Having returned to the hall of the ground tier, Tim turned not towards the stairs, but towards the library. The desire to visit the toilet was actually present, but not very strong, it was quite possible to endure. He was lucky - no one else was concerned about acquiring book wisdom immediately after the class.

  This time, the library was much lighter: on the counter on the right side there was a lamp in the form of a griffin, holding a bowl in its front paws, inside which a flame was burning. It seemed that the librarian guessed that not all students were able to see in the dark.

  The first to notice Tim's appearance was Luguk, who jumped from one of the shelves and quickly climbed onto the library desk.

  "Hello, Luguk! Do you recognize me?"

  In response, the magical elemental stood on its back tentacles and raised its front ones up, intertwining them above its head. It turned out very funny, and Tim, overwhelmed by emotions, offered the elemental a small blue ball that he had found that morning on his way to the dining room. Luguk did not refuse the treat, and as a result, its color changed from pink to purple.

  Apparently hearing Tim’s voice, the librarian, on the flying carpet again, appeared from the depths of the library hall.

  "Do we have visitors, Luguk? Aha, I see. And if my eyesight doesn’t deceive me, this is the same youth who came here yesterday in the company of his friends."

  "Absolutely right," Tim confirmed.

  "Have you really read everything and come to get more?"

  "Not quite so, Khalid-amga. Of course, I would take new books with pleasure, especially as we already had classes on Nature and Elemental magic. But firstly I would like to ask you a few questions, the answers to which are very important to me. Last night, I learned that representatives of my people have not been accepted into the school for a very long time. Even worse, unlike the others I don’t have an innate magical gift! Most likely, some mistake has occurred, and what should I do now? Who is responsible for accepting new students into the school? Why did he suddenly decide that I could study here? After all, sorcery is the same art as painting or singing; without talent, you can't become a genius, only capable mediocrity in the best case! Yes, I can memorize hundreds of the formulas, but what's the point if I can't bring any of them to life!?

  The old man listened patiently to Tim's emotional speech, not expressing surprise or indignation with a single word or gesture.

  "You asked a lot of questions, and it will not be easy for me to give a short answer. So let's go in order," he suggested. "What race are you from?"

  "I am a human."

  "A human. Hmm-m-m ...," the librarian's face acquired a worried look. "Indeed, I have never heard of humans. In my memory, there has not been a single student of your race here. True, I have not been working here for very long, only seven years. But perhaps we will find the answer in the books! Wait a little!"

  And the flying carpet disappeared into the darkness of the library hall, from where it soon returned. In his hands, Khalid-amga held a weighty reference book called 'The Inhabitants of Magical Worlds'. Having put it on the desk, he thoughtfully began to leaf through the pages, abundantly decorated with illustrations - mostly black and white, but here and there tinted with mineral paints such as umber, ochre or ultramarine. A whole string of creatures flashed before Tim, familiar to him from earthly books and films (and some of whom he now knew firsthand) - elves, dwarves, goblins, trolls, dragons, genies, pixies, treants, phoenixes, salamanders, sylphs. But he saw many others for the first time and could only guess who they were and what they were called.

  Having leafed through to the last page, the librarian put the reference book aside with a sigh.

  "Alas, not a word about humans. Therefore, your world is not magical. But this is no reason to despair - the worlds of the Tilfings, Lycoses and Gorgons are not magical either. Nevertheless, their inhabitants regularly receive invitations to the school, and you have probably already met some of them. There was a tilfing in your company yesterday, right? It would, of course, be easier if someone compiled an atlas of all the worlds inhabited by sentient beings. Such an attempt was once made by the Honorable Nulham-amga, and he even went on a journey for it, from which, alas, he never returned. I hope that the work for which he lived will sooner or later be completed by someone else. We, the Ngwares, are very fond of knowledge, for it is the only true value in the face of inexorable time! Therefore, we are often invited to be its keepers and collectors. Most often, our employers are lords who own their own castles, or temple priests, where a collection of ten or twenty folios is already proudly called a library. From this point of view, I am extremely lucky - there are thousands, if not tens of thousands of manuscripts here, no life is enough to read them all! During my work, I managed to get acquainted with only a very small part of them! Let's do it this way: come here again in three or four days, I will try to look for literature where there are mentions of humans."

