Book 1, Chapter 15

"Many have died in encounters with ancestral spirits? They must be really powerful, huh?" Immanuel hissed to no one in particular as he kept his gaze on the passage that shook him. "But how do such encounters happen? Why have I never heard of such encounters with ancestors until now?"

Then, peering into the neckline of his garb, into his chest, he questioned himself. "More importantly, why did I not encounter the ancestral spirit of this sigil when I got it?"

He took a glance at the passage again. He still felt dread even if he had read it multiple times. He recalled the many things that had happened in the past months, beginning from the night of Maddox's betrayal, and took mental note of the only entity he had encountered that was close to being an ancestral spirit—the crow with shining silver eyes.

That bird could not possibly have been an ancestral spirit, but one of the cohort of the Golden-Eyed Crow, Mistrerion—the Creator God of Order. I've long wondered why it appeared to me and helped me, but that's a question to deal with another time, and something I don't want the clerics to know.

His focus shifted back to the tome, and that was when he realized that he had been holding it with unsteady hands, as the letters shook. He rose and moved towards the desks, carrying the massive book with him. Then he took a step up on one of the shorter desks in the center of the library and, once he was seated, tried to open the book to the page with the passage that terrified him, fingering the page where he thought it was before opening it.

But he found another passage instead, one that excited rather than terrified him.

Flipping a few pages backwards, and then forwards revealed that this passage came a few pages after the one he dreaded reading.

The effects of two or more sigils may be combined for devastating effect at the cost of the mana required to keep both sigils functioning per heartbeat.

Sigil effects may be applied to objects at the cost of additional mana per heartbeat. It is up to the user how to make this happen.

His mind raced as he imagined multiple possibilities even with just the one sigil he had. He had never been known to ask for more, but, as he imagined himself coming face to face with the Grand Baron, the man who took his wife, he thought that even one more sigil should make the confrontation more even.

If it came down to that, of course. I hope not.

The possibilities gave Immanuel hope, and, armed with the knowledge that sigils are powered by mana, he flipped across pages, intent on just searching for a way to boost the mana his entire being could accommodate, never allowing himself to be distracted by passages terrifying to him. The few times he stopped on a page, he found no such passage.

He flipped through pages again when, at the front edge of his vision, something white passed—Hierophant Arthur Hawking.

"I was right," Hierophant Hawking began, smiling at him. "I knew you would be fascinated with that book, as someone who was granted his first sigil days ago."

Immanuel bowed at the Hierophant, smiling at him in return.

"That's a thick one, and while not much time has passed since you arrived, we could get more done if I explain the essentials to you later instead. Come, we have an important matter to talk about."

So this cleric really wants to make me more worthy of getting another one, it looks like?

---

Having left the tome behind, Hierophant Hawking and Immanuel sat on small cushions, facing each other in the bare room. Two undecorated clerics phased in and brought a cup of hot tea to each of them.

When the emotionless clerics left, the Hierophant straightened his back. Seeing this, Immanuel followed suit. The cleric's face looked grim. "Now we have come to the difficult part of this conversation."

Immanuel gulped. The Hierophant continued. "You were really lucky that you thought of asking the baroness to get you to me the night prior. Not a lot of people have magical metal birds that send messages fast, at any time, to any place.

"And if you noticed, Immanuel, that I never questioned you about what happened to you since you came. That was because the baroness detailed everything you told her in one long scroll. In this regard, you were also fortunate."

Immanuel raised his hand, offering to speak. Hierophant Hawking nodded, acknowledging him.

"Your Beatitude, if I may, but I'd like to know if she also mentioned me having barged into her manor."

"Yes, and having forgiven you for it."

Did she not say why?

"I am not sure how the other Hierophants would have dealt with this matter." The Hierophant looked down, looking at nothing in particular, suddenly lost in thought.

Never mind.

After a while, the Hierophant gave up thinking and sighed. "No use thinking about that now, as they are not with us."

Then with a soft clap, he moved on from the matter. "Now...

Hierophant Hawking pointed to Immanuel's chest. "As for me, the moment I saw your sigil light up when you gained mana, I believed your story. For the most part, at least."

Immanuel wanted to respond, but shut his mouth back up instead. Understandable.

The Hierophant then opened the same hand that pointed to Immanuel as he offered the latter a helping hand. "And I certainly will help you in the best way I can."

Nice. Immanuel's eyes widened.

Just as Immanuel brought his hand forward with the intent to shake the Hierophant's, the latter brought his hand back and left Immanuel hanging. "The thing is, helping you could bring the entire Kingdom against me."

What is this man saying?

The Hierophant pretended to cough into his fist and said, "I will help you get not just one more sigil, but perhaps five more if your body so allows it."

