Oz led the way to the World Door. Halfway there, he paused and looked at Linnea. “The dorms?”

Linnea nodded. She ran off, vanishing.

He looked at Roan. “Go after her. Use your pressure to kill any bugs that remain.”

“Bugs…?” Roan asked.

Oz shook his head. “You don’t want to know.”

“Wait, there were more bugs?” he clarified.

“So many bugs,” Oz confirmed.

Roan cursed. “How many of us did she get?”

“More than I’d have liked her to,” Oz said. “We’ll be in the World Door.”

“Which one?”

Oz paused. “The one with the golden grasses.”

Roan nodded. Shaking his head, he hurried after Linnea.

Aisling looked at Oz. “How many World Doors does the library have?”

Oz grinned enigmatically. Yes… I’m smiling because it’s a mystery, and not because I don’t know!

Back to the World Door. Oz stepped through, jogging over to Aisling’s sack. “What did you get?”

“Just a few things,” Aisling said, waving her hand.

He threw the sack open.

An assortment of dried roots, a single stick of celery, and an entire leg of a pig greeted him.

Oz blinked. He looked at Aisling. “For lunch?”

“You need protein. And qi. The roots are rich with it. Good for opening meridians, too.”

“Oh,” Oz said. Opening meridians… many of the books brought that up as the next step. They didn’t all agree on the topic of what I ought to do to open them, but they seemed to agree it was important.

Aisling lifted her foot and stomped on the ground. Grass and dirt flew. A pit opened where her foot struck, nearly a foot deep. She lifted her foot and stomped again. The pit deepened and widened.

At that, she kneeled and began to dig, smoothing out the walls of the pit.

Feeling useless, Oz stood over her. He coughed. “Can I help?”

She looked up, squinting against the sunlight. Pointing away from the pit, she nodded. “Meditate. Gather more energy and prepare to break open your eight meridians. Now that you can sense qi, you should focus on growing strong enough to defend the library. By the end of this meal, I want you to open at least one meridian. All eight would be ideal, but I won’t hope for a miracle.”

Oz blinked. Isn’t that a bit unreasonable? He opened his mouth to protest.

A moment later, he shut it. Why invite people into the library if I’m not going to listen to their expertise? Aisling knows more about cultivating than I do. I should listen and learn.

Walking over to where Aisling had indicated, Oz sat down and crossed his legs, mimicking the pose he’d seen in the books. Flipping open a book in his mind, he settled in to read.

Qi rushed into him, a tide of bright blue sloshing into his core. Heat instantly assaulted his body, his whole being straining to contain it. Startled, Oz jumped to his feet, putting a hand to his core.

Aisling looked up. “Any troubles?”

“So—so much qi!” Oz stuttered.

She laughed. “Compared to the library, there would be! The library’s books soak up most of its qi, after all.”

“The… the books absorb qi?” Oz asked.

Aisling nodded. “All manuals passively absorb qi. It’s how they maintain the spells and techniques inscribed within. In fact, all objects absorb qi, and magical objects, moreso.”

“Huh,” he muttered. I wonder if that’s why it’s so easy for me to create copies of the books in my mind? If they soak up qi to power themselves, and I use qi to scan them, isn’t it possible there’s a kind of resonance between the two, or something?

I’ll have to pay more attention the next time I scan a book.

Even as he stood there, the qi leaked out of him. Startled, Oz turned his attention back to circulating the qi he’d gathered. Compared to his hard-won motes from the library, only a small percentage of the qi he gathered here remained after circulation. More of it, but it’s less refined. Is this wild qi, versus the well-used-by-humans qi in recirculation in the library?

Curious. I’ll have to investigate. I’m sure there’s a book somewhere in the library that can explain it.

