Light broke through the windows, casting a dim orange glow onto the floor of the library. Ryo's eyes cracked open, catching a sunbeam straight to his pupil. He covered his face with his right hand, vision blurry for a moment, senses thrown out the window. Ryo stood up, using his left hand to push himself up. He pulled his right hand away from his face, light rebounding off the rocks on his hand.
The Semphite from the night before stood at the other side of his desk. Stood was incorrect, actually, as she floated above the floor, her wings flapping to keep herself up. "Finally, you're awake." She complained, tapping her finger over a closed book that sat on the desk. "I tried to wake you up by slamming this down, but you slept right through it. Like your body, you slept like a damn rock."
"I've always been a heavy sleeper." Ryo commented, taking a look at the book she was pointing at. "So, you're checking out the book named 'Magical Mayhem: Maniacal Spells For All Demons To Know'?"
"Yeah, since I can't have the other one, I'll take this version. It's practically the same, but it doesn't have those forbidden spells inside." The Semphite replied, piquing Ryo's curiosity.
"Forbidden spells?" Ryo asked, his eyes glimmering in the early morning sunlight. "I didn't know about anything like that." He admitted, earning him a surprised look from the Semphite.
"You mean to tell me you've been reading that book without knowing about those?" She asked, incredulously? "I mean seriously, even if you can't learn them, you should seriously know about them." She told him, flipping to page four hundred and seventy-seven. The leftmost page contained one sentence, while the right page contained a summary.
"The Forbidden Spells; Ultimate Techniques For Every Type Of Magic".
"These spells, known to Demons as the Forbidden spells, whilst unknown to Humans and (most) Monsters, are the culmination of a person's mastery in a specific branch of spells. They take the form of an advanced version of each spell combined in an amalgamation of techniques."
Ryo read over this section, unaware of their existence prior. "It's no wonder I haven't heard of these before. Humans are not meant to, most Monsters don't either, and Demons call them Forbidden." Ryo told the Semphite, moving the book to the side. "Now, back to the topic at hand, you're checking this other magic book out, right?"
"Yeah." The Semphite told him, prompting Ryo to open up the "Loans" logbook that was on the lectern in the centre. He had noted that it was double the size of his personal notebook when he originally entered the library. However, it was many times thicker, filled with names that he hadn't understood before.
He poured mana into the book, watching the writing become legible in real-time. He saw plenty of names that he didn't recognise, but every once in a while he'd see Inquisax put his own name down. Ryo flipped to a bit before the middle of the book, continuing on from where it had been left over a hundred years ago by Inquisax. He pulled out the pen from his bag which he wrote in his personal notebook with, and began quickly penning down the name of the book that the Semphite wished to borrow.
"Alright, I've got the name of the book down. I just need your name and how long you'll be borrowing it for." Ryo informed the Semphite, cracking his rocky fingers while stretching.
"My name is Kyren. No last name, as you Humans decided to give yourself. I only need it to learn a few spells, so I'll be back in, what, three weeks?" Kyren replied, lifting the book up from the table. Ryo wrote it down with a decent speed, noting that his pen seemed to be running out of ink.
"Alright, I've got that down. I'll see you back here in three weeks." Ryo told Kyren, bidding her farewell as she flew out of the library. Inquisax appeared at his shoulder, leaning against the throne. "She was decent once she realised she wasn't getting away with stealing."
"You could have forced her to stay here and help as payment for attempting to steal." Inquisax informed him. "In most parts of the Demon country, it's considered common to have thieves and criminals serve others as punishment for crimes."
"We aren't in the Demon country, though, are we?" Ryo shot back, a small smirk on his face. "I may be outnumbered in terms of people that aren't Human at any given time, but we are currently in the country of Hyande. I'm a Human. I may not have the same temperament as a Utopian, but I'm still a Human nonetheless."
"Still, you could enforce some stricter policies. We don't want a repeat of what happened to me with that Utopian raid on this library." Inquisax told him." It may have only been four adventurers, but they managed to do more damage to this place in one day than anyone else in the fifty or so years I was here."
"That's why I'm going to read more. I'm going to learn more Demon magic, and I'm going to surpass you in strength. That way, nothing bad can happen to this library." Ryo countered, his smile growing wider. "After all, if I become the strongest thing in this world, there'll be nobody who can damage this literary sanctuary. I won't let any Human, Monster or Demon bring harm to a single brick of this library."
Inquisax felt a unique feeling in his chest. Was it pride? Fear for the future? Dread? He couldn't tell, and he didn't know whether he liked the feeling. "You know what, dream big, Ryo. You may not live nearly as long as I will, but you'll definitely live a more exciting life than I did." Inquisax said, teleporting once again.
