The research center was in a weird spot in the city. Instead of being directly inside the walls protecting the building from monster attacks, it was outside, in a way. Right by the gates, there was another reinforced stone wall surrounding this tall lighthouse-looking structure with a large blue crystal on top that gave off the same light as the lamp posts. This structure was separated to avoid any issues if there was an accident during the research. If a spirit went on a rampage, or someone turned the elemental spirit into a demonic being, it would still be outside the city walls. Going around the entrance to the research center, which was on the opposite side of the gate, Hera and the others saw the entire building for the first time. Up close, they could see that it was more of a cathedral than a lighthouse. Yes, there was a tall tower with the crystal on top, but the base was a large rectangular structure that clearly showed the existence of several chambers inside, including what seemed to be a greenhouse on the side with round glass walls.

The door to the entrance was open, and there was some movement inside. As they got close, a woman with pale skin and long black hair going all the way to her hips wearing a uniform very similar to the one the guild clerks wore approached them, "Hello. I'm Camila. Are you here for an appointment?"

"Oh, hi Camila. We don't have an appointment. We came here trying to learn more about the elemental spirits. Is there a library or something like that here?" Hera noticed the woman was hugging some books and a stack of paper.

Camila scrambled to get one of the pieces of paper. It seemed like she was looking for something specific, but she had trouble finding it, "Aha! We do, but we also have a presentation teaching about spirits. We weren't scheduled to do one yet since we are setting everything up, but if you guys don't mind waiting for a while. I can get a classroom and teach you myself. I need to practice doing that thing anyway."

"How long do we have to wait?" Blue asked.

"Well, probably around half an hour or so. I can get your contact information and send you a text when I'm ready. I promise to call you today and before 5. I'm not going to ask you to come here in the middle of the night for a class. We have strict rules about how much we can work," Camila pulled another piece of paper before speaking, and she seemed bothered by that rule.

"That's great. I would love to see the class," Hera looked to the group, and everyone agreed to participate, "Can we stay in the library you mentioned?"

"Yeah, sure. Hum…" Camila looked around, pointing to different doors and mumbling to herself, "OK, got it. The open library is over there, through the green door. Before that, we need to go to the reception desk and get you a visitor badge. We need that to keep track of who comes here."

Camila led everyone to the reception desk and walked behind it. She started typing something on the computer and kept mumbling. This time, Hera tried to pay a bit of attention to what the woman was saying, "… top left, go to new entry, then the drop-down look for visitor. It's in alphabetical order, so it's at the bottom."

Hera held back a chuckle. When she started working after high school, she would do the same thing to remember how all the systems of the store worked. This was before working in the bookstore when she was in an office supply chain, and the owner always wanted to have the newest inventory system, which meant they were constantly changing procedures. Speaking the process out loud helped her to focus and remember each step.

There was another person there in the same uniform, a tall, muscular woman who you could put some bodybuilders to shame. She didn't interact with Hera and her friends, but the woman seemed particularly concerned about what Camila was doing. The woman had a clipboard with some paper on it, but she was just moving the pages without even looking at it. Her eyes constantly watching Camila work.

"OK, so all I need is your guild cards, and I can add you to the system," Camila smiled at the group. They passed their cards along, and a few moments later, they were all set up.

Hera thanked Camila, and the group went to the library behind the green door. It was much more like a bookstore than anything. There was even an automated register on the side. You could ring up the book yourself and then pay for it. The volumes inside were in a specific display as well. Some talked about the history of spirits, while others talked about the rooms where one could find those spirits and some theories about the conditions required for the existence of a spirit room, meaning a room where the elemental spirits would live in. Others would talk about specifc spirits and how they behaved, and there was only a single book about what happened when a spirit became overwhelmed by the contractor's emotions. There was also the option to get a download code for the virtual version of these volumes. Hera decided to pick one of each of the books about elemental spirits that were on display and the download codes for herself. Bonnie and Helena were the types who liked to have the physical copy of every book, while Hera only did that to the books she really enjoyed.

They spent about half an hour in that library/bookstore. Blue and Leo even got some books unrelated to the spirits. Hera started reading a title called 'how to train your spirit,' which was a guide to making the connection you have with a spirit stronger, but that didn't actually help to get a spirit partner. When the group was about to head out, Camila sent them a message letting everyone know to meet her in classroom 2. With a sigh, Blue led the way. She wasn't that interested in taking a random class in the middle of a room that was all about sleep.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Inside the room, there were several desks and a large screen on the back. As well as a hologram projector that could be used depending on what one would want to show. Camila was already in the front of the class with a slide show on the screen, "Oh, you guys got here quickly."

"We were still in the library. How long will this take? I'm kind of hungry," Alex asked.

Camila went through her notes, "Well, the full class can take a few hours, but since we don't have everything set up, I can do the short version. Maybe forget all the stuff about the sleep spirit behavior and focus more on the general information. Oh, and if you want, we can order some pizzas. Well, I mean, like if you guys are willing to share the price. I like working here, but I'm not going to pay to work here, you know."

