Leo just stared at him.
He knew he had to pass a trial to awaken again. Right. Obviously. But he'd completely missed the key part of the whole question. What was the trial? And how was he supposed to know it was the right one?
The thought bounced around his head like a trapped bee. What trial am I actually supposed to pass? It was such a simple question. And yet, the answer just refused to cross his mind.
The old man chuckled a little. He just looked at Leo with those bright blue eyes and said, "Find your Persona."
Leo's face scrunched up. He couldn't process that. Though, to be fair, there was a faint sense of relief knowing that the weird floating screen had already shown he had a Persona of his own.
But that was the whole problem, wasn't it? According to every book he'd read in this library, a person wasn't supposed to know their Persona until after their Awakening. It was Something you found out only after the ritual was completed and the individual successfully awakened as a Doctrine.
The old man looked at him with the same smile. "Don't rack your brain, lad." He stroked his beard. "I know it's common to get confused about a subject you've believed in your entire life. Well... I can't exactly blame you."
"Honestly? The blame falls on us," he continued. "You may or may not know this, but we humans have a bad habit of hiding things.
We take real knowledge, and intertwine it with a proxy... and people just believe it. Because in this world, as long as the proxy works, that's all that matters.
Because they got their result, right?
But at the end of the day, it's just us restricting the facts from our own people.
And the reason can be anything. Maybe it's greed. Or Maybe it's just out of protection.
Well... who knows."
He paused.
"You know what a wise man once said? Knowledge comes with a hefty price."
He looked at Leo again, a curious glint in his eye. "You wanna know who that wise man is? I'm pretty sure you'll be surprised when you hear the name."
Leo's curiosity got the better of him. "Who was it, Grandpa?"
The old man laughed. "Ha ha! Of course, it's me!"
Leo's expression immediately dropped.
God damn it. How could such a self-flattering, shameless old man even exist...
Almost immediately, a spine-chilling sensation crept up his neck.
"What, kid? You want to experience another soft knock from me?"
"Ha ha, no, Grandpa. Of course not." He forced a laugh, holding his breath and praying he wouldn't get knocked down again. "I was just thinking about how you could come up with such wise... wise intellectual quotes."
The old man laughed loudly. "Don't worry, kid. I'll teach you a lot in the future."
Leo just stood there, forcing a flattering smile, completely at the old man's mercy.
The old man leaned slightly on his cane.
"So, kid. You should know that not everything should be followed through textbooks and old literature. Sometimes, the systematic approach we believe in so deeply just isn't true. Well... I hope you're able to grasp that."
Leo still didn't have a damn clue what the old man was talking about. To be fair, he wasn't exactly the type to just pluck complex theories out of thin air.
But honestly? He had a bit of a cheat code here. He already knew what his Persona was. So instead of trying to decipher the old man's riddles, he figured it was better to just do some research on it himself.
He didn't push the old man for more answers. At the very least, he'd scored this dusty old book. Maybe there was something reliable tucked inside it.
He didn't have anything else to ask. Not right now, anyway. But he did look at the old man, hesitating for a second.
"Hey grandpa... if I ever wanted to see you again, should I just knock on that bookshelf out there?"
The old man looked at him with a smile. "Haa. Seems my peaceful days are coming to an end." He leaned a bit heavier on his cane. "You don't need to knock. If you ever want to visit, just come straight up to the third floor. Don't worry about the protocols. No one's going to ask questions if you set foot up there."
Leo couldn't help but be a little amazed. The third floor? Just like that?
Maybe I should visit much more often.
But soon, the old man glared at him, clearly knowing exactly what he was thinking.
"Don't even think about disturbing this old man every single day," he warned, an innocent and frankly, terrifying smile spreading across his face. "If you do, you can expect to feel the presence of my lovely knuckles on top of your head."
"And now, you can leave. I've got tons of work to do," the old man sighed. "You see? I've already wasted a whole chunk of time with you. Now get out of here."
He stood up from the chair and shooed Leo away.
Leo was dumbfounded. But he forced himself not to let his brain run wild, fearing the old man would somehow figure out what he was thinking.
As the old man rushed him back through the passageway, Leo finally came to his senses. Just as he reached the edge of the entrance, he turned back.
"Hmm... old man? We've been talking this whiole time, but I still don't know what your name is."
The old man, who had been busy shooing him away, stopped dead in his tracks. He paused, then smiled.
"Ah. Come to think of it, we haven't introduced ourselves, have we? Haa... well, you can call me Dimitry. I'm the one who governs the literature of Graythorn."
Leo was stunned. Honestly, he had no idea if that title actually held any weight within the Graythorn household. But one thing was for sure: this old man was no normal figure.
Thinking that, Leo looked at him with newfound respect. He bowed his head, ready to introduce himself. But the old man stopped him.
"Save your introduction. I know who you are, kid. You're Silvia's youngest son."
Leo was stunned again. "Wait. You know my mother?"
"Ha ha! Of course I know your mother. She was one of the brightest in her family. And one of the most mischievous kids, too. Thinking about the past... it brings back a lot of memories."
Wait... my mom? Mischievous?
Leo tried to picture it. Thinking about his mom's usual demeanor and the way she carried herself, it was a little hard to believe. He always imagined she was the type to sit quietly in the front row, strictly following the rules during her childhood.
He stood there for second..
He looked back at Dimitry and thanked him for the help. But, of course, in return, the old man still chased him right out of that cave-looking room.
Leo didn't fight it. Honestly, he was pretty relieved. He'd actually gotten something useful out of this trip.
As he moved out and reached the other side of the book rack, he started planning his next move. He wanted to find something related to Devils.
He wasn't even sure if Devils, or beings like them, actually existed in this world. But he believed they might, simply because that's what the floating panel had said.
He spent a while digging through the racks, eventually pulling out a few books on different races and their histories.
The weirdest one he found was about Ancient Races. He wanted to just plop down and read them all right there, but his stomach practically screamed at him. Because he was starving and desperately wanted to load his stomach.
Plus, he had something else on his mind. He was planning to ask Silvia to help him train his body because rightnow he was weak as hell.
Honestly, from the original Leo's memories, one of his biggest drawbacks had always been his frail physique.
But after the incident, and after his own arrival in this body, he could feel a slight change. So right now, training his body was sitting pretty high on his bucket list.