Ryo took a look at the pen that was on the desk, remembering that he had noticed that the ink was running a bit low. He slipped it into his pocket. 'I should go out and get some ink cartridges. Maybe a new pen as well, so that I can have a personal one and one for the library.' Ryo thought to himself. With a blink, he was gone. Like the day before, he teleported to a different place.
The sun was breaching the sky in Quebesk. Ryo appeared inside the walls of the city, at the edge of it. He didn't want to be too conspicuous, as people might freak out if they saw a random guy teleporting. 'Most people didn't care in Eilera, but I know a lot of people don't care about anything but themselves in that place.' Ryo thought to himself. 'I have to be a bit more careful around here'.
Ryo walked into the city centre, recognising the differences between here and Eilera. In the Utopian capital, you didn't have any "main" area, it was all streets that shot off from each other with a large castle in the middle. In Quebesk, the Hyandean capital, there was a centre, where all the large shops were set up, with a path towards the castle, as well as many branches along that road that led to smaller shops.
Ryo, taking his sweet, unbothered time, made his way through the city centre, walking towards the first side road on the way to the castle. He turned to the right, walking about a hundred metres down that path before looking at the shop to his left.
"Art's Inks And Instruments." Ryo said aloud, checking how many coins he still had at hand. "Forty large silvers should be plenty." He told himself, walking towards the shop door with purpose. He opened the door gently, however, as he didn't want to damage the door handle.
Inside, the smell of fresh paper and heavy ink invaded Ryo's nose, giving him a sense of nostalgia. It'd been about three years since he last stepped foot in a shop like this, and at least four since he was in this specific one. "Ah, Ryo." A man behind the counter said to Ryo, ink splashes covering his face and clothes, the rocks underneath his left eye stained black from ink. "Welcome back."
"It's good to be back, Art." Ryo replied, walking up to Art, noticing his clothes seemed to fit him a lot tighter than when he had last seen him. "Have you put on some muscle?" Ryo asked, seeing the outline of Art's biceps beneath his clothes.
"A small bit. Monsters have been out and about so it's harder for people to source the resin I need to bind my ink together, so I've resorted to just doing it myself." Art admitted, causing Ryo to think back to the carpenter in Eilera. 'He had complained about monsters as well, although he figured it was just suppliers lying to him. Maybe there is an actual monster problem?' Ryo thought to himself.
"So, what can I do for you, Ryo?" Art asked, breaking Ryo out from his thoughts. "I assume you came here for more ink to refill that pen I sold you a while back."
"I'm surprised you still remember me and that pen." Ryo admitted, pulling it out of his pocket. "Yeah, I'm looking for some new ink for this one, and also a second pen."
Art pulled out some long ink cartridges from beneath his table. "I remember you very clearly. You came in here, more nervous than anything, looking for a pen to write with. You had your small little notebook, and I cut you a deal on that pen you have there." He told Ryo, swapping out the near-empty cartridge for a fresh new one. "Why do you need a second pen, might I ask? This one looks fine."
"Well, you see, I moved into a library near the Demon Country, and began fixing it up. Now that people can come by and pick up books, I need to have a pen for myself and another pen that I can use to write into the borrowing book there." Ryo explained, drawing Art's attention.
"Near the Demon Country? You better not be doing anything shady around those parts." Art warned Ryo. "Those Utopians will be on top of you faster than any of us could ever catch on. You'd be dead before you could plead if they had their way with you."
"God, no. I found the place after people complained about hearing Ghouls inside it. It's a massive library, so I figured there'd be thousands inside, and I went to check. Inside, there was nothing, except a whole bunch of untouched books, including one that would revolutionise magic for all Humans." Ryo said, a smile appearing on his face.
"Is it Demon magic? If so, get that out of here." Art told him. "We can't learn that type of stuff."
"Of course not. I mean wordless casting." Ryo whispered. "Imagine the possibilities for magic if you never had to utter a word." Ryo smirked, making up this book as he went along. He had learned this skill by being in the dungeon that Aragoth ran, but he could maybe convince Art to share knowledge of his library to other people. It'd make life more interesting.
Ryo extended his hand, facing his palm towards the roof. A small, concentrated flame appeared in his hand. It wasn't anything impressive, but Art stared at it with shock. "Humans are meant to speak in order to cast spells, that's how it's always been." He spoke, unable to believe his own eyes.
"And yet, I said nothing." Ryo told him. "Anyways, back to the purchase of a new pen…" Ryo attempted to continue, but Art pushed a pen and ten cartridges towards him.
"Just take these. No charge. I need to actually sit down and think about what you just did. With that simple manoeuvre, you've circumvented a restriction that's been in Human magic since time immemorial." Art told Ryo, who realised the magnitude of what he'd done. His mind flashed back to the diagram of magic he'd seen in the "Comprehensive Guide".
["Human" races have to verbally cast their spells, but Monsters and Demons do not.]
"Yeah, and that's just the beginning of what I've read."