Stepping over some invisible threshold Alex slowed then paused entirely as he examined his surroundings. Looking back to make sure he hadn’t been transported to some entirely other place, he continued cautiously; Alex could tell something had changed. While the other parts of town didn’t have an odor per se, Cindel had the smell of the farms he’d visited when he was younger, rather than the scents that normally marked a city as large as Endor.
Unable to find anything outwardly obvious, Alex manipulated Sixth Sense, sending thin tendrils of energy out in an attempt to feel a change. Nothing. Bringing up his map of Cindel Alex moved further in, not wanting to drag more attention to himself. There was too much weird stuff happening for him to accurately determine what was a threat or not, with only his mundane experiences.
The city’s main library was in the center of town, close to the King’s Castle. Freddie had mentioned that there were multiple auxiliary buildings he could also go to if he didn’t want extremely old or rare texts, so Alex had opted for one of them. The nearest one was only a five-minute walk from where he’d entered, and as he began to move Alex noted the differences from the other districts.
The stores were probably the biggest visual difference. People didn’t stand at carts hawking their wears to passersby like in the arena. Nor did many have window displays stating products or offering samples like in Mendel. Cindel store owners seemed to run on an if you know, you know, type of culture, with most not having so much as a sign to mark them a commercial business. It took a couple of minutes for Alex to realize people were shopping, not walking in and out of others houses.
Some business still followed the traditional marketing route, such as the bakery Alex stopped at. The smell of freshly baked danishes wafting from the building having a pull on him that might well have been magic. Back on the road after his detour Alex was beginning to feel he had a handle on the money situation. It’d costed him nearly a gold for a dozen of the pastries; those were city prices. Though, as he split them between his stomach and inventory, he couldn’t find a shred of regret for the expense.
Walking up to the gate of a set of well manicured gardens, the island of green split down the middle by a polished cobblestone path, Alex found himself reminded of Greek architecture. The satellite library was a grand affair encompassing an entire city block according to his map. A set of wide steps with an intricately crafted golden balustrade marked the end of perfectly manicured gardens, leaving Alex to stare at the building itself.
Its exterior was made of a grayish white polished stone, with matching marble pillars surrounding it. A few meters in, set above the main entrance, were multiple stained-glass windows of varying colors. Most depicted mythical creatures Alex had never seen before, but all glittered with the reflected light of the gold and gems embedded into the art. To either side of the massive doors were two stone golems in the shapes of lions. Each had a crest embedded into their forehead and Alex would have mistaken them for ordinary statues had he not met Grave the day prior. Neither moved, but he didn’t doubt they could tear him apart if ordered to do so.
The colossal structures of metal and wood that passed for doors opened before he reached them, moving inward slowly and without force. If Alex had been asked to explain the library’s exterior he would have declared it as rich but tasteful; the interior however, was just gaudy. While the walls were white, red and gold lined everything from the carpet to curtains. An imperial staircase framed the grand hall’s first floor and vaulted ceilings that seemed to reach for the sky they covered held crystal made chandeliers. Alex wondered just how much platinum had been spent on the place. If this was what a satellite library looked like what did the main branch hold?
Making to walk up the massive staircase Alex was stopped by a weathered voice.
“Why have you come here child?”
Alex turned, attempting to find the source of the voice that seemed to be all around him. Failing he decided to go with the truth, though since the man wanted to be all ominous...
“I’ve come from travels far seeking knowledge,” Alex boomed, his chest puffed.
“And what is it you plan to do with this knowledge you seek?”
Pausing as if in deep thought Alex waited a moment before giving his single word answer. “Understand.”
There was another moment of silence before a loud crash directly in front of Alex made him jump, the highest pitched scream he could release escaping his lips. Opening his eyes as he recovered from the shock, he looked down to find a single, massive book. It’s binding was black and clearly worn, though Alex couldn’t know if it was from use or because people kept dropping it from ten meters up. Without prompting, and before he could read the title, the book opened. Pages turned, slowly at first, then speeding up until they began to fly up and outwards, soon forming the shape of a person.
Alex stared at the old man in front of him, his long, well manicured beard the last to form from the paper.
“Holy shit, that was sick,” was all that came to mind as the man’s brown eyes pierced his own, to which he smirked.
“Apologies for the scare young one, I mistook you for one of noble status when you walked in and it's fun to fuck with those stuck up brats.”
Catching on to the man’s personality Alex raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean mistook. I am the second son of the premier Duke Dainer, first of his name, and second in the line to inherit the Dainer lands. You will treat me as a man befitting his station, or I will have words with your superior.”
Alex paused, it had never been necessarily difficult to come up with such stories, but now the words flowed off his tongue naturally.
The man bowed deeply, not a single hair falling out of place as he did so. “Of course it is my apologies Lord… Dipshit was it. Of course, your elegant scream earlier was truly as profound as your blood is pure.”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
There was a brief moment before both broke into a fit of laughter, the man’s deep and hearty. As the last chuckles left their lips he reiterated his original question, his voice less pretentious and Alex analyzed him.
***
General
Name: Unknown
Race: Human
Level: 40+
Grade: E
Class: Unknown
Health: Max
Mana: Unknown
Stamina: Unknown
***
It was more than he had been getting though still not much.
“So how can I help you?”
“Well what I said was true, I’m not from around here and wanted to get some more basic information on the city.”
“I’m sure you know this but if you’re not a noble from the country, you’re not a noble at all far as the general public’s concerned. The information shouldn’t be an issue though. You’ll want to focus on sections C11 and12 for the most recent stuff though anything before the last hundred years would be C8 and earlier. Even though all the shelves are marked, it can still be difficult to find exactly what you’re looking for so feel free to ask a librarian for anything specific.
