Kane, Zumi, Athera, and Brian were queuing in a long line to enter the brand new library. They had arrived not long ago. A long white ribbon was tied across the entrance, waiting for the right moment to be cut. Aside from the ribbon, two teachers were also blocking the access.
“Wow, it’s so crowded!” Zumi bounced on her toes.
“We should’ve visited earlier. The books we’re looking for could be taken away by others first,” said Brian.
“There… should be many c-copies, I think,” muttered Athera.
“I don’t understand why you three are so interested in this library. It’s just a collection of books,” complained Kane. He initially wanted to visit alone another time, but the three had kept insisting to join, especially Brian. Based on what Kane had heard, Brian wanted to prevent awkwardness around the girls so he needed a male companion.
The three immediately turned toward him with a confused expression. Zumi spoke first, “Did you become a student without knowing anything about Niflenia Academy?”
“For the last time, I’ve told you that I’m not well-versed in magic.” Kane tugged his earlobe. “I do know that it’s an elite magic school, the best one in this kingdom. That’s why I applied to this school.”
“Well, one of the main reasons why it’s the best is that library.” Brian pointed at the grand architecture. Six arcs were erected near the towering door. Right in front of them, a marble statue of the first headmaster stood vigilantly, holding a tome while gazing skyward. “It’s full of magic-related books, from the basic to more complex ones. More importantly, you can learn new spells from reading the spell theory books! If you can comprehend them.”
“You forgot that it’s completely free of charge for students to borrow any book,” added Zumi.
“Oh yeah, the most important part of them all.” He touched his forehead.
“What’s the usual price for borrowing them?” asked Kane.
Brian rubbed his chin. “Depends on the book. The cheapest is around 500 gold per item while, let’s say, a rank 1 spell theory book would cost 2,000 gold.”
“No wonder there are so many people here. I guess they want to borrow rank 1 spell theory books before somebody else does.” Kane nodded.
“You’re right.” Zumi then stomped on the ground. “Brian is also right. Geez, we should’ve come here earlier!”
“About that…” Athera interjected, wanting to say something.
“Yes, Lady Athera?” Brian bowed before getting stomped on the foot. “Ouch! What’s that for?”
“Stop being creepy!” yelled Zumi. “Just address her normally.”
“You’re rough, Zumi. Can’t you be more gentle like Lady Athera?” said Brian. They proceeded to argue with each other.
“Ahem!” Kane coughed. “Ignore them and continue what you want to say, Athera.”
Athera’s face turned red. It took a while before she spoke again, “The rank 1 spell theory books are… limited to class S students.”
“Seriously!?” Brian was taken aback.
“Welp, there goes my chance to learn a rank 1 spell,” said Zumi.
“Makes sense. There is a high chance of such an expensive book being stolen if they don’t restrict it,” said Kane. Contrary to what he said, rank 1 items were as inferior as an ant in his eyes.
“Still very disappointing…” Zumi uttered a sigh.
“Attention everyone!”
A gentle yet loud voice entered Kane's ears. It was Reynar. He stood in front of the white ribbon, giving a brief speech. When he finished speaking, he raised the large scissors on his hand and severed the ribbon ties. It ended with a thunderous applause. Not long after, the line started moving at a brisk pace.
Reynar’s gaze met Kane. The man flicked his wrist and threw a small, crumpled paper on the ground near where Kane was standing. Kane picked up the paper and opened it. It said, “Meet me in the training ground after you finish your business in the library.”
Kane and co entered the royal library, and looked around. It was grand and spacious. Rows of tall bookshelves were lined up neatly. Scents of fresh and old books, along with the brand new furniture blended into one unique smell. Kane felt cool air on his skin even though there were so many people inside. He then noticed one of the temperature-regulation spell formations inside.
“What a massive library! We could get lost easily in here so we should stick together,” commented Brian, staring at the painted ceiling at high height. It was filled with murals of runes and depiction of mages.
“Since we have different element spell specialization, it would be a waste of time to search in a group. Let's split up and then meet at the entrance after you all finished choosing,” suggested Zumi.
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“That's a good idea,” said Kane. He was surprised with her leadership skills.
“I… I’ll go with Zumi. I want to learn earth spells.” Athera leaned closer to her.
Zumi grabbed her shoulder tightly, wrapping Athera around her. “What about you two?”
“I will go with Kane, then.” Brian rubbed his nose. “Maybe I can help him pick a spell aside from [Lesser Firebomb]. Though he's already very strong with just that.”
Zumi nodded. “He has already beaten a prince after learning that spell. I couldn’t imagine how strong he would be if he learned another spell.”
Brian’s eyes bulged. He turned toward the half-oni. “That’s insane! Which prince did you defeat, Kane?"
“I… will tell you later while we search for the spell theory book.” Kane walked away from them.
---
While strolling, Kane told everything regarding the fight with Calypso and the reason why his mana was high to Brian. At first, he seemed to not believe what he said, but then he gradually trusted his words.
“So you’re saying that Calriss is actually the Prodigy Prince Calypso of the Rabrond Kingdom? They both for sure are geniuses in magic.”
Kane nodded. “That’s right.”
“Why is he hiding his identity? If I were him, I would have flaunted my status as a prince and enjoyed the popularity,” said Brian.
