Chapter 2451 – 2451. Dark Moon
I smashed through the obstacles blocking my path and descended underground.
There were some dangerous ones. Large spider dolls with exceptionally high magic resistance, or death knights made of dolls. Especially troublesome were the death knights armed with magic armor and magic swords.
‘If I didn’t have Vajra Trust and Astral Vision… I might have struggled quite a bit.’
Anyway, I was the one who succeeded, and I arrived at the lowest floor of the basement.
What’s blocking me now is a large iron door. I can feel magical power emanating from the door.
[Electric Detection]
I used a detection spell in front of the door. But I couldn’t get any meaningful information. The iron door is blocking the detection magic.
‘Is it a trap? Should I just smash it?’
Crackling.
Lightning sparked from the Vajra Trust in my hand. The one-hour rental I had previously made was already over, and this was my second hour. I rented Vajra Trust twice today alone.
‘If I combine yesterday and today, I’ve spent a total of 450 million credits. If the arcane magic I get from this is trash, I’m going to be very angry.’
Just as I was about to throw Vajra Trust at the iron door.
Grrrrrrr.
The iron door opened on its own.
“Don’t break the innocent door and come inside. There are no traps.”
I went inside.
Mages wearing black robes were lined up in rows.
I was startled because I couldn’t feel their presence, but I soon realized they weren’t people but dolls.
My gaze turned to the man sitting at the workbench at the end of the room, fiddling with a doll. He was a young man wearing work clothes with bright blue eyes.
“Are you Ilario Gomez?”
“That’s right. To be precise, I’m the last doll that Ilario Gomez made in his own image, with a copy of his own thoughts inside.”
“Are you going to attack?”
“No. Now that you’ve come this far, it’s my defeat. The workshop is already more than 80% destroyed… and dolls aren’t exactly infinite. Congratulations, intruder. You’ve won.”
“You’re giving up more cleanly than I expected. My goal is Ilario’s arcane magic. Where is it?”
“Don’t be so hasty. The arcane magic is right here.”
He took a book out of a drawer in the workbench. It was a thick book with no particular decorations.
“You’re being cooperative. Why didn’t you do this sooner?”
“Haha. I can’t just hand over arcane magic to anyone. You’ve proven your strength and talent by coming this far. That’s why you’re qualified to have it. Ilario wanted to leave behind his arcane magic, but he didn’t want it to fall into the hands of just anyone.”
[Telekinesis]
The arcane magic book on the desk floated into the air and slowly flew towards me. Before opening the magic book, I asked Ilario.
“How did you know my name when I’ve never taught it to you?”
He raised his hand and pointed to his eyes. Bright blue eyes.
“I can share my vision with the dolls. And these eyes are from a certain shaman who can see through names.”
“A mystic eye?”
“No. It’s a spirit eye. Necromancers, especially, prefer spirit eyes over mystic eyes. You can’t see souls with ordinary mystic eyes.”
“Do those eyes allow you to see souls?”
“They allow you to see them.”
“What does my soul look like?”
“Unfortunately, I can’t see your soul. It’s because of the difference in levels. It’s amazing that you haven’t even transcended yet.”
Should I smash him and take his eyes?
As I was contemplating, I noticed cracks forming on Ilario’s face. He was breaking down. At the same time, I could feel magical power from the book.
“Nothing lasts forever in this world. Even dolls eventually break. That book is also the core of this workshop. Now that the core of the workshop is in someone else’s hands, it’s only natural that it’s collapsing.”
“That’s too bad.”
“If you really think so… why don’t you give it back?”
“……”
There was no way I would give it back. I didn’t care if this workshop collapsed or if he died. My goal was the arcane magic.
‘It would be nice if I could take a few dolls to study… but it doesn’t matter. If I have enough money, I can buy dolls from famous doll makers.’
To be honest, the dolls here weren’t special. Rather, the dolls themselves were quite old-fashioned.
‘The real important thing isn’t the dolls.’
It’s what makes the dolls move.
I opened the arcane magic book. It was over 500 pages long. Most of it was like an experimental log. I checked the truly important magic formulas.
“Soul Forging… is this really a magic created by humans?”
“Haha. That’s right. It’s understandable that you’d be suspicious. It’s an arcane magic that’s too evil and alien to be considered human-made.”
