There was a lot more of the same in the market as Matt continued down the street. There were some weapons in various states of repair that didn’t interest Matt besides idle curiosity, some armor and various types of equipment that Matt could just make if needed, and processed monster parts. It seems like after the monsters got offloaded at the adventurers butcher shop, the processed parts got moved out into the streets. While seeing the various goods that could be made from the monster materials, he found some rope and other cord made from tree stalker limbs. Apparently the vine-like appendages made good cordage.
Outside of the different stalls, one of the most interesting discoveries happened when he walked next to a dwarf. He wasn’t paying much attention to his material perceptions, getting used to ignoring the constant information, but he did notice the strange movement of some stone. Looking over, he saw the short, stone colored person looking at a stand of different whetstones. The tools reacted to his senses, but so did the dwarf's skin. It looks like it didn’t just look like rock, but actually was made from stone. It felt different in the same way a tree stalker's body felt different, making sense since it was both animated material that wasn’t quite pure, raw material.
Leaving the market street, Matt looked around the plaza. There was a fountain in the center of the square, spraying clear water into its basin. The fountain didn’t have a statue, just spouts, but it was made of a shiny white stone. Thanks to his new material senses, he could feel how the structure was enhanced with shaping to be more durable and resistant to wear.
The buildings around him were fairly uniform, made of the same white wood and gray stone, but there were some differences in architecture. The couple of blacksmith workshops had an open front patio where Matt could see various types of worksman moving through the building, striking metal on anvils and tending to large forges. It was a bit loud but the other sounds of the town drowned most of it out as it faded into the background.
Matt considered going to one of the forges but since he couldn’t do anything besides waste his money on equipment or metal, he decided to move on. There were some other different shops, but nothing that sparked his interest in the main plaza. Moving to the different stores past the ring around the square, he walked down the street and window shopped until he came by an interesting building.
Three stories tall and quite long, taking up the space of several other buildings, was a building that had a book-shaped sign with ‘library’ written across it. While most of the buildings had simple wooden shutter windows, the library had actual glass in these huge, long windows that opened a lot of the wall space. Looking through the large windows, he could see rows of shelves filled with books and people moving through the shelves or sitting at tables with piles of books next to them. The building was lit with a mix of natural light through the window and these strange lanterns that glowed with a nice amber light that was decidedly not from a fire. Deciding that this was a good use of his time, Matt walked to the large door and walked inside.
There was a small chime of a bell above him as he moved into the library, which attracted the attention of the desk clerk that sat at a reception desk. He was an old man, in his seventies or eighties if Matt had to guess, long white hair and beard with wrinkled lines around his face that deepened as he smiled at Matt. He had a pair of small round glasses perched on his nose, with a glasses chain hanging off the frame and hanging around his neck. He had simple robes of a nice dark blue, with long sleeves that covered his wrists. He was also wearing a mage hat in the same blue, a white feather tucked into the band.
He had a book in his hand that he tucked a ribbon as a bookmark onto the page to save his place as he set the book down. “Ahh, hello there young one! Welcome to the library of Jylen. I don’t believe we have met, are you new in town?” He asked Matt as the shaper stepped forward and stood at the desk. The desk was mostly clean, with small organized piles of books and a few stacks of papers.
“Yes, I am new. I just got into the town a few days ago, and haven’t had a chance to explore yet. This is a library?”
“Indeed, the best and only library. I am the owner and by default, head librarian, Eurland Brightmore.” The old librarian said while holding out a wrinkled old hand for Matt to shake.
“Matt Harding.” Taking the hand, Matt was surprised by how sturdy the old man's hands were. Sure, they were thin with age but they gripped Matt's gauntlet firm and strong. Interesting.
“Pleasure to meet you, young Matt. Now, tell me, what brings you to the library today? I can’t imagine someone as well equipped as you would be stopping by my humble hall of books for a casual read.”
“Haha, yeah. Maybe one day, but I was getting familiar with the town and then maybe go to the guild to look at the jobs. But I saw the library and figured there would be history books or something. I grew up in the south and didn’t get much of an education about the rest of the world.” The librarian nodded with a smile as he turned behind him to look at the shelves behind him.
