Chapter 97: POINT MONOPOLY AND THE EXPLOITATION OF THE ALCHEMY ENCYCLOPEDIA

I was still frozen in front of the desk of the Great Library of StoneBrook’s Librarian. My hands rested on the smoothly polished oak table while my eyes stared sharply at the red notification floating in the air.

[Warning: Literature of Ancient Manuscripts from the Dark Era requires the comprehension class (Advanced Linguistics Lv. 21+) or (Master Linguistics) to be fully deciphered.]

My fangs ground together softly. I truly wanted to tear this paywall system out from the root of its code.

As a rationalist accustomed to calculating efficiency down to the smallest fraction, spending a total of 15 pure Skill Points (SP) merely to read was a blasphemy against resource management. The thirty-six SP points I currently possessed were the accumulated result of dozens of hours challenging death, killing First-Clear bosses, and creating the first firearm on the server. SP was the absolute currency for breaking through profession and combat skill Limit Breaks. Exchanging it for linguistic ability felt like buying reading glasses at the price of a sports car.

But the system knew my position exactly. They held the key to the Legendary Quest[The Moon’s Embrace], and without unlocking this ancient manuscript, I would only keep circling in the dark.

"Very well, Developers," I whispered cynically, my voice almost inaudible to the Librarian NPC who had been staring at me with a confused expression all this time. "You win this round. But I guarantee that every point I invest will be pulled back with interest a hundredfold."

I took a deep breath, suppressed my anger deep inside, and called up the system interface.

"Confirm Limit Break from Novice to Intermediate."

Ting!

[System: 5 SP has been deducted. Maximum limit unlocked. Passive Skill (Reading/Linguistics) can now reach Lv. 20!]

My remaining SP dropped to 31. I did not waste a single second mourning the lost points. With quick steps, I turned and left the children’s literature section. If I had to read in order to grind the linguistics level from 11 to 20, I firmly refused to read stupid fairy tales about a rabbit that lost its carrot. I needed reading material that provided double benefits. Something that would fill my Linguistics level while simultaneously giving information that could be exploited in the real world of Second World Online.

My destination now was the Fifth Corridor: the Botany, Alchemy, and Material Manufacturing Section.

Unlike the bright children’s literature shelves, the shelves in this corridor were dominated by thick, hard-leather-bound, dusty books. I scanned the titles written in the common language that I could now read easily thanks to Novice Linguistics Lv 10.

My hand stopped on three super-thick encyclopedia books: ’Morphology of Magical Plants of the Wind Plains’, ’Hard Mineral Catalyst Reactions’, and ’Pharmacopoeia of the Master Alchemist of the Second Era’. Considering my current Advanced Alchemy and Advanced Blacksmith levels, which were stuck at level 21, these high-tier books should have systemic correlation.

I bought all three, carried them to my reading table in the corner of the room, lit two additional candles, and began opening the first book.

The book ’Morphology of Magical Plants of the Wind Plains’ discussed specific flora around the Gale-Wind City area, the new metropolitan city I had just visited. The moment I focused my gaze on the first paragraph, I immediately felt the difference in computational load inside my virtual brain.

The vocabulary in this book was far more complex. The sentence structure was no longer linear, but filled with biological jargon and cross-references. In the first minute, my head felt a little dizzy. The system was actively forcing the translation engine in my brain to parse plant anatomy terminology.

However, this was where the absolute superiority of my Albinism Trait shone brightly.

With a massive Intelligence (INT) value of 152 points, a number that should have been impossible for any Level 35 player to achieve, my data processing capacity was equivalent to a supercomputer. That dizziness only lasted fifteen seconds. After that, my neural algorithms adapted instantly. My eyes moved from left to right at an unnatural speed.

I dissected the contents of the book. On page 40, I found a Chapter discussing Gale-Weed and Azure Petals, two alchemical materials I had just bought from the Gale-Wind City market.

The book explained that Gale-Weed possessed a cellular structure that continuously absorbed kinetic wind energy, storing it inside microscopic vacuoles. Meanwhile, Azure Petals had extreme thermal cooling properties. If both were extracted and synthesized using a sulfur-based solvent, they could create an endothermic reaction that froze the target’s blood from within. My alchemical brain hummed while processing this information. This was not mere background text (flavor text); this was the game engine’s blueprint! The developers had truly inserted the laws of thermodynamics into the interactions of fictional plants.

Ting!

[System: Complex linguistic comprehension increased! Skill (Reading/Linguistics) rose to Lv. 11]

I smiled crookedly. The true grinding had just begun.

I flipped the pages at a speed that would have torn the paper if this were the real world. One page per second. My eyes scanned the anatomical illustration of the Silver-Vein Sapling roots. The book explained that this tree seedling did not consume ordinary nutrients, but absorbed pure air toxins, then bound them with natural iron in the soil to form protective silver veins. That was why this plant was used as a natural air filter.

This answered my question about how I could purify the air in my secret base "Waterwheel" in Silvergrass Village later. I only needed to plant these seedlings at the right ventilation points.

