In the midst of all the technology in 2067 a scientist manages to create an incredible teleportation machine, extremely powerful able to travel among other universes 

** Disclaimer: the book cover design is not mine; if the author wants me to remove it, send an email to luniit0218563@gmail.com which I will remove. **0.

He was in disbelief. 
The head of the department laughed at his reaction. "Snap out of it, Aihara. You look like I've just fired you."
"I'm sorry, sir!" Kaoru regained his composure. "I didn't expect this. Thank you very much."
The older man sitting opposite him in the meeting room just smiled kindly. "It's a great achievement for someone at your level. Hakusen should have hired you when they could."
Kaoru stared at the mock-up of the cover of the book with his design. It was for an up and coming novelist, who wanted a cover expressing separation.
A senior designer had overseen the project and Kaoru was staffed on the team. They spent weeks trying to meet the novelist's demands, on top of other assignments.
It came to a breaking point when his senior threw in the towel.
"I give up! He's just being fucking unreasonable. What's wrong with our ideas? Screw this."
Kaoru had been helping to polish his senior's work up until then. When the team went home dejectedly that day, he stayed back and thought about what the novelist wanted.
They had been fixated on a darker, wintry look. It made sense since the novel was equally dark and tragic.
To Kaoru, separation was on a warm autumn day, when leaves fell together with the hearts that followed. The memories which kept resurfacing during the entire project. 
He sketched out an idea and showed it to his senior the next day.
His senior was going to throw it into the bin when one of the team leads of the production department passed by and noticed it.
"Hey, let me look at that."
Kaoru had seen him before during meetings. Confident, effective and with a personality which  engaged with others easily, Fujiwara Ren was one of the rising stars in the company.
His senior handed over the sketch grudgingly. Fujiwara's hazel eyes scanned it and then asked Kaoru, "Is this your work?"
"Yes," Kaoru admitted.
A warm smile crossed Fujiwara's face. "I'll ask his editor to show it to him."
Both his senior and Kaoru had been shocked. 
That was three days ago. Now, he was sitting in the office looking down at his first book cover. Kaoru couldn't believe it.
He was on cloud nine for the rest of the day. His co-workers who have heard congratulated him heartily, except for the senior designer who muttered something to the effect of him lucking out.
Kaoru didn't mind if it was luck. It gave him a tiny confidence boost. 
Even if his inspiration was…
Don't think about it at work, he told himself. When he went home, then he could try to piece his heart together, as he often did ever since that day.
He tried to look for Fujiwara to thank him but the man was out for meetings. He did manage to speak to Miss Tachibana over the phone to convey the good news to her. 
When he left the office, he finally saw Fujiwara at the lobby.
Kaoru waved to get his attention.
Fujiwara looked up from his phone and grinned. "Aihara!"
Kaoru went over quickly and bowed. "Thank you so much. For the cover."
"It's your design," Fujiwara reminded him in a friendly manner. "Thank YOU. If not, the project would have been delayed and I'm probably still in the office."
Kaoru was embarrassed. "No, I..it was just an idea which came to me."
"Don't be so modest," Fujiwara chuckled. "You're such a cute junior!"
"Who's cute?" a deeper voice asked, amused.
A taller and very good-looking man appeared beside Fujiwara. In a suit and still carrying a briefcase.
"Shin! You're on time," Fujiwara exclaimed happily. "Meet Aihara Kaoru. From the design department."
Then to Kaoru, he introduced the man easily, "This is Kurosawa Shinobu. My partner."
Kaoru was surprised. 
"Nice to meet you," he said.
"And you," the man returned and added wryly. "Ren isn't giving you trouble, is he?"
"Of course not!" Fujiwara protested with a pout. "I'm the perfect senior."
"He's very kind to me," Kaoru agreed. "I got my first book cover because of him."
"He's just being unnecessarily humble," Fujiwara countered and told his partner, "My project is back on track. He's the reason you can take me out to dinner today."
"In that case, you have my thanks too," Kurosawa told Kaoru.
They made a dangerously attractive couple. It was clear that they were in love. Kaoru could see the adoring laughter in Fujiwara's eyes and although his partner seemed to be the more reserved type, the glances he gave Fujiwara contained a certain softness.
"Not at all! Anyway, I shouldn't take up more of your time." Kaoru smiled. "Have a good evening."
"Bye! See you around in the office!" Fujiwara waved cheerfully.
He could still make out bits and pieces of their conversation as he walked away.
"Just dinner? I haven't seen you for a week."
"What else?"
"Shin, don't tease me. Unless you don't want to..."
"Fine. A quick dinner."
"Now we're talking."
It didn't take much imagination to know what they could be referring to. Kaoru found himself smiling at how comfortable they seemed with each other.
When he got into the packed train, he finally let his mind wander. 
What was Keigo doing right now? Was he still in the office or traveling for work? Did he find someone who could make him happy?
Somehow, seeing Fujiwara and his partner together made him missed Keigo so intensely. What wouldn't he give to have just one dinner, free of any consequences and repercussions?
Kaoru knew back then that it would crush his heart. 
He hadn't expected that it could possibly be irreparable. Unlike the defect from his childhood, this could not be healed by any surgery or medication.
The human heart, once scarred, was never quite the same.

"You need money. I want company. It’s a fair trade.” That was the start of the relationship between Wada Keigo and Aihara Kaoru. How far will they go?

