Chapter 10

### Chapter 9 (10/271)

9

The last scene Dojin saw was his body disintegrating into golden particles in an instant.

The space was filled with an unknown magic circle and an overwhelming amount of mana, and he literally turned into golden dust and scattered.

The result was a death penalty, leading to a connection restriction.

Dojin thought it was rather fortunate.

It was better to have a game over than to be involved in something irreversible.

He had experienced firsthand in his previous life that not everything hidden is good.

The time needed for a Regenian, a user's new body, to be prepared before level 10 is one day.

He could play the game again after just one day.

...and Dojin felt relieved.

However, such thoughts vanished without a trace the moment the death penalty ended and he logged into LOST.

Dojin

Level: 8

Class: Book of Truth

Strength: 7

Agility: 8

Health: 61

Intelligence: 60

Skills: (1) [Ignite]

Traits: (0)

Opening the status window out of curiosity led to this.

...?

Dojin's mind went blank.

It was completely white.

It seemed even if his brain was soaked in bleach and scrubbed, it wouldn't be any whiter.

"Shit."

Unlike his previous life, where at least offensive magic remained, this time only one skill was left, and everything else had disappeared.

* * *

It took about five minutes for Dojin to be able to think coherently again.

"Stay calm."

Yes, in times like these, it's important to stay calm.

What had already happened couldn't be undone, so he needed to find a solution.

First, he needed to clearly understand what had changed.

Dojin took a deep breath and focused on the status window.

He wanted to find any changes, no matter how small.

Then, he noticed points he hadn't seen due to the shock of having only one skill left.

'Book of Truth...?'

First, his class had changed from Mage to the bizarre 'Book of Truth.'

When he opened his eyes, he was a hero. When he opened his eyes, he was a 4000-year-old great mage. When he opened his eyes, he was the youngest son of a wealthy family.

There were many good things, but why did he end up as a piece of paper?

Still, it was definitely a hidden class.

However, he couldn't be overly happy just because it was a hidden class.

He knew better than anyone how fatal an unmanageable hidden piece could be, having seen and heard about it to the point of exhaustion in his previous life.

'The slight increase in intelligence isn't particularly important.'

What mattered was what the one remaining skill was.

'Or maybe the skills I originally learned have all vanished, and a new skill has appeared.'

Dojin tried to calm his pounding heart and activated the skill window.

「Book of Truth」

The same words as his new class name filled the skill window.

The description of the skill was brief and vague.

Still, one thing seemed clear.

"Given how it keeps talking about truth, it seems to be a hidden class in the mage series."

Among the few people he knew, only mages were obsessed with the word 'truth.'

Moreover, the hidden piece he had found was in the most secret place of the mage group, Eltomagia.

The question was whether this hidden piece was an upgrade, a downgrade, or a defective product like in his previous life.

He would have to fully open it to find out.

'Ultimately, I won't know anything until I try it out.'

Dojin extended his hand to use the skill.

'Since it's a book, the image I need to visualize is... unfolding.'

And what needed to be unfolded was...

'Myself, who has become the Book of Truth.'

Dojin visualized a strong image, as he would when casting a magic spell.

Then, a faint golden light began to emanate from his extended hand.

The magic circuit was responding to his will.

Swish.

A translucent golden book unfolded on Dojin's palm.

However, each page that quickly flipped by was clean, with nothing written on them.

Why? Was nothing really written in this book?

This question briefly crossed his mind.

As if reading his mind, words appeared on the page.

《Record View》

Rustle.

And where it stopped was...

「Ignite」

The name of the first magic skill Dojin learned was written there.

'Could it be...?'

The magic skills that had disappeared weren't evaporated but recorded in this book?

This time, the Book of Truth faithfully answered his question.

The pages flipped quickly again.

「Ignite」

「Wind Arrow」

「Ice Arrow」

「Light」

「Telekinesis」

Each page that unfolded recorded every magic skill Dojin had learned without exception.

Dojin, entranced, swiped the part that read 「Ignite」.

Then, light emanated from the page, drawing the incantation and magic circle of 「Ignite」 in 3D.

A message appeared above the 3D rotating components of the magic.

'Interpret?'

He didn't exactly understand what it meant, but he needed to check everything he could.

"Interpret."

The interpretation rate slowly increased, and a familiar pain from the magic circuit was felt.

The pain, which seemed to be the repeated pattern of the magic's mana flow, was felt several times.

When the interpretation rate reached 5%,

the pain from the magic circuit disappeared.

'Record.'

'View.'

'Interpret.'

And 'Manifest.'

Given these clues, Dojin wasn't a naive newbie who would just wonder, 'What is this?'

Dojin used 「Ignite」.

He focused on the magic circuit and visualized a clear image.

《Ignite》

The mage's verbal command triggered the prepared incantation.

Thus, a fire fueled by mana ignited with a whoosh.

'It works.'

Even after losing the Mage class and the magic skills, he could still use magic.

'Then...'

What about the other magic skills?

Did he need to go through the interpretation process to use them?

Dojin tried to use 「Wind Arrow」, which he hadn't interpreted yet.

Whoosh.

A sharp, artificial wind infused with mana surged.

This confirmed it.

He could use magic as long as it was recorded, without necessarily going through the 'interpretation' process.

Then, what were the interpretation rate and the manifestation proficiency for?

'They must be the proficiency levels of the recorded magic.'

To test this hypothesis, Dojin used 「Ignite」 again.

Whoosh.

'Too fast to be a newly learned magic.'

This level of activation speed was only possible if the proficiency of 「Ignite」 was above that of a 1-star mage.

This meant that a 5% interpretation rate had given him a proficiency level at the end of 1-star or the beginning of 2-star.

By this point, it was clear.

The hidden class 'Book of Truth' was undoubtedly a perfect upgrade to the Mage class.

'That black cube... was it a magic interpretation device to uncover the truth?'

Given what he had discovered so far, this was the most plausible hypothesis.

However, the most important thing wasn't this hypothesis.

The jackpot had hit.

And it was a pretty generous one.

The most important thing was that.