7 Under the door

"If I don't want to get punishment I have to complete tasks. I don't know what exactly this punishment will be? It's probably a joke. Right?"

Further silence. Now Aron understood that grimoire can't speak directly to his head anymore.

He also tried to turn the pages of the book, but only two had text. The page titled {missions} has two missions and a timer that was already showing 27 minutes is. And a page with a table of contents. The table of contents only had one thing and that was expected.

So missions. Aron started reading from the top again, looking for the second bottom. The only hint might have been the prize. Aura.

Of course, only in a situation if the reward was somehow related to the task.

So he thinked about closing the book which at that moment had disappeared. Next he focused on innermost side of his body.

Aron's aura was muffled by the formations in the tunnel. When the young man concentrated, and tried to use his technique, nothing happened. He decided to repeat the process until he had some aura. After a few attempts he finally succeeded, he heard the sound of the bell.

[Ding Ding]

Before him, a half-transparent book levitated again. The mission page has changed.

[Mission accomplished!]

[You provided the knowledge resource- aura techniques "Incomplete Iron Aura Technique"]

[section-aura- unlocked]

The surprised young man squeezed his hands with a sense of fulfillment. However, it caused a breach of the wound and a blood loss from the hand. Another stab of pain forced him to do something with his injured hand.

If he remembered correctly, Arnold had picked some anesthetic for the old men, which Sorel tested with his ass. Wasting no time, he walked over to the old man's bag and poured the contents onto the ground. There was a lot of scrap in the bag, among them two crystals similar to the one used to open the first door, the two books, and a small clay vessel.

Aron was not sure that the contents of the vessel were actually an anesthetic liquid, so he carefully soaked the tip of his little finger in it. After a few seconds, he couldn't feel it. So without hesitating, he poured a few drops around the wound. While the potion was starting to work, Aron prepared a water bag for washing the wound and made a bandage from a piece of shirt.

When he no longer felt his hand, he quickly pulled out the knife. The blood was flowing again with great intensity. Aron felt dizzy, but felt no pain. With a quick movement, he poured the contents of the water bag over the wound and then wrapped it tightly with a makeshift bandage.

With his hand finally healed, he sat down on the floor and opened the book on the mission page. However, his eyes flashed to the ticking counter which now showed less than five minutes.

"This one task was not enough for you? If you expect me to do what with the aura, then you are probably not that great. How and how am I supposed to learn the technique of magic in five minutes? Hello ancient mage walking around for SURE, teach me your magic techniques! "

Resigned, Aron lay down on the ground, but his head was right next to the contents of the old man's bag. Aron's eyes fell on inconspicuous books. After a while, wild thoughts flashed through Aron's mind.

"Was magister a magician? He said something about runes and magical power.. "

Aron jumped up and picked up both books. [Ding]

Again, the sound was just a little different, and the grimoire opened to a blank page that quickly filled in with new text.

[The grimoire detects two books of magical knowledge: "Primary incomplete meditation technique." "The poor spellbook of the zero circle"]

[Do you want to add both books to the grimoire's library?]

[Yes] [No]

Aron wasn't sure if adding these techniques to the stock would count as a mission accomplishment, but he didn't have much time to hesitate because at the bottom of the page the counter showed five seconds to defeat. As soon as he saw it he shouted.

"Yes!"

[Mission accomplished!]

[You provided the knowledge resource-the meditation technique "Primary incomplete meditation technique."]

[section-magic- unblocked]

Before Aron could check the new sections, new text appeared on the page.

—————

{Congratulations, you have completed the first two missions that will allow you to walk the path of a true ruler.}

{A true ruler must know the tops of his abilities. Become a mountain for your subjects. It doesn't matter if you walk the path of a mage, a warrior, or both. The king should know the basics of both ways in order to direct his subjects towards them. Because what kind of parent is this who expects children to learn to speak when he himself cannot speak. But when the parent knows the basics of speech and teaches the child, the child may even outgrow the parent and start singing.}

—————

The two books he was holding vanished as if swallowed by a grimoire. Amazement adorned the young man's face. He knew that the book in front of his eyes was magical. But only now did he realize what the grimoire really expects and what great opportunities it offers him.

However, he did not have much time to consider the words as these began to disappear and a new mission appeared in their place.

[New mission]

[..later. I already thought that you would not cope with the first missions hehe. Don't yell at me anymore because if you do that again I will not help you! Also don't read what my father left behind, he always had some complexes, the only thing I agree with him is that you need to get stronger! And get out of here, but not the way that...]

[Reward: section -subjects- unlocks , one settler with silver warrior potential]

Different messages had to be written by different people. Some of them had to be in the grimoire from the beginning. The voice with which the young man spoke only influences part of the functions of the book, and he is forced to send messages the strange way now.

Finally, there is also a mission that is easy to interpret. After the reward, Aron would never have guessed the content of this quest. He didn't quite understand how the grimoire wanted to reward him with a settler. He left it for later when he would receive the award.

Time was longer now. The counter in the corner showed two hours. But he wasn't going to wait until the last minute to get the job done.

The first tasks were not about learning techniques, but about providing knowledge about a given topic to the grimoire. So now the task could not require Aron to significantly increase his strength in two hours.

Following this line of reasoning, Aron had to get out of the tunnel. The end of the mission again looked as if it did not fit in the designated place.

Whether the mission really wanted him out of the tunnel, Aron wasn't going to stay here longer than necessary.

He looked around. The stone door was still closed. Attempting to push them was unsuccessful, they were still locked up. From what the magister said, a sacrifice was needed, and apparently the door would remain locked without it.

He could always go back the way he came here. But Arnold and Rymar would immediately cut him down, if he came back without magister.

Discouraged, Aron looked around. Apart from a pile of bones and the magister's clothing, there was nothing there. Resigned, he walked over to the robes and began to search them. The rest of the dust that was once the body of the old man scattered to the ground. The magister was girded with a nice embossed belt to which a leather purse was attached.

Aron could never afford such wealth. The blue woolen robe lined with dark silk was probably more expensive than some village. And high boots made of fine deer leather were a real masterpiece. As luck would have it, the shoes were exactly the right size for Aron, who with a little disgust after exhausting the dust decided to keep them, like the rest of the old men's stuff.

He didn't have to wear them after all. He could sell these things or remake them. From the fabric of the robes alone, he could sew a beautiful doublet and jopulas.

Only now did he realize that after playing the medic and the premiere of the grimoire, there was not much left of his shirt and the gambeson had the leather straps torn off. Even before the expedition, his armor was in a moribund state, and now it was slowly losing any defensive value.

So the young man changed his shirt to clean one and put on his old cotehardie. He left the damaged shirt with a gambeson and quilted hood next to the saddle with a plan that as soon as he got out of here, he would repair them. When he was pinning the magister's wallet to his belt, he noticed that it was filled with some papers.

One of them was the map leading to the tunnel. And in the next notes he found an old map of the tunnel's interior. Only now did Aron realize that the door at which he stands is only one end of many tunnel legs. Place behind the door was described with the words...

"Library of trials"