Finding the library was not as smooth sailing as Merlin had thought it would be, despite making use of the in-built Academy map on his smartwatch. And that was because Prestige Academy was way too big. It was almost like an estate, if it wasn’t even bigger. As a result, he had gotten lost a few times regardless of following the map.
But it wouldn’t be fair to bme all that on the size of the Academy, would it? Part of his reason for ending up more than once in a location he wasn’t headed in was because his mind was occupied by the discussion he’d had with Professor Jung.
Of course, he had resigned his mind and heart to focus on battling the Cataclysm, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t afraid. He wondered how his mother would react if he revealed his path to her. It would be anything but pleasant. And that was why he had no intentions of doing that—at least not yet.
The library finally came into view not long ter, after Merlin had wasted a good chunk of his time waddling through the beautiful pine trees that stood peacefully all around him. It was a colosseum structure that rivaled the auditorium in accentuations and beauty, and perhaps that was one of the reasons why it was located behind it.
Merlin was wowed just like every other time he had come across a structure in Prestige Academy, but he could not dey Nora any further, so he did not remain outside to take in every inch of the building. His sister was probably already on the verge of committing murder. He wasn’t about to let her go through with it.
The interior of the library was just as perfect as its exterior. It was a mixture of marbled floors, white columns that rose all the way up to the ceiling towering over the whole structure, which depicted murals of countless floating schors with scrolls and books. And, most of all, besides the footfalls of the students moving from one pce to another, scouring bookshelves, or murmuring ideas to each other, there was no noise.
Merlin was gd his mouth had not fallen open at the sight, which was why it was fairly easy for him to rein himself in without being turned into a ughing stock.
That aside, how was he to find Nora in such a rge pce?
She had sent him a text that she was in section five, and he could see rge boards hanging down from the ceiling between compartments with words such as: ‘Dungeons’, ‘Towers’, ‘Mana flow’. He understood that they were categories of the library, but he could see no boards depicting numbers.
Tired of standing awkwardly at the door, he decided to do the only thing he could: ask the librarian. And, thankfully, their desk was not hidden in an obscure area or something of the sort.
“Hi. Good evening,” Merlin greeted as he walked up before the white marble desk the librarian was seated before, his fingers tapping gently on the keyboard before him. He was a man clearly in his te thirties, with barely any sign of facial hair (perhaps as a means of always making sure to prevent any from growing rather than being unable to grow any) and bck hair with bangs perfectly separated at its center to reveal his forehead slightly.
“Good evening,” the man replied. “How may I help you?”
Merlin held onto a single strap of his bag. “Where can I find section five?”
The man jerked his head at a passage not far away from his table. “Straight down there. You’ll see the reading sections then.”
Oh. The numbered sections are reading sections. Good to know.
“Thank you,” said Merlin as he readied himself to turn around.
“Do you pn on taking any books?” the librarian asked. “If you are, then I suggest you register yourself now and get a pass so you do not have to come back ter.”
It only took Merlin a second to think about it before agreeing to do just that. It was only sensible after all. And even though he doubted that he would be taking any book from the shelves that had not already been taken by Nora, he still had to consider the future. Sure, he could get the pass anytime. But there was something known as an unprecedented situation.
A minute ter, and with all his details inputted into the library’s computer by the librarian, Merlin received a pstic white card that had the golden insignia of the Academy embzoned onto it.
“With this you’ll be able to take books out of the shelves, and can borrow them to take back to the dorm. Just so you know, any book you take out of the shelves is to be returned by your humble self. If you don’t,” the librarian pointed at the computer, “we will know, and your pass will be revoked after three strikes. If that happens, it’ll take a while before you’re granted another pass. So be careful.”
Merlin nodded. Returning books back to their shelves was barely any issue for him. He’d never liked leaving books lying about after being used after all. His clothes were different, though, but that was not important. What was, was how the pass decided if one could take a book from the library shelves or not. He was curious how that worked, but if he deyed Nora any more, she would definitely commit that murder.
Section five came into view a minute or so ter, and it only took a second for Merlin to catch sight of his twin sister. She had her gaze buried into a book, so he thought about sneaking up on her, well aware that he was in a library and noise wouldn’t be tolerated. But what was youth without a few pranks and foolhardy decisions?
However…
“You’re te,” Nora said as he crept behind her.
Merlin clicked his tongue in disappointment and sat down across from her. “Why’s it so hard to catch you unaware?”
Nora looked up at him, raising a brow. “Shouldn’t you be apologizing, you brat?”
Merlin sighed. “I’m sorry, okay. I was constantly getting lost.”
She scoffed. “How do you get lost even with a map? Has half your brain really gone poof?”
“Enough with that joke already,” Merlin sneered. “Anyways, what’s with the mountain of books?” Merlin gestured at the pile of books Nora had arranged beside her. “I don’t recall you always reading this much at once.”
Nora flipped to another page of the book she was reading. “Not mine,” she said simply. “Hers.”
Merlin followed Nora’s pointed finger to see Kim Yiseo moving from bookshelf to bookshelf, slotting what was eerily simir to his card into slots after slots and taking out books and adding them to a cart.
He would have been fascinated by how the pass actually operated, but he was more concerned with why Kim Yiseo was taking so many books at once like she was out doing the cliché chaebol daughter shopping.
What was she? A sage?
“There’s no way she’s pnning to read it all,” Merlin noted. “Is she out of her mind?”
