14 The Library

Having eaten a decent lunch, although not as great as Sister Tully's cooking, Aser felt confident once more to explore the academy. Looking at the library in the distance, Aser was tempted to see what new information he could get. He also had the Academy Guidelines book that he still needed to go through, so before doing anything else for now, Aser decided to head into the library.

The library was located across from the cafeteria building. The building was 4 stories tall, with an open door and marble tiling. Walking past the doors while trying not to bump into the people heading out, Aser saw a grand view that flabbergasted him. Bookshelves upon bookshelves full of books. He couldn't see an end to a single aisle from where he was standing.

While Aser was standing there like a buffoon, behind the desk near the entrance sat a prim young girl with round spectacles. Janet Rose looked curiously at this obviously new student. She had seen almost everyone during her 3 years working as a library aide, and had never seen this boy. So, with the assumption he was new, Janet walked up to him to help him out.

With a smile, Janet went ahead and asked the boy, "Hey, can I do anything to help? I'm guessing this is your first time here?"

Turning around to look at the girl talking to him, Aser replied embarrassed, "Umm hello. Yeah, I just got into the school today for boarding. I was just looking at the all the buildings trying to get familiar with everything."

"Oh, let me give you an introduction then. I'm one of the library aides and also a 4th year student, Janet. The library has four floors, but students only have access to the first two floors. The others are reserved for the teachers and guests of the academy. We have 60 aisles, separated into two rows on the first two floors, and each aisle has about a 100 bookshelves. So that's around 6000 bookshelves worth of materials on each floor. We have books about almost anything you can find, Essence, Cultivation, Demonic Beasts, Skills, Professions, Geography, History, Advanced Theories, System Studies, Explorer Records, Maps, whatever you can think of, you're likely to find in the First Son's Library."

"The library is also open 24/7, and there are private reading rooms near the start and end of each aisle. Most of them are usually taken when the school term starts, but you can book them ahead of time with us. Bookings are done by day and a student can book for at most one semester at a time. You can also borrow books from the library, but there is a very strict 3 day return policy on each book as well as fees if there are any damages to them while borrowed. If it's a very important book, like one where the school only has one copy, you can only read them in the library."

Nodding his head while listening to Janet's explanation, Aser suddenly had an idea. Since he was going to be studying most of the time and has no intention right now to socialize, he thought it would be great to have a fixed room for himself to study in the library.

"Can I book a study room now?"

Hearing the little boys question, Janet thought of teasing him since he looked so adorable, "Oh? Yeah I can help you rent one. The five biggest study rooms haven't been actually booked yet, but they're very expensive. 50 Silver Notes per day. The others are only 5 Silver Notes per day. Which one do you want?"

Finding out there are different types, Aser was confused why the bigger ones were so much more expensive. Asking her that, he found out exactly why. The bigger study room is less of a study room and more of a place to live! It was big enough to accommodate 10 people studying, had a bed and bookshelf to temporarily keep hold of books they took from the library, and even allowed students to use their entree tickets from the cafeteria to order food in. He felt again what was extravagance. Forget the high prices for food in the cafeteria, a library having what is basically hotel rooms is real extravagance.

Thinking practically as well, Aser knew that there were just too many books and he had a mad desire to finish with all of them as soon as he could. Looking at the bookshelves, he also realized that there were a minimum of a 100 books per bookshelf and so a minimum of 60,000 books on just the first floor! Even if he was able to finish 100 books a day without rest or any other activity, it would still take him two years at the minimum to just go through the first floor!

He knew that he couldn't finish everything with such a low efficiency and made a note to discuss with Ashes on what he could do to increase his efficiency.

Seeing the black haired boy thinking with such a pensive expression as if he was getting ready for battle, Janet couldn't help but want to reach out squeeze his pale cheeks. Barely being able to hold back, she suddenly heard a question she didn't know how to answer.

"Sister Janet, can I book one of the bigger study rooms for a month?"

"What?! A month?! I, I.. I don't know if you can afford it. It's 50 Silver Notes a day, so that's 1 Gold Note every two days, which is 15 Gold Notes a month! Are you sure you want to do that?"

Nodding his small head seriously, "Yes, I know it's a shame I only have enough to book for a month right now otherwise I'd book more time. I already calculated it, can you help me make the booking Sister Janet?"

Listening to his serious reply, Janet knew the boy wasn't joking. What a farce! Even the richest profligate sons wouldn't spend so much on a study room! They would book it for a few days before exams at most! "Okay, if that's what you want.", she replied, leading him to the desk near the entrance and asking him the his information.

Aser scanned the crystal detector with his Identity Crystal and handed the Crystal Card provided by the bank to let her process his booking. Looking over his information, Janet decided to pay extra attention into his name. Being a student herself and only a library aide, she couldn't get private information such as his evaluation results, but she could see his name. "Aser Scholt huh….", she mumbled to herself. The name seemed familiar to her but she couldn't place it at the time. Thinking back on their conversation, she thought that he was a rich second generation and probably the King of all profligate sons in Shelfield Coast City with how he was spending his money. Deciding to keep her distance from him from now on, she finished registering his information and placing the booking.

"Room 3 of the A Grade Study Rooms. Just go up the stairs to your right and head left. You'll see the room labeled there easily.", she instructed, handing him his Identity Crystal, Crystal Chip as well as a token for the room.

"No, that's it for now! Thank you Sister Janet!", Aser gave a shy smile while taking the token and heading out of the library. He still wanted to explore the school grounds for today and start studying later tonight so he didn't mind not going to the study room for now.

Looking at the boy walking out of the library and not even bothering to check the study room, Janet felt even more hesitant to be in contact with such a person who was given everything. Little did she know that the boy was an orphan and had been living in an orphanage for the past 4 years. Deciding to return to her studies, she heard some of the girls walking in while gossiping, "How do you think Aser Scholt looks like? He must be super cool of he could get a Gold Standard Scholarship. I can't believe the school is increasing so many of our benefits because of him!"

Initially not paying attention to their conversation, Janet suddenly widened her eyes in disbelief when she remembered where she heard the little boy's name. Instantly all of her disdain and hesitant washed away like the tide and she decided to pay a lot more attention to the boy whenever he'd come back.