“Of course, getting familiar with the past is always the best way of making the future. These shelves here,” He said while pointing to a row of bookshelves behind him and to the side. “Is all of our history books, including both local history and worldly. You should be able to find what you seek upon the shelves. And if you need anything else, do not hesitate to find me.” The old librarian and almost definite mage picked back up their book and settled into his chair. Matt nodded in gratitude and moved to the pointed shelves.
The smell of old paper, worn leather and dried ink got stronger as he started walking through the aisles. He wasn’t someone who read a lot back on earth, and any reading that he did was on his phone, but even he could still appreciate the smell of a library. It was peaceful, and helped put his mind at ease for the inevitable study session.
His material perceptions could feel the slight wood in the paper, but it was quite disconnected from his understanding. It looks like for things he hasn’t made don’t quite retain the full understanding of their original material after a while. He would have to see if making his own paper would keep that understanding, but that was for a different day.
Looking at the spines and titles for the books ahead of him, he started searching for things that would help fill out his non native knowledge. There was only so much that he could use the ignorance of a foreigner as an excuse for not knowing basic knowledge, and this was the best way to fix it.
There were several different books that caught his interest, such as “Knights of the Empire: Greatest Warriors of Past and Present,” “Revolutions in Magic and Spellcraft,” “The Expanse of Great Adventure,” and “How to Become a Legendary Adventurer,” but none of those were immediately helpful. One day he might pick them up, but right now he needs something more informative.
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He ended up picking up three books; “History of the Races and the Land,” “Founding of Jylen and the Southern Advance,” and lastly he grabbed “The History of the Empire.” The first book was an explanation on the different people he has seen, and that will be gratefully illuminating so he isn’t referring to anyone with terms that might be wrong.
The second book was more about Jylen and how the settlement of adventurers affected the rest of the empire. Apparently there was an empire, and that was even more illuminated by the last book. That one had a specific account on the actual founding of the empire and what the different kingdoms used to do before the unification.
Taking the books over to a smooth, old table made from ivor, Matt sat the small pile down and took a seat. He loosened his gauntlets and sat them in front of him on the table, and by bonding with his chair he changed the shape slightly so he could lean back a bit more. Was that a frivolous use of his power? Matt didn’t care, he was focusing on reading.
Reading the book about the different people helped him confirm a few things. The first chapter was about the continent. Mat wasn’t sure if that was all the world had but it wasn’t important for now. The continent was a strange, lumpy half donut made of a few chunks, with an archipelago around the bottom edges.
The continent was split into several areas, a large forest taking up the south western chunk of land that looked to be split in two for some reason, a central plains area in the middle of the other sections, a stretch of land that was covered in mountains and looked to be very rocky, and on the south eastern edge of the continent was labeled as the Wilds, a desolate wasteland on craggy rocks and dead land. Below the wilds, was the archipelago made of desert islands.
The next chapter was about humans. He wasn’t sure what the actual term for them was, but it was translated into human. He figured that most terms like that would be translated, so he was glad for that at least. Humans took residence in central plains, and used to live in the wilds before they were destroyed. They used to have several different kingdoms that fought amongst each other often, but almost one and a half hundred years ago the plains were unified under one empire.
Next to the plains were the mountains where the dwarves lived. Matt was right when he figured they were actually made of stone, and it went even deeper than just having stone skin. Dwarves did not have children like the rest of the races, but instead literally carved new adolescent dwarves from special gemstones and rock. They lived underground in the mountains, and also carved out their apparently incredible citadels and cities into the caverns that spread under the mountains.
They loved crafting and art and pretty much every type of act of creation, and so they spent a lot of time mining and creating. They also had another use for all the stone they dug up, as they could apparently eat rock and metal. All they needed to eat minerals, but since they appreciated art so much they apparently imported a lot of food and spices and liquor from the other races and had a large food culture for making different dishes with the minerals they mined. Respectable.
