Chapter 135 - Acquiring Knowledge

He made his way through the sea of tables and drunkards, most of which were too intoxicated to greet Merlin, but he returned the greetings of those who could.

"Hey boss." He sat down next to the thief lord, who was enjoying his glass of liquor.

"Oh, so nice of you to join us." The elf said while dragging out his letters, it seemed he was rather drunk at this point, and Merlin could smell the choking scent of strong whiskey on the elf's breath. 

"Do you have the translated documents ready?" Merlin asked, not really wanting to deal with a drunk eccentric elf.

"Slow slow slow down. All work an no play will make an elf go grey, you know?" The elf lord muttered in a drunken stupor. "Although it may be too late for you."

The elf laughed at his own joke before slamming the rest of his drink down his throat and standing up.

"Come." He said before drunkenly waddling through the sea of tables and other drunkards.

Merlin was lead down a different tunnel this time around, and about four minutes of the elf wobbling around barely able to stand on his own two feet, he suddenly stood up straight and began walking normally.

"The blasted elf's curse." Merlin heard the elf mutter, it seemed he had already perfectly sobered up but didn't seem too happy about this fact.

"Come Merlin." The elf spoke, quickly leading him down a tunnel, and within the first minute they had already travelled further than the last four.

Merlin was lead into a surprisingly well lit room that was full of shelves, books, and large desks. There were several people in the room working at the few large desks in the room, every single one of them seemed very invested in their work, as not a single one turned to look at the two who entered.

"I thought you said you didn't already have a library." Merlin muttered, "Or did you make this one in a week?"

"It's not a library, this is our office." The elf let out a small chuckle before correcting Merlin. "This is where we do most of our work involving cracking ciphers, forging documents and blackmailing nobility.

Those last two points were mumbled, but they were still audible enough to be heard.

"And for you." The elf began talking as he walked over to a shelf, picking up a stack of paper bound with twine. "I believe this is for you."

As Merlin was handed the stack of paper that had a small shimmer indicating that it was recognised as an item by the system. He inspected the item, causing an information sheet to appear.

┌───────────────────

[Bashkatil Translation. (Unique)]

Sheets of bound paper containing a large list of translations of the mysterious Bashkatil language, it was made for you by the thieves guild.

• Uses remaining: 1

• Upgrades Knowledge: "Language: Bashkatil (Beginner)"

└───────────────────

A smile formed on Merlin's face as he read the item's stats. He unbound the twine and flipped through the pages, causing the sheets to suddenly light up before vanishing in Merlin's hands, causing a notification to appear before him.

「Congratulations, your knowledge, "Language: Bashkatil (Beginner)" has been upgraded to, "Language: Bashkatil (Intermediate)"」

"Well, that's an interesting ability. Convenient, but it must surely waste a fair amount of paper." The elf remarked.

"I suppose so." Merlin said, "It doesn't always eat the book or paper. It seems to only eat the document if it provides a skill."

"How odd." The elf's eyes were sparkling with curiosity. The elf turned towards the shelf once more, pulling out yet another stack of paper. "And this is the recipe we translated... Please don't eat it."

Merlin took the sheets, although the elf seemed reluctant to hand them over. This stack of paper also shimmered, Merlin inspected the item, causing an information window to appear.

┌───────────────────

[Ghoul Conversion Poison Recipe. (Unique)]

Sheets of bound paper containing a translated recipe used by the vampire from another world to convert this world's residents into ravenous undead.

• Grants Knowledge: "Recipe: Ghoul Conversion Poison"

└───────────────────

"Well, here goes nothing." Merlin jokingly said as he flipped through the sheets of paper, knowing it wouldn't vanish as it didn't have a limited amount of uses.

The book began lighting up similar to the last, which caused the elf's body to subconsciously jerk forward and reach for the recipe, but the light vanished before his hand reached it. He stopped mid-grasp, seemingly confused.

Merlin on the other hand was given a notification.

「Knowledge obtained: "Recipe: Ghoul Conversion Poison"」

"Well, it didn't eat it." Merlin said, handing the documents back to the elf.