Soul Forging is a magic that steals the soul of the dead and imprisons it in a core. From my perspective, it’s closer to a technique.
The core is basically made from the bones, flesh, and organs of the target. If you use special metals in addition, the performance of the core increases. The higher the level of the target, the higher the probability of failure.
“……Is this really an arcane magic that Ilario created solely with his own power? If so, Ilario would have been a genius of the century.”
“Ilario made a contract with a demon. Soul Forging was completed with the help of a demon. In other words, that arcane magic is something created in collaboration with a demon. Thanks to that, rumors spread that he was using demons. So? Can you understand the formula?”
“It’s difficult, but not impossible to understand. And… Ilario didn’t purely use Soul Forging.”
“That’s right. He used it with some modifications. If you create a soul core and put it in a doll… the doll becomes a moving undead. The problem is that their egos are too strong, and they don’t listen to their master.”
“……So that’s why you go through the process of copying the soul core. You used the power of a doppelganger?”
“That’s right. But the soul core copied with the power of a doppelganger is far inferior to the real one. In the end, Ilario failed. Even I, the last one Ilario made before he died, am far inferior to the real Ilario.”
“Did Ilario try to gain immortality by becoming a doll? Even if he failed… he’s worthy of being called a necromancer.”
“It wasn’t for any grand reason like that. Ilario… is just a pervert. The only reason he delved into necromancy was because he wanted to create the perfect doll.”
“…That’s why he became a necromancer?”
“Hard to believe, right? But it’s true. That’s also why he summoned a demon and made a contract. The demon, on the contrary, liked Ilario for that.”
“Aren’t you like Ilario’s alter ego? Why don’t you understand Ilario?”
“Because I’m a failure.”
“……Why were you stuck in the workshop? It doesn’t seem like anything is binding you.”
“Some dolls, including me, left the workshop. I don’t know if they’re doing well… but I couldn’t leave. The dolls that remain here will break and disappear if I, or that arcane magic book, are gone. Of course, I didn’t make them, Ilario made them when he was alive… but I am Ilario.”
“…So you’re a pervert too. Are the mage dolls here… unfinished?”
“I tried to make them into dolls by following Ilario. But I’m not the real Ilario, so it was impossible. All I can do is fix the dolls that were already made. Well, is there anything else you’re curious about?”
“How do I get out?”
“You need to get access to this workshop. Drop a drop of blood on the book. Then you’ll get ownership of the book and naturally get access.”
“So it was a kind of grimoire.”
“It’s a book containing arcane magic created by a demon and a black mage. It would be stranger if it were ordinary.”
I hesitated for a moment.
What if this was a trap? What if a curse would befall me by dropping blood on the book?
There’s nothing more foolish than treating a grimoire carelessly. There’s a reason why it’s called a grimoire.
‘I can handle it.’
I used wind magic to cut the tip of my finger and dropped a drop of blood on the grimoire. The grimoire wriggled. There was no other reaction. This grimoire became mine.
‘Soul Forging. You can turn souls into cores and use them as dolls. But the essence isn’t about using them as dolls. It’s about storing souls in the form of cores.’
Soul storage.
That in itself is a great help to me.
‘I can store the souls of those I’m still angry at even after killing them and torment them forever. It will also be convenient when using human sacrifice magic.’
There’s no immediate need to use human sacrifice magic, but you never know what the future holds.
‘There are quite a few black magic spells that use souls.’
Necromancy itself is magic that deals with the corpses and souls of the dead.
I put the Soul Forging grimoire into my subspace and looked at Ilario. Now that I was the owner of the grimoire, I could tell. I could control him.
“If you want, I can take you outside.”
“It’s okay. I’m getting tired of it. I’d rather break here.”
“Is that so.”
I turned away from him. The space distorted, and an exit appeared.
“Goodbye.”
Ilario greeted me calmly.
I was about to leave for the last time when I stopped and asked him.
“But isn’t there not much difference between dolls and machines? It seems like it would be more perfect if you replaced the soul with AI.”
“You crazy! How dare you compare machines to dolls?! Artificial intelligence can’t replace souls! You, don’t tell me. Are you a dirty machine fanatic?!”
Disliking machines, especially AI, was a characteristic of Neo London citizens. In that sense, Ilario was definitely born in Neo London.
“……”
“Hey, come here! Come here! You machine fanatic!!”
I ignored Ilario’s outburst and went outside.