The moment Wang Baole spoke, all the live stream viewers from the Federation were taken aback. That was because, at that moment, the base that Wang Baole had constructed in the form of a gigantic block suddenly underwent a shocking transformation.
The block seemed to have been cut horizontally into layers. However, taking a closer look, perhaps it was already constructed layer by layer, just that it wasn't the focus of people's attention; its overall appearance making one think that it was a solid block.
With the appearance of the layers, it could be seen that the top-most layer was like a cover that was being lifted backwards. Looking at it from afar, the block seemed to have become a book, and the layer that was lifted was its cover.
This was the essence of Wang Baole's design, the unique feature of the Eternal Fortress!
What he had constructed was indeed a book!
With the cover of the book lifted, the first page was revealed. At that instant, everyone from the Federation who was watching the live stream realized, surprisingly, that it wasn't words that had appeared on the first page, but rather rows of Baole Cannons!
At one glance, the first page of the zone's stronghold, which was in the form of a book, was covered densely by a thousand Baole Cannons. Right now, as they all came into view at once, a shockingly loud boom was produced!
As the noise reverberated, light rays instantly appeared above Wang Baole, as if they were occupying the sky, towards the incoming Beast Tide that was roaring as they approached.
The frightening loud boom instantly shook the heavens and earth, and as the Baole Cannons fired all at once, the ground appeared to be on the brink of cracking apart. The cries of the countless ferocious beasts were instantly drowned out as their bodies were visibly pierced and broken apart. As their flesh and blood splattered in all directions, an invisible big hand seemed to have descended from the skies, crushing everything and destroying them!
The loud noise frightened the other candidates in the other zones most, resulting in a sense of fear gripping them just as they were in the process of resisting the Beast Tide. They couldn't help but look towards Wang Baole.
Even before they could react, the Baole Cannons fired in unison for the second and third time!
The noise was even louder, the power even stronger, and the level of lethality was increased significantly. Whatever was happening made everyone from the Federation who was watching the live stream hold their breaths, as the force by which Wang Baole's stronghold had erupted was beyond their wildest imagination. 
However, the military, as well as those who were familiar with the Baole Cannon, knew that even though the force of the collective firing was large, and could, to a certain extent, last longer than the Fire God Cannons, it was nowhere near being limitless.
Resources were secondary. What was more important was that every time the Baole Cannons were fired, damage would occur. Therefore, other than having to prepare more Baole Cannons, more maintenance specialists had to be hired as well.
Even though they saw the thousand puppets from Wang Baole, they still felt that it was a challenging task. Li Yi and Kong Dao quickly calmed down from their shock, having reached the same conclusion.
He's just acting tough and won't last! Li Yi sneered, seeing that after the sixth firing, the Baole Cannons were already glowing red. She laughed, and was about to watch Wang Baole make a fool of himself, but at that moment…
Wang Baole, who was standing just beside his stronghold, revealed a glow in his eyes. He knew that whether his Eternal Fortress had been appropriately named would depend on his following decisions, and on whether the processes of construction and continual perfection would succeed!
It has been proven theoretically many times… Now, it's time to see whether it actually works!
Wang Baole took a deep breath, and raised his right hand seals, pointing towards the stronghold as he fully activated the stronghold so that it was up and running!
"Turn the pages!"
The moment he spoke, the seals were activated. Instantly, the book-like stronghold vibrated, and the first page of it, which was filled with a thousand Baole Cannons, was swiftly lifted as if it was really a page of a book. After turning over, it landed, revealing the second page!
On the second page, another thousand Baole Cannons were revealed. They fired in unison again, creating a loud bang that continued to shock the heavens and earth. Soon, the second page was lifted, revealing the third, fourth, and fifth page…
Every page until the eleventh page was filled with a thousand Baole Cannons. Every time the cannons appeared, they fired in unison, in an astonishing force that covered a large area!
Immediately, a huge contrast was seen between Wang Baole and the other resisting candidates on the battleground. It was clear that even if the other candidates fired in unison, they still needed to pause and recuperate. However, for Wang Baole, from the beginning until now, he had already fired the cannons in unison over seventy times, but still showed no signs of stopping. He even gave people the impression that he could fire the cannons continuously!
That was especially so as the Beast Tide in front of Wang Baole was on the brink of collapse. In their horror and fear, the ferocious beasts dared not near the area around Wang Baole's zone, and could only dash towards other areas. That compounded the pressure on the other candidates, as if applying salt on a wound.
The contrast and the deafening sound produced from the unison firing instantly shocked the people from the Federation. Gasps of shock could be heard coming continuously from the households, and even the military was taken aback. The Governor from Martian Colony was also surprised.
"Every page is filled with thousands of Baole Cannons. This is already the eleventh page. How could he possess so many Baole Cannons… That's over ten thousand of them!" Even though he was the creator of the Baole Cannon, it still requires an unimaginable amount of resources to construct them… That was definitely out of reach for a mere Foundation Establishment realm cultivator!
"Something's not right… Look, of the Baole Cannons that appeared in the later pages, many of them have been used before… I remember one of them was damaged on the exterior cover, and it appeared again on the third page!"
"I understand now… There aren't ten thousand Baole Cannons. In reality, there could only be just over two thousand of them. They were all made and reconstructed from whatever Wang Baole ravaged from the other candidates! The real mystery lay in the stronghold!"
"Every time a page is flipped, a process of repair and reconstruction occurs. His stronghold must definitely harness a formidable ability to restore the Baole Cannons, such that it's instant, allowing the Baole Cannons to reappear with every page that's flipped so that they can be continuously reused…"
As more people gained a brief insight as to what was going on, they grew even before shocked than before. The design of Wang Baole's stronghold evoked strong emotions in them.
To them, the essence of the design lay in the ability to repair and reconstruct swiftly. This way, it could allow the stronghold to fire the cannons in unison, in a seemingly unlimited fashion, as long as there were sufficient resources!
The giant tree stayed silent as it watched the book turn onto its fifteenth page but still not show any signs of stopping. He sighed as he looked at the stronghold that was in the process of unison firing, as well as the exhilarated Wang Baole.
This was indeed something he had never imagined. Even though he saw the blueprint previously, he never thought that it would come to fruition.
As for the Martian Colony Governor standing on the side, a bizarre look appeared on her face, as she spoke softly in a low voice.
So… This is the Eternal Fortress… It does live up to its name! However, I am curious to know whether there are other surprising features of this Eternal Fortress! After thinking about it, the Martian Colony Governor immediately activated her hand seals and the Great Martian Array Formation.
Seeing that he had the capability to resist the current Beast Tide, Wang Baole was delighted. He had even set his eyes on the other candidates, waiting for the moment when they could no longer hold on, which was when he would ravage their territories.
The thought had just popped into his head, and his delight hadn't even coursed through all the veins in his body when a loud boom emerged from the Divine Armament Catacombs once again. The seventh Beast Tide had begun, more powerful than before as it involved even more beasts. That made one of the candidates, who was already having difficulties resisting the Beast Tide, curl under the immense pressure and choose to give up immediately.
That candidate was from the Senate. Even though the candidate felt indignant, he was helpless. After his elimination, there were only three candidates left!
They were Wang Baole, Kong Dao, and Li Yi!
It could be said that the moment that determined who the losers and winners were had suddenly arrived. That caused Wang Baole's eyes to widen immediately.
So sudden!
Why do I feel that it is being done on purpose? Wang Baole took a deep breath, especially after noticing that in the seventh Beast Tide, a two hundred foot tall giant had appeared, one that looked without care or concern for his Baole Cannons. He was like a piece of armor, resisting the Baole Cannons, leading the large beast crowd as it charged at high speed towards Wang Baole. Wang Baole shuddered, hyperventilating at what he saw.
"Second transformation of the Eternal Fortress!" With crisis looming, Wang Baole roared, activating his hand seals yet again!


By the year 3029 CE, Earth's technology has developed rapidly, borders no longer exist, and Earth has been unified, marking the beginning of the era of the Federation.

At that time, a huge sword flew from the heavens, piercing the sun and causing a huge sensation on Earth.

Perhaps because the scabbard of the sword was already in tatters, countless shards have broken off from it following the collision with the sun and spread across the universe. Many of these shards have landed on various places across Earth.

With the arrival of the bronze sword and its shards, a new unlimited energy source has suddenly appeared on Earth. This energy source has since been named Spirit Qi.

Spirit Qi is like air, thick in some places and thin in others. As the Federation and other factions gather more shards, they discover more information on cultivation, pill refinement, Spirit Stone refinement, and other techniques. The words on the shards have an ancient feel to them, making it a trend for people to use ancient language.

The appearance of Spirit Qi rapidly makes the original energy sources obsolete and has completely changed people's lives. Not only has the Spirit Internet been formed, Spirit Qi has also changed the course of Human Civilization, causing the world to enter a civilization of cultivation. This would later come to be known as the Spirit Inception Era.
 


I was waiting for Minho to arrive, feeling restless and so annoyed of myself. Like what the hell Cass, you shouldn't have let Ethan affect you. Urgghh I hate myself, how can he do that to me? I'm so easily turned on by him. Later tonight, I have to get rid of that man.
I kicked out all the stones I could find to vent my anger. I'm so mad at myself right now.
*beep beep*
I looked up and saw Minho waving at me from inside the car.
I smiled at him, feeling guilty. How can I let this guy get close to me when I'm still so unclean and sinful? 
I sighed and approached the car. "Hi."
"Hey lady. Hop in."

The ride to school was somewhat uneventful. Minho asked me about my sleep, and I couldn't tell him I'm with my ex. How perfect is that. He also told me he'll be starting to work at their construction company.
"Is Gina also in your firm?"
'Yes. Since it's a family business. Gina's father is the current CEO."
"Oh wow. So rich. So Gina is next in line?"
"Supposed to be. But Gina doesn't really like doing that job. She favors being an architect and design, design, design."
"So, a brother maybe?"
"She's the only child."
My mouth grew wide. "So you're the next?"
"Eh, I think so. No one from the family are in this field. So, I think so."
"Wow. Minho,  that's very good."
"Yeah, but that's still far. I have to start at the bottom and you have to start teaching." He pointed at the front. The school came into view. We have arrived so quickly. 
"Thanks Minho. Take care. Good luck on your first day! Ganbatte!" saying that with a fighting hand pose. 
He laughed, "Sorry, don't understand that last bit but take care. I'll see you later."
I got out of the car and blew him a flying kiss before walking to school.

***
"So what was that kiss now? Huh? Huh?"
"Ash, shut up. You know, I never imagined you being like this. I thought you were a serious guy because of your voice. But naah, expectation vs. reality."
"Haha well. Don't judge me by my cover."
"I think that should be the book, not you."
"I don't like being compared to a book. But, let's get back to the subject at hand. Are you and Minho..?" Ash is wagging his brows up and down. 
I sighed. "We're friends. You know, getting to know and stuff?"
"And stuff? What is that?"
I facepalmed. How could this guy be a teacher. "You should teach now look, the kids are getting restless. Go on, go on. I'll be distributing their quiz scores."