“I think he’s too embarrassed to be a class E student. That’s just my opinion, though. He refused to tell me anything about his reason.”
“That’s understandable. I guess even a prince still does have shame.”
Kane looked upward, reading the sign. “‘Fire element offensive spells… Let’s check this one out.”
A lot of people were looking around and searching for books they wanted. They seemed to be upperclassmen based on their height. When Kane looked more carefully, he found out some people were gathering in one particular spot. They were around his age.
“So many people! Let’s check other elements first,” suggested Brian.
“No. I want to master the fire element first. Learning multiple elements is detrimental for long-term, or so I’ve heard.” said Kane.
“That’s true. The more you study on an element, the more you master it; it’s good to be flexible, though. At least that’s what my magic tutor told me back in my home. Wait, how did you know that stuff? I thought you’re new to magic, Kane?”
“I know some basic stuff. Do you know The Circle? They committed to sole elementary mastery and are so powerful now because of it, so perhaps I should follow their example.”
“The Circle… A group that consists of six legendary mages who have reached the peak of arcane arts. Each of them can easily destroy a city with a single spell, but fortunately they are a rather peaceful bunch,” said Brian.
Despite Kane not knowing many things regarding magic, he knew The Circle from before reincarnating. He even battled one of the members once. Kane remembered the fight when he discovered his innate talent and became inspired to copy their way. Not that he knew their training regimen — he would try to find out in this library.
“You want to follow their example, so do you want to become one of them, then?”
“I never thought about that before. But then again, if there’s a chance of becoming one, I won’t turn it down.”
“You say that as if becoming a member of The Circle is easy. Not even the best mage in this country is qualified to become one,” remarked Brian.
“I’m just kidding, Brian. Of course, I know how difficult it is.” Kane then pointed at the aisle beside him. “I’m going to check them out. It’s up to you whether you follow me or not.”
“Sure, I’ll go,” replied Brian.
Kane walked into the long aisle, turning his head left and right. Each of the books was as thick as an adult’s palm and sealed by a magical lock. In spite of the large book collections, it was mostly due to repeating copies of books. The variety was rather limited, though still many. So far, Kane found 11 different spell theory books. None of them caught his interest so he decided to check the crowd while Brian was trying to find a good spell for Kane. The spell was probably the best among this aisle, he thought.
He slipped between them, pushing them aside gently, and managed to get a good look at what the spell was. Surprised, Kane uttered, “[Lesser Firebomb]? Why did this spell suddenly become popular?”
“I’ll tell you why! Apparently, a student from class E managed to corner the daughter of Habborleigh with this spell only!" A high-spirited boy beside him replied to his question. "We realize that [Lesser Firebomb] holds hidden potential and so we must learn it!”
“Huh, didn’t realize that my duel caused this much effect,” said Kane.
“My duel?” The boy turned toward Kane. He stepped back and shouted, “Those horns… You're Kane! The master of [Lesser Firebomb] spell!”
“Kane is here?”
“Where?”
“Wow, he's really here!”
The crowd turned around and pestered Kane with a barrage of questions. Annoyed by them, he shouted, “Calm down! What do you want from me?”
They looked at each other. The boy from before begged, “Please teach us all of [Lesser Firebomb] tricks!” The others cheered in agreement.
Kane pondered for a moment until he came up with an answer, “Sure, but it will cost you 120 gold per person for each meeting. I also prefer to teach all of you at once, not privately because I can’t be bothered to visit each one of you. What do you say?”
They began to discuss what Kane had said. One of them then asked, “Can’t the price be lower?”
The half-oni shook his head. “You want to learn from the very person who invented the trick and you try to bargain? Not a chance.”
“Very well. 120 gold then,” they agreed.
After discussing the schedule and place of the meeting, Kane left the crowd and approached Brian. Several books were stacked beside him. All of them were picked from this aisle, based on the names of the book.
“Well, aren’t you a popular one. It seems you have some fans already,” teased Brian as he poked Kane's shoulder.
“I don’t care about them, frankly.” Kane’s eyes darted towards the book stack. “Are you also interested in learning [Lesser Firebomb] tricks, Brian?”
“It piqued my interest a little bit. But, I’ll focus on studying lightning first,” he replied.
“That’s understandable, I guess. What spells did you pick?”
“Let's see…” Brian squinted to read the side of the books. “[Fire Pellets], [Fire Wisp], [Blazing Fence], [Searing Arrow], and [Flaming Hand]. There are many more but these are the most popular unranked fire spells.”
“What’s up with the flame-related suffix?” commented Kane. All of those spell names sounded ordinary.
“Low-tier spells usually have generic names. Thanks to that, the spells are rather self-explanatory, making it easier to imagine what the spell looks like.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I probably don’t need any explanation for [Searing Arrow] and [Flaming Hand]. Anyway, thanks for choosing those for me, Brian. I think we're done here,” said Kane.
“No problem. Are you sure you don’t need any support spells?” asked Brian.
“I don’t need them now. My mana is too limited for them.” What Kane had said was not entirely the reason. He could simply use vis to support himself and not waste his mana.
“Well, whatever floats your boat.” Brian shrugged. “Let’s go to the lightning spell section.”