Former Ranker's Newbie Life-Chapter 8

Do-Jin took a sharp breath and caught himself just in time to avoid face-planting on the floor. When was the last time he got a proper rest? Five days ago? Do-Jin felt like it was time to log out and take a break. As he mulled it over, he glanced up and froze in place.

“What the hell...? I shouldn’t be able to access this right now.”

Each artifact in this section was protected by its own Dimensional Isolation spell, and their auras alone marked them as relic-tier or higher. There was no way a Tier 1 Mage should be able to access this floor.

Do-Jin wandered the area, trying to process the situation, until his eyes fell on a familiar, old, and ominous book.

“The Ancient Grimoire of Curses!”

It was an item that allowed its wielder to learn powerful ancient curse spells. Do-Jin knew it well because he had seen it in his previous life. Even then, he hadn’t dared to touch it.

Who was the dumbass that screwed themselves over with this thing again?

He remembered hearing about a ranked player who had completely fried their circuits by recklessly using these curse spells, rendering their character virtually unplayable. There was no way in hell Do-Jin was going to make the same mistake.

Mages were, by nature, the most versatile of all spellcasters. Their adaptability made them incredibly powerful, but it also left them dangerously vulnerable. Like a blank canvas, mages could be shaped and colored by the type of magic they practiced. At first, these changes would be subtle, but over time, their magical circuits would adapt to their choices, specializing in certain fields while becoming vulnerable in others.

Take things too far and you’d end up like the poor bastard who wrecked themselves with ancient curse magic, or like Do-Jin in his past life whose circuits had become so warped he could only use destructive spells. He’d been through this rodeo before, and he wasn’t about to let history repeat itself.

“Still... the fact that this thing is here means I’m on the fifth floor or higher.”

That was the important part, not the grimoire itself, but where it was located. The fifth floor of the Library of All Truths wasn’t just off-limits. It was reserved for elite mages who had proven their abilities and bent over backward to fulfill every damn quest Elthomagia threw at them.

And yet, here he was, a Tier 1 Mage, standing in a place he shouldn’t even dream of entering. It didn’t take long to figure out why.

“It must be because of this ring.”

The wooden ring Sion had personally given him was acting as a master key, granting him access way beyond his rank. It was pointless for him, though. It wasn’t like he could actually interact with anything here or in any section above this one, for that matter. Still, just in case, he decided to test the limits.

Approaching a sealed Magic Circle that housed what appeared to be a safely contained sword, he held up the wooden ring.

Nothing happened.

He even rubbed it against the seal, trying everything he could think of.

“Well, that’s that. Figures it wouldn’t work,” he said with a sigh and stepped back.

The reality of his limitations was sinking in.

The wooden ring seemed to only lift the restrictions on movement between floors, not grant access to the treasures themselves. Clicking his tongue in disappointment, Do-Jin looked around at the insane array of magical tomes, artifacts, and equipment scattered about. They were all completely out of reach, but knowing that even one of these items could cost more than an entire castle made it hard to tear his eyes away.

That said, he couldn’t just stand here wasting time.

“Well, opportunities like this don’t come often... I might as well see how far I can go.”

Was it frustrating? Hell yes. But regrets wouldn’t get him anywhere. This was a chance he wouldn’t see again anytime soon—a master key to the Library of All Truths practically handed to him on a silver platter.

In his past life, he’d only made it as far as the seventh floor, and the furthest any user had ever gone was the eighth. Maybe, just maybe, he could push beyond that this time. The thought of wasting the opportunity made him grit his teeth.

If nothing else, knowing what’s up there might help me later.

With that resolve, Do-Jin began to walk. As the library responded to his thoughts, the space around him shifted rapidly. Treasures of immeasurable value blurred past as the environment morphed with every step.

Eventually, he stopped in a corner of the seventh floor. The space resembled a desolate, ruined city. This area housed the “Wraith of Destruction,” stored within a chunk of its original dimension. Since the item couldn’t be separated, the entire space had been cut out and relocated to the library.

Do-Jin recognized this place instantly. In his previous life, it had been the midpoint of a hidden quest he’d attempted, pouring luck, money, and effort into the challenge.

Just looking at it made his skin crawl. And why wouldn’t it? Absorbing that thing to claim a half-assed hidden piece had been the reason Do-Jin’s career as a mage went to complete shit in his past life. The experience had been traumatic enough that no one would’ve blamed him for feeling a twinge of PTSD.

I really thought I was done for back then.

The memory of opening his Skill Window, only to find that every non-attack spell had vanished, was burned into his brain. It was the kind of despair that made him seriously consider diving headfirst into a river to hit a reset button on life.

Although the Wraith of Destruction was technically a secret item, it was also a defective one. The story behind this place was that some psycho mage obsessed with destruction tried to create the ultimate destructive spell. Instead, his circuits overloaded and backfired, killing him in the process. His soul was consumed by his own creation, turning into that monstrosity.

If Do-Jin had known any of that beforehand, he would’ve noped the hell out the moment he laid eyes on it. In fact, he wouldn’t have even picked up the quest in the first place.

Who would’ve guessed this wasn’t even the quest reward, but just the starting point of the real quest?

