Book of Truth (II)

Carrying the gravitational acceleration from a fall of several thousand meters and the weight of a heavy metal book a foot square, it pierced the Magic Wolf's skull in an instant. As the corner of the Book of Truth touched the Magic Core—the source of magic located within the beast's brain—the artifact's body flared with light, instantly draining all the energy from this fourth-tier Magic Core, which was worth a fortune in human society, before it dissipated into specks of light.

Having been silent for who knows how many years, the Book of Truth received its first replenishment of energy after arriving in the material world of this unknown universe, instantly restoring a portion of its artifact functions.

It scanned the vicinity and detected a humanoid, highly intelligent biological entity in a state of extreme life-threatening danger. It appeared to be a human of this world, belonging to the adolescent stage with the highest plasticity, so it immediately extracted the creature's soul imprint, fused it with the soul of the contractor—the nominal master of the artifact—and cast it into the human's mind.

Afterward, it expended the majority of the remaining power from the fourth-tier Magic Beast Crystal Core to repair all the injuries on the target's body, and then the Artifact Spirit, along with the main body, retreated into the host's soul space and fell back into silence.

Half an hour later, as his soul and body fully merged and he awoke from the darkness, Donald knew he was no longer in his original world.

After a period of panic, Donald, having integrated the memories of the body's previous owner, understood his environment and the dangerous situation he was in. Driven by the pressure of survival, he quickly calmed down, cautiously walked toward the town for half a day, and finally returned to his home in a disheveled state.

His current identity was that of a seventeen-year-old noble youth, though not the kind of pampered, overbearing playboy who could throw money around.

As a fallen noble family, the House Merlinar was now left with only Donald, the sole heir.

Although the House Merlinar held the noble status of Hereditary Knight, it was merely an honorary title. The family's fief had been lost several generations ago, and the remaining assets and manor had been sold off one after another. If not for the two mills and one workshop supporting them, they could never have maintained a noble lifestyle. It wasn't until shortly after Donald was born that his father fell into a villain's trap, losing the last of their reliance. Unable to bear the mockery of lesser nobles and wealthy merchants who once looked up to them, his father succumbed to a sudden illness brought on by suppressed rage and passed away.

The destitute life led to the death of Donald's frail mother a few years ago. Now, all Donald possessed was an old house in the commoner district and an elderly servant who was just as lonely and impoverished but had loyally raised him.

Before reaching adulthood at eighteen, a noble heir like him could not obtain the status of a formal knight. If he were from a wealthy noble family with fiefs and manors, it wouldn't matter; without a formal title, he could simply settle for being a local squire. However, in Donald's destitute situation—with no land below him and no background above him—if he could not obtain the status of a knight, he would likely be stripped of his noble status and unable to inherit the knightly glory his family had passed down for nearly three hundred years.

Once that noble status was lost, it would be almost impossible to regain. Without it, opportunities like joining the army or securing a position under another noble would vanish; his future could truly be described as pitch black!

Yet, the original owner of this body was an orphan whose parents had died early. Due to a lack of tuition, he had never entered the Kingdom Knight Academy, let alone had the chance to be sent to serve as a Knight Attendant under some noble to receive formal training.

Thus, the probability of passing the formal knight examination was almost zero.

Thinking of this, Donald couldn't help but feel sorrow for the original owner of this body.

They have lived like commoners for generations, yet they still cling to their status as "superiors." The family can't even afford a meal, and they've fallen to this point, yet they still insist on maintaining the basic facade of nobility in front of outsiders. Instead of continuing like this, it would be better to swallow their pride and honestly earn a living just like the commoners.

At least that way, they could live more comfortably without having to put on airs.

But perhaps the memories and personality of the original owner were still at work within Donald. Subconsciously, Donald still held firmly to the glory of the nobility, so he hadn't let Code, the only servant and steward who had watched him grow up, notice anything unusual over the past few days.

However, such a life will be gone forever with my arrival!

At that moment, Donald felt a surge of excitement in his heart, because along with the arrival of the new Donald came a treasure that could be called a miracle.

That was the culprit behind his transmigration, the magical Book of Truth that resided within his body and could change his destiny.

He discovered the magical function of this Book of Truth on the third day after his arrival. Once his physical condition had stabilized, Donald got up at night and, while old Code was fast asleep, went to the study alone to search through some books, hoping to learn more about this world.

After all, although he had absorbed the memories of the body's original owner, they were quite chaotic and he couldn't sort them out for a time. Besides, how much could a seventeen-year-old who hadn't received a proper noble education know about this world? So, Donald, with his past-life mindset, decided to take things as they came and prepare himself mentally to pave the way for his future life.

When he turned on the light in the old study, he inadvertently triggered the only valuable magic item in the house: the elemental crystal installed in the Magic Crystal Lamp.

Although this was merely a tenth of a cubic unit of the lowest-grade blank crystal—a defective item containing only faint residual energy after the energy of the elemental crystal had been exhausted.

In this world, such blank crystals were generally used for lighting or minor tricks that required little magic, and only commoners or the most destitute magic apprentices would use them.

However, even this lowest-grade blank crystal was enough to trigger a reaction from the Book of Truth, which was extremely energy-deprived after repairing the host's body.

After absorbing that faint energy from the blank crystal and converting it into a sliver of divine power, the Artifact Spirit of the Book of Truth opened the current functions of the artifact to Donald.

Looking at the pale golden metal book projection before him, he could see dense rows of summoning icons upon opening it. Donald was both shocked and delighted to discover that the familiar images were none other than the various characters, units, and building structures from the large-scale magic strategy game he had been most obsessed with in his past life: Warcraft.