Ting!

[System: Complex linguistic comprehension increased! Skill (Reading/Linguistics) rose to Lv. 13]

Time passed without me realizing it. I was completely submerged in a sea of data. The first book was finished in forty minutes. I immediately set it aside and pulled the second book: ’Hard Mineral Catalyst Reactions’.

This book discussed thermal manipulation of high-density materials, including forging temperature modifications for separating carbon elements from pure iron. As an Advanced Blacksmith, this information resonated directly with my understanding of Porous Material Manipulation. The text inside was extremely technical, using metallurgical terms that forced my brain to operate at maximum capacity. I read it greedily, searching for whether there was any loophole in this literature that could help me deceive the system’s limitations to produce a high-temperature gas-tight breech chamber, the main key to creating the Bolt Action mechanism for my next rifle.

Page after page turned. The candles on my table slowly melted down to the base of their holders.

Ting!

[System: Skill (Reading/Linguistics) rose to Lv. 15]

[System: Skill (Reading/Linguistics) rose to Lv. 17]

[System: Skill (Reading/Linguistics) rose to Lv. 19]

When I reached the final Chapter of ’Pharmacopoeia of the Master Alchemist of the Second Era’, my eyes felt hot and dry. Reading high-tier literature nonstop in the VR world apparently still drained mental stamina. My Satiety indicator had dropped 30%, indicating that this avatar’s brain was burning a large amount of virtual calories to process data.

However, that sacrifice finally bore absolute results.

Ting!

[Passive Skill: Reading/Linguistics (Intermediate) MAX Lv. 20]

[System: You have reached the maximum learning limit for the Intermediate tier!]

[System: Requirements fulfilled. Perform a Limit Break using 10 SP to break through to the Advanced tier (Lv. 21-30).]

I closed the thick book with a dull slamming sound that echoed softly in the library’s silence. I closed my eyes and massaged the bridge of my nose.

Ten SP. The price of a monopoly on knowledge.

If I pressed the confirmation button now, my remaining SP would plunge to 21 points. For a player who relied heavily on passive branching to strengthen physical attacks locked by racial penalties, this was a painful financial blow. But I had already stepped too far to retreat. The information about the Temple of the Moon was right in front of my eyes. Racial evolution, the resolution of this avatar’s physical defects, everything depended on that one ancient book.

"Take my money," I hissed cynically toward the ceiling of the virtual library.

"Confirm Limit Break to Advanced."

Ting!

[System: 10 SP has been deducted. Ancient language comprehension limit unlocked. Passive Skill (Reading/Linguistics) has evolved to the Advanced tier!]

Right after that notification window dimmed, a string of golden text suddenly appeared following it in the corner of my vision, accompanied by a far more melodic system chime.

Ting!

[System: Hidden Evaluation Fulfilled! You are one of the few players who reached the ’Advanced Linguistics’ class purely through progressive literature reading methods instead of using NPC Tutors or Instant Items!]

[System: As a form of appreciation for deep understanding of the roots of magical language, you are awarded the Secret Passive Sub-Skill: [Incantation Compression Lv. 1]]

I blinked; my irritation was slightly held back by this unexpected surprise. I immediately opened the details of the new skill.

[Incantation Compression Lv. 1]

Type: Passive Sub-Skill (Magic Affinity).

Effect: Near-perfect understanding of the phoneme structure of magical language allows the user to cut unnecessary chants. Reduces the base casting time for all types of elemental magic and spells by 15%. (Level can increase along with the duration and intensity of magic usage).

"Incantation Compression? A skill for Mage-type players?" I muttered, reading the description with one eyebrow raised.

Considering that Second World Online adhered to the rule of "Absolute Freedom," in which there was no class (Job) or permanent occupation system from the beginning, the system seemed to have only calculated my INT value of 152 points. The virtual brain behind the game automatically regarded me as a player focused on a high-tier magic build, and thus rewarded a skill specifically designed to accelerate the combat tempo of spell users.

I was not a player focused purely on offensive magic throws from the back line, but my combat style relied heavily on Wind Element magic. Until now, to activate my signature combo, I always needed a few seconds of pause to chant Piercing Gale Arrow before releasing an arrow or combining it into the muzzle of my Musket. Not to mention mobility magic such as Wind Walk that I often used to escape fatal situations, considering I only had 120 base HP.

Cutting 15% of the casting time from that combat rotation was a massive mechanical advantage. In high-intensity battles, the difference of one second between finishing a chant or having your neck severed by a monster was the distance between life and death. With Incantation Compression, I could weave wind magic into my physical attacks far more smoothly. The flow of my attacks would become far more lethal.

"Not bad," I whispered softly. "At least this 15 SP robbery gave a little tactical cashback beyond just permission to read."

I stood from the chair, stretched my stiff body until a soft cracking sound could be heard from my avatar’s spine, then straightened the White Commander Set I was wearing. I picked up the three heavy encyclopedia books, walked back to the front desk, and returned them to the Librarian.

