His mouth agape, awaiting the steaming piece of sustenance, Ethan could not believe his ears. He paused, slowly putting the fork down, and listened closely, ignoring the steaming piece of fish at the end of his fork. Then, his heart started pounding hard in his chest as the wails sounded again from somewhere further away.
The first thing that came to Ethan’s mind was that the sound was made by a colossal beat, crying out in pain or longing. It reminded him of whales he had heard about on the TV while watching National Geographic. But what type of animal can make such a sound? Ethan thought, feeling the source was humongous, given how far the sound carried and how it rattled the various items around him.
Then, as suddenly as they started, the wails just stopped. Listening for a few more seconds, Ethan exhaled. The beast, or whatever it was, did not cry again, leaving Ethan alone. He looked at the small kitchen windows, pale moonlight shining through, and shuddered. Then, calming down, he looked at the fish on his plate. He winced in regret as the food had lost its steaming freshness and did not look so appetizing anymore.
Ethan then understood that he was bold to think he was safe around the area. After all, he knew nothing about how the monsters came to be or how they gained strength. Did they level and get abilities the same way as he did? Or did they fight only humans and just eat them?
If so, how did it work exactly? Did monsters have a similar system to windows as he did? Maybe they could use Aspects as well. Too many questions and too few answers, he thought.
One thing was clear, however. He had to stay in the castle for the time being. At the bare minimum until he gained enough information to make sound decisions. He was not some main character who gained overpowered abilities and could run wild, resurrections waiting in the bank. No, he was just human. He had to make good decisions and survive the same way his ancestors did.
Ethan deflated, his previous high spirits - gone. He finished his dinner and went to his room. The fireplace had heated the chamber to an acceptable degree, and the sun had long set. As he lay in the bed, Ethan tried to formulate a plan for how to proceed but sleep quickly claimed him.
The morning came, and Ethan’s eyes shot open. He carefully got out of bed and listened. No surprises today. Good. I am getting paranoid already. This place is not easy on the nerves, he thought proceeded to start his day as he usually would. He left his room and went to the small yard with the well to wash.
He shivered, the water being ice cold, but it did not deter him as he poured the third bucket over his head, furiously scrubbing the grime accumulated from the last three days of his excursions.
Then he returned to the kitchen and had some fish for breakfast, as there was nothing else to sustain himself on. I wonder how long I will be able to stomach the same thing repeatedly, he thought, chewing the tasty food, thanking the gods that he had at least something.
His morning ritual over with, Ethan got out of the servant's wing and went back to the library to find some helpful information on this place and the surrounding area. His plan was simple. He will start from the bottom of the three floors of books and go over them one by one, checking the topics they covered until something useful pops up.
Once at the library, Ethan sighed, looking at the endless rows of books. This is going to take a while. God, how I hate doing research. No wonder Einar always took the tasks related to analyzing the market and whatnot, he thought, taking a step forward. Then, gathering his wits, Ethan noted that the hour was early, and he had much daylight to work with.
The first book he took from the shelf near the entrance was a bust. It had an excellent brown leather cover and an enticing title, ’The adventures of prince Ar’. But, checking the book in more detail, he was unpleasantly surprised that it was a work of fiction.
No maps, no confidential information, or notes on local history. Just a classic novel he would not be surprised to find in his Kindle library. Why are there literary works of fiction in a castle in the middle of nowhere? Who ran this place? Ethan asked himself and put the book back, taking the next one.
The next book was almost the same, just volume two of the same story. And on it went to volume ten once he got to the end of the first shelf. Ethan stood for a second; his eyes closed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
He felt a familiar frustration that reminded him of the fifth grade when he wanted to play with toys, and his homeschool teacher Anna tried to teach him math. An unlikely comparison, but the frustration was the same.
Breathing out and calming down, Ethan proceeded to the next shelf and repeated the search, encountering more of the same. Then came the next shelf and the next until he had finished the first bookshelf on the first floor, leaving twenty more for him to go over. No, it looks like there are more than twenty. God dammit! he threw his arms up in frustration.
Ethan checked the time by looking at the windows and the sun's position. It was already midday, and his stomach grumbled. However, he did not bother returning to the kitchen as all he needed was in his storage space. Instead, he went to the large table in the library and had a quick lunch before proceeding with his search.
- - -
By the end of the first day, his spirits were at an all-time low as he returned to his room after a lengthy but fruitless search. However, instead of brooding, he went to sleep immediately after dinner, unwilling to recall the useless books he had discovered during the day.
On his second day, Ethan hoped his search would bring at least something, but he was painfully reminded that whoever ran the place was a helpless lunatic, as he found another bookcase filled with more adventure stories.
On his third day, the theme changed to romance novels that occupied most of the first floor. By the end of the first week of his search, Ethan had fallen into some routine, not expecting any more to find anything useful.
It’s just work that has to be done. But it beats going out in the wild and facing whatever is out there, he continued to tell himself repeatedly not to get distracted. He desperately needed information, so he had to finish searching the place before returning to the training area and trying his luck there.
Ethan was a disciplined man and did not believe it was productive to switch tasks if they got more complicated or tedious. He would train once he was done with this place. When doing tedious jobs, it worked best to get on and over with it instead of trying to run away from the responsibility. The only problem was that the library was so huge.
During his second week on the second floor, he found a shelf with something more or less valuable. The owner had deemed it necessary to keep some guides on item clarification and bestiaries on various monsters.
Ethan opened one of the books to discover a disturbing drawing of a blob monster made from warped purple flesh and closed the book. Yea, I will leave this one for a later study, he thought to himself and put the book among others on the large table below.
Once he got to the third floor, Ethan almost lost track of time, as he believed more than three weeks had passed since he started. By then, he had lost all hope of finding something useful or an explanation of how the golems worked, as all the shelves he had covered up until this point were filled with all the possible literary genres one could imagine.
And, yes, there were some not-so-reputable tomes among the various books, making Ethan wonder how the people of this world even came up with such stuff. Tentacles, really? he asked, putting away the disturbing piece of ancient literature.
He was pleasantly surprised by what he found only once he got to the last shelf on the third floor. The first book he picked up was a small one and stunned him with a prompt.
[Apprentice artifice] (skill tome, unranked, uncommon)
A practical guide to making magical items. If you have enough brainpower, that is.
Do you wish to learn this skill?
Yes/No
“Skills in books? Seriously?” Ethan muttered to himself as he browsed the book without accepting the prompt, unperturbed by the mocking texts. All he could make out on the pages were some depictions of various tools, giving him no explanation whatsoever.
It turned out that he could not just read the book; he had to use it. Well, let's wait a bit on that for now. I do not want to pass out again, Ethan thought, putting the book in his storage space.
He continued going over the shelf and was pleasantly surprised to uncover more and more skill tomes on various topics in the far corner of the library. Magical construct-making, enchanting, growing crops, herding, and many more joined his collection of magical tomes that would allow him to learn practical skills if needed. I wonder how much they could fetch me, he thought, mentally counting his chickens before they hatched.
Raising mollusks? Yea, no thanks, Ethan thought and put the book back on the shelf before getting to the last item, noting it was heavier than the skill tomes he had found.
He took the last book in his hands and observed the cover. It was bound in black leather in pristine condition. The book had a metal frame and golden letters on the front. “The path to Shadows,” Ethan muttered and opened the book finding a stone inside.