Arvena went to the local library, which was easy enough to find. Based on the trainer's command, she came here to find and read the Book of Fire, because she needed a more precise kind of attack if she was ever to harm an enemy without getting too close. She had to learn the Laser Shot ability, and she had to learn it within the day, because she really needed it in the upcoming battles!
However, it was easy to get distracted around here. The local library that she entered was about a hundred meters wide, and it’s said to contain countless works, from magic books, to various manuals, to literary fictions! It had it all, but unsurprisingly, magic books filled up more than half of the library.
Anyone could come and study here, as long as they would treat the books gently. There were plenty of guards in the library too, who often checked on people to see if everything was in working order. They protected the books, the magical books specifically.
“So much knowledge, and it's all stashed within a random place in Valporovus… Even I didn't know that this library was so huge, it’s absurd how well-read they are. This makes me wonder how much they respect their gods around here, because this is the most progressive town I’ve ever seen! People aren't scared to practice magic here, so maybe the church is just for show?” Arvena thought, as she tried to see things from many, different perspectives.
“I guess it doesn't matter how accessible the library is at the end of the day. I can't become an illusionist even if I tried, some things really are genetic, or exclusive. I doubt that there are more than a few versions of illusion books here, those bastards keep their cards close to their chest!” She further thought.
Regarding the accessibility of the library, Arvena ended up seeing a couple of interesting things throughout the day. The book she was reading was interesting, but her attention kept swirling because of the interesting city guests that visited the library!
Arvena saw a large ogre enter the library, and the ogre gently walked across the wooden floor, as in not to disturb anyone who was studying. It was apparent that the ogre came to study here as well, and this was beyond amazing to witness, the ogre seemed genuinely happy to be here! Although he was a stunning seven feet tall, he still observed the library's rules. The stone pillars within this library allowed the structure to be very tall, so this place could welcome most creatures as long as they could fit through the door, ogres included!
“No wonder the doors were so tall,” She thought.
Anyway, the ogre then fetched a couple of books that were more his size, and sat on the floor afterwards, because no chair here would ever be able to support him. He then started reading, and didn't make a single sound.
Arvena was beyond intrigued, so she snuck around to figure out what book the ogre was reading, but she was dumbfounded afterwards, as she couldn't find an answer. The book was written in a different language that she couldn’t understand, or at least that's what she figured out from the large book's title. She couldn’t understand it.
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“That book is written in their own tongue,” A guard suddenly said, he had been following her, as it was his duty to keep the library as orderly as possible. “Our library has countless translations which various species have helped us translate, we have a decent, multi-lingual collection.”
“Indeed you do.” Arvena added, she almost knocked a shelf down in panic. “I guess it makes more sense for him to read in his language rather than our own, but, I still wonder what can an ogre possibly be reading about? I'm speechless.”
The guard had an answer, as having answers to questions like these was also part of his job, so he explained. “Well, I can't read the title either, but based on that book’s color scheme, he should be reading about elemental summoning. He doesn't want to shoot fireballs or anything like that, but rather, he wants to summon a bunch of rocks out of thin air, boulders too. A mountain even? That's one of the categories in elemental summoning, while masters of this Arcane Art just summon gold for themselves. Ogres tend to build whole environments.”
The guard gave her many examples, he went into this topic, and explained things rather thoroughly. But it didn't look like he wanted to have a conversation here, his gaze was piercing, and based on how formally he spoke, he expected discipline from everyone, including her.
Arvena picked up on those hints, so she stopped stalking the ogre, and went back to her seat. She figured that if she did anything else that would challenge the rules here, she would get kicked out, and that was the last thing she wanted, regardless if she wanted to be here or not.
With that considered, although she didn't bother anyone, she still saw a few more unique guests entering the library. She saw orcs, a couple of molten dwarves, and even another ogre, so at this point she believed that almost any creature could study magic if there was a book they could understand, or some sort of instructions that a trainer could offer them. She saw countless possibilities here, but it wasn't like she planned to open up a school for sheep and orcs anyway, so she finally started reading more of the book that she had picked up.
After about two hours, Arvena hadn’t made much progress, she hadn't even flipped through five pages so far. Not only that, she hasn't even found the chapter about the Laser Shot ability yet, so it was fair to say that she was very unproductive today. To make things worse, she then saw something that murdered her productivity all together, she saw a human!
“I didn't know humans visited our universe,” She muttered, and ogled this five-foot tall lady, who strode the halls of the library with a seven-foot long, royal cape following her. “I guess Tim would love to meet one of those? He's been yapping about humans for weeks now, he really wants to become one, but god, I don't see the charm. Hypothermia can get to this lady even with all those clothes over her skin, she looks so weak...”
Arvena then debated if she should tell Timothy about what she saw here, she debated if it was worth the risk to make him all happy and enthusiastic. The group was in the city doing tasks that they didn't want to do already, and with that considered, she figured that Tim would drag them into all sorts of new trouble just to figure out where this human came from, and in hindsight, that was not worth their time. Furthermore, they couldn't afford getting kicked out of the city, especially now when they were so close to lifting the Mark of Death off of their souls!
“He's going to have to forgive me,” She thought, and decided to keep what she saw a secret. “Let’s hope he doesn’t run into her.”