"Well done, Miss Elf. You read faster than any scholar I have ever seen," the middle-aged male NPC praised while arranging the pile of my alchemy books.

"Save your praise. Give me the ancient book about the Temple of the Moon Goddess. Again," I said coldly, my aura returning to seriousness.

The librarian did not argue. He turned toward the special archive room and came out a minute later, carrying an old black leather-covered book with a faded silver crescent moon embossment. The same book that had rejected me two hours earlier. He placed it on the table carefully as if the object could turn to dust at any moment.

I stared at the book for a moment. My heart beat a little faster. Pure researcher’s expectation and curiosity overcame everything.

Slowly, I opened the cover. The smell of aged parchment and a faint ozone aroma characteristic of elemental magic beginning to fade wafted into the air. The first page was filled with Ancient Rune scribbles. Their shapes were rough, jagged, and overlapping like dragon claws carved with a bloody dagger.

I focused my gaze.

The Advanced Linguistics Lv. 21 engine in my brain immediately went to work. The sensation was different from before. If translating Intermediate-tier books felt like reading through a magnifying glass, reading these Dark Era Runes felt like forcing a giant steel safe to open.

The jagged symbols began to tremble in my eyes. Their lines unraveled, shifted, and reassembled their forms. My INT of 152 collided with the system’s encryption code. For the first ten seconds, everything looked blurry. Then, slowly but surely, the meaning behind those letters began to penetrate into my consciousness.

Not just connecting words. Not just full-of-holes prepositions. Complete sentences gradually formed in front of my eyes.

["...To those who seek light beneath the shadows. To those who reject the blindness of the Sun and seek the truth behind the mirror of the cosmos."]

I held my breath. The translation was working perfectly. I continued reading, tracing page after page of the ancient manuscript that recorded the secret history of the followers of Goddess Selene.

The book told of the Dark Era, a period in which the Cathedral of Light belonging to Soleis (the Sun Goddess) carried out a massive inquisition. They regarded the worshippers of wisdom and latent magic as a threat to ’Absolute Order’. The followers of Selene were hunted because they researched the laws of Mana and rejected the hierarchy of muscle and sword. To protect the Main Temple of the Moon Goddess from physical destruction, the Temple Elders used high-tier dimensional magic, an intervention that most likely borrowed the domain of Akasha, the Space Goddess.

They sealed the Temple of the Moon. Erased it permanently from the continental map coordinates.

My eyes traced the closing paragraph on the final page. This was no longer merely a history book, but a clue in the form of an enigma.

["The Sleeping Temple is not bound by the roots of the earth, nor is it touched by the boundaries of the sky. The sanctuary of the Silver Mother cannot be found by footsteps, but through the reflection of truth. When the darkest night blankets the Forest of Discard, and the Mirror Lake reflects a sky without stars, drip the silver blood of those who are cursed into the center of the water’s ripple. The door that does not exist shall open."]

I remained silent for quite a while, letting the meaning of that riddle sink into my analytical logic.

"Mirror Lake... Forest of Discard... Silver blood of those who are cursed..." I muttered, summarizing the keywords from the manuscript.

My brain immediately pulled data from the World Map and my knowledge so far. The Forest of Discard most likely referred to the outskirts of Murkwater Swamp or the dense, untouched forest near the starting region. Mirror Lake was a geographical clue, something with a very still water surface. And ’silver blood of those who are cursed’...

I looked at my own hand. Marble-white skin without pigment. The Curse of the Moon. My Albinism Trait was the key. My blood was the activation medium to open that hidden instance!

This was brilliant. The developers did not hide the Temple of the Moon behind a Level 100 monster or at the edge of an inaccessible continent. They hid it in the form of a Dimensional Instance (Void Space) overlapping with real-world coordinates, exactly like the Yggdrasil World Tree trial space I had entered earlier. Only a player with a specific genetic anomaly and the knowledge to trigger its resonance at the right time and place could open its door.

Ting!

[Quest Log Updated: The Moon’s Embrace (Legendary)]

[Objective 1 Completed: Deciphered the location clue of the Temple of the Moon Goddess!]

[Objective 2: Find the ’Mirror Lake’ at the border of the Forest of Discard, and perform the dimensional opening ritual using blood resonance when the starless night arrives.]

I exhaled in relief, closing the ancient manuscript with an absolute feeling of satisfaction. All my irritation regarding the 15 SP robbed by the system evaporated at once. This was more than just worth it. I had broken through their knowledge paywall, and with the new passive skill bonus in my pocket, my combat rotation had just received an asymptotic upgrade.

I stored the geographical information into my memory, then turned and left the Great Library of StoneBrook. The sky outside the windows was beginning to show streaks of reddish dusk.

My first step was complete. Now it was time to do a little crafting preparation, return to Silvergrass Village to check the progress of the "Waterwheel" base, and prepare an expedition to that mysterious lake.

And if any monsters or traps blocked my path later, I would make sure the barrel of my Smoothbore Musket was fully loaded with black powder. The genius of the Moon Goddess would guide my mind, but the gunpowder and the now-accelerated magic would clear my path.