The black book that the system popped up in front of him, upon request or otherwise, came with its own wooden lectern which held the book up.
This was comforting in a way, because Clayton felt like he was back in the chapel where the message of Thaleena, the Goddess of Forgiveness was shared, and preached. There were certain similarities that gave comfort to him, a man who had the burden of the world over his shoulders, a burden that he could only get rid of if he destroyed a part of the world.
Anyway, unlike the lectern from the chapel, this one, along with the book, could not be seen or touched by anyone else. Even he couldn't touch it, his hand passed right through it whenever he reached out. The system turned the pages on his behalf, based on what he requested.
The book opened, its pages flapped around dramatically as if a God was giving him revelations, until the system got to the part of the book that featured Secondary Upgrades.
As soon as the ink within the pale, leather pages started illuminating, just so Clayton could read whatever was on those couple of pages within the dead of the night, he got a big spooked.
'Are you sure this is not a demonic book, system?' He asked, still a bit spooked.
Though was careful not to ask his questions out loud, because he didn't want anyone to think that he was talking to himself.
[You seem to worry a lot about demons for a man who killed hundreds of people a few hours ago.]
[However, although I do not know my maker, I must remind you that the point of the book is to portray the upgrades, and purchases I offer. They're not asking you to build a shrine.]
It was hard to argue with that logic, so he didn't. Instead, he tried to be cooperative, and finally gave a peek at the book, to see what these Secondary Upgrades were about.
Just like the system promised, this was no Codex Gigas, it was not the Devil's Book, but rather, it offered him plenty of ways to spend his Soul Points.
The two pages in front of him were dedicated to two separate purchase options. One was related to intelligence, and the other, almost as if intuitively, promised that he could see in the dark if he could purchase it.
The pages had drawings on them, and descriptions, written in Albus, the very same language he spoke.
The drawings on the purchase regarding intelligence, featured a rough drawing of a brain, and an arrow that pointed upwards. He could make out what it was about before he even read the description.
'So this IQ one will make me smarter?' He asked, 'Looks a bit expensive for my taste, 2,100 Soul Points is no small sum. Can't I just pay you in gold? I have plenty of those.'
[No you can't. I have no use for gold.]
'What use do you have for Soul Points, then?' He asked, 'The fact that you want to drain my points seems just as pointless to me. I never saw someone refuse gold before.'
[And you're yet to see one, because you saw the book, and not me.]
[But my point stands, I don't want your gold. My goal is to introduce you to as many purchase options as possible, which in turn, and hopefully, will help me understand the purpose of my existence. I have no real use for your Soul Points.]
'You sound as clueless as me,' He let out a light chuckle, 'But let us move on. Tell me more about this… IQ upgrade. How smart will it make me, because I have to admit, these numbers make no sense to me at all.'
The system did not answer right away. She took a few seconds to think, and then, as she gave her answer, she didn't bother flipping the pages on the black book of upgrades, because after all, that book was solely related to upgrades, and not general information about the world.
[Intelligence can be categorized with what we call a Bell Curve. Numbers follow the Bell Curve to determine intelligence, and bigger numbers are better.]
[Those at the beginning of the curve, marked with an IQ of 70 or below, are absolute idiots, cognitively lesser.]
[Those at the top of the Bell Curve, marked with an IQ of around 100 are mediocre. Even though they're at the top of the Bell Curve, they are not super-geniuses, not nearly. Regardless of where you are, most of the population have an IQ of 100 points.]
[Last but definitely not least, you would want to be at the end, or close to the end of the Bell Curve, which features an IQ of 140-165. Rarely anyone is this smart, maybe a couple of them across the entire Kingdom?]
[Anyway, I hope you understand how intelligence in general works now. As you can see on the page description, your IQ is at 125, which is impressive for a guy your age. You're close to being considered gifted in terms of intelligence, however, if you purchase this IQ upgrade, you will be officially considered a genius.]
'Officially?' He repeated, 'Who is even supposed to recognize a title like that? I'd be smarter, sure, but I don't see that being anyone else's business.'
Afterwards, he added, 'You mocked my intelligence earlier, so you led me to believe that I was as dumb as a rock, but now you call me gifted? I can't keep up with you, woman.'
[You are gifted, but that hardly matters.]
[Based on how confused you are half of the time, especially when you browse the options I offer, it is apparent that you're a mere man stuck in time. I'm sure there used to be smart cavemen as well, but by today's standards, they'd be close to being considered retarded.]
'By the Gods…' He sighed, frustrated, 'Alright, then, I'll buy what you're selling. Bless me with intelligence.'