The day went smoothly without Ash pestering me since he's being pestered by the kids.
After the class and when all the kids were fetched, Ash sat beside me on the teacher's nook, draping his body all over the chair. 
"Cass! Why didn't you help me? I'm so tired."
"Why should I? The kids want it to be you."
"I hate you."
"Well, thank you."
"Let's go home. I want my Gina."
"...."
"What? Bitter? Come on, move on from your ex. Minho's the best you know."
We walked outside and locked the room when I answered, "But when you love someone, he or she will probably be the best in your heart."
"Oh wow Cass, so romantic. But I can't deny that. Well, I hope for the best for you. Oh look there's your best."
I followed his line of sight. Minho's car is approaching us.
"Well Cass, I'd better go and see my Gina. Goodbye!" and then he rode his car. 
I rolled my eyes and muttered, "Lovebirds."
I boarded the car and met Minho's tired eyes. "Oh wow, first day and you're this tired?"
"Yeah, sorry. I was assigned as a team leader immediately and with a huge project at that. I have to go back and finish the plans."
"Then why did you even come for me? You should have told me that you'd be busy so you won't get dis-"
"Cass, I missed you already."
"Uh.. "
He chuckled. How fast. 
"Uh, Minho we were just together this morning."
"I know Cass. But, I guess I was just so tired and down in the drain that I want to see my sunshine."
His sunshine? Me? Whaaaaat? My cheeks reddened. "Minho, that is soooo, arrggh I can't even put it into words. But, I guess I'm happy that someone's still longing for my presence."
He didn't answer for a couple of minutes, but a grin is plastered on his face. 
"Cass, I'm sorry I can't treat you to dinner. But I'll make it up to you next time."
"Minho, really it's okay. You don't have to worry. Focus now on your work, so that your dream house would be finally realized."
"Yes. Our house in the future."
"What?"
He chuckled. "Nothing. Here you go, I'll see you tomorrow. And sorry for no dinner."
"Minho, don't make me repeat myself. It is really okay. And for tomorrow, just contact me if you can't make it. I will understand."
As I got down, I heard his car door open. He stood close then hugged me, "Thank you Cassidy."
"Silly. What are you thanking me for?"
"For being here with me. I hope it will stay like this."
My heart ached hearing Minho say that. What is wrong with me? Am I feeling guilty?
I sighed. "Minho, thank you. And take care!"
He kissed me on my cheek, and went away on his car.

As I pushed open my door, I saw Ethan leaning on the kitchen counter, looking pissed. Why do I feel like I'm going boating on two rivers?

He gave up.. 

We broke up.. 

We moved on and made our lives worthwile.. 

But then he calls.. I answer..  And we shared everything about ourselves. 

I was like his secretary. He was like my secretary. We know everything about each other. 

Are we now back as a couple? Or just that, friends? 

Are we doing this right? Or should I watch out?

From what I experienced over the past week, and from the reading materials Amber gave me, it didn't seem like Badoth was in any way chaotic or disorderly. As a functioning and stable state, Badoth could have readily established neutral or friendly diplomatic relations with Kitrod. What caused these two kingdoms to go to war with each other? Why did nobody ever decide that 70 years was too long for a war?
The texts Amber gave me didn't talk much about the Demon King Badoth and the history of the kingdom he founded 70 years ago, so it was probably unlikely that I would ever find the answer to my questions unless I had the chance to talk to the king himself.
In any case, I have the demon language's alphabet drilled into my head now, so I should be able to read any text written with it. I wouldn't be able to understand what it meant, but I could always ask Amber to translate that for me.
"Are there any diviners or warlocks in town, Amber?"
"None. Why do you ask?"
"Well there aren't any herbalists or alchemists around, so the only thing I can learn here in Badoth is new magic. For that, I need someone capable of using advanced spells."
"Aren't you retired from that?"
"Just because I retired from being an adventurer doesn't mean I can't still be an archmage. I still feel an urge to learn new spells every now and then. Whether or not I can actually cast it is a different issue, though."
"So you want to learn useless knowledge."
"Hey, it's not entirely useless. Learning a new spell, regardless of whether or not it's usable, allows me to recognize when someone is about to cast that spell and properly assess how dangerous the situation is. Of course that scenario will probably never happen, but you never know what life might throw at you. Who knows, maybe someone might challenge me to a duel some day."
Amber gave a long sigh to my response.
"…You might want to try the library."
"Do they have spellbooks there?"
"I'm not sure. They might, though."
"Then please show me the way there."
*   *   *   *   *
The population of Sachiru was less than 20000, so there was only one moderate sized public library serving the entire town. It was located at the very center of town, a fifteen minute walk from the shop.
It was currently around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, so the streets of the market district were bustling with townsfolk trying to purchase the freshest food they could find for making dinner. As we left the market district, the bustling sight gradually faded away in favor of quiet residential areas. There were children playing around on the wide empty streets, occasionally stepping aside to avoid an oncoming carriage.
Looking at the children having fun on the streets, I couldn't help but reminisce a little about my childhood, when I could live every day without a single worry in the world. It was only unfortunate that those days couldn't last long…
"It's quite a relieving sight, don't you think, Blaze?"
"Hm?"
"We're so close to where the war takes place, but people are able to live on their daily lives normally."
"It's always good to have some optimism even in times of crisis, I guess…"
It's hard to ignore the atrocities of war, but if the people are still able to continue living their lives normally with optimism, the soldiers can at least etch in their minds the sight of the peace they're fighting to protect and fight on. It would have been pointless to go to battle for a group of unhappy people, after all.
We arrived at the library before long. At first glance, the library building looked no different from a stone fortress. On each side of the entrance was a statue of what looked like a goblin man sitting on a raised platform and reading a book. The fortress was minimally decorated, having only one single banner above the entrance, with a drawing of an open book painted onto it.
While a fortress shaped library building was great for asserting that "knowledge is power", I can't say I'm fond of the building design at all. With the exception of the ground floor that had none, the upper floors only had two small embrasures on each side of the building. The library's interior would no doubt have received very little natural lighting because of that.
"Is this… really a library?"
I couldn't help but wonder what I was looking at when I opened the door and went in. It was far different from what I had in mind. While there were several bookshelves in plain view, the interior gave off a wholly different vibe.
There was no natural lighting due to the lack of embrasures, and the ground floor was only dimly lit with faint red lights. Small reading desks with empty flasks on top were scattered throughout the floor, and there were numerous drapes hanging from the ceiling that one could pull to create an enclosed private space around each reading desk.
A very light flowery aroma was lingering in the air. It was hard to imagine anyone being able to read normally in this kind of environment. Better yet, how is it even possible to read anything under this dim lighting?
"Huh, they remodeled this place. It looked a lot brighter the last time I was here."
Seems like even Amber is surprised at this sight.
Out of curiosity, I moved towards the nearest bookshelf and grabbed a random book. Like with the rest of the books on the shelf, the book was unlabeled and had a solid color cover, so I had no idea what was even inside. After taking it out of the shelf, I quickly flipped through the pages to see if I could figure out what it was about. Apparently the dim lighting in this library was sufficient for reading. One would have to focus on a page to make out the details, though.
A brief glance at the contents soon made me realize the meaning behind the library's interior design, but to confirm my suspicions, I took another book out and flipped through it. As expected, this book was yet another provocative magazine full of lewd female pictures. Were it not for the red lighting here, one could probably see my face turn beet red.
In any case, this floor's ambient lighting and abundance of private space certainly was a great setting for those looking towards partially satisfying their sensual needs. I reckon the flask being there was to make sure the carpeted floor wouldn't be ruined.
"Oh, a living human? This is quite a surprise!"
Turning towards where the voice came from, I saw a curly haired short woman walking towards me. She wore very revealing tight clothes, which emphasized certain female parts of hers that already had an unnaturally large size. She had a small pair of wings on her back, and a slender long tail with a pointed tip, suggesting that she was a succubus.
"Welcome to Sachiru's one and only public library! I'm the librarian. Very curious to know what your tastes are like."
The succubus librarian had a somewhat devious smile as she said that.
"I don't think I have the time for that today…"
Succubi were a female-only race that needed to consume the bodily fluids of males to sustain themselves. Normally they would achieve this by giving men erotic dreams, so I found it quite abnormal to find a succubus stocking the library's ground floor with countless lewd magazines… Well, at least I know why there were flasks on the reading desks now.
"Is it even appropriate to arouse people here?"
"The orcs and goblins in this town keep flailing about dangerously in their sleep, so I had to find another place to do my work."
"Still, shouldn't a library be a place for learning, not for sexual pleasure?"
"The upper floors are normal!"
"Also, just curious, how long ago was the library remodeled?"
"About half a year."
If the library has been like this for half a year already, then I guess the authorities are fine with it. If anything, having a lewd collection of books here for everyone to access might even have a side effect of lowering the rate of sexual crimes in town. Not only that, the library would actually encourage more people to come in and read books… assuming the readers still had the energy and motivation to go upstairs.
"Well, since you're the librarian here, could I ask where I could find spellbooks?"
"Libraries don't usually carry those. You have to find a warlock or archmage for that. I think we have books that talk about magic, though."
"That's close enough. Could you tell me where I can find the magic books? Preferably ones written in the demon language."
"Let me check on that. Nobody ever reads books about magic in this town, so I never bothered remembering their location."
"I'll come find you in a few minutes, then. Thanks."
I kept watch of the succubus librarian as she walked away so that I would know where to find her later. Speaking of finding people, I wonder where Amber headed off to. She disappeared somewhere after commenting about how the library was remodeled earlier.
I walked around the ground floor in search of her and eventually found her sitting at one of the reading desks, looking attentively at a book with a plain blue cover and occasionally making sounds of surprise.
"So there are lewd magazines aimed at women here too, aren't there?"
"Seems like it."
"Are you enjoying that book?"
"Yes."
"Can I take a look at the types of men you're making sounds at?"
"This book doesn't have men in it."
Well, this is quite a shocker. If Amber wasn't looking at a book with lewd male pictures, then…
"Wait a minute… Does that mean you're into other women?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
Amber looked up at me with a confused look on her face.
"If you're not looking at a book with male pictures, then you're looking at one with female pictures, right?"
"There are other kinds of books on this floor, you know… And for the record, I prefer men."
"Oh… I'm sorry for misunderstanding…"
I really shouldn't have jumped to conclusions so quickly like that. It felt rather relieving that she didn't appear to be mad at me.
I walked over to Amber's side to take a look at the book she was reading. It was filled with pictures of what looked like fish.
"That isn't a book full of lewd fish pictures, is it?"
"Not everything on this floor is lewd, Blaze."
Come to think of it, that was probably a stupid question. What in the world would even count as a lewd fish picture?
"I want to see the ocean once in my life, but it's so far away, so the only way for me to learn about what it holds is through books like these."
"That's interesting. Can I read that when you're done?"
This continent was so large that most people have never been to the ocean because it would have taken an extremely long time to get to the coast. Stories of the majestic aquatic creatures that lived in the ocean occasionally got told and spread around by traveling merchants, but it was hard to take them seriously since word of mouth tends to get exaggerated after going through several people.
Nonetheless, I've never been to the ocean, so I know hardly anything about it. The fact that Amber was learning about the ocean through books piqued my interest.
"There are plenty of books like this one here. Look for a shelf with a missing book."
Before I knew it, I was taking out and flipping through the pages of random books about marine animals. I should probably borrow some of these to read at home later.
I couldn't help but feel like I was forgetting something, though…
As I was busy immersing myself in the illustrations of the mysterious creatures, I felt a sudden light tap on my shoulder. Standing behind me was the succubus librarian, with a slightly annoyed look on her face.
"You kept me waiting at the desk for so long!"
Right, that's what I was forgetting. I was supposed to come to her desk to know where those magic books were located.
"I'm sorry, I got too excited about all these animals I've never seen before…"
The librarian let out a soft sigh at my response.
"…Well, we only have a few books about magic since the demand for those is low. You can find all of them on the shelf labeled 'M' on the third floor."
"Thank you. And sorry for making you wait like that…"
Amber still seemed to be busy reading her book, so I think I'll just go upstairs by myself. If I find any interesting books, I could bring it downstairs for her to translate.
Contrary to my expectations and to its downstairs counterpart, the upper two floors of the library were actually very brightly lit. I don't even know how that was physically possible, since the embrasures on the wall were relatively small. Tiny windows like these shouldn't be able to let so much light through.
There were long reading desks lined up in an open space along the floor, with chalkboards placed by the end of each desk. There were scribbles and formulas written all over the boards, making these floors actually feel like a place where people would come to study or research and hold scholarly discussions with their peers. Too bad it was empty at this hour… and most other hours for that matter.
Now then, time to look for a shelf labeled "M"...

