Two months after opening the bookstore, Anne had the most pleasant surprise; Ceres came back.

When she closed the deal with the half-beast woman she was prepared to wait for at least a year before meeting her again. As a mercenary, Ceres was more subjected to the whims of fortune than planning. Thankfully, the chance had come earlier than they expected.

About a month after leaving Mountainend, Ceres came across a merchant selling antiques in bulk. The man of oryner ascendance dragged four carts worth of goods from the northern border ‘til the Emperor Seat. The old goat was practicing blind trading in the hopes of cheating a couple of gold out of some crazy gamblers.

Ceres would never risk her money in such a bet, but the sight of a crate of books made her pause. The thing would probably end up as a gift for other sales since anything there was at least a century old, so she decided to have a go. After haggling with the man, or at least pretending to, she got it for 63 silver. If it wasn’t for the quality of the chest, the merchant would probably settle for 45 coins.

Everyone who saw the deal laughed and she laughed too. Ignoring the disdain of the onlookers, she moved the crate with almost three dozen books to her cart and left. The cargo wouldn’t be worth anything to her, but for Anne, it would become gold.

The mercenary also took advantage of her stay in the Emperor Seat to look for research scrolls in the Royal Academy of Magic. Following Anne’s instructions, she looked for a middle man and acquired a gold worth of scrolls.

Another two weeks passed and Ceres finally got a job escorting a group to Riverend Town. The half-wolfkin was anxious to repay the bookmancer’s kindness and also seek her help in an obstacle she met in training. It was clear that she already perceived the girl as a wise master.

Anne observed the woman carrying a crate with a smile. Even holding something heavy, she looked more at ease than when she came for the first time. It seems that Ceres had finally progressed in her training. The bookmancer welcomed the half-beastkin as a close friend and didn’t even pay attention to the crate. Actually, she was dying of curiosity to see what was inside, but her standards as the storeowner couldn’t be lowered.

“Here, take some tea and tell me how was the trip.” Anne said while trying to suppress her feelings.

“Thank you, Miss Anne. I’ve been pretty busy during the last months. When I returned to the province capital, there was already an escorting job to the Emperor Seat waiting for me. Then, I received another one to transport some materials back and a week ago I finally went to Riverend Town escorting an adventuring group.” She explained in a tired tone.

The bookmancer listened carefully and expressed her awe for how much work the mercenary had done recently. They exchanged a few more words before Ceres explained about the crate of books and the scrolls from the academy.

Anne was elated when she heard it. Regardless of the quality, the woman had brought her one gold and a half worth of books, which was beyond her most delusional expectations. So, she thanked Ceres a dozen times before checking on the crate.

At first sight, the wooden carved chest didn’t have any remarkable features aside from its consistent quality. The lock was of dark grey metal and very sturdy, but nothing magical. In less than ten seconds, Anne was already staring at roughly 30 books inside.

As her craft demanded, she took out book by book, studying the cover, the integrity, the size, and the weight. Soon, 33 books were laid over the tables without being piled. For Anne, every book was precious so she wouldn’t discriminate. Still, she had scored big with this collection, they would cost at least three gold if acquired individually.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Almost a third of the books (10) were intact and would only need some cleaning before being stored. Another eight required restoration and re-covering. Sadly, the last five would need to be translated or re-written and she couldn’t guarantee that all information would be preserved. Still, it was a sizable harvest.

Now, about the research scrolls, they were common and fair-priced. Nothing unexpected since both parties knew well the value of the goods. The gold coin fetched 21 reports, eight theories, and two technique scrolls. Well, knowledge was expensive and Anne was more than prepared to pay for it.

After doing an inventory of the new acquisitions, Anne sat down to hear about Cere’s training. Counseling was in her job description and amongst the things that she loved to do the most.

“You were right, Miss Anne. After studying the book and adjusting my training, I started progressing again. It’s still difficult but I can already feel the promotion to the next level. But, I… I don’t know what skill should be appropriate to learn. Most known skills are tailored for humans or beastkin…” Ceres explained embarrassedly.

The warrior path was very straightforward; first step, strengthen the body; second, absorb magic energy into it; third, train a skill; fourth, create a unique skill; and last, create a domain. Ceres had easily stepped on the path but struggled in the second step to learn how to properly absorb energy. Now, she had to prepare a skill in order to advance to the silver tier.

The bookmancer let out a relieved breath when she heard that Ceres was looking for her to learn a skill. She was touched and grateful for the trust. After all, Anne’s worst enemy’s specialty was skill scrolls. The magitech scrolls were easy to buy and not too expensive, so most people would look for them without considering other options.

Indeed, the mass-produced rubbish could teach a skill to any dumb warrior in a matter of days. A skill book or a martial art book, on the other hand, would demand careful study and a lot of effort. However, the benefits were undeniable. The understanding and mastery over a skill learned from a book rivaled a year of experience of those who used skill scrolls.

The fact that noble families and martial ancestral lines taught their descendants without using them was proof that skill scrolls were second-quality products. Still, those damn scrolls could be said to be the main culprit for the disappearance of her craft.

Actually, Ceres wasn’t looking for a better way of learning skills. It’s just that the popular skill scrolls wouldn’t fit her needs. Mostly because she was of uncommon ascendency, but also because the techniques of absorbing energy that she learned from the book were different from others.

“I do have some options. Let me get the books first, then we can decide on what’s best for you.” She explained. Anne paid attention not to promise anything since she couldn’t guarantee to find something fitting.

Ten minutes later, the bookmancer returned with eight books of different sizes. She more and less understood the requirements of her customer. Humans had a more distant though clear relationship with energy, while beastkin developed a closer connection. Ceres was somehow in between, so compared to humans she would easily absorb energy but when controlling it, she would face some challenges in separating it from her own energy. Along those lines, she should focus on skills with a lower need for control that didn’t save on energy costs since she could absorb more than others.

The discussing and explaining took a little more than an hour, but they narrowed it down to two books, the 'Martial Laws of the skull crushing sect' and the 'Body Pathways'. The former was a training book with the basic set of martial techniques of an ancient sect that specialized in using bursts of energy to crush their opponents fast. It focused on speed and strength and disregarded any safe distance. The last was a study on the energy pathways of the body which should help her perfect her skills.

Unfortunately, Anne couldn’t sell the martial techniques book due to its uniqueness and a copy wouldn’t be effective. At this point, she decided to elevate Ceres to a premium customer and trust her the temporary ownership of the book. In other words, lend her the book to take it home. Taking into consideration the complexity of learning a new set of martial techniques, the return time was set to one year later.

As for the second book, staying here for a few days to learn from it was already enough. Of course, the book was too complex to be comprehended at once, but a little would already make a big difference.

Anne was feeling comfortable inside, a gratifying sense of duty served.