Chapter 31: The Special Library!

To Sen’s surprise, Sikar was so impressed after their session that he agreed to help again in the future. It was a surprise, but Sen supposed it made sense. The weapon they’d created was a masterpiece that could rival Flamesaber itself. He couldn’t wait to try it out. 

As he was heading for the stairs to get back downstairs, he saw someone descending from the fourth floor. They weren’t using the staircases. Instead, they floated on a pillow.

“Ano?” Sen called out.

Ano looked up, and the pillow slowed to a stop. “Sen! I was wondering when I’d run into you.”

Sen blinked. It took him a moment to process that. “I thought you’d end up going back home? It’s been days, why are you still at Brightsail?” It was unlikely someone would transfer in their fourth year to another academy, especially not to a school that had just beaten them in the Academy War. But…Ano was certainly unique. His motivations were his own, and if anyone would do something unexpected, it was him.

The pillow floated over the railing, and Ano jumped down, landing next to Sen. “We’re staying here for the time being. I’m sitting in on some fourth-year classes and still have private training with Professor Laurette. She’s been keeping me pretty busy, or I would’ve sought you out by now. Tonka and the others are here too, and the remnants of Fire Kite,” he said.

If the fact that Green Book’s students hadn’t left was surprising, Fire Kite remaining behind was outright shocking. He was certain Alari and the others wouldn’t hang around here any longer than they needed to. What was going on? “I see…any idea why?” he asked.

Ano shrugged. “No idea. It’s never happened before, according to the others. Whatever the schools are cooking up, I’m at a loss. I just go where Laurette tells me. Right now it’s to sit in on some guest lecture or something. Unless…you’re doing something more interesting?” he asked.

Sen pulled the silver card out of his pocket. “I was on my way to pick a spell out from the school’s special library.”

And clapped his hands. “Perfect, that’s significantly more interesting than what I was doing. I’ll tag along.” He paused. “Actually, you still go to class. If Laurette doesn’t believe I went, I can say my pillow was in that class! You better believe it!” Ano was talking to his pillow.

Sen raised a brow. “Are you talking to your sleep paralysis demon?” he asked, as Ano’s pillow went off on its own. He made his way toward the stairs, and Ano fell in with him.

“Hah! No. He’s not much of a talker. Doesn’t come out during the day unless I call him. The pillow’s a magic artifact, or…a magic weapon? Somewhere in between. I’ve never been good at telling the difference. I can use it to summon the creepy fellow when I need to, but he’s not actively inside it. It’s more like a portal to my subconscious. Or, that’s Laurette’s theory, anyway.” 

That was interesting. He’d wanted to ask more about the creature as soon as he’d seen it, but after the Academy War they’d had very little downtime. Sen pointed in a new direction once they hit the first floor, and the two boys headed toward the library. “So, what exactly is it? A demon you formed a contract with? A summon?”

Ano shook his head. “Dunno. As long as I can remember, I would wake up at night and it would be staring at me. All night. I’d sit there with my eyes wide open, unable to move until the first hint of daybreak. Used to terrify me, kept me up all night. A little boy stuck in bed, unable to cry out for anyone. Not that there was anyone I could cry out to, or at least no one I remember. Eventually, I had a change of mindset. Decided it wasn’t there to scare me, but to protect me. I was probably lying to myself at first, but after a while I genuinely convinced myself. I’m not sure if it was that, or something else, but it became true. One day I was attacked in the street and felt this…sensation. I gave in to it, thinking it was a magical breakthrough and that thing crawled out of my pillow. Ever since then, I can call it whenever I want. It still stares at me at night, but we’re cool. It does make dating kind of suck, though. Not many women are okay sharing a room with their boyfriend and his sleep paralysis demon every night. Threes a crowd, ya know?” 

Sen chuckled. It sounded like a curse, and the fact Ano couldn’t remember much about his childhood only further strengthened that theory. But Ano had seemingly made his peace with it. He could sleep at night, and the powerful demon even fought alongside him. There wasn’t anything for Sen to fix, not that Ano had asked him to. Still, he was curious, and would have to do some research on this when time allowed. “You turned affliction into strength. That’s admirable,” Sen said.

Ano laughed. “Wanting to sleep at night is a powerful motivator.”

Their conversation came to a halt as they arrived at the closed library doors. Sen ran his hand over the handles as Milim had once shown him, but the doors refused to open. He sighed. “Orttha must be with someone at the moment.” 

A moment later, the doors creaked open. Orttha stood on the balcony of the second floor; next to him was Milim. “Come on up, I know why you’re here,” the old librarian called out.

Ano grinned. “Fate is kind to you, friend. I bet you sleep well at night.” 

As they entered, the library doors locked in several places behind them. He wondered how Orttha had even known it was them standing outside, but it didn’t matter. His main concern was the special library. New magic was on the horizon. They joined Orttha and Milim. She held one of the silver cards in her hand as well. He tilted his head at that. “Did your rank go up?” he asked. She wasn’t in the top thirty yet, so she shouldn’t have a card. 

Milim sighed. “No, I’m still working on climbing the list. Some teachers are allowed to hand these out after Academy War ends. I got one for getting the highest score on one of my classes’ last test.”

Sen smiled. “Excellent, well, at least this way we can browse together.”

Orttha frowned. “I’m only supposed to take one student at a time. But if you all promise not to interfere with one another, I’ll let you look together.” He eyed Ano, waiting for him to pull out a silver card. 

“Sorry, boss, I don’t actually go here. I’m with Green Book,” Ano explained. 

