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A few days have passed with the same routine every day. Sometimes William would come by and help them with any problems they had or answer any questions they had about energy gathering. They managed to clear the path from their first finger to the center of their hand and slowly started to push out the energy to clear out the other energy veins in their fingers. Once they had that cleared they would make their way towards the first seal. While their energy veins aren't fully clear they are cleared enough to let them move energy through them. It is like a river that has been blocked up with mud and dirt. Enough of the mud and dirt has been cleared out to let a small trickle of water pass through but it is still clogged. The more energy they pass through their veins the more they can clear out.

As the days passed they had more people visiting the library. Every day they would send out 3 keys. They didn't know where they would end up but they just hoped that the people who got them would be nice and respectful. They usually only had 1 or 2 people visit a day but on one of the days they had 4 people visit. At this time they have had 11 people who have used their key and joined the library. All of them only have the base copper membership but they have had a couple people trade in resources for energy coins. They haven't used them to upgrade their membership yet but it's only a matter of time before someone does. The energy coins have different tiers. 100 of the previous tier equals 1 of the following tier. So 100 tier one coins are equal to 1 tier 2 coin. The energy contained in the higher tier coins are much higher and also more purified than the previous tiers. It is like all 100 coins are compressed into 1 and then some extra energy is added. They are extremely valuable as cultivation resources because the energy is already purified.

As Val was watching the main counter and waiting for someone to come in and need help he began to hear a whispering noise coming from the library. At first he ignored it but it soon got louder. Thinking it was someone needing help he got up to go investigate the noise. Moving through the shelves the whispering got louder and louder but he didn't see anyone else around. Finally after a couple minutes of looking around he came across the source of the noise. There on one of the shelves towards the back of the library sat a small black book with no title or anything on it.

Val remembered what William said at that moment. "If you come across any books that are speaking pull them off the shelf and bring them to me. If you don't feel comfortable touching it make sure to let someone know to come find me while you watch the book. We can't let any patrons of the library get a hold of it."

Val quickly grabbed the book only thinking of getting it back to William. He began walking back to the main desk when suddenly his vision faded to black. He found himself all alone in a pitch black void. As he began looking around in confusion a deep voice began speaking to him through the void.

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"Well finally someone was stupid enough to pick up my book!" The voice said while beginning to cackle. The voice sounded like someone grating metal and seemed to come from every direction in the black void.

"Are you the one who put this book in the library?" Val asked without a single trace of emotion visible in his voice or on his face.

"Yes I am foolish mortal! I have been trying to find a way to gain access to the powers your weird library has. Imagine all of the worlds I can devour and trap in madness with your help! I just need you to give me your body. Don't worry it will be quick and painless."

As the voice said that black tentacles made of the surrounding darkness began slithering towards Val trying to wrap him up and enter his body to take it over. As the tentacles tried to force their way into his body his library uniform began to glow gold as a barrier made of light appeared around Val causing the darkness to be repelled.

The voice screamed in pain and frustration and began to yell at Val. "How dare you use your disgusting magic on me! You cannot stop me, I will take your body! Your barrier can't hold on for forever!"

"Seems like you are weaker than I thought." Val said with a smirk. "Now how do I get out of here to take this book to William?" Val looked around for a way out while the creature kept attacking the barrier.

Back in the main part of the library Isaac woke up from his meditation feeling like something was wrong. He began looking around for Val but he couldn't find him. He quickly went to find William to ask for his help. Running over to William he managed to explain the situation to him while sounding extremely worried.

William spread out his senses and found him quite quickly so he grabbed Isaac and rushed over to where Val was. William noticed he was trapped in a small pocket dimension inside the small black book that was laying on the ground. Isaac was freaking out trying to figure out what was going on when William simply picked up the book. He stuck his hand towards the inside spine of the book while his hand became coated in a golden light. His hand seemed to pierce through the book and into a black void before he quickly grabbed Val and pulled him out of the small pocket dimension. The voice screamed in anger and tried to attack William but he simply withdrew his hand and trapped the book in a barrier made of light magic so the book couldn't affect anything else.

"Well I think that is enough excitement for today." William said with a smile. "Why don't you two go take the rest of the day off while I deal with our little uninvited guest."

Isaac and Val quickly thanked William for his help before Isaac trapped Val in a bear hug while saying how worried he was and how he shouldn't do it again.

Val just agreed as they walked back to their room. Happy to be back with the one he loves. William watched the two of them walk away while smiling before he glared at the creature in the book before wrapping the book in golden chains and heading back to the main desk.

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