For basic information there is a one gold per day fee, though you can purchase a weekly pass for six gold and a monthly, for twenty-five gold. There is an all access pass that is five gold per day with similar escalations in price for the weekly and monthly. As we are not the main branch the majority of what we carry barring skill books is open to the public, if you have the coin. You have the money correct?”
Alex flashed a gold into his hand, though he refrained from giving it to the man. It seemed the librarian had taken his wording to mean he was a foreign noble. That could work.
“Good.” He began to move toward the large set of stairs and Alex followed. “Do you have any other question?”
He had plenty, though a few important ones came to mind. “Are the nobility here really that bad, and are there a lot of them in there?”
“There’s a few, most of the true elites go to the main branch as there’s more people to be pompous asshole too.” He let out a little laugh at his joke. “Branches’ like ours are for the common folk and poorer nobles; ones who live in the 30’s and above. They’re not much to be scared of truly, but blood is blood, and they have a claim they love to push around. Does my old heart good to push them around when I get the chance. Today is not one of our busy days though it is still early.”
It took Alex a moment to realize, as they ascended the staircase, the man was speaking about the street numbers when he referred to the 30’s. That was nearly half the district, though it was split among all the branch libraries.
“Then no one’s going to try to duel me to the death because I took a book they wanted.”
The man gave him a weird look from the corner of his eye. “Unlikely, though I suppose they would have the right once you’re off the library grounds. It’s normally more ‘give me this book’ and ‘my father could buy this whole building with you in it.’ Most nobles at that age are below level twenty so I recommend releasing your hold some. I can’t sense a flaw in your control so they won't stand a chance. Too many fights though and their parent will start to get involved. If they know you’re obviously stronger than them, they’ll be more likely to leave you alone, less of a headache all around.”
The librarian assumed he was higher leveled than he was, though Alex guessed that made sense. He had said he’d traveled far, and seemed to have enough money to at least purchase some nice clothes. If you combined that with his seemingly perfect control of his “level six” aura, he could see the man’s logic.
“I’ll remember that, though I like to move around incognito when possible, with great power and all that.”
“All what?”
“Great responsibility.”
“That’s dumb.”
Alex laughed hesitantly, at the man’s deadpan, unsure if he was serious. When the silence dragged on the pair approaching another set of doors Alex risked asking one last question.
“That thing you did with the book, could I learn it?”
The man looked over, friendly tone becoming a bit more serious, “That’s a rude thing to ask.”
“Well no, I meant does the library have the skill. I’ve been thinking about picking up some extra ones,” Alex said, backtracking.
“Does this measly satellite library have a D-grade class specific skill.” The man said with obvious mirth. “No, it does not. But hey if your profession is librarian, come back to me when it’s around my level, I’ll give you a few pointers for the right price. Since we’re on the topic though, no copy skill on the books, they’re warded against it, and we’ll be alerted. If you try and fail, you’ll be removed from the library. If you succeed, or we cannot tell, you may be taken in for… questioning.”
Alex nodded at the thinly veiled threat, why did everyone want to stop his attempts at thievery. A brand-new storage that no one could detect, perfect for storing ill-gotten gains and nothing to use it on.
The library proper was less of an extravagant affair than Alex expected, the space fitting the ideas he was familiar with. There were rows upon rows of shelves, all seemingly copied from the same template of dark stained mahogany wood. From just the entrance he saw thousands of books with signs above marking isle locations like in superstore.
The older man cleared his throat as Alex stared, pointing to a register with another librarian reading a book. The young lady looked up for a moment before putting a handout, Alex handed her five gold which quickly disappeared into the device with a loud noise. She retrieved a stamping device and with a tone that declared her boredom to the world asked, “Hand?”
Alex hesitated as he examined the stamp with Sixth Sense. It was obviously magical, but his skill gave him no information on how it worked. After what happened in the arena Alex was still weary of magic that lingered on his person.
“Is there another way I could get access?” Alex looked from the stamp to the woman, doing his best to look comfortable.
She let out a sigh that held more weariness than a high school teacher at the end of March. Taking what looked to be a wristband out of her desk the woman explained that Alex had to return it before he left.
“Any attempts to walk out without handing it in will be assumed attempted theft and would come with the punishments for the charge including a fifty gold fine. If you successfully leave, and we catch you.” A small smile appeared on the woman's face and Alex just reached for the band, doing his best not to give a reaction. He wasn’t necessarily a fan of the band either, but it was better than direct contact he supposed.
Turning back to ask the first librarian another question Alex realized he’d left at some point.
“I heard something about skill books, does this give me access to those.” He brought up his wrist and the lady’s eyes pulled away from her reading as if physically pained.
“Foundational, or Functional.”
“What’s the difference?” Alex asked, before adding. “Here? I’ve learned they’re often grouped differently from place to place.
The woman looked at Alex as if she doubted he’d be able to read the books in a children’s classroom, let alone here. Still, Alex felt the buzz of a notification he ignored for the moment.
“I don’t know what they do in the backwaters you’re from but in this kingdom we use the Krisper Mapping Method. The foundational books, are with the regular works, just ask a librarian since clearly you’d be unable to find it on your own. The functional skill books are all out of sight. There is a book if you want to know all the skills or find something specific. Those obviously come with an additional fee.”
Alex just smiled and nodded, it seemed he’d need to do the rest himself. Moving into the stacks he felt excited to get reading.