BCST 22

chapter 22

Request received from the Edge Line manpower office.

Mission: Escort Aria Aires during the upcoming corporate exhibition.

Eliminate any threats that approach her during this period.

Reward – Ability Points: 6p (Completed)

Failure: Loss of Mia Dunleavy’s trust.

I fiddled with my phone, staring at the screen.

[Mia Dunleavy]

Once, it had been the only name there.

But after this incident, a few more names were added.

[Aria Aires]
[Lucas Aires]
[Bazier Kyernel]

That old man Bazier said he hated making connections, but he still exchanged contacts.

Not as a personal tie, he claimed, but as Aria’s teacher.

Since when was I Aria’s teacher, though?

Still, knowing her talent, I didn’t bother refusing.

So in the end, I had gained everything worth gaining.

Ding-ling~

“Welcome!”

On my way back to the motel, I stopped at a takeout place.

“Set A, a kebab… and also a burger-and-fries with a macaroni salad, all to go.”

“Oh!”

The shopkeeper’s face brightened in recognition.

As soon as the order was placed, flames flared in the kitchen.

Perfect timing to file a mission report.

I called Mia, and after a few connection tones, she picked up.

“It’s me.”

[ …Eddie? What happened? ]

“I killed Toulon Goxel. Mission complete. Aires’ people will contact you for details.”

[ What?! Your job was escort, not assassination! That was supposed to be handled by the Aires family! Why’d you go and overwork yourself like that?! ]

My ears hurt.

I pulled the phone slightly away and answered:

“Because it was faster and easier that way. Also, you won’t hear from me for a while.”

[ Again, like last time?! How long this time?! ]

“Probably… a week?”

[ That’s ridiculous—! ]

Click.

Hm. Good call.

If I spend the points, I’ll surely collapse again.

This time, Bazier’s grimoire would give me 2p once I finished it.

Add that to the 6p quest reward, and I’d have 8p total.

Come to think of it, last time I invested 6 points and was knocked out for five days, wasn’t I?

The more points spent, the longer the suffering, or so I understood.

Still, it was far more efficient than grinding slowly through solo training.

The penalty just grew heavier each time.

But strangely, I had the feeling this time it wouldn’t take as long.

“Still, just in case…”

Last time, when I woke up, I nearly starved from the hunger pangs.

So now I was stocking up on food in advance.

“Here’s your order, all packed up!”

The food weighed heavy in my hands, giving off a mouthwatering aroma.

This place, like that hotdog shop before, looked promising.

I paid the shopkeeper with a coin. He examined it briefly, then grinned.

“Payment complete! Come back again soon!”

Time to head back to Pixel Dream Motel and assign my points.

Pixel Dream Motel

Normally, after washing up, I would’ve immediately pulled up my Trait Window.

But not today. First, I had something else to do.

Finish Zhan’s Basic Grimoire of Black Magic.

I needed to claim the 2p before distributing points.

Shuffle—

I laid out the food on the table and flipped open the book.

Bazier had said he acquired this grimoire from the outside.

For a moment, I worried it might be like those notorious grimoires that corrupt the mind. But thankfully, it wasn’t.

Or maybe I was just immune.

The contents were the memoirs of a black magician who had been hunted his entire life.

It was full of trivial details, but it also contained organized insights on black magic and mana.

Much of it echoed the things I’d already intuited—both consciously and subconsciously—through my own research.

But the broad conceptual explanations and traditional views of black magic were still useful.

Shuffle—

Each page I turned made fragments of magical knowledge, force-fed to me by the system, resurface.

Those shards began linking with my personal studies and instincts.

And with this book as the glue, they started forming into a proper system of knowledge.

Shuffle—

The book was like rain soaking into a drought-stricken field. I devoured it eagerly.

Yes.

This was it.

The inspiration stirred my mana into a frenzy, then gradually calmed as the pages turned.

Thump!

And finally, when I closed the book—

Even though the room was silent, I felt the world grow quieter still.

The reckless flow of mana had been reined in.

Flash!

[Zhan’s Basic Grimoire of Black Magic]
Introductory text on black magic.

Bonus for completion: 2p (Acquired)

Now I had 8p total.

Soon, hiding my mana and aura would become second nature.

I lay down on the bed, closed my eyes, and the familiar skill tree appeared in the darkness.

Tiny lights dotted the bottom tier.

