"She was a very knowledgeable woman, you should have picked all of them," Mel remarked as we left the second to last store of the day.

We had just exited a men's boutique where we had spent an hour trying on different clothes.

You're not wrong about her but I don't need that many clothes. Besides, I won't even need them once I can manifest my own from the Library.

"Speaking of..."

Yes, yes we're going just one more stop.

On our way towards the library, we stopped at a potions warehouse and picked up a few basic Health, Mana, and Stamina potions, as well as a Cure Disease, and a few potions of Antivenom that worked on any venom under Journeyman, since this continent was famous for their variety of venomous wildlife, everything from fanged rabbits to giant mutated snake beasts. Better safe than sorry.

"I guess this is where we part ways, thank you for accompanying me and taking your time to help me navigate the city."

"The pleasure was mine... Typhen. I apologize for being so formal, it irritates me when the other nobles do it to try and curry favor. It is a lifetime of ingrained behavior that I hope to work on the next time we meet. Day, Typhen." He bowed as he turned and walked away, disappearing into the crowd.

"I need you to put your butt in motion and get in that library," Mel said. "Or I'm going to start making annoying noises in your head until you do."

Fine, fine, I'm moving. I chuckled as I started walking up the plain set of stairs into the unsuspecting brown building, with the word LIBRARY in big blocky letters painted on the wall.

When I walked in, it was exactly what you would expect from the outside. There was a cluster of tables in the middle of the room on either side of an Information kiosk. It looked like the small library by my house.

How do we get started?

"Ask if they have an index, I should be able to get a title and synopsis from that for every book in the library and narrow it down from there."

I walked up to the man behind the front desk.

"Day, do you have an index or a catalog I can look through?"

The man pulled out the top drawer of his desk and stuck out a teal orb the size of my fist. Not even looking up from the large tome he was invested in he said in a monotone voice, "Place it in the receptacle by the door as you leave, it will vibrate as you get closer to the door so you won't forget. Have a pleasant read."

Taking the orb I went and found a seat.

"OK, I'm done. I've picked the nine-hundred and twenty-seven books I would like to add. We can replace them when we have found better versions or fully integrate the knowledge into the Library. Lights bloomed from numerous shelves all around the room, as almost one thousand books illuminated with a soft orange glow. Just place your hand on each one and it will ask you if you want to add it."

Let's get to work then.

Two hours passed and we had only made it through half the indicated books.

"This one is another in the Maybe pile. It's a textbook on an introductory course for Geology. What do you think?"

That will be useful later on in Enchanting, so if I can lay the groundwork now that would be better.

I selected yes on the prompt, then moved two shelves up to the next one.

"Yes." She said with no further explanation.

And we moved on again.

"Maybe pile again, it's a book on a tax law on this continent."

Hey, you never know. I'm gonna be here a while, maybe that's not a bad one to have. With a perfect recall, I'm sure between the two of us, there have to be some lucrative loopholes that we can find, right?

"I like the way you think." Mel grinned as I accepted the prompt.

This continued for three more hours before there were no more books lit up in my vision. There had been a lot more Maybe's towards the end, that we had to decide to keep or discard in search of a replacement that Mel had already put on a backup list.

Returning the index to the receptacle, I pulled out the token and called Osiph. Walking out of the double doors I saw him standing there with a pocket watch out, shaking his head.

"Five hours inside for the first time with a Librarian." Osiph laughed, getting a few glances from passersby. "My first time I spent six days there and was forced to leave by the library's security. How did you prioritize your books? It took me an hour to choose my first addition to my collection."

Now that I could, I used Identify on him and was disappointed with what I got back. He must have an Augmentation item as well or a spell for it.

[Human- Level 112 (Journeyman)]

"Mel just told me what she wanted and I said yes to about ninety-five percent of them. I don't think a book on cross stitch patterns and tips, is going to be helpful or worth the brainpower to preserve it." I shrugged, before switching the topic and asking. "Have you been skulking around here watching me this whole time?"

Stolen story; please report.

"If her father had helped in the slightest, it would have cut the time down considerably." He said, most likely having a conversation with Bel about it right now. "And kind of l-, it's complicated so I choose not to answer that."

Choosing not to engage, I just stared at him.

"Right." He said, looking me up and down. "Are you prepared?"

"Shouldn't you know?" I waggled my eyebrows at him. He rolled his eyes and signaled for me to follow.

"You're a child! What are you... twelve?" Mel remarked.

Actually just shy of sixty million, some would say I never lost the passion of my youth. Actually... does that make me an old man?

"That's a tough one since you never learned anything new or had any new experiences during that time. One could argue that no time passed and you're still just fifteen, with some very long memories. The fact that one of the first places your brain went was to the opposite sex, proves you're still a terribly hormonal teenager on the cusp of manhood."

Ignoring her intrusion into my personal thoughts, I continued walking down the busy streets Osiph and I finally made it to a domed building on the north end of the center of the city and made our way inside.

After a short conversation with a receptionist, we were led by a short woman in blue and gold robes, down a hallway and into a circular chamber with a magic array on a raised stone platform.

