[Resistance: Mental 91 > 92]

I read the entire journal, and it's terrible. The first page was only a sentence, but it foreshadowed the rest.

"What lies beyond the pages below is the machinations of my mind, Garvey Strickland, the greatest golemancer of my generation."

The entire diary is the rantings of a pompous idiot rather than a carefully crafted manifesto. It reads like he had an animated pen write for him as he spouted bullshit from a bathtub.

Besides the gentlemancer's name, I did manage to find more information about this guy and his "organization."

A few quoted lines that were coherent stood out to me.

"It's a shame that my brother had a head start with his system while I was restricted from leveling until I proved to not be a problem for the family. I convinced them to let me go to the 'safest' and 'most out of the way' city and set up my life there."

"My first class advancement came, and I had three options, more than the average of two, but less than my other siblings. More options don't mean anything since you can only pick one. If anything, my brothers' plentiful options would force indecisiveness."

"My favorite golem, servant model #96, was destroyed shortly after my advancement. [Commercial Golemancer] was what I became. I thought the system was giving me a class that would help my great business skills, but instead, it neutered my golem core crafting skills in leu of permanent, but numerous 'weaker' golems."

"I am a brilliant person. My golem crafting works with machinery, turning simple machines into complicated robots that can take verbal commands. I used my allowance to purchase some factories, and now the money is coming in faster than I can spend!"

"My brother was obviously impressed with my skills. That youngster was practically begging for me to help in his operations. HAHA!"

"I agreed, but I needed to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Brother tried to pull a fast one with the contact, but I'm not a rookie. I can't inform anybody about the production, whether spoken or not. Too bad I'm not writing anything. I'm talking to an inanimate object that just happens to write down what I say. HAHA! Amateur."

"The new workers are great. Bossing around items only get so fun, so having flesh and blood walking around, doing what I say, is a great change of pace. Too bad they prioritize making sure everything gets made in time rather than my whims. Pity."

"I broke my car and had my brother ship me a new one. Too bad that 'family discounts' don't exist in his personal dictionary."

Here is where there's a significant gap in time between logs.

"If I want a more luxurious core, with more leg room, I'll need better materials. Too bad I'm being bled dry by the Cerulean Shield. They're gangsters, making me pay protection fees so 'out of towners' can't stop by and blow the entire operation up. They have a deal with my brother, but I'm the one forced to pay for it.

"Caliphaxe reached out. They want my spectacular skills on some of their training equipment. Maybe if I start making good ties with them, they can get the Cerulean Shield off my back, or at least make them hesitant to bully me."

"I found what I need to advance one more time. But if I do that, my brother will take me back and force me to work on a grander scale. I like the pond I'm in, and I'm not too keen on hopping into the ocean. On another note, the perfect material for my core appeared in the city."

The last entry was dated around the time the strip mall exploded. The page was soaked in blood and curses.

Over a hundred pages of the journal, I could only find that much coherent information. There were a lot of poems that were just plagiarisms of the books I found in his study.

The notes I found next to the journal are encrypted, and I didn't obtain a cipher from the study. That's just going in the library for now.

I look over at Rob hitting the metal safe we took with a shovel. We don't have a combination or a mana imprint, so we have to get in the old fashion way.

I have around 200,000 credits left, and I should probably save my money until I find something worth buying in the capital. Or, I could spend most of my money and make more later.

I found a listing on the internet for someone selling off all their old stuff, and one thing caught my eye. An Ebook reader.

This tablet has "book" in its name, so it'll work with my [Lexicon], right?

So I bought a preloaded electronic book for 10,000 credits.

The owner was a widow selling some of her husband's stuff after he died. She promised that there were at least 2,000 books on this thing. So I offered ten grand. 5 credits per book isn't a bad deal.

Her husband used to be a library curator. In a different city, some rankers got into a fight, and the results of the aftermath injured many bystanders. Her husband died in the hospital due to a "medical error."

She's raising money to get the best [Lawspeaker[ she can. Whether to use the rankers or the hospital, she didn't elaborate, but probably both.

I bought that thing even though she didn't know the password to the device. She offered to refund me if I could get it open and if there wasn't at least the number of books she promised.

~

Duchess patches the holes in the grass from our skirmish against the gentlemancer. I contemplated hiring a housekeeper/gardener with my remanding funds, but I have tamed beasts. Maybe I should tame a beast that's unique for its yard work.

