บท 14: Exploration (2)
Sigil was currently crouching near a red-coloured plant. The stem of the plant was only a size of an index finger while it had two dark-red leaves with black-coloured marks on its surface
He took out a pair of latex gloves from the outer compartment of his bag and took out a small knife to cut off the leaves of the plant without damaging the stalk attached to the leaf.
He needed the full plant except for the two leaves. This was the only method known to humanity to harvest the Crimson Desire, an extremely rare herb.
Sigil did not throw the leaves of the plant and shoved them inside a small test-tube. Within a few seconds, the black spots on the leaves started secreting a black liquid as the leaves started to melt, filling the glass test-tube. It was venom!
Sigil then proceeded to keep the stalk of the remaining plant in his pouch and continued his journey. Before he left, he made sure that he opened another can of food and placed it near the vicinity.
Rustle
After a few minutes of Sigil walking away, a green-eyed black panther with a luscious coat of black fur emerged and sniffed the area before making its way towards the canned food.
***
"It's like that person had already been here." Sigil's thoughts were unknown as he gazed at a large black fruit hanging from a tree branch. The whole tree looked abnormally sturdy with small spikes on its surface.
The spikes were laced with a bluish liquid that Sigil definitely wanted to avoid. He put on his pair of trusty latex gloves and started the process of harvesting the fruit.
The tennis ball sized fruit was another rare medicine named Berry of Truth. If this berry is consumed, it will work as a drug that dulls your mind and sends the user into a hypnosis-like state where one would not be able to lie even if they wanted to.
The process was relatively simple. His shoes were military graded and the spikes on the trees could not pierce his shoes. He simply jumped on the branch and plucked away the fruit.
He once again left the area after placing another can of food.
3 hours had already passed since Sigil separated from the group. On his journey, he did clash with some animals, but they were not familiars. The beasts did not possess intelligence and did not have any outstanding features compared to the Black Panther following Sigil.
He simply beheaded the annoying ones while avoided the relatively cowardly beasts. He wouldn't get any benefits from killing them. Their body did not have any rare material, so why should he waste his efforts?
Out of the allotted time of 48 hours, he still had 43 hours left. After that, the talisman on his body will activate automatically and transport him back.
After walking for 8 more minutes, he finally found the last herb he was looking for.
It was a couple of light blue leaves stick to the ground. He smiled lightly and scouted for surroundings before making his way over.
He didn't even wear his trusty gloves and immediately grabbed the leaves and pulled hard. In his hand was an underground mushroom with blue leaves attached.
His eyes widened as he barely tilted his head on time. A blue blur passed by Sigil's face, scratching his cheek.
Sigil immediately stored the Devil Mushroom inside his pouch and took out a butterfly knife as he rolled away.
It was a Crab!
An extremely small one at that, with a pair of wings.
The abomination in front of Sigil wasn't a familiar, but a monster from the Rakshasa Lineage.
Blue Winged Snapper.
The crab's body was blue and small spots of red could be seen on the hard exterior body. It kept on weaving horizontally as it snapped the two claws viciously.
Sigil's gaze narrowed as he wiped off the blood streaming from the wound on his face. His healing factor was greater than regular humans and such scratches would heal up in no time.
Even though he almost died, Sigil felt thankful. This sneak attack was a warning for him that an enemy can hit you from any angle.
He took a deep breath and started flicking his butterfly knife. The sounds of the knife attracted the crab's attention.
Bang
A silver bullet landed precisely on the exterior body of the crab, piercing it.
"Just a stage 1 Rakshasa."
Sigil commented lightly. He left the area without placing another canned food as he already left an extremely nutritious meal for his Feline stalker.
After collecting the three rare herbs, he made his way near a waterfall. The place was a few minutes away. The waterfall wasn't large, almost 5 metres tall but the water wasn't the regular drinking water. It was light green in colour and exuded a pungent smell, repelling most of the animals and monsters.
