Back to School

Seth spent the rest of his winter break reading in the library, with the help of the man to open the door. Seth learned that certain permission was required to use the library. When he thought about it, it made a lot of sense. The library had countless secrets and books written with magical inks, it wasn't just a normal castle library. Seth didn't look for a normal library though as this one had all the knowledge he needed and more. Most of the books Seth read were about history and the countries on the continent, but he still read a lot of fantasy stories about heroes and gods.

Seth was currently reading one such story. It was about a man who had stolen from a tyrannical emperor, he had stolen a magical amulet that allowed him to teleport. The man used this magical amulet to steal all the treasures he could have ever wanted, giving most of them back to the oppressed citizens of the empire. Hoping to find more magical treasures, the man went back to the emperor's treasure room. Instead of finding what he wanted, he found a dragon guarding the treasury. The man felt that he could still steal some treasures from under the dragon's nose, so he snuck over to the treasures and grabbed as many as he could, drawing the dragon's wrath. The man quickly teleported out of the treasure room, all the way back to his secret cave.

The man looked through his treasures, finding another magical one. It was a ring that had a large space inside it, you could access the dimension just by whispering an incantation engraved on it. As the man put all of his treasures in his new ring, he heard a loud, draconic roar. The dragon had tracked him all the way back to his base. The man looked through his belongings, finding an unused sword in the back of his cave. He picked it up and readied himself to fight the dragon to the death.

Seth's reading was interrupted by a loud shout, his mother was calling for him. Seth suddenly remembered the date, it was the first day of school after winter break. Seth grabbed the piles of books around him and put them in his inventory before rushing out of the library, not forgetting to close the door on his way out. Seth rushed through the halls like a ghost, appearing before the rest of his family in less than a second. Nobody was surprised at Seth's speed, they just handed him his bags with a smile and sat in the carriage.

Seth read on the way to the waypoint, he didn't know what else to do. He continued reading the story about the robber. The man fought with the dragon and eventually won, at the cost of an arm. He brought his treasures to the peasants and gave them away, just like always. The people didn't ask questions, they just thanked him and gave him food. The man continued on his adventures, gathering magical treasures and fighting mythical monsters, each one leaving behind its own scar.

The man eventually became an emperor himself, but that didn't stop him from robbing and adventuring. He became the richest person in the world, yet he didn't stop stealing. The man died of old age, without any sons or daughters to take up his throne. He left behind a massive wealth, but all of his magical treasures disappeared along with him. The man's strength and passion for stealing caused his soul to ascend after death, causing the birth of a new god. The God of Theft was born.

Unknowingly, Seth had reached the end of the story, and just on time. The carriage slowed to a stop as Seth closed the book and put it in his inventory. They had reached the waypoint. The family walked into the waypoint and teleported to the city. They walked over to the building from before and met with the same groups as before. Augie met a few of his friends and left Seth behind to wait on his own. The boys waited for half an hour before they were led out to the next waypoint. They teleported back to the school and walked into the main hall.

Jack was already in the hall, he walked over to talk to Seth about his winter break. Jack had been trained in magic spells by his dad over the break and had learned a few attack spells. The school didn't teach any attack speels until the last year as they didn't want a bunch of kids running around hurting each other. Jack had the sensibility not to cast any attack spells in the hall but he showed Seth a small spell that his dad had taught him.

Jack's spell caused a wave of frost and a wave of fire to merge and become a freezing flame. Seth wasn't that impressed as he was able to do this without a spell but he knew that without his All Affinities Mastery skill it would be impossible. Seth clapped at the showing and brought out a few books for them to read. Jack was like Seth, he liked reading a lot and spent a lot of time in a library. Still, Jack had never even heard of any of the stories Seth had brought out.

They read for about fifteen minutes before they felt taps on their shoulders. They both looked up in synchrony, startled at the touch. It was Spencer, Spencer looked a little ragged after the break, so they asked him what he did. Spencer looked at the ground before spilling the beans about his one sparring session with his father being repeated thousands of times. Seth felt a little guilty about it as even he felt drained after beating someone up thousands of times, much less being beaten up thousands of times.

Spencer seemed to sense Seth's guilt as he stared him down.

