We all stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do, simply staring at the beautiful yet eerie greatsword. There was definitely something ominous about it, yet its glow had a certain magnetic pull to it that just felt as if it was inviting you to yank it out.

"Should I grab it?" Rogier asked Cristina.

"Are you crazy?! It will most definitely be booby-trapped!" Gier went against the idea.

"Hmm..." Cristina gave herself a moment to think. "Well, the sword will most likely be useless. I bet that its power lies in the glow. Perhaps it's just a glorified glowstick. I highly doubt that something on the second floor would be very useful, or precious enough to be surrounded by traps, so please, be my guest Rogier."

The hunter rubbed his palms against one another and with a grin on his face, he stepped closer. "Alright! Let's see if I'll be the blade's chosen warrior," he said jokingly and approached the hill.

Before he could even begin ascending it, the sword flew out of the ground and began hovering in the air, shining even more of its red glow across the room. Corwyn let out a faint "eep!" as he saw it move. Clearly, none of us was too happy about the idea of facing danger immediately after we had managed to overcome one.

"Ooh, yeah. Come to papa! You'll be super valuable," Rogier said and extended his hands towards the sword. Thank god for his quick reflexes, or he would've lost them immediately afterwards.

The blade moved as if it was being swung by an invisible hand. First, it swiped against Rogier in a wide arc and when the hunter began backing away, the weapon opted for more of a "smashing" approach, striking the ground behind Rogier left and right.

"Get out of there!" Gier yelled at our companion.

"Nah! I'll think I'll fucking stay here!" he yelled back and ran towards us as fast as he could.

As he passed the countless rusty blades stuck in the dirt, even they began rising up, joining the glowing greatsword in their attempts to kill the intruder. I quickly looked at my companions to see if any of them had perhaps a plan in mind. Amy and Corwyn were obviously unwilling to go anywhere near such mayhem, and Gier was not exactly combat-ready either. Our only hope was therefore Cristina, who seemed to be busy observing the deadly trap with a smirk of an overly curious scientist.

Finally, Rogier managed to get back to us. As he left the dirt-covered part of the floor, however, he tripped over the edge of the wooden walkway. The massive red sword struck the ground right next to his leg with tremendous force. Sparks flew through the air, the fabric of Rogier's trousers gave up their fight against the sharp blade, and the wood of the floor cracked and splintered. Then, everything stopped. The sword lay there immobile for a moment as Rogier quickly crawled out of its way. We stood there, waiting to see what would happen next. The greatsword then slowly lifted itself off the ground and gently hovered back onto the top of the hill, where it wedged itself into the ground once again.

"A-Are you alright?" Corwyn asked.

"Useless artefact, huh?!" Rogier yelled at Cristina, who didn't seem to be too phased by the events.

"Hmm, yeah, it is useless. I don't think this was a trap. This is most likely all the artefact does. It's a sword with a mind of its own and a territory it doesn't wish to leave." She pulled out her notebook and began taking notes while Amy approached the hyperventilating book hunter.

"Are you okay? Your leg got cut. Let me have a look."

"Thanks, but it's fine, it only got the pants."

"Are you sure? It looked as if it hit your leg too. Maybe you just don't feel the pain because of the adrenaline. I'll just have a– OW!"

As she crouched down to reach for the supposed wound, Rogier grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her back up. Judging by her expression, his grip was crushing.

"I. Am. Fine!" he growled. "Leave it!"

Amy only nodded in agreement as he let her go. Back then, I wanted to give him a piece of my mind, but I was too scared of what he might do to me. After the encounter with the blade, he seemed a bit jumpier than before.

"Well, this is pointless for my research," Cristina sighed and finally closed her notebook.

"How so?" Gier asked.

"This place is the most boring Glassroom I've ever seen. I need to get to the lower floors. Down there, it is much more interesting."

"Then why don't you go there? Just remember that you shouldn't face Guardians alone. If danger arises and you can't defeat it, run back to us and we will help you."

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Are you sure I can leave the Rookies in your care? I mean, you're not exactly a fighter, and Rogier is... well, an idiot," she said, prompting Rogier to growl at her and mumble a few insults of his own.

"Don't worry. We'll be careful too. Besides, in this place, we might actually find something readable for the rooks. Just do what you have to."

It was settled then. Cristina promised us all that she will only go to floor five at maximum and that we will reunite once we find whatever books are necessary for our acceptance into the university.

"Alright, guys, let's get looking. Start grabbing the books and see if you can find out what genre we are dealing with," Gier instructed us. His words seemed to pour new life into Amy's veins. Now that the dangers were gone and she could focus only on literature, she was quickly back to her old, nerdy self. Glad to see her optimism return, I went with her to look for any interesting texts.

