Jingyi Bo sat at the front desk of the library and sighed at her current predicament. A certain group of students had earned a privilege no one else in the Academy possessed - access to the library. Once the purview of only the instructors and one speed-reading book duster, there were now a handful of mostly Goryeon students that were able to come and go as they pleased. Inexplicably, this meant that Bo was expected to man the front desk more often. To do what, make sure these vastly more powerful cultivators don’t walk out the door with your precious tomes? What am I going to do, fling mud on their faces?

Her exasperation aside, it did mean she got to at least lay eyes on a few of the Academy’s elites, whose meetings she idly recalled. Bo wasn’t exactly the kind of person to keep an ear out for gossip, but even she had heard of them. Chao Da was an unbearable rumor-monger, whose entire conversational repertoire leaned on his telling of other people’s achievements, failures, scandals and romances- despite what Izumi and Chao would have Bo believe, romance wasn’t exactly a huge part of Academy life. It didn’t help that a vast majority of students were Qin men, given that they weren’t the most likely to get together.

Every member of the privileged group made some time to visit, though Bo found it telling as to who they came with and when. Her first visitor was there before Bo had even been told about the arrangement - the dog-eared Hyeong Daesung that she had heard so much about had been waiting in front of the library doors so early in the morning that she was fairly certain he had come straight here. Bo was only thankful that she didn’t have to be present at all times a student was inside - Mr Hyeong barely left the library at all.

Jingyi Bo did enjoy looking at Hyeong - he was quite cute, and his enthusiasm was infectious. A delightful boy like that would have no trouble finding a suitable partner - if only his two loves weren’t books or a rather uninterested feline half-spirit. Lee Jia and An Eui had visited a little later on that first day of the library’s opening, and Bo watched as Hyeong’s entire personality lit up like festival lanterns. He was always looking Lee Jia’s way, helping her with everything he could, his tail wagging the whole time like a puppy just happy to be there.

“That’s unrequited love right there.” Izumi’s notes grew more and more detailed as Bo talked about her day later that evening. “He’s doing all the work, even if he doesn’t entirely realise it - she’s completely overlooking him.”

“Y’don’t think she’s even noticed ‘im at all?” Hizashi loved the gossip, though it seemed like she rarely had any of her own.

“Maybe a small acknowledgement, but I don’t think she really thinks of Senior Dae romantically at all. Now, Lee and An have an undeniable friendship, possibly something more, but Lee … it’s hard to tell where her romantic feelings lie.” Bo peered over Makoto’s shoulder to see plenty of scribbled notes on the ‘Lee Jia’ pages, including a lot of question-laden notes connected to a ‘Takeda Rika’. “Might end up as a bit of a lovers tug-of-war there. That An Eui has all but claimed her, and I don’t think Senior Dae has the strength to take her away. There’ll be chaos if he ever works up the courage.”

Their night of gossip had a repeat performance the very next day - Bo had once again been stuck in the library, to witness the arrival of Seong Eunae and Takeda Rika. Both of these girls scared the daylights out of Bo, but for different reasons. Seong Eunae was a Goryeon princess, and her refusal to look anyone in the eye only spoke volumes of her disdain for commoners. Takeda Rika was quite a formidable woman, one of the pre-eminent omnidisciplinary cultivators. Bo was also fairly certain that despite her arrangement as Princess Seong’s bodyguard, they must have also been close friends.

Bo nearly knocked down a shelf of books as she heard Takeda refer to the princess as Eun-eun, cementing in her mind that she must have been some noble of high standing herself. That theory was torn apart when she relayed what had happened to the rest of the group.

“I ain’t heard the name Takeda myself,” Hizashi shrugged, “So I don’t think she’s a noble or nothin’.”

“They are housemates. Perhaps they are simply close friends.” Izumi shrugged. Bo gasped.

