Motivation (2)

"What do you mean!" I shouted at the top of my voice.

"Lower your voice, brat!" Luke calmly said. His voice carried a strange ferocious pressure, forcing me to fall to my knees.

W-WHat was this pressure! I had never experienced anything like this before! It felt as if the entire world had been put on my shoulders. It felt like my bones were getting crushed into powder as fine as sand. I was going to die! Shit! Shit! Shit!

Suddenly all the pressure around me disappeared. Not having the energy to stay on my knees, I fell on my back, barely able to breathe.

Only after a few moments could I stand back up again.

"Now that everyone is calm, ask what you wished to," ordered Luke.

I need to calm down! The man in front of me could kill me on a whim! Taking in deep breaths, I asked, "W-what do you m-mean my parents are alive?"

"They are alive, but they are not free. They are locked away in the Eternal Prison," the being in front of me replied.

Locked up? Jailed!?

"Why!?" I asked, in a tone that shouldn't have been as loud as it was. Quickly realizing my mistake, I shifted my gaze to the ground.

"You seem to be a good boy. Before I tell you the details, sit down," ordered Luke as he snapped his fingers. Behind me, a wooden chair appeared out of nowhere. Obeying Luke, I sat down, facing him.

"Your parents were my comrades," Luke said.

What?

He continued, "They were Divina; Thomas was especially close to me. Before I got imprisoned here, I forced them to go to another world. After that, they kept on jumping to different worlds together. However, the Tower Lord was able to locate them at last. He forcefully summoned them back and then locked them in the Eternal Prison.

As to why they were locked away, it was because they supported me openly."

What! This was a lot to take in!

My parents were not dead? Not only that, they were originally from the tower? They were also not just normal participants in the tower but one of the highest beings, the Divina.

They were locked up? Why? Because they supported the person in front of me? So what?

"Just who are you?" I asked unintentionally.

"Just call me Luke. I am just a man who wants to go back home," he replied with a melancholy tone.

A man who wants to go back to Earth?

"What is the crime you committed?" I asked.

"None. Although in the eyes of the Tower Lord there may have been myriad. Well, now is not the time for all of that," after a pause, he asked, "Do you agree to climb the tower?"

"How can I free my parents?" I asked.

"It is complicated. But the basic requirement is to climb up to a higher floor of the tower," he replied.

My parents are alive. My parents are alive! I could see them again!

Water flowed down my cheeks. Wait, were those tears?

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Falling to the ground, Nox broke down. Like a child, Nox cried and cried and cried. Were those tears of joy or sorrow? Probably, joy.

Well, it was understandable. Nox had accepted that his parents were no longer a part of the living. But, deep within, he hated that theory. He found it repulsive that he thought even that way.

But, Luke had answered his biggest question: 'Were my parents alive?'

Right now, Nox felt emotions whose existence he had long forgotten.

Seeing Nox, Luke smiled and thought, 'He is Melissa's son, alright. Just like her, he bottles up his emotions until they burst open the bottle.

It looks like those two raised one hell of a boy!'

#################

I wept for what seemed like hours until my eyes dried up completely. This feeling... I just couldn't explain it.

"I will climb the tower!" I said as I stood back up on my legs after wiping my face.

"That's good to hear. A little advice for the pain you are currently experiencing; Try to gather arcane around your heart, your pain will be eased a little," advised the great being.

Bowing down, I thanked the being in front of me. Gather arcane around my heart? I will try that when I wake up.

"Well then, till next time," said Luke, snapping his fingers.

Instantaneously, my surroundings changed. I was back at the place where I had defeated the goons.

<Nice to see that you awoke!>

Caligo?

<In the real world, only around a minute has passed. Although I would love to keep on speaking with you, there is a limit to this skill. So, let's just talk when the time is dire. So long Noxie boy!>

Only a minute passed? Just how slowly does time pass in the library?

Looking around, I saw that the four people were still lying unconscious. That's good!

I was still experiencing the pain, although not as much as before. As Luke advised, I sat down in a meditating position and directed all my arcane around my heart.

Within minutes, the pain was gone. Taking in deep breaths, I continued doing it for another twenty minutes. At last, the pain became much more bearable.

Wait! I got a new skill, didn't I?

Status!

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Name: Nox Mill

Level: 10

Title: Librarian(SS), The Great Snake's protege(S), Wolf Slayer(A)

Stat points: 12

Stats-

Strength: 31

Agility: 32

Perception: 30

Stamina: 35

Intelligence: 41

Arcane: 14/14

Status Effects:

None

Active skills:

Anatomical Liberation (A)

Weakness Sight (A)

Dash(B)

Passive Skills:

Ability to enter The Eternal Library(Mythic)

Mana Manipulation(A)

Librarian's Eyes(SSS)

Communication(B)

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There it was!

Librarian's eyes!

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Librarian's eyes(SSS)

Get the ability to see information about items and objects.

When proficiency reaches a higher level, the status screens of monsters and players can also be seen.

Proficiency: 0%

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This was an amazing skill! Using it properly may provide me with what I need the most right now, information!

I went over to the largest gangster and concentrated on him.

**********

Name: Montu Reed

[Due to low proficiency, no more information can be seen]

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Suddenly, a status window popped up. Although it only displayed his name, just thinking about the things I could do with this when I raised my proficiency made me excited.

I picked up one of the pouches that somehow were glued to the man's waist without any support.

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Waist pouch(F)

A pouch that utilises arcane to automatically stick to the user's body.

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Does stuff like this exist too? How interesting!

Seeing how the only storage spaces I had were my torn tracksuit pockets, this would be very useful!

I brought the pouch close to my waist, and somehow it automatically stuck on me.

Inspecting the man, I noticed that another pouch hung on his waist. This pouch looked filled as if it had numerable items inside of it.

Picking it up, I opened it and had to squint my eyes because of what I witnessed. More than a hundred gold coins were filled in the pouch. Was I finally rich now? Nice!

[You have obtained 184 GP. Would you like to exchange them for points?]

Points? What was that? Was this something related to the 'store'? Come to think of it, I hadn't accessed the store until now. But, it might be better to wait a little longer and access it after I reach a safer place. Converting my gold into points should obviously occur after I examined the store.

I walked to the other people lying on the ground and examined what they had.

.

.

.

After about ten minutes, I looted *cough*, 'borrowed' all that I found intriguing. I examined the items again. This skill was so good! Seeing the description of every item I put my eyes on was fun.

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Stealth Cloak(E)

A black cloak that makes the user 10% less perceivable.

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This would come in handy. As a person who just entered the tower, it would be best to attract as little attention as possible!

Plus, my tracksuit was on the verge of falling apart, so getting another piece of clothing would only do me good. Otherwise, if my tracksuit falls apart in public, then it would be a little…

Well, whatever.

I had also obtained 232 more gold coins from the rest of the three bandits. So, in total, I now had 416 gold coins. Great!

I had thought about picking up the bow; carrying both the bow and the sword would be a little burdensome.

Putting on the cloak and picking up the sword, I started walking toward the gates of the Kingdom of Midland.