Sigil covered his nose with one hand and took out his cell phone from other. Usually, wireless connection to the outside world would not be possible due to two reasons.
The first being the difference in time flow and the second being the dimensional barrier of the Grimoire World.
But right now, Sigil had already bypassed both of the conditions. He was standing at the spot with the weakest point of the dimensional barrier and the time flow was equal to the world outside.
Step
Step
Sigil suddenly heard the sounds of steps and frowned. He looked around before placing his bag near a dark shade and covering it with the nearby leaves and mud. If he was lucky, then this would be enough. He then gritted his teeth and jumped inside the pool of pungent water.
He didn't jump and made his way inside extremely slowly, making the least possible noise. This only made the whole process for Sigil even harder.
He took a deep breath before he heard the steps getting closer. As he felt the new party getting near slowly, he made up his mind and dived inside the water.
Rustle
"Damn, fatty! Did you fart again?!"
A female's voice sounded. Her voice was full of aggression.
"No, I did not. And I didn't fart back then too. I know it was you, but you put the blame on me because Ivan was with us."
A gruff voice retorted.
"Shut up!!"
The previous voice sounded again, but it was shriller compared to before.
"Don't shout at me! If you don't want to fart accidentally, keep low on soda and fries!"
The man did not back down.
"Enough, we should be searching for materials. We also have to find enough so that the 30 percent cut for the family doesn't affect our Cultivation."
A helpless voice sounded.
"You! Stay out of it."
Both of them shouted at their third partner.
"By the way, none of you farted. It is the water." The third voice sounded again.
This caused the bickering of the two to stop.
"Is that?"
"Yup, it's Devil's Piss. A good refinement material. Alright, I will take a bottle for myself."
The three of them quickly filled a bottle for their own use and went away.
"It's a real disappointment, though. Ivan would have gotten a good loot here."
The three chatted away.
Sigil couldn't see them but he could hear them. They were from RedHawk family.
Before he started to move, his attention was caught by a strange situation. He tried to focus and felt speechless.
He did not see wrong.
There was a statue of a muscular man, buck naked, holding his 'erect sword' with a look of pride. The strange thing was that the 'erect sword' was actually a sword!
The sword had a grey handle and an extremely sharp edge.
'What the hell!'
First, he had to take a dip in a refinement material named Devil's Piss and now a statue of a perverted man holding an actual sword instead of his penis.
What happened to this world?!
But Sigil still made his way deeper into the pool, until he reached near the sword.
He was curious as well as repulsed.
'Calm down, there is nobody here.'
(Except Author and readers, but he doesn't know this.)
With a nervous expression, he touched the edge of the blade and.... Bam
The sword suddenly fell.
As if he had activated a trap, the whole base of the pool started to shake and the statue fell towards its front. In the place where the statue stood was a line of words written on a metallic patch placed on the base.
"If you want to inherit me, let go of all shame. The next clue is hidden where the thing after the first thing comes out."
It was a clue! As if he was in a university cultural festival!
He wasn't an idiot!
This was an inheritance ground!
He actually stumbled upon the most prized possession of the Grimoire World by following the directions of the anonymous sender.
But this wasn't all, he was also shameless. Extremely so!
He did not need the clue's advice to let go of his shame.
He immediately understood the meaning of the clue. It wasn't a brainer at all!
It might have been a tough question during the previous era, but now?
After learning the value of this place, he let go of all the morals and stuck his finger inside the extremely vivid back hole with his middle finger. It wasn't long as a button was placed inside the backdoor of the man.
Click.
Even though Sigil couldn't hear the click underwater, he could surely feel his fingers pressing a button.
This sensation made him feel even more speechless. He didn't know who the Grimoire Master of this World was, but he knew one thing— an ordinary mind cannot comprehend the 'brilliance' of this master.
After the clicking sensation, he suddenly felt his vision changing once again.
He wasn't in the pool anymore!