“Izumi! Shrugging at a time like this?! She used a cute pet name on the princess! Are you sure they’re not--”

“Don’t make a crude gesture at me, Jingyi.” Bo lowered her hands. “Princess Seong has carefully avoided all kinds of romantic overtures. My research indicates that Takeda would be quite the good match, but it’d never work. Seong would be expected by her family to produce heirs and, in case your knowledge of anatomy is as poor as your knowledge of romance, two women does not a child make.”

“M-My romantic knowledge isn’t that bad!” Bo blushed. “I just know that it’s, you know, more common for girls to … ahem.”

Hizashi and Izumi looked at Bo and shook their heads. One day they would get her to realise her own obvious feelings.

--

The day after Princess Seong and Takeda had visited, Xin Wei and Guan Yi made their appearance. Bo had barely seen the pair since their brief meeting when she first arrived. If they recognised her, they didn’t show it.

“Ah, it seems we’ve made our way to the library at last, Guan!” Xin chuckled slightly. He had this look on his face as if to say that he wasn’t terribly interested in the place, but he had come out of some sense of responsibility. Bo was Qin enough to see straight through it.

“It seems we have. Good day to you, custodian.” Guan offered the smallest nod of the head, his face like chiselled stone. Their eyes met briefly, and Bo thought he had a tiny look of revelation. She was somewhat distracted by the man’s good looks - he looked much stronger than last time Bo had seen him. His musculature wasn’t like Tatsumaki’s over-the-top bulk, all flash and no force behind it. He was like a living sculpture, every part of him expertly chiselled into the very vision of strength. That sculpture quietly cleared his throat, and Bo realised she had been staring.

“M-My apologies, senior.” Bo reckoned there was just the slightest twinge of unhappiness on his face at being called senior, and she knew how he felt. “The library is all yours. Please refrain from testing any techniques, formations, spells or martial arts within the library, and keep any food or drink outside--”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Junior, we don’t need the spiel. We’re not uncultured brats,” Xin narrowed his eyes at Bo, “We won’t make a mess of your precious books.”

Despite his attitude, the pair were quite studious - Xin Wei retrieved many books on Goryeon magic, all of which he refused to return to their shelves, while Guan Yi’s reading was of a more general nature. The pair spoke fondly, when they pried themselves away from their work - or, at least, Xin Wei spoke and Guan Yi listened.

...

“You don’t suppose they are--”

“Jingyi! Not every pair of friends are in love with each other!” Izumi groaned deeply and shook her head. Bo had somehow turned herself into a gossip, despite having described herself as anything but.

“W-Well! It’s all kind of … new territory to me. You’ve clearly been considering pairings for a while, but I’ve only recently learned that you can even be like … like that. You know? Like that?”

“Somethin’ tells me you’ve never had a chance t’think about it, Bo.”

Hizashi and Izumi laughed along as Bo blushed harder. It wasn’t her fault that the Academy was full of the best, brightest and, evidently, most beautiful. She looked up at Izumi and smiled, despite her embarrassment. For some reason, this only made Izumi blush, which made Hizashi laugh … the rest of the night was a write-off.

---

The last of the team who earned their library privileges made his way in as though he owned the place, though he had done so when no one was present to challenge that claim. The tiger-headed Kim Yongsun slammed open the door and fixed Jingyi Bo with a withering stare. She was reminded of her apparent nemesis, but actually scary. Perhaps they’d met? Given how Mr Kim had evidently gone out of his way to select a time when no one else was visiting, she wondered if he had met anyone.

The man in question spent an hour picking up books, flicking through their pages, then immediately putting them back down. Bo made sure to be tidying up somewhere away from him - every time she got near, the man would glare at her. The last thing she wanted was a fight with someone actually competent, let alone in the library. A stray spark, and she would have three xiantian elders appearing to kick her ass.

After a while, Kim evidently got bored of whatever it was he was doing and simply left. Sighing with relief, Bo realised the library was finally empty. Hyeong Daesung was normally nearby somewhere, but he evidently had other matters to attend to. This brought Bo back to the present moment, and her present problem.

