Extraordinary Traits! Fear Descends!

Extraordinary Trait! Fear Descends!

Time flies like an arrow.

Time slips away.

When a person's life is sufficiently fulfilling, they feel time passing by in a blur. Ian was no exception; he felt he had changed significantly compared to just a few days ago.

[Runic Proficiency (Level 1): 3/100]

As the saying goes, grinding leads to miracles.

When Ian temporarily set aside the improvement and training of other skills to focus solely on mastering Runes, the synergy between his talent and the system panel produced a devastatingly effective result.

Of course.

Being able to raise a skill with such a slow learning curve to the first level so quickly was also related to [Language Proficiency], which had been leveling up alongside his study of Runes.

[Language Proficiency (Level 5): 4/1600]

When this skill, in which Ian had placed high hopes, reached the watershed of level five, its extraordinary trait naturally began to brew.

[Language Proficiency Extraordinary Trait—Tongue of Scripts: You will find it easier to learn scripts and languages you have never encountered before.]

A very simple description.

Yet, the effect of this extraordinary trait was by no means weak.

As an extraordinary trait born from a common skill, while it did not grant Ian the heaven-defying communication ability he had hoped for, it did endow him with a brand-new talent.

His speed in learning Runes increased significantly because of it. At the same time, this extraordinary trait also granted him the unique ability to learn the languages of animals and magical creatures.

In his spare time.

Ian had tried learning the language of the sparrows outside his house. It was truly a sensation that one had to possess to understand; the process of listening and distinguishing soon allowed him to summarize the various tones and subtle syllable changes the sparrows used to express joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. This was definitely a talent Ian had completely lacked before obtaining the extraordinary trait.

"Perhaps if I train it to level ten and awaken a legendary trait, I might really have a chance to gain the ability to communicate with all things." Ian held infinite expectations for the legendary trait he had never encountered.

However.

He also knew.

The top priority was to complete the homework left behind by the witch.

After all.

In two days, he would enter the Limbo again. Heaven knows if the witch would subject him to some medieval-style punishment if she wasn't satisfied with his completed assignment.

"Fortunately, my speed in learning Runes has increased. By the time I return to the Limbo next time, I should be able to complete the interpretation of the magic scripts and the study of the magic."

Ian planned silently in his heart.

[Runic Proficiency] had successfully entered the introductory stage.

It had already given Ian the most basic ability to interpret simple Runes—the reason it was only a simple interpretation was entirely because the magic script structure composed of Runes was completely different from most languages.

It was entirely different from the word-linking of English or the combination and matching of characters in Chinese. After all, it was not only a language but also a medium for communicating magic.

Simply being able to recognize and spell out all the Runes did not mean one could parse the magic carried by those Runes; the reason it was exceptionally difficult to learn likely had a lot to do with this characteristic.

Even with the same Runic characters, spelled in the same order, the different links between each character could very well represent completely different meanings.

If one hadn't thoroughly understood the links between each character and rashly attempted to interpret the magic script and cast magic based on what they thought was correct, the most likely outcome for a wizard would be becoming a permanent resident of the Limbo.

Well.

Or perhaps ending up permanently disabled, missing an arm or a leg.

Regardless.

Ian had no desire to experience such a fate... precisely because of this, he was exceptionally cautious when interpreting the "homework" left by Mara.

This naturally resulted in slow progress.

As of now.

He had only interpreted more than half of the text on the fragment of the dress.

[Fear Descends]

It is said that ancient wizards were most adept at weaving curses with Runes. Based on the magic script information Ian had already interpreted, the magic recorded on the dress fragment was clearly a curse-type spell.

Its principles even involved some methods of mental implantation; the general effect should be the ability to implant an illusion into the target that plunges them into fear?

Perhaps it could implant other illusions as well... What Ian found interesting was that this magic was not obscure; it had once participated in the creation of the well-known magical creature in the wizarding world: the Boggart.

It was a magical creature capable of free transformation, taking the form of what a person feared most.

Through Ian's research at the nameless bookstore in the village, the birth of the Boggart stemmed from biological alchemy, and one of the Runic magic scripts used in it was this [Fear Curse].

This was a very interesting piece of trivia.

It also made Ian realize that with the improvement of the wizarding world's laws, the development involving biological alchemy seemed to have stagnated, much like the situation with biological gene editing research in the Muggle world.

"After all, it involves ethics and morality."

Ian didn't have much interest in biological alchemy; he mainly felt a sense of regret for the disappearance of spells like the [Fear Curse] that had vanished along with the decline of biological alchemy.

Of course.

With Mara, a witch from ancient times, as his mentor, Ian might be able to bring many lost spells back into existence. It was just a question of whether such "archaeological excavations" would earn him any incentive bonuses.

Hmm.

Fame was secondary.

Money was what Ian needed most.

"I wonder if the little money I have left is enough to buy potion books for Mara." Ian was naturally worried about money; he hadn't forgotten what Mara had mentioned earlier.

Whether for his own sake or something else, Ian certainly had to be diligent about buying those books.

However.

In the wizarding world.

Knowledge was exceptionally expensive.

While there were indeed some Galleons left behind by Snape, they were definitely not enough to purchase all the books related to potions. Perhaps buying some second-hand textbooks for the time being could be considered a compromise?

"The books may be second-hand, but the knowledge remains the same."

Thinking of this.

Ian tucked his money pouch away.

Clutching the three runic books that were no longer of any use to him, he hurried along the cobblestone street, heading once again toward the Nameless Bookstore located behind Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop.

The shabby storefront looked the same as always.

Inside the shop, shielded from the sun by a blind, there was still not a single customer to be seen. Ian stepped inside and looked around, but he could not find the old bookstore owner anywhere.

"What are you looking for?"

Suddenly.

A young, curious voice rang out abruptly.

It gave Ian a start.

He hurriedly looked toward the sound.

There.

Behind the counter used for registration and payments.

A girl with delicate, three-dimensional features was sitting there with a book on her lap. Beneath her platinum-blonde hair, a pair of eyes with distinct, different colors were fixed on Ian.

"I've seen you before."

This was not Ian's voice.

It was the girl who had spoken first, her tone filled with surprise.

The sunblind hung half-low.

Specks of sunlight scattered across the tips of the girl's hair, making that already dazzling platinum-blonde shine even more brilliantly. And even more eye-catching than those golden tresses were the girl's eyes.

One side was blue, the other was white.

Unique heterochromatic eyes that, once seen, seemed impossible to forget. At this moment, the white side seemed to be rotating slowly, though it was hard to tell if that was just an optical illusion caused by the refraction of the sunlight.