Rob is still working on finding a way to break through the safe safely.

"Both of you, keep at it. I'll be in my room. Don't disturb me unless it's important."

I kick up my feet at my desk and hold the Ebook reader up. It doesn't need an internet connection and stores data regardless of its design, like a book.

The parallels between my [Lexicon] and this reader are getting more apparent as I think about it.

I turn on the device and stare at the lock screen.

[Will you allow Lexicon?? to consume Ebook reader]

[Y/N]

Sure.

The color starts draining from the device as it starts glitching out. The screen started jolting and shifting like the motherboard cries out as it bleeds dry.

A ding goes off in my head, and I black out.

~

I wake up in a puddle of my own vomit, blood, and filth. There is so much pain behind my eyes I want to rip them out of their sockets. My head thumps like two armies marching to war against one another.

My mouth is drier than a salt flat, and my stomach hurts like something is twisting my intestines into a bow.

Why couldn't I stay unconscious? Holy shit, this is unbearable.

My limbs shook like my bones were about to hatch, but I managed to pull myself to the door and open it before collapsing again.

I woke up in my bed with Flash Gordon hovering next to me. I spotted some water on the nightstand and chugged it as fast as possible. With my front soaking wet, I look around the room and notice my arm is missing.

My prosthetic arm, not my meat one.

I feel perfect but in a state of curiosity.

What the fuck was that, what the hell happened, and where is my arm?

Wait, what was the last thing I did?

Looking for answers, I find Duchess perched on the belltower. I get her to glide down to me.

[Master, you're awake.]

"What happened to me?"

[Thisss one had a similar question regarding your previous state. Rob was alerted at the presence of Flash Gordon not being by your side, so when we checked on you, it was surprising to see you pass out at the doorway.]

"I can't recall what happened. How long was I unconscious?"

[You were lying in that bed for a few days. Your capital trip is the day after tomorrow, so you'll probably want to make final preparations.]

"That long? What happened to my arm?"

[Rob has it. We removed it quite recently. Thisss one noticed your ring changing when thisss one checked up on you, so thisss one figured the ornament was hindering your recovery speed. You always feed it blood, after all. Removing the ring was impossible, so we disarmed you.]

I instinctually go to check the ring's stats, but I remember that I don't have it on me a second too late. Seeing my system panel reminded me of what I was actually doing. I quickly opened my [Lexicon].

My mind went blank, but this time I didn't pass out.

I run inside the library and marvel at the new interior.

It's huge now. Shelves fill this new room as I do some quick math.

A single row of books fits about fifty books, and each shelf holds five rows. These shelves are stacked on top of each other in sets of two.

There should be a thousand bookshelves, maybe more, in the library now.

That Ebook had around 500,000 books. What the actual fuck? That's like 1/400th of the books ever published.

I haven't checked my [Status] after killing the gentlemancer, so I use that as a distraction.

[Resistance: Fire 200 > 270]

[Resistance: Mental 92 > 182

[You gained the Title: Scholar!]

[Scholar D

Training one's mind takes more dedication than just meditation. The average person in their years of life would read less than a thousand books in their lifetime. Reaching one thousand books is the start of your scholar's journey.

Total books needed to reach the next rank: 1,000,000.

Mind: +75]

Name / Nickname

Ellis Vincere / The Last Winner

Race

Human

Class

Unique Master (Rank C)

Level

65 (2m/16m)

Titles

Proud Owner of a Rock, Fell the Mighty, Indulger…

~

~

Health Points

1622/1622 (+130% bonus)

Mana Points

1005/1005

Armor Points

0

Might

156 (134 + 5)

Agility

100 (85 + 10 + 5)

Vigor

141 (111 +15 + 15 )

Mind

201 (126 + 75)

Spirit

150 (128 > 140 + 10)

Perception

40

Charisma

20 (5 + 15)

Luck

2

Unused 8 > 62

My old points allocations of three in Might and two in Vigor and Mind, with the spare being saved for later, might not work anymore with my new massive boost in intelligence.

My memorization skills are better. But without a trigger or looking specifically for the information I need, I don't remember anything I "read" from those new books.

Going balls deep into Vigor might trap me one day. If I don't have the sword that lets me transfer health to damage, I won't be able to kill anything. Maybe I should speak to a professional. For now, I won't put points into anything.

I spent 10,000 credits and got a library and eight levels worth of stats. Good day.