As he read and absorbed qi, he quietly categorized the books, setting them in buckets in his mind. From what I understand, there are mages, martial mages, and scholarly mages. Let’s start from there. Break up the books depending on whether they’re general magic techniques, magical martial arts, or magic theory. Although the categorization is a bit crude for now, I can refine the buckets as we go. I still don’t know enough about magic to comfortably separate them out into fine categories.

As for general-knowledge books, I’d like to thank all the librarians who came before me for already subdividing the genres for me! It’s easier to decide how to separate them.

When we head back inside, I’m going to start organizing the shelves near the desk, categorizing the books by genre and topic. I’ll work outward from there, until I straighten up the entire first floor.

Turning back to the books, he quickly took a survey of their sections on breaking open meridians. Brute force… flow like water… brute force, brute force… gently, bit by bit… brute force… Hmm. If I had to take a guess, the general consensus is brute force.

Is this the Universal Theory of Magic Madame Saoirse chased? A survey of the most popular techniques and decisions? But just because something is popular, doesn’t mean it’s correct. Once upon a time, the sun rotated around the planets, after all.

No… the true Universal Theory of Magic should be the truth behind the knowledge of the world. As the theory of gravity ultimately explained the sun’s place at the solar system’s center, so should I seek out the ultimate theory that encompasses the truth, rather than become blinded by what’s currently popular.

Oz twisted his lips. But how can I do that, this early in my journey? I barely understand how to absorb qi, how am I supposed to do something like discern the theory of relativity from where I stand?

Right now, let’s press on. I’ll progress with my limited understanding for now, and hope it’s close enough. If I need to wipe everything out and reset, so be it. I’ve spent this long without magic. I can go back to being magicless easily.

The World Door creaked again. Oz opened his eyes, momentarily distracted. Linnea stood close by Roan’s shoulder, giggling about something, and Roan smiled back at her. He flicked his hand, and one of the sun-shaped medallions on his belt jumped to his hand. Another flick, and it returned.

“Wow,” Linnea breathed, her eyes wide.

Oz closed his eyes again, not wanting to disturb the two of them. Linnea’s the type to change everything to match the one she’s chasing, huh?

A quiet voice in the back of his head muttered, or is she?

Nearly at the same moment, the qi in his core reached a critical point. Stuffed full, it couldn’t hold any more without bursting. He snorted at himself. It’s easy to gather qi when I’m not in that dried-up library. I wonder if that was Ossian’s problem?

Shaking his head, he quickly dismissed the thought. Unlikely. After all, unlike myself, Ossian had free rein to leave the library, at least until recently. He could walk into this secret realm any time he wanted.

Oz put his hands together, closing his mental book and ending his practice. He stood, nodding at Linnea and Roan. “How did it go?”

“Roan was so impressive!” Linnea trilled, before Roan could say anything.

Roan frowned at her. “Linnea did most of the work. I only cleaned up.”

“I couldn’t have done it without Roan,” she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. Even as she did, she watched Oz, a strange coldness in her eyes.

She isn’t in love with either of us. Oz smiled. “I’m glad it went well. Aisling, are you nearly done?”

Standing over a crude earthen oven, surrounded by steam, Aisling snapped her fingers. The clay broke open, revealing a mouthwatering pig leg and the roots and celery from earlier, the latter withered and softened, but otherwise unchanged. She smiled. “Come and get your share!”

Licking his lips, Oz walked over, his stomach rumbling. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation “Looks delicious.”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Roan’s nose wrinkled subtly. “Aisling cooked?”

Linnea’s eyes widened. She put a comforting hand on Roan’s arm. “I’m so sorry. I said I’d cook…”

“It’s fine,” Roan said, though his narrowed eyes and crossed arms indicated it was not fine.

“Next time, I promise. It’s just that I promised Oz to help with the bugs first,” Linnea said, casting a glance at Oz.

Still trying to play me and Roan off one another? Linnea has access to the library, but she’s still playing games. What’s her real goal? Brows furrowed in thought, Oz reached for the pork.

