21 Chapter 21

As Aaron was feeling perfectly fine, he decided to go to the library immediately. He really wanted to. Not only because Marcus said so, but he wanted to learn about this world. The 10 books he read earlier werent as detailed nor they covered a lot of topics. He wanted to know how developed the science was here. He wanted to know what general Philosophy was like on the planet. Most of his questions would be answered here.

When he reached the library, he saw it divided into 3 wings. At the front was a desk with a librarian seated behind it.

"Hello. I am Aaron. Mr. Hawkins asked me to come here. He has a list of books for me to read as well."

The librarian looked up from his desk. He was a middle aged person with a heavy build.

"So, Marcus has a new student. He found two students within a couple of years. Knowing him, he must have listed down books from the primary section. Just head down on the left. You will find the books you need. You can read as many books as you want from that section. If you want to move to tertiary or advanced section, you need your teacher's permission. I also dont want you making any noise or disturbing others. If you want to borrow a book, it needs to registered with me first."

He explained the rules to Aaron.

After listening to him, Aaron moved towards the section and couldn't wait to start reading.

Aaron spent most of his waking day at the library now. This has been going on for about a month now. He finished his daily training, breakfast and session with Marcus and headed straight for the library. He would leave for lunch and be back. He would finally leave when library was about to close and he was asked to leave. He would take the book which he was reading and continued to read in his room after dinner.

He finally had a good idea about this world. The science books he read werent too advanced. But it was already comparable to what a 12-13 year old would read on earth. Looked like mages were intellegent even as kids. Else why would these books placed in this section. Maths was also pretty much the same. It was pretty similar to how it was on earth. The terms used were different. But the underlying concept was the same. He could easily finish those books. It was like light reading for him. Life of mages and general knowledge of the world, those kind of books interested him more. These were the things unknown to him.

His training was stagnant with no results. The cube didnt move. Marcus said it was normal. It will still take him sometime.

Aaron felt like he already got the most out of this section of library. He obviously didnt finish all the books but he did finish the list Marcus had given him a long time back. He also finished reading most books he wanted to. He also read a few books from the other elements. The visualization and will part was the same. How the actual happened, that differed.

So, one morning he decided to ask Marcus about the access to the tertiary section.

"What? You want access to the tertiary section? You finished the books on the list? Do you find it funny?"

This was the first time he saw any sign of anger on Marcus. It seemed like he didnt take the request too well.

"It would do you a lot of good if you seriously read the books I asked you too. Not only them, there are a lot of other books which you should have read in that section. "

"Mr. Hawkins. I have truly read whatever books you have asked me to read. You can ask me whatever you want from those books."

"Ask. Ask you say? Fine. Tell me what is air made of?"

"Air is made of a mixture of different gases. Two of the gases are the one we inhale, the other we exhale. There are still some other gases whose purpose couldn't be determined. "

He knew about nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide making the bulk of the air. He could even list down the noble gases and several other gases. But those werent mentioned in the books he read. He went by the book.

"That was an easy one. Explain phythagorus theorem."

Aaron explained it with ease.

"What is matter?"

"Matter is anything with has mass. Its made up of lots of tiny particles. Those are the building blocks of everything. "

Now, Aaron knew about atoms and molecules. But by the book.

These answers may seem easy for a grown up, but was nothing short of a miracle for an almost 9 years old kid to say so confidently. Although mages were smart he could still be considered one the real geniuses if he truly read it and just didn't get lucky with the questions.

That last answer seemed to calm Marcus down a bit.

"You really finished those books?"

"I did. "

"You also read other books as well?"

Aaron listed a few of the books he read. He hid a lot of names. He didnt want to anger Marcus. It was already difficult for him to believe Aaron.

Marcus who was standing sat back on his chair.

"How old are you?"

"I am almost 9 now."

"A 9 year boy want tertiary admittance. You know other mages would laugh at me. I am laughing at myself for thinking to let you do as you wish. "

"Go, do as you want. I will hand you a letter allowing you to enter tertiary section."

"He finished it in a month. Those books were supposed to last him 3-4 months atleast. What it he finished the tertiary section in another month? No that wont be possible no matter how much of a genius he is. "

Marcus kept murmuring but little did he know that science amd mathematics section of tertiary section was something that his student already knew.

Tertiary section held books which were at the high school level.

Once again Aaron found that the level of science and mathematics wasnt that bad as compared to earth in terms of theory. What it truly lacked in was that they didnt have machines or technology to prove those theories. So these theories couldnt be used in day to day life. Mostly mages involved themselves with scientific research. Science was used to understand the world. The main aim of mages was still magic. They wanted to acheieve higher levels.

The books here provided a brush up of his mathematical studies. He had already studied it before, but it had been a while since he had done any sort of maths.

Another two months again passed by in a jiffy.

The cube Marcus had given was always with Aaron. He kept it in his hands even while he read. He kept it front of him while he ate. He stared at it while he laid down at night before he fell asleep.

On one glorious day as Aaron kept trying to imprint his will on the cube to make it move, it moved. It moved by itself. Only a couple of centimeters above his palm. But it did. He was estatic. He was finally a mage. No matter how much people told him he had the capability to be mage. It couldnt make Aaron relaxed even a tiny bit. There was always a voice in the back of his mind, what if he failed. What if all of this was a trick and there were no real mages. But all those voices were silenced for good. He was a mage. He couldn't help but repeat the excercise. It floated up once again. When he tried to move it further up, it started to wobble and fell down. It didnt dissapoint him much. He was already happy with what he had achieved. He couldnt wait for the next morning and share his results with Marcus.

"So you say you can do magic now? Show me."

Aaron took a deep breath. He placed the cube in his palm and willed it to change its location a little above where it initially lay. It gently floated a little above his palm. Aaron had a contented expression on his face.

"Good. Seeing how good you are at your studies I knew it wouldnt take you much time achieving this step."

"Now show me how high can you lift it. "

Aaron furrowed his brows in concentration. The cube moved another few centimeters and began to wobble. Then it fell down.

"Do you know why it fell down?"

"I was using my palm as its reference point. May be as the distance increased increased, I needed more energy?"

Aaron expressed his reasoning. This was the first time he expressed what he thought. Previously he always gave vague answers as to prevent any suspicions. He was too excited this time around and didnt care and expressed his true reasoning.

Hearing his reply Marcus was a little surprised. When Aaron successfully made the cube float, it was more or less expected. Although he acheieved it a few months earlier, but Marcus could see he had the signs of a genius.

But the reasoning behind the failure, that analysis was a very important part of mage. Why didnt something happen, figuring that out was half the answer needed to solve a question.

"Your reasoning is not bad. The reason is infact the growing difference between the point of reference. But its not because of energy consumption. Although the required energy increases, you still have a lot of magic power to spare. If you could, you have enough magic power to lift the chair you are sitting on. So moving this cube far isnt difficult at all. "

"Its the will. Your will isnt tempered yet. Its not strong enough. Its like a person wont be afraid if he is standing on a chair. But at the edge of a cliff he will be scared. Its the not the exact sake thing, but similar. "

"Remember will is as important as your understanding. If you lack in one aspect, you will always lack as a mage. "

Saying that, Marcus pulled out an empty glass vial with a stopper this time.

"Now, I want you to lift this. Repeat the same thing you did the cube. Get familiar, visualize then impart your will. You may leave now."

A different toy. Lets see how long it takes this time.