Arthur flipped through the pages of the book, looking for a specific number. On the page, the illustration of a small, circular pill was present. That iteration was under the category of ‘Ley Lines Support’.

  The medicine required few ingredients, but had a surprisingly potent effect. By taking them twice for a number of days, they were able to fix almost every kind of injury on an individual's Ley Lines.

  The pill was prepared by first gathering a handful of Feathered Daffodils, cutting off the head from the stems, and leaving them to boil for various hours. The flower took its name from the feather-like petals, which absorbed any nearby nutrients for the flower.

  With the boiling process, the feathers would dry out almost completely, while the heads grew in size. The petals could be grinded into a fine dust, while the absorbed water, thanks to certain pigments contained in the Daffodil, became a sticky, purple substance.

  The resulting substance, dubbed Daffodil Paste for lack of a more specific term, could be used by itself on wounds and injuries. It acted as a numbing agent, a natural defense to avoid being eaten by predators, while also being able to close small wounds thanks to its density and stickiness.

  However, when mixed with the feather petals dust, the Daffodil Paste became reactive to Ark and Archê. By applying the paste to one's body, they would be able to see the glowing Ley Lines.

  Then, the Night Reindeer antler powder. This material, or rather, the antlers themselves, possessed powerful Ark manipulation capabilities. This was due to the animalistic origin of Tribefolks, and the unique characteristics of Night Reindeers.

  Despite every living being possessing Ark, not every animal could cast spells like humans. The animals that could, however, dubbed Mythical Beasts, had a specific method of doing so.

  To begin with, humans could cast spells thanks to their ability to shift Ley Lines, and form patterns that allowed for magic to be materialized from Ark. On the other hand, Mythical Beasts possessed fixed, unchanging circuits in their bodies.

  Some animals formed the patterns with their fur or scales, while others possessed circuits engraved in their bones through generations of adaptation. This was the case with Night Reindeers.

  Night Reindeers, supposedly, were originally a race of Reindeers which lived in an atmosphere extremely dense with residual Ark. To survive, they adapted over generations, growing glyphs on their antlers.

  Those circuits allowed the Reindeers to more freely manipulate the Ark around them. Or rather, to disrupt it, creating areas free of residual Ark, making it easier to live in harsh environments.

  When turned into a powder, those circuits acted as an anticoagulant for the medicine. The same way it was needed, for physical injuries, to sometimes thin out blood, it could be needed to thin out the Ark in one's body.

  The antler powder disrupted the body's natural Ark flow, redirecting it away from the injured Ley Lines, and only letting minimal amounts of Ark bleed out from the wounds.

  Lastly, the Phantom Shark scales extract. Obtained by letting a singular scale of a Phantom Shark marinate in water for various days, it was an extremely potent toxin, if touched or ingested without the correct precautions.

  The Phantom Shark took its name thanks to its peculiar, innate capabilities, of phasing through solid matter like a phantom. Additionally, they could fly on land, without needing to live underwater.

  Normally, a single drop of Phantom Shark scale extract would be enough to kill a man, melting their body into a spiritual form, and leaving only residual ectoplasm behind.

  However, counteracted by the antler powder's Ark flow disruption, and the powerful connective properties of the Daffodil Paste, it instead acted as a connector between the physical body and the Ley Line system.

  Essentially, the scale extract let the Ley Lines reform properly, after being healed by the Daffodil Paste, and treated by the Night Reindeer antler powder. Three incredibly powerful ingredients, creating a medicine by counteracting each other.

  Arthur lowered the opened book, with an amazed expression on his face.

  “This is incredible…”

  The full description of that medicine didn't take up even half a page of the archives. There were two or three more step by step instructions on how to make more concoctions, all equally as detailed.

  Arthur quickly flipped through the pages, reaching the end of the notebook. It had around three hundred pages. That meant, it possessed something like nine hundred possible recipes for concoctions and medicines like that purple pill.

  Even if the Archive possessed the same amount of information, it wouldn't be as easily digestible as the recipes written in the Apothecary's own archives. Not to mention, he wouldn't know where to start, if he had to look for a specific medicine.

  Arthur was intrigued. He hadn't heard of Mythical Beasts up until that point, but the concept seemed incredibly interesting to him. He wondered if there were more ingredients like the Phantom Shark scale, or the Night Reindeer antler powder.

  More than that, he wondered whether they could have effects such as letting him use magic more easily, or strengthening his Ark somehow.

  He was about to flip to another page, when a familiar hand landed on his shoulder. He looked up, to see Irene nodding with her head towards the entrance of the library.

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  “Working hours are gonna end soon. We gotta go back. You can be back tomorrow, though!”

  “Ah, I see…” Arthur tried to hide his annoyance, but quietly clicked his tongue. He grabbed the few books he had chosen, and after checking in with the librarian, a Tribefolk woman with large fox ears, he headed back to the medical bay.

  Irene accompanied him, to talk some more on the way.

  “So, what's that book about, anyways?”

  She leaned forward, trying to get a peek at the books stashed away between Arthur's armpit and his arm. He kept walking, trying not to let any fall down.

  “The one I was reading earlier?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, that one! Something something medicine, right?”

  With some difficulty, Arthur picked up the book from the stack, showing it to Irene. Perhaps due to his interest in it, he wanted to keep its contents somewhat secret. If is assumptions were correct, that book would be very useful to him.

  “Yeah. The Apothecary's Archives of Medicine. It's pretty much just a medical cookbook though, not too interesting.”

  Arthur could quickly see the excitement vanish from Irene's face with his words, she wasn't interested in anything that didn't involve epic tales or fantastical romance. That much he guessed, from the books she was busy reading.

