Chapter 69: The Library Visit
Alen walked through the streets as the day began to wind down. It had been two days since he parted ways with Serene and Zane. Now, he was simply wandering from place to place, looking for something interesting to do.
Over the past two days, he had done nothing but train his skills to improve his overall mastery. He had successfully stabilized his new Rank, and even his base physical stats had increased slightly.
For the past few months, he hadn’t gotten the chance to properly train in peace. Everything he had learned was forged through practical, life-or-death battles. Because of that, his actual technical mastery over his skill arts was still pretty low. But now, with time to refine his technique, he noticed a massive difference. If the skills he used during the previous dungeon battles were strong enough to crack a boulder, they were now powerful enough to blow it completely apart.
As he continued to wander around, he noticed a large, quaint building. Carved into the stone above the entrance were the words: ’The Blue City Library’.
"Hmm... So the city I am currently staying in is the Blue City," Alen muttered to himself.
As Alen had wandered around, he had been completely unaware of the city’s name. It wasn’t that he forgot to ask; it was just incredibly embarrassing to walk up to a local and ask, "What is the name of this place?" They probably would have thought he was brain-dead.
’Well, it wasn’t actually hard to guess, considering the infrastructure all over the city is decorated in blue,’ Alen thought.
The architecture was a perfect representation of the sea. The city was an island located in a distant region, surrounded by massive bodies of water. It was also quite famous for an event called ’The Blue Festival’, which luckily happened to be starting today.
Looking up at the library, Alen felt a sudden surge of curiosity. He still didn’t know much about this world. Even though he had learned many things through his travels and battles, he still lacked a basic, foundational knowledge of how society and magic functioned here.
After meeting Serene’s terrifying father, his curiosity had only deepened. He wanted to know exactly how powerful the top-tier Awakeners were and what the upper stages of power looked like.
He had tons of questions about the world, but with no one around to feed his curiosity, those questions remained unanswered.
Alen looked at the old library and stepped forward.
*Creak—*
As he opened the wooden doors, the distinct, comforting smell of old paper and aged leather washed over him. The library was bathed in the warm, natural light of the setting sun filtering through large glass windows.
Alen stepped inside.
He looked around. No one seemed to be present in the aisles, and there wasn’t even anyone sitting at the front counter. Alen didn’t mind the emptiness. He had come here to gather information, and he preferred the quiet anyway.
He walked down the aisles, scanning the massive rows of books stacked tightly together on the tall wooden bookshelves.
There were various topics he wanted to look into, but his primary goal was to learn about the power structure of the Awakeners. He needed to understand the true ceiling of this world’s strength.
He searched the shelves, but because he wasn’t used to navigating massive libraries, he couldn’t easily find what he was looking for.
Just as he was continuing his search down another aisle, a hand lightly tapped his shoulder.
Alen’s survival instincts flared violently. He instantly side-stepped, pivoting to face the threat. Standing right next to him was a beautiful woman in her early thirties.
She was beautiful, but that wasn’t what caught Alen’s attention. What terrified him was that he hadn’t sensed her presence at all.
There had been no footsteps. No shift in the air. Not even the slightest fluctuation of ambient mana. With his highly elevated intuition and honed senses, he should have easily noticed someone walking up behind him, even if they had suppressed their mana perfectly. But he hadn’t heard a thing.
"Who are you?!" Alen demanded, his eyes narrowing coldly.
The lady gave him a gentle, polite smile.
"Uff~ It seems I scared the little guy. Well, I am Savi, the librarian of this establishment," she said softly.
"I saw that you were searching for a particular book, and I thought I should help you. It’s quite rare to find new people wandering in here so often."
Alen kept his eyes narrowed. He nodded slowly, still remaining highly cautious of her.
"So, how may I help you? What kind of book do you need? Just tell me, and I will find it for you."
"Uhmm... I want to learn about the power structure of Awakeners," Alen said carefully.
"I also need information about the current strongest Awakeners, as well as the famous figures from the past."
"Mmm... It is quite rare to find someone who wants knowledge about current affairs in such an old place," she noted.
She looked at the boy with another gentle smile—a smile that still gave Alen a very weird, unsettled feeling in his gut.
She moved past him and walked toward a completely separate section of the library. She parted a few dusty tomes to pull out an incredibly old, weathered book. Then, she walked over to another aisle and pulled out a second book.
She walked back and handed them to him.
"Here, take these. The old one contains comprehensive information about the power structures and the Awakeners of the past. The second book contains information regarding current, modern figures."
She tapped the cover of the second book lightly.
"Though you should know, not everything is written in these books. The personal details and actual combat power of top-tier Awakeners are heavily guarded secrets, so you won’t find their exact limits in print. Only their famous, public feats are recorded."
Alen took the heavy books and nodded. "Thanks for the help."
"Hah... Don’t be so polite, boy. It’s not a big deal," Savi chuckled.
"If you need any more help, just ask. I’ll be sitting near the front counter."
"If you’ll excuse me, then," Alen replied.
He walked past her and stepped toward a quiet reading table situated right beside a large window. The fading sunlight illuminated the wooden table perfectly—it was an ideal spot to read.
He sat down and looked closely at the cover of the oldest book. The title read: ’The Magical Being’.
Alen frowned, feeling slightly confused. Why was the book titled ’The Magical Being’ instead of something about Awakeners? Did she give him the wrong book?
Pushing his doubts aside, he opened the heavy cover and turned to the very first page.
As his eyes scanned the first few lines of text, a sudden, chilling sensation made his skin prickle.
