"Are there any more?" I asked the guard who had accompanied me. Although there were a lot of spells and skills, none of them seemed to suit my needs all that well.

"Apologies, Master Liberomancer, but with the recent dryad invasion, many grimoires were either sold or released to the public by order of the king. The pickings are a bit slim right now due to that," he said.

"Alright," I said. If there was nothing else, [Panacea] would do for my first choice. As for my second choice… I almost took [Enchant]… but the idea of mind-controlling someone gave me an icky feeling. It was the kind of skill that villains used after all. As for [Memory Bank] I eventually thought it wasn't worth it at this juncture, so I just went with [Summon Giant Squid].

The alternative was to not use one token and wait for something better to appear later on - the issue with that is that it took a long time to make a Rank Three grimoire. It could take months or even over a year for something that was good to show up, and I was not going to be in Chipker at the time if things went according to plan.

Not to mention, even if I did want to wait a good while, there was no guarantee the token would still be valid. I had been given it by the grace of the current king - but he might not be the reigning monarch when I came back later. His successor should in theory still recognize the validity of the token, but I couldn't be sure about that.

Overall, there was really no point in waiting and it made more sense to just grab whatever I could.

Maybe [Summon Giant Squid] would come handy at some point? I had thought that [Poissonnier] and [Fragrance] were completely useless, but I had found some use for even apparent duds like them. Maybe I would encounter a situation where I had to cross a lake or look for something under it? I might also be able to find [Second Summon- Rank Three] somewhere in Hitutsa, and I had wanted to specialize as a summoner anyway, so I couldn't really say this was the worst choice.

It just wasn't one I would not have otherwise made had there been something better. I did feel a twinge of regret at losing out on [Memory Bank], but I didn't want to give up either of these two.

I picked up those two, and the guard nodded - the guild would have to approve this, but given it was from the king, that step was just a formality at this point. I deposited my two tokens and left, heading back home.

I then went to the guild after making sure the two grimoires I had bought were safe at home and asked to purchase a grimoire that gave [Demonic Detector]. It might be a waste of a Rank One slot, but I would prefer to have it for my own peace of mind. They had a copy with them and gave it to me right then and there, but I noticed a problem the moment I picked it up.

"I would like to return this grimoire!" I said.

"Um…" the girl at the reception counter said. "We usually don't refund grimoires."

"This one can't work though!"

"Right, sir, give me a moment," she said. She would've likely just told me 'tough luck' if I had still been Rank Two, but there were benefits to being Rank Three and a Master Liberomancer to boot. On Earth I might get called a 'Karen' for this kind of behavior, but I felt that I really did need to talk to a manager in this situation.

Yes, it was a rule that grimoires couldn't be returned once sales were finalized, but I couldn't use this!

"What happened, Master Stefan?" an official from the guild asked with a warm smile.

"I had ordered this grimoire, but it turns out that I can't use it," I said. "I wanted to return it."

"Let me see… [Demonic Detector]? Anyone should be able to learn this, I don't see what the problem is."

"I can't - it won't let me because I know a demonic spell," I said. "That apparently makes it incompatible with my build."

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I had heard of grimoires that were not compatible with others - as in, they could not be learned if you knew another specific grimoire that they did not mesh with. These things were rather rare and this was my first time encountering something like this. I hadn't anticipated this happening because no one had told me of such a restriction, and I thought the only problem might be that the detector might constantly go off as it identified me as having a demonic spell, but I had assumed I'd be able to turn it 'off' and still be able to detect others with it.

"Oh? Is that so?" the official asked, genuinely surprised. "I uh, have never encountered anything like this before. I don't think that such an interaction is documented anywhere."

It wouldn't surprise me if I was the first person to discover this - given how rare it was for people to have demonic spells to wander around places without getting killed or arrested. And I'm guessing people wouldn't want something to detect demonic spells from beforehand if they were planning on becoming demonic Liberomancers. So, it was somewhat believable that I might've actually been the first person in history to ever want to have both of those things together - a demonic spell as well as a way to detect other demonic Liberomancers. But that didn't solve my problem.

"Yes, I didn't know that before I ordered this, so I wanted to return it," I said.

He scratched his chin.

"I would normally just say it is guild policy that we don't take refunds - and that the burden is on those who order grimoires to check if they can use grimoires before they order them… but in this case, given it is an interaction that was previously unknown up until this point, and it is only a Rank One grimoire, I think we can return it. Though returns are only given in guild credit, I should let you know," he said.

"That's alright," I said. I could've taken it with me on my journey and seen if I wanted to learn it after I got rid of [Crimson Lance] eventually down the line- but I was afraid that I might ruin it accientally like I ruined the first copy I got that gave [Ansoon's Blessing]. I was not ready to give up on [Crimson Lance] just yet, but I felt that the time would soon be approaching where I would find it too troublesome to keep.

"But this is quite fascinating nonetheless," the guild official said with a small smile. "Ah - it's just a reminder that even after thousands of years we don't quite know everything there is to know about Liberomancy, do we? New discoveries like this are still being made! Everyday is an opportunity to learn and discover, isn't it? I'll definitely report this to the higher-ups in the Guild to know about."

I might've appreciated the fascination of making new discoveries some other time, but at the moment I just wanted my refund, and I'd gotten it.

Once I was back home I went back to working. When I was done reading and had exhausted my mana, I started jotting things down in a separate notebook - things from Earth that I thought might be useful in the future that I wouldn't want to forget. I was in the middle of this when there was a knock at the door.

Odd - I wasn't expecting any visitors.

I gently opened the door.

"Good evening, Teacher! How have you been since we last met?"

"Good Mo- W- You!?" I nearly screamed. It was the same guy who had tried to rob me back when I had been on my way to the capital, and who I'd handed over to the guards!

"Ah, I just remembered that you never got my name now then, did you? That won't do. My name is Sun Jiao, and I look forward to being your apprentice," he said, bowing.

Several days earlier…

Sun Jiao listed to the strange voice speaking to him from the shadows. "Are you… the Spirit of Darkness?" His voice trembled as he spoke.

"Yes, human, so-"

"No," Sun Jiao said immediately.

There was a pause, during which the room seemed to become even darker somehow. "Human, do you know how many people wish to treat with me? How many of your hearts cry out into the darkness each night, wishing that they had the power to turn their lives around? I do not answer all of them, but you have had the privilege of being one of the few whose heart I might accept. Give me your heart, human, and perform this one deed for me - and I will grant you the power you've been seeking."

"Look," Sun Jiao said. "I may be stupid, but I'm not that stupid. I know what happens to people who make deals with you - the Blood-Emperor hung himself even after he 'succeeded' didn't he?"

It was true, he was extremely frustrated and wanted to see if he could turn his life around. Power? No doubt he wanted more, but he knew that this kind of deal would come with strings attached - strings which would eventually tied themselves around his neck before viciously throttling him.

A demonic grimoire might be easy to read, but it would also mean that any hope he would have of returning to a normal life would be extinguished completely. He would end up having to try to eke out a living in the wilderness like some kind of animal.

The Spirit of Darkness retreated from the cell, and the light finally returned.

Sun Jiao then woke up.

His entire body was coated in sweat and he could feel his heart racing like he had just ran a marathon.

'Did I have some kind of strange nightmare?' He looked around his cell, there was nothing odd about it. A faint glow came from outside, possibly a streetlamp.

Sun Jiao was sure that he had just had some kind of malevolent dream which had caused him to wake up like that, but the only thing was that he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was.

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