It wasn’t that simple, though. His father was only one of the leading Expert Scribes at the Royal Library. Even if he could stop him, another scribe would take his place, and their family might die in their stead.
Can I live with passing a death sentence on someone else? He thought about Jasmin, the daughter of another Expert Scribe at the Royal Library. I can’t take that risk. Jack rubbed the back of his neck, weighing his options with care. How can I stop the grimoire from being deciphered?
He considered preventing it from being deciphered by destroying the book. If he could intercept and destroy it before it reached the scribes, the problem would be solved. He covered his face with his hands in despair.
He had no idea where the book of forbidden spells originated. He recalled the similarity of the blood magic ritual chant he’d witnessed. All he knew for sure was that it was written in an extinct Elven language, and it was in the Royal Library, a few years from now. The book could be anywhere now.
With the sound of songbirds still singing above him, Jack stood up and paced the temple again. That’s not enough to go on. Could I steal or destroy the book after I know where it is?
He shook his head. With important texts, they almost always worked on copies, not the originals, which were kept locked away. He couldn’t stop the grimoire from being deciphered. That meant a scribe’s family would die.
Jasmin’s sixteen. I wonder what she’s doing now? His thoughts wandered to meeting her, and his heartbeat raced. Would she even like me as I am now? I won’t be a scribe. I’m not really a teenager. He looked down at the blood-red rose while running his free hand through his messy hair in despair. Should I even try to connect with her? She’d had a good life without him; she didn’t need him to be happy.
Jack sat back down to think while trying to put meeting Jasmin out of his confused mind. He had a serious problem to solve, so his potential future love life could wait. Is there anyone above Greaves I could inform that he was deciphering a blood magic grimoire?
Blood magic was forbidden for good reason. A cult of blood mages had almost destroyed the Kingdom of Merciar a thousand years earlier. The class was considered so dangerous that anyone discovered with the class was summarily put to death. There were no exceptions.
Jack was assuming the Baron wasn’t authorised to continue deciphering and translating the book after learning it was forbidden knowledge. But who could he tell? And how could he prove the encrypted book contained forbidden spells?
His thoughts drifted to one of his past bad decisions. Why did we keep on deciphering the book? Why didn’t we stop? We should’ve stopped! If only we’d stopped!
He and his father were well aware of the crown’s policy on forbidden blood magic, yet they barely batted an eye when the Baron ordered them to continue deciphering the book. They should’ve stopped. It made no sense; it was like they couldn’t see how bad the decision was.
He shook his head, having asked himself these same questions a thousand times. Who can I tell that the Baron is involved in blood magic, and how would I explain that the encrypted book contains blood magic spells?
He’d just witnessed twelve nobles perform a forbidden blood magic ritual within the safest city of the Kingdom of Merciar. There might be many more blood cult members within the city. He might ask the wrong person for help.
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Jack considered sending an anonymous letter to the head of the Royal Library and even to the Inquisition, whose role was to hunt down users of forbidden classes. This might be an option, but there wouldn’t be any evidence until after the grimoire is deciphered and translated.
Wait. I know the cypher. He sat up straight and smiled. He could decipher and translate the first section of the book and send a copy to the Inquisition before his father or another Expert Scribe tries to crack the puzzle.
“Damn it!” Jack remembered he couldn’t choose the scribe class this time and cursed his bad luck. He scratched his face where he used to have a sensitive burn scar that would annoy him when he was agitated. He gave up on the idea of gaining access to the blood magic grimoire. He’d never gain access without being an Apprentice Scribe.
I’ll send an anonymous accusation that Greaves is trying to access a blood magic grimoire. He smiled at the idea of the inquisitors arresting the Baron and hanging him. He scratched his chin in thought. Without proof, would the accusations be enough for an inquisitor to investigate?
He wasn’t sure. I can’t rely on luck. I must be certain. This is my family’s life at stake. He gulped due to anxiety. He couldn’t guarantee his father or another Expert Scribe wouldn’t decipher the blood magic grimoire, resulting in Greaves killing a scribe’s family.
He stood and started pacing again before stopping in front of the marble statue of the Goddess Demeter. I have to kill him before anyone deciphers the book. His hand was resting on the handle of his new dagger. I have to choose a combat class and train hard for a few years before killing him.
Jack clenched his fists and imagined driving a poisoned dagger deep into the Baron’s fat gut. His obsession with killing Greaves guided his thoughts as he touched the Choosing Stone and looked through the list of available classes again.
There are a lot of combat classes. Jack pulled out a notepad and pen and wrote down the combat classes, sorting them into similar categories. For good measure, he included all the non-combat classes as well, so he’d have everything on paper.
Combat Classes
Mage, Blood Mage, Earth Mage, Fire Mage, Ice Mage, Time Mage
Knight, Spearman, Swordsman, Warrior
Archer, Hunter, Ranger
Assassin, Infiltrator, Rogue, Scout, Spy, Thief, Tracker
Inquisitor, Poisoner, Trapsmith
Non-Combat Classes
Actor, Administrator, Alchemist, Architect, Artist, Baker, Bard, Beggar, Blacksmith, Brewmeister, Carpenter, Cartographer, Cook, Dancer, Draughtsman, Explorer, Farmer, Herbologist, Hermit, Historian, Horseman, Housekeeper, Jeweller, Labourer, Librarian, Linguist, Maid, Mathematician, Merchant, Negotiator, Outcast, Poet, Priest of Demeter, Priest of Nemesis, Priest, Researcher, Scholar,
Jack had picked up the habit of committing to paper anything he wanted to memorise. As a scribe, he’d had the skill, [Perfect Recall], which allowed him to memorise anything he read or viewed that was written down.
While he had his notepad out, he wrote down his affinities in a table format. He included three values. His ‘Current’ affinity value, the value ‘At Death’, and the value ‘At Sixteen’ in his first life.
Table of Affinities
Affinity | Current | At Death | At Sixteen
Fate 71% : 17% : 12%
Time 62% : 43% : 38%
Void 55% : 8% : 8%
Divine 44% : 18% : 17%
Arcane 43% : 24% : 22%
Chaos 37% : 9% : 9%
Death 34% : 11% : 8%
Light 32% : 28% : 24%
Earth 25% : 23% : 21%
Darkness 25% : 11% : 9%
Sound 21% : 18% : 13%
Healing 21% : 17% : 15%
Psychic 20% : 18% : 16%
Blood 18% : 14% : 12%
Fire 16% : 14% : 10%
Metal 15% : 12% : 11%
Space 15% : 4% : 4%
Ice 14% : 6% : 3%
Air 13% : 11% : 10%
Luck 13% : 6% : 9%
Water 11% : 9% : 7%
Poison 10% : 8% : 5%
Lightning 9% : 6% : 5%
Nature 8% : 6% : 5%
Gravity 3% : 2% : 2%
Jack compared all his affinities. They’ve changed so much. Why? A realisation hit. Damn it! I no longer have [Perfect Recall]. That’s going to make remembering things more difficult. He looked through what he’d written. Although I did remember all my old affinities, perhaps I’ll be lucky and still remember everything I previously memorised.
He gave a little chuckle when he looked at the percentages for the Luck affinity. My bad luck just kept getting worse. Over the course of his first life, his Luck affinity fell from 9% to 6%. Affinities aren’t meant to decrease! At least it’s higher now. Hmm, 13%, still not great.
Most people’s affinities averaged around 20%, with whatever they were likely to be good at around 30-40%. Any affinity below 15% was considered below average, while anything above 35% exceptional. It was rare for a sixteen-year-old to have any affinities above 40%.
Jack shrugged and put his notepad away. I need to concentrate on choosing a class.