Aisling slapped his fingers. Oz jolted, retracting his hand. He looked at her, caught and confused. “What?”

“Eat the roots first,” Aisling ordered, crossing her arms, instantly turning stern.

Oz pouted. “I need protein. I’m a growing boy.”

“After the roots,” Aisling repeated, unmoved.

Oz sighed. And here I thought I’d finally outgrown ‘eat all your veggies before you can have any cake.’ Instead, here I am, back in a kid’s body, being treated like a fifteen-year-old by other kids. He reached out, slowly gathering the roots out of the earthen oven.

Roan squinted, then startled. He looked at Aisling. “Are those Hundred-Year Meridian Knots? Where did you find those?”

Aisling lifted a brow at Roan. “A small sect like the Fiery Fist Sect surely has no resources of its own, is that what you mean?”

“Why—why give those resources to Oz? Why does everyone always give him everything?” Roan demanded.

“Master encouraged me to grow my relationship with the new Master of the Grand Magus’ Library,” Aisling said simply.

“Giving him that many Hundred-Year Meridian Knots basically guarantees he breaks through his meridians. This is more than relationship-growing!” Roan complained, crossing his arms.

Oz jerked to a halt halfway through taking a root. He turned slowly toward Aisling. Are these things valuable, then? Should I not accept them?

Wait, hold on. I’m being bribed? I’m being bribed! Holy shit! I never thought I’d see this day. Damn. I gotta say, I understand why people like bribery. It sure does feel good getting something for nothing.

But… Oz cleared his throat. “Aisling, I want to make the library open to the public. Everyone. Fey, mortals, you name it. There’s no point in garnering favor with me. Eventually, I intend to share the library freely with everyone.”

Aisling looked him in the eyes. “Oz, at times, I wonder if you failed to cultivate for so long because you’re too kind and honest for your own good.”

“Huh?” he asked. The way she said that, it isn’t a compliment.

“If someone offers you an opportunity, take it. Even if it’s based on an untrue premise. It’s the one offering the opportunity’s responsibility to discover if they’re gaining something from that offer.”

Basically, she’s telling me to lean into the grift. Telling the truth only hinders myself. Oz paused, putting a hand on his chin thoughtfully. I’ll be honest, grift might be my route to survival. I need to get powerful quickly. Sure, the library has endless amounts of knowledge, but it doesn’t contain food, or root things like these, or more than a sample of those herbs back in the kitchen, whatever they’re for. I need resources to survive… and to grow stronger, it seems.

Although I’m conceptually on the side of free knowledge for everyone, survival dictates that I need some kind of way to gain food, water, and magical resources. Perhaps I can take a small bribe or two in order to survive, in exchange for… He glanced at Aisling, Roan, and Linnea, and nodded to himself. In exchange for letting some of their disciples into the library before I’m powerful enough to let everyone in.

My major hurdle to allowing others in to the library is that I’m too weak to keep them from causing trouble or killing me. If I can grow stronger, faster, by allowing a little bribery now, I reach my ultimate goal of a public library far faster.

Right now, as is, I have no way to make a profit in this world. Since I can’t survive on qi alone, I need a route to make a profit so I can continue to eat. And honestly, I’m not even taking bribes. I’m simply offering a service for a fee. He nodded to himself. That’s a great idea.

“Do you understand?” Aisling asked.

“I understand,” Oz replied, nodding.

Obediently, he gathered all the roots into his arms and sat down to eat. With the first bite, bitterness unlike anything he’d ever tasted before, including the fasting pills, filled his mouth. Jolting, he gagged. A hand to his face, he leaned forward. Spit—I need to spit!

“Don’t you dare,” Aisling intoned, her expression dark.

That’s right. This is Aisling’s bribe. I can’t spit it up! Oz forced it down. He pressed his hands against his mouth, grimacing deep against the medicinal aftertaste. Gross, gross, gross! Why does everything good for me in this world taste like dish soap?

