He moved on, searching through toppled bookshelves and overturned tables. There was a variety of what looked like curios and display pieces, mostly tossed to the floor and broken, but nothing useful. He picked up a few of the books, flipping through the pages. There were a lot of them scattered around the room, their bookcases knocked over or even smashed. They seemed to be written in a variety of languages, but Jason had no problems reading any of them. Each new and unfamiliar text came as easy as if he’d been reading it his whole life.

“That’s a little disconcerting.”

Although he could read the words, that wasn’t the same as understanding it. Every book he picked up seemed to be about magic theory, making them as impenetrable as any advanced textbook from a field he knew nothing about.

Moving a large, overturned table from where it had been tossed against the wall, Jason discovered a display cabinet with a glass door. Despite the table that had crashed into it, the cabinet was wholly unaffected, the glass remaining clear and uncracked. Inside were four books, each on its own small easel stand. Compared to the other books Jason had found, these looked more impressive, with intricately embossed leather covers.

Trying to open the cabinet, he found it was locked shut. After a few attempts to break the surprisingly sturdy glass, he remembered the key ring he had looted from the dead body. Pulling it out of his inventory, Jason discovered it was like a dungeon keeper’s key ring from an old movie, a huge array of keys dangling from a large metal hoop.

Item: [Landemere Vane’s Key Ring] (normal rank, common)

The keys for various locks throughout the Vane Manor, as well as personal keys for Landemere Vane’s possessions. A mixture of ordinary keys and magical keys. (tool).

Effect: Open specific locks.

Jason looked over at the covered body laying on the floor.

“Was that your name? Landemere Vane?”

He sighed.

“Sorry I killed you, Landemere. But you tried to kill me first.”

He looked away from the covered corpse and focused on the task at hand. The keyhole on the cabinet door was quite small, so he tried the more delicate-looking keys until the lock clicked open.

The cabinet wasn’t very large but there were only four books in the entire case, set out for display rather than efficiency. The embossed leather didn’t have titles, instead bearing patterns like the magic circle on the floor. Jason took out one of the books at random.

Item: [Astral Magic II] (bronze rank, uncommon)

A magical book that can impart the knowledge of intermediate level astral magic. (consumable, skill book).

Requirements: Bronze rank, ability to use skill books, basic ritual magic theory, intermediate ritual magic theory, basic astral magic theory.

Effect: Imparts intermediate astral magic theory.

You do not meet the requirements to use this item.