18 SHAYAN THARANI

Shaheer was startled. He never thought he would see the stats of someone in real life. This was a normal occurrence in a game, but seeing stats in real life was a bizarre thing. This meant that their abilities were quantified. Shaheer then remembered a past notification and realized why it was mentioned that his Qi could not be numbered. It meant that most of his abilities were also quantified. He had stats too. Now that Shaheer had realized this, he needed to find out how to see them.

'This ability is becoming more and more like a game, to the point that it scares me,' Shaheer thought. If he became too accustomed to it and started living his life as if he were playing a game, he worried that he would forget what it meant to live normally. There would be no second chance or restart in his life. He knew that he only had one life, unlike a save point from which he could start again. With a dangerous path ahead, Shaheer resolved not to casually tread on the thread of his life.

When Maheen finished reading the book, a similar enlightened look appeared in her eyes once again. Unconsciously, she closed her eyes, absorbing all the information. Shaheer thought she was having a similar moment to him when it felt like the whole book was being revised right in front of him.

"Fascinating," she murmured with her eyes still closed. Shaheer waited for her to come back to reality. After she opened her eyes, she immediately looked at Shaheer.

"Where did you find this book?! Are there any more volumes of this? Can I have them?" She asked eagerly, her eyes sparkling.

"Before I answer that, let me ask you a question. Are there any cameras around this shelf?" Shaheer said, pointing to the encyclopedia section.

"Are you saying that you found it over there?" She looked surprised.

"Yes, but based on your reaction, my hunch has been confirmed. This book doesn't belong to this library, does it?" Shaheer said with a carefree expression.

"Of course not. How could a book with no author just slip under my radar? Moreover, no book goes on the shelf without me reading it, and I'm confident I haven't read this book until just now," she said firmly.

"Oh, you have quite the keen eye," Shaheer said with a faint smirk.

Maheen felt her face flush after receiving the compliment head-on. She regretted the way she had taken a stern tone while bragging about herself.

"Why do you want to know who placed the book there?" she asked timidly. She had completely lost the confidence she had built up after reading the book and had returned to being the softly spoken girl she was.

"For the same reason as you, I presume," Shaheer said with a carefree expression, disregarding the sudden change in tone.

"I see. Then please follow me to the control room. I would rather not owe you a favor," Maheen said. Shaheer had let her read a book that had helped her understand something she wouldn't have comprehended in a million years.

Shaheer followed her to the back of the library, where he saw a hidden door with no handle, almost blending into the wall. It didn't fool Shaheer; he had figured out it was a door when he first came here. However, he wasn't one to meddle in other affairs unless they directly concerned him.

Maheen knocked twice, paused, and then knocked again. The door opened from the inside, revealing two guards carrying pistols. They placed their fists on their chests without saying a word, as if saluting.

She walked past the guards, and Shaheer followed her. They walked through the aisle, and another door greeted them with two guards who saluted in their peculiar way once again. Maheen seemed a bit flustered by all of this, and she turned back to Shaheer, saying,

"Sorry for this. My father is what they call a cautious man."

"I understand," Shaheer reassured her, seeing that she was having a tough time.

Finally, they entered a room where a plethora of huge screens displayed every corner of the library, leaving no blind spots. These must be the recordings from the cameras Shaheer had spotted, but it seemed he hadn't noticed all of them. There were at least seventy-two cameras, and Shaheer had only spotted 32, which should still be sufficient.

They located the camera responsible for monitoring that particular shelf and rewound the footage to the point when the book was no longer there. They fast-forwarded until they could see it appearing again.

While they were fast-forwarding the video, focusing on the spot where the book appeared, a name flashed before Shaheer's eyes. However, there was no visible body beneath it. The name seemed to float in thin air. Maheen tried to re-watch the tape in slow motion, but the results were the same for her. She only saw the book materializing out of thin air, while Shaheer could clearly see a name hovering above the seemingly empty space. This could only mean one thing—the person behind that name was invisible. Strangely, Shaheer's abilities could still perceive the person, showing him their names and levels as they always did.

SHAYAN THARANI (Lv.??)

???

"Now, who would this angel be?" Shaheer pondered with a carefree smile, reading the name of a potential future ally or possibly an enemy in disguise.