Grand Library

The room was much better than I expected. There was a basin for taking a bath, a nice comfy bed, a table with two chairs, and a few shelves. I used the basin to wash myself, and dressed back. I had nothing else to do in my room, so I headed downstairs. Fox was not there, which I already expected. 'She always took extra time in the mornings. I guess I will have to wait here' I thought, and sat at the table.

A waiter asked me if I wanted to order something, but I refused. A good half an hour later, Fox finally came down from upstairs. 'Of course she is wearing different clothes' I thought, and stood up. I knew she wasn't very happy, when she asked "You didn't change your clothes?". I replied "Does it matter? Besides, I don't have any other clothes. I never needed them anyway".

She shook her head, and said "We will go shopping first then, we can eat after that". I sighed, and agreed. I wanted to visit that Grand Library. We walked through the streets, and Fox would stop once in a while to look at all sorts of stuff. I wasn't really enjoying myself. She would look at clothes mostly, but sometimes weapons as well.

When Fox was done with the stalls, I thought that it would end there. I was gravely wrong, this was just the beginning. We began entering the shops inside the buildings. 'Even though I broke through my Inner Limits, I never felt so tired. It's like some sort of nightmare training' I thought. Because the proper shops had rooms for people to try the clothing on, Fox would always try a few, and ask my opinion. 'As if I know anything about that!' I thought.

The clothes she chose were usually useless. 'I mean, they don't even possess any protection. What is the point of such clothes' I thought, as I looked at the different sets she wore. Fox wasn't really happy with my lack of interest, and asked "You want to go to the Grand Library?". I nodded my head immediately. She continued "Then take this more seriously, will you?".

I was stunned. 'When was the last time someone actually threatened me?' I thought. I decided that Grand Library was not worth it. I said "You can continue shopping, I will go take a look at the city. I can visit the Grand Library another time". I think this was a mistake, because Fox stopped talking altogether. She stared at me, but didn't say anything. I said with a dry laugh "Alright… We will meet back at the inn… See you later".

I left, and disappeared into the crowd of people. I decided to forget about it, and simply do something I liked to do. I wandered the streets, until I saw something. 'Is this… Arena?' I thought. It was a round building, not very tall, but I could hear loud cheering from within. I was interested enough, to visit that place.

When I entered, I asked one of the clerks behind the counter. "Is this place an Arena of some sort?". The clerk nodded her head, and replied "That is right. Welcome to the Scorpion Arena. How may I help you sir?". I asked "Can you tell me about the rules here? Also, can anyone fight on the Arena?". The clerk replied "Of course. Anyone can fight in the Arena, although we have some requirements. For one, you have to be at least at the Outer Limits stage. If you broke through your half step, then there is another category you can fight in".

She then continued "The rules are simple. You cannot kill your opponent. If you or the opponent leave the stage, they are automatically disqualified, whether it was by choice or by force. If you attack someone who gave up, there will be consequences. Any weapon is allowed except poison, or any concoctions that improve your abilities". I nodded my head, and asked "So how do I fight someone?".

She replied "You will have to register first. You will then receive your Arena Card. Everyone starts from the basic Bronze Rank. The more fights you win, the more achievements you collect. The achievements can be used in two different ways. You can use them to advance in your Ranks, or you can exchange them for items".

I nodded in understanding, and asked another question. "What Ranks are there?". She replied "You start with the Bronze Rank. Then if you advance, you would become Steel Rank. Next is Silver and then Gold. Gold is the highest Rank someone can achieve, and it comes with a few benefits as well. For one, you will receive 50% of the ticket commissions, every time you fight. You will also have access to more areas. The general public is not able to access these areas of the Imperial City usually. Besides that, there is a discount of 10% for the items inside the shop. Would you like to register sir?".

I thought about it for a while, and said "Maybe later, I was just curious". She nodded her head, and replied "As you wish sir". I left the Arena, and headed towards the Grand Library. Although I couldn't access everything in there, I could always browse some things. When I finally arrived, the Grand Library was really grand from up close.

Beautiful windows with vibrant colours, complemented the tall library. It had a tower on each side, and its roof was also very elegant. Sculptures, and stone arches spanned throughout it. When I entered through the huge doors, I was glad no one asked for any pass or permission. I just entered, and that was it. 'I already like this place' I thought.

The interior was also grand and elegant. The walls were painted with depictions of various things. Some paintings depicted battles, others depicted people. A large open space filled with rows upon rows of bookshelves. There were also stairs leading to the next floor. When I tried entering, I was stopped, and told that it was a restricted area. I couldn't enter, unless I had specific privileges. I didn't argue with those people, and simply headed back.

'No matter, I still have a selection of thousands of books' I thought, and started checking out the aisles. A lot of books I found concerned the history. Past battles, formation of the Empire and so on. There were a few of them, that I found interesting, so I grabbed them. I probably couldn't take them outside, but the library possessed loads of long tables with chairs. Anyone could just sit down and read. I did just that, and began reading.

I chose a few books. One of them was called Torrential Era. The book described how the lands were divided, before Endrosian Empire formed. There were many kingdoms in the past. The now Endrosian Empire, was separated into seven kingdoms. I was confused at first, the title didn't make sense in the beginning. With some more reading, the book explained why it was called Torrential Era. The reason was due to the fall of the kingdoms. The kingdoms were supposedly encountering some problems, and started falling apart, one after the other. This was when Endros began his campaign, and united all the kingdoms to form the Endrosian Empire.

I found some discrepancies in there. 'The books says, the kingdoms began falling, but never mentioned any sort of enemy. It doesn't say anything about that, whether it was some sort of invasion, people fighting against each other, or something else. This is a bit suspicious' I thought. This reminded me of Nick. He once told me the story about Endros, so perhaps the history books were not fully truthful.

I began reading the second book. It was called Falkons, and described those great flying things, that I saw when we arrived at the Imperial City. Although there were very little details, I learned a few things from that book. For one, these things were created for the purpose of defending Endrosian Empire from Elysian Empire. The book didn't extrapolate more. Nothing was mentioned about the Elysian Empire but its name. The book didn't mention anything about the North either. 'I will try to find a book on that later. Maybe I will ask someone, I don't really know where to search' I thought, and moved on to the next book.