84: Chapter 84 Morpheus's Concealment

On the evening of the second day of the sea dog's return voyage, Morpheus did not come to dinner.

This was extremely rare before; voyages at sea were tedious, and dinner was the only time of the day when everyone gathered.

In the past, Morpheus was always the first to sit at the table, using his set of exquisite silver utensils.

The utensils were among the few personal items he had brought from home, with his initials carved into the wooden handle of every table knife.

He would unfold his napkin with his slender fingers and share the rune information he had organized in his mind that day with everyone in his characteristically scholarly tone.

Or he would excitedly bring out ancient characters he had just deciphered from some fragment and read them aloud like poetry.

Sometimes he would get so engrossed in his explanation that Selina would deliberately reach out and steal a piece of grilled fish from his plate halfway through.

And he would never notice until Jinbao couldn't help but burst out laughing, only then realizing what had happened.

Then, in a deeply offended and aggrieved tone, he would say, "That was the last piece of lemon-marinated cod! I specifically saved it for last!"

But today he was not there.

An empty seat remained at the table, with his plate sitting there, the fish inside already cold.

Jinbao poked the overcooked salted meat on his plate with his fork, glancing toward the cabin stairs from time to time, chewing much slower than usual.

It felt as if a great deal of laughter and joy had suddenly vanished from the dining table.

"I'll go take a look," Richard said, standing up and placing his horned helmet on the table.

Morpheus's cabin was at the innermost part of the lower deck, a small single room that had originally belonged to the boatswain.

The boatswain of the sea dog had been killed by a demon on the beach of Orion Island, and at Morpheus's request, the captain had assigned this cabin to him.

The cabin door was a simple oak plank, with the dim yellow glow of a kerosene lamp leaking through the crack, but it was bolted from the inside.

Richard knocked three times with his knuckles, not too hard but clearly. There was no response.

He knocked three more times, applying a bit more force.

A faint rustling sound came from inside, though it was unclear what was happening.

"Morpheus, are you alright?"

After a few seconds of silence, Morpheus's voice came from behind the door, his tone maintaining its usual politeness: "Sorry, Captain, I'm fine. I'm just organizing my notes from this ruins exploration."

"I've been transcribing runes continuously these past few days and got too absorbed. I've caught a bit of a cold."

"You guys go ahead and eat. I'll come up later."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Richard asked.

"Sure, I'm really just tired. I'll be fine after a few days of rest." There was a hint of a smile in Morpheus's voice.

Richard stood outside the door for a moment, then turned and left.

As he walked down the cabin corridor, his fingertips tapped twice on the handle of his axe, his brow furrowed.

Having spent so much time together day and night, he knew that when Morpheus lied, his tone would sound exactly like it just did.

Perhaps he was just keeping a few found shards of domination to himself and didn't want anyone to know, or perhaps he was studying a dangerous rune and feared intervention from his teammates.

Richard did not think too much of it. After all, everyone had their secrets. He decided to give Morpheus a few more days to rest well.

Behind that thin oak door, Morpheus was sitting in front of a narrow folding table.

The hull of the sea dog rocked gently in the swells, and the circle of light from the kerosene lamp swayed silently across the wooden table.

His staff leaned against the corner, his robe hung on the iron hook behind the door, and the silver brooch from his collar had been removed and placed on the corner of the table.

But he was not organizing notes.

There were no notes on the table, no rune rubbings, and none of the densely written parchments he usually had.

There was only a single book on the table.

The cover of the book felt slightly warm to the touch—a sensation unique to demon skin, lacking the coldness of leather and instead possessing a mild warmth close to a living creature's body temperature.

On the dark red cover, thick vascular patterns were clearly visible, bulging and winding across the surface, pulsing extremely faintly every few seconds like a beating pulse.

The book clasp was a human finger bone, every knuckle intact, the bone of a dull yellow color.

The finger bone was tightly locked into a groove on the back cover, and a line of text was written in silver ink on the spine of the book.

Morpheus recognized the writing but did not dare to read it aloud, nor did he even dare to fully spell out the pronunciation of each character in his mind.

It was Abyssal writing, and the title's meaning in the Abyssal tongue was—The Fiend Grimoire: Road to Divinity.

When he found this book in a magic laboratory of the Black Tower, an unprecedented, almost divine intuition had drawn him to it.

He couldn't describe what kind of feeling it was, as if it were a desire welling up from the depths of his marrow.

The book was there; it had been waiting there all along, waiting for him!

The combination lock of the safe had long since failed after a thousand years of seawater soaking and magical corrosion. With just a gentle touch from him, the door popped open on its own.

The book lay at the bottom of the safe, covered in no dust whatsoever.

The blood vessels on the cover were still pulsing faintly, as if breathing.

When he picked up the book, the finger-bone clasp popped open automatically.

The pages flipped open before him, revealing a dedication written in Abyssal on the first page.

Morpheus was not familiar with Abyssal; the advanced language courses at the Magic Tower had only taught some simple vocabulary.

Yet he had never understood the meaning of every single word as clearly and completely as he did at this moment.

He stuffed the book inside his robe and told no one, including Richard.

He knew Richard was an expert in appraisal and could even see through the nature of cursed items at a glance.

He had seen with his own eyes in the Second Ring how Richard casually appraised those cursed items and then swept them away without changing his expression.

If he let Richard touch this book, Richard would know its secrets within seconds.

He would know that its cover was made from the skin of a legendary demon, that its pages were soaked in the blood of an enslaved Abyssal Lord, and that every single word carried some irreversible, magical property.

What would Richard say? "It cannot be kept!"

And then this book would be burned, or thrown into the sea, or sealed away in the subterranean vault of some temple, never to see the light of day.

He couldn't let Richard touch this book! This was a treasure uniquely his! His treasure! It could only belong to him alone!

For the first few days, Morpheus was merely curious.

After bringing the book back to his cabin, he locked the door and opened the first page with an almost academic mindset.

The Abyssal writing on the title page was densely packed, the strokes twisted and sharp, looking as if they had been carved into congealed blood with fingernails.

He spent an entire night reading the first chapter:

About the origin of the Abyss, the birth of demon princes, the hierarchical structure of the Infinite Layers of the Abyss, and those forgotten ancient laws of contracts.

The contents of the book were extremely detailed, so much so that many demon true names were annotated with complete syllables and corresponding summoning formulas.

There were also numerous diagrams describing the strengths and weaknesses of lower-plane bloodlines, the chaotic primordial power of Tanar'ri demons, the cold neutral blood of Yugoloths, and so on.

The subsequent chapter titles were even more enticing, featuring all kinds of occultism, dark knowledge, and even teaching you how to kill a god...