The Book of Truth (2)

Carrying the force of gravity from a fall of thousands of meters, along with the weight of a thick metal book a foot square, it punched straight through the Magic Wolf's skull. One corner of the Book of Truth touched the Magic Core in the wolf's brain—the source of its magical power—and the book's body flashed with light. In an instant, it drained every last bit of energy from this fourth-tier Magic Beast Core, worth a fortune in human society, and the core vanished in a burst of light.

After lying dormant for who knew how many years, the Book of Truth had returned to the material world of an unknown universe. For the first time, it had replenished its energy, and part of its divine artifact functions immediately came back online.

It detected a highly intelligent humanoid life-form nearby whose life was in grave danger. The being was presumably human, and in the most malleable stage of youth. So the book immediately extracted the creature's soul imprint, fused it with that of its contractor—the nominal owner of the divine artifact, the Book of Truth—and placed it inside the human's mind.

It then expended most of the remaining power from the fourth-tier Magic Beast Core to heal all of its target's injuries. Afterward, the Artifact Spirit followed the book into its host's soul space and fell dormant once more.

Half an hour later, after his soul and body had completely fused, Donald awoke from the darkness and realized he was no longer in his old world.

After a brief panic, Donald absorbed the former owner's memories and learned about his surroundings and the dangers he faced. The pressure to survive soon steadied him. He cautiously made his way toward town, walking for half a day before finally returning home in a sorry state.

His current identity was that of a seventeen-year-old noble boy, but not the sort of spoiled aristocrat who could squander money and throw his weight around.

House Merlinar had fallen on hard times. Donald was now its sole remaining heir.

Though House Merlinar held the hereditary title of knight, it was little more than an honorary title. The family had lost its fief generations ago, and most of its remaining property and manors had gradually been sold off. If not for the two mills and a small workshop still supporting them, they would have been unable to maintain a noble lifestyle. Shortly after Donald's birth, his father fell into a trap laid by a schemer, and the family lost its last remaining asset. Stripped of his wealth and standing, Donald's father couldn't bear the mockery of minor nobles and wealthy merchants whose status had once been beneath his family's. In a fit of rage, he fell gravely ill and died.

Their destitute life had also taken its toll on Donald's frail mother, who died a few years ago. Now, all Donald had was an old house in the commoners' district and an old servant who, though just as poor and alone, had loyally raised him.

Noble heirs like him couldn't become full-fledged knights until they turned eighteen. That was no great concern for wealthy noble families with estates and manors to support them. Without an official knight's title, they could simply settle into life as local gentry. But Donald had nothing: no land below him and no connections above him. If he failed to earn his knighthood, he would likely lose his noble status and be unable to inherit the knightly honor his family had upheld for nearly three hundred years.

Once he lost his noble status, there would be almost no chance of regaining it. Without that title, he would have no opportunities to enlist in the army or find a position under another noble. His future would be utterly bleak!

But the original Donald had been orphaned young and, lacking the money for tuition, had never attended the Kingdom Knight Academy. He had never even had the chance to serve as a Knight Attendant under a noble and receive proper aristocratic training.

As a result, his chances of passing the formal knight's examination were next to none.

Thinking of this, Donald couldn't help feeling sorry for the original owner of his body.

"He's lived like a commoner for generations, yet still clings to his noble status as if he were one of the upper class. The family can barely put food on the table, but he still has to keep up appearances in front of outsiders. He'd be better off swallowing his pride and finding honest work like any commoner."

"At least then he could live a little more comfortably instead of putting on a show of wealth he doesn't have."

But perhaps the original owner's memories and personality were still influencing Donald. Deep down, he remained stubbornly attached to the honor of being a noble. So, over the past few days, he had given no sign of anything unusual to Code, the only servant he had, who had raised him and served as his butler.

"But all that will change now that I'm here!"

At the time, Donald had secretly cheered himself on. The new Donald had brought with him a miraculous treasure.

That treasure was the very cause of his transmigration: a wondrous Book of Truth inside his body, one capable of changing his fate.

He discovered the book's miraculous abilities on the third day after his arrival. Once his body had stabilized somewhat, Donald got up at night, waited for old Code to fall asleep, and went alone to the study to look through some books. He wanted to learn more about this world.

After all, though he had absorbed the original owner's memories, they were jumbled and would take time to sort out. Besides, how much could a seventeen-year-old boy who had never received a noble education know about the world? Drawing on his past-life experience, Donald decided to make the best of his new circumstances. He wanted to prepare himself mentally and lay the groundwork for the life ahead.

When he switched on the light in the old study, he accidentally activated the Elemental Crystal inside the household's only valuable magical device: the Magic Crystal Lamp.

The crystal inside was only a tenth of a cubic foot of the lowest-grade blank crystal—in other words, a defective Elemental Crystal that had been drained of its energy but still retained a faint trace of power.

In this world, blank crystals were generally used for lighting and simple Cantrips that required little magical power. Only commoners and the most impoverished magic apprentices used them.

Even so, that lowest-grade blank crystal was enough to provoke a response from the Book of Truth, whose energy had become desperately low after it repaired its host's body.

After drawing out the faint energy in the blank crystal and converting it into a weak divine power, the Artifact Spirit opened the book's current functions to Donald.

He saw the faint golden phantom of a metal book. When he opened it, he found page after page packed with summoning icons. To his amazement and delight, the familiar images depicted the characters, units, buildings, and other things from Warcraft, the grand fantasy strategy game he had loved most in his previous life.

