VIP Chapter 379 Iaar (3k)
Will was silent for a while. He wasn’t too surprised to learn that “Iaar” was the consciousness of the dungeon side, and that she had even transmitted “information” to the witches through this identity.
Given the previous build-up, this conclusion was practically inevitable.
He glanced at Liya beside him. As the one with the least information among them, she also showed no surprise.
Will opened the book. It was somewhat old, but the paper was preserved in a pristine state with special preservation magic, ensuring the ink had not faded.
The book was filled with the names and general content of various ancient magics, with detailed classifications of their attributes and effects.
The only odd thing was…
Some of the book titles clearly appeared to have been added later, including the classifications by attribute and effect. The person who added them might not have been alone.
This was not a record left by Iaar alone.
What was interesting was that this book had no “additions”; all of these catalog entries were merely “supplements.”
“Is the story of Iaar’s death not the one most widely circulated among humans?”
Liya was the first to turn to Lis, asking.
Will had heard the story.
However, the story was too “clichéd.” It was about how in the early stages of magic, a witch who mastered too many unconventional ancient magics and was exceptionally powerful was regarded as a heretic, and thus everyone wanted to send her to the pyre. Yet, Iaar’s strength was not insignificant, and they had been unable to do so.
Finally, someone betrayed her trust, leading her to her own demise.
“If you’re referring to the ‘witch who was betrayed by her beloved and forced to die in a dungeon she couldn’t conquer,’ then that’s only half true.”
“The other half is correct, right?”
Lis nodded and took the book back from Will.
“Do you remember? I said that, in a sense, the ‘personalities’ formed by those who died in dungeons are more like ‘martyrs’.”
Lis flipped through the book, and for the first time, her usually nonchalant expression showed a rare look of reverence.
“Iaar is a martyr among witches. She was the first person to realize that adventurers could enter dungeons by dying, so she sacrificed herself to try and enter a dungeon in this way.”
“…You also said that they were more like seekers who achieved their goals through martyrdom. Since it was a quest for knowledge, she shouldn’t have just been trying to verify her conjecture, right?”
“Oh, stop remembering everything I say so clearly. I’m afraid Liya will get jealous, you know.”
“W-what are you talking about? There’s no such thing as being jealous of one’s own mother.”
“Her quest for knowledge was because she discovered…”
Lis flipped the book to a later section and showed it to Will.
That page was a mess, with only numbers. The names were a series of question marks and illegible characters, let alone the content summaries.
“…the true meaning of ancient magic.”
Lis pointed to a series of unclear characters on the page and then retrieved a book from her “ring,” which clattered onto the table.
Liya noticed that this book must be one of the “ancient magics,” but it was a title she had never seen before.
A… new book?
“Liya, have you ever wondered why we decipher ancient magic, but witches themselves aren’t historians, and they don’t even require every witch to understand history?”
“Huh? Isn’t it because ancient magic is too old, and there are no historical records?”
Hearing Liya’s answer, Will also realized.
It seemed that because he had been Liya’s student from the very beginning, helping her with experiments and deciphering ancient magic books filled with riddles, figuring out what materials and methods could be substituted, he hadn’t thought much about this problem.
If ancient magic were “ancient magic,” then historians or even archaeologists would be more professionally suited to the task.
However, when he thought carefully about his research with Liya: day after day of experiments, test after test, and refinement after refinement…
This looked more like studying ancient texts using “engineering” methods. Even when Iaer learned “Ice Array (Attack),” Will had done a lot of experimental attempts in addition to her enlightenment.
Witches studying ancient texts using experimental, even “engineering,” methods seemed like a complete mess.
Lis opened the book on the table.
This book looked very old, and its cover was the common red of ancient magic tomes. It should be a standard ancient magic book for witches.
But…
Will looked at the page and found that all the text on it was “garbled,” even…
It was more akin to the garbled text from his original world. Among these characters, he saw English, Japanese, and even… Chinese characters.
But they were mixed together, making them completely unreadable.
It was more like…
Uh…
Garbled text generated after a computer failed to decode?
“The ‘ancient magic original texts’ that witches are currently studying, which we can understand in terms of language, are not the original texts that Iaar supposedly obtained from a dungeon resembling a library of ancient magic. This book is the original text she obtained at that time.”
“The one Iaar found was this kind of thing?”
“That’s right. She somehow managed to read a part of it – now, it’s most likely that she obtained some decryption books from the dungeon side.”
Lis flipped open the book again and spoke in a tone of genuine admiration for a great figure:
“She was truly a genius, not just a genius adventurer, but also a genius… witch. She discovered that ancient magic was not ‘ancient magic’ from here. It doesn’t exist in our history, nor is it written in our language. But it can be reproduced by us. The study of ancient magic by witches is actually the study of reproducing a possible magic recorded within it.”
