Chapter 293 - [Black Book] : Untold Legends

"So, another seeker after knowledge enters my realm!

I am Hermaeus Mora, Prince of Fate and Lord of Secrets.

This is Apocrypha, where all knowledge is hoarded.

Perhaps you will prove clever enough to uncover the secrets hidden here…

If so… Welcome.

Perhaps you are a fool or a coward.

If so… you are in peril.

Read your book again and escape before Apocrypha claims you forever."

The ringing deep voice of Hermaeus Mora, the Daedric Prince of Knowledge and Fate, rang deep within Jon's very soul. His words made a powerful warrior like Jon shiver but he was not worried, he grasped on the Black Book that was still in his hand and put it in his backpack.

Jon wasn't worried about going in Apocrypha as getting out was easy. The only problem here is how he will suppress his lust for knowledge. Jon is a bookworm and Apocrypha is the grandest library of them all. A whole world as a library and he just walked into it all by himself.

The place around him would give the sanest minds the scare of their lifetime but Jon anticipated its appearance and held tight. It was a long corridor that went down from where Jon stood, around him, the walls were made of decaying brown books and the ground was made of papers and notes. The words around them made Jon feel like he is tempted to read but he knew they were just some unreadable gibberish. The real bizarre thing was the ceiling that was open to the sky… the sky that looked like a green swamp with clouds of green tentacles coming down from it.

The appearance was simply terrifying.

Jon still could manage.

As he walked down the corridor, he spotted down some green smoke that looked a bit eerie. Jon knew it was harmless but once he walked through it, his skin itched and felt very uncomfortable.

'Poisonous Acidic Gas!'

Jon passed through it naturally and kept walking down the path that went left and right with no deviations. He found a platform with some books and soul gems on it. The books were rare ones that were hardly found on Tamriel so Jon made sure to collect them.

He came to Apocrypha prepared after all and he put all these books in his backpack.

He walked again until he reached an altar, on it, there was a book with a lot of runes moving around on it. That was the book that would lead him to [Chapter 2].

Apocrypha is the realm of Hermaeus Mora. A large world made of a grand sea of dark green ink and islands known as the books. Each book was made of chapters and can be accessed from Tamriel through a Black Book.

Right now, he was accessing [Chapter 2] of this book [Untold Legends]

***

The scene around him changed and he found himself in front of another altar that would lead back to [Chapter 1].

Jon turned around and survived the place detecting some beings around. He had to identify the location he was in first.

Chapter two was a large high platform on the sea of ink with not many walls but made of few bridges and such. He could only try to use Magic and levitate to gain himself a more battleground.

As Jon advanced, the first being he met was a [Lurker]. Lurkers are large daedric creatures that come from the murky waters of Hermaeus Mora's realm of Apocrypha. They appear as fish-like giant humanoids who serve their Prince by guarding forbidden knowledge. Lurkers use their long legs for stomping attacks and can attack from afar by spewing tentacles from their mouths.

As Jon started to battle the large creature, he was moving as fast as he could and used many kinds of spells to attack the Lurker. He summoned many [Bonemen] from the Soul Cairn and some Frost Atronachs to hold the Lurker in place but the beast was really strong. Jon was shot with tentacles and felt a great deal of pain but in the end, he spammed a ton Fireballs on the Lurker turning it to pieces.

Jon was really annoyed with the poisonous acidic ink of the tentacles and had to heal himself for some time. He then proceeded and found the Altar with the book to [Chapter 3].

[Chapter 3] was a single closed room where he had to face a [Seeker].

Seekers are grotesque tentacled daedra with many hands and tentacles on their bodies as if they came out of a Lovecraftian novel. They are servants of Hermaeus Mora, usually guarding tomes of forbidden knowledge and reading them if they were idle. Seekers have the power to banish prey with sound attacks. They are rarely seen outside the Apocrypha.

The battle against a Seeker was much better than a Lurker. Seekers are not that strong anyway and Jon managed to defeat the creature and trap its soul as a prize. He also found a Spell Tome to Conjure those dirty things in Tamriel.

From that point onward, Jon managed to get how things work around Apocrypha and how to battle the creatures of this Lovecraftian world. He killed many Seekers and took their souls after he advanced to [chapter 4].

In the end, he reached a large altar where a larger version of the Black Book waited for him to come.

That was the main reward of all Black Books.

Jon opened it and managed to read some words, he can have the choice to pick one of three gifts Hermaeus Mora can bestow on him.

The first was [Black Market], a spell to Conjure a Dremora Merchant from Oblivion that would sell and buy various stuff, a really good way for Jon to get rare materials. The second was [Secret Servant] which would summon a Dremora Butler to serve Jon for a certain amount of time. The third reward was [Bardic Knowledge] which would summon a spectral drum to play around Jon and buff his stamina.

Or so he thought!

The first two were the same as the game but the third… it was a bit different.

It said that as long as the caster can understand any instrument, he or she can make a spectral version of that instrument to play itself and make certain buffs or debuffs depending on the tone it plays.

As Jon read that, his smile grew silly.