“Trust me, I asked the same thing,” said Nora. “Know what reply she gave me? ‘I’ll just take it back to the dorm’. She is out of her mind.”
Merlin agreed. On the other hand…
His gaze snapped back to his sister.
“When did you guys become all buddy-buddy? Am I missing something?”
Nora’s eyes twitched, and he could see her cheeks redden for a moment. But she had always been good at hiding her true emotions—at least, the positive ones.
There’s nothing bad about making a friend? And, besides, it’s always the ones that start with quarrels that are the strongest.
But Merlin was not pnning on saying that, and since Nora was obviously not going to be answering his question, he decided to move on to the next agenda he had. And one he had to get out of the way quickly before Kim Yiseo returned.
“Today in css, I became bothered by something,” he started.
Nora looked up and pulled her brows in. “What happened?”
“Well, besides me narrowly escaping being on the podium and acting as a second teacher,” Nora frowned even more, “nothing did. What’s bothering me is my ability to channel mana without exploding. Grimoire stabilizes mana, right? But Deficient Mages don’t have any because they don’t have enough mana to cast spells; basically they can barely channel anything that would remotely cause them troubles. Me, on the other hand, can channel enough mana to deconstruct spells. Shouldn’t I be exploding if my mana can do something so significant?”
Nora shifted away from the table, sitting upright as she took a moment to think.
“Maybe it’s because of the System?” she whispered.
This was why Merlin had wanted to get this out of the way before Kim Yiseo returned. He, too, had considered that it was probably because of the System. Considering what it could do, it was possible that it was acting as a Grimoire for him, keeping his mana in check.
“I also think the same.” Merlin nodded. “However, what about the injuries I sustain from deconstructing high tier spells? Isn’t that my mana reacting to me channeling it? With a Grimoire that shouldn’t happen, right?”
Nora pursed her lips. “Ehh… I’m sure that’s normal.” Merlin frowned. “I think I would liken that to a D-Css Mage pushing their mana to its limit while battling an S-Css Mage. Think about it like this,” she took out a book from her bag and a pen, and drew two stick figures standing opposite each other, “this guy is a lich; you know how magically potent liches are.” Merlin nodded. “And this guy is just a foot soldier. Now this guy is battling with this lich, but he knows he can’t win with just the mana he’s able to channel out, so he tries to force more as a means to create a powerful spell. Now, Grimoires function to regute, not stop mana entirely, and they don’t possess minds of their own. If this foot soldier stubbornly forces mana despite the Grimoire trying to hold it back, he’ll succeed, but definitely not without repercussions. Same with your System.”
Merlin’s brows moved up slightly. He understood perfectly. The power of fiction.
“But it seems the System does more than just regute,” Merlin added. “I can strengthen my mana, and if a spell is far beyond my skill, it stops me from deconstructing it entirely.”
“Yeah,” Nora agreed. “But we both know that stuff’s mysterious. I’d say it’s more like an advanced Grimoire with a mind of its own. I don’t even know if I should say you’re lucky or not. It still scares me.”
Merlin smiled. “I’ll be fine.”
“Hello, Merlin,” Kim Yiseo’s voice came from the side and Merlin turned around to widen his smile at her.
“Hi.” He waved, not sure if he should speak to her casually or not. “Thank you for the luggage. Never got the chance to say that.”
“You’re welcome,” she said as she pulled the cart beside the desk and sat down. “Are you all better now?”
Merlin realized she was asking about the whole incident with the physical assessment. He nodded.
“Never been better.”
She reciprocated his nod. “That’s good.”
“What’s with all the books?” Merlin asked.
Kim Yiseo sighed as she took out everything from the cart. “I’m trying to finish the entire sylbus this week. It’ll put me ahead of everyone else.”
That sounded eerily simir.
“You know that’s impossible, right?” Nora said, a cheek resting on her palm nguidly.
“Well, actually, it isn’t,” said Merlin, prompting Nora to gre at him. How dare he not support her? He shrugged. “Someone has done it already.”
“Impossible,” she stood her ground.
“I’m serious.”
“He’s serious,” Kim Yiseo chimed in. “Someone has done it. Our senior.”
Nora frowned. If there was one thing Merlin knew about his sister, it was that she was highly competitive. The fact that someone could finish the whole sylbus of their courses in a week, was an initiative for her to try it as well. She always wanted to be the best at everything. And she proved him right a second ter as she pulled half the books Kim Yiseo had gathered her way.
Well, goodluck.
“Oh,” Merlin recalled he had to tell Nora something. He could wait until Kim Yiseo was gone, or ter through a text, but he saw no reason to hide it from her since it was not exactly a secret. “A lot happened between Saturday and today; I’ll summarize it for you guys.”
Nora and Kim Yiseo’s gazes turned to him, curiosity etched vividly on their faces.
“First of all, I’m going to be joining the disciplinary committee.” They tilted their heads slightly, amused. And he had not gotten to the best part. “Secondly, I met with the headmaster, and I was given a quest. He wants me to be able to cancel his magic by the end of the year, in preparation for the pusible arrival of the Cataclysm. Yes, you heard correctly; the headmaster cims that the Cataclysm is not far away, and, I, will be at the forefront if it arrives.”
Merlin wouldn’t say he enjoyed it, but it was not every time one got to see two nigh-apathetic girls with bnk looks on their faces out of sheer confusion and shock. He was really one heck of a man to have achieved such a feat.