  Tim agreed, breathing a sigh of relief - with such an abundance of books, even looking through the catalogs would take a whole day.

  "As for your lack of the gift... usually students already have it by the time they enter school, but there may probably be exceptions. Our race is not magical, and therefore it is difficult for me to give a complete answer here. Perhaps one of the teachers will be more useful than me."

  The thought of teachers had already occurred to Tim, but there were other difficulties here - how to do this without the sight of his classmates? After the end of the class, the teachers immediately teleport - most likely to their apartments (which could well be located on the third tier or even higher). Where else they might be found is still unknown. There is definitely no point in asking the dwarves - it was not for nothing that Rugud said that the affairs of wizards did not concern him.

  "But in any case, a student who is incapable of learning magic in principle would not be able to get here," the librarian said solemnly. "And Ixoar strictly monitors this - this is a magical elemental, similar to Luguk, but much more serious and powerful (the 'octopus' made an offended face - I also wasn’t born yesterday). When the time comes to invite new students, the Principal gives the appropriate order and Ixoar sets off. Wandering between worlds, he searches for children with magical abilities. Then, when the required number of them is collected, he sends an invitation. Those who agree eventually end up here. However, you know this yourself, because there is no other way to get here!"

  It's a pity, it is impossible to interrogate this elemental - it's unlikely that it has the gift of speech, and where would you find it? Although then a lot would become clearer.

  "Could it accidentally make a mistake in its choice?"

  "In no case! Elementals do not have many of our weaknesses, they cannot be intimidated, bribed or deceived. And if it chose you, it means that you have the abilities for sorcery. You just need to discover them in yourself and learn to use them correctly."

  "Thank you, you have given me a spark of hope! I will begin my training immediately. And I will drop by again in a few days. And today I would like to take the textbooks on Red and Green magic. Unfortunately, the teachers did not say which ones to take, Master Saag-Kof advised us to ask in the library. Can you give me some advice?"

  "Oh, of course, that is why we, librarians, exist! The choice of textbooks here is wide, but you are probably primarily interested in those with simpler spells, right? Well, so be it. While I go get them, Luguk, find this young man's card and write down in it: Alawiel, 'Marvelous Magic of the Living World', and Biisato, 'Who is the Lord of the Elements'."

  The 'octopus' set to work eagerly, and soon Tim had both textbooks in front of him. The Elemental Magic textbook was very reminiscent of a children's pop-up book; apparently, it was intended for very young wizards, since the pictures took up most of the book. In contrast, the textbook on Nature magic had almost no pictures - at most one for each chapter. Oh well, he was old enough to look at pictures instead of studying, Tim decided quite sensibly.

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  "Thank you very much! However, I have one more small favor to ask. One of my friends, a drow, is very interested in the history of the origin of his people. He suspects that the official chronicles describe it, so to speak, not quite correctly."

  "Serious interests for such a young age, however! Your friend undoubtedly has a very sharp and insightful mind. But let him be careful - knowledge of the truth very often brings with it great troubles, and sometimes costs one's head. If he can cope with them, while maintaining the desire for truth, honor and praise to him! Fortunately, this is easier than in your case - the library has many books written by elves and about elves, the truth will definitely be found somewhere! For example, here is Raengor's work 'Biography of the folks inhabiting Gallaeri', written nearly a thousand years ago, but still actual because Raengor objectively described events and facts known to him. If it will not be sufficient there are other historical works. But before I give it to you, I'll check it!"

  And putting the 'Biography' on the desk he gave a quick thumb through it.

  "Everything seems to be in order, you can take it!"

  "And what was this check for?" Tim asked with interest.