"You seem a lot better," I told her.

"Better?"

"Yeah. Emotionally, I mean. You were still a bit... off, even after the Guardian was defeated."

She sighed. "Yeah, that was quite something."

"I guess you're not much of a fighter, are you?"

"No, not at all. I have read all the necessary information and went to classes on self-defence against the Guardian threat but... I don't know, just that seeing them in real life is much more terrifying."

"Yeah, I get that, but it's just a part of the job."

"Part of the job I don't want to do."

"Huh? You too? Are you like Corwyn? Do your parents force you to be here?"

She smirked. "Ha! No. In fact, they'd be happy if I was anywhere else but here. But I can't just ignore literature. Out there, we get like what? Four books per year? Plus, the university streams them into everyone's heads on special occasions only. Last year, I was sick during the winter and couldn't go. The lack of something to read is killing me!"

"Wait, so you came here for–"

"The literature, yeah. I don't care about being a scholar. But once I pass the exam and write the thesis, I will have unlimited access to the library. And that means I'll be able to read all the stories in the world!"

"Heh, sounds like you'd be way happier if you moved elsewhere," Rogier intruded upon our conversation.

"What the hell does that mean?" she asked.

"I travelled a bit during my... even younger days. Ritena is the only kingdom that dumps its books into a place like this. All other countries just have books in stores. You can buy them, borrow them, or even own them. How crazy is that?"

"Yeah, that's nice, but where would I get the money to move off the island? Ritena stretches far and wide and for a good reason. This kingdom is a place full of opportunities. Out there in the world, what would I do for a living? Not to mention that I don't know the language they'd speak, and I probably wouldn't have money to buy my own books, and so on. This just feels... I don't know, a bit more accessible?"

Rogier shrugged. "Eh, if that's what you want. But don't come crying the next time a Guardian almost bites your ass off."

"You're one to talk. You ran away with tail between your legs," I said but he seemed to have completely ignored my remark and left.

For a while, Amy and I kept browsing through the books, looking for anything remotely useful. The entire place was filled with literature related to the lives of different swordsmen. Each time we ran across some famous name, Amy enthusiastically began telling me all she knew about the person. History had never been my strongest suit, so I just pretended that I knew what she was talking about to not ruin her mood.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down!" I told her after I saw her absorb the knowledge of a third book already. "You're gonna overload your brain like this!"

"I can take it! There are just so many great stories here! Did you know that this guy made his own swords and then used them to defend villages from raiders? And all this time, he was wearing a mask! So he seemed like just some normal blacksmith, but had like a secret hero identity!"

"Y-Yeah, that is awesome. But there is still a limit to how much your brain can absorb in a single day. You sure you want to waste it all in this section?"

"Don't worry, I've got some pills against a headache. I'll be fine," she replied and continued browsing through the books.

I turned around and headed off in a different direction, eager to finally break free of the endless storm of her history-related enthusiasm.

"So, found anything you fancy?" Gier asked me.

"Not really."

"But you need to find a book before we leave, okay? There's no way you can find your grandfather's notes in all this mess. Not to mention that you can't even reach such a depth at this point."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But this place is full of just history books. I hate history. Can't imagine writing a whole thesis about it."

"Eh, it's not so bad. I found three books I like, absorbed them, so now I can leave," Corwyn said and approached us.

"Oh? What did you pick?" Gier asked him.

"Just some three swordsmen from the same area. I think that in the thesis, I will first describe their lives, then include some geographical facts from the book so that the readers know where the men lived, and then I'll compare their deeds, fighting styles, and fates."

"Wow, you thought it through."

"W-Well, my father was teaching me how to write a thesis since I was little. I may not be an excellent writer, but I know how to please the professors."

"That's great. How about you give Eliot and Amy some tips then? Maybe you three can be study buddies." Gier smiled and looked around the room. "Huh, it seems like Cristina already left. Shame. Well, since Eliot still hasn't found a book for himself, how about we check out the next Glassroom as well?"

"But I won't be touching any relics this time," Rogier growled as he walked past us and headed back into the hallway.

We all agreed that staying there any longer would be pointless and if we left Amy unchecked for too long, she would overstuff her brain with so much useless knowledge and swordsmen stories that we would have to drag her back to the surface in a catatonic state. She protested against leaving at first, but when we piqued her interest by telling her that perhaps the next section would have even more books, she eventually agreed.

The next Glassroom was not too far away geographically, but visually, it was something completely different. It was like we walked into a rainforest with a long and winding staircase leading up to a small shrine. I had trouble imagining how the hell could this place fit into the library, but I supposed that even rooms that were bigger on the inside wouldn't be all that weird in this place. While we were all too busy looking at the Glassroom in utter fascination, Amy sighed. "Aww, there are no books here!"