Some say that being an adventurer doing quests for a living was a wonderful job because of the freedom and exploration that comes with the job.

Unfortunately, that kind of life wasn't suited for everyone. A mage who found the life of an adventurer too difficult decides to retire and operate an alchemy store instead.

He gains a bit of fame from running one of very few alchemy stores in the world, but things don't go too smoothly for him, as he is once again forced to go on adventures...

* August 7, 2018: Novel now also published on Royal Road. Same title and author name.

* September 12, 2018: A problem occurred with Chapter 13, so I have to re-upload it and all the chapters that follow...

This beautiful line was probably done by Miss Margaret. It seemed the note was never sent out, so this Augustin did not know that Margaret loved him too. The unspoken love was buried here forever, never to see light again.
An image appeared in Angor's mind. Two lovers, who adored each other, could not express their love for some reason. In the end, a disaster came and separated them forever, leaving no fruit, but a wilted and priceless sentiment behind.
These notes told the brief but romantic story of two secret lovers. Unfortunately, the story did not have a happy ending.
Angor commented "how destinies fool people around" and put the notes back.
Angor was an outsider. The Nether City[1] was discovered tens of thousands of years ago, so the lovers' story had to come from that age as well, if not earlier. There was no point minding the grand finale of such an old story.
Nothing else worth noting in these letters. He needed to search the other places.
Angor checked around Margaret's room again. He did not find anything, but he had a question about some details in the room.
Ever since he walked the stairs and explored the rooms, most objects rotted away or decayed over time, apart from some special items.
However, he did not find anything like that in this room. The surface of the desk was bright and clean like new, and the silk blanket on the bed was smooth and comforting to the touch, which still released a mild fragrance. Even the more fragile items like clothing and make-up powders were in good condition as if Margaret was caring for herself just a moment ago.
Did time show mercy here? Or did the Nightmare Realm "projected" the place like this? He would never figure these out now.
Angor left Margaret's room and entered the other bedroom. Telling from the decorations, this belonged to the original owner of the "house".
Angor searched the room for quite a while without finding anything. Being someone who lived in a noble family for many years, he believed the bedroom of a big family should have somewhere to hide things. His deceased father had such a secret section in his bedroom to place valuables.
This was why Angor did not stop looking despite not finding anything in his first attempt.
In the end, he did find a secret passage.
It was located under the bed, hidden under a square cover. A deep and dark tunnel.
Angor crouched into the tunnel and reached a concealed place soon. It was narrow, about three or four square meters. There were a bookshelf and some unknown items inside.
This had to be a "hidden stash" of the owner. With a bit of excitement, Angor went to the bookshelf first.
There were three levels on the bookshelf, full of books. Angor picked up a random one called Comments on How to Extract Valuable Materials (1).
"An alchemy book… Teacher didn't have this one," Angor thought to himself and read several pages. There was deep alchemy knowledge in the book, intended for experienced wizards.
Angor took out some more books, which were all alchemy ones. Most of them were valuable, unique copies which could not be found in Sunders' collection.
He was filled with joy. Now, this was an unexpected treasure!
After recording all of the books, Angor realized they were more valuable than he thought. Some of the alchemy theories were only applicable to legendary wizards or someone in higher ranks. He was sure these books were beyond priceless. Whoever could have collected these?
After finishing the books, Angor walked to the other items with a happy mood. He did not know what these were before, but after seeing some of the alchemy information in the books, he recognized that these things were mostly related to alchemy applications. High-quality ones.
It was a pity that he could not take them away. For one, they might just disappear like all the other previous items. Besides, they were pretty large, he could not possibly carry them with him.
So he had to give up in the end. He was still happy about acquiring valuable books.
Leaving the bedroom, Angor stepped into the last room on the second floor.
The room was to the left. Angor knew that nobles tended to regard "left" as "important", so he was most interested in this room.
The first thing that came into his view in the room was a large bookcase.
Angor's eyes shined. The last room was a study!
The design was simple. One bookcase, one desk, several oil paintings on the wall. Angor rushed to the bookcase and opened its cover doors. However, he was disappointed after checking some of the books.
There were a lot of books. But… most of them were official files about the Nether City, such as construction approval documents, gardening files, books about the arrangement of main traffic roads, and city defense structures. These occupied the entire bookcase.
Angor sighed and returned the books. At least he now knew that this place was called the "Nether City", not the Garden of Labyrinth. At least that was something.
As for the owner of this place, Angor had an idea that he was a high officer of some sort since he took care of such important files. He might even be a core manager of Nether City.
These were unimportant though. Nether City was a bunch of ruins now.
Angor closed the glass doors of the bookcase and slowly moved to the desk. He saw an opened book and a quill placed in an ink bottle when he entered the room. Seemed like someone was writing on the desk.
Angor sat on the chair and read the book.
It was a notebook. The current page was half-finished. Its owner had probably left it here for some reason.
Angor flipped to the first page to check what was written.
The first line on the front page of the book surprised Angor for good.
Singularity Dispersive Meditation.
This was a meditation book?! And the first of its kind Angor ever saw in the Nightmare Realm. This was the center of the underground maze, so could it be the special channeling method book Sunders mentioned?
Angor became excited. If so, he would begin his path of wizardry with the help of this book!
He wanted to read on. However, his teacher's words reminded him that even if he memorized the book down to every single word in the Nightmare Realm, he would forget everything upon returning to the wizarding world.
Angor calmed down, and carefully photographed every page of the book with his hologram tablet. Once this was done, he finally sat down to read it.
[1] The author mentioned the name of this place for the first time here. Maybe he thought he already did in previous chapters?


