After they climbed what felt like thousands of stairs, the two finally arrived. Mathilda said while being out of breath “Hah… hah…. I forgot how far the ancient section was. We’ve finally arrived.” Compared to the other sections in the library, the ancient section seemed very old and dusty like a storeroom, showing that people rarely go there. Mathilda then said “Since I can't read ancient, you can search for the book yourself. And I hope you remember how to get here on your own since there is no way I’m going here again.” Batara obviously didnt remember how to get there again given his bad sense of direction, but he just nodded approving all what Mathilda said. Mathilda then said “Alright I’ll leave you to yourself. Just a reminder, you cant take the books out of the library, since they’re not the physical copy. The books you see here are just projections made using magic. They will vanish once they leave the library’s door.” Batara was amazed by how advanced the magic in Quarzith was from the library’s directory to the projection magic. He got curious and asked “Where are the real books stored?” Mathilda looked very happy hearing Batara was interested in the library and she answered proudly “They are stored safely underground.”
Batara wondered since Quarzith has a very advanced magic development how much more advanced the capital's magic would be. As Batara was busy thinking in his own head, Mathilda asked “Anything else?” Batara shook his head in response, gesturing no. Mathilda replied “Okay I’ll go back to my work then. And Batara…” Batara looked curious as Mathilda’s tone turned rather serious. Mathilda continued “You should meet with Isha, she’s been looking for you.” Mathilda seemed to have known about what happened with Isha’s brother. Batara suddenly felt unpleasant in his gut so he just went silent. Mathilda then left him on his own.
Batara then tried to distract himself by searching for the Anomalies of Mana book. As he looked around the dusty old bookshelves, Batara realized that he was able to understand ancient language like it came naturally in his memory. The ancient language was called “Sansera”. After looking for a while, Batara found the book titled “Anomalies of Mana”. Ancient books have very sumple covers consisting only of its title, but when Batara turned the page, there was the name of the author “Cael Tsvara”. Batara wasnt sure how to pronounce the last name, but it felt somewhat familiar. He then started to read the book.
As Batara spent hours reading just one book, he realized that even though he could read ancient, the language structure was very hard to comprehend, causing him to spend a lot of time deciphering it. However, he managed to learn more about Sakthi and Sankthi. There are certain types of magic that only use Sakthi to cast and there are others that use both Sakthi and Mana to cast. The difference is, when a person casts a magic that only uses Sakthi, they will not feel anything sucked out of their body, instead they will feel a headache only a while after they casted the magic. Like a delayed mana depletion reaction or as it is called Sankthi. The book warned the user to use Sakthi carefully due to its nature of delayed reaction which often caused the user to forget how much they had used.
Batara definitely felt the same thing when he casted his strange magic Fool’s Charade and the first time he tried casting False Promise even though it failed. He realized that must be the reason he’s been fainting so often lately.
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As for the magic that uses both Mana and Sakthi, upon casting such magic, the user will feel their mana sucked out as well as immediate headache due to Sankthi. The interesting part for Batara was the use of both Mana and Sakthi is linked with casting Mana Marking which he always tried but couldnt get it right. It turns out, as Mana Marking used two forms of magic to be coated on each other, it is more effective to use both Mana and Sakthi simultaneously. Doing so will make it easier to distinguish the two forms of magic before forming it into Magic Coating. The book also mentioned that such a method will make the Mana and Sakthi more visible. Batara thought that these must be the missing part about being able to “see” mana which was not explained in the previous Anomalies of Mana he read.
There are still a lot of things in the book that Batara has not yet been able to decipher. However, he just realized from looking through the window that the sun was almost set. So he returned the book to the shelf and walked downstairs as fast as possible. Batara’s wounds didnt do him justice running down the stairs, but he was still amazed that Katherine’s healing was so effective that in just a matter of days his wounds had almost fully recovered. After running for a while, he finally reached the Library’s entrance, completely out of breath. As Batara left the library, the sun had yet to set, so he decided to go to the market to restock his supplies.
Batara headed to the market district as he thought about what Mathilda said earlier about Isha. He really didnt want to stay at the Wanderer’s nest but he didnt want to return to Lorelai’s Reverie either as he felt uncomfortable facing Isha. Cedar Inn was also out of the question with all the ruckus he caused. All in all, Batara thought that he better go off alone and camp in the wilds if its not for his incapability as an adventurer. Batara was so deeply lost in thought until he heard someone call out to his name “Batara!” He snapped out of his daze and turned around to see Isha. Isha said to Batara nervously “S-sorry to startle you. I-I’ve been calling you several times but you…” Isha seemed hesitant to finish her sentence, but she then continued “What a-are you doing he-here?” Batara thought Isha’s question was strange. However, as he looked around, he realized he was not in the market district but standing in front of a building that resembled a chapel.
As hesitant as he was to meet Isha, Batara replied anxiously “I-I got lost, sorry I have to go.” before he tried to flee the situation. However, Isha replied “Wait! Please.” Hearing Isha desperately calling him, Batara stopped and decided not to run away. As Batara turned to Isha, Isha bowed her head a little and said “I’m sorry for my reaction back at the inn!” Batara was taken aback and quickly replied “Please d-dont apologize!” Isha replied “No, I am truly grateful to you back then because nobody else gave me any information about my brother for weeks before you did. And even though it was unfortunate, I’m really glad you told me. However, at that time I couldnt accept the truth which made me react that way.” Even though Batara felt relieved that Isha didnt hold any grudge against him, he however didnt know what to say back to Isha and just nodded awkwardly approving what Isha had said.
Isha then said “Since you’re here, do you want to join me to visit my brother in the Chapel of the Gods?” Batara remembered he once read in a book that the souls of the deceased will return to the gods. Thats why when visiting the deceased, people didnt go to their grave but instead to the chapel. Batara was reluctant as he didnt really believe in all that, but after what happened with Isha, he thought it would be rude to refuse so he agreed to go inside the chapel. The two then walked into the chapel. The Chapel of the Gods in Quarzith is bigger than the one in Obenvale, but its not very large either. There are several statues of the Gods arranged at the back with benches spread around the Chapel. This was Batara’s first time visiting the chapel as it was shown on his face. Seeing that reaction, Isha asked Batara “Have you ever been to the chapel?” Batara shook his head, gesturing a no. Isha replied “Alright I’ll tell you how to pay your respect to the deceased. You simply need to close your eyes and think about the person or what you want to say to the person until your heart feels relieved.” Isha then sat on a bench and started to close her eyes. Batara sat on a bench behind her and tried closing his eyes to pay his respect.