"You are already taking your time to do this. I'll pay for the pizzas, but can we order? Or does it have to be you?" Hera asked.

"No, no, no. I'll pay my share. It's not right for you to be the only one paying," Camilla shook her head.

"Are you sure? It's really not an issue at all. We just did a dungeon for the first time before we got here. I have the money," Hera said.

"You know it's not a good thing to tell people you have money, right? I know you are new to having money but keep that in mind," Leo said.

"I mean, anyone who came this far would have around the 50 k we got from the dungeon, wouldn't they?" Hera turned to Leo.

"50k? That's a lot," Camilla gasped. When the group stared at her, she cleared her throat," Well. I mean, if they saved for some months, yeah, but unless we do a dungeon, we won't get a payout like that. Our pay here is about 10-15k a month, plus housing, which is great. I mean, it just sucks that everything here is so expensive. But I guess that's how economics work, you know. If we had a source of income in the MAZE in the form of dungeons and made things the same price everywhere, it would be so easy to make the markets crash. I'm rambling, sorry. I'll shut up now."

"Don't worry, but I have no idea if what you said made sense. Actually, I couldn't understand half of it. You might want to slow down when you are teaching the class," Leo said.

"I'll keep that in mind. Sorry again."

"It's fine. What about the pizzas? Should you order?" Alex asked.

"Anyone can order, just ask to deliver it in my name. Everyone orders food here so no one would bat an eye. As long as you are not in one of the areas where they worry about contamination," Camila explained.

Blue quickly pulled up her tablet and ordered some food. While waiting, Camila started her presentation," OK, so let's start with the basics. Elemental spirits are… Well, monsters made out of elemental mana. It's kind of in the name. Their elements define their entire beings. It's not like a Water Nymph who is mostly made out of water mana, but its body is made out of water, not magic. Or a Flaming Salamander, which is like a lizard made of fire. The fire is still there, even if it's using mana to burn. Elementals don't have that other part. They are 100% mana, no medium, just magic," after speaking, Camila realized that the slide show was still on the first slide. She quickly changed that, showing a picture of the Water Nymph and the Flaming Salamander. A circle on each of the creature's bodies showed a magnified part of their skin made out of a non-magical element.

"Man. I really need to remember to show this at the right time," Camila sighed.

"I mean, it's your first time, and your explanation was good enough to let people understand, although the slides do help," Alex replied.

"Thanks. Now let's move on," Camila stopped and showed the next slide. The picture of one of those small olive-sized sprites was on display, "Now, this is what we have in this room. Sleep Sprites, creatures made out of sleep mana. This means that they can control well, sleep magic for one, but also things like nightmares, tiredness, recovery, and basically anything that has to do with sleep. We theorize that they might even be able to use some sort of psychosis… wait, no. Not psychosis, what is it called again?" Camilla rummaged through some of her notes, "Depersonalization! Yeah, that's it."

"What's that?" Blue asked.

"So the definition is the feeling of being disconnected or detached from one's self. From what I know, it is that feeling of just watching your body moving. Like you are not in control, and your body is just doing its own thing. Even if that sounds kind of interesting from a scientist's point of view, it seems like it's among the worst things possible to happen to you. I mean, it's a given since this is also part of stage 4 of sleep deprivation. In that case, it means you're a step away from just dying," Camila looked up from her notes and saw the grim expressions on the group, "Oh, that doesn't mean that the sprites can kill you like that. Just because their spells can cause those symptoms, it doesn't mean that they can force your body to get sleep deprived because of a spell. You would still have to stay the actual three to five days awake to actually be in danger. But as other elemental spirits proved, they can influence anything related to their own element. Like fire spirits who should be able to use lava spells. Well... That's just a theory since we still don't know where we can find fire spirits to study them. Maybe I should say water spirits that can control rain, but rain is just water, so that's not a good example. Wood spirits that can make grass fields? Sort of. I mean, people call forests 'woods' sometimes, so maybe we have a wrong understanding of what the wood element is… Got it! The iron spirits! They are these armadillo-looking creatures that can control not just iron but most metals. That includes gold, silver, platinum, and even using heat, mass, or hardness type spells. Basically, as long as you can make a direct connection to their element, the sprites can use that type of spell. On the other hand, if they don't have a connection, they cannot use that type of magic at all. Like, not even a little. That's why you can, for instance, expect the Sleep Sprites to use something like a spell that takes away your drowsiness and improves your focus, but you can't expect them to make water out of nowhere. Well, maybe if you have recurring nightmares about water, but even in those cases, they are mostly illusions, not actually tangible things."

Even if they weren't the ones talking, Camila spoke so fast that Hera and the rest had to take a deep breath after she finished speaking.

"Hum… Camila, I couldn't understand most of what you said after 'they can't kill you like that.' Could your repeat that last part and speak a bit more slowly?" Hera asked.