At the same time, the Book of Truth responded to him. Having accepted the intent of the Artifact Spirit, Donald quickly understood the purpose of these patterns.

"It can actually summon various creatures, items, and buildings set in Warcraft, manifesting them into the real world as tangible existences, at the cost of energy and soul fragments converted into divine power and soul imprints."

"Can it really summon everything from the game?"

Accompanying this surprised question, Donald couldn't help but think: if he could summon the bases, units, and powerful heroes of the various races, and all these existences were under his control, obeying his commands, wouldn't he be able to easily dominate this world?

However, upon seeing the cost required to summon high-level units and powerful beings, Donald felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head, and he sobered up completely.

"As expected, don't expect rewards without effort. The idea of a pie falling from the sky is not to be entertained!"

The summoning content within the Book of Truth was divided into four categories: common summoned creatures, permanent summoned creatures, character skill exchanges, and summoning of building units and items.

Common summoned creatures only required the consumption of basic energy and a small amount of soul power, using the summoner's mental strength as a medium. The items Donald first thought of that met these two conditions were Magic Beast Crystal Cores.

The Book of Truth also provided an explanation: the residual soul imprints in the Magic Beast Crystal Cores could grant the summoned creatures intelligence, but once the energy within the core that sustained the summoned creature's existence was exhausted, the summoned creature would completely dissipate. Therefore, they could only be used as materials for common summons.

One could also continuously supply energy to maintain the existence of a summoned creature, but the massive consumption would be difficult for even a wealthy merchant guild to sustain for long, so it was better to save it for critical moments.

Even for the most useless small animals and the most basic peasant laborers of various races, one needed to pay at least one first-tier Magic Beast Crystal Core to summon them, and there was a time limit. After all, the residual soul imprints were incomplete, and the energy of the crystal cores was very limited; once exhausted, the summoned creatures would vanish into thin air.

There were also permanently existing summoned units, but although there was no limit on the number, creating a permanently existing creature required extremely precious soul power to successfully summon. As for the source of soul power, magic cores produced from low-intelligence creatures could not replace it. Donald had no clue about this for the time being, so it might be impossible to achieve for a long time. To touch upon the level of the soul, one would need to be at least a mid-tier special Professional in this world to have a possibility.

Other inanimate buildings and items could be summoned using elemental crystals and all similar energy crystals. Because summoning items was a conversion of energy and matter, they could exist without time limits, though the cost was still not small.

What Donald valued most was the last category: character skill exchange. As the contractor's own strength increased, according to the strength levels of this world, every time a level of authority was reached, one could exchange for the skill seed of any character in the summoning list—whether it be heroes, units, or other wild creatures—using energy crystals that matched the current level.

Of course, most divine arts and summoning-type skills were excluded, because divine power came from gods, and the gods from Warcraft history in the Book of Truth were virtual. Before they were summoned, they could not replace real gods to grant divine arts to mortals, and the summoned creatures were also virtual existences. Without sufficient soul power and life force, one would have to pay a huge price to create life out of thin air.

Everything in the world, whether matter or energy, must follow certain laws of mutual conversion. Without the backing of something like the Book of Truth, which was akin to a Creator, it was impossible to create life out of thin air unless one comprehended the laws of creation. Even for an artifact like the Book of Truth, creating life required a great price.

This was the setting formed by the Book of Truth as it collected the rules and data of this world.

Mages needed Magic Beast Crystal Cores and elemental crystals to absorb the energy within them for their own use. Whether casting spells, crafting equipment, or setting up magic arrays, these were indispensable. Both were basically non-renewable resources and were important strategic reserves; countries on the continent strictly regulated their transport and sale. Therefore, the prices had always remained high.

A standard "fang" was the common unit of volume in this world, only about the size of an inch square. Even for such a small, lowest-grade blank crystal, one needed at least three Silver Moons to buy it. This was already equivalent to two months' income for a commoner family.

A "fang" of low-grade elemental crystals, which were higher grade than blank crystals, cost at least five Gold Sols.

As for Magic Beast Crystal Cores, low-tier cores were generally cheap, and one could buy several of the lowest variety for a single Gold Sol. However, if calculated by actual volume, low-level Magic Beast Crystal Cores of the same volume were slightly cheaper than low-grade elemental crystals.

The reason Low-grade Elemental Crystals are more popular than Low-level Magic Beast Crystal Cores is that the residual soul fragments of magic beasts within the cores act as impurities for mages; due to the influence of this soul power, they are less effective than Elemental Crystals formed from pure elemental energy.

Mid-to-high-level Magic Beast Crystal Cores are the exact opposite; the higher the strength the magic beast attained during its lifetime, the more powerful the soul energy left behind in its core after death. When used as the core for spellcasting equipment, such crystal cores imbue the gear with greater spiritual resonance, allowing it to unleash more power, which is why mid-to-high-level Magic Beast Crystal Cores are actually more valuable than pure Elemental Crystals.

One Gold Sol is equal to ten Silver Moons, and one Silver Moon can be exchanged for one hundred of the lowest-grade Copper Horns; these three are the most common currencies in this world, which, according to Donald's understanding from his past life, are simply gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins.

For House Merlinar, which lacks a source of income and relies solely on the old servant Code to sustain their livelihood from the half-acre of land in the backyard, they cannot even produce three Silver Moons right now, unless they sell the last of the family's valuable possessions.

In other words, he cannot even afford the lowest-level Magic Beast Crystal Core, and the blank crystals he can afford contain too little energy to be of any use. This has left Donald unable to verify whether the miraculous abilities of the Book of Truth are real, which is why he has conceived the idea of heading to the Green Cloak Forest, not far outside the town, to hunt magic beasts once again.