The Book of Truth also responded to him. By receiving the Artifact Spirit's thoughts, Donald quickly understood what the icons did.

"It can use energy and Soul Fragments as the price, convert them into divine power and soul imprints, and summon the creatures, items, and buildings from Warcraft into the real world, where they'll become real!"

"Can it really summon everything from the game?"

With that excited question, Donald couldn't help imagining what it would be like to summon the bases, units, and powerful heroes of every race. If all of them were under his control and followed his commands, wouldn't he be able to rule the world with ease?

But when he saw the price of summoning advanced units and powerful beings, it felt as if someone had doused him with a bucket of cold water. He came back to his senses completely.

"Sure enough, nothing comes without a price. I can't expect to get something for nothing!"

The Book of Truth's summoning options fell into four categories: ordinary summons, permanent summons, character-skill exchanges, and the summoning of buildings and items.

Ordinary summons required only a little basic energy, a small amount of soul power, and the summoner's mental strength as a medium. The first thing Donald thought of that could provide those requirements was a Magic Beast Core.

The Book of Truth explained that the residual soul imprint in a Magic Beast Core could give a summoned creature intelligence. However, once the energy that sustained the creature ran out, it would vanish completely. So Magic Beast Cores could only be used for ordinary summons.

It was also possible to keep a summoned creature around by continually supplying it with energy. But the vast expense would be difficult to sustain for long even for a wealthy merchant. It was better to save that option for a critical moment.

Even the most useless little animals and the lowest-level peasants or laborers of any race required at least one first-tier Magic Beast Core to summon. They also had a limited lifespan, since their residual soul imprints were incomplete and the energy in the cores was limited. Once that energy ran out, the summoned creatures would vanish into thin air.

Some summoned units could exist permanently. There was no limit to how many could be summoned, but creating permanent creatures required an extremely precious source of soul power. As for where that soul power came from, the Magic Cores of low-intelligence creatures couldn't substitute for it. Donald had no idea where to find it, so he might not be able to summon permanent creatures for a long time. In this world, only special Professional-types of at least the intermediate tier could even interact with the soul.

Lifeless buildings and items, on the other hand, could be summoned using Elemental Crystals or any similar energy crystals. Since summoned items were transformations of energy and matter, they could exist without a time limit, though the cost was still considerable.

What Donald valued most was the final option: exchanging energy for character skills. As the contractor's own strength increased, he could reach new authority levels based on this world's system of ranks. At each level, he could use energy crystals suited to his current rank to obtain the seed of any skill belonging to a character on the summoning list, whether a hero or unit of any race, or some other wild creature.

Most divine spells and summoning-type skills were excluded, of course. Divine power came from gods, and the gods from Warcraft's history recorded in the Book of Truth were only fictional. Until summoned, they couldn't grant mortals divine spells in place of real gods. Summoned creatures were also fictional. Without enough soul power and life force, creating life from nothing came at an enormous cost.

Everything in the world, whether matter or energy, had to follow certain laws to transform into something else. Without an entity like the Book of Truth—one that came close to a creator—nothing could create life from nothing unless it had comprehended the laws of creation. Even an artifact like the Book of Truth paid an enormous price to create life.

These were the rules the Book of Truth had compiled from the laws and information of this world.

Mages needed Magic Beast Cores and Elemental Crystals to draw on their energy. They were indispensable for casting spells, crafting equipment, and setting up magic arrays. Both were essentially nonrenewable resources and important strategic reserves, so the nations of the continent strictly regulated their transportation and sale. Their prices had always been high.

A standard cubic foot was the common unit of volume in this world, but it was only about the size of a one-inch cube. Even the lowest-grade blank crystal of that size cost at least three Silver Moons—equivalent to two months of income for a commoner's family.

A cubic foot of Low-grade Elemental Crystal, which was more valuable than blank crystal, cost at least five Gold Sol.

As for Magic Beast Cores, low-tier ones were generally cheap. A few of the lowest-grade varieties could be bought for one Gold Sol. By actual volume, though, a low-grade Magic Beast Core cost less than the same amount of Low-grade Elemental Crystal.

The reason Low-grade Elemental Crystals were more popular than low-grade Magic Beast Cores was that the fragments of magical beasts' souls left inside the cores were impurities to mages. Their influence made the cores less effective than Elemental Crystals, which were formed from pure elemental energy.

With mid- and high-tier Magic Beast Cores, however, the opposite was true. The stronger a magical beast had been in life, the stronger the soul power left in its core after death. As the core of a magical item, such a crystal would imbue the item with greater sentience and allow it to unleash more power. That was why mid- and high-tier Magic Beast Cores were worth more than pure Elemental Crystals.

One Gold Sol was worth ten Silver Moons, and one Silver Moon could be exchanged for a hundred Copper Horns. These were the most commonly used currencies in the world. Based on Donald's understanding from his previous life, they were the equivalent of gold, silver, and copper coins.

House Merlinar had no source of income beyond the half-acre vegetable patch that old Code tended in the backyard. At this point, it couldn't even scrape together three Silver Moons, unless it sold the last of its valuables.

In other words, he couldn't even afford the cheapest Magic Beast Core, while the blank crystals he could afford had too little energy to be useful. That had kept Donald from testing whether the Book of Truth's miraculous abilities were real. It was why he had decided to go hunting for magical beasts again in Green Cloak Forest, not far outside town.