The elf seemed flustered, but quickly regained his usual demeanour, taking the documents and putting them back up on one of the shelves after retying it.

"Well, that's the translation part complete. I still have my men working on the cure part, but we've run into a bit of an issue." The elf explained. "They don't have a sample of the poison to work off of, or the main ingredient required to make the poison in the first place, vampire blood."

"I might be able to help with that actually." Merlin said, "Do you know anybody with the ability to appraise or inspect objects and entities?"

"I can." The elf said, giving Merlin a gaze that reminded him of the first time they had met.

Merlin pulled two vials out of his inventory, one of the vials was from the vampire's den, he only took out one because he wanted to keep the other, and the other vial was from Redmond's mansion.

"Could you appraise these both?" Merlin asked, holding the vials out to the elf.

The elf stared at the first vial, the one he acquired from the vampire's den, and Merlin could see a strange glint in the elf's eyes.

"It's vampire blood." The elf said, looking away from the vial. "Specifically vampire blood from a creature not of this world."

Merlin tried inspecting the item now that it had been appraised, and he finally received an information window for it.

┌───────────────────

[Otherworldly Vampire's Blood. (Rare)]

The extracted blood of a vampire from another world. It isn't certain what would happen if you were to consume it.

• Crafting material.

└───────────────────

He checked his inventory and the other vial's information had also appeared, it was the same item.

"Hopefully this will help you." Merlin said as he handed the elf one vial full of vampire blood.

「You have earned +5 familiarity with the Leader of the Thieves Guild.」

"I've got nothing but respect for a man who always comes prepared." The elf said, taking the vial of vampire blood from Merlin. "I'll get this to the team shortly."

The elf then repeated the process on the second vial, the one he acquired from the Redmond's mansion, and Merlin watched as the elf's curious gaze turned into horror as the man quickly backed away a few steps.

"Where on Gaia's green earth did you find that." The elf said loud enough to distract a few of the workers in the area. "Make sure that doesn't spill anywhere in this city."

"What is it?" Merlin asked, taking a look at the vial himself now that it had been appraised. 

He inspected the item, causing an information window to appear.

┌───────────────────

[Concentrated Rose Poison. (Unique)]

Rose poison that had been cultivated within a victim of the rose wight over a long period of time, only to be extracted and concentrated into a thick tar-like substance.

A small amount of this poison entering the blood of something as large as an orc is likely to kill the creature within a matter of minutes.

• This poison has a 80% chance to reduce the target's stats by 50%, this does not stack.

• This poison will cause severe necrosis at the point of contact, and will continue to slowly spread throughout the body until the creature dies or the poison duration ends.

└───────────────────

"Oh, well that's..." Merlin muttered, reading through the item's stats. "I'm glad I didn't waste this on the wolf..."

The elf seemed unsettled as he watched Merlin stare intently at the vial. Merlin decided to give him a little bit of comfort by placing the vial back into his inventory.

"You have that on your possession and you're worried about ghouls." The elf exclaimed, shaking his head.

"Well, this is the only vial of its kind." Merlin said, "There aren't any more and there cannot be any more."

"How can you be so sure?" The elf asked with a curious expression.

"The poison is developed within the body of a rare mutation of a wight, the rose wight. Born from otherworldly necromancy and a specific sequence of events, it's fair to say that she was the only one to have ever been created." Merlin began explaining. "The only known victim of this poison, besides myself of course, was Sir Redmond, a noble whose wife was the corpse who became the rose wight."

"The victim in this case was Sir Redmond, and it is from his home that I acquired the poison. That man is now dead, and his body, as far as I'm aware, has yet to be recovered." Merlin continued, "As for the rose wight herself, she is also dead."

"What's stopping the Despoina cult from capturing her soul again?" The elf asked.

"I don't think they'll ever find her again..." Merlin couldn't help but chuckle a little, he held out his hand, and the elf watched as a small rose bud appeared in the palm of his hand.. "Because I ate her."