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We were stepping on thin air.

Just like when we climbed the Stairs of Truth.

Except this time, we were upside down.

Looking up, the Wall of Truth stretched like a snake along the mountain range.

“Huuuuuuum!”

Wendy had already tightly closed her eyes.

Clutching onto my collar.

Well, it’s better than when we were climbing the stairs.

Keep improving, Wendy.

“Follow me.”

Myoil took the lead and walked ahead.

It felt like a handstand version of walking on air.

As if stepping on an invisible ceiling.

But it wasn’t particularly uncomfortable.

I asked Myoil, a mystical creature skilled in magic.

“…Are you from the Cremont Family?”

The Cremont Family, a prestigious magical lineage.

Only those connected to that family could use such advanced gravity-reversing magic.

Myoil slowly shook his head.

“Hoho. How could that be? I was just a guest at the Cremont Family before becoming a spirit. I merely observed and imitated what I saw back then.”

Magic isn’t something you can master just by watching a few times.

Especially elemental magic like earth magic, which is a closely guarded secret passed down through generations.

This old cat must have been a once-in-a-lifetime genius to pull this off.

+

Character Profile.

Name: Myoil.

Age: 1,237 years old.

Occupation: Librarian of the Magic Library, Guardian of the Wall of Truth.

Personality: Reclusive Master.

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“…You’re humble.”

“Hohoho. You flatter me. Seeing you in person, Lord Tristan, you seem quite different from the rumors I’ve heard.”

“Rumors, huh.”

“Yes… None of them were good, I’m afraid. I worry if you’ve made many enemies.”

“Enemies…”

If I had to say, I’m probably the enemy of the world.

Most characters dislike me.

Some are even desperate to kill me.

But unfortunately, I’m not ready to fight the world yet.

Personality traits that are prone to self-destruction.

A curse prevents me from using magic.

And I’m not particularly physically gifted either.

I’ve learned to utilize my personality traits through patience.

But that’s not enough.

I need the strength to defeat any enemy I face.

As we continued walking, the scenery above us passed by quickly.

Eventually, we stopped on a mountain separated from the long line of bookshelves.

Myoil flipped in the air, and we landed on the ground.

“We’ve arrived.”

It was a small shrine.

An old shrine hidden deep in the forest, invisible from the outside.

“You can read ancient magic-related books here.”

“Ugh… It’s kind of creepy…”

It was hard to say that people had visited this place even as a formality.

Moss covered the stone walls, and weeds grew thickly.

I stood in front of the tightly locked door of the shrine.

“This archive is the most special place in our library. You need a VVVIP-level access card to enter.”

Myoil pointed to the purple access card in my hand.

“In other words, only you, Master, can enter. Even I don’t have the authority to enter.”

“I see.”

So, I’m the first one to enter.

I placed the purple card against the door, and it began to resonate faintly.

Just before opening the door, I hesitated.

“What’s wrong?”

“Myoil.”

“Yes.”

“I heard you play shogi.”

“Oh? Yes, I quite enjoy it.”

“Is that so? Wendy.”

“Ye…es?”

Wendy, suddenly called upon, tilted her head in confusion.

“Learn a move or two.”

“Count…?”

“I’m interested in shogi, but as you know, I’m too busy to learn.”

“Co, Count…?”

“Besides, as my personal attendant, you should know how to play shogi.”

“Count… Why are you doing this to meeee…?”

“Learn while I’m gone. I’ll learn from you later.”

I turned to Myoil.

“I’ll be back. Take care of her.”

“Well, well, the weight on my shoulders has grown. I’ll have to teach her ‘thoroughly’ so you can learn later. Hohoho.”

“Count!!”

Wendy’s desperate cry.

Sorry, but this will definitely help you.

It can’t be helped.

I left Wendy’s cries behind and opened the door to the archive.

At the same time, a voice echoed.

[Archive Number 1257742 – Magic / Subject – Opening the Ancient Magic Archive.]

In an instant, my consciousness was sucked into the door.

I was sitting there as if I had always been there.

It wasn’t particularly surprising.

I knew how to use the archive from the original story.

I spoke into the empty space.

“Keyword search.”

[Please enter your search term.]

A message window appeared, shimmering.

“Ancient magic that doesn’t use magic power.”

[0 out of 56,321 results found.]

Hmm… Maybe the approach is wrong.

I thought for a moment and spoke again.

“Forgotten ancient magic.”

[7,431 out of 56,321 results found.]

It narrowed down, but still too many.

“Add keyword… the oldest ancient magic.”

[15 out of 7,431 results found.]

Almost there.

“Add keyword again… Moon Magic.”

[1 result found.]

This is it.

“Open.”

At that moment, a book floated up in front of me.

A book so old I couldn’t even tell what color it used to be.

This was the book I had been searching for.

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Name: Book on Moon Magic.

Description: A book about Moon Magic that existed a long time ago.

Value: Currently unknown.

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Moon Magic.

This is probably… the only magic I can learn.

All the materials are ready.

I manipulated the message window to search for information about one of my personality traits.

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Personality: Greed.

Rank: SS.

Details: You must have what you desire. You want to understand your target from head to toe. You want to possess it. You want to monopolize it.

Your greed knows no bounds.

The more you fill your bottomless greed, the poorer your soul becomes.

*This personality trait is one of the seven deadly sins.

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Finally, I can put this to use.

I focused, just like when I used ‘Wrath.’

And I began to… covet the ‘knowledge’ in this book.

Gulp.

If Wrath was hot, Greed was sticky.

A sticky emotion overflowed in my chest.

And I devoured the book in front of me.

[You are coveting the knowledge of the book!]

Knowledge flowed into my mind.

It was knowledge written in an ancient language I couldn’t understand, but I knew the concept from the setting.

Magic is manifested by consuming the magic power within a human’s body.

Tristan can’t use magic because he has no magic power in his body.

In other words, there’s no fuel.

Moon Magic also consumes magic power.

However, it doesn’t consume the magic power within the body.

Instead, it uses the magic power that exists around it.

The moon doesn’t shine on its own.

It reflects the light of the sun.

The concept of Moon Magic is the same.

It manifests magic not through the magic power within the body, but through the magic power that exists in all things.

This is the only way Tristan, who has no magic power, can use magic.

I continued to focus.

First, I understood the forgotten knowledge of Moon Magic.

Based on that understanding, I uncovered knowledge not written in the book.

I greedily devoured the newly discovered knowledge.

Gulp.

My body, devoid of magic power, began to accept the new magic.

I understood the new magic.

But I wasn’t satisfied.

I coveted other books related to ancient magic.

Knowledge that only remained in name, and the basics and applications passed down by ancient mages.

Their unique know-how.

The history of magic created through it.

“…I covet it all.”

Gulp.

I exhaled.

[You are using ‘Patience’!]

[Your ‘Greed’ is suppressed by ‘Patience.’]

[‘Greed’ is going wild!]

Gulp, gulp!

A tug-of-war between Greed and Patience ensued.

I focused again.

The moment I barely stopped the heavy trigger from being pulled by William.

I recalled my ‘Patience,’ as intense as my Wrath.

Gulp.

At that moment, the sticky overflow in my chest stopped.

[You have successfully suppressed ‘Greed’ with ‘Patience’!]

At the same time, I realized.

I had now become a proper mage.

 

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