Life Alchemy

After leaving the elves, it wasn't as if Chalanona had never considered gathering that forbidden knowledge. Unfortunately, while such knowledge was not as harshly prohibited as it was among the elves, it was still explicitly banned, making it extremely difficult to collect. That was also why Chalanona had joined the Masked Mage Guild. Any spellcaster organization would possess such knowledge, no matter how righteous it appeared on the surface. Mages had restless hearts; they were simply unwilling to remain ordinary.

Even with the guild's help, however, forbidden knowledge buried in ancient ages was exceptionally difficult to find. Over the years, Chalanona had made some gains, but they could not possibly compare to the Book of Sagard.

"How do you have this?" Chalanona's gaze was firmly fixed on the black-covered book, but the legendary mage's powerful will still allowed her to spare a sliver of attention to respond to Osvid.

The Book of Sagard had been almost entirely destroyed by the elven gods when they rose to power. At least, Chalanona had not heard a single piece of news about this book in all these years. Yet today, Osvid had actually produced such a thing.

Osvid paid no attention to Chalanona's expression. He was also a mage, so naturally he understood a mage's pursuit of knowledge. In fact, in the eyes of most mages, knowledge was simply knowledge. It was never evil or good; only people could be evil. In any case, all knowledge was worth pursuing. Thus, Osvid understood Chalanona's feelings particularly well.

"There's nothing I can't tell you. I picked this book up at the black market in the Bridge District." Osvid shrugged, his face full of helplessness.

"The black market? Picked... it up?" Chalanona, who had been staring at the book all along, raised her head in shock