  "Some old books can have curses placed on them. You open it and, for example, you will sneeze for an hour. Or you will run to the toilet several times in a row. And that's the best case scenario! Fortunately, I have never heard of curses that kill on the spot, but occasions of insanity or lethargy took place. Alas, no one has yet invented a spell allowed to detect if a book cursed or not. And it is not always possible to remove the curse, sometimes only by burning. Which is very sad, because some books have survived in only a single copy! But don't worry, only a very small part of library literature is dangerous! Tutorials are absolutely safe and you may read them without worrying. But with books where really terrible sorcery was described you should keep your eyes opened! And if anything happens, run immediately to the medical aid station, there you’ll get help!"

  "Thank you for the warning, we'll be careful!"

  And, having said goodbye, Tim was about to leave, when two anzimars came into the library.

  "We thought we'd be the first," said one of them cheerfully, turning to his companion.

  "Never mind. Let's see what the others are going to read," the second anzimar literally snatched the books from Tim's hands. "Yeah, textbooks on Elemental and Nature magic. But why do you want to read about the history of elves?"

  "For general development. I want to know who I am studying with."

  "What trash is interesting for you, however. You might as well start reading about the Tilfings, ha ha! Oh, by the way, tell your horned buddy: let he don’t hide and come to speak with us. Then there won't be any problems."

  "What do you want to talk about, I wonder?" Tim asked sarcastically.

  "About life, of course, what else can you talk about with a tilfing?" the anzimar smirked in response. "You shouldn't have messed with him in the first place. Tilfings are cunning and two-faced creatures who only pretend to be weak. They like to play on pity, provoking compassion. And they themselves are just waiting for the moment to fool their benefactor. As they say, give them a finger, they'll chop off your whole hand. If I were you, I'd stay away from him."

  "It's my business," Tim said firmly, taking his books back.

  "Of course, each of us is free to make his own choice. But if it suddenly turns out to be wrong, what's the point of stubbornly clinging to it? Wouldn't it be better to immediately turn in the right direction?"

  "Germeht, look at what a cool librarian there is!" exclaimed the second anzimar, pointing at Luguk.

  "Actually, I am the librarian here," Khalid-amga noted reproachfully. "And you, youngsters, should learn to be polite."

  Taking advantage of the moment, Tim left the library, overcome by conflicting feelings. He had no sympathy for the golden-haired youths, but what if, for a moment, they were right about something? Ri-Bo doesn’t even think about writing down what the teachers are talking about, hoping to copy from him later. But why should Tim let him copy? Let everyone work for himself. The kobold also characterized tilfings not in the best way. Maybe it’s not for nothing that the horned bipeds have a long history of dislike on Earth, inhabiting places where people usually wish to burn their sworn enemies? After all, logically there should have been some reason for this? It’s unlikely that the tilfings ever lived on Earth, but the sorcerers of ancient times could well have met them, and their impressions of such meetings were later clothed in a religious-mystical form. Did he really make a mistake back then, coming to Ri-Bo's aid?

  Voices heard in the distance distracted Tim from his thoughts. He remembered his father once saying - if you can't make the right decision, don't rush to make one, wait a little. Then, perhaps, it will find itself, or changed circumstances will relieve you of the need to make a choice. In such situations, his mother advised him to trust his heart. Tim did not dare to trust it too much - there were cases when he rushed to help those who did not need it at all. Or rather, who tried to use his impulse for their own, sometimes dubious, purposes. Okay, no need to rush. Caution in any case does not hurt.

  As soon as he found himself in the hall, he was immediately called out - it turned out to be his friends, climbing the stairs on their way from the dining room.

  "Aha, that's the toilet you went to!" Naar-Tam exclaimed cheerfully.

  "And we already thought you drowned there completely," Tiis-Mir added mockingly.

  "By the way, Pulsok was looking for you," Mez'A'Shib remained completely serious.

  "Why?"

  "He was very angry, said that you should be kicked out from the school immediately."

  "Me?? For what?!?"

  "Something like because of the earthling, big problems started here!"