"Was... was it you?" Seth nodded a little. Spencer swept his leg at Seth's feet and Seth flew to the ground. Spencer appeared on top of Seth and punched him nonstop for over a minute before being pulled away by Jack. Seth's face was covered in blood, but it wasn't his. Spencer was far too weak for Seth now and his fists had been stripped raw by Seth's face.

Spencer's actions had not gone unnoticed by the crowd of people in the hall, but they still remembered him from the rumors and didn't want to mess with him. They also remembered Seth from the rumors and decided that they weren't in any place to intervene.

After taking his anger out on Seth, Spencer calmed down and sighed to himself, his blood slowly dripping to the floor from his knuckles. A few minutes of silence later, Spencer's wounds had healed and he picked up a book that Seth had set in front of him. In his past life, Spence, like Jack and Seth, had loved reading. He had read thousands of books in his retirement and had a huge library in his house.

Spencer had read a few books in this lifetime, but he hadn't had much time for reading. He had spent most of his time learning about fighting and magic from his father and had very little time to himself. The book that Seth had given to Spencer was about a farmer that had chanced upon a magical stone that, when buried in his farm, gave all of the plants that he grew magical properties. He made a lot of money selling them and even became a strong adventurer by eating them.

The trio was only able to read for a short while before the hall was filled and a certain middle-aged man hit the gong.

"Welcome back students!" The man proceeded to say his speech before letting everyone out to go to their classes. As the students filed out of the hall, he walked up to Seth and his friends.

"You three, stay back for a moment please." The man's voice was calm and he had a slight smile on his face, but Seth couldn't help but be nervous. He looked at both Spencer and Jack with an anxious expression on his face before looking back at the man and nodding. The group of four waited until the hall had cleared out and it was just them left.

"Now, I saw what happened and I am fine with it. But I would like for you guys to help me with something." The boys sighed in relief when they realized they weren't in trouble. They agreed to help the man as they had nothing better to do, they weren't really learning anything from school yet anyways. The man led them to the back door of the hall and into a part of the castle they had never seen before. The boys could already tell that they would be seeing some secrets today.

The man led them around a maze of hallways before finally reaching a door. When Seth saw the door, his eyes flashed with a knowing light. The door was immaculately carved, depicting a group of gods, angels, demons, and devils all sitting peacefully, reading. The door wasn't the same design as Seth's library door at all, but it was the same style and seemed to be made of the same wood. Seth noticed that the handle of the door formed the shape of two capital Is, the Roman numeral for two.

Seth thought back to the library door in his castle, the handle seemed to be different, it was just a single I. Seth had a thought, there could be many of these libraries with doors like this. His could be the first, and this could be the second. Seth had a feeling he knew why his group specifically was called to help the headmaster.

The headmaster noticed Seth's countenance and knew he had assumed right. He had recognized the mark on the books that Seth had, the mark of the Library of Peace. The libraries were few and far between, coming from an age when gods and demons ruled the world. The libraries filled themselves, transcribing all the secrets and stories ever told into books. All of the books had the mark on them, as they were all a part of the Library of Peace.

The man opened the door and let the boys in, closing the door behind them. The man watched Seth as if he was waiting for something to happen. After waiting for nearly a minute, the headmaster cleared his throat.

"Ahem. Can you bring out a book from whatever storage you are using?" Seth nodded then brought the book he was currently reading out of his inventory. The moment the book appeared in the library, a light glow appeared in the eyes of everyone but Seth. Seth could see something else happening though, he could see small balls, similar to Beelzebub's soul, but much smaller than even the shard and much less bright. The balls were like tiny stars in comparison to the sun that was the demon prince's soul. Along with the countless different types of elementals that were gathering, the scene was beautiful.

After a few minutes, the scene died down and the room became calm. The little balls of light that Seth could only assume to be souls still swirled around faster and faster, eventually forming a seal of light. The seal glittered in the air for a few seconds, forming an I and II in two of ten parts of the seal, before disappearing into the ceiling. Seth could already tell that he would have to bring a book to a few more libraries.

The headmaster hummed and looked at Seth.

"Thank you, Seth. Without you, we might have stayed in an era of darkness for another thousand generations." The headmaster's eyes glowed a bright yellow as he spoke.

"It's time for the adventure to harken to the new age!"