- ...
I stood there in silence looking at the stone tablet in front of me and did as instructed. The tablet broke when i infused a bit of mana in it and a door appeared before my eyes, it looked exactly like the one i opened to enter here.
two months is enough time spent on one room i guess
After all the experimenting i did in here my mana controll reached stage two which was the begginer one and easiest to obtain, my mind and body had to adapt to the mana i was feeling and try to use it, which i succeded in after a month or so.
I'm still to weak for Intermediate stage but i think with enough training i will reach it in a few months. Maybe faster if i have a normal teacher unlike a certain old weirdo.
While looking around i noticed a small desk not far from me and behind it sat-
- Hello, nice to meet you young man.
An old lady with long gray hair, hazel eyes and saggy skin, she looked to be in her 70s.
what's with these old people here, aren't they supposed to be young looking?
Most people in this world are supposed to look like they were in their mid twenties to fifties at most. It was all thanks to mana keeping them healthy and young for so long that i got used to these stereotypes. After waiting for a bit i curiously asked.
- Who are you miss?
- I'm the keeper of this library, my job is to help people like you find their desired books and guide them in case some get lost.
She answered almost like a machine, i didn't really care about it but when i thought about it carefully she seemed to have spent most of her life in this library.
I pondered for a bit before deciding that blood magic should be my priority, i knew quite a bit about history of this kingdom so most likely it will prove useless to me.
- May i ask where are the books about begginer blood spells?
- ...
The woman didn't answer and looked at me carefully before picking up something akin to an old styled phone and using an isolating spell around her. I didn't have to wait long before i noticed the spell being broken and the sound of phone being put down.
- Since i got permission i will show you them, but you can only take one of them so think carefully about your choice.
She stood up and started walking in some direction, i follow after her and we walked for about fifteen minutes, i was surprised that the old woman didn't even get tired after walking this much, but i was curious about one thing.
- Um, what did you mean by me picking the book? Isn't this a library where i can just sit and study?
The lady didn't even answer and stopped at one bookshelf that seemed to be covered in dust and spiderwebs. After moving her hand a little, the dust, aswell as webs, vanished like they weren't there to begin with.
- In this library you get to choose any book you want, some require special permission like in your case. Some earn them by accoplishing great feats but you, you gained attention of the great Chancellor who created this place, feel honoured because it might be the last time in your life seeing this place.
My eyes opened wide after the realization hit me, i was in the library that even Micheal could visit only once in his life, this place was named after all the years that Edward spent for this academy 'Granthur's Fountain of Knowledge'.
I need to choose carefully
With my choice limited to one book unlike Micheal who picked three of them, this wa a frustrating task. Thankfully i just had one bookshelf to choose from unlike him who could pick anything. I walked up to the bookshelf and carefully checked the titles of each of them.
this is harder than i thought
Every book looked tempting, there were some called 'Blood magic records', 'Blood and Mana infusion' or 'All Blood spell observation notes'. I just stood there and stared at them befoe noticing at the corner of my eye an old book with no name. It didn't particularly stand out but i felt like i needed to know what's inside.
I reached for it but the librarian stopped me when i almost grabbed it.
- Did you choose that book?
She pointed at the nameless book that i wanted to check.
- I just want to see what's insi-
- No.
Even without me needing to finish my sentence she knew what i was about to say, to be honest it felt a little unfair but looking at it from her perspective i probably wanted to read it and take something else.
should i?
Although some books i looked at before seemed like the best choice, i felt that this book was the best choice, i felt something i couldn't quite explain, maybe excitement or rather a sense of familiarity coming out of it.
*Sigh*
- Yes i will take that book.
The keeper looked at me for a second befoe nodding and stepping to back, aswell as eyeing from the side so that i wouldn't try to look at other books. I reached for it and when my fingers brushed past it i felt a cool sensation wash over me.
- You probably felt it by now, the book that you choose is soulbound to you upon touch and it will be accesable for you anytime. Just by thinking of it dissapearing and appearing should work.
so that's why she stopped me
It made alot of sense that i couldn't check any books even though it was a library, thankfully i didn't touch anything carelessly when entering here. I finally didn't make any stupid mistakes.
I took the book and checked it to see if it has some special runes, sadly there was nothing, the book looked like a normal book in a dark red cover with no name to it.
- Well then.
Librarian lady said something and my vision turned pitch black, i waited for a few moments before light seeped into my eyes and i found myself at the same room with doors, i didn't even care about choosing the next one because i wanted to see the contents of my book i chose.
I sat on the floor and opened to see.
- Nothing..
My mouth mumbled unconsciously when i saw that not even a single page was filled with notes or spells for me to learn.
- N-nothing?
I almost laughed at myself for how stupid i was, of course i picked the worst book, if it could even be called one. My hand flipped throught the pages again and again just in hope that something would magically appear, even infusing mana didn't work.
After a few minutes of doing it i noticed that my finger got cut by one of the pages.
even something like this happens to me now..
My thoughts stopped when a droplet of my blood seeped into the pages like some sort of sponge and a text appeared.
- huh?
With my jaw almost dropping to the floor out of surprise i collected myself and a smile spread across my lips, i then started reading out loud just so every word would be imprinted in my head.
- Blood magic's first spell.
- 'Coagulation'