The Kingdom of Fallen Hopes

It was not difficult to find the main square, for all roads led there. The center of Mossy Vulture was the most populated and unusual place in the whole city. There you could meet whoever you wanted: from poor people begging for alms, to merchants hurrying about their business.

You could also meet the magicians there. In general, it was a very lively place.

After an hour or so, Evan reached the main square. He was impressed by its view, especially by the tall statue of a huge vulture with wings wide open. The statue had been made long time ago, as evidenced by the stone already covered with moss in some places. This did not spoil the overall appearance, but only gave the statue a beauty and ancient aura.

After a while, Evan realized that he was acting strangely, as he was the only one who was looking at the statue of the proud bird with a sparkling gaze. The truth was that he didn't care about the opinion of those around him.

<To admire the beauty is one of pleasures life gives us>. Evan thought to himself, then looked around.

He did not know where he should go, but one building caught his eye immediately. On the signboard in large letters was written: "Azure Shine Library". The building looked rather unusual on the outside, it was a tall, dark blue cylinder.

Evan had very little information about his new world. All of his knowledge was limited to what Zak had given him, but obviously, it was not enough at all. So the library was the best possible option. Without thinking long, Evan quickly headed inside.

Click.

Evan opened the door and saw the librarian standing behind the counter. He was reading some very thick book, but he was clearly bored.

"Hello, I'd like to visit the library." Evan said softly.

The man looked at Evan with no interest and said slowly: "Entrance to the hall on the first floor is twenty-five copper coins."

The librarian expected Evan to reach into his pockets and provide him with the coins. However, all he heard in response was Evan's puzzled voice, "I'm sorry, but I don't have any copper coins, only gold coins, can I pay with them?"

Evan didn't know how the money system worked in his new world, so he didn't think he said anything strange.

The man adjusted his glasses, looked at Evan again, and said rudely: "Boy, don't talk nonsense. Either pay up or get out of here. I'm not in the mood to play your games."

The librarian didn't believe that Evan actually had gold coins. The reason was the young man's unkempt appearance.

Evan did not look like a rich man, on the contrary, he was dressed like a real poor man. A cheap shirt, pants and shoes. No accessories or expensive items to indicate wealth.

Evan was surprised by this response, but quickly figuring out what was going on, calmly said: "I actually have money. Here they are, you can see for yourself.>

With these words, Evan took a black card with a gold border out of his pocket and showed it to the man.

The librarian was surprised that a seemingly ordinary boy had such a thing.

Whoosh.

Evan's "Warp" began to spin, and the mana quickly flowed into the card thereby activating it. Evan held the card so that the librarian could not see the back of it, which showed how much money he had in total.

The librarian was taken aback, "I apologize for being rude, I didn't know you were so rich and that you were a magician, I am sorry." The man said timidly.

But as soon as he looked Evan in the eyes, a shiver immediately gripped him. Evan's eyes were cold and his gaze was icy. Evan hated people like that, the ones who would start cringing under him as soon as they knew the man was above them.

Evan looked at him as if he were a small bug he could crush at any moment. The man was well aware of that.

Of course, Evan wasn't going to kill him right in the middle of the city. However, his contempt had no end.

"How much is the most expensive pass?" Evan said grimly.

He understood from the librarian's words that the higher the floor, the better the books, and therefore, the higher the price.

Evan's words made the man shudder and he answered quietly, "Fifteen... silver... coins..."

Evan nodded: "I can pay by card, can't I?"

"Sure!" After these words, the man pulled out a small stone plaque from a shelf. In the center, there was a small, rectangular recess. On the plaque itself, there were several symbols, unknown to Evan.

"Please, enclose the card."

Evan looked at the stone plaque with interest and put the card in the right place.

Whoosh.

The card glowed and fifteen silver coins were deducted from the it.

"Thank you, here's your pass, you're on the top floor." Said the librarian politely, handing Evan a small, round locket.

"Can I enter all the other floors with this pass?"

"Yes, of course, now you can visit any hall."

Evan nodded and left in silence, but he didn't head upstairs, but directly to the hall on the first floor. He decided he would definitely visit the topmost floor, but a little later. First, he wanted to have a quick look through each of the halls.

Evan was interested in any kind of knowledge. Of course, the rarer and more unique they were- the better. Expensive books were unlikely to contain the basic information Evan needed so much.

After paying fifteen silver coins Evan was left with 499 gold coins and 85 silver coins, from that fact Evan could draw a very simple conclusion.

<So, one gold coin is a hundred silver coins, and probably copper coins.>

Walking a little further, Evan got to a special door. He had to put his amulet to it to get inside.

To Evan's surprise, the library was quite crowded.

A lot of people were sitting at the tables and reading. Most of them were ordinary people, Evan noticed no one magician there.

That was not surprising, since the pass to the first floor was the cheapest. There were also no magic books in the library itself. All the spell books were in the Tower of Magic.

He headed to the department where the geography and map books were. Evan still didn't even know what cities there were besides Mossy Vulture, which made him very sad.

He took one of the books from the shelf, sat down at the table, and began to read.

After about an hour, Evan had read it completely and he had plenty of information. Evan learned that he was in the "Kingdom of Fallen Hopes," and that Mossy Vulture was located to the east of that very Kingdom.

"The Kingdom of Fallen Hopes" was by the sea, between the other three kingdoms. "The Kingdom of Fallen Hopes" had friendly relations with two of them. With the latter, however, there had been war for years on end.

After reading the first book, Evan quickly went through the others, but nothing caught his eye. Evan knew he might have missed something important, but he didn't have that much time to research every book.

In Evan's opinion, there was no point in hoping for anything out of the ordinary in the public library. All the books there contained basic and well-known information. Therefore, he could go back there at any time if necessary.

It is worth noting that the library was simply enormous. The hall alone was as high as several ordinary floors. There were a total of three halls in the library, one per floor. Evan had already looked through the first one quickly and even had learned a lot, so he headed further.

On the second and third floor, Evan found nothing useful to him. It wasn't because there was nothing interesting in these books, it was just that none of it fell into his sphere of interest. He was interested in magic and basic concepts he didn't know.

This outcome upset Evan a little. He decided to check the last shelf on the third floor and leave. Evan picked up one of the books and began flipping through it, unfortunately he found nothing of note in it.

Evan didn't know why, but all the books on that shelf were old, dusty, and worn.

<These books are in the very corner and they look unsightly. No one seems to be cleaning up around here> With these thoughts, Evan reached for the last book.

It didn't have a title, as several of the previous books did. Evan blew off the dust, opened the book and began to read.

His eyes burned brighter and brighter with each page.