  Probably, Tim had such a dumbfounded appearance that his friends unwittingly began to laugh.

  "It didn't work, though," Ri-Bo said.

  "What do you mean?"

  "While we were having lunch, we also discussed how to help you awaken your gift. And we decided - we need to give you a good scare! But, probably, we didn't choose the right option."

  "Well, at least it wasn't a brick to the head," Tim grumbled. Friendly help undoubtedly is a good thing, but why tell the girls about his shortcomings? Even boys can't always keep a secret, and girls even more so. The mood immediately worsened - fortunately, not enough to turn around and leave.

  "Probably for its awakening in humans not negative but positive emotions are needed," Chilajt assumed. "For example, like these!"

  And she kissed Tim again.

  "If it didn’t work last time, why now?" Tiis-Mir grinned. "I think so: the gift will awaken when a spell close to it in essence is cast."

  The idea seemed good to everyone.

  "It would be nice to know from what field of magic my gift is," Tim slightly cheered up.

  "Try everything, sooner or later you will succeed. By the way, we have developed your idea!"

  Judging by the bulging pockets, the idea was tested to the fullest.

  "We just haven't decided what to do with the water," Mez'A'Shib sighed. - When we, drowes, go on a trip, we usually take flasks with us, but where can we get them here? And we can't make them - they're made of metal."

  "What if 'to borrow' a couple of flasks from the lab? There are so many of them that no one will go broke!" Ri-Bo offered merrily.

  "They're glass, and glass breaks easily. Better not to risk it."

  "What if we make them out of wood?"

  "Light elves really use wood cans for transportation of liquids," Mez’A’Shib became thoughtful. "Unfortunately, I don’t know the manufacturing technique."

  "Maybe the dwarves have some?"

  "Good idea! Dwarves also use flasks!"

  "Just don't steal them!" Tim warned, looking sternly at the tilfing. "It's better to get them in exchange for the crystals. Of course, if dwarves are interested in them."

  "Yes, for sure. Dwarves never miss a chance to make a good deal. After all, the flasks 'gifted' to us can be written off as out of use and replaced with new ones."

  "Then that's what we'll do. I personally don't see any more interesting options yet."

  Ri-Bo volunteered to negotiate with the dwarves. There were no objections - it was unlikely that any of them could boast the talents of a natural diplomat. After that, it was time for the books taken from the library.

  "These are the textbooks that Khalid-amga recommended to me," Tim readily explained, handing the 'picture book' to the peirots to look at, and Chilajt - the essay on the delightful magic of the living world.

  "And this is for you," he handed the third book to Mez'A'Shib. "I hope you'll find what you're looking for in it."

  "You took it for me?" the drow was amazed. "And you won't ask for anything in return?"

  "Just one thing: don't forget to return it when you've read it."

  "And in general, get used to the fact that friends are not those who want to get something from you!" Naar-Tam added with a laugh.

  "If so, then thank you very much. I'll try not to keep it with me for long."

  "Your homeland is called Gallaeri?" Tiis-Mir read the title of the book, squinting her eyes.

  "That's what the Light Elves call it. The Dwarves call it Galarud, the Orcs -Guldur, and we, the Drowes, - Galhiri. This alone can immediately tell which people the author belongs to. I hope he was objective enough, and the pages of his work are not filled with nothing but curses against the Dark Elves."

  "Don't the Drowes have books?"

  "Alas, you won't find any truth in them at all. I'll note: at all times, those in power really didn't like to read the truth about themselves, preferring flattering lies. And they liked those who wrote it even less. And who wants to put his head on an executioner’s block?"

  "Khalid-amga said that the library has a lot of books about elves. You'll probably learn about things you never even suspected!"

  "By the way, how about we take a walk to the library for new textbooks?"

  'Better not now. A whole crowd showed up there after me, we'll have to wait a long time until everyone is served."

  Tim didn't mention the anzimars - he'll pass on the conversation with them to Ri-Bo later.

  "Oh well. Then let's scatter and gather again before the start of the Mind Magic class."