Before her on the desk was a diagram she had sketched out, illustrating the various elements. Bo had attempted narrowing down the ones she understood and what she needed to work on, but it was somewhat harrowing to realise that she wasn’t even halfway there.

Of the primary elements, Fire, Earth, Air and Water were all fairly well understood - they were all tangible items with real-world expressions that Bo could call to mind and could imagine with clarity. The same was true for the secondary elements Magma, Mud, Ice and Stone, as well as the tertiary elements of Metal and Mist. The last one was only due to Izumi’s help - even now, just thinking about Mist brought Izumi to mind. It was comforting to know that she had somehow been internalised as part of her understanding of an element - but it also confused Bo as to why she found that comforting.

Many of the elements on Bo’s list had little to no notes next to them, indicating something she didn’t understand at all. Unfortunately, this list also included two primary elements: Yin and Yang. Nothing Bo had read even vaguely described what the heck a yin or a yang was. Unlike the other primary elements, you couldn’t touch them, feel them, see them or hear them. You couldn’t point at an object and say it was a Yin, or describe the physical qualities of a Yang. They were so frustratingly intangible that Bo wasn’t sure she’d ever quite get it.

All of her fussing with this chart did narrow down a list of partially understood elements to contemplate, though finding someone to help her with all of them would be an issue. Her mind wandered back to Izumi, as it often did when she needed someone helpful - the only reason she understood Mist so quickly and easily was because of Izumi’s careful guidance and patience. To say nothing of all the Mist ki she threw away so Bo could filter through it. I really have to pay her back for that somehow …

At the top of the list of nearly-understood elements was Wood. It was a tangible object that she saw frequently, and she didn’t really have much trouble transforming it. However, her understanding of it was shallow at best - Wood was sometimes referred to as Life, and it was that part that escaped Bo’s thought process. Literal wood didn’t have to be alive, but it still possessed the power of Life. This paradox was causing a stumbling block in Bo’s mind, hindering her progress.

Next were Lightning and Heat, both tangible (and elementally close) elements that could be described with the senses. However, both of them were extremely volatile and hard to properly observe - Lightning was characterised by sudden movements, jagged and unpredictable patterns, and a desire to dissipate its energy into the nearest point. Heat was similarly inclined to dissipate, but it simply spread in every direction until it faded to the point of being undetectable. Bo could tell someone what lightning was, or describe being warm from the heat of something, but she didn’t know how to handle these things enough to truly understand them.

Finally, Acid and Miasma. The problem was once again an issue of handling - Acid, sometimes called Corrosion, wanted to ruin everything it touched. Miasma similarly tainted and poisoned. Neither were things that Bo typically saw in her day-to-day life. She couldn’t think of a singular thing that made acid, but she could call to mind things that had become corroded - rusty farming implements, perhaps rotten food. Miasma was more dubious. It was sometimes described as sickness, or bad smells. She knew Youni De’s spiritual technique was Miasma based, but getting answers out of him would be … difficult. Picturing a reflection of her attempts of understanding Mist with Youni in Izumi’s place - Bo was feeling the miasma already.

With a groan, Bo slumped onto the desk. It was nearly time for her to go, so she could have a sleep, wash herself up, perhaps drink a kettle of tea to herself-- Click!

Startled out of her reverie by the sound of the library door closing, she began to straighten herself up to head the late library-goer off.

“I’m sorry, but the library will be closed soon-- Izumi!” Standing in front of her desk with that little smile on her face that Bo loved, her friend gave a small wave.

“You looked so deep in thought that I didn’t want to disturb you. Your senses are getting sharper - I didn’t think you would hear the door!”

If you didn’t want me to hear it, I never would have. “I was just trying to figure out what element to study next. I have a little list I’ve been making …”

“Hmm. Lightning, hey? I think I know how you can see some lightning.”

Jingyi Bo was surprised to see a beaming smile on Izumi’s face. Just what was she planning?