Darkness shrouded the interior of the house.


    A thick pool of water—the same water that had covered the streets—covered the floor, accompanied by a nauseating stench. The light of the lantern barely reached the other end of the hall from his spot; even the beams of light refused to enter the house.


    That was promising and did not scream danger to him, not at all.


    Hector stepped through the threshold and entered the room. The liquid clung to his feet, akin to the first time he stepped on the water.


    He lifted the lantern above his head and surveyed the room.


    A shriveled corpse laid at the corner of the room. It was hardly the most exciting thing he found. The award for the most exciting object went to the book the corpse had clutched at his chest.


    The book had the black liquid dripping from the pages. Was it the source of all of this? Would it be safe to touch? It should be, since the water hadn''t murdered him yet. He crouched down and examined it.


    This book was something the dead man deemed necessary to clutch even in death. Why was it so important? Hector removed the book from the embrace. The dead wouldn''t miss their missing possessions.


    He opened the book.


    The book had ten pages, but only three of them had anything written on them. Two of them were black and leaked the ink, and the other one had a three-dimensional diagram of a spear. It did not seem all that important to him. What was the function of this?


    Hector inspected the diagram. The way it was drawn reminded him of something familiar, familiar like a strand. His needle was small compared to the diagram. Was this a grimoire? Grimoires could contain spells and rituals, that meant there should be a method to activate it.


    He knew better than to touch unknown diagrams, so he used his Strand. Did it make sense? No, not at all; nothing made sense ever since he woke up here, but he did it anyway since he suspected it was a grimoire.


    It turned his strand into the spear.


    The needle had swapped places with the diagram. A drawing of a needle was on the page, and he had a large spear strand; it was far larger than anything he could have constructed with his strand.


    It was a crutch. The grimoire was a substitute for his natural abilities.


    The ability to swap between shapes—spells—was useful, especially in combat, but he already had Strand Manipulation, and he wasn''t wasting the improvement he spent. He could call it buyer''s remorse, but as far as he was aware, there wasn''t a limit to a proficiency.


    He had already chosen his path.


    That left the last two pages. Would they interact with the strand? He swapped the spear to the needle, a shape he could recreate, then pressed it against the page.


    The inky substance reacted to the needle. The liquid spewed forth from the page and onto the ground; the strand turned from the gray gloss to the same color as the substance: pitch black. Unlike the essence from the ring, this one had the characteristics of the water, except the liquid did not obey gravity.


    The midnight needle had assumed the form of a liquid. The droplets drifted around the needle, gathering like black fog.


    He ignited the strand. The liquid became a tinge darker, otherwise it stayed consistent with the black droplets wrapped around the needle. With a wave of his hand, Hector spun and shot the needle at the wall.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    The strand burrowed into the wall.


    Residue liquid evaporated towards the ceiling, but otherwise had no other effect. Was that it? Hector took a step closer and examined the wall.


    Upon closer examination, he noticed a thin hole embedded in the wood. He designed the needle to penetrate skin and other hard surfaces, so that was intentional. It was underwhelming. Why did the dead man keep two pages worth of that? Not to mention it was all over the floor.


    There was one last thing he wanted to try. He sped up the regeneration of the needle, recreating it after a few dozen seconds, then used the water on the ground as a source. It was similar to the pages. He suspected it might be the same thing.


    The needle had the same reaction. It soaked the essence up and turned into black. Hector released the strand.


    That confirmed it then. The source was everywhere. Well, it used to be everywhere. Most of it was gone, with that star illuminating everything. It won''t last long. The star was fading at a faster rate than he predicted; the shadows in the alleyway were more pronounced, and he could see small pools of water again.


    Maybe the grimoire would have a use while the star was still active.


    Hector opened his grimoire and thumbed through the five blank pages. How would he turn them into the black pages? The other grimoire had them, so it should be possible. Did he soak the pages? Wouldn''t that damage the other pages?


    He shrugged and dipped the pages of his grimoire into the water. His grimoire didn''t have any diagrams for the water to damage.


    The Star was interesting. For one, he knew that someone else had caused it. Second, it cleared the streets of the creatures. Was it beneficial? Yes. Could the person do it again? He wouldn''t know. He''d have to prepare for the inevitable sunset.


    Hector picked the grimoire up from the floor. The pages had soaked the water and oozed with the same liquid.


    He made his way to the front of the house and removed the wooden bar barricading the door. That way, he had direct access to the plaza from here.


    There wasn''t anything notable, other than the painting of a white column towering over a black one, with water in between them. The black one was a reflection of the white one if he took the water into account. He had gone over the depiction three times, but didn''t notice anything different.


    Hector found three shards, which made the adventure worth it: that was another three meals secured, or another three sets of poppets. He found it odd there weren''t any sources of food, despite the utensils and dining tables.


    He walked out of the house and back into the plaza.


    Grade 2 (2%)


    Shards: (3)(+3)


    Trial Status:


    Aspirants: (252/1000)


    Proficiencies:


    Strands: Grade 1 (16%)(+3%)


    1: Shape: Needle


    Strand Manipulation: Grade 1 (13%)(+12%)


    Artifacts:


    The Unwritten Grimoire: Grade 1 (11%)(+10%)


    Unused Pages: (0/5)


    5: Nether Well (Corrupted)


    Paper Poppets: Grade 1 (20%)(+5%)


    Poppets: (2/3)


    Permissions


    Strands and Strand Manipulation had increased. The poppet Sebastian had been used, and he obtained the benefit from that. He was sure he was going to see him again. The grimoire was what concerned him. Corrupted? The Nether Well? Was that what it called the murky water? At least he knew it increased with usage.


    It was useful if anything; it guaranteed him an easy source. The Pillar was spouting nonsense.


    He tore the remaining poppets in half and used manifestation to refresh his stock with new ones. He had a specific plan in mind next.


    Shards: (2)(-1)


    Manifestation selected.


    Paper Poppets: Grade 1 (25%)


    Poppets: (3/3)


    The Star was not as bright. He could see the outline of the floating ball if he squinted. Sunset would arrive soon; he''d give it a few hours at this rate. He''d have to prepare, which meant improving those proficiencies, which also translated into his self-defense capabilities.


    Sebastian would come back soon for more poppets. He saw it fit to spend the practicing.


    Hector sat down in front of the pillar, placed the grimoire on his lap, then guided the strand onto it. With the grimoire opened on one lap, he practiced molding the shape.


    From a cube, to a pyramid, to a sphere, then back to a cube. Each iteration was filled with the Nether essence, then drained before shifting to the next shape. It was the most optimal training plan he could''ve thought of.


    Strands: Grade 1 (19%)(+3%)


    Strand Manipulation: Grade 1 (13%)(+2%)


    The Unwritten Grimoire: Grade 1 (15%)(+4%)


    The training plan he devised was designed to improve each aspect of himself. Using the grimoire as a source would increase it, even though he was draining the nether from the pages. Shaping the strands and manipulating the source increased the proficiencies. It was efficient.


    Gold words on the Pillar updated themselves. So long as he was close to it, he had a visual indicator of his progress.