There were hundreds of books in the library that all told Leo what the author thought about magic. In the end, that was what books were.
They were just what the author felt was right. The only thing that made it believable was the credibility of the author. In the case of books about magic, this credibility came from magic power.
All the books that Leo was reading were copies of journals of 7th Circle and 8th Circle Mages. These were only reproductions, but the knowledge was priceless to Leo. As he read book after book, he started to see some similarities between what each book told.
As he started making concrete connections between the books he was reading, he started reading with a stronger fervor. He had long gone into a trance as he devoured the words coming out of the books. As the time passed, his reading speed increased instead of decreasing.
Before he even knew it, an entire day passed. He had finished 27 books in this time. His eyes were even starting to show signs of redness from reading too many books. He was unbothered by the state of his eyes and kept reading.
After his 50th book, he finally put the book to his side without getting up. He closed his eyes and started thinking. He had spent a little more than 40 hours inside the library. After a couple of minuted, he opened his eyes and went back to his routine.
Time passed and three days passed since he had entered the library. He put his book aside and let out a yawn for the first time in a long while. He had finished reading a total of 98 books in this time.
After 98 books, he felt he gained a proper understanding of what the current magic world perceived magic as. To gain a complete understanding, he had to read these many books. When he saw the same information repeat in so many books and read the explanations for each, it served as a way for him to properly understand the content.
At the end, he looked at all the commonalities and pieced together a model of what he felt was a good explanation of magic to him.
Magic was essentially a power that let people connect with nature itself. The stronger you were, the