After a few seconds of laying down, Lyrian slowly rose to his feet before looking over the dead body of the Hobgoblin.

"Reap."

A white orb immediately flew out of the creature's body before entering Lyrians chest.

[Soul successfully captured]

[Soul Storage: 2/2]

"Gear, is it possible for me to merge the two souls I have in storage?"

[No. Your affinity for the ability "Creature-link" is not sufficient enough yet to merge a previously fused soul with any other soul]

Lyrian was a bit disappointed at this fact, but it wasn't too big of a deal. In the end, he still had the soul of a powerful creature.

[However, due to this rule, I, as a fair system, must also implement the rule that previously merged souls do not count toward the storage limit of the soul storage stat]

[Current number of souls that are eligible to merge is 1/2]

'... Gear, from now on, only tell me the number of eligible souls, unless I specify otherwise.'

[Request accepted]

After hearing this, Lyrian inspected the dead body of the Hobgoblin and noticed that an object was poking out of its robe.

He was going to check if it had something before it turned to dust anyways, so he reached in and took out a large scroll the size of his torso from inside.

The material was old, brown paper, but its handles were made of bright wood that was red in color.

Curious, he opened the scroll to see that it was covered in hundreds of small words that he couldn't read.

"What is this?"

Suddenly, the scroll began to disintegrate into green sparkles of light before entering Lyrian's glabella.

Out of nowhere, information began to pour into his head.

This scroll was a spell. Many spells were written down in books, but others were written down in scrolls.

Scrolls, most of the time, had a unique trait compared to books with spells in them. They had incantations that forced the information on the scroll to immediately transfer to the holder when opened.

This made them efficient and easy to use. Lyrian was slightly surprised as to how the creature had such an item.

*Ding* [You have learned your first spell: Enhance (Ability to fortify your physical body using Mana for a limited time)]

[Congratulations! By learning a spell, you have met the requirements for a hidden achievement!]

[Achievement reward: Skill Convergence (Ability to merge two previously mastered skills in order to create a new one)]

His eyes widened in shock, but then a feeling of excitement overcame him.

The Skill Convergence ability gifted to him by the system was great news, but he now finally had a real spell that he could use.

Enhance. According to the information that previously poured into his head from the scroll and also the description of the system, it sounded just like what the Hobgoblin Shaman was using.

Except, the Hobgoblin was only enhancing one part of its body at a time.

He wanted to try it out immediately but also didn't want to waste his mana right then and there.

Right now, Lyrian assumed that when he used mana, the only way he could retrieve it would be by cultivating it all back, which was going to be a really big pain.

'I guess I'll have to use it in dire situations only...' He thought to himself for now before moving on.

Searching some more, Lyrian found a pouch of coins in the creature's robe as well.

After looking through and finding nothing else, Lyrian gazed at the creature's robe.

"This material..." He whispered as he touched the cloth the robe was made out of. Although it was dirty, the robe was by no means ripped or old looking.

He stripped the robe from the creature, leaving it naked, before also taking its drum and drumstick.

'If I remember correctly, it used this to paralyze me in the fight.' He thought as he played the drum himself.

However, nothing happened. Only, a loud noise reverberated through the cavern. historical

[The (Drum Wind) spell that the Hobgoblin Shaman used was something that it cultivated on its own through many years of trial and error. These material objects do not have power over it]

'Ah, I see. How unfortunate.' Lyrian thought but still held onto them, as they weren't too battered either and could be sold.

Soon after, he left the den, ensuring he didn't miss out on looting the rest of the bodies inside.

There wasn't much point in searching the goblin corpses since they rarely held anything valuable. However, he didn't hesitate to loot Stafon, who had a fat pouch on him, along with the adventurers.

Among their belongings, they had a few coin pouches, but what really caught Lyrian's attention were their weapons, wand, and potions.

It didn't feel great to strip their bodies of their possessions, considering they were different from Stafon, who deserved his fate. Nevertheless, Lyrian understood that death didn't come with dignity.

"I hope you three find peace," he quietly said to them before departing, "but these items won't be of much use in the afterlife."

As the sun began its descent, painting the sky with hues of gold and pink, he knew it was time to head back to base camp.

To keep things safe, he decided to store everything inside the mana alcove for now.

After freshening up, he embarked on his journey homeward, aiming to reach his destination before the sun disappeared beyond the horizon. However, he couldn't help but notice an unusual sight along the way.

The main street of the city, which he usually walked through, was completely blocked by a massive crowd.

The air was filled with uproarious cheers and applause as if something extraordinary was happening within.

Intrigued, Lyrian maneuvered his way through the enthusiastic crowd to catch a glimpse of the spectacle.

And there it was, revealed before his eyes--a majestic chariot slowly approaching, surrounded by hundreds of people lining the street as far as his vision could stretch.

"What's all the commotion about?" Lyrian shouted to the man standing beside him, struggling to make himself heard amidst the boisterous atmosphere.

The man glanced down at Lyrian, taken aback by his apparent ignorance. With a mixture of surprise and excitement, he exclaimed, "Don't you know? It's June 25th! The day when Master Theagard graces our streets!" After sharing this revelation, he returned to his exuberant cheering.

"Theagard?" Lyrian muttered, his interest piqued by the uncanny resemblance of that name to his own last name.