This time, Immanuel leaned forward and tried to make his thoughts known. "So you're saying—"

A raised hand cut off Immanuel from speaking his mind.

"Whatever it is you're thinking is what may need to be done, but I am hoping it does not have to come down to that."

"So what are you helping me out for, then, Your Beatitude?"

"I'm helping you help yourself." The Hierophant clenched a fist on his lap. "To become more efficient in what you do best. To get to places without need of any petition, and so sort out the matter quicker."

"Alright, I understand why this would bring trouble upon you. It's one thing to help me gain sigils, but the reason why you're helping me is outright questionablefrom the Kingdom's perspective."

"Correct, and for this reason, I must caution you—I will turn on you somewhere down the road you take."

Immanuel's heart pounded upon hearing those words. Then came a realization. I see.So that was the plan all along.

"Your Beatitude, if the alternative is merely sending me my way, thus leaving me to my own devices, is there not a third option?"

The Hierophant raised an eyebrow. "For a problem like yours, would you settle for half measures?"

---

A short while later, Immanuel found himself back in the massive library. Even with the eventuality of becoming a wanted man throughout the Kingdom, Immanuel agreed to Hierophant Hawking's terms.

For a problem like yours, would you settle for half measures?

When the question was raised, Immanuel remembered the Grand Baron, the man he was up against, and the forces surrounding him. The odds were great, and if he were to deal with the problem alone, he would rather have a fighting chance against those odds.

Hierophant Hawking had instructed him to look for five sigils to be applied to his body. Before the cleric opened the secret door to the library, he first questioned his guest on what he had learned about sigils, to which he answered that their effects could be combined and applied to objects at the cost of additional mana per heartbeat.

Immanuel found it amusing that he had forgotten to mention the likelihood of dying in the hands of an ancestral spirit as one of the answers to the cleric's question. This despite that bit of knowledge about sigils being the one that stood out. I must have become too excited to be let in here again.

Hierophant Hawking directed him to another shelf that was located at the wall opposite the balcony, which was farther than where Immanuel was told to go earlier. Unlike most of the shelves of the library, that shelf Immanuel stood in front of rose high from floor to ceiling and was as wide as the entire wall is. And it had diagonal cells that contained scrolls. If the tabs that labelled each scroll were any indication, they were spell scrolls. Why would His Beatitude store spell scrolls this way?

What if someone were to activate one here? Immanuel thought further upon reading that one of the scrolls bore the label Meteor Hurricane. Curious with regard to the presence of that particular scroll in the shelf, Immanuel pulled it out, cautious so as to prevent other scrolls from falling, and then unrolled it.

It was no spell scroll. Drawn on it was a circular symbol. Much of the symbol depicted a tornado of stars.

Below the symbol was the sigil's description:

Meteor Hurricane
Envelop yourself in a swarm of miniature meteors to protect yourself.

So this gigantic shelf must be a repository of sigils. Immanuel thought, looking up. Seeing the nearby stairs that could bring him to the next tier, and the next set of stairs above the first, Immanuel decided to start from the top tier.

As there was neither table nor seat on any of the platforms fronting the top two tiers of shelves, Immanuel sat on the platform instead, a vast selection of sigil scrolls rolled in front of him.

Out of all the sigils he had considered picking from the top tier, he picked just one.

Reach
Shoot a long tendril out of your hand. Pull an object or a creature towards you, or pull yourself to a place you could not simply jump to.

Then from the middle tier of shelves, he chose two sigils.

Explosive Copy
Create a copy of the caster that is without consciousness and is immobile. This copy explodes after some time.

Plagiarism
Unlike other sigils, the last offensive ability used against you triggers the activation of this sigil. When this happens, you may use that offensive ability as though you have full knowledge of how to use it.

And, in order to complete the Hierophant's task for him there, Immanuel selected the last two sigils.

Manhole
Summon a manhole to use as a trap or a hiding place.

Breakthrough
Fully restores the caster's body and mana and doubles their combat capabilities. This effect lasts for half an hour. After that time duration, the effect ends, and the caster becomes terribly exhausted. If the user's body and mana remain intact the entire time the effect is active, they retain that condition and are only terribly exhausted.

Immanuel brought the selected sigil scrolls to Hierophant Hawking, who was seated on the highest rising desk in the middle of the library. He ascended the steps and handed the scrolls over to the cleric, who then studied Immanuel's selection.

"Good," the cleric nodded. "Before I draw them on you, however, I need to test your combat skills first."

Huh... Are all my military accomplishments not enough for you yet?

"With me," continued the Hierophant as he flashed a sincere smile Immanuel's way.