Chapter 529: Just Like That

Reward generated…

He smiled eagerly, and a bright light enveloped his hands. He felt a weight fall into his palms and lifted it to his eyes to inspect what kind of reward he might have gotten.

When the light died down, he was finally able to get a look at the item. However, his smile slowly faded away as he examined the worn leather book in his hands.

“Oh,” he said lamely.

“Not what you expected?” Eileen asked.

“No, no. It’s wonderful,” he said with fake excitement. It was like pretending to enjoy a present someone got you for Christmas or your birthday.

He didn’t know what to expect, but he was confident to say that he hadn’t been expecting a book of all things. He was somewhat hoping for a token or something similar that might help him improve his control over life mana.

He reminded himself that he couldn’t judge things by appearances, look at the crown he was wearing. He leaned forward and took a closer look at the worn leather-bound book. He turned it over in his hands to examine the title.

Foundational Primer of Life Mana Hearts and Body Modifications. He lowered his gaze and spotted the author’s name barely legible underneath the title. It was written by some guy named Tezuko the Undying Revenant.

He widened his eyes in astonishment when he read the title and slowly looked up at the ceiling. “Is this…?”

“Yes. Unlike some of the fakes and copies out there, this is a personal record of the foundations of body constructs and other body modification techniques. Specifically, of life mana techniques, such as the one Tezuko used in the early stages of his path,” she explained; however, there was a complicated expression on her face for some reason.

He looked at the book with loving adoration. He had been thinking about things like this. He had read several different accounts of people who used body modifications and similar techniques. However, there was almost never anything beyond general details about what they did. He hadn’t found anything that talked about how to accomplish or copy it.

“Isn’t this a valuable reward? I thought you said that I barely passed,” he muttered.

“It’s not that valuable to most people. It’s not like a direct instruction manual for his actual signature abilities. It is more of a starter book for those who are interested in that sort of thing. For some people, it would be no more valuable than a book on the history of agricultural magic. But for others, it is worth more than Pinnacle Grade Token,” she explained.

“Who was he?” He asked curiously.

“He was a Tier 6 from Corvus. I believe he helped create a sect there as well. It was called the Verdant Willow Sect. I am not sure if it still exists, but he was known as an unkillable monster in his days.”

Julius recognized that name. It was one of the Ten Great Sects in Corvus. He believed they were only ranked ninth of something, but that was still impressive. In a country where all the sects are competing to get into the top ten rankings, it has established itself as a known powerhouse.

A book from one of the founders of that sect sounded like a valuable treasure to him. He said as much to her.

“You wouldn’t be the first one to try and learn from him,” she said ominously.

“What do you mean?”

“Well… Tezuko was known for his… unique personality,” she said plainly.

His brows furrowed. “What does that mean?”

“He wasn’t known as the Undying Revenant without reason,” she said.

“Are you saying that this book is full of nonsense?” He asked, dreading to hear the answer.

He heard a sigh. “There have been plenty of people who tried to learn from his teachings. But I don’t believe many, if any, have ever successfully followed his path.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound promising.”

“Yeah, many complained about his methods being… barbaric and downright mad.”

“Oh, wonderful,” Julius said with a grimace.

“But that’s why you might like it,” she offered.

He glared at the ceiling. “What does that mean?”

“Terradon mentioned that you were a masochist, so I picked out this reward for you, taking that into consideration.”

Julius cursed the boy with antlers internally. However, he also realized that this book was actually quite a prize. While it might not be valuable to others, it might be something arguably more valuable than anything else he could have gotten. There weren’t that many treasures that excited him anymore.

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With his healing skill, he should be able to experiment with these constructs and body modifications with more enthusiasm than others. He would also have Freya to help him if needed.

So while he complained, he wasn’t too unhappy. As long as the book contained some good insights, he would happily accept this reward.

“Thank you,” he said with a grateful nod.

“You are most welcome,” the woman said with amusement. “Don’t try to do anything it mentions until you reach Tier 4, though. You will only be able to start making serious modifications when you are officially in Tier 4.”

Julius frowned upon hearing that. He didn’t know about that. But he would ask Freya about that later.

“Understood,” he said with a nod.

“Good, now get out of here.”

“Just like that?”