After Aurum cultivation, I sat there for a while. My mind felt strangely calm. But within that calm, there was also a subtle restlessness. I started thinking—what should I do today? After thinking like that for a few moments, I made a decision. Why not explore the capital a little today? As soon as I made that decision, a faint curiosity awakened inside me. I stood up and walked toward my one-handed leather bag. I opened the bag and took out everything that wasn't useful right now. I wanted to travel light.
Just then—there was a soft knock on my door.
"Who is it?" I called out.
From outside, I heard Moon's voice. I allowed her to enter the room. She came in and, looking at me with a light smile, said, "Brother… are you going out too?"
"I was just thinking," I replied, "maybe I'll go to the library."
Then I remembered something. "By the way," I asked her, "why did you come to my room? Is there some work?"
Moon nodded. "Yes," she said, "Mom Rose sent me." "Actually… I had to give you this month's pocket money."
Saying that, Moon took out a few gold coins from her side. The coins shimmered faintly in the sunlight. She placed all those coins into my hand. For a moment, I was stunned. Five Gold Coins. By this world's standards—their value was roughly around 50,000 Indian Rupees. I said in surprise, "These… all of these are my money?"
Moon looked at me as if I had asked a very strange question. "Brother," she said, "why are you so surprised? You get this much pocket money every month."
I gave a small laugh. "Yes… I know." I took the coins. I remembered—I had read in Jona's diary. Moon and her younger brother Nile received 4 Gold Coins every month. After that, Jona—who is now me—received 5 Gold Coins. Then the eldest brother Louis received 6 Gold Coins. And then the eldest sister Conte, who received 8 Gold Coins, because she bought lots of clothes and beauty products every month.
I was ready to go out. I picked up my leather bag from the bed and slung it over my shoulder. But before leaving the room—Heater, who was present there, spoke to me. "Master… I need permission to return to the Underworld." "I cannot remain present here all the time."
I nodded. "Alright," I said, "you may go." Den had already gone to the Underworld for some work. Before leaving, Heater stopped in front of me. "If you ever need me," he said, "use this Mantra." His voice was serious. He recited the Mantra:
"From the depths of the void, I call the Azure Shade."
"Become the unseen wall; stand guard for your Master."
"Manifest… HEATER!"
After giving the Mantra, Heater also went to the Underworld. I had already stepped out of the house. My intention was to go to the library. I had a library pass whose expiry date was today. Now that I had money, I could renew it as well. I was walking down the street when my gaze went to the sky. Something was flying there. At first, I thought it was a large bird. But when I looked carefully—my breath stopped for a moment. It wasn't a bird. It was a Dragon. Its entire body was milky white (Pure White). In the sunlight, it shone like silver. Its eyes glowed like molten gold. It was calmly observing the world below. As it spread its massive wings—blue, sparkling particles began to fall from them. Those particles rained down like snowfall. I froze in fear. My hand instinctively tightened around the strap of my bag. I thought—destruction is about to happen.
But then my gaze fell on two uncles standing by the roadside. One of them was calmly reading his newspaper. As if a pigeon had just flown overhead. Children on the street were clapping after seeing the Dragon. Jumping around. No fear. No screams. As if a Dragon flying in the sky was nothing new here. My fear slowly turned into astonishment. I thought to myself—this capital… is truly far more different than I had imagined. And this was just the beginning.
As I kept walking, I reached the very center of the capital. This place felt different from the rest of the city. There were voices everywhere, echoes of footsteps, but even amid that noise, there was a strange dignity here. In front of me was the city's main fountain. Right at the center of the fountain stood a white statue. My eyes were drawn to it automatically. The statue had huge white wings—fully spread, as if holding an invisible wind. It wore an Indian-style sari, which despite being carved from stone, strangely looked soft and alive. In its left hand was a book—such a book whose pages looked as if they were about to open at any moment. And its right hand was raised toward the sky. From that hand, the fountain's water flowed continuously. The stream of water emerged from its fingers, fell downward, and spread all around. Looking at it, the statue did not seem like that of an ordinary goddess—but rather like a Female Angel. An Angel not of war or destruction, but of knowledge. In my mind, memories from Jona's diary surfaced automatically. According to the information I had read there—this statue was of the Angel of Knowledge—Savitri. A symbol of knowledge, intellect, understanding, and learning. It was said that the reason this statue was installed at the center of the capital was not merely decoration. I stood there for a few moments. The sound of the fountain's water reached my ears.
After that, I headed toward the library. After walking for some time, I finally stood in front of the library. The outer door of the library was quite large and old. Outside the door, many kinds of boards and posters were posted—some about new books, some about rules, and some notices that most people probably didn't even pay attention to. Without stopping, I opened the door and went inside. As soon as I entered, that familiar smell of paper and old books filled my nose. In a corner was a reception counter. I went straight there and placed my library pass on the counter. The receptionist picked up the pass, examined it carefully, then looked at me and said, "This pass will expire today. Would you like to renew it?" Without thinking much, I nodded and said "Yes." She said, "To renew it for a full month, it will cost one silver coin." I put my hand into my pocket and directly took out one gold coin and handed it to her. The receptionist accepted the coin with mild surprise, then opened a drawer and returned three silver coins to me. After that, she took my old library pass and handed me a new library pass. I took the pass and, without saying anything, moved toward the books.
My intention was clear—I needed to find a good book about this world for Historia's research. But while searching for books, another thought started circling in my mind. I thought to myself—"Wait… my old pass was valid for today." The receptionist took that pass and gave me a new one that was active starting today. Which meant—one full day of mine had quietly disappeared. I let out a small sigh. "Let it go," I told myself. In such a huge world, losing one day wasn't a big deal. I started searching for books again. But even after searching for quite some time, I couldn't find any particularly useful book.
Then my eyes fell on papers stuck to a wall. That was the library's Quest Section. In that section, many posters were displayed—of math problems whose solutions no one had been able to find till date. Below each problem, it was written—"Solve this and claim your reward." And the rewards… honestly looked quite good. I began examining those equations carefully. I might be new to this world, but I came from the 21st century. Because of that, many of the equations hanging there felt somewhat familiar to me. But not enough that I could solve them right there on the spot. I admitted to myself—"I don't have that level yet." Still, curiosity got the better of me. I started looking at one equation, but then I thought—since I would have to tell Historia about Paragon powers someday anyway, why not test her first instead of telling her directly, and explain it later? That way, I could test her, and also claim the rewards from these math equations.