In front of this grand building made of alabaster, twelve guards were lined up on either side, their breastplates etched not with the ordinary Eye of Horus, but with the snake-entwined sun emblem similar to their waist tokens. Ian adjusted his breath, letting his black robe fall naturally to cover his side—the magic wand tucked there was already poised for action.
"Good day, wise one." The guard leader raised his copper spear to block the entrance, his gaze sharp as an eagle's, "Closed for organization today."
Ian calmly revealed his waist token, the bronze glinting with an eerie blue-green sheen under the sunlight. The guard leader's pupils suddenly contracted, and he stepped back half a pace, the spear tip slightly lowered: "Please... pardon me, the messenger of the Divine Favor High Priest may certainly pass..."
"Don't be too tense, I was just testing your alertness." Ian mimicked the echoing tone of the woman in the black robe, fingers gently brushing the patterns on the waist token. To his surprise, the guards all kneeled on one knee simultaneously, the spear shafts heavily striking the ground, making a consistent roar.
Clearly.
The woman's status was truly high, so much so that her messenger was also quite respected. Ian walked into the library at ease.
The bronze door of the library slid open silently, revealing the deep corridors inside. As Ian stepped in, the light behind him suddenly twisted, the door rippling like a water surface before restoring to its original state—this was a spatial barrier spell, of an astonishingly high level.
The internal space was far broader than the exterior showed. Towering bookshelves spiraled upward, reaching the dome a hundred meters high, countless papyrus scrolls and clay tablets floating in the air, following some mysterious trajectory as they slowly moved. Ian's magic wand inside his sleeve warmed slightly—every inch of air here was saturated with ancient and formidable magic.
"What domain of knowledge do you require?" A hoarse voice suddenly sounded. Ian turned, seeing a dwarf-like old man emerge from the shadows, his withered fingers entwined with threads of seven colors, each connected to some document in the air.
"The whole volume of 'Helio-Polis Secret Rite'." Ian deliberately mentioned a forbidden name, "Also 'Resonance of Stars and the Human Brain'."
The old man's eyebrows twitched, those threads suddenly tautened: "Are you sure? These documents require Level 3 permissions to..."
Upon hearing this.
Ian once again pulled out his waist token.
Seeing this, the old man staggered back, a flicker of fear passing through his turbid eyes: "Understood, messenger. The western forbidden chamber, at the marked place of the purple flame."
He hurriedly pointed a direction to Ian. After passing through three hidden arches, Ian finally reached the true Forbidden Book Area. The air here was as heavy as a solid, every step felt like trudging through glue. The torches on the walls burned with eerie purple flame, stretching his shadow into twisted monster shapes.
The labels on the first row of bookshelves quickened his heartbeat—'Divine Grafting Technique', 'Artificial Deity Cultivation Guide', 'Nineteen Methods of Refining the Essence of the Sun'... these forbidden texts long vanished from later ages, now boldly displayed before him.
"These are the same forbidden techniques those people are using..." Ian quickly pulled out the thinnest scroll, the papyrus quivering slightly at his fingertips.
As if resisting reading like a living creature.
"Memory Palace." He softly incanted, his eyes suddenly turning silver white. This was a secret art invented by the Hogwarts Librarian, able to directly imprint seen text deep into the mind. The hieroglyphics on the scroll crawled into his pupils like ants.
Ian was acquiring ancient knowledge.