A young traveler who receives enlightenment from another civilization is on a mission to save his beloved mentor. In his journey to seek the ultimate truth, he travels extensively and along the way, he experiences some unpredictable encounters. Will he be able to save his mentor or will his path be derailed?

If there was one thing that I had learnt from my short association with Regiis high society, it was that they loved their banquets. Ceres had attended three banquets in as many days when I had been away training in the Nexus and today, we were attending another one. Though, to be fair, it was my wedding banquet so allowances could be made for it.

But even as I hobnobbed with those who approached me and stuffed my face with small portions of every delicacy on the buffet tables, half of my mind was still immersed in the moment Artemis and I had sealed our bond.

There was a book I had come across in the Regiis public library that had called to me more than any other. I had read it cover to cover in the short bursts of free time I had during my week-long training montage before my fight with Artemis.

It had been an eye-opening experience. The author – the Prime Minister – had talked about his life and experiences as a Tamer. As a man who had reached the highest political post a Hominum could hold in Regiis, his words were quite persuasive. He had spent a large portion of the first half of the book expounding on how he had managed his relationships with his six wives and resolved conflicts when they arose. He had distilled his entire life experience into several rules he had instructed his readers to follow while giving anecdotal evidence from his personal life for his successful application of each one.

As informative and at times entertaining as that had been, it was the second part of the book which had grabbed my attention and earned him my respect.

In the second half, he went on to discuss the darker aspects of marriage to multiple women. Not all of his wives were equally talented in the martial path. This had led to them plateauing out at different Tiers. Three of his wives had never managed to exceed Tier 3 while the rest had broken through to Tier 4 and one of them had even reached Tier 5.

What this meant was that three of his beloveds aged much faster than the others. In the book, he had discussed how he had dealt with the mental burden borne by those three wives and finally, how he had coped with their early passing.

Before reading the book, this was something I had subconsciously known, but never really thought about.

The entire book was full of similar crystallizations of his magnanimous experience from having led a full life. It was a crying shame that it wasn't more popular than it was. There was a stigma attached to being seen reading such books. It was akin to admitting that you weren't capable enough to manage your relationships.

Which, in my opinion, was utterly short-sighted and silly. What I took away from reading the book was that the author had learnt many things from a life full of missteps that he didn't want his later generations to repeat. If we could take advice from our elders about magic, then why was asking for relationship advice so different?

For pushing past that stigma and publishing this book, as well as for its contents, I was a great fan of the Prime Minister. Not to mention, he was a wonderfully accomplished artist and one of my idols in the field of calligraphy.

I had been really excited about getting to see him working on our contract marking. But Artemis had given me a really pleasant surprise. First of all, by the touching gesture of having me mark her like the rest of my wives, showing her willingness to integrate into our little family, and secondly, by giving me the opportunity to complete an artwork under the Prime Minister's guidance. I had learnt a great deal about his style and technique as I worked on his design, with him holding my hand through each step. The finished bond was undoubtedly the best work I had ever created.

After it was over, the venerable man had invited me to drop by his residence with Artemis sometime for a chat over a cup of tea. Apparently, he was an accomplished linguist as well, and the person who had taught Artemis what she knew about languages. That was why she had referred to him as Teacher.

I was looking forward to the visit.

Glancing around, I noticed Lara talking to Ceres. She had a young girl by her side who resembled her really closely. Probably her sister. What was her name again… right! Rhea. They seemed to be hitting it off well with each other with the girls chatting with animated gestures.

Leaving them to it, I scanned the crowd again.

Phobos seemed to have been abducted by a lanky, bespectacled professor from the Academy who was in the process of having a heated discussion with her. Or, at least, he was getting heated while Phobos was picking at her plateful of fish fillets with her fork while occasionally poking holes in his arguments with an accompanying gesture with said fork.

I shook my head. Not going to poke my head into that mess.

Deimos… No need to guess. That glutton resembled her element as she gusted through the tables of food and swept them into her bottomless pit of a stomach like a whirlwind. Watching her eat always made me wonder how she managed to keep her lithe figure. It was unscientific.

I made my way towards her. She needed to talk with people more. Using food as an excuse to rebuff conversation wasn't a very healthy practice.

On my way, I caught sight of my final and newest wife standing with her family. Artemis still looked as stunning as she had the moment she had stepped into the hall and stolen my breath away, the Emperor, the Empress and Venus by her side.

By not going over to talk to them, I knew I was procrastinating… but I was feeling quite awkward about meeting the in-laws. And, to be honest, my intentions for interrupting Deimos weren't pure, I wanted to grab her as a shield before I went to have my first real conversation with my bride's family.

Just as I reached my little white-haired cheetah, a melodious ting rang out through the venue and all conversation slowly faded away as everyone turned to the source.

Emperor Cyn Pavone lowered the crystal goblet and the silver spoon he had been ringing it with.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, We are very thankful for your presence this auspicious afternoon and for the blessings you showered upon the new couple. We shall take up but a bit more of your time to make an announcement before We let you return to your revelry."

He paused, panning his gaze across the audience to ensure he had their attention.

"In view of recent developments, We in consultation with the Council have reached the decision to alter the rules of the current Swayamvar." Waiting for the murmurs of the crowd to die down, he continued, "For the first time in history, the contest will be open, to not only Regiis, but the entire world."

[Beast-girl Harem]

"I was born with an extremely prestigious but combat-weak logistics class. As the son of the clan head and the next heir, that just wasn’t enough of an excuse to spare me from my father’s grueling training.

For in his creed the only strength that mattered was that grasped in one’s own two hands.

In my journey through the lands with my harem, I was grateful for his training as it saved my life multiple times when my girls weren’t there to engage in combat.

This is my story."

For character art: Discord
https://discord.gg/hKZVwau
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/yesorno

When Hue was about to carry the girl, Uoron calmly and leisurely came out of the bushes.

Being reminded that there was somebody else in their midst he took a deep breath and exhaled trying to calm himself. Finally suppressing his earlier feelings, he turned to looked at Uoron.

"Uoron, please carry her things and helped me bring it back. Our house is just below this hill."

