1 It Begins with a Book or Two

Draig was a Vampire, this was fact. He was born into a Human Village and upon finding out about his condition he was taken in, it should have been a glorious day for him who had no knowledge of his heritage but it wasn't. From young he was trained to be a weapon against others of his ilk, Vampires, Werewolves, Goblins, Trolls, and opposing Guilds. He was taken in by a smaller Guild where the master was recognized as also the village elder, it was a small mercy to be spared the death sentence but the years of torturous training had only made the Vampire spiteful of this person and those associated.

That was how he ended up in his current place, he was often sent on the riskier missions by the Guild in order to spare it's human members and thus he was inside this dungeon like tomb to search for any artifacts that could be of use to the Guild.

The world had undergone a change during it's History known as the Epoch, it was the fall of various ancient civilizations resulting in many hidden places like this one. To this day many of such places went undiscovered and there would occasionally be a mission put out when one was discovered, it was those who arrived to explore first that would reap the greatest benefits and Draig being of a stronger build and trained in horrible inhumane ways by the Guilds warriors found himself sent here.

'Dirty human scum' thought the Vampire as he searched the decaying ruins of what was perhaps a great civilization in the past.

He had grown to become something of a cold person but his heart wouldn't allow him to just watch the innocent suffer, this is what he believed to be proof he was truly better than humans. It was as he searched through this place expecting some form of lower monster to appear that he came across a room with many aged and barely intact books inside however among these books there were two that seemed to be covered in a tougher material.

"Skill books, I suppose it's quite the hall. This should at least get me a hot meal" muttered Draig but as he said that a thought came to him, if humans could hear it they would call it a traitorous thought but how could one be traitorous when looking for a better situation for oneself.

'They don't know what I found... I could take them' thought Draig as he walked over to the books he found that in fact some others were still in good enough shape to be brought back with him which only fueled his otherwise selfish thoughts.

He picked up one of the books and found it to be on a lost art people had only read about.

"Enchanting" read Draig before his eyes widened in shock, this would be something invaluable to boosting his living situation if he used the book to learn the skill..... but then again it could lead to harsher treatment if it was found out he had taken this without reporting it.

'What else could they do' thought Draig as he thought back to the times he had just been beaten in the name of boosting his pain tolerance, sickening moments of where he was lacerated or left with broken bones lying in his dungeon like accommodations.

He then looked at the other book.

"Skill Print" read Draig but he had never heard of this skill before but it had to be just as important if it was covered in the same material.

Looking at the two books then at those laying around he gained a decisive look and channeled his Mana into the books causing the transfer of their information and the acquisition of the two skills.

Draig's head began to hurt at the influx of information but he knew this was coming as he had seen many people in the Guild use such books after the Master had somehow acquired them.

Skill books were a high commodity because it took the need for years of training and condensed it into one moment allowing the person to become a Master of the Skill or the School of magic instantly. This is the reason why so many people hoped to find these things in tombs and ruins because the way of creating them was also a lost art... well until now that is.

Draig had found the luck and grace of the heavens to be able to find these two lost arts in one tomb, however each of them came with their own catch.

Enchanting would require sufficient Mana and materials to act as a catalyst in the enchanting process, but also it would depend on the quality of the weapon itself for if the weapon was loaded with a overly powerful enchantment the best outcome would be the weapon falling apart. In the worst of cases as he now knew it would create a demonic weapon spirit, this would mean a the creation of a monster that was of high power with domain over the element or effect it was enchanted with.

The prerequisite for the Skill Print was the need for the actual knowledge of the skill or school of Magic before one could create a corresponding book. This one was a bit similar in it's fall outs with the exception of upon defeating the Skill Spirit the slayer of the monster would learn the skill that was printed onto it's medium but in the event of the Weapon spirit one would just receive a broken weapon.

However in the advantage of Skill Print, he could create scrolls which were single use items that were not quite as expensive as Skill Books but still allowed one to use a spell that they did not possess or if they simply didn't have an affinity for the mystic arts. Scroll spirits were actually a common sight in tombs and ruins alike, they made good traps to halt those who were considered trespassers and protect your belonging's depending on the spell inside.

As this information filled Draig's head he couldn't help but note his particular lack of skills, he only possessed a bastardized swordsmanship in order to prevent him from learning the skills and he only knew the bare basics of magic.

'Still though' thought Draig as he cast a glance towards the barely intact books laying about.

Many of them would be unusable just from the poor condition they were in but perhaps he could gleam some partial information as even just a glimmer into a style of swordsmanship would allow him to make a Skill book for the individual moves but what he truly hoped for was spells. He truly had an interest in magic.

With that thought Draig began looking through the books and set a few that were in better condition aside while he channeled his Mana into the others taking what he could from them, this was to not supplement his Skill Print but also to help him in the long run. As Draig did this though he felt that he had truly wasted his time in the other Ruins as the knowledge of partial gain from these books only came after learning Skill Print.

Soon Draig looked at the small pile of four he had stashed to the side to bring back to Guild and nodded, it should still be enough for the Master to allow him a hot meal.

However Draig did not leave the Ruins after taking these books, he still had much more to explore if he wished to please those Humans at the Guild and thus he continued his tomb raiding.