He stepped out the other side after feeling his body elongating towards the left, wondering what place he would find himself in now. He looked out, finding himself what he believed to be underground, as there were no windows in the large common area. Looking like the hub he was in before, but the similarities only minor. There were only several gates next to him; occasionally, someone would step out or walk towards. Not at all like the constant sea of people moving in Alasium.
Norbert looked around the room that he found himself in now. The grey stone reminds me of granite, with black dots throughout it. He was staring at Obsius, chuckling to himself, reminding him of the opposite pattern that Obsius was.
He caught Lily walking away from him, speeding up his steps to catch up to her. Only several other people were in the hallway with them. As Count von Count stepped out, most turned around, walking the other way with rushed steps. The others running to their respective portals. One Norbert noticing as they saw the vampire just after exiting leaving straight away through the portal they just arrived from.
Seeing their change in behaviour with the appearance and the vampire, people moved away; thankfully, no guards appeared at the moment, rushing towards them and investigating the vampire's appearance and the problems he was inevitably causing.
Following through, he was walking through the large open double doors. On the other side, the hallway extended, walkways cut in from the wall, and stairs came out of the centre, evenly spaced across it. Staring down, Norbert saw they also went below where they were standing.
Stopping momentarily, taken aback at the amount of space carved out or built up. Staring at the wall, Norbert took an instinctive step forward, squinting his eyes as he stared at the walls. Whispering to himself, "No marks at all."
Lily walked up next to him, nodding. "That's correct. All under here, it's the same pattern, constant and unwavering."
"And where is this place?" Norbert asked her.
"In the Halls of the Mountain King. Will take you days to walk through these halls." Lily said, pointing to one of the staircases in the centre, Norbert following after her. On the other side, two doors opened out of the boxes, and people got out before they closed again. Getting to the stairs, Norbert saw the box open again, seeing some elevator being used.
"And even has elevators here. Neat." Norbert said to himself. Obsius chirped in response, alighting off Norbert to investigate the hallway they were in. Norbert hit the first step, the smooth stone underneath him as he made his way up.
His hand glided across the handrail as he rose into the air. Lily is ahead of him, taking each step with care. Norbert looked down at those underneath him, with the vampire now out of reach to them, continuing with their day.
Halfway up, Obsius came back to the staircase. He was landing on the top step, sticking her head out to the centre of the circular stairway, chirping to Norbert and the others to hurry up. Norbert nodded in confirmation as he started to take them two at a time. Lily needed to jog to catch up as Count von Count came up behind them.
As Norbert made his way up, Obsius hopped down onto his shoulder. Norbert stuck his head up, wondering what they were looking for. As Norbert stepped to the top, his head stuck up and saw what they were after. Stopping his mouth agape, Norbert stared at the little thing he could see.
Taking a small shaky step up, now on the new floor correctly, Norbert could not close his jaw. He was staring at the humongous amount of books. The ceiling goes as high as the previous floor. Norbert looked around, seeing that the bookshelves didn't go up. These massive structures seemed closer than the hallway should be.
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Lily came up next to him, standing at the top and breathing deeply before continuing to walk forward. Norbert followed after she saw a desk on the ground, someone sitting on it, passing through papers.
Norbert saw the woman's glasses extending past her face on both sides. The black metal frames twirl in a pattern like tree roots. The grey hair flowed far down her back. Norbert stood on his toes, seeing the hair twirled around the chair on the floor.
Norbert stood before Lil, sliding her card over to the librarian. The librarian took the identity card, nodding in confirmation as she slid it back to her.
"Will you need assistance?" The librarian asked Lily.
Smiling and shaking her head, "No, thank you, I'm all good today. But are there any study rooms available?" She asked the librarian.
The librarian nodded as if that was the most apparent request to make. Pulling over a different book, Norbert saw the pages within them yellowed and cracking. Norbert stared, wondering what the librarian could be looking for within the old crusty book.
"Number seventy four will be available for the rest of the day. Would you like that to be under your name?" The librarian asked.
Lily nodded in response. "Yes, please, that would be lovely. Thank you." As she started walking away.
Norbert nodding deeply in response, catching up with Lily, wondering what books she thought in this vast library. Norbert wondered how the library of Alexandria would have compared to this.
Lily looked at the bookshelves, whispering about the contents, before heading towards a bookshelf. Norbert, craning his head up to see the top of the bookshelf and looking around the side, saw no ladders or devices to pull the books down for those out of reach.
Norbert turned to Lily, opening his mouth about to ask what to do about the book height, closing his mouth as he stared at her open hand, seeing a book slowly fall towards it and spinning it around, looking at the front before handing it over to Norbert.
The title is "Magic for Kids, the Basics for Casting." With the depiction of a kid on the cover, a fireball comes out of their hand. Norbert looked up at Lily, raising an eyebrow, but for nothing. Lily walked over to the next shelf, staring up and down as she scanned it for the next book on her list before removing it again.
In the end, Norbert had five books in his arms, all about the magic of some part or another. Walking away from the bookshelves to the other side of the hall, Obsius joined Count von, sleeping on the vampire's head as he walked with a stiff back, not wanting to annoy the bird or shed more blood.
Following through the sea of bookshelves on the other side to the back wall, Norbert sees alcoves here, spread out and cut into the granite wall, seeing flecks and flakes in the wall, not the complete smoothness of the previous level.
Stepping through, Norbert saw a wooden rectangular table with several chairs around it, the previous people not putting them back correctly. Norbert placed the books he was carrying on the table, spreading them out as he looked at them.
Norbert traced it with his finger over each cover, wondering if it would just be a superficial reading of the books and understanding what was inside, not seeing how it would be helpful.
Lily took her time as she slowly sat in the chair beside Norbert, groaning beside her. As Norbert stared at the books in front of him, Lily picked up the first one she picked up, opening it up for Norbert and pointing to the first page before letting it go, the book staying open.
Norbert just nodded his head, knowing exactly what he was doing here. Wanting to voice his opinion to make sure, Norbert asked the room, "This is to fill in my lack of magic?" He asked.
Count von Count chuckles at his response. Lily shoots the vampire a dirty look before shaking her head. "Not exactly. You are learning this to know how magic works, to try and counter it better than just smashing your fist as hard as you can." Lily said.
She picked up one of the books and flicked through it as she looked back to Norbert. "To get through even your first fight, you need to know how to properly see magic being used against you and know how to either incapacitate the person before it is too late or get out of range."
Norbert just nodded in response, wondering how much he would need to be reading to get all of this knowledge crammed into his head. Taking a deep breath forward, Norbert began reading through the book, quickly skimming through it first to see how it would be.
Seeing pictures and symbols of the spells in use, items needed and motions needed to use the spells properly, Norbert nodded his head, almost not even needing to read the text, getting most of the information from the pictures.
Closing his eyes for a moment, he hoped his reading skills would be enough to go through all of the books he would need to read through. Taking it one page at a time, Norbert flipped to the start and began reading the pages.