He started walking towards the other direction of the red leafed tree even before Uoron could reply. He was carrying the fainted girl in his arms in a princess style. 

Honestly speaking, he didn't care if the stuff was brought back now or not as he can just retrieve it later but remembering that wild animals like foxes sometimes appear here that could destroy her things he asked Uoron instead as his hands were full in carrying Reen alone.

He didn't even he turn back once to see if Uoron was following him or not and just continued walking.

Uoron stared at his retreating back not minding being bossed around. It was a good thing he found out the man's identity before doing anything that he would greatly regret in the end. If it was any other person, he would be battered black and blue [1] by now.

It was not that he was afraid of Hue but he didn't want to risk the relationship that they could form in the future. As he was also trying to relieve his boredom he thus picked up her things such as her glasses, recorder, water bottle and book deciding to just go with the flow for now.

While thinking this way, his eye caught the attractive design on the book. The book was covered in a red sheet with a single puzzle piece symbol in the middle of its cover. There was nothing written on the spine of the book. The book seems to have a lock mechanism upon his assessment but currently it seems to be unlocked. 

"This design... hmmm... " he whispered

He was sure of this description since the sky completely cleared up and the moon was surprisingly bright that night. It was as though the earlier rain specifically showered the scenario.

He wanted to return her things before they truly get out of his site however curiosity ruled over logic, he sat down on the tree root she was previously sitting. He flips the cover and started reading. Only one paragraph was written with a beautiful handwriting.

"For curious seekers reading this book
Turn the next page and take a look
However, a warning I must give
Be cautious and prepare to receive 
The secrets that lies within each word
That will now be unfurled.

- Crimson Puzzle

Mindful of the warning, Uoron still decided and turned the page…


Author's Notes:

[1] A person being covered in bruises

After experience a broken heart and a series of unfortunate events, Reen had remembered everything.  While all this were happening, he came into her life.  Should she forgive and forget everything and live the life she always wanted or should she stay and fulfill her need to be free from her past’s dark constraints? 

Need or want which should she choose...?

As I was standing there in the white plain room, holding to the pieces of steel plates in my hands, I was a bit dumbfounded at what to do next.

"Ceres, what do you suggest I do right now?" I asked and Ceres recommended me to make some furniture inside this white room that would serve as my main room whenever I start to enter this realm.

I soon began to visualise about how great it would be to have my own two-seater throne here with comfortable and thick cushions for me to sit on and relax.

I visualise the same old two-seater bamboo throne from the elevated platform of my domain and I could see its simple designs but of sturdy materials. 

After I had visualised the two-seater bamboo throne in my mind and twirling it around a few times to get the whine design in order, I heard Ceres calling me out to open up my eyes.

Lo and behold...! The two-seater bamboo throne was right there in front of my eyes and even though the design was a bit better than the one I had, I managed to conjure up such things easily...!

"Audemars, things that you are familiar with would be easier for you to visualise and conjure up in your mind."

"If you had not encountered any new things by touch or by sight, the visualisation would fail. Right now... How about you visualising a book stand with plenty of reference books like an encyclopedia of sorts?"

Ceres suggested me to reach out and visualise a set of encyclopedias that could only mean one thing... These reference books would be able to show me what is the future all about...!

"Alright, let me give it a try. Encyclopedia... Here I come...!" inclosed my eyes and visualise a book stand, much like the one I have in my study and as for the books, I visualise the word encyclopedia and each book had a reference from A to Z.

The encyclopedia sets that I visualise would tell me what lies in the present and the future and would have all sort of machines, transportation such as horseless carriages and those standalone distillers and the burners and greenish-blue canister beside it. 

I visualise the encyclopedia to be able to tell me with in-depth information and how to construct the pieces together. It took me quite a while to visualise how large and thick the encyclopedia as it would also cover the animal kingdom on land and at sea as well. 

Complete with engineering concepts, I also visualise the everyday things that I had seen before when I was shown the images of the first 3 people that I had transmigrated in. 

I didn't know how long I was visualising it since Ceres didn't give me an indication as I tried to think back of the image and all the things that I had seen to be explained inside the encyclopedia. 

After sometime later, Ceres sounded and instructed me to open up my eyes. The moment I opened up my eyes, I saw a floating bookcase next to my two-seater bamboo throne and Ceres informed me that I had forgotten to set it down to the ground. 

"Small matter, Audemars. What I need to do is to adjust the gravitational force of the bookcase and set it beside the sofa. That's what's its called in the modern times." with that the bookcase floated and settled itself beside the sofa and I went over to inspect the sofa and the set of encyclopedia. 

Each encyclopedia was referenced from A to Z just like the annals and journals that we used to have. The thick covers of the encyclopedia and the size itself was quite large and I removed the first encyclopedia marked as A and carried it over to my sofa. 

I settled down and was about to flip the encyclopedia when Ceres sounded again inside my mind. "The encyclopedia would only be useful if you had known about certain things."

"Like for example you had taken a taken a reference termed as A. Inside it you would not find something like aeronautics or aerospace but you would find some common knowledge on automobiles, the later ones you had driven before."

Those were what you refer them as horseless metal carriages."

What Ceres had said was true enough, most of the pages inside the encyclopedia reference A was almost empty and only contain certain information that I had associated with before. 

I flipped through armour and was surprised to see a lot of pictures and information dated from the Byzantine era right to modern wear. It seemed that I had once seen it being worn by an assailant that I had managed to impale him or her with a sharpened bamboo stake. 

Not only the encyclopedia has pictures and information on a certain set of armour but also in-depth knowledge on how it was done. Anything that was in the last had been shown as well as the furthest future. 

It seems that I would be spending a lot of time here in the realm and do a lot of reading. In that case, I would visualise a study desk that was being made by Frank way back before they were made of bamboo and reed and make something similar. 

I closed my eyes and visualised a study desk and a dining chair that I used to pull around to sit instead. After some time I opened up my eyes and I saw the exact study table and chair beside the sofa. 

I stood up and rearranged the study table and chair to the appropriate position so I would be able to sit back and read the book with better concentration. Next, I conjure up some paper and some quill and ink and it too appeared on the table. 

The purpose of having this paper and ink was to record down several important information from the encyclopedia and bring it back to the real world. "That's good, Audemars. You really learn fast and you knew what could be brought in and out from the realm to the real world." 

"One more thing I had to tell you is about the time consumption and duration here in the realm and the real world. One hour spent in the real world would equal to three hours here in the realm." 

"Which means you could spend more time here since the flown of time here is much slower than the real world...!" 

I was sweetly surprised to realise such existence since I only knew about the 1:1 ratio wherever one would be in the parts of the world. However here it's 1:3 and means I have more than enough time to hang around in the realm and be able to perform more things up to three times the normal rate back in the real world. 

"Ceres, do you have a timer or something that indicates how long I had been here in this realm? I would like to conjure up a mechanical clock but then the clock would need to be winded like the one in the domain and not from the future."

"There is, Audemars. The clock is ticking right at the left hand side of your information screen panel. It's the same timer that was used to record your achievements and this is counting backwards means its a countdown timer instead of behaving like a sports stopwatch."

A sports stopwatch? What in the world is that? I know what does a countdown mean and also it seems I do need to spend a lot of time in here as well. 

I looked at the countdown timer and saw that I had more than 2 hours left in this realm so I decided to do something more worthwhile regards it. 

I placed the encyclopedia back in the book stand and picked the 4 pieces of steel plates and stepped back as I pressed the directional button on the virtual information screen panel until I reached where the machines were.

During the period of 1337-1453, a terrible war broke in Medieval England and that period was called (Hundred Year's War) and a huge turmoil ensued between the England and France with the involvement of rebels as well as opportunists. 

Prince Audemars Macleod, a descendent of King Richard Macleod of Darlington had barely managed to escape with his life when the Manor he was living in was besieged by rebels in 1440, when he was just barely 18 years old.

Let us travel through time and relive the experiences of this young Prince as he was forced to 'banished' and survive with some followers they entrusted their lives with him.

Little did he realise that he was actually living in the past of his future and had no recollection of anything except when he was narrated by a Seer that had been inducted as a permanent resident of the town he founded later.

*This is a fictional world. Most plants, vegetables, fruits and certain animals didn't exist in England that time.