"Please stand in the center of the array, my Lord." The woman said. She was in her late fifties based on the fact that she was still Beginner-tier had wrinkles lining her face, and wore an obviously anxious expression.

Stepping up Osiph and I complied, as a whirring noise came from crystals embedded a few inches into the walls that I hadn't noticed before. With a flash of bright blue light and a lurching sensation in my gut, we were pulled through the teleportation array to our next destination.

The light faded as an identical room, with only the furniture in the corner being of a different style. A young man stood at the edge of the platform where his counterpart in Arani was moments before.

"Welcome to Requara City, my Lord. Please follow me, there is a carriage stationed in the valet, as requested."

"Very well, lead the way."

Bowing he turned and we filled him down a much less decorative hallway until we made it to the main lobby and exited a small single oak door.

Exiting I understood why everything was a bit lackluster compared to where we had just been. The buildings were smaller and were void of most of the ostentatious molding. The people walking by wore more solemn colors in dark grays and blues.

Waiting at the curb of the street was a plain black carriage pulled by two gray Percherons.

"Lord Osiph." the driver of our carriage bowed, opening the door for us to enter. The man was human and wore a crisp black suit, with detailed embroidery on the breast. He was way about my height, but thinner with more sunken features and ashen white hair that matched his sculpted mustache. He had an odd look to him as he met my eye.

[Human- Level 32 (Beginner)]

Thanking the man I stepped into the carriage and sat opposite Osiph. Within twenty minutes we passed under a fortress wall that surrounded the town and were out of the small city.

"The journey to the estate would normally take a few hours, but I don't expect you to arrive in a timely manner."

"Why is that?" I asked, not liking how he specified that I wouldn't be arriving on time.

"The Nobility of this world seems to be a rather low level, due to their preference to rule from a dinner table rather than a battlefield, so I have something similar to your Amulet in place to blend in. Only the rulers of the five continents and yourself know who I really am."

"What does that have to do with our schedule?"

"That means; a new wealthy lord just waltzed into town and left immediately for the countryside without an escort or guard detail."

I groaned.

"Exactly. An easy payday for anyone willing to chance it."

"The driver?"

"Non-combatant, most likely a group stashed in a spot for an ambush. I assume he was just paid for the itinerary. My job for you today is to find out if it's a faction, a small group if they have any backers, that kind of thing. Leave them alive. Kill them. It's up to you."

A marker appeared on my map, pointing directly toward a valley in the direction we were headed.

"You son of a-"

I cursed the air he had just been occupying. Damn dirty Space Mages.

"Another test I assume." Mel popped into my vision, taking Osiph's place in the carriage.

That wouldn't be a bad bet.

If they think they are going to kidnap a Duke and his nephew, they will be cautious and probably send numbers, these are not people we want to take lightly. I doubt with the scarcity of Adepts, whoever this is, managed to rope one into their scheme. Even if they have one as a backer, they wouldn't risk coming personally on the chance they managed to escape and reveal their involvement. Once you reach that high a tier, anybody of real power has your name written down somewhere, just waiting for you to screw up.

"It's a good assessment that they will consist mostly of Journeyman and below. The average for this continent is similar to your own island nation, with most trained Mages even hitting a plateau around the end of Novice beginning of Journeyman. But you're still Beginner. Even if you're closer to Novice in Stats, real Novices have a Class and the skills that come with it. Skills that are not bound by mana, they interact with the ambient Mana itself without needing to go through a Core which makes them much more dangerous, especially once it upgrades at the following tiers. So if there are any Journeymen present, your chances of survival go down dramatically."

I don't plan on a direct confrontation, anyway They will probably expect us to have tails hanging back out of sight, so they will be wary of scouts reporting the attack before they could get to their safehouse. If it were me I would wait until we are out of the Therinil Forest and a few miles into the canyon just before the valley. Protection at the back, line of sight for a decent distance down the narrow corridor, they could easily drop a boulder to impede a carriage and just hold the victim hostage with range from above.

"That's at least three hours from now if we keep our current pace, you should put on your gear and at least meditate. Get some rest in the Library and I'll keep a watch for you out here."

Thank you, I'll get some sleep, and then just before we exit the forest, I'll slip out of the carriage and follow on foot. Before I go I'll make some noise back here so the driver still assumes we're back here.

Pulling my gear out of my inventory, I inspected the armor for the first time, and I heard Mel laughing in my head. It was pitch black Alchemically hardened leather with crimson lines running across each matching piece, they looked like veins connecting throughout the entire set. The metal buckles stood out against the dark backdrop like silver jewels. The helmet, if it could be called that, was an inch-wide solid metal band that matched the rest of the armor, with its pattern of blood-red meander around the edges. The cloak tied off around my chest and hung down to my calves. It was a brownish-red hue, with a capped hood, and face mask, leaving only my eyes visible. The back of the cloak was plain save for a green eye on the back with a bloodshot sclera.

I spent a few minutes equipping it all, mainly due to me inspecting each description again. I was definitely gaining an appreciation for good loot.

Relaxing my body I activated Meditation and entered the Library to get a nap in before my impending kidnapping.