Looking at just the cover alone, Raze was frozen in place. Dame was looking directly at him and could tell that he was completely absorbed in the book. Even if he tried to speak to him now, his words wouldn't get through.
'So was that book not just a bunch of random scribbles?' Dame thought. 'I guess he understands it. Does that mean that this is something from his world? But why would the two books be together then? Just like me now, how I'm with Raze, did the Dark Faction Founder discover someone else with magic as well?'
Although Dame was thinking along the right lines, it wasn't quite right, as Raze would discover as he dived into the book.
Inspecting the title of the book, it was completely different. Making it out to be a different book full of techniques, and Raze imagined inside there would be techniques related to Magic Swordsmanship.
'In Alterian, there were a few guilds that practiced Magic Swordsmanship. They would use enchanted items that gave them greater power with the sword. Is this a book containing magic spells related to that? From Alterian, was he a magic swordsman?' Raze thought.
Although Raze had to admit, the skills that magic swordsmen would produce with their enchanted swords were nothing compared to even the basics of Pagna skills that he had seen. They focused more on increasing the power output or fighting with magic at close range rather than skill using the weapon itself.
What was throwing off Raze a bit though was the fact that the word Dark was used. 'Was the Dark Faction Founder also a Dark Mage? I doubt that though. Nearly all of those that used Dark Magic were criminals, including myself.'
'From the magic circles I've seen him create, he had to have been a well-known figure in the magic world, and a well-known figure and Dark Magic don't go hand in hand, unless it's a criminal like myself.'
He wouldn't know either way until he opened the book, and unable to wait until they were outside, Raze started to flick through it, and instantly he realized something.
Summoning the other book to his hand, he checked the contents of the book side by side, and that's when he realized the contents of the book were the same. They weren't exactly identical, but it was clear that they were meant to be the same thing.
'This isn't a different martial art book; it's the same thing. They're both teaching the same swordsmanship.'
As Raze tried to read the few lines of text that explained the techniques, he noticed a drastic difference in the text. While the book written in Pagna was like a bad translation, the book written in Alterian was perfect.
It explained it fluently while also adding additional details.
'No wonder Dame felt like the techniques were incomplete; it's because this is just simply a bad translation. He was lucky that he managed to learn something from this.'
As he started to think deeper, it made him wonder, why was it a bad translation? Raze, having transmigrated into the body of a Pagna human, was able to understand and read the language with ease.
At the same time, he kept all of his Alterian knowledge. He did remember stating that those from Alter needed to learn the language. So did it mean the Dark Faction founder wasn't like him, and he had come over like the others?
Not only that, but why write a translated book in the first place unless he wanted to pass on the arts.
Interested, Raze started to skim through the techniques as he was learning the difference. He turned page after page, and Dame just watched him. His eyes were like a madman who was possessed.
After reading the contents of the book for a while, Raze noticed a couple of things that changed his opinion of the whole book entirely.
'This book, it's a book that is teaching a Pagna style of swordsmanship, not a Magic style swordsmanship. So my initial guess was wrong. As for the use of the word Dark, it's because it uses the Dark Qi that was developed by the Dark Faction.
'Since he was the founder, it does make me wonder if he came up with the Dark Essence technique as well. All of the descriptions in the translated book have tried its best to teach those just the swordsmanship.
'My guess is, this is what was passed down to those in the Clan before they had been wiped out.'
There was more to it though, a lot more, because on the front of the word, there was the word magic, and there was a magic aspect to it.
'There's a second half of the book that was never translated. After the person learns all of the Dark Edge Sword's art belonging to the Noctis Clan, the second half is learning how to utilize magic into those sword art skills.
'Not only that, but it appears based on the description in the second half. This sword art was never designed to purely be a sword art but was one that was designed to be used with magic.'
There were some issues though. For one, the book was incomplete. Inside the book, the Dark Edge Magic Sword arts had eight formations. The second half only focused on infusing three with magic.
There was some theory on how the basis of the sword art was meant to use magic in some way with the other techniques, but without studying it in detail, Raze couldn't figure it out.
In fact, the sword arts themselves seemed beyond what Raze could figure out because nearly all of the sword skills were at a higher level than what he was capable of. Perhaps he would need Dame's help in order to learn these skills and complete it in the end.
Closing the book, Dame knew he didn't have enough time to figure it all out there and then, but he imagined that this was quite a big gift.
'It's been a long time since I've had a mentor, but I guess I should call you my mentor from now on.'
This man from Alterian was on the same journey as he was, and had gone through many dangers. It was common sense to use the trials and errors of another one's work to build on.
That was exactly what Raze planned to do.
Closing the books, Raze used his dark magic, placing them in his hidden robe. He had gotten what he had come for.
"You have quite the smile on your face; I think that's the first time," Dame stated.
"It was a good reason to come here. Maybe in the future, I could talk to your father to ask more about the Dark Faction Leader."
This made Dame think he was on the right track with his guessing. It was always strange; why were the Dark Faction Founder's techniques here?
"I guess that might be a question to ask another time, maybe when you're confident enough he can't kill you for saying something wrong," Dame replied.
"Yeah, there are too many people trying to kill me already."
The two were ready to set off and took a turn to head back down the main alleyway, and that's when a certain individual was already right in front of them.
"You two!" Rayna said, her fist tensed and a vein popping at the side of her head. "You're in trouble."