[«Host has acquired a supernatural power—Forbidding Book of dark magic»]
'Huh? I thought this was a supernatural power, so the system also records magic?'
Ruby dismissed his thoughts promptly and focused on the Queen.
"So Mrs. queen. Should I address you with that?"
It made sense since all the other witches called her Queen as well.
"Yeah, but you can be an exemption." The witch queen smirked, her eyes seductive.
"Oh, so what is your name then?"
If the other witches saw Ruby acting this casually with the queen, they would have had a heart attack. After all, the witch queen was known for being strict and aloof. She didn't talk much.
'Acting all comfy with me, huh?' She thought as she gave a reply. "You can call me Luna."
"Such a nice name. Okay, enough with the pleasantries. How can I use this magic."
Ruby gazed at his hands. His skin had become more toned, and his abs tighter. He felt scared of glancing at his face.
"Well, You can do a lot of things with dark magic. Honestly, I'm a bit jealous because I too love the dark affinity." The queen's gaze moved from up to down as though she was scanning Ruby.
Sometime later, she said, "Your affinity is associated with the dark and it's a bit demonic. Even I don't know a lot about the Skills, but there is a book for that."
'She doesn't know about dark magic? I mean, she is the Queen. she should know all this.'
As though reading Ruby's mind, the Witch queen said. "I know what you're thinking. You expected me to know details about the dark magic?"
"Yes, I mean, aren't you the queen?"
"The thing is that I already have the Ice affinity at a young age, so I can't study any other magic element. Even if I tried it would just pass through the other ears as though I didn't read it in the first place.
"Moreover, the last witch to have this elements was my great, great, so many great grandmothers. I hope you know what that means?"
Ruby gulped. That means the last person who was to hold the dark affinity was centuries ago. It made sense for the queen not to know.
"So how can I get this magic book?" Since there was no use asking about how to use the dark magic, Ruby asked for the book.
"You already have it."
"I already have it? But I can't—" Ruby snapped off as he heard a low humming sound, and black fog started surging out of his body before taking the form of a heavy book.
The book had a pitch–dark gem crystal embedded in the middle with a series of Latin letters that Ruby couldn't get his head around.
The crystal in the middle started emitting clouds of Shadowy fogs before the book started flipping.
Ruby glanced at the book before peeking at the queen, who had wide eyes with anticipation swirling in them.
'It seems like she is more obsessed with the book than I thought.'
Sometime later, the book flipped to the first page. Ruby stared at the content written in the book.
"Shadow spell: the wielder of this spell can control Shadows into any form. What you can do with this spell is unlimited."
After Reading Aloud, a system prompt flickered.
[«New spell learned: Shadow spell»]
'I expected this. So I can just learn the spell directly without reading all these procedures. But if Luna knew about this it would arouse suspicion, so I'll just play along.'
"Any idea about the shadow spell? You wanna take a look?" Ruby offered the book to the queen, but she refused.
"Even if I look, I won't be able to comprehend anything. That's just how these magic books work. Only the owner could read and access it."
"Isn't this bad? Then, how I'm I supposed to cast a spell?" He had already learned the spell via the system, but he still asked just to avoid any suspicion.
"The instructions are right there. Just read it and practice, you'd get the hang of it in no time. Since you've become one of us it should be easy.
"And also, don't expect the book to give you all the spells at once. It would be one spell at a time. If you receive more than one spell once, you'd have a severe drawback…
that might cost your life." She whispered the last part.
"So it can kill me?"
"Yup, in the past there have been such cases, but because they were greedy that's why."
Ruby took a moment to open the system screen.
[«A new system attributes have been added—Mana»]
"Mana?" Ruby muttered to himself.
Luna heard him and said:
"Did you say mana? Because that's the energy that enables us to perform magic. Without mana, there is no magic."
"I know. I mean the concept is familiar because of the numerous anime and novels."
"We have already spent a lot of time here. Let's go back to the real world before those bitches start thinking rubbish."
'Wow! I didn't see this side of her personality.'
The way Luna sat and acted on the throne was like a queen with a noble personality. However, what Ruby was seeing now was anything but noble.
Luna proceeded to make a portal similar to the one they came through. The portal shimmered with intensity as the duo passed through it.
Surprisingly, this time, Ruby didn't feel any nauseous feelings. His eyes didn't spin and his guts were intact.
However, he was still forced to close his eyes. When he opened them, he noticed that they were back in the throne room or whatever it was. The queen strode back to her seat and adopted her noble Appearance.
'What an actor.'
"Mr. Nightmare, you're now an official member of this coven. We have rules you must follow. Although you're not exactly a full-time member, These rules still apply to you." The queen stared at Ruby with should I continue and the latter simply bobbed his head.
"No 1 rule: you must not reveal yourself or anything related to witches to normal folks.
"No 2: You must treat each witch from this coven like a family. I can't say for the other coven, but it's a must for our coven."
'So there are other covens .' Ruby's thought was about to be answered and the queen said:
"And lastly, you shall avoid any confrontation with the other witch coven at all costs, except it's a matter of life and death. In case you don't know, there are 3 witch Covens and we don't see eye to eye."
The hall suddenly felt heavy as the queen released her ice-frozen Aura.
'These witches sure have their own plates of trouble…
…hope I don't become a target.'
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Guys, remember to vote and comment. it really motivates me and good news. I'll soon start uploading two chapters a day if I continue to write at this pace.