This was the first time Will had heard this.
But…
Thinking about it carefully, since he met Liya and they had researched ancient magic together, whether it was “Ice Array (Attack),” “Gentle Blessing of Warmth,” or even “Ash Extinguish”…
Compared to what was written in the original texts, it was closer to operating it with their own understanding.
It was closer to “You know of an operation, now the question is how to restore it with what you have on hand.”
Especially, Will recalled “Ash Extinguish,” which he had thoroughly studied just a few days ago. The ideas used in it clearly surpassed the technological and magical levels of this era.
Even with the setting of “the older the stronger,” many ancient magic systems were completely detached from modern magic, as if they had sprung from the ground.
This was probably why the things witches used were so bizarre.
“Ancient magic tomes obtained from dungeons, which do not belong to our era, naturally need to be interpreted using methods from the dungeon side.”
“Iaar’s ‘quest for knowledge’… couldn’t it be…”
“Yes. The ‘betrayal’ that occurred four hundred years ago was actually her seeking death in a dungeon, and for a long time, she existed as a certain ‘personality’ within a monster in the dungeon. This way, she could attain enlightenment directly, without us or herself needing to think about it.”
Lis chuckled.
“D-directly attain enlightenment? How is that possible…”
“Don’t you already know?”
Lis pointed to Liya’s staff.
“Liya’s staff?”
The metallic staff did indeed have a certain “specialness,” especially how it gleamed under the indoor light. Of course, the reason Will favored this staff was that the Emperor from “Rock Fire Iron Wall” had indeed dropped a unique steel that could withstand a witch’s magic.
“Haven’t you already stolen quite a few special drops like this from dungeons?”
“Ahem, what adventurers do can’t be called stealing. The drops from dungeons, especially those from Emperors, are not only strongly related to the dungeon’s theme but also to their own personalities – Entak Academy has already achieved such results…”
At this point, Will realized Iaar’s genius.
The output of dungeons was clearly…
Influenced by these “personalities,” which was why it wasn’t random – this non-randomness allowed adventurers with different needs in dungeons with different styles to make choices.
It was as if the dungeon’s consciousness was influencing the output and selection.
“Could it be that… the ‘monsters’ that Iaar created with her personality have a high probability of dropping… items for deciphering ancient magic, or even ancient magic books that have been reinterpreted?!”
Lis smiled.
“Correct. This is why… among the witches, there are specialized people constantly searching in dungeons for that…”
Lis paused slightly and delivered the rather shocking answer.
“The monster whose inner self might be Iaar herself.”
After such a long detour, Will finally understood what the witches he didn’t understand were aiming for.
He looked at Liya, whose expression seemed a bit subtle. For her, such complex and profound information was also something she was encountering for the first time.
“Don’t be so serious. As you both said, for someone who has died once, eternal life in a dungeon might not be a bad thing. Moreover, we originally had a way to quickly find Iaar.”
“Ah?”
“After defeating Iaar, her loot consists of items similar to books. They all accelerate the witches’ progress in studying ancient magic. At the same time, there will be notes, left in a way she knew and we don’t know how, hinting at the next dungeon’s appearance.”
“!!!”
Will’s eyes widened.
“However, the last time, the time we obtained the book for ‘Ice Array (Attack),’ the note within the book told us…”
“Undefined.”
“???”
Will was stunned.
He had never expected to hear this word in… well, in this world.
But Will seemed to understand the reason for the current phenomenon.
Because the dungeon where she was supposed to appear, the dungeon named “Apex of the Galaxy,” had completely “disappeared” from this story.
She had gone from being something fixed within a certain value to a random number.
“I tried to decipher the meaning of these three words, but I really have no clue. None of the existing dungeons bear any resemblance to this condition.”
Lis stretched. She looked at her watch.
The dungeon clearing time was already long enough. Coupled with passing through “The Witch’s Corridor” and chatting and listening to stories here, without realizing it, it was already midnight.
“Ah… it’s already this late. Since you’ve agreed to help me find clues about Iaar, and there are still many stories to tell, why don’t you stay for a few days before leaving?”
“That’s fine. I don’t have a place to stay anyway…”
Will pondered his days of roughing it. It was good that Lis was so naturally offering him a place to stay.
“Then—”
Lis looked at Liya, who was still processing all this information.
“Your laboratory should have a place for him to sleep, right? Liya?”
Liya, who seemed on the verge of falling asleep, suddenly woke up.
“Mmh… Huh… Huh huh huh?!”
