn there?’
He questioned himself... he knew that it was a meaningless question, but he still wanted to check it himself; today was his last day, after all.
His feet turned towards the door leading to the room with martial arts as he stepped towards it. After taking a few steps, he stood before the door and pushed it open.
Stepping inside, he looked all around the room. Message screens popped up whenever his eyes landed on the martial arts manual, but all of them were either 3-star or 4-star.
His eyes continued to scan through the martial arts as he stepped further inside the room, and the number of martial arts manuals he hadn’t checked soon diminished to zero.
Heaving a sigh, he muttered.
"It’s still better that I checked."
After checking all of them, he turned to leave, and just as he turned, his eyes fell on something he wouldn’t have found odd if he had seen it somewhere else... it was the symbol of Nightshade City.
"What is that doing here?"
His brows furrowed as he stepped towards the symbol.
The closer he got, the easier it became for him to see what was written under the symbol, and as soon as he read that... his steps stopped. His eyes widened, and his body went cold.
There, before his eyes, a few words were written in deep red... they were nearly chafed due to the ravages of time... but that was not what made him act like this; it was the words that were written there.
THE ETERNAL PRISON.
"W-what?!"
Upon seeing the words, Jaden took a few steps and fell back on his butt. His breathing quickened as his body began to sweat.
"How?" he muttered with a dumbstruck expression.
"What the fuck is going on here?"
It took him a few moments to regain his calm. He heaved a sigh and stood up.
He walked towards the small chamber in whose wall the symbol and the words were drawn.
His expression was dark as he read the deep red words.
"How is this possible? Those within the dream realm aren’t supposed to know the name of Grimzone. Heck, even others do not know that..."
Jaden had found out the name of Grimzone due to the system’s message.
’The City of Eternal Prison.’
However... Now he was seeing the same name within the church of knowledge, which meant someone within the city knew that all of this was an illusion.
Right at that moment, a question took root in Jaden’s mind.
’Is this city even an illusion?’
"If... this city was just an illusion, as others said, then... why would this be here? Illusions won’t write this, would they?"
He stepped closer to the wall and checked for anything else he could find, and then his eyes fell on a small hole right under the symbol. Out of curiosity, he pushed his finger inside the small hole.
Just then, the sound of gears echoed within the room, and a scroll fell from the ceiling.
Jaden raised an eyebrow and unrolled the scroll to read it. He scanned the scroll.
"A map?"
A few moments later, his eyes widened. It was the map of the city’s drainage system, after all.
"To think there’s only one way to enter the drainage..." he added in a bittersweet tone.
His eyes then fell onto a short paragraph written at the bottom of the map.
It read:
Their fall began long before the brilliant sparks could apprehend. The covetous mortals, once graced by the moon, succumbed to the yearning of impossible wonders. Their envy shattered the calm, only for them to fall into the game of possibility.
Jaden’s expression turned thoughtful as he read those words, guessing what they could mean.
"The sparks... as in the gods?"