If you have 1 night to learn it, and you’ll never use it again…

If you need to pull an all-nighter and haven’t even bought the book yet, this artifact can prevent you from failing that all-important exam. A young Bibliomancer who also happened to be a grad student at the hallowed halls of Oberlin U. wrote this book using an ink comprised of spider venom and RIT dye. Somehow it actually worked, and has become a favorite of other underground types who need to get smart in a hurry.

Effect: An adept who picks up the used textbook and spends the next 18 hours reading it without interruption except to eat once and to periodically relieve themselves, will master one area of academic knowledge so that they have a score equal to their magical skill in that particular topic. The boost of knowledge will only last for 48 hours and then fades away.

The drawback is that the book will only be found in college bookstore at a reasonably well-known major university. It will seem to get lost, after the user takes advantage of its abilities once. No user has ever successfully sold it back, or rediscovered it, once they used it.

Description: Descriptions of The Used Textbook vary. It has a totally insipid title like “Stochastics For The Liberal Arts” or “Anthropology of Transcendental Sub-Cultures”. It will sport a big sticker on the bonder reading USED. It will invariable cost $49.99. It can be recognized from other textbooks because it is the only Textbook ever published by “Naked Unicorn Academic Publishing”.

What You’ve Heard: A working reproduction of The Used Textbook has surfaced. It is leading to a very serious man hunt for the adept or cabal that succeeded in reduplicating this artifact’s magical effects.