Avoiding Death in an Otome Game

Chapter 69: Chapter - 69: Finding a Spell

I left the dormitory and returned to the library.

The library was even quieter now, with only a handful of students remaining, and the librarian looked slightly surprised to see me returning so soon after I had just borrowed some books.

I did not stop at the counter. Instead, I went directly toward the sections related to mental magic.

It took some searching because memory was not categorized under a single field, and information related to it was scattered between mental enhancement, illusion magic, consciousness, mind manipulation, and magical theory.

Eventually, I found two books that seemed particularly relevant.

The first was focused on mental magic and the enhancement of cognitive abilities, while the second dealt with memory related spells and the methods used by ancient mages to preserve information. I took both from the shelves and headed toward the counter.

The librarian looked at the books, then at me ”You again?”

”I forgot something.”

She raised an eyebrow.

”That much is obvious.”

I placed the books on the counter ”I had like to borrow these two.”

The librarian reached for the books before suddenly stopping.

”You have already borrowed three books.”

I blinked ”Yes.”

”You can only borrow three at a time.”

*Right.* I had borrowed three books less than an hour ago.

”...I forgot.”

The librarian gave me an unimpressed look.

I sighed quietly before reaching into my storage magic tool and taking out two of the books I had borrowed earlier.

”I will return these two and take these instead.”

She checked the books I was returning before registering them, then processed the two new ones.

Once the exchange was completed, I picked up the two books about mental magic and looked at their covers.

This had started just because I had been annoyed at forgetting the title of a book. Now I had returned to the library specifically to investigate whether magic could solve the problem.

I was not sure whether I would actually find anything useful, but considering the number of strange magical discoveries that had already been made throughout history, I thought it was worth looking.

After all, if there was a spell that could allow me to remember everything I read without constantly revising it, then the notebook sitting inside my storage magic tool might eventually become unnecessary.

And given how much information I was carrying about the future, that was a possibility worth investigating.

....

Morning had already arrived by the time Kai finally reached the end of the first book, although judging from the faint light coming through the curtains, it was still considerably earlier than the time they were normally expected to wake up for classes.

The magic lamp on his desk remained lit, casting a pale glow over the pages spread before him, while the second book he had borrowed from the library remained open beside it, waiting for him to return to it once he had finished organizing the information he had gathered from the first.

Kai had spent most of the night reading.

After returning to his room from the library the previous evening, he had originally intended to study for only a short while before going to sleep, but the subject had turned out to be far more complicated than he had expected.

Mental magic was not something that could simply be understood by memorizing a few formulas and reproducing the correct amount of mana, because most of the spells described in the books were connected to the structure of the mind, perception, memories, concentration, and even the interaction between the consciousness of different living beings, which made the subject considerably more complicated than ordinary elemental magic.

The books also assumed that the reader already possessed a certain foundation in the field, leaving many of the explanations incomplete and occasionally referring to techniques without providing enough information to actually reproduce them.

Kai had reached the same conclusion several times throughout the night.

*There has to be another way.*

He lowered his eyes toward the page again and slowly turned it, carefully reading the next section while resting his chin against one hand, but before he could continue for long, he heard footsteps approaching from the other side of the room.

The footsteps were slow and slightly uneven, carrying the unmistakable sound of someone who had only recently gotten out of bed.

Kai did not look up immediately.

A moment later, the sound stopped.

The partition separating the two sides of the room shifted slightly as Ian peeked around it, his hair noticeably more disordered than usual and his eyes still carrying the heaviness of sleep, but the moment he noticed the magic lamp shining over Kai’s desk, his expression changed from drowsy confusion to genuine surprise.

”You are reading again?”

Kai finally looked up from the book.

Ian stared at him for several seconds before glancing toward the window and then back at the books on the desk, seemingly trying to determine whether he had somehow misunderstood the time.

”When did you even go to sleep?”

”Around midnight.”

Ian’s eyebrows rose.

”And you woke up this early?”

”I woke up a few hours ago.”

Ian stared at him as if the answer itself was unreasonable.

”You have been reading since then?”

Kai gave a small nod before closing the book halfway.

”I have something important I need to research.”

That answer was enough to awaken some of Ian’s curiosity, and after rubbing his face to get rid of the remaining traces of sleep, he walked closer to the partition and leaned against it.

”What are you researching?”

Kai hesitated briefly.

There was no reason to hide the general subject from Ian, although he obviously had no intention of explaining the real reason he wanted to improve his memory, because the fact that his memories came from another life and that he had knowledge of a game that described the future of this world was something he had no intention of casually revealing.

”I am looking for a memory based spell.”

Ian blinked ”A memory spell?”

”Something that can strengthen my ability to remember things, preferably something that can help me retain information for a very long time without having to repeatedly review it.”

Ian looked at the books scattered across the desk ”And you could not find one?”

”I found several.” Kai tapped one of the open pages with his finger.

”The problem is that most of them are only described roughly, and the more advanced techniques require someone who has already mastered the spell to teach them properly, because the books do not contain enough information for someone to reconstruct the entire spell from the written description alone.”

He had already spent enough time reading to understand that mental magic was considerably different from the elemental spells he was accustomed to using.

With elemental magic, the basic structure of many spells could be understood through the manipulation of mana and the characteristics of the corresponding element, while mental magic depended much more heavily on the caster’s understanding of the mind itself, which meant that simply copying the mana circulation pattern described in a book could easily result in an incomplete or ineffective spell.

Ian became quiet after hearing that.

His expression remained thoughtful for several moments, and Kai initially assumed that he had simply lost interest in the subject, but then Ian’s eyes suddenly changed as though he had remembered something.

”Actually...”

Kai looked at him.

”What?”

”I might know someone.”

Kai straightened slightly.

”Who?”

Ian scratched the side of his head.

”Well, I do not really know him personally in that way, but I have heard about him.”

”Who are you talking about?”

”Teacher Albert.”

Kai’s fingers stopped moving ”Teacher Albert?”

Ian nodded ”Teacher Albert Carson.”

For a moment, Kai simply looked at him.

Albert Carson.

The same man who had appeared during the terrorist attack several days ago, the man who had revealed himself to be a Grand Mage and had effortlessly changed the entire situation when the attackers had overwhelmed the students and teachers.

Kai’s expression became slightly more serious ”What have you heard about him?”

”Quite a lot, actually.” Ian pulled out the chair beside the desk and sat down, now apparently much more awake than he had been a few moments earlier.

”I heard that his mental strength is incredibly strong, probably even stronger than Vice Principal Janet’s, although I do not know whether that part is actually true.”

Kai remained silent *Stronger than Vice Principal Janet?*

That was difficult to judge, especially because Ian was clearly repeating something he had heard from other students rather than something he had personally witnessed.

Ian continued before Kai could respond.

”And apparently he is a master of mental magic as well.”

Kai’s eyes narrowed slightly ”How much of that is actually confirmed?”

”I do not know” Ian admitted honestly.

”But there are a lot of students saying it after what happened a few days ago.”

He paused, then added, ”There is even a rumor that he can hypnotize spirits.”

Kai’s expression changed slightly.

”Hypnotizing?”

”That is what I heard” Ian shrugged.

”Some people say he can control spirits through his mind instead of relying entirely on his spirit taming abilities, and apparently that is why his spirits obey him so well.”

Kai did not immediately answer.

He had already expected that Albert’s reputation would spread throughout the academy after the terrorist attack, especially after everyone had witnessed his strength, but these rumors were moving in a direction he had not anticipated.

*Hypnotizing spirits?*

Now that sounded exaggerated