Even as he complained, the energy within his body began to circulate all on its own. Passageways within his body opened, allowing qi up into them for the first time. At the very base of his spine, a blockade stood out in the flow of qi, a black, sealed lump that his qi flowed past like water around a rock.

Is that a meridian? Unhesitatingly, Oz gathered the energy in his core, circulated it a few times, and sent it flying down the passageway. It struck a firm blockade. He threw all his energy against it, battering it down. Like the books said! Break through with brute force!

Opening meridians on its own falls short of actually practicing any cultivation technique, while allowing me to grow stronger. As long as I don't advance to the first stage, I'm still safe. But if I sit still and fail to cultivate anything until I read every book, I'll be destroyed by outside mages' schemes long before I finish. I need to be able to defend myself to a small amount, so I can at least graduate from being a sitting duck!

A strange sensation gripped Oz. He sunk into it, and found himself standing in a strange meadow. Wind blew in the long grass, and small blue flowers stood here and there among the grasses. Eight large boulders sat on the uneven ground, arranged in a jagged line. Each boulder grew larger than the last, the largest one as large as a small hill.

At the same time as he saw the boulders, he vaguely sensed eight blockages up the line of his spine. Oz’s eyes widened. Foundation… Eight boulders… Lifting his eyes, he looked down the line of eight boulders lying in the field. Are these my meridians? Then—

He threw himself against the first boulder. His shoulder struck hard stone. He bounced away, rubbing his shoulder and hissing in pain. The boulder stood firm, refusing to so much as budge. Raising his arms, Oz hammered at it. Aside from aching knuckles, he accomplished nothing.

He fell back, but the urge to break through the boulder remained. No… not break through. Shatter completely. I need it gone, so I can lay my foundation. As long as this blockade remains, I won’t be able to make any progress.

Before he could put anything else together, the world jolted. He jerked back to reality, a pile of roots in one hand, half a root still sticking out of his fist.

Oz whipped around to stare at the root. That’s what allowed me to see that illusion, isn’t it? I understand now. These things are incredibly valuable. Allowing me to visualize the meridians like that means I can break them faster than ever. Breaking through one—no, two— today isn’t a dream. If eating them means I can go back there… I’ll bear the bitterness!

Bribery is the best! Anyone else want to offer some bribes?

Lifting the root, he tore off another bite and swallowed it down, eating it fast to fight the bitter flavor. In a few bites, he polished off the root.

Once again, the rocky field spread before him. This time, rather than charge the boulder and smashing it pointlessly with his limbs, he paused. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, circulating his qi.

I’m inside my core right now. These are conceptual boulders, not real boulders. He lifted his hands, gathering his qi between them. As I thought. In this space, I can freely manipulate qi, without the limits of my body.

Balling up his qi, he slammed it down on the boulder. Qi cut into the stone, eroding it away. Stone flew all around him. Cracks bit through the boulder.

The qi in his hand faded. Oz bit his lip and narrowed his eyes, pushing himself. A little more. The boulder’s almost—

The last of the qi left him. His palm slapped the eroded boulder harmlessly. Stone dust puffed up around his hand.

More qi. I need more qi.

Before his eyes, the cracks in the boulder closed over. The stone dust vanished, absorbed into its surface. The chunks he’d blown away flew up, closing in on the boulder.

Dismissing the illusion, Oz returned to the long grasses. He steadied himself, putting the roots in his lap, and settled in. Cracking open the first book in his mind, he began to read. His fingers touched in his lap, a void formed in his hands over his core.

Qi flew toward him. Steadily, he absorbed it. Blue light dimly outlined his body, gathering in the space between his hands. One after another, he greedily absorbed the books’ knowledge.

His core filled again. Oz sunk into himself, only to frown. That’s as much qi as I had first time, and I failed. I need more. But how? Experimentally, he pressed his qi outward, expanding it against the borders of his core. His core bulged. Pressure pushed on his body’s internal organs, and sharp pain dug into his stomach.

