25 The Codex

I finally recovered from my vicious, abusive cousin. One day I'll show Mikael who is boss. This young noble will surely get his revenge.

During my recovery, I practiced the [Flint \u0026 Steel Art] every day. My devilry had gradually settled at the high-Esquire level. I felt I could give Mikael a good round after breaking through, but dared not go looking for trouble.

I could tell by my father's stance that I was skating on thin ice. Hudson clan was a united devil clan, trashing a clan member's place of business was out of line. I finally took out the book inheritance I had received from Devil Ancestor.

I looked it over and saw nothing special about it. It was ancient and tattered, I could tell several pages were missing. They seemed to be forcefully ripped out.

The book was ten and a half inches long, seven and a half inches wide, and an inch and a half thick. A black leather cover bound it. The cover was fresh, in much better condition than the tattered pages.

I flipped through the pages and noticed there was no text on them. I realized my Devil Ancestor had told me this was an inheritance item, so I probably needed to pour some qi into it to get it to work.

I poured my Devil qi but nothing seemed to happen. After no reaction, I poured in my Soul qi.

[Soul qi detected… Probable host found… Codex of Souls engaged… Compiling user status… Codex calculates a (33.33%) chance of being partially repaired in 1,000,000 years if bound to host… Purging previous users… Binding to new host…

Host: James Hudson

Race: Devil

Age: 16

Cultivation: Esquire (3/4)

Cultivation Arts: Flint \u0026 Steel Art (Tier-2)

Battle Arts: None

Minor Daos: Soul (19%), Devil(15%), Fire(11%)

Inborn Ability: Soul Eyes (Suppressed)

Auxiliary Arts: Blacksmithing (Tier-1)]

[Several users have forced access to Codex of Souls archives while Codex was inactive… Purging user's memories of Codex to protect host… 1783 user memories successfully purged…]

[Codex suggests host find Sybil, if host finds Sybil it increases the chance of Codex repair by (10%) and increases hosts safety by 100%.]

[Quest issued: 'Find \u0026 tame Sybil within Wesser Forest']

[Rewards: Soul Dao Cultivation Art (Tier-3), Auxiliary Art: Soul Reading, Auxiliary Art: Contracts]

What's all this information here? Whoa, that looks like a description of me. I can see everything in my head. It wants me to do some quest, why the hell would I go to that death trap forest. How do I use this thing?

[Codex of Souls is an Auxiliary Artifact. Codex needs repair. Please complete the quest. Sybil will be helpful.]

Nah I'm not doing that, give me a Cultivation Art, you gave the Devil Ancestor one, this is unfair!

[Host will gain much higher levels of access to Codex archives over time completing Codex quests. Codex is now sending host where to find Sybil… Codex resources are drained… Becoming inactive, once host locates Sybil Codex will awaken.]

The Codex sent a detailed map of the Wesser Forest into my head; it showed the general area where I could find Sybil and what to watch out for. The book had also changed in my hands, the cover turning blue and pages new. The Codex no longer looked like an artifact, it now looked like something I could buy in any common shop.

I threw the Codex to the side. This stupid book wanted me to go deep into Wesser Forest! I had no reason to pit my life against such powerful demon beasts.

All that hard training and difficult questing were for common devils! This devil here is a prodigal young noble!

~~~

While James was grumbling on his misfortune his Devil Ancestor was hard at work training Mikael. The Devil Ancestor was quite impressed with how Mikael had whipped James into shape.

He thought to foster his growth so James would have someone to keep him focused. Mikael was a Light Dao practitioner with a powerful sense of justice and clan cohesion.

"Sir, here with a batch of sinners who await sentencing. Sir," said Johnson.

Johnson was the Devil Ancestor's right-hand man and General Manager of [Mountain Shadow].

They named [Mountain Shadow] for Johnson's Dao of Darkness and the Devil Ancestor being the 'Mountain Forger'.

The Devil Ancestor was well known for his eccentric ways.

Johnson managed the day-to-day affairs of [Mountain Shadow] and only reported to the Devil Ancestor.

He had been a follower of the Devil Ancestor before the Hudson clan was founded. His loyalty was unquestionable.

The burly devil looked over the docket and then glanced over at the criminals sitting cuffed in bindings.

"Splendid job, Johnson," said Kogthoz.

The burly devil casually waved his hand and all the physical bindings came off. Kogthoz bound their cultivation, then released his Count Aura.

"You all are here because you are criminals with crimes against the Hudson Devil Estate. I have looked over the facts concerning all of your cases. The evidence and testimony against you is clear cut." said Kogthoz.

"Breaking our Clan Laws with no concern of your own flesh and blood, with many of you having far more crimes under your belt that deserve death independently."

"I Count Hudson, Lord of the Wesser Forest and Warden to the Hudson Rift, in the name of the Rez'gal Empire sentence you to die."

The criminals kowtowed and began begging for mercy.

"Please have mercy Devil Ancestor we know our wrongs," They all said in unison.

"I was falsely accused."

"The glove doesn't fit."

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman."