Chapter 25: Hermit III

In the intricately built library of Kamar-Taj, a librarian stood in front of one of the shelves. The man was simply checking the book collection in the room. He occasionally took out those books and rearranged them to suit his taste better.

The library doesn't have anyone in it at this moment. The rain outside was pouring heavily, the cool wind was passing through the room, and the candles around the place flickered as the wind passed them.

Suddenly, the librarian noticed that there were orange sparkles appearing in the middle of the room. He frowned at the sight, walking carefully towards the sparkles.

The orange sparkles quickly widen, and it transforms into a sling-ring portal that connects to the New York Sanctum. The Ancient One passed through said portal, along with a boy who was holding a stack of books in his hands.

"Good afternoon, Master." The Ancient One greeted the librarian.

"Good afternoon," the librarian replied, bowing.

The Ancient One made way for the boy to enter and introduced him to the librarian.

"This is Mr. Duncan Plagmann," said the Ancient One. "He's the disciple that I was talking about."

"Ah, yes." The librarian nodded as he examined Duncan. "The one with the special connection?"

The Ancient One didn't answer and just smiled at the librarian. She then touched Duncan's shoulder and softly pushed him towards the librarian.

"I will entrust him to you, Master," said the Ancient One. "Give him access to the Masters' catalog."

"Are you sure?" The librarian frowned. "With all due respect, but I'm afraid if we're not careful, another Kaecillius will—"

"I am sure, master," said the Ancient One. "I have faith in this one."

The librarian didn't argue anymore; he just bowed once again to the Ancient One.

The woman then turned to Duncan.

"Duncan, if you have any questions, you can come to me," she said. She eventually walked away for a few feet, but then stopped all of a sudden before turning to the librarian once more. "Also, master, give him the robe that I have previously asked the tailors to make."

The librarian nodded again. "I will take care of it."

"Thank you," said the Ancient One before leaving the library.

—

Duncan now stood among the library's many books, carefully inspecting each one before selecting one to take home. He was now dressed in a garment of bright blue, dark blue, and black with small golden rings as adornment. It was an odd and eccentric robe, but it wasn't chosen by him; it was chosen by the ancient one.

The Librarian said that in the Kamar-Taj, there are usually two common robes. One robe was white, signifying the status of a novice, while the other was crimson, signifying the status of an apprentice. But there are also the robes of masters and special disciples of the ancient one, which she will either customize to match the personality of her disciple or the masters will design their own robes.

Duncan had selected a number of books to take with him from the library, but he couldn't locate one that he truly needed. So he turned to face the librarian, who was sitting peacefully reading a book on one of the seats.

"Hey, um, excuse me..." Duncan called out, walking towards him.

The librarian just stared at him, as if waiting for him to continue.

Duncan coughed lightly. "Do you have a book that raises the subject of astral projection?"

The librarian raised his brow slightly. "No. You are not ready yet."

"Come on…" Duncan groaned. "The Ancient One allowed me to see the masters' catalog."

"What are you going to do with it?" the librarian questioned, scrutinizing Duncan. "Watching women shower? Skip classes? Scare your friends?"

"I may be a teenager, but that's just an insult." Duncan frowned. "I'm not a voyeur, I may use it to skip class, and I'm not that childish to scare my friends with this stuff. But, I will use it to read books."

"No, you're too young for that," the librarian said, returning to his reading. "Your body and mind need to rest so you can grow up properly. If you use astral projection to read books even though you're asleep, only your body is resting, your soul, mind, and spirit are not, and it could lead to health complications."

"If I ask the Ancient One, will you give it to me?" Duncan asked again.

The librarian once again just stared at him, but then just returned to his reading, seemingly ignoring Duncan's question.

The boy sighed and shook the table as he dropped the rest of the books he wanted to bring home. "Here. please register it, and I'll ask the Ancient One about a book on astral projection."

After that, Duncan just walked away from the librarian, walking towards the Ancient One's place.

—

Duncan entered a rather quiet area of the Kamar-Taj. The rain was still falling heavily, and the wind could be felt in this place, passing through the open-ended room. There, Duncan could see the Ancient One, staring at the rain clouds above.

"Why is it that when you visit our establishment, it is always raining?" the Ancient One calmly asked.

Duncan raised his brow. "Coincidence?"

"There's a saying that once is a chance, twice is a coincidence, and the third time's a pattern," she continued. "This is the third time, Duncan."

"Yeah, well, I don't know myself." Duncan shrugged. "Anyway, can I get a book about astral projection?"

The Ancient One at first didn't say anything. She walked towards the inside of the room, standing on her desk. "You're becoming too impatient, Duncan. It's only been three weeks. You haven't even practiced your spells."

"I think I can do it well enough..." Duncan muttered.

The Ancient One hummed. "Conjure a shield."

Duncan was confused. "Like right now?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"Okay…" Duncan said casually. He quickly waved his hands, projecting two small shields that protected his own two hands. The shields were not orange, they were dark blue.

"Fascinating," she murmured. "Your runes are not shaky anymore, and the shield is considerably stronger than that of any normal sorcerer. If you were a stranger to me, Duncan, I would've thought that you've practiced the art for decades. And to think that you've only studied this for a week. I may already know about the extent of your abilities, but seeing them is an entirely different thing."

"If you already know it, then why are you asking me to do it?" Duncan raised his brow, unsummoning his shield.

"Like I just said, seeing and knowing are entirely different things, Duncan," she said. "I've seen this play out countless times, but this is the first time that I've seen it in reality."

"Countless times?" Duncan sighed. "You used the eye?"

"You've read about it. Good." The Ancient One nodded. "And a sharp deduction, Duncan. Yes, I used it."

"From the way you talk about it, you use it a lot." Duncan continued.

"Indeed," she said. "It is the duty of the sorcerer supreme to protect this reality. I've avoided and prevented countless catastrophes by using this method."

"I'm not the one to judge, but I feel like you're relying too much on it." Duncan said. "You already know my future, so either I'm here because you deemed me not a threat at all, or you can still try to guide me in the right direction."

Duncan can sense proud emotion from the Ancient One. "I do not know your future, Duncan, but possibilities. However, your deduction is correct; care to guess which one?"

"I don't know." Duncan answered. "It could go either way, honestly."

"Technically, both are correct," said the Ancient One. "There are countless possibilities that you are not a threat to this reality, but there are also possibilities that you are a threat. And we do not take chances, Duncan."

"So the latter, then." Duncan shrugged. "That's flattering. A threat to reality sounds like a compliment for a high school freshman like me, you know?"

The Ancient One just chuckled. "Sometimes I forget you're still a teenager."

"Can I get my book now?" Duncan asked again.

"Very well, I'll give you my book," said the Ancient One. She then suddenly raised her hand before a book appeared in it. She put the book on the table, presenting it to him.

"You took that from the library?" Duncan raised his brow.

"This is from my collection." she said.

"But I thought that as long as you worked hard for them, no books were restricted or private in Kamar-Taj." Duncan asked again, examining the book.

"That is true, Duncan. That is just a copy of the one in the library," she said. "No books are restricted, but practicing certain things that are in them is."

"Oh really?" Duncan hummed. "Not even you are allowed to do it?"

The Ancient One just smiled. Duncan could hear the sounds of chains breaking, a sign of ranking up.

He then saw her take out another book from her collection, putting it on the table once more.

"This is a book about the mirror dimension," she said. "Use it to practice your magic."

Duncan just nodded. "Thank you, master."

"You are welcome," she said. "But Duncan, if you really manage to get equal to the masters here early, do know that there are responsibilities that you must fulfill."

Duncan raised his brow. "Such as?"

"You will travel with your fellow masters to solve anomalies. Check in on newly discovered ones, or contain threats detected by the orb."

"Can you... give me examples?"

"You seemed very confident that you could be a master quickly." The Ancient One chuckled. "Very well. There are artifacts, beings, and knowledge in this world that could be a danger to our world. The Bloodstone, the Eternals, and even a man named Theodore Sallis are such threats. There are dormant ones, there are active ones, and there are even accidents of teenagers trying something they did not know the full extent of, and we have to take care of that."

"Okay… so… magic police…"

The Ancient One was about to deny it but stopped. She thought about it and shrugged. "To a certain extent."

"Great…"

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Hermit - [III] None is thy equal: Your spells are enhanced.