Chapter Fifteen

"Tell me when you're going to grab dinner!"

"I will," Kyle closed the door on Karan's face.

After they got themselves treated in the Health Department, they took a shower and cleaned their body of filth.

The refreshing water easily slid the blood and chunks of meat from their body, to Kyle's relief.

After he closed the door, Kyle walked towards the mass of notes hanging on the wall. He walked closer and stopped a few steps away from them.

Dressed in casual clothes, he repeatedly tapped his right glabella.

'As I thought, it's readable now,' he slowly nodded.

When he woke up earlier, all the symbols on this wall were gibberish to him. But now, it was a completely different matter.

Downstairs, he was able to read the sign near the entrance. This sparked an idea in his mind, perhaps he could now read this unknown language.

And to his excitement, he could now recognize and understand these words in his room.

Not only were they contained with the information he might not know, but they also reflected how his "body" behaved before he came here.

'Although this body is identical to my own body, the chance of me occupying another person's physique can't be denied. Therefore, what is the best way to confirm it rather than peeking at this body's history?'

Then would he be allowed peace of mind.

Tracing the edges of the rough papers, he slowly read out their contents.

"List of known creatures…" he read the note on the middle of the wall. These notes weren't too big nor small, but they could still be used to write important things.

"Lowest tier…hunched, crawlers, headless, colored…Tsk, at least write the characteristics."

The rough white note only spoke of the creature's names, and their features were nowhere to be seen.

Most of these notes had similar contents, they spoke of various names but with nothing to distinguish between any of them other than the tiers written on the page.

Kyle clicked his tongue. 'Although I don't know any of these creatures, memorizing them would probably be helpful—judging by how their names implicate their body. Huncheds have hunched backs, so headless would have to heads, right?'

It didn't take long for him to memorize their names. As the well-known genius of the academy, how could he let these notes hinder his road?

'Huh?' The youth finally came to a piece of paper that wasn't related to creatures.

Kyle took off the note from the wall with ease and brought it closer to his head, eyes focused on the now-familiar symbols.

----

Authority hunt, prioritize higher digits:

Unique. Having similar Authority will higher the chance of my own demise.

Strange. Preferably unpredictable, the more infuriating, the better.

Powerful. Without power, everything will go to waste.

Investigated. This way, I can find methods to improve my own power.

Secretive. Flashy powers are easy to predict, Authorities such as Karan's and Loine's are out of consideration.

Unbound. Losing freedom in exchange for power is unwanted, but tolerable.

Plausible Candidates:

----

"…are you kidding me?" His eyebrows twitched slightly.

Below the piece of paper was nothing. It appeared that the past Kyle wasn't able to find anything that fits his criteria.

'But this is still useful,' he tapped the notes.

The previous Kyle had some specific wishes on his Authority, and these would help the present Kyle greatly.

'Based on this piece of paper, Authorities differ from each other. Their powers, their usefulness, and even their flashiness are different from one another. But this does make me worry…'

The second and third criteria were still normal, even he would include them in his own criteria of power. But the others confused him slightly.

'If what was written here is true, having a common Authority increases the possibility of my death. And the fifth point speaks for its own.'

Kyle massaged the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, circling around his room.

'The fourth point proves that there are ways to improve my power, then is power equal Authority? And for the last point, are there any organizations or people that monopolize Authority? If so, does losing freedom here mean serving someone to get an Authority?'

While he was contemplating the notes, knocks resounded throughout the room. He paused and slowly walked towards the entrance of his room.

He stopped in front of the door and yelled softly.

"Who's there?"

Then, a rigid yet comforting voice responded.

"It's me, just checking in on you."

Opening the door, Kyle furrowed his eyebrows. In front of his room was a woman with a red cloth wrapped around her elbow.

The youth would've said some pleasantries to her, but her clothes were covered with blood of various colors.

He closed his eyes and pursed his mouth, "Take a shower before visiting a person."

The woman in front of him—Loine, sighed and nodded.

"Don't worry, I'll do so once I confirm both of your safety."

'Am I that close to this person?' Kyle pondered.

It was likely, looking from how his body felt secure around her—and how she came to check on him.

Loine scanned his body before speaking, "I will bring Karan soon, prepare for dinner."

Within a second, her body was engulfed in light, and she disappeared from his sight.

"Convenient," Kyle added before he closed the door.

He then took out the paper from his pocket and stuck it to the wall, filling the gap.

The arrogant youth had spent enough time on these notes. The siblings would also come here sooner or later, so he would rather do what he was eager to do since he came to this place.

"It's time," the corners of his mouth rose slightly as he pulled open the second drawer.

Just like last time, it was filled with artifacts of varying shapes and sizes.

He took out a sharp dagger from his pocket and put it inside the drawer. In exchange, the magic engineer pulled a ball-shaped artifact from the wooden storage.

It was the same ball that had blew a cool breeze on his face.

He suppressed the thoughts of smashing it directly and observed its exterior first. The overall texture was smooth, and the circle on its surface was rougher than the other places.

Kyle glanced at the artifact drawer and rolled his eyes, "These people sure love creating balls."

Almost half of the tools inside were round, and only a few of them were different from each other.

Kyle then proceeded to insert his energy into the ball. Just like last time, it emitted a soft and cool breeze—thanks to the small energy he directed to it.

The arrogant youth then took out the dagger he had just put to the drawer.

"Let's see what's inside you then," He licked his lips and exerted his energy to the dagger in his hand.

[Swoosh!]

He lifted the dagger over his head and swung it down with all of his efforts. The result was a small dent on the round artifact's surface.

A weird spirit of competitiveness rose inside him, and he repeatedly stabbed the ball. The damage was stacked over time until he finally managed to pierce it through.

"Damn, how is this thing so tough?!" He took several quick breaths.

Pulling the dagger out, Kyle observed the contents of the artifact. Unfortunately, all he could see was a metal that has been split.

"You have got to be kidding me," biting his teeth, he continued to pierce the ball using the sharp dagger.

For a while, the sound of metal hitting each other could be heard in the hallway.

[Clank!]

[Clank!]

[Clank!]

----

[Ting!]

The poor artifact finally fell under Kyle's wrath, splitting into two pieces. Littered on the floor were small pieces of metal, both from the dagger and the round artifact itself.

Kyle was stormed with joy until he saw the mess he had created. The dagger in his hands was chipped everywhere, and the scraps of metal were scattered throughout the floor.

"Damn it…" He covered his eyes with his hand and sighed audibly.

These scraps of metal pain him to even look at, and the dagger he had brought was useless in its current state.

Although he was cool-headed most of the time, his emotions could swing unpredictably—making him do things he wouldn't carry out most of the time.

"Whatever," he put the dagger back on the wooden dresser and picked up half of the artifact on the floor.

The sliced parts were definitely one of the worst he had ever seen, it was uneven and appeared as if it was repeatedly smashed into something—which it did.

Touching the hard metal, Kyle was about to insert his energy, before several knocks were heard once more.

"…"

He grumpily threw the severed artifact on his hands to the bed and approached the door.

"Who's there?" His voice was laced with hints of grudge.

"It's us, open up!"

Kyle clicked his tongue and opened the door, meeting face-to-face with the pair of siblings.

Behind the baby-faced man, Loine held her hands forward and spoke.

"Time for dinner."

Bright light covered his vision.