He was standing in an old bedroom with almost no furnishing. The walls were decorated with handmade paintings instead.
There were all kinds of painting, but they had one similarity- They were all men.
Seeing the naked ones made Sigil feel extremely uneasy. He wasn't the kind of person to judge someone else based on their sexual preference, but this was too much for him.
"So, this is the inheritance ground?"
A Grimoire World is divided into three main areas- Outer, Inner, Core. But there is one place that is the most prized possession of every Grimoire Master and could be placed anywhere– the Inheritance Ground.
"Well, if it was someone else, they wouldn't have dared to put a finger in male statue's asshole, except some creeps….wait….. does that make me a creep?"
Sigil muttered to himself.
***
Ricardo was staying in a cheap motel. He did not have funds to book a room in a nice hotel.
Right now, he was sitting peacefully with a brown rat caged in a box.
This was the familiar causing havoc amongst the citizens. He had already sent the confirmation of completion of the mission and was now waiting for the witch's organisation to send a worker to pick up the familiar.
Every familiar is worth its price and shouldn't be killed if not necessary.
Ricardo understood this point deeply.
Right now, he was waiting for Sigil's call. He could have entered the Grimoire world himself, but it would have been of no use. According to his memories, the inheritance ground required a certain talent to gain the Grimoire World.
He understood that his body did not have the requisite talent. He only hoped that Sigil would. If everything went according to the plan, he would be able to get that mystical familiar and also establish Sigil as his front for many tasks like this one.
All Sigil had to do is collect the required materials, call him and chant the spell of the oath that he would give him. This way, a partnership could be established.
"In my previous life, nobody would have thought that the Grimoire World belonged to Grimoire Master Inverse Witch. Only after a freaky girl pushed that button did everyone understood the true value of the Grimoire World."
Ricardo waited patiently.
Meanwhile, Sigil had already started searching for clues in the room.
Except for a futon, a couple of pillows and some used clothes, he did not find anything.
"Maybe it's the paintings."
He frowned and thought of his previous experience.
The Devil's Piss, The Erect Sword Holding Muscle Man, Pushing of the Devil Button.
It had to be the paintings!
Sigil was on a clock here and he could not get out of this trapped room. After all, there were no windows or doors.
He started trailing the numerous paintings drawn on the wall. As he observed the paintings, he looked towards the odd one out.
"Really now? This is too easy. How can someone so stupid be a Grimoire Master."
Sigil looked towards the painting that looked the most feminine. Even though it had some manly features, it was still fully clothed amongst the paintings of perverted muscle men.
He shook his head and touched the feminine painting. The moment he touched the painting, he felt his vision change once again.
***
"The Grimoire Master Inverse Witch was a genius amongst genius and created spells to target a witch's most feared imagination. After the statue was found in the Grimoire World, it showed different things to different people. Some claimed that they saw their old mothers in skimpy clothes while some spoke that they saw their loved ones in horrific positions. The common thing was that all the images were sexually suggestive."
Ricardo recalled the past memories, his gaze incomparably deep. In his previous life, the inheritance ground was found 7 years later after the Grimoire emerged and infected the surrounding place and the strangest thing was, nobody knew the true appearance of the statue besides the new inheritor of the Grimoire World.
"The second trial is almost the same. But this time, they show you paintings of your most feared imagination and only one painting of the imagination that could trump your fear. Normally, such a trap would lead to nowhere, but Inverse Master was a genius Space Element and Illusion Type Spellcaster. Such a combination made him one of the strongest out there."
"These both tests are nothing for me. After all, Inverse's most famous quote was to let go of your shame and embrace every part of your imagination. It is the last test that is the most difficult. The test of talent and potential. After all, who would want to give away their lifetime worth's hard work to someone talentless and with no future."
Ricardo sighed as he slumped on his chair. He was still restricted by his body's talents. Even though he knew that he could achieve everything with a steady flow of resources, he still felt regret that he couldn't attain that familiar himself.
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