Realm of Myths and Legends

Chapter 1265: Hinting

...

Izroth quickly moved throughout the first layer of the library.

In one smooth motion, he would take a book off the bookshelf, quickly flip through its pages, and then return it to its proper place. If others could have seen his actions, they would have thought Izroth was simply fooling around.

’I can organize the information later. For now, I will focus on recording everything on all five layers.’

Izroth had perfect memory; therefore, there was no issue remembering the contents of the information he viewed. That said, there was a difference between simply recalling information and understanding it.

’If this place is anything like the Amaharpe Palace Library or the Apothecary Guild’s library, the higher the layer, the fewer the books, but the greater the knowledge recorded within them. So far, the things I’ve read have been related to the fundamentals of magic formations. The chances of me finding anything even remotely related to the Arcane Script Runemaster profession is low. Still, I can’t completely ignore the possibility that I might come across something useful. It’s better to record everything so that nothing is overlooked.’

...

Approximately thirty minutes later...

〈System Alert: You have entered «Formation Master Library: Second Layer»!〉

’It took a bit longer than I expected to go through all the items in the first layer. This place... As I thought, it’s a lot smaller than the first layer—about half its sized.’

The second layer was modeled much like the first layer with several bookshelves lined up in an orderly fashion.

Just as Izroth did in the first layer, he moved swiftly to begin collecting information.

...

〈System Alert: You have entered «Formation Master Library: Third Layer»!〉

After spending roughly fifteen minutes in the second layer, Izroth moved on to the third layer of the Formation Master library. This time, however, there was a noticeable difference from the previous two rooms outside of its size alone.

There were only a handful of bookshelves and books that sat upon them. Instead, there were multiple orbs organized in a neat fashion at the room’s center.

In total, there were about five hundred orbs the size of one’s fist. Each orb levitated in between two golden rods that looked like long needles roughly one meter long. The rods were attached to nothing and appeared to be held in place by some sort of magic.

There was plenty of space for one to walk through what almost seemed like a maze of sorts from the way the orbs were positioned.

’Oh? This method of employing a formation is a near flawless display of the fundamentals of formations. Even if magic formations are different from what the formations of the Seven Realms, they two still have many similarities and overlapping qualities. For one, using the environment to its fullest to amplify the effects of a formation seems to be a common factor.’

At first glance, it seemed that the floating orbs were just organized neatly. But, after he scanned Izroth used his Energy Vision Sense and Divine Appraisal, he discovered that the orbs were actually a part of a magic formation!

As for what purpose the magic formation served, Izroth was unable to uncover it. However, if he was not mistaken, he believed it to be some sort of hidden method to test the ability of a Formation Master.

’Perhaps it holds some secret. If I have a chance in the future, I will study the positioning of these orbs more carefully. For now, I won’t lose sight of my main task. After all, I still have a quest to complete.’

There was a twelve hour time limit for the Deadly Plot of Ignorance quest and Izroth still had yet to finish any of the quest’s objectives. Of course, he was not worried as he had already set things in motion. Nevertheless, Izroth knew from experience that underestimating one’s enemies was a dangerous thing.

The League of the Eidolon were not a small group who was a nuisance at most. While their exact power was unknown, they were considered to easily be on par with some of the most powerful organizations in the Seven Kingdoms. Without a doubt, there were several legendary realm powerhouses in their ranks. It was even said that their leader had stepped into the peak of the legendary realm.

Izroth placed his hand on the orb as the information seemed to flow directly in his mind. Rather than calling it reading, it was as if he were directly perceiving the contents recorded in the orb. The sensation was more similar to having a brief dream that it was to reading a book.

A few minutes later, Izroth removed his hand from the orb as he successfully absorbed the information within it.

’To think it would take this long. A book would have been more preferable. These orbs... I already knew that they were different from the ones on the previous two layers, but to think they had a feature like this. It’s useful, but unfortunately, it does not benefit me that much. I suppose it can be helpful to those of the Mystical Realm Palace. I will have to see if I can obtain a few myself.’

〈System Alert: You have discovered a new record of information.〉

〈System Alert: You have unlocked the feature «Personal Library».〉

〈System Alert: The contents of «Theories of Cross Mana Magic Formations» has been added to your «Personal Library». You may access the information at any time from your «Personal Library».〉

Izroth took a moment to test out the features of the new Personal Library he unlocked. He was able to easily access it through his system window. And, just as its name suggested, it acted as a ”library” and held all the contents recorded in the Theories of Cross Mana Magic Formations.

For the average player, this kind of feature would be an incredibly useful tool. After all, one could not remove books from libraries as they saw fit. And, in the vast majority of cases, recording the contents of the book was also not allowed unless under special circumstances.

To have a vault of information at one’s disposal that could be accessed at any time could give one a tactical advantage, among many other benefits. But, to Izroth, who could remember things after seeing them once, it was no different than a rock on the side of the road.

Izroth closed out the Personal Library as he went over to the next orb and placed his hand against it.

〈System Alert: A «Personal Library» has been detected.〉

〈System Alert: Would you like to view «Six Ways To Improve Magic Formation Resonance» or add it to your «Personal Library»?〉

’Oh? It also had a feature like this? I take back my earlier thoughts.’

〈System Alert: You have added «Six Ways To Improve Magic Formation Resonance» to your «Personal Library».〉

”I planned on skipping ahead to the last two layers since it would have been impossible to spent a few minutes on every orb here. But, this changes things.” Izroth said to himself.

All of a sudden, Izroth’s figure started to flicker in and out of existence. In less than half a breath, multiple silhouettes of Izroth could be seen moving throughout the library’s third layer as he brushed his hand always brushed against a different orb.

Every time it did so, an alert would from up from the system and Izroth would immediately add the contents of the orb to his Personal Library.

In just several seconds, Izroth had already touched all the orbs in the third layer. Though, without wasting any time, he went toward the handful of bookshelves and made sure to go through each and every one of them as he did in the first two layers.

...

A few moments later...

〈System Alert: You have entered «Formation Master Library: Fifth Layer»!〉

After Izroth completed recording everything in the third layer, he immediately headed for the fourth layer.

The fourth layer was designed in a similar fashion to the third layer with even fewer bookshelves and hundreds of magic orbs. As a result, Izroth used the same method he utilized on the third layer to quickly get through the fourth layer. And, he had finally arrived at the fifth layer.

’It’s a shame, but this is as far as the badge will take me. I suppose I should be grateful to Elder Arden that I was able to come this far.’

Izroth swept his gaze across the fifth layer. At first glance, it seemed no different from the third and fourth layers. However, there was a strange sensation Izroth had the moment he set foot on the fifth layer. Though he could not place his finger on it.

’Forget it. For now, I’ll do what I’ve always done.’

Izroth followed his previous tactics on the third and fourth layers as he rapidly recorded all the information in the fifth layer. The entire process did not take more than a couple of minutes.

’That should be everything. It’s time I leave this place.’

Izroth took the silver badge and placed it to his chest. As he did so, a surge of gentle mana flowed around him.

’Hm?’

Suddenly, Izroth’s gaze sharpened as he felt a sudden shift in the gentle mana that surrounded him. It was replaced by a dark and murky substance that resembled mana, but had an eerie aura to it.

”This is-”

In a flash, Izroth vanished from the fifth layer.