Next was the two types of elves. The pale skinned variety were known as dawn elves, and the darker skinned variety were contrastingly dusk elves. They lived in the same area but the forests weren’t just separated by race. The two halves of the forest were appropriately named the Forests of Night and Day. Apparently a long time ago something happened and the forest themselves came under some kind of curse, changing the ecosystem.
The forest of Day was filled with bright bioluminescent plants and glowing gems and bright lights that left the forest in an eternal day. And conversely, the forest of Night was clouded in eternal darkness and night, a shroud that swallowed all light. The elves would have perished, but two elvish leaders now known as the Lords of Day and Night, created a spell with a boon from the gods that let the elves adapt.
Now, the two lords led the two new elven peoples into a new age of prosperity. While the separation was hard, the curse on the land was permanent and couldn’t be solved by mortal hands. And so mortals did what they always did, they adapted and they flourished. While some were worried that division would make the two nations hostile against each other, the people and leadership have done a very good job of keeping community and friendship. While they are divided by location, they are united in history.
Next were the dracon, the proper name for the partially scaled draconic people he had seen occasionally. While the other races were made by the gods in different ways when they made the world, the dracon weren’t made by the gods, they were made by Dragons. The Dragons were supposed to be the stewards of the new world, gifted in all three types of energy and incredibly powerful. Much like their creators, they also made things. They made all the lesser draconic creatures, not much more than smart beasts and monsters, but that wasn’t enough for them. They wanted to be worshiped like the gods who made them, and so they created their own race of people to worship and serve them. The Dragons made the dracon.
The gods were obviously not happy with their creations abusing their power and so they intervened. They cursed the dragons, stripping them of their intelligence and sealed them in the hidden corners of the world, in an eternal prison where they can no longer bend the world to their will. And then, the dracon, now free from their oppressors, were given the gift of freedom and encouraged by the gods to flourish and find a new path for themselves. The dracon took residence in the archipelago, and now their race is driven by an adventure lust to explore and exercise the freedom their ancestors were deprived of.
And the last chapters were about the demons. Demons were not like the other races of the world, as there was strong debate on what even is considered a demon and if they deserve to be considered a sentient race. The demons are creatures that are vastly different from each other, ranging from mindless beasts to intelligent and cruel monsters. They all have some kind of horns, with the larger and more complex being a good indicator of their strength. They come from the wilds and are responsible for ruining the landscape into inhabitable wastes.
A long time ago, there was an incredibly strong demon lord that had the ability to control the will of other demons and unified the monstrous race into a threatening force, and they attacked the rest of the continent. The human lands in the wilds were quickly taken over, and the human lands were the front lines of the oncoming horde of demons. But the races banded together and a party led by the first emperor of the recently unified human nations attacked the demon lord.
The demon lord was too powerful to destroy, their body being sustained by some strange type of energy, and so they were sealed away. Without a leader, the demon forces scattered and now wonder the wilds aimlessly. Just removing the demon lord wasn’t enough to completely wipe out the demons, but due to their strange instinctual hate for other living life they reverted to their old ways of isolationist attacks on the rest of the world. Being restrained to the wilds, demons have a hard time passing through human or dracon territory to the rest of the world, but occasionally a few slip through the cracks and attack settlements and cities occasionally.
Matt finished the book and was a bit concerned the book didn’t have a mention on how long the seal was supposed to last. He remembered that the system warned him off the demon lord's revival when he first died, and he didn’t know what the rest of the world knew about it, but he knew that the demon lord was coming back. Matt didn’t know what he was going to do about that, or how he could help, but right now he needed to get stronger.
New Quest! Demon Lords Revival (Part 1)
The demon lord that threatened the rest of the continent is going to break his seal soon, and the rest of the world will soon be forced into a conflict with the forces of demonkind. You, someone who is not native to this world, will also be forced into the conflict. Grow in strength, and prepare yourself.
Objective: Kill a demon.
Reward: Variable Level Progress, 1 Point, Next Quest
And it looks like the system agreed. Matt gulped as he turned away from the notification and picked up his next book. He still had a lot of reading to do.