Chapter 26: Protection from Evil

Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Schliff, schliff, schliff.

Amidst the sound of flipping pages, Jason was doing what he did as before. Whenever he came to a fresh new page, he would begin reading the text from the top of the page. For Jason, who was merely a novice when it came to reading [Graphical Reiterations], such a way of text recognition was extremely laborious.

Reading word-for-word was the basic way of going about it.

And, to be able to read better, he would use his index finger to point out practically every single word with his fingertip as he read through the text.

This time was no exception.

It was just when Jason’s index finger pressed onto this page of the book, a faint ray of light lit up from the page.

The light ray was gentle, yet strong.

It had enshrouded Jason before he even had the chance to react.

Jason felt a kind of coziness, like a gentle breeze brushing across his face.

However, the next moment—

Ah!

A miserable scream that only seemed to exist in Jason’s ear, appeared.

The degree of the shrillness of that scream was simply beyond what words could describe. It was as if a real steel needle was piercing Jason’s eardrums.

Jason’s condition was much worse than expected.

At the moment the screams started, his entire body trembled, and there was an outburst of an unprecedented pain within his body. There was a bout of warmth through his nose and mouth, and then, fresh blood directly spewed out.

As he breathed, he could feel pain. This was especially so for his viscera.

But Jason simply could not be bothered with these. His pair of eyes were fixated on his own body. A dark shadow was slowly being pulled away from his body, and the dark shadow was putting up a struggle.

Every single struggle left Jason with an excruciating pain that felt as though his insides were being reamed by a knife.

Beads of perspiration appeared on his forehead and trickled down both sides of his cheeks, then eventually dropped to the floor with pattering sounds.

Jason gritted his teeth and did not allow himself to cry out in pain.

He simply stared hard and watched the dark shadow being detached from his body, bit by bit. Then, under the glow of the light, the shadow was like icy snow under the scorching sun. It rapidly dissipated.

This process lasted for about three seconds.

When the dark shadow had completely dissipated and the light had also dispersed, Jason felt an unprecedented sense of ease emerging within his body.

Jason could feel that the oppression and tension that stuck to him like a shadow had also dissipated.

Then, a flash of enlightenment came to mind.

“When I was in the ‘Moon Mask’ just now, I wasn’t completely detached!”

“I have already been targeted!”

“It was just that…”

“I was unaware, that was all!”

The realization hit Jason, and he could not help but recall the sight of corpses staring and smiling neatly at him.

Suddenly, he felt a shudder coming from deep within him.

If he allowed that situation to develop in whatever state it was already in, he would most likely become a member of those corpses!

Unconsciously, Jason’s grip over the book in his hands tightened.

Once again, this book had saved his life!

Or to be precise, it was “that teacher of his” who had anticipated that something like this would happen. Therefore, “that teacher of his” had made some appropriate arrangements.

Subconsciously, Jason lowered his head to look at the book in his hands.

It was at this time that he suddenly realized, that on the side of the text that was originally on the page, four lines of words had appeared:

“Jason, my apprentice. Should there come the time when you will see these lines of words, I will be very happy, for this proves that you are still you.”

“Just as a precautionary measure, I suggest that you record every skill of a night watchman that you have ever learned from this place. My sincere apologies to you. I should be with you to guide you myself, but some things have happened, and I must deal with them myself.”

“There’s also another thing that I need to apologize for. That is, that I can’t tell you more than what you already know. But I can promise that the next time that we meet, I will let you in on the details.”

“May you watch over the night, may you stay within the dark of the night, may there always be light in your heart—your teacher, Dan, the night watchman.”

These words were written in a common language used universally.

The last line carried a certain kind of wish.

After a moment, these words disappeared without a trace.

This occurrence did not surprise Jason at all.

He had seen even more amazing things just a while ago. Such tricks, similar to the effect of using invisible ink, were amateurish.

Of course, it was possible that this might be some profound skill that he could not understand.

But no matter what, Jason still breathed a small sigh of relief.