He could still remember how absurd it had felt to read the quest window that followed: “Find them, if you can! I’ve hidden your limbs across the world!”

In the end, Do-Jin never found a way to complete the chain of quests, leaving his magic circuit permanently warped. He lived out his days as a mage who could only cast attack spells. He had turned into a mage so inefficient that a few casts would overload his circuit and leave him collapsing on the ground.

However, it was all in the past now.

“Good riddance, you goddamn nightmare,” he mumbled to himself, shrugging off the ominous thoughts. “Here’s hoping you go haunt someone I hate.”

He flipped his middle finger at the ghost of his past and walked away without a hint of regret. He climbed higher, as far as he could go. To the secrets Sion Grace—the greatest Archmage in the history of Elthomagia, or perhaps all of Lostania—had hidden within this library.

Sensing his determination, the Library of All Truths began guiding him once more. However, from the eighth floor onward, the seals grew incomprehensibly strong, and the multicolored auras filling the dimensional barriers made it impossible to even discern what was contained within.

It worked out in Do-Jin’s favor, though. Without those seals, the violent mana emanating from the artifacts would overwhelm him, reducing him to dust and ejecting him from the library entirely.

“So, is there even a point in going any higher if I can’t do anything anyway?” Do-Jin hesitated for a moment.

He considered going back down to the lower floors and spending his remaining time reading books that a Tier 1 Mage could actually access. But something about that felt like a missed opportunity. This was a rare chance, and he couldn’t shake the thought that he should at least reach the final destination before leaving.

“Alright. I’ll take a quick look and then head down to read.”

Having made up his mind, Do-Jin resumed walking. This time, his intent was simply to reach the end of this space, the final location. As always, the Library of All Truths responded to the thoughts of the one bearing its master’s ring, guiding him seamlessly.

And so, he arrived.

“What the hell is this...?”

The room he stepped into resembled a massive chamber in some ancient ruin. Geometric patterns were etched into every wall, but beyond that, the space was utterly empty. There were no visible artifacts or items stored here.

Curious, Do-Jin scanned the room, turning his head this way and that. But no matter where he looked, there was nothing unusual to be found in the strange, sterile space.

Is there a door to another room hidden somewhere? Should I try feeling along the walls?

Just as he stepped forward with that thought, hundreds, no, thousands of Magic Circles suddenly materialized in the center of the room.

Whirrrrr...

Or could they even be called Magic Circles? They were so intricately interwoven, so alive with movement, that the term hardly seemed to apply. Before Do-Jin could even process the sight, something emerged at their center. It was a jet-black cube, radiating an aura as deep as an abyss.

A cold, mechanical voice echoed in the chamber.

[Newly detected sentient lifeform.]

[Initiating identification and analysis...]

[“Fate” search result: No information available on the detected entity.]

[Recognized as an authorized individual for access to the Grimoire of Truth.]

The black cube reached its own conclusion, entirely on its own terms.

Crack!

The Magic Circles surrounding the black cube shattered one by one, expanding outward. Light particles scattered like illusions, geometric patterns filled the room, and a torrent of raw, explosive energy engulfed Do-Jin.

***

In reality, the Library of All Truths was a byproduct of a magic seal meant to contain a dungeon.

The dungeon was an anomaly that, from the moment of its discovery, began consuming the surrounding space and expanding infinitely. Sion had turned the dungeon’s infinite expansion against itself, sealing it within a spell and using the resulting space to create the Library of All Truths.

However, the dungeon’s true nature remained an unsolved mystery. Was it a relic of an ancient civilization or something from another world? What secret was hidden at the heart of the absolute seal that allowed no approach within a certain radius? That mystery unraveled in the most anticlimactic way possible.

Standing at the dungeon’s core, where she had never set foot before, Sion recalled the events she had only observed indirectly.

“Why...?” she murmured.

Why had the seal failed? No, that wasn’t it. The seal hadn’t failed at all. Even when the Regenian stepped into this place, the seal remained intact, perfectly protecting the space.

It felt like the seal didn’t block that Regenian, and only that Regenian...

If that were the case, then the Regenian must have fulfilled whatever condition was necessary to bypass the seal. But what could that condition be?

It’s unlikely to be unique to one individual. It must be something more universal...

Perhaps investigating that Regenian could yield answers. He’d been reduced to dust by the mana storm unleashed here, but as a Regenian, he’d undoubtedly revive in a few days.

If she wanted to investigate, there was nothing stopping her. Just as Sion’s curiosity reached its peak, her thoughts expanding further, something unexpected happened.

A golden ripple shimmered before her eyes.

This was the Light of Causality, known in the world of LOST as the phenomenon that appeared whenever the world’s coherence or logic was severely disrupted. Ordinarily, NPCs couldn’t see or perceive this light, but it enveloped Sion Grace completely.

And then, her memories began to alter. The first to change was the origin of the Library of All Truths. No longer was it a space created by sealing the mysterious dungeon. Instead, her memories now told her that the library was born from efforts to contain the aftermath of the dungeon’s destruction.

Her recollection of the Regenian reaching the library’s deepest point was erased. In its place, a new memory formed, one where she spent her evening sipping mediocre wine and reminiscing about her old companions.

And with that, the connection between Do-Jin and the ancient ruin was thoroughly erased from the world.