Oz retracted his qi, startled. That’s a no go. What else?

If I can’t make the core larger, what if I make the qi smaller? Compress it? Letting out his breath, Oz focused once more. This time, he mentally grasped the qi inside his core and pushed on it, squeezing it inward from all sides. It compressed, growing more dense at the same time. The qi fought against his control, struggling to break free of his control. The more he compressed it, the more it wobbled, threatening to escape at any moment.

Roan crouched in front of him. Seeing the strain on Oz’s face, he snorted. “Don’t shit yourself.”

Linnea giggled.

“Roan,” Aisling said warningly.

“Whatever.” Roan stood and walked away, staring off to the horizon.

With what little attention Oz had left, he cracked open a book in his mind. While I’m holding it, more qi!

Blue light swirled into him. More and more, until his core bulged. Only then did he gobble down another of the roots, unhesitatingly swallowing the whole thing at once despite its bitterness. Here goes.

The rocky field appeared once more. Oz charged at the first boulder, unleashing all his qi on it. The boulder trembled, resisting. Cracks burst through its entire body. With a snap, the boulder broke in half. His qi poured into the cracks and blasted them wide open, blowing the rock away entirely. In a moment, nothing remained of the boulder but a shallow depression in the field.

Outside, Oz’s body shook. Sweat burst out all over his flesh, and black impurities oozed out. The blue light burned bright, then faded. He opened his eyes.

Roan narrowed his eyes. “No way.”

Oz mopped his brow, pulling his hand away in disgust at the black smudged on his palm. “Yuck.”

“You broke through! Congrats on opening your first meridian!” Linnea ran over to hug him, then thought against it at the last second and delicately patted his back instead.

He looked at Aisling. “I can do one more.”

“Don’t push yourself. The roots will keep,” Aisling said, passing him a plate of pork.

Oz opened his mouth to protest, only for his stomach to grumble loudly at the scent of pork. He took the plate and breathed in. The scent of fresh pork filled the air. Aisling is right. Lunch first. Especially since I’ve had nothing but bitter pills and roots since I got here!

“Besides, the roots will lose effectiveness if you use too many at once.”

Raising his brows, Oz looked up at her. Huh. Just like ordinary medicine, the body builds up resistance to magical medicine, too? Good to know.

“Everyone knows that,” Roan said, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah,” Oz agreed vaguely. He turned his attention back to the pork. Digging in with his bare hands, he took a big bite.

Juices burst in his mouth. The pork melted in his mouth, so tender he barely had to chew. He closed his eyes, savoring the flavor. Tears welled up in his eyes.

Real food… real food! At last!

Oz wiped his tears away and swallowed. He quickly set into the food again, shoveling handfuls of pork down his gullet. Thank everything. It tastes good. For the first time since I arrived, I ate something delicious!

“It can’t be that good,” Linnea said, rolling her eyes.

Roan shook his head. “Mortals. Needing to eat food.”

Aisling ignored the other two. “I’m glad you like it.” She passed him the stalk.

Oz glanced over as he stowed the roots in his robes for later. Another magical herb? “What is that?”

“Celery,” Aisling said.

Roan snorted. Behind him, Linnea hid a grin.

Blushing, Oz took the stalk and quickly ate it to hide his embarrassment. The celery crunched away, flavored ever-so-gently with pork leg. Whatever. Vegetables are important, too.

The bitter, grasslike flavor of the celery filled his mouth, and he scowled slightly. My renaissance of good flavor ended too soon.

Aisling nodded, crossing her arms. “For my first time cooking for a mortal, I think it went well.”

“Gotta agree.” Oz reached for another handful of pork to wash away the celery.

A sharp, high-pitched screech rang out. Oz’s heart froze. Instinctive terror clutched his stomach. He looked around, instantly on high alert. “What was that?”