He had passed the most important stage that he needed to clear, with his identity of a fake heir.

Even if he behaved extraordinarily strangely in any future meetups, he would still have some leeway to turn back.

But at the moment, Jason was not thinking much about those matters.

He was more concerned about the Graphical Reiterations recorded in this book right before him; in particular, the part that was exclusively about “skills of the night watchman”.

“Pro…tection…from evil… The night watchman’s…magemark…could prevent…a certain level of…invasion by evil powers… How to use it… sentence combinations…handprints…”

Compared with the explanations of monsters’ names, Jason was still able to make guesses and infer the meanings of the words based on his personal experiences. At this moment, in the face of such completely foreign words pertaining to “Protection from Evil”, Jason could not help frowning.

This was simply too difficult to understand!

He tried his best to make interrelated guesses to establish a contextual relationship. And he barely managed to understand the meaning of some of the words within the “sentence combinations”. But, when he combined the front and back sentences, everything became completely incoherent and unintelligible.

As for the other remaining parts?

Those made no sense at all.

“The level of Graphical Reiterations is just too low.”

“If I want to fully parse this text that records information on “Protection from Evil”, I will need to be at least at the beginner level.”

Jason was thinking about the situation as he rubbed his swollen temples.

Relying on the [Graphical Reiterations] at a novice level to carry out his readings was simply too difficult.

Not only was it very inefficient, but it was also extremely energy-consuming.

Coupled with the injuries sustained from earlier on, Jason felt as though he had stayed up all night, where his body was practically empty, and he could fall into a coma at any moment.

Therefore, Jason simply put down the book he was holding in his hands and opened the lid of the pot.

The scales were removed, while the meat was cut into squarish pieces. When put into the boiling water, these pieces of meat became more compact. The lean meat became a brighter red, and the white meat had a layer of crystal transparency. After he put it into his mouth, the taste of the different layers was all the more apparent.

The only thing lacking was that there were no additional seasonings.

Otherwise, there would be nothing that could hinder Jason from finishing up all the food.

[Devouring the Grizzly Hound!]

[Modest recovery from injury! x3!]

[Satiety +2 x3]

[Satiety: 6]

…

More powerful than the “grinner” and the “paradoxical being”, but inferior to the “submariner”.

Without hesitation, Jason chose to use up 2 points of Satiety to upgrade his level of Graphical Reiterations.

[Graphical Reiterations (passive) (advanced beginner): The graphical reiteration is an ancient language. It is only circulated among the secretly hidden organizations and mysterious forces. There are rumors saying that, through corresponding combinations, together with some rituals, the Graphical Reiteration will produce some incredible effects. But you are still quite a distance away from these. You have only mastered its beginner knowledge. Given your current grade, reading will not be considered difficult, but you will still need to consider a long time for some rarely-used and unfamiliar words.]

…

Once again, a large, disorderly amount of knowledge surged into his mind.

This round took a much longer time, as compared with the previous round at the novice level.

It took as long as three whole seconds.

Jason believed that, by this time, he would definitely have fallen into a coma if it were not for the two supplementary treatments and one physical recovery that he had completed due to the food he had devoured.

However, when all this was over, Jason looked back at the notes in his hands. The corners of his mouth were raised as he broke into a smile.

It had become extremely easy for him to read.

Everything that was so difficult to understand just a while ago had become simple and easy at this point.

And what followed was a scene that made Jason’s smile glow even more brightly.

[Discovered skill of “Protection from Evil”. Determined that the skill of Graphical Reiterations has reached the beginner level. Yes/No to consume 3 points of Satiety for Learning?]

…

An unexpected surprise.

This had never crossed Jason’s mind. Unexpectedly, this notebook not only allowed him to learn the Graphical Reiterations directly, but it also allowed him to pick up other skills.

Although the cost of learning Protection from Evil was far greater than the other skills, at this point, was there anything else worthy of hesitation?

Jason immediately gave a definite and positive answer.

“Yes!”