  Once they reached the entrance of the room in which Arthur was staying, in the medical bay, Irene bid him farewell, and went along her merry way.

  He quietly opened the door, peeking his head in to check whether anyone was inside. Neither the nurse from that morning, nor the Tribefolk woman were there. Good, he could spend some time with himself.

  Comfortably sitting down on the bed, he set down the books on the mattress. He ran his eyes over each and every cover and title, choosing what to read next.

  Although the Apothecary Archives interested him, and were sure to be a useful source of information, he couldn't stomach reading a three hundred pages long glorified cookbook in a single session.

  His own Archive was useful for situations like those, considering he could ask it to shorten and summarize the often overly detailed text it provided. And talking about the Archive, it had been weirdly quiet.

  Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind. Back at the library, while he was scrolling through the pages of the Apothecary Archives, he remembered hearing the noises of the Archive clicking away at its keys.

  “Were you recording everything?”

  A text window appeared in front of his eyes, providing an answer.

  [Correct. While Arthur Luria focused on singular recipes, the Archive archived the rest of the information accessible on the readable pages.]

  It took Arthur a few seconds to figure out what it was trying to say. After connecting the dots, he bumped his fist into his palm in understanding. He remembered the Archive saying, one of the first times he accessed it, that it could record details Arthur himself didn't notice.

  In other words, if Arthur could only read the pages one recipe at a time, one step at a time, the Archive could record the rest of the information on those pages. Various text windows manifested, all with different recipes which Arthur saw on the same page of the Ley Lines medicine.

  “I see… Then, wait…”

  He moved two fingers in front of his lips, thinking and rubbing his chin. A smirk grew quickly on his face. Although that Archive could be petty and annoyingly exhausting sometimes, it truly was a Gift.

  He slammed open the Apothecary Archives, pointing at one of the first pages, after the prologue and indexes. Immediately, text windows surrounded the air around Arthur, automatically transcribing the information on the pages.

  “We're going to do a hyper-speed transcription! From one Archive, to another! How fast can you read and write, Archive?”

  One of the windows slid through the air, positioning itself in front of Arthur. Although the Archive didn't have any human features at all, much less a face, Arthur could have sworn he saw it smirking proudly.

  [Flip the pages as fast as Arthur Luria can. The Archive shall provide the records.]

  Arthur started going through the pages as quickly as his fingers allowed him to. Flipping, then quickly tracing the words, phrases and paragraphs all at once with his eyes, only to flip again. He repeated that process multiple times.

  It only took a few seconds for each pair of pages, but those seconds quickly piled up into minutes. By the time he reached the end of the book, Arthur's breathing was unstable and frantic.

  The air around him vibrated with electrical, blue light, emanated from all the text windows surrounding him. They completely clouded his view of the room. His fingers were trembling, and sweat ran down his face.

  Surely, just flipping through a book shouldn't have tired him out this much. He weakly flicked his wrist, and most of the windows disappeared, save for the one used to converse with the Archive.

  He remembered reading, when he first found out about Gifts and Ark, that Gifts, too, utilized the energy known as Ark. Even if it was unnoticeable in everyday life, overloading a Gift with a task, like he just did, was sure to tire out the body and the mind.

  “Yeesh… For a skill like that, you sure are tiring to use…”

  His hand shot up towards the side of his head, wincing in pain. A sudden, piercing headache struck him, causing him to fall backwards onto the bed.

  He closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath, and wiping the sweat away from his front. Truly, there could have been no reason or need for a Gift like the Archive, that simply recorded information, to require that much stamina.

  [Arthur Luria seems to have misunderstood a core detail about the Archive.]

  The text window floated over his eyes, the electrical light dimmed in intensity, as if having noticed his sudden headache. He tilted his head weakly, and the Archive continued clicking away, finishing the sentence.

  [This Archive isn't an entity separated from Arthur Luria. The Archive is merely a visual representation of Arthur Luria's memories. Although the Archive can help Arthur Luria in recording information, all of that information is ultimately inputted and stored into Arthur Luria's brain. In other words, by feeding me such a high amount of information, you're forcing information into your own brain. The Archive is merely a medium for Arthur Luria to process, reword, summarize and organize information already present in his brain.]

  “Ugh… What you're saying is, I risk frying my brain if I do something like this again… Man, I'm losing all of the respect I had for you, Archive…”

  Arthur sighed, after managing to pull himself back up. He produced the tin container from his pockets, and flung one of the purple pills into his mind. Maybe, it would help with his headache, as well as with his Ley Lines.

  The chilly sensation spread through his body once more. He looked down at his torso, and noticed a dim, purple light branching off from his esophagus to the rest of his lower and upper abdomen, and then to his limbs.

  If he remembered correctly, that was the effect of the Daffodil Paste. Surprisingly, the medicine actually did help in alleviating his headache. With the cold sensation spreading through his head, the piercing pain slowly disappeared.

  Arthur massaged the side of his head once more, and cast another glance downwards. With the Ley Lines made visible, he felt like he could have an easier time entering the Dipping state, now.

  He crossed his arms, trying to decide whether to start another session of Dipping attempts, or to continue reading. One last burst of pain spread through his head. It felt like a burning needle penetrating his head.

  “Yup, maybe I'll read some more tomorrow…”

  At least, now he knew what would happen if he overused the Archive. Considering that was the only magical ability he had access to, at the moment, his future was looking grim, unless he managed to properly learn how to manipulate Ark.

  After one last sigh, he pushed the stacked books onto the nightstand. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes, and started meditating.