At the core of the library, where all the knowledge is stored and where every request in the library is processed. For example, when a librarian has to look up a book for a member. Standing in front of a glowing, floating screen stood an old man. The old man gave off a sinister vibe with wrinkles all over his face. On the screen he was watching stood James walking through the library. The old man mumbled to himself, “Yes, it's only a matter of time before you're mine.” Out of nowhere appeared Merabel. The old man wasn’t surprised and instead told Merabel, “You can’t protect him forever. One day his secrets will be mine!” Merabel just scoffed and said, “Egozahr, the day you touch my apprentice is the day heaven burns and hell freezes over from my wrath.” After which she cast a spell, instantly sending a powerful shockwave of her mana across the room, not caring if the core of the library was harmed. In response to Merabel Egozahr, she just cast a barrier spell and then melted into the shadows, disappearing from view. Merabel wasn’t shocked by this, almost like she expected Egozahr to do so. A bright light appeared in Merabel's hand, dispelling the shadows. In the middle of the shadows appeared Egozahr, exposed to Merabel. Instead of casting another spell at Egozahr Merabel instead told him, “Next time I find you watching my apprentice, it will end a lot worse for you, like in the past.” Merabel then cast a spell and disappeared from the core of the library. Egozahr was visibly pissed and almost lost control but managed to calm himself down before he harmed the core of the library. Instead, Egozahr teleported himself to his private dimension and summoned an imp-like creature from hell. After summoning the creature, Egozahr started to torture the creature to release his anger towards Merabel. After torturing the creature to the point its soul was almost collapsed, Egozahr wiped its soul out and left his dimension back to the library core to keep watching James.

Meanwhile James was none the wiser about what had just gone down. Instead he was still looking for book 214 and anything else to do with magic circles. After a good few minutes of walking, James found where he could search for books in section B. In the filters for the search, James found a book number filter, which he input 214 into. Once the library found the book for James, it teleported it in front of him. James grabbed the book and read the title “Usuni’s Insights into Magic Circles.”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

The book went into a lot of information that James knew was out of his league for the time being. His only goal in reading this book right now was to learn if abolishing his magic circles and restarting his mage journey using another mediation technique was dangerous. James was just skimming through the book until he reached the section labeled “What happens if your magic circles get destroyed/abolished by yourself?” From the little James understood of the section, he learned that for mages who haven’t become a 3rd circle mage, it's not life threatening when their magic circle gets destroyed, but once you become a 3rd circle mage, the magic circle becomes infused with your heart, becoming an arcane heart, granting you stronger power but life-threatening consequences if it becomes broken. The only side effect for weaker mages is that they required rest afterward to heal from the wounds.

Now that James knew he would survive abolishing his magic circle, he returned the book and wanted to find his teacher, Merabel. Only as soon as James stepped outside the library, a bright light flashed, and he found himself in his teacher's office. Merabel was in front of James, looking out the window. James noticed that outside the window was the astral realm Merabel had taught and trained him in last time. Without turning around, Merabel started to speak to James, “I don’t know what secret you are hiding and whether you even know it either, but you are running out of time. Too many of the higher-ups are interested in whatever that secret may be. Even Egozahr, my equal, is interested in it. I’ll hold off the weak bunch, but when Egozahr goes all out, not even I will be unharmed. Egozahr is a slippery eel who specializes in research, so not even I have any many spells to cast as him. Just to be safe, I will infuse my energy into the depths of your soul so that you can call on it three times to save you from trouble.” Merabel reached out and touched James's head, directing her mana to his soul. Once Merabel’s mana reached James's soul, she tried to go directly to the deepest part but noticed she was blocked. This had never happened to her before. If it wasn’t directly connected to her students well-being, Merabel would have tried to force it and see what was stopping her.