Book Eater

Chapter 6 - What Does This Book Taste Like? (2)

Well, I won't lose anything either way.

In other words, it was a matter of priority. Theo could choose to learn one more magic or borrow Gluttony's wisdom. If he selected the wrong thing, he could just wait for tomorrow. As a result, there was no difference. He would be more worried if Gluttony suddenly started fasting. Therefore, Theo came up with a simple answer.

"Let's do two books this time."

He had something that he wanted to ask Gluttony. Theo grabbed [Ignition and Ignite are Different] and put it aside. Ignite was a rather useful magic for the 1st Circle, except that the difficulty was too high. Above all, it consumed less magic power than anything else. Despite Theo only having the magic power of a 2nd Circle, he would be able to use it 100 times. It was now time to pick the other book.

I think that all six books I selected earlier are good but... I don't know yet.

He would leave it to Gluttony's Appraisal rather than his own judgment. Appraisal magic was probably better than his own analysis anyway. Instead of being unreasonably stubborn, Theo extended his palm.

"Appraisal."

The hungry tongue slipped out quickly. It moved over the six books lined up before it and started using Appraisal. As the books became sticky with saliva, the information entered his head. Theo looked at the essences of the books Gluttony had discovered with calm eyes.

[Fire Elemental Summoning]... eliminated. If I don't have an affinity with the elemental, then I can't make a contract with it, which means there wouldn't be much point in summoning the elemental.

The mystery of making a contract with an elemental had been revealed thirty years ago, proving that it was impossible to make a contract with an elemental without having an inherent affinity. A magician who adored elementals had finally achieved success. He had opened the door to the elemental world with a magic circle and developed a way to make a simple contract. The [Fire Elemental Summoning] was a book from that magician, and Theo could summon the elemental with Gluttony's abilities.

However, this book only gave him the magic to summon the elemental. Making a contract with the elemental and using its power was a different story. When Theo entered the academy, he had been told to give up because he had an elemental affinity of close to zero.

"It is a pity, but it can't be helped."

He had experienced this kind of situation several times already, so he had gotten used to getting rid of any lingering attachments without any fuss. It had been a week since he first began the strange cohabitation with Gluttony. Theo might be the academy's magical dunce, but he had grasped this guy's bizarre nature.

One, it was meaningless to feed Gluttony a book if Theo's understanding was low. Two, no matter how high Theo's level of comprehension was, it was impossible to acquire magic beyond his competence. Three, there was some magic which was useless even if he learned them. Four, eating the same book again wouldn't give him anything.

... There might be other habits which Theo didn't know about yet, but he never saw anything apart from these four.

[Fire Elemental Summoning] was an example of the third case. There were some spells that required an affinity if one wanted any proficiency. It was why Theo didn't try to acquire white magic, which required divine power.

There's a magic where castration is a prerequisite... Urgh, just thinking about it gives me goosebumps again.

Apparently, some lunatic in the east had done it to learn magic. Even Theo didn't have the stomach to read through the pages. What had the person been thinking? Theo shuddered before moving his hand to his next prey.