Chapter 7: Curiosity and Knowledge
Yelp.
The rest of the day had gone well, as intended by him. He had learned so much about magic in just one day, but he felt bad that he was a handicapped magician.
It was annoying seeing the other students use magic freely while he watched from the sidelines like a spectator.
It was no longer a secret to anyone that he was weak, even without them seeing his status card. They had renamed him the weakest after his announcement earlier that he didn't know what dark arts were. Arthur regretted that moment, and he wished he could turn back time and tell his past self to keep his mouth shut.
"Am I some kind of joke to them?" He growled to himself as he walked through the empty hallway. The sun had just set, and classes for the day had ended. He was making his way to the library, which was open all day and night, to pick up a reference book about runes used in some incantations. Professor Goblin had noticed his fatal ignorance and recommended that he should start with that if he were to start his journey as a student without lagging behind or feeling left out in lessons.
He had just arrived on the route that led to the main library when his eyes widened after suddenly sensing an ominous presence coming from the direction he was heading to.
Immediately, Arthur did the most obvious thing by hiding behind one of the large cylinder pillars out of fear and peeped to see what or who was coming out of the library with such a presence.
The doors of the library were slid open, and the first person to walk out was Professor Obsidian. But his presence was concealed, so he wasn't the source of the presence Arthur was feeling right now.
Behind him followed a group of five students in dark blue uniforms and white half-cloaks spread over their shoulders like actual dark knights and professional mages. They all had intense presences that almost matched that of the silver-haired mage before she hid it.
'They're not normal.' He thought as he foolishly searched through the group for the one who was producing the peculiar aura. And as he was still looking, a tall, dark-haired girl stepped out of the library, and the ominous presence erupted from her like an active volcano, sending terrifying signals to his brain telling him that he should make a run for it. But he fought against those urges and stayed in one place as the girl made her way to Professor Obsidian.
"Am I the only one who feels that?" He asked himself, keeping his eyes on the black-haired girl. Her eyes were green like his, and they shared almost the same physical features that reminded him of what Bairon mentioned. Could she be Rivian?
He was sure they couldn't see or sense him due to his weak magical presence, and even though they did, they could simply sweep him off as nothing. But the girl's senses were so sharp that when she glanced at him with her dark green eyes, his entire body froze in one place, petrified by fear. It felt like she had appeared in front of him and was pointing a katana at his face, ready to cut him into pieces without a single hint of hesitation.
She smirked, then took her eyes off him and he was freed from the overwhelming feeling of fear; though his hands continued to tremble even when he was aware that all he saw was a mental image of her gaze.
Still trembling, he leaned against the pillar and started panting his lungs out like they were about to collapse.
The girl's aura alone confirmed that he had just confronted a Rivian, one of the most powerful humans in existence. They were feared by demons even during his time, and the first dark knight was said to have come from the Rivian bloodline of mages.
He peered back after five minutes and confirmed that the girl and her group were gone.
Sigh
He could finally regain his mentality after what had just happened in the seconds she looked at him with eyes that were probably going to haunt him forever.
"It has just been a long day... there's no way a person can be that powerful," he muttered to himself over and over until he managed to calm himself down and proceeded to the library.
When he stepped into the library, he couldn't help but forget about what had just happened earlier after he set his eyes on a vast collection of books organized on large wooden shelves that continued up to the first floor of the library.
Arthur had never seen so many books in one place, and he could not help but feel excited to read as many as he could during his time here in the academy. They varied from categories like magecraft, sorcery, necromancy, and witchcraft to alchemy, mechanics, swordsmanship, and history. Arthur could tell that this was about to become his favorite place in this entire academy. Even in his old life, he was a person who admired knowledge and always saw it as a great weapon to always have nearby.
This was his chance to obtain that weapon.
"Okay then, what book did he recommend to me earlier?" he asked himself as he rushed to the Magecraft section. From what he had learned today, magecraft was the form of magic that mostly involved itself with runes; it was even used to make magic items like rune stones that blessed mages with so many abilities like flying, teleportation and so much more.
He ran his fingers through the books, checking for the one the professor had recommended. The books looked new, but they felt centuries old when he touched the surfaces. The covers were hard, but they felt smooth in his fingers as he read the titles from their spines. However, as Arthur searched through the endless number of books, he touched one that radiated an energy that forced him to stop whatever he was doing.
'What was that?' He looked at its spine and read the title out loud.
"ALUVAN DEMONECAI." He read.
Arthur felt a compulsion that made him pull the book off the shelf. He squinted his eyes as he tried to read the text written on the dusty old cover. It was hard and black, but what ticked off his curiosity was the energy he sensed pulsing out of it like a beacon summoning something.
*Thud*
A book had suddenly fallen from one of the shelves, pulling him out of the trance the book's energy had pulled his mind into. He stared at the book with curiosity and sighed. "I should take this home and see what it's about." He thought, then placed it on the reading table and continued with his research.
.
.
.
When he finally arrived home, Arthur wasted no time. He placed his bag on the reading table and lit the candles with a snap of his fingers and a little fire magic.
He still couldn't believe that more than two hundred years had passed since his death; what felt like a few seconds in the afterlife was actually an entire lifetime of events that changed the world in so many ways that he could imagine.
He removed his coat, tossed it on the floor, and pulled the black-covered book from his leather bag. For some reason, he felt drawn to this old book—almost as if it was calling out for him. And he was going to let his curiosity get the best of him.
Carefully, he opened the book, hoping that he didn't damage it. The book looked to be thousands of years old; the pages had turned yellow from aging. He found himself on the first page, which again had very faint text written on it—as if someone had done it intentionally. Though when he touched the first page, he was hit by an incredible energy that moved throughout his body.
Arthur gasped after being surprised by the energy and went on to flip to the next page.
*Flip*
The page was blank, but he noticed two drops of fresh blood on the paper. "Am I hallucinating again?" He touched his nose and realized that this wasn't his imagination; he was bleeding for real!
"What the hell is happening?" he panicked.
The book started to emit a blinding radiance as it started flipping from page to page uncontrollably. A few seconds later, it stopped, and Arthur couldn't take his eyes off the shining book—as if he were stuck in a deep trance. The words started to appear, but they were in a language that he had never seen before. And yet he felt like he was supposed to know what they meant.
He had a feeling that he should worry about what was happening to him, but he couldn't stop staring at the book—the light coming from it was hypnotic. It started to disappear gradually, turning into dust. And at the same time, his left eye changed its color from jade green to a bright red.
Then suddenly, it disappeared after fully turning to dust leaving a void of silence in the air.
Arthur's vision faded, and his eyes were pulled shut before he fell to the floor.
But just before he lost consciousness, he heard the voice in his head mutter a single word.
"Arise."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone