Monster Integration

'You can leave now, Nero,' I said to him.

He should have gone the moment we crossed the river, but he stayed, and I didn't ask him to leave.

I watched him leave while I moved ahead myself, unsure of my destination, but with Nero gone. I have to think hard about it, as things are going to get very dangerous for me.

Till Nero always had been in his range, except for nights, but now, I am on my own and it is going to be dangerous.

My clone opened the map in the core and begin to look at the places I could go. There are many in this city and I looked at them for more than a minute, before finally selecting one.

As I did, I moved toward it; it is a little far, but it is fine.

Little over two hours and two Grimms later, I had reached my destination. A half-buried black marble tower, which is broken in many places.

The tower is huge, and runes are flashing in many places.

There are many other places better than it, but it is the only one which had the knowledge. It used to be a library in the city, with knowledge of all the subjects available in it.

It is the best place I could go. 

As I do not need the resources or the artifacts. I would very much appreciate the books, despite having a whole damn library of them. Extra knowledge is never a bad thing and library spirit agrees with me very much.

There are over ten entrances to enter it; there are holes all around the tower.

I chose the one in the lower middle of the tower; according to data, the 11th-floor entrance will give me the biggest haul and I chose it.

I moved underground, while my soul sense spread around me. I am on my own and I need to be very careful about it. 

I didn't sense anyone and hadn't spotted even a speck of residual aura. This is not surprising, seeing it is not a place most people would enter. People would go to places where there are treasures and resources, not where the books are.

It is a place for people like me. 

Still, I am being careful; some people might be here, who are good as me or even better than me, at hiding their aura.

Little over fifteen minutes later, I reached the entrance. It is one giant hole, there are broken formations around it, but there is an open space big enough that even Grimm could walk inside it.

I walked over and got a look at the tower; it is an absolute mess.

I saw broken walls, rotten shelves, and torn books. My soul sense across and saw everything was useless. Even the books are beyond reading.

I do not mind damaged books, but these are even beyond that.

Still, I entered inside; this place is huge and what I saw is only an entrance. The real things would be inside, and I wanted them, while Nero moved toward the exit.

He is moving at a very fast speed and killing the Grimms he had found on the way.

Though, in a few hours, he will have to control the killing. If it is a trap, the Grimms will notice, and we won't want that. Nero could hide from the Sovereign, but it was challenging for him to hide from those above that.

It had been over three weeks since I had entered this ruin and I had not seen a single monster, Grimm, or native Earth Sovereign.

I thanked the god for that; against them, I am akin to an ant. They could crush me, with only their aura alone.

I moved carefully inside, avoiding broken formations. There are even some invisible ones. Thankfully, I could see them and was able to avoid them, just fine.

'Some could not, it seemed,' I thought as I looked at the body of the Grimm, which is degrading slowly. I wanted to look away and vomit, but I took it inside me and immediately, I started to refine the crystals from it.

Someone had looted it, but kept the body, a mistake.

Everybody of the Grimm is free crystals. So, even if I wanted to vomit it; I took it, benefit matters the most.

I have also become cautious as the person had killed the Grimms. The broken formations of this place did. If I am not careful, something like that might happen to me.

Hun!Follow current s on (f)ir(e).nᴇt

An hour passed when I finally found a book. It is beneath the rotten wood, above it a broken formation of anti-sensory type.

Those who are using the soul sense wouldn't be able to find it, but I did, and a few strings of mine had moved to fetch that book. I am confident I could take it out, triggering any formations.

A few seconds later, my strings reach the book and covered it, before slowly being brought out, without much shaking the rotten wood above it.

Twenty seconds later, the book is out of the rotten wood, and I pulled it in front of me.

The book is big, bigger than my whole hand, and thick. I wiped away the dust from him and looked at the title with a smile.

'Mutations of avors crystal by Heik Orys,' I read. It is something I had been expecting, but still interesting. I sent it to my core and a few seconds later, my clone informed me that it is a perfect condition.

In the next hour, I found four more books. Three were related to the crystal, while one was fiction.

My clone had read it a little before putting it away for me. I am going to read it. The story is something I would like, and I had already added it to my fiction reading list.

I didn't only study, I also read for fun, while it is a fraction of what I study, which is also something I enjoy as much as fiction.

Many of my friends didn't understand how can I love studying, but I just do. Especially about the runes. They are my greatest passion.

Hun!

A few more minutes passed, and I found something interesting. A book in rubble, which is covered densely in a formation; I copied the formation, and it is quite good, I had sent it to my clone before moving away.

I couldn't stop and solve the formation; it wouldn't be a great use of my time.

I need to explore this place and get as many books as possible before Nero returns. With the speed he is moving, I don't think he would need even a day to return.

I am glad to see that. I want to know whether that place is an exit or a trap. If it is an exit, I will go there. If a trap, I will move to my destination.

Soon, I found another book in the rubble, under a broken formation.

Hun!

Immediately, I moved my strings toward it but stopped suddenly as I sensed something, and it is not from the book.