The auditing students' gathering did not last for very long, as none of them was really closely acquainted with one another.
'Negary' returned to his dorm and prepared for his trip to the Grand Library at five in the morning.
The key to open the library was a still flame, meaning it must be coal or something of similar nature, a simple torch would not do.
He needed to prepare some coal, as well as adjust his mental state to ensure that his mind would fulfil the requirements for him to enter the Grand Library; furthermore, he needed to ensure that there would be no mental gaps for other entities to discover any abnormalities from him.
In the middle of the silent night, the Mobis Institute itself seemed to have gone to sleep. Without any background noises, the silence felt almost suffocating.
'Negary' held a book in his hand, calmly reading the various requirements for a spirit summoning ritual written within. 'Negary' was discerning between the valuable and booby-trapped knowledge in the book, constantly taking whatever opportunities he had to better himself.
Although this level of improvement would never even compare to the strength of his original self, this was what Negary was.
Crack crack!
With a cracking noise sounding in his ears, 'Negary' looked up at the window next to his reading table.
Only to see that the window that he had kept closed had been violently pushed open by something. The frame of the window was now a bit warped, the stopper that held the window closed had also been twisted into an L shape, but very strangely, the glass wasn't broken.
Observing the darkness outside the window, 'Negary' felt a silent terror writhing there as if something was creeping towards him.
At the same time, a nauseating sewage stench could be recognized within 'Negary's' sense of smell.
Shiiii… shiiii…
The sound of something being dragged through mucus could be heard, the thing in the darkness was about to lunge straight at him, this sensation was extremely clear.
So 'Negary' picked up a bottle from his bag, popped open the lid with his finger and transferred a bit of mana that he obtained from the corpse oil into it, then flung white powdery substance inside out the window.
Zi zi zi zi….
The sizzling sound like that of a piece of steak being placed onto a hot skillet was clearly heard.
The shadow outside the window abruptly flashed and disappeared, taking the stench and sizzling noise away with it.
'Negary' looked down at the bottle in his hand, what remained inside was a small bit of white powder consisting of salt and a few ground-up herbs. In Mysticism, salt represented purification, which carried the power to remove wicked and impure powers.
〖 Because I displayed abnormalities, they believed that I posed the biggest threat and tried to eliminate me first? 〗walking to the window, 'Negary' only saw a bit of foul mucus remaining.
〖 It didn't cause serious damage, huh? 〗'Negary' looked at the surroundings outside. When he originally saw the mucus, he had thought the enemy was a soft-bodied creature like a snail or leech. If that was indeed true, the salt and herb powder that he prepared, combined with some mana as a catalyst, should have been able to make that one fall to his deathbed, or perhaps even dying right on the spot.
However, while that one did produce mucus and was an impure existence, he wasn't a soft-bodied creature like 'Negary' had expected, so the outcome was a lot less than he had planned. Most likely, that one had only been scared into running away without actually suffering much damage.
〖 At least that will give me a while of peace 〗'Negary' wasn't too concerned about this. He was currently using a mortal body, so some mistakes were unavoidable.
However, after eliminating several wrong answers, the identity of that stench's master had been confirmed, so if they ever met again, he would get what he deserved.
〖 It's about time, I should head out 〗'Negary' checked his pocket watch. It was currently 3 AM, and he needed to prepare a few more things when he arrived at the library, so it was necessary to head there early.
As he pushed his door open, 'Negary' saw the blond young lady called Nox from earlier, she was carrying with her a small bag, her clothing was disorderly, her hair a bit unkempt, the mascara on her eyes also seemed to have gotten a bit wet, which dripped down to her pinkish cheeks and exuded a sense of wild beauty.
She stood within the dark corridor as something seemed to be spreading behind her. A faint smell of alcohol and a strong smell of Photinia flowers exuded from her body, furthermore, some chaotic mana was also flowing through her body.
Nox obviously didn't expect to see someone leaving their room at 3 AM, so she stiffened up when she saw 'Negary', then smiled and greeted 'Negary' before entering her dorm room.
〖 Tch… so she's obtaining mana through that method? 〗'Negary' wasn't judging Nox as everyone's choices were theirs to make, however, this method of obtaining mana would only cause these girls to become more and more deformed.
Mystic Demonesses, one of the Mystic organizations that Negary knew about. They believed that mana naturally existed within the human body in the form of miraculous vitality, so as long as they had a way to extract mana from this vitality, they would be able to obtain mana.
These people then came up with a variety of methods to extract mana through vitality, with two of them being considerably more well-known compared to others. The first was infants, they considered newborn infants to be rich sources of mana, so they applied their flesh blood through various means on their bodies, like cosmetics or food.
While the second well-known method was pregnancy magic. Those who practiced this magic would frequent various balls and banquets of debauched nature, becoming the center of men's attention. As they were exceptionally beautiful, they found it extremely easy to draw the eyes of those from the opposite sex.
At these balls, or rather, the events that would occur during or after these balls were considered a type of ritual, the embryo selection ritual, in which they would become pregnant within one hour. After confirming their pregnancy, they would completely digest the fetus within themselves, turning it into their source of mana.
Initially, 'Negary' had thought that this Nox was only someone who used such cosmetics, but seeing her post-ritual state with slightly disturbed mana and other corresponding abnormalities, 'Negary' was able to confirm that she was indeed a member of the Mystic Demoness.
As long as they could bypass the natural female mental blockade, this would definitely be the quickest method to obtain mana. However, this method was irregular, and if Nox continued like this, she would only become eerier and eerier.
When using this method to accumulate mana, regardless if she used it up or saved it within her body, it would still leave traces on her. These traces would then cause her body and soul to undergo mutations all the way until her rationality itself collapsed, turning her into a mindless chunk of flesh.
〖 However, I find it strange that she would choose to return to the dorms here 〗'Negary' wouldn't care about a woman who walked on the wrong path. What he cared about was this abnormal occurrence.
A woman like Nox who had even bypassed her bottom line as a woman should not care about some academy rules, and she wouldn't hold any sort of lingering affection towards the dorm where she had only just moved in today.
〖 I am the same as well, whenever there is nothing that needs to be done, I would subconsciously choose to return to the dorms 〗'Negary' suddenly noticed this startling abnormality. Unless something else was at work, this must have been a disturbance caused by the mastermind behind the Mobis Institute.
〖 This is the result of a kind of ritual. Once I come to the library, by borrowing the power of the Grand Library, I should be able to dispel this without issues 〗
'Negary' paused briefly in front of the auditing students' dorm rooms, confirming that these rooms were all under the effect of a certain ritual. If not because of Nox's abnormalities, he might not have been able to notice.