*Almost all novels start off with a system. This does not reveal any hint of a system until you get to almost halfway through the novel. 

* Mobsters are included in the later chapters of this novel too. 

*This is a slow grind so bear with it as the storyline develops. Thank you and happy reading...

The room was brightly lit. The flooring had changed from solid grey stone to smoothed oak wood. The room looked to have six rows of shelves on each side of the room, but those rows seemed to extend forever. Each shelf was built from the same material as the flooring and had approximately twenty-five shelves per bookcase. The books themselves ranged from ancient-looking to more modern. Wool, cloth, fabrics, wood, they were made from all different kinds of material. The fire from the torches on the walls didn't seem to affect the wood and did nothing to threaten them. Sargon looked around the room quickly before sighing.

	"What am I even supposed to be doing here?" He looked at Alina.

	"Looking for information." She responded in a mumble. Alina began walking down one of the pathways and skimming through the books on the shelves.

	"There's a lot to look through." Emily sighed and went in the opposite direction as Alina. Sargon chose to follow Dalton. She had gone down the furthest path from the entrance and was trying to skim through the books. Not to find something to help everyone, but hopefully, something that could give her answers to her own questions. Sargon simply crossed his arms, and kept an eye on Dalton, occasionally glancing over at some of the books. 

	"So are we supposed to find the location ourselves?" Sargon asked her.

	"I don't know. All I know is that this library... probably has every written work ever produced here." She simply said in a quiet tone. Sargon sighed again.

	"Instead of just handing us the book, that prick just puts us in here and pretty much said find it yourselves. We'll need a miracle to find out where it is, in this place."

	Sargon started walking around, looking for anything that caught his eye, or looked as though it could give a hint to the location of the elven temple. Many of the books he passed where older ones. Some about old forgotten spells. Soon, one book did catch his eye. It seemed to beckon him. As he approached it and pulled it from his shelf, he felt a strange power from it. The cover was nothing more then Ageria's universal symbol for dark magic, on a black leather cover. He flipped the book open and looked through the pages. There were spells in that book he had never even heard of. Some had warnings and others were simply crossed out and ripped from the pages of the book.

	"Well, would you look at that." He mumbled, grinning. Dalton stayed with Sargon. She would occasionally pass a book that looked interesting to her and was forming a small pile in her arms. None of which were based on magic, but rather works of fact and fiction. She soon reached into her pocket and pulled out her portal key. She swung it and her storage opened beside her. She still had a large stack of coin, but not as much as Emily. Gently, Dalton placed the books into the portal and closed it. Surely the vampire lord would not mind a few missing books from this infinite library. Sargon noticed this and looked back at her. He saw there was a hint of excitement in her eyes as she slid the books into her personal storage.

	"What are you doing, Dalton?" He asked.

	"With such wealth's of knowledge, how could I resist taking a few. Plus, they've got thousands, if not millions of books here. What do a few missing matters." She shrugged.

	"I honestly don't think it's stealing at all. No one will probably read most of these."

	"Eh, even if they won't miss 'em, still stealing. But... it's got kinda this... thrill to it, y' know?"

	"It's not stealing. Period. We made a deal and they promised to help us. Any knowledge that can add to our adventure counts as help." Sargon shrugged.

Karaline and Violet went their separate ways as well. Lunette chose to stay with Violet and floated just above her as she walked. Violet too had her own interests in mind. She was looking for spell books and actual books that told interesting stories that she could read. She soon came across a section of those books. Somewhere a collection of short stories and others were much longer stories, organized side by side into volumes ranging from three to five. Lunette was a flying a few shelves above Violet. She, could not read, but she found the spines of the book to be intriguing. The wordings on them all looked different. Some shiny, some old and worn. Lunette reached out and grabbed a book at random. One simply on plants and tree life. After a glance down at Violet, she mimicked how she opened a book. Their there pictures inside, and that seemed to be enough to entertain the naive fairy. She was still wearing the same clothing she had gotten from Dalton after their first adventure. A simple silk white cloth wrapped around her breast's, and white panties. They had not been washed since, as Lunette was not aware they needed to be. She simply wore them and treated them like they weren't there, as she didn't like having to wear them. For as soft as they were, the material still itched her from time to time. Her hair had gotten slightly longer, and where now almost down to her knees. Her fairy wings sparkle in the light given off by the fire on the walls, and a small pattern of light was shadowed on the wall's around her because of it. 

	Violet looked up at Lunette and let out a small sigh from under her mask. She tried to get her attention and get her to come back down, not wanting her to get further than her reach, which for her size, wasn't very far. Lunette noticed Violet after a brief moment and happily flew down and sat on her head, crossing her legs and looking back down at the pictures of trees and plants in her book. Violet sighed again, and pushed Lunette's hair out of her face, and continued walking. Lunette weighed nothing, and Violet was starting to get used to being a stool for the fairy. She went on her way and continued to look at books, forming a stack of them in her arms as she walked along the shelves. 

	Emily had gone down her own way. She flapped her wings and climbed up to the higher shelves. She was doing the same as Dalton, only rather than stealing works of literature, she was stealing advanced and forbidden spellbooks. She had already formed a large pile on the ground beneath her and had been coming back to it as she flew around the shelves and found books that interested her. Emily slowly floated down to the floorboards and placed another book onto her growing pile. A book of advanced earth magic. Just as she was about to go looking for more, she felt something cold brush her shoulder. Emily froze and stiffened up, she slowly turned her head and spun around, but there was nothing behind her. The torches on the wall around her began to dim and eventually went out, leaving her in darkness. This wasn't a problem for her, as she could see in the dark quite well, only she still felt nervous. A dark, cloudy fog drifted down in front of her. Despite its shapeless nature, it seemed to curl as if beckoning her.

	Emily simply stared at the dark cloud, before cautiously stepping towards it. She slowly raised and extended her arm towards the fog. Just as her metal pointed fingertip touched it, she heard a female voice. It was soft and echoed in her mind, almost like it was ringing through it.

	"Tell me, little one... how old are you?"

	"W- What?" Emily muttered in confusion.

	"How old are you? How long since you were turned?" The voice repeated.

	"Umm... I'm... 16... I was turned... I don't know... a month ago... two?" Emily spun around and looked to see if the voice could be coming from any other direction. "Who are you?"

	"Who turned you, little one?" The voice asked gently. Emily kept looking around for the source of the voice, though she was starting to suspect it was actually coming from the cloud of black fog.

	"Um, her name is Alina... she..."

	The soft voice cut her off.

	"Oh, you poor child."

	"What do you mean?"

	"Tell me... has she done anything yet?"

	"Again... what do you mean?"

	"Has she hurt you? Or anyone else? Threatened you?"

	"Um, n- no... not me..."

	"You can't trust her. Don't forget that. Believe me..." 	The soft voice let out a small sigh.

	"Why not? She takes care of me." Emily started to get more nervous the more the voice spoke. 

	"For now, maybe... but there's no guarantee that won't change."

	"W- Who are you?" Emily demanded in a quiet tone. There was a long moment of silence. So long that Emily assumed the voice had gone.

	"Her aunt." 

	"Her aunt?" Emily turned again towards the black fog. After another moment of silence, a woman faded into existence out of the smoke. She had dark skin, and black hair pulled back into a braid coiled into a bun, a headband set with a blue gem across her forehead, with a few black feathers arching over her head. Her dress went down to her ankles. It appeared to resemble the design of the more revealing dresses most female vampires wore, only this dress didn't reveal much. Black clothing was worn underneath, covering up any visible skin aside form the face, neck, and hands. Her eyes were grey and silver. Her wings where just like Alina's, with feathers rough and vaguely ragged at the edges. Emily had to step back in shock when the woman appeared before her.

	"You look... just like her?" Emily was confused. This woman looked like Alina, but at the same time wasn't. "You're her aunt?"

	"Yes. Her father was my brother, poor thing..." She sighed softly, looking more than a little sad. "The white-haired one on the council is her sister... they and Ombra were triplets."

	"She... She has sisters?" Emily asked in a soft voice.

	"She had sisters."

	"Had?"

	"Lucilla is the only one still around."

