The Grimoire System

Chapter 4 [The Golden Lotus Flower]

"How can you be alive?" The elegant girl was severely dumbfounded this time.

She had been the guardian of the golden lotus lake for so long that even she didn't know how long it had been and in all her years she had seen people of all types come seeking for the golden lotus.

The golden lotus was a treasure that had many uses, the most common of which was using it as supplement for one's body.

Eating it would not only greatly enhance one's physical abilities but it would also wash away impurities from both the soul and body and grant a powerful holy attribute, making one with a normal body capable of practicing high level holy arts.

There were even a rumours that there was once a man who had continuously taken the trial and won a hundred times, gaining a hundred golden lotus flowers, and after consuming them he immediately became a holy saint.

For this reason, the golden lotus lake was an extremely famous location but not many people could find it because it wasn't fixed at one place.

The Golden Lotus Lake was said to exist on it's own separate plane, it was said that it would constantly choose random locations to host it's "Gate" which was just a point from where someone could enter the Lake.

But that wasn't all, one had to fullfil at least one of the three criterias to pass through the Gate, otherwise nothing would happen even if they knew the exact location of the gate.

First, one must have an extremely pure soul, having committed little to no sin in their life which was almost impossible.

Second, one must have the gratitude of a hundred innocent souls, which was the most commom method used by those who sought the golden lotus.

Last but not least, one must be completely unafraid of death, not just believe that they are unafraid of death but they must have literally zero fear of death in their soul.

Due to such strict conditions for just finding and entering the lake not many people were able enter it, let alone pass the trial.

However the content of the trial and the method of passing it was still known by many.

The reason behind it was a famous mage who had once encountered the lake and successfully passed the trial.

He had decided to write a book about his experience and how he passed the trial, which was by fighting the clone till he broke through.

That was to say that if one was able to increase their level after the trial began, the clone would still be at the same level as before and it should be possible to defeat it and indeed it was so.

As the guardian of the golden lotus lake, she was the one who took all the trials and till now only one method had been used to complete the trial, the method of breaking through one's limit after the trial began.

Even that guy who had passed a hundred trials eight thousand years ago had used the same method, although being able to break through a hundred times was almost impossible and had never happened before or after him since using external methods like pills and treasures were forbidden during the trial.

That wasn't to say that no one had tried different methods but no matter what trick one used, it didn't work.

Theoretically, it was possible to pass the trial by committing suicide but what was the point if one was dead? After all, if one possessed an ability that could resurrect them after death then so would the clone and it would be back to square one.

But now, in front of here eyes, the old man had thoroughly died and after about an hour came back as good as new.

"You- What are you?" The elegant girl was feeling uncomfortable, after all in all her years there had never been a single time where she couldn't understand the other person.

"It doesn't matter what I am, hand over the golden lotus. Or did I fail the trial?" Dane replied, still wearing the same blank expression.

"This-" The elegant girl was speechless.

She couldn't deny that he had passed the trial since the lake had already acknowledged it, nor could she claim that he had cheated because as far as she knew it was literally impossible to cheat the Golden Lotus Lake unless the person in question was at the level of a Deity, and clearly the old man before her wasn't.

"Very well, you have successfully passed the trial!" She helplessly announced and waved her hand, causing one of the lotus flowers to fly towards Dane.

"Phew!" Back in the cave Alph heaved a sigh of relief, he had been a little worried that the guardian would refuse to give him the flower but now it seemed that even she was helpless about it for some reason.

"Dane, send me the lotus and ask the guardian what it can be used for!" He couldn't wait to figure out what the lotus could be used for!

In front of the lake, Dane stood there with the lotus in his hand for a while before he suddenly bowed towards the cave, his hands raised up as if presenting it to a king.

At that moment, a purplish light suddenly enveloped the lotus before devouring the golden lotus and disappearing alongside it.

"So he was working for someone else all this time? How despicable!" The guardian of the Golden Lotus Lake gnashed her teeth in annoyance.

She wasn't angry because Dane had passed the trial for someone else but because she couldn't understand how he had passed it.

