"Here you go, my treasures are yours to claim." The lich smiled as the wide door opened in front of Astaroth, "But for now, you can only take three things from here."
"I thought I was supposed to be the owner of the palace?" Astaroth did not like the hidden conditions the Lich was now coming up with and didn't waste any time expressing his views either.
"For now, you are just my disciple. Nothing more." The lich reminded Astaroth, "You will need to get much stronger and learn to protect yourself first, before protecting the palace from invaders."
He continued, "Till that time comes, my soldiers and I will protect this place. That also means while I'm here, I am the true owner. Just like two swords cannot fit in one scabbard, two people cannot rule over the same palace."
Astaroth nodded as he knew better than to argue with a stronger entity. At least he was getting a choice and not some random materials. However, the quest wasn't completed yet. But the moment he stepped foot into the room, it did.
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You have completed the following quest(s):
>> The secret of the Eastern Palace [Main Quest]
>> Worth
Material rewards would be shortly delivered to your inventory.
You have unlocked hidden Lore about the Eastern Palace. You can view the information in the [Hidden Lore] section. A detailed map of the palace has been added to your inventory.
You have received a new title!
[Owner of The Eastern Palace]: Intelligence +10 (will increase by 10 points whenever someone tries to invade the palace.)
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Astaroth knew more notifications were on their way, so he immediately muted them all and went deeper inside to see what was so special about the treasury in the first place.
Unlike the rest of the palace, the treasury wasn't in a rundown condition. In fact, it appeared the room had been thoroughly cleaned and maintained regularly. Also, the treasury was the only room with active electricity in the entirety of the palace.
"It seems you really love this place, your highness." Astaroth politely remarked.
"This treasury is not just a collection of scrolls, books and artefacts. It also contains the knowledge I have gained over a… my old mind forgot how long I have been in this form for." The lich smiled wanly as he was reminded of the side-effects of immortality, "This place was made to serve as the record for my predecessor."
"Makes sense. I should probably start looking around now."
The lich nodded and silently stood at the entrance while Astaroth roamed around the gigantic room which was a half library and half armoury. There were lots of high-grade weapons, some so rare that they even made Astaroth greed a bit.
But he had to look for some special things. Things that couldn't be found anywhere else. It didn't matter whether it was a weapon, a skill page or an entire skill book. Since he was allowed to take only 3 things, he would make the best out of it.
'I was hoping I would find some high tier knowledge from this place, but I guess, this tier 2 planet would not give me anything par with universal knowledge.' Astaroth thought, 'i guess I'll have to find those when I get into contact with some higher tier civilisations later. For now, let's think about taking some skills that would dominate this planet.'
After wandering aimlessly for about an hour, Astaroth finally took his first item. A skill book with the knowledge about creating automatons and golems. That was the only available skill book Astaroth knew he would need once he made it out of the planet.
Sadly, his host did not have the creationist class with him, but since Ashton was collecting the automatons before he took over his body, Astaroth knew Ashton had some plans for recreating those. That's why he took the book.
'As far as being a creationist is concerned, there are other ways to obtain some useful subclasses. But for that, I would need to contact Lucifer and take the position of an Admin from him. Only for this Ashton guy of course.'
After taking an item for the future, Astaroth needed to secure his present as well. After all, not all strong monsters would turn out to be like the lich. They would be interested in his brains, but for a whole different purpose.
'This idiot won't get strong on his own. I will have to help him out or else he'll be my demise.'
"May I recommend this?"
All of sudden, Astaroth found the lich looming over his shoulder with another skill book. Astaroth was taken by surprise, as he didn't even realise how long the lich had been standing behind him. but he quickly regained his composure and took the book he was offered.
"What's this? Necromancy 101?" Astaroth joked but it didn't seem like the lich enjoyed his joke all that much, "Ahem, please accept my apologies. I make awkward jokes when I'm nervous."
The lich ignored Astaroth's comments and said, "This book here hold all the knowledge I have gathered over the years regarding death and its ownership. It will help you to understand, learn and control the power of death efficiently."
Astaroth took the book and realised it wasn't just an ordinary skill book but a grimoire. Astaroth could not believe his eyes. Even in the high levelled civilisations, it is extremely rare to find a grimoire and yet this… beast was offering him one as if it was the least important thing he could care of.
But more importantly, the lich 'created' a grimoire? Astaroth didn't even know something like that was possible! How could a tier 2 creature create something that only a few select admins could? Yet he had undeniable proof right in front of him.
But what was the difference between a skill book and a grimoire? It was pretty simple actually. While anyone having a suitable class could learn the skills from the skill book or a skill page, it was impossible to do the same with a grimoire.
If anyone wanted to learn a thing or two from a grimoire, they would have to meet certain conditions to do so. Like having a certain amount of certain states, or having finished a certain quest.
This wasn't easy to do for most people as the grimoire never stated what quests or stats one needed to have to obtain the knowledge hidden with them. If someone had met the requirements, the grimoire would open otherwise it won't. That's all there was to it.
That being said, Astaroth had a way of knowing exactly what he needed to learn the secrets hidden in the grimoire. Through the [Detection] skill. But before that, there was something else he needed to take from the treasury. Something he couldn't get before.
"You said I can take whatever I want from here, is that correct?" Astaroth asked with a sincere look on his face.
"I remember my words. It is what I said." The lich replied positively and as he did, a crooked smile formed on Astaroth's face.
"Then how about letting me have that cloak of yours?" He smiled with a greedy look.