	"Why?" Emily asked cautiously. After a long pause, the woman bent over slightly and looked down at the young vampire.

	"Because she murdered the others. Ombra and... Amy... the poor baby... she wasn't even three." She appeared deeply saddened by retelling the story.

	"W- What? Alina... she murdered her sister?"

	The woman nodded, lacing her thin fingers together.

	"But she is different now." Emily quickly said.

	"Can you be sure of that?" She asked sadly.

	"Yes!" Emily quickly exclaimed. "She's... she is different... now..." Her voice slowed down as she looked towards the ground and thought of it more. "Right?"

	"Well..." The woman pursed her lips slightly. "I'm afraid I likely can't leave. Maybe you're right, maybe she has changed, and I do hope that's the case, but can you at least make sure the others in your little... group... are aware, in case things go badly?"

	"Um, is that really a good idea?" Emily questioned.

	"Should they not know?" The woman asked.

	"Maybe... I don't want them getting mad at her though."

	The woman taped one long-nail finger across her lip, then carefully reached into her pocket and pulled out a necklace. It looked like a plain black chain at the moment. 

	"Here... if you keep this on we can at least speak to each other. It has glamour, so you can change its appearance to be one more fitting if you'd like."

	Emily looked at the necklace and hesitantly reached out for it. She held it in her hands and examined the design of it.

	"Um, okay... thanks?" She slowly put it around her neck.

	"Just keep your eyes open, all right? And any protective magic you have ready, just in case. If anything ever happens, just tell me to come and I'll pick you up, and bring you somewhere safe."

	"Y- Yeah, sure?" Emily gave her a nervous smile.

	"Thank you. I wish I could help in some other way." She mumbled.

	"Help with what exactly?" Emily tilted her head.

	"Her? I cannot leave. I am not even supposed to be in here, but I thought you could use a warning."

	"Oh... um... okay." Emily looked back down at her necklace. She made sure it was secure around her neck, before looking back up at the woman. "What's your name?"

	The woman stood there in silence. She looked down at the girl and frowned a bit. After a long sigh, she opened her mouth.

	"Valerie. My name is Valerie."

	Alina walked between the bookshelves of her row. She only had one book in mind. Time had passed and the group had spent almost an hour in the library, and still had no luck. Alina had wandered far from where she started. So far, she couldn't see the entrance to the library anymore. Alina had looked threw geographic books, books on the legend, and books about the gods and their lives. None of which had the answers she was looking for. She slumped down and sat against the bookshelf, and took a deep breath. It was hot in the library. All the torches aligned on the walls, and shelves, and the wooden containment of the library made it an increasingly hot room to be in. After a quick breather, Alina got back up and kept walking. More time passed, and soon two hours had gone by, then three, then four. Alina had not seen any of her allies since she had started. She reached for her belt and grabbed the small flask of blood she always had on it and drank. It gave her enough energy to keep going, but she needed to stock up on more blood. Emily still had plenty, but that was because Alina had basically given her all her blood. 

	Alina browsed the shelf she was on and finally saw another book about Ageria. This one was all about Ageria's desert, and it was piled with a stack of volumes about the same thing. Out of curiosity, Alina took the most recent one and flipped through its pages. Half of them were blank, and the last page is written on didn't look complete. It talked about a small town just being built a ways south of where they were picked up by the ship. She closed the book and put it back, then grabbed the earliest volume. She let out a long sigh and opened it. She skimmed through the pages, and just like every other book she had found, nothing. Another hour passed as Alina skimmed through the multiple volumes of the books, and eventually, she just dropped the current one she was holding, and moved on, leaving it open on the floor, on a page about the creatures of the desert. Alina walked a little further, and eventually spotted an odd-looking book. It was much thicker than all the bothers, and it looked much older then any other book she had seen. Alina approached it slowly and pulled it from the shelf. It weighed a ton and was a lot heavier than Alina was expecting, but her strength helped her hold onto it. The books cover was blank and covered in a layer of dust. She blew on the book and the dust blew off in all directions. She coughed as it entered her lungs. The book has markings on the side of the spine, but they were markings she could not read. Alina opened the book and looked through the pages. It was a book of Ageria's Past. There was nothing new in here Alina had not read in any other book like it, only there was a chapter that caught her eye. 'The Temples of the Gods'. Quickly, she flipped the pages and tried to find the chapter. Once she did, she was greeted by a small table of contents. They're there only four things on it, but they were exactly what Alina was looking for. 

Alina skimmed to the page explaining the Elven temple. The book stated that beneath the sand and under the pyramids, was the location of the Elven artifact. Alina flipped the page and saw a map. The map took up two whole pages, and even then, it was half a circle. Alina tilted her head in confusion, then released both pages were folded. She unfolded them and a whole circle appeared. The details and markings in the circle where hard to make out, but upon closer inspection, it looked like a maze. A labyrinth of sorts. Alina folded the pages again and flipped them. Again, there was another folded half circle. Alina raised an eyebrow and unfolded the pages. It was the same maze, but nothing looked different. She flipped to the next page. It was the same thing, and so was the next page, and the one after that. Alina found a total of forty pages that all had the same maze drawn onto them. When she flipped to the last page she found a small warning. She read it aloud.

"Be warned. For the maze changes every hour." 

Another hour passed, and Alina slammed the book shut. She reached into her pocket and pulled her portal key out. After tossing the massive book into the portal, she put they kept back in her pocket and spread her wings. Like all the rooms in the castle, everything was wide enough for Vampires to fly. She jumped and flapped her wings once, sending her rocketing down the hallway of books. A large, powerful gust of wind followed behind Alina. It knocked books off the shelves and tore the pages out of some of them. Magically though, the books repaired themselves. It only took Alina half an hour to fly the distance she walked, and soon she arrived back at the entrance. Dalton was sitting against one of the shelves, looking down at a book, with Emily using her shoulder as a pillow and sleeping on it. Violet was reading across from them. Sargon and Karaline had stacked books in a pile and had been looking through them.

"Alina?" Karaline said, being the first to see she had returned. The gust of wind caught up to them and hit the group hard. Sending the books, and papers inside flying out and around. The wind woke Emily up, and she looked around, confused. Alina quickly approached the two adults and grabbed the massive book from her portal and began showing them everything she had found out.

Emily sighed and looked forward at Violet. She saw she was distracted and took the opportunity and reach into her pocket and pull out a small pebble. She chucked it at Violet's mask to get her attention. There was a loud clicking sound as it bounded off. Violet looked up and at Emily.

"Hey, Violet... what are you read?" 

Violet looked at Emily with a blank expression behind the mask, before turning the book over and showing her. 

"Could you tell me about it?" Emily teased. Violet didn't respond and flipped her book back around. She sighed and looked back down at it. Emily had been doing this to her quite a lot recently. Mainly when they were traveling. Emily would throw a rock or something at Violet to get or attention, or just to annoy her. She would tease Violet about her height and the fact she couldn't talk. It didn't bother Violet though, as she has been teased like this her whole life. She had simply learned to ignore those people. Emily seemed to get some sort of pleasure out of messing with her teammate, and it didn't help that Violet never fought back. She would just ignore it, and only once did Emily get a response when she tossed a handful of sand at Violet and it got into her clothes. The group had to stop while Violet had to strip and get all the sand out of her clothes before putting them back on. It irritated her sometimes that Emily picked on her, and it was starting to hurt that her teammate continued to do it. Violet did like Emily as a person and wanted to see her as an ally, but it was hard at times. Finally, Violet said something.

"Why do you pester me?" She wrote in the air with her finger, using smoke as a way to communicate.

"Because it's fun to cause trouble!" Emily said with a slightly cheerful tone. Violet put the book in her lap and sighed, crossing her arms.

"Please put out your palm." She wrote in the air. Emily tilted her head and did so, not thinking Violet would do anything. In fact, she didn't Violet reached into her pocket and grabbed the handful of rocks Emily had been throwing at her and dumped them into Emily's hand. She looked Violet in confusion before taking the rocks back and looking down at them. 

"I believe these are yours." She wrote, and with that, Violet went back to reading her book, getting absorbed back into the story. Emily sighed and looked back over at Alina. Sargon had handed her a black book with the simple label of 'Vampires' on its cover.

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