After the lotus dissapeared, Dane stood up and looked at the elegant girl.

"What? What do you want now? Go away!" She couldn't help but feel irritated at the emotionless gaze of the old man.

"The great master wants to know what the lotus can be used for!" The old man announced with a reverent tone.

"Great master? How is he great when he doesn't even know what the golden lotus is used for? Pffft!" The guaedian was further enraged at the seemingly stupid question, why would one seek the golden lotus if they didn't even know what it was used for?

A cold glint flashed through Dane's eyes as he glared at the guardian, it was the first time an emotion had appeared on the old man's face.

"Hmph, you think you can scare me? If you want to know what it's used for you have to tell me how you passed the trial, and don't even think of making up a lie!" She folded her arms and smugly looked at the old man, she wasn't scared of him or the great master he spoke of.

Hearing the stubborn girl, Alph was perplexed. He couldn't possibly tell her that Dane was just a slave created by the Grimoire Of Gluttony right?

Speaking of which, the elegant girl was the guardian of The Golden Lotus Lake and could easily create a perfect clone of the old man, with all his abilities, but even she couldn't tell anything wrong with the old man which was to say that the Grimoire must be extremely strong.

Which in turn caused him to wonder how strong must The Grimoire System be which allowed him to use the Grimoire without being subjected to it's Clauses.

Although the Grimoire Of Gluttony was very powerful, he didn't want to become a fat gluttonous pig to use the Grimoire.

All that aside, without the guardian telling him how would he know what the golden lotus was used for?

As he was contemplating over his next actions, the Grimoire suddenly started shaking and glowing.

"What's up with this? Could it be reacting to the golden lotus?" Alph was became somewhat hopeful.

If the book could use the golden lotus then he wouldn't need to ask the girl but he didn't know if the book would raise his combat capability with the golden lotus.

"Huuu! Let's just do it!" He decided to just go ahead with it, worst case scenario he would loose a treasure he couldn't even use.

As his hands clutching the flower approached the Grimoire, the golden lotus started to disintegrate before turning into a stream of golden light and covering the opened page, which was Dane's page.

The old and somewhat tattered page started to absorb the golden light which caused the page to become newer, cleaner and whiter, only coming to a stop after it had completely absorbed the light.

Now, the page looked completely different from the other pages in the book, it didn't even look that old anymore.

"Gulp!" Alph held his breath and waited for a couple seconds before picking up the book and checking it.

Back at the golden lotus lake the guardian of The Golden Lotus Lake was staring wide eyed at the place Dane had been.

Dane who was just standing there motionless just moments ago had suddenly exploded with a golden light and once it dissipated he was nowhere to be found.

She wasn't astonished that the old man had disappeared, she was astonished because the golden light he had exploded into gave her the same feeling as her own power, and the power of The goldyen Lotus Lake.

"What is happening today? Am I dreaming? Haaa!" She exhaled a gust of air in frustration, today was probably the most frustrating day of her life since that guy eight hundred years ago.

"Whatever~ at least it's over now! But then again I will probably have to wait for dozens or hundreds of years just for another person to find the golden lotus lake! Hing~ I feel so bored~" She threw herself on the giant lotus and complained as she disappeared.

Back in the cave, Alph was currently sitting on the ground with a weird expression on his face, the book in his hand showed the renewed page.

The page displayed Dane's information which was the same as before except there was now an additional option available.

[Options Available

Summon

Assimilate

Observe

Character Development: 1/50 Golden Lotus Flowers]

"C-Character development? And it requires fifty golden lotuses? What the actual fuck?" Alph didn't know if he should be happy or sad.

According to his guess character development was probably something similar to those evolution and upgrade troupes seen in online novels and it might greatly increase the old man's power which in turn would increase his own strength.

But the problem was, how could he get 49 more golden lotus flowers? Was it possible for Dane to take the trial fourty nine more times? Even if it was possible could he win with the same method again and again?

"I can only give it a shot!" He shook his head and resumoned Dane, who had been called back by the book.