No skills had ranked up in proficiency.

As I browsed through, I thought about what to pick.

Maybe another trait for Arcane Blast? Eternal Friendship?

Or unlock a third trait altogether?

Hmm. No.

I wasn’t lacking with what I already had.

True, my Arcane Blast couldn’t pierce Toulon’s [Real Armor] easily, but that was a matter of tier and raw stats.

The spell itself, enhanced by its traits, was solid.

If I just raised my tier once, its power and penetration would climb enough to shred someone like Toulon.

So yes, I could keep investing in Arcane Blast… but maybe there was a smarter path.

That’s when the memory of Bazier came to mind—the Rank 5 warlock.

The instant he appeared, I had felt the crushing difference in strength.

Through him, I’d realized what true disparity in rank meant.

And now I knew there was a way to gain extra points.

Combined with my deepened understanding from Zhan’s grimoire, my old plan—slow, steady progress through lower tiers—no longer seemed optimal.

Counting all I had spent so far, I’d acquired 18p total.

Tier 3 required 15p to unlock.

So why not skip Tier 2 entirely and jump straight to Tier 3?

Raise my pace dramatically.

Especially since it held the spell I wanted most.

Counterspell.

An anti-magic skill that nullifies enemy spells.

Cost: 8p.

Double that of a Tier 2 spell. Quadruple that of a Tier 1 spell.

Expensive, maybe even reckless…

But its value was undeniable.

Like Arcane Blast, it was a bread-and-butter skill for any mage duel.

And raising a tier didn’t just unlock spells—it boosted overall ability.

All of this was possible thanks to Zhan’s grimoire.

Without that extra 2p, I would’ve had only 6p, and settled for enhancing Arcane Blast, or grabbing one Tier 2 and one Tier 1 spell.

But with 8p? I had to go for it.

Adapting strategy on the fly was always the right call.

So I activated Counterspell.

The skill tree lit up—Tier 2 and Tier 3 alike.

At last, I was officially a Tier 3 warlock.

Though realistically, I’d soon collapse into torment again once I exited.

I was about to leave the tree when something caught my eye.

As usual, the diagram shrank rapidly, leaving a single shining point in the void.

But this time, beside that point, there was… another.

Dots scattered in the darkness.

What… is that?

I looked at it without thinking.

Thud.

Suddenly, as though the scene cut like film, a massive sealed door filled my vision.

Etched upon it was a clear, unmistakable symbol: a spider.

The moment I saw it, rays of light burst out, splitting apart to sketch another tree.

From cantrips to Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3…

Higher tiers were swallowed in shadow, but the lights kept branching upward.

I checked the bottom-most, activatable spell.

[Thread Spit]

This was…

Definitely a spider-type spell.

I quickly scanned the others:

[Web Surge]
[Sticky Trap]
[Summon Spider Leg]
[Arachnid Grace]
…

As expected, all were spider-type spells, just like Toulon Goxel had used.

Which meant this entire tree belonged to the Spider lineage.

Unbelievable.

Lineage magic… from a being I hadn’t even contracted with?

I was stunned, then uneasy.

How could this be?

After sifting through the confusion, I narrowed the cause to a single possibility.

Because only one thing could explain it.

[Cthulhu’s Second Tentacle]

Damn it.

For me, who had only ever wielded common warlock spells, gaining access to a lineage was a huge boon.

But why grant me this boon so suddenly?

The intent behind it was completely opaque. Instead of joy, I felt dread for the future.

I stared long at the spider-tree, weighing the discovery.

It contained only spells I already knew existed, thanks to my game knowledge.

So in truth, I wasn’t learning anything new.

Yet I couldn’t bring myself to turn away.

Because of the third star.

In the darkness, three stars shone:

One white—common warlock spells.

One yellow—the spider lineage.

And one more, apart from them, glowing dark blue, swallowing the surrounding void.

The moment I saw it, instinct screamed caution.

Something I mustn’t touch—at least, not yet.

But could I really leave it unexamined?

I steeled myself, and faced it directly.

Ripple—

Something brushed against the tops of my feet.

I looked down.

Black water lapped against my ankles.

Wait.

My feet?

That’s when I realized—my whole body was physically here.

Splash.

Splash.

Cold waves rolled in from all sides.

An endless horizon met the starless void above.

At some point, I had been dragged to the middle of a black ocean.