The next day, the other night watchmen learned about what happened the previous night. They said a couple secretly dating on campus turned pale with fright, claiming they had seen a "one-eyed wailing banshee" near the Great Museum devouring Sam, the night watchman!
The couple also described the "one-eyed wailing banshee" in detail: She had an eye as big as a cow's eye lantern shade on her face, capable of emitting a terrifying light that could melt people!
Even more astonishingly, a precious piece of "Eternal Ice" was also missing, and there was a pool of strange liquid on the museum floor. After analyzing it, a professor from the Alchemy Department said the liquid belonged to Sam!
This made the couple's story seem plausible. They speculated that the "one-eyed wailing banshee" might be an ancient creature frozen in the "Eternal Ice," which escaped in the middle of the night and ate Sam!
Although Sam was just an ordinary night watchman, his incident affected a significant event at the University of Science and Magic: the Magic Academic Symposium of the Seven Continents, originally scheduled to be held during the 200th anniversary school festival, had to be canceled due to the loss of the "Eternal Ice." This was the biggest embarrassment for the University of Science and Magic since its founding!
To save face, the university quickly changed the content of the symposium to focus on studying "Ancient Korlanburg" and exploring related literature. At the same time, the university instructed the couple who saw the banshee to keep quiet and severely punished the security department of the college, even dismissing the minister who had arranged his relatives into the security department.
However, "silencing" does not mean the university killed them to keep the secret. Soon, a new horror story spread among the students of the University of Science and Magic: the wailing banshee of the Great Museum...
Actually, there was another secret behind this incident: shortly after Sam fled, a moonlight beam happened to shine on the piece of "Eternal Ice"!
The "Eternal Ice," which was supposed to never melt, began to melt rapidly that autumn under the cool moonlight. The "tick-tock" sound was made by the water dripping from the melting "Eternal Ice."
The scene shifts to the night of the incident.
Jialan feels a power surging within him, emanating from "The Book of Lian." It rouses him from his icy slumber.
He slowly opens his eyes, a hint of blue light flickering in his dark pupils, then climbs to his feet, his bones cracking audibly.
He twists his stiff neck, hearing the crisp sound of bones popping, and Jialan hums comfortably.
"Where am I?"
He looks around and finds that the familiar bookshelves have transformed into cluttered racks, and the room's appearance has changed.
"I remember I was organizing the shelves in the reading room?"
Jialan frowns and ponders for a moment, gradually recalling some events. He suddenly jolts awake, intending to shout loudly but only emitting a low "Uh..." sound.
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"Damn! I sound like an old zombie."
He swallows, lubricating his dry throat, and looks down to find himself lying on a marble table resembling an altar.
"Was I used as a sacrifice?"
He surveys his surroundings, pitch black with not even a torch or illuminating staff in sight. Only a faint blue moonlight seeps through the octagonal window on the ceiling, illuminating him and bringing a hint of warmth to his body.
Within the moonlight, numerous tiny light points drift like dust, resembling small creatures in the deep sea. They gather like sheer veils, circling around him like a goblin before settling on his chest.
Hanging from Jialan's chest is a light blue crystal pendant, his administrator's "Catalog Stone," capable of opening the doors to the three million book chambers in the Kraneburg Library.
"Did the Catalog Stone wake me up?"
Jialan extends his long but pale fingers, intending to cast a "Light Dance" spell to illuminate the area, but his mind feels empty, his eyes twitching, and his body swaying.
He has to lower his hand, abandoning the idea of casting a "Levitating Disk" spell. Instead, he climbs down the marble table with his stiff body. Although the table is only one and a half meters high, Jialan feels safer climbing down like a zombie.
Why not cast a "Levitating Disk" to create a step?
The power within his body is as dry as a parched land. He couldn't even cast a zero-tier "Light" spell earlier, let alone a first-tier "Levitating Disk" spell.
Although he finds it strange that the owner of this room has placed a bunch of useless items on shelves meant for antiques, he thinks he shouldn't judge or touch anything that seems harmless.
Who knows if there are magical traps protecting the owner's treasures? Taking anything casually could cause big trouble, even though he senses no magical fluctuations.
He exits the uncomfortable "storeroom," navigating through the dimly lit hall and open door. Jialan thinks the owner left in a hurry, otherwise, they wouldn't have forgotten to close the door, and there are suspicious water stains on the ground.
Stepping outside, Jialan finds himself in a vast complex of buildings. It resembles an academy, as he smells the scent of books, and the layout of the buildings is familiar to him.
He notices a lit stone fortress nearby and ponders. Despite numerous questions, he decides not to disturb anyone as dawn approaches.
He believes this is an academy, so the lit place must belong to a teaching mage. Only they cherish time so much, staying up late at night to study magic and teaching students during the day.
The emotions of the mages often fluctuate with the progress of their research. In the dead of night, when all is silent, is the most intense moment of their studies. If you disturb a mage at this time, you might get blown away by their "Augmented Arcane Missile," though that would be considered mild; if you happen to mess up their experiment, the mage, in a fit of anger, might insist on a magical duel with you, and then you'd be in big trouble.
For Jialan, the darkness before dawn is nothing, for he possesses the power of the book of Lian, known as his "Fated Moon." His eyes have the special effect of the "Eye of Lian," more powerful than "Darkvision" and mightier than "Arcane Eye."
Jialan's eyes glowed with a faint blue light, and he quickly found a place to rest and wait for dawn—a wooden chair by the college square. However, the chair was already wet with dew.
Jialan wanted to wave his hand and cast a "Minor Drying Spell" to dry the chair. But just as he was about to finish casting the spell, he suddenly remembered that he had run out of arcane energy and couldn't cast any spells at all.
To Jialan's surprise, a blob of white light suddenly appeared from his hand and landed on the wet chair. Then, the chair emitted a "hissing" sound, and the water marks quickly evaporated, with the chair also crackling loudly.
Looking at the chair, which seemed to have been dried too much and cracked, Jialan didn't know what to say. He looked at his hand, then checked his depleted arcane energy within his body; there wasn't a trace of it left.
He looked up at the crescent-shaped "Book Lian" that was only visible as a sliver in the sky and wondered silently: Did you lend me your power?
However, "Book Lian" had already completed its overnight watch and was slowly disappearing into the brightening sky, leaving only a faint "smile" behind.
Unable to try again, Jialan had no choice but to sit reluctantly on the chair, which was at least somewhat dry, and ponder: Am I only able to cast spells with the power of Book Lian at night?