Return of The 8th Class Mage Chapter 24:

The Book of Dragon Chants (4)

Ian stepped on the corpse of the gargoyle .

It became a slimy sticky liquid .

It shouldn’t be called a corpse anymore .

 

‘It seems most of the traps have activated . ’

 

But he must hurry .

Mana traps are not single-use traps .

Whenever it restores its mana, it would be ready to activate again .

Hence, it wouldn’t stop its function completely, unless Ian removes its mana source .

It was a similar mechanism to the chilling magic on the wine container .

And the source was Ian’s target .

 

“I meet you earlier than I thought . ”

 

Ian approached the golden table on the lowest floor of the underground .

A single book sat neatly on the table there . There was no dust on it even after it had passed many ages .

It had an impressive appearance that was decorated with jewels .

 

“The book of dragon chants . ”

 

It was the very source that operated the systems of the underground of the old ivory tower .

The book itself had a function of storing mana .

 

“And this note is still here . ”

 

[It is not an item that humans dare try to possess . ]

[Especially you, who is reading this note now]

 

That’s all about the notes .

Being honest, the first statement of the notes was quite true .

Most of the humans wouldn’t able to understand the book’s very first sentence .

Of course, Ian didn’t agree with the second statement of the note .

 

‘Who would write this?’

 

The old ivory tower where no more mages were left .

Someone used this area as his home .

And the wine containers must have been his masterpiece .

 

‘A dragon, most likely?’

 

But what dragon would have left a note in the human language?

A note that’s teasing the founder?

A mystery that Ian had thought about in his former life .

But the conclusion was that he didn’t know .

But .

 

*Burnn!*

 

The note got burned whenever it was touched .

Even a single message was enchanted with a spell .

This mysterious man who hid the book of dragon chants here, he must have been a great mage .

 

‘And a freak . ’

 

After Ian wiped off the ashes on his hand, he picked the book up from the golden table . Mana was spreading to every part of the underground through the table . Especially the mana which must be disconnected, the mana that connected to the mana traps . Otherwise, his hesitation would let the traps be activated again . In that case, Ian wouldn’t be able to survive .

 

*Whirrrr……*

 

The sound of disconnecting the mana from the table was echoing through the area .

Now the mana traps and the chilling magic on the wine containers was dispersed

 

‘In this life,’

 

Ian looked at the book in relief .

Indeed, it was an astonishing item .

A perfect proof that dragons once lived in this world .

An ultimate power that returned Ian to the past .

 

‘I may approach this experiment in a different way… . ’

 

While planning, Ian opened the book .

His hand muscles still remembered his former action .

However, something strange happened .

 

“… . . huh?”

 

Ian couldn’t take his eyes off the book .

He just couldn’t . It was different from the former life .

 

‘Empty space… . ?’

 

It was supposed to be filled with dragon words .

But now, between the words, there were many empty spaces replacing the words .

It seemed like some specific words are missing .

 

‘What happened?’

 

Ian looked through the book carefully .

What kind of words were missing?

 

‘Oh my . ’

 

After reading it several times, he could make one conclusion . The cause may be uncertain, but there were things the missing words had in common .

 

‘Words from the golden dragon tribe . ’

 

Golden dragon tribe .

Dragons who had a golden hide and scales .

In old legends, they were the tribe who managed the time-space dimension . Of course the legend was true, Ian proved it himself by returning to his past .

 

‘Only the words of the golden dragon tribe are missing’

 

The Golden dragon tribe’s words, which Ian was researching, which allowed him to time travel . And those words were omitted in the book of dragon chants . Every single word of it .

 

‘How?’

 

Ian already gave up thinking about the impossibility of this situation .

Dragon chants and time rewinding itself were unrealistic things .

It was already far away from possibility and impossibility .

However, he needed to find out the reason it was missing .

It must be very critical and important for further dragon chants researches .

 

‘Maybe because I already used it?’

 

It was the deduction that was the most likely to make sense .

Ian rewound time with the golden dragon chants .

What would this mean? It meant that when he restores his power, he could control time with his will . Ian used to feel quite excited about it .

 

‘And if these chants had regulation of time control… . ’

 

Ian paused his thinking for a while .

He closed the book, then arranged his mana .

To recite words of the Golden Dragons .

 

‘……!’

 

As he had expected .

The words of the Golden Dragons that were missing in the book, Ian couldn’t recite any one of them .

Dragon chants were not just a word that could simply be spoken out using his tongue .

They were spoken through mana, which literally meant a word whose root came from mana itself .

 

There was only one conclusion that he could make .

Once dragon chants were used, they vanished .

So they’re likely to be single-use words .

Not only the dragon chants of the Golden Dragons, but all dragon chants that were recorded in the book .

 

‘I had a hope that I could rewind time again and again . ’

 

This was a shocking truth he never expected .

One of his greatest insurances had disappeared .

And what would have happened if he never knew about it?

A heavy burden was added on his second life .

 

“Hmm . ”

 

There were no more benefits to be gained from meaningless worry .

He decided to collect the things he needed and think about future problems later .

Ian investigated underneath the table .

If it’s the same as in his former life, there must be a box somewhere .

A box that will be very useful .

 

‘There it is . ’

 

Ian’s hand reached towards the box .

He pulled its handle .

 

*Shiid*

 

The box was pulled as it came out from the drawer .

Inside it, there were precious treasures .

It was the very reason that Ian didn’t want to receive money as his rewards .

 

‘There is no reason not to take it . ’

 

It would be very useful whenever he needed money .

It was better for Ian to prepare some money for future use . He may ask someone to support him financially, but the best money was the money he can use without any third party’s help .

 

‘First, let’s take the most precious,’

 

He wanted to take it all if possible .

But he couldn’t take it for now .

He had brought only one bag, a small one at that .

He had no choice .

 

‘I feel like I am a tomb raider . ’

 

Well, actually it might be a good way to describe him .

He visited a ruin without any eyes on him .

He found a secret passage .

He took ancient artifacts and treasures, and he was reluctant to leave the rest of the treasures he couldn’t carry .

It was a perfect way to describe him .

 

‘But why… . ’

 

Now his bag was filled with the greatest rank of jewels .

He obtained the book of dragon chants, and the eyes of the gargoyle .

 

‘…Do I feel so satisfied?’

 

Ian felt hardened .

It even wiped away the shock of the missing dragon words .

It was an awkward feeling .

A feeling of a successful tomb raider .

Should he shout out ‘Jackpot!’ for now?

 

“… . . Let’s move out haha . ”

 

The bag full of treasures, Ian carried it on his back .

He wanted to leave this place quickly .

To remove this awkward satisfaction .