Evaline threw her arms around Klaus like they'd been friends for years, squeezing him tight.
'Uh…' He froze. She was warm, soft, and way too close. Heat rushed to his face, it was his embarrassment mixed with awkwardness.
He gently pushed her back, his cheeks burning.
Jen snickered above them, bobbing in lazy circles like she was watching a comedy show.
Nyra approached slowly and cautiously, she was the polar opposite of Evaline's loudmouth energy.
Her steps were small and hesitant, like she was afraid the ground might crack under her.
"Y-you won," she said, her pale cheeks flashing pink whilst she barely met his eyes.
"That bastard Matthias tricked us," Evaline growled, her fists clenched. Nyra nodded behind her.
'US?' Klaus glanced between them awkwardly before sighing.
'At least I made some decent teammates.'
The three of them joined the others for the night. Klaus wasn't a social butterfly at all, he mostly just stood off to the side while Evaline introduced herself to everyone with booming energy.
He smiled when needed, nodded when spoken to, but his mind kept drifting back to the tournament, what he could have done better, and what to actually do better next time.
Every laugh from the crowd felt too loud, too normal.
Eventually, the students drifted back to their dorms. But Klaus didn't.
'Let's go to the library.'
"Good!" Jen agreed, sitting on his shoulder.
The two girls had already disappeared into the female dorms. Klaus was alone completely with Jen.
The academy felt unnaturally empty. Earlier, it had been loud and crowded, but now only candle flames flickered in iron lamps, casting long, trembling shadows across the paths.
The stones were uneven, worn smooth by thousands of feet. Every rustle in the dark made him tense.
'Which building is it?' With so few structures, he headed for the largest one.
The massive gate stood open despite the hour, darkness swallowing everything beyond.
'Can't you make some light?' he asked the FIRE fairy wobbling on his shoulder.
"Flame Torch!" As soon as she said that, a small, steady flame appeared, pushing back the shadows in a warm circle.
"Better than nothing," Klaus muttered, whilst Jen nodded proudly.
The entrance was striking, a very deep red carpet laid out perfectly smooth.
Golden runes lined the walls, slowly rotating like living things.
Tall windows reflected the stray moonlight, multiplying the candle glow into endless reflections.
But the strangest thing was the smell, or rather, the lack of one.
No dust, no old paper, no wax. Just clean and empty air that felt way too perfect.
They wandered deeper, Jen's torch flickering on walls lined with more candles, some lit, some dark. Minutes stretched into what felt like hours. His footsteps echoed louder than they should have.
Finally, a metallic door loomed ahead of them. Runes spiralled across its surface, glowing faintly.
'Is this—'
The runes flared brighter, bathing the hallway in pale blue light.
"Holy…" Jen whispered.
The door slid open without a sound.
Klaus stepped through, and the room seemed to expand.
'Space magic.'
The library stretched impossibly upward and outward. Shelves towered into darkness which seemed endless, some staircases floated without supports, floors stacked higher than sight could reach. Hundreds of thousands of books, maybe millions, lined every surface.
The air was thick with mana, almost buzzing against his skin. Faint whispers seemed to come from the shelves, words like distant voices arguing in a dead language.
The door closed behind him silently.
Candles flared to life around the library, illuminating every corner in warm gold. The light didn't just brighten, it felt alive.
Jen dismissed her torch with a wave and stared in awe.
"I didn't expect to see you here tonight already," a calm, melodic voice said from above.
Footsteps echoed on a floating ladder.
Klaus looked up and saw the elf professor from the teachers' room.
"I'm also a librarian," she let out the faintest chuckle, her delicate voice echoing through the bookshelves as she made her way down. "Is there anything specific you are looking for?"
Klaus looked around whilst scratching his face, not knowing exactly what to say.
He wasn't exactly looking for anything, he just wanted to see what the library was like and check out some books, but saying that would be pretty lame, thankfully Eirlys spoke up before he could say something questionable.
"We have books from all three of the continents in our library!"
'Three continents?' Klaus's head turned to the side at the new information, however, to Jen this wasn't new.
No memories came back to his mind, meaning the original Klaus didn't know of it either.
"Could you explain?" His question caught Eirlys off guard, however, she didn't hesitate to explain with a warm smile.
"Of course," he swirled his hands, and a bookshelf rotated towards them.
The books on this shelf seemed different from the rest in the library.
Jen seemed to shudder for a second as soon as she saw them, however, she didn't say anything.
"These are books from the Kharzad continent," she explained whilst sliding her fingers across the spines of a couple of books, smoke seemed to emerge from her fingers as soon as she touched them.
"That continent is…demonic, one could say the least," her face didn't seem as happy as earlier, it had changed, however, her expression didn't explain why.
"It's covered in lava, well, most of it," she picked out one book and skipped to the middle of it randomly, "gigantic crystal canyons, endless molten lava, red deserts, it's basically a wasteland…"
'Doesn't seem that bad—'
"You must not go there at all costs," her expression turned serious for a second as she continued, "Martial families dominate there, and mages who enter are either called cursed…or…"
"Or?"
"Or they never return," she said whilst smiling for no apparent reason, which made Klaus have goosebumps.
'So I should avoid it…' Jen started nodding frantically instantly after reading his thoughts.
"Well, onto the next one!" She swirled her hand, and the bookshelves started rotating around them.
Creaking noises filled the library as the light changed, and another shelf came forward. This one had way more boosts than the previous one.
"We have the most books from Sylvara," the books on the shelf didn't have anything in common this time. Not all of them glowed, some did.
"I grew up there," her long ear perked up as she continued, "endless forests as far as the eye can see…" She smiled as she kept explaining, clearly remembering something pleasant, "crystal-clear rivers…the nature is unbelievably beautiful…even the world tree,"
"The what?" Klaus asked back instantly. He thought that only existed in games and stories, however, she chuckled and shook her head.
"That's a story for another time," she looked down at her hands. A pocket watch appeared in it. "And it's already late, so we need to make the rest happen fast,"
Klaus nodded, agreeing with her.
She swirled her hand again, and another bookshelf appeared, way fewer books this time. "Our continent, Vyrathis, which you probably know already."
"It houses the most mages…martial artists. It's just a huge mixture," she smiled whilst touching the spine of a book.
"You probably have seen the floating islands, towering cliffs. It's just a land of magic."
'Floating what now?' Klaus wanted to ask back, but she already seemed to be rushing.
"Well, anyways, that's all you need to know for now. Is there anything you are searching for?" She crossed her hands and looked him directly in the eyes.
Klaus looked around and stared at a couple of bookshelves.
'Might as well try and help Nyra out, hm?' He was trying to ask Jen for help, however, she just shook her head and shrugged, not knowing what to say.
"I'm looking for a … searching spell."
Eirlys turned her head slightly, however, she didn't ask any further questions. Instead, she spread her arms out.
"Open eyes," As soon as she said that, a third drawn eye started forming on her forehead, which, truth be told, crept Klaus out a tiny bit.
Then a book started floating towards them, a green grimoire with an eye cover landing in her hands.
"This book has a spell called 'All Seeing Eye,'" her third eye vanished as she handed the spellbook to Klaus, however, he had a different idea.
"Could you show me it?"
"Sure," Eirlys didn't mind a little showcase to the first-ranked student, "this spell helps locate people and objects that you have met and seen, however, it has a radius…depending on your mana pool."
She explained whilst rubbing her hands together, then muttered.
"All Seeing Eye."
'Copy Spell,' Klaus didn't hesitate for a single second and instantly took his chance.
[All Seeing Eye copied!]
[Copy Spell Available again in 45 minutes!]
No visual effects took place at all, despite her using the spell.
"Mana threads show you the way to the object…" She tried to explain, a little embarrassed at the lack of a physical way of showing how the spell worked, however.
"I see, thank you," Klaus handed her back the book, which made her stunned.
"Uh, is the spell not to your liking—"
"It is, I just understand it now, thank you" That was all he said before starting to walk towards the door, the floating Jen on her shoulder waved goodbye to the elven lady as they walked out.
"…" Eirlys stood still, stunned by the entire stunt, she couldn't even say anything, "understand it.." she chuckled as the book floated back to its place from her hands, "he is a child after all." She shook her head then got back to organising books.
Klaus and Jen made their way back to the dormitory room, the old man already seemed to be sleeping at the front desk, so they just walked by without a word.
Inside, they dropped onto the bed exhausted, however, the night was far from over.
'Let's claim our reward, shall we?'