“Hm, not supposed to let outsiders into the special library, but the dean told me to treat the other schools well. You can come, but don’t touch anything or your school will get a bill they won’t like.” With that, Orttha turned and led them behind the library’s main reception desk. He ran a hand over a silver panel, and a door appeared where before there was none. It led to a set of stairs, taking them even higher. This library was crazy huge. “Follow me.”

They hurried after Orttha through the tight stairwell, turning a corner and continuing up even higher, back in the direction they’d just come. After that flight, they entered a new room. They were directly above the main floor of the library now. Just like during the entrance exams, a variety of stone tablets filled the room. However, these were covered by a glass pane. Sen hurried over to one, but realized he couldn’t examine the markings. Instead, a text box appeared. 

[A spell that increases affinity with animals.]

[Not acquired.] 

Sen frowned. 

Orttha and the others watched him. “The tablets are hidden so that someone can’t come in here and learn all of them. There’s a simple description to give you an idea of the spell’s purpose, and a second box will tell you if it’s a spell you’ve acquired or not since you can’t check your resonance with the tablet directly.”

Ano whistled, staring up at the bookshelves full of stone tablets that led high into the air. “Wish I had my pillow, I could help you guys look for something cool.” His pillow popped into existence directly next to him. A letter was on top of it. “No…you weren’t supposed to actually come. What’s this?” He took the letter and read it in silence. His eyes looked ready to pop out of his head. “Laurette came to see if I had attended the lecture. She left this letter, telling me to come see her later. I’m so dead. I’m dead. It’s over.” 

The pillow nuzzled gently up against him to offer him comfort, and he swatted at it. “Traitor. You weren’t supposed to get us caught.” The pillow shrank back, and Ano sighed. He opened his arms, and the pillow flew toward him, embracing the hug. 

Milim shuddered at the display. “So, any recommendations, Orttha?” she asked.

“Hm, there are some dream spells in here,” he said. She followed him to the opposite side of the room from where Sen browsed. At the mention of dream magic, Ano followed them. He was more advanced than Milim, and their magic was similar. It might be to her advantage that the Green Book student tagged along. Now she had two people to give her advice on her choice of spell.

Sen appreciated the solitude. He concentrated on the various effects of spells he hadn’t learned.

[Conjure’s a centipede.]

[Changes the taste of objects.]

[Turns Magic Essence Spheres into Bombs.]

That last one sounded like a terrible waste of resources. None of these spells spoke to him. He closed his eyes and focused on Tutor. 

“Enhanced Analysis Maxima,” he whispered. 

He yielded his mind to Tutor temporarily, withdrawing into himself while his interface worked efficiently. A gust flew around the room, and if the tablets had been uncovered, and normal books, their pages would have flapped in the wind. The others turned to look at him as a chill brushed over them. But Tutor had already finished his search.

[Presenting a list of the most valuable options.]

A list of thirty spells manifested; of those, Sen further cut the list down to three that interested him the most.

[An offensive shadow control spell]

[A spell that straddles the line between illusion and summoning]

[A powerful mental barrier]

Sen wasn’t terribly versed in shadow magic. Which meant this spell could unlock new threads, pulling him higher toward that magic sun in the sky. He hadn’t received any shadow essence spheres, but that wouldn’t be a problem forever. He could always create a shadow spell of his own. This would simply allow him to advance more quickly. 

The spell that straddled illusion and summoning was very appealing. It reminded him of his modification to the butterfly spell. He’d turned a simple illusion spell into a devastating attack that obliterated opponents at Maxim, and erased the existence of others at Maxima. If this spell already blurred those lines, his maximizers could push them even further. It would make for a fun experiment, and his interest in illusion magic was stronger than ever.

Finally, the mental barrier. He had plenty of mental enhancements, and his wards acted to protect him from mind alteration. But during the Academy War, Marin breached his defenses. That was a serious threat, and if she’d been more experienced, she might’ve taken him out of the fight. It was such a vulnerability, one that he had never faced before, that he knew from the start he’d have to choose this spell. A barrier designed specifically for the mind would prevent others from slipping inside it. Still, even if he didn’t take the first two spells, the simple knowledge that they existed gave him direction. He might not recreate them perfectly, but with the right essence spheres, he could create his own versions of them. Mental essence spheres were rarer than shadow or illusion ones. It was the rational choice, but it wouldn’t be long before he controlled spells that closely resembled or even surpassed the ones he was passing up.

Tutor showed him where to go. He strode across the room, held up his silver card to the glass case containing the stone tablet, and the spell transferred itself into his consciousness. 

[Adamantine Mind - A high-grade mental protection spell designed to defend against alterations of thoughts, personality, and other mental attacks.]

Sen smiled. That was perfect. He activated it immediately, and a sense of clarity washed over him. It wasn’t just effective against magic; it almost made his thoughts more prevalent. It was as if the barrier also helped him ignore distractions or stray thoughts. That was useful. He’d made the right choice. 

 He looked over and realized Milim was swiping her card as well. He hurried over to see what she’d chosen. Only Milim could perceive the spell’s name, but he could read its description still.

[A spell of pleasant dreams.]

Tutor grumbled something negative in his mind, but the mental barrier muffled it. Now, that was an unexpected perk. 

Although Milim’s spell description didn’t sound all that useful, Orttha and Ano seemed excited. Whatever this was, Sen had high expectations of it.

After they finished, Orttha opened the library, and a flood of students poured in. Ano reluctantly decided to go and find Laurette. He couldn’t avoid her anger forever, in his words. It left Milim and Sen standing alone outside the library. He could see the back of the class ranking board in the distance, and he realized that Milim and he had a mutual goal. To climb the ranks. 

He turned to her and smiled. Her eyes widened, realizing he’d just gotten an idea. 

“Say, Milim, what would you think about doing some quest together?”