Chapter 07 : Forbidden Shelves
The Dzürkül library was spread on different floors, with some only available if the Aspirant had risen to a certain circle, but each floor was divided into 3 areas. Reading desk, copying desk and shelves, obviously.
The reading desks and copying desks were roughly the same but the difference was their cost. For the same price, copy desks could be rented for a longer period of time but the number of books you could bring to it was limited.
The shelves were filled in the majority with books about Arcanes and Arcanists. Those books could be classified into 3 main types : Spellbooks, Theoretical treatises and History books.
Spellbooks were a big majority of the library, there were hundreds and hundreds of them, describing how to perform spells and the mistakes associated with them. Having almost one book by spell was a lot but it was something that only existed in Towers. Arcanists, once they mastered a spell, didn’t keep all of the spellbooks but used an anthology where they copied only the two first pages of it. Those anthologies were called Grimoire. There were a few of them in the library too but it was not the same thing as a personal one. The one in the library contained spells from the same Arcane or familiar to each other. They were used as reference books before diving into the most detailed ones.
Borrowing a spellbook or a grimoire outside of the library could cost between 3 to 8 tokens a day, that’s why people prefer to copy them on-site.
Theoretical treatises were about concepts, and obviously, more theoretical knowledge, that a student needed to know and understand if he wanted to become an Arcanist or even use spells. They were indexed depending on which practice they were about but more advanced books weren’t limited to one Arcane and talked about multiple ones.
To this day there were 11 Arcanes : Incandescent, Aqueous, Ground, Metallic (anciently Mineral), Sky, Mystical, Subjugation, Spiritual, Order, Intangible and Mechanic.
The most ancient ones were Incandescent, Aqueous, Ground, Metallic and Sky. Even for a beginner, it was easy to understand that they were linked to each elementium. Incandescent Arcane covered spells using fire elementium, Aqueous Arcane covered those using water elementium, Ground Arcane covered those using earth elementium, Metallic Arcane covered those using Metal elementium and finally Sky Arcane covered those using air elementium.
The other Arcanes were a bit more specific and connected to an approach of the Arcane. In fact, depending on the arcane the ratio of spellbooks and theoretical treatises was very different. Strangely enough, the 5 oldest Arcanes were also the ones with less theory about them. Their practice was pretty straightforward and even if each elementium had different properties the shaping of it relied on similar concepts.
Having no particular affinity, Nikolaï had spent a lot of time reading about other Arcanes. After he had awoken his Ether he had chosen to specialize in spectral spells that mostly belong to the Intangible Arcane (materialization spells).
Anyway, borrowing a Theoretical treatise was around 1 token a day and people copy them rarely. They took a lot of notes but often judged it to be a waste of time to copy them completely. Nikolaï had agreed in the past but he also knew how comfortable it was to be able to check his own book in his room rather than with an eye on the clock of a reading desk.
The last kind of books, the History ones, were not made to be borrowed. Also, they didn’t talk directly about history but about Arcanists through history. In it, was listed Arcanists's names from noble families and the books were used as an annexe to the Theoretical treatises. Those were not thoroughly checked so when reading one it was a good thing to look for the author's name in History books. People consult them to check author credentials by looking for them or their lineage. It was far from a perfect system.
It was in one of them that Nikolaï found the family who had used the Third Eye in his banner.
Nikolaï was currently looking for a spellbook in the Spiritual Arcane section. Spiritual Arcane was one of the most esoteric Arcane, his concepts required time and reflection to be fully understood by most of the students. Nikolaï was not a complete beginner on the subject but still a neophyte. The Spectral spells he was using borrowed some of the concepts from Spiritual Arcane.
Spectral Hand belong to the Intangible Arcane because the process was to shape Ether into a solid form but the spell didn’t create a random hand, it was creating a copy of the caster hand. To do that the link between the spell and the caster relied on pieces more common in Spiritual Arcane to form the Sigil.
Nikolaï found the book he was looking for. It was a Spellbook for a level 1 spell : Dissipation. The spell was useful to break illusions, which also belong to the Spiritual Arcane. Dissipation had a lot of different uses and it was one of these alternatives that interested Nikolaï. He browsed the instructions and struggled with some of the technical words. He wasn’t really surprised by that. Dissipation was not all-powerful but it was a complex spell even for a level 1.
As proof, the Dissipation Spellbook only contain instructions for it whereas often Spellbooks of this level contain at least two spells.
Nikolaï didn’t give up yet and knew that to approach a difficult spell it was a good thing to start with a lesser one from the same “family”. Nikolaï took a Grimoire with Spiritual Arcane spells in it and looked at what it had to offer. He was searching for a level 0 spell, like his Spectral Hand was.
While browsing through spells Nikolaï remembered the first time he came to the library. This display of spells had given him the envy to learn everything. He had felt limitless until he discovered how much work it was for a beginner to learn just one spell.
After a bit of searching, Nikolaï decided on one that would fit his purpose : Runic Alteration. He went to the librarian's desk and paid for 20 minutes at a copy desk. He copied the instructions to the word, not trying to absorb them but heavily focusing on his task.
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Once done he didn’t go back to his room but continued browsing throw the shelves. He looked for Theoretical Treatises and a glossary to help him approach Spiritual Arcane.
***
Nikolaï was at the Tower's main door, preparing himself for an excursion in the gardens. Three days had passed and during them, he spent his morning training his Spectral Hand. More than training, it had been unlearning what he was doing wrong. For the rest of the days, he had been reading.
Nikolaï left in the direction of a hill where he had to collect fruits. It sounds easy but the trees where the fruits grew were also the home of a species of violent monkeys. Just one was okay to handle but if you were outnumbered it could very quickly become a disaster. The monkeys had an elongated snout with sharp teeth that could easily plunge into your flesh. The pressure from their jaw was not strong enough to resist a grown man's strength but it didn’t matter because they were not trying to chew you, just to bleed you. The monkeys were known to not feed on meat but to suck dry any living creature they encounter.
Nikolaï put his hand on the hilt of his new sword and walked away from the safe zone. He had chosen the shorter path and was going straight to the hill. He could have taken a detour and used the white path to get closer but doing so didn’t always mean a safer way. The path would have made him cross a bigger part of a mangrove area to get throw the hill. Creatures in the mangrove were not more dangerous than the one he was risking to encounter in his current path but the dangerousness of the mangrove was its lack of visibility. The tall grass could be a higher problem than the creatures's raw capacity because you couldn’t see them coming or flanking you.
Nikolaï walked carefully into the area but couldn’t avoid being a bit amazed by what he was seeing. The gardens on themselves could be quite impressive with the diversity of flora and the things they homed but seeing it with the Third Eye was an all-new experience.
The Tower was infused with all kinds of elementiums so Nikolaï was getting used to seeing it but in the Tower, it was in a controlled environment. Outside the density was less important and erratic but Nikolaï could see how some of the plants were interacting with the energies.
Nikolaï wondered if he could use his Third Eye to gather interesting things. His idea died quickly, it was not because a plant could handle elementium that it had value in alchemy.
Nikolaï continued his way and only used the passive state of his Third Eye. Sure he was wondering what kind of thing he could see if he activated it but his curiosity wasn’t more important than his safety. It had been a long time since Nikolaï had walked in this place, his body was still rusty and his powers diminished. It was not the time to be distracted.
His Third Eye proved to be useful to avoid some of the territory ambushes. Some Arcanic creatures were oozing elementium which made them easier to spot even if the quantity was low. Nikolaï made several detours but was closing on his destination.
He arrived at the mangrove border. It was on the path and showed that he correctly directed himself by using the Tower as a basepoint. He was following the end of the mangrove when he noticed something in the water or more precisely the absence of something.
The low-level pound was obviously filled with water elementium which was easy to see for Nikolaï but there was a hole in this homogeneous canvas of elementium, closed to the shore. Nikolaï got closer and looked at the spot. Ten centimetres under the surface, below the mud, was something.
He grabbed a stick not far away and started to poke had the spot. It met something hard and Nikolaï tried to move the dirt above the objects. The dirt muddied the water but Nikolaï saw clear pebbles the size of a young child's fist. He checked around him and not seeing anything threatening plunged his hand to grab one of the rocks.
The pebble had been cleansed of any trace of elementium. Those kinds of things were not highly valuable but hard to find. Nikolaï didn’t waste time and gathered the rest of them. Rocks were naturally filled with metal elementium and the fact that those were emptied of it was proof that they spend time in the stomach of a species of mongoose living in the mangrove.
From the corner of his eyes, Nikolaï spotted movements in water and elementium. He retrieved one last pebble, put all of them in his gathering pouch and took his stick with two hands. Something was under the water and Nikolaï stroked it with the stick.
A mongoose the size of a small pig burst out of the water and grabbed the stick with his mawn. Nikolaï didn’t fail to notice its teeth could easily punch serious holes in his flesh. He and the creature struggled a moment before he let go of the stick and retreated, giving the impression of the creature that it had won. The mongoose stayed in the water, chewing violently the stick. Nikolaï monitored it, the hand on his sword tilt, waiting for the creature to give up.
After a minute or two of staring, the creature retreated and Nikolaï moved away. The mongoose had been introduced in this part of the garden to balance the number of snakes but the area wasn’t rich enough in metal elementium to their liking. That’s why they swallow rocks and absorb their elementiums before “ejecting” them from their body. The mongoose had probably attacked because Nikolaï was going through its place but he didn’t pursue him.
While walking away Nikolaï looked at the pebbles with a smile. This amount could fetch some coins but Nikolaï was probably going to keep them for a later project.
After a dozen minutes of walk Nikolaï finally arrived at the hill. He looked around and didn’t notice any monkey. He approached slowly and once he was close to the trees, joined hands.
He cast Spectral Hand and used it to grab the fruit at the higher branch. It was not easy to find the ripest one at this distance but it still was a better way than climbing the tree.
It had been 2 minutes since Nikolaï was here when a monkey arrived at the place. Nikolaï saw him but pretended he hadn’t, to let the monkey underestimate him. They were not particularly clever but not completely dumb either. The monkey moved above Nikolaï rather discreetly and once he was close enough he jumped at him.
Nikolaï didn’t step away but the Spectral Hand flew with speed and hit the monkey flank, pushing him out of his trajectory. The monkey fell to the ground but got back on his feet quickly. Nikolaï turned to face him and brought the spell hand close to him. He used it to draw his short sword and it immediately rushed to the monkey.
Maybe it was because the monkey didn’t expect it or because of the previous hit but it didn’t react immediately. It tried to avoid the flying sword held by the Spectral Hand but it wasn’t quick enough. Nikolaï corrected the trajectory and the sword plunged into the monkey's throat, killing it on the spot.
Nikolaï got closer to the creature and took back his sword after wiping it on the monkey’s fur. There were few salvable things on the creature but Nikolaï was not here for that or had the leisure to do so. He used his spell again to throw away the rather light body as far as possible. The smell of blood was going to attract some of his congeners or other predators.
Nikolaï hurried up to gather the rest of the fruits from a tree further away from the battle scene and left in the direction of the Tower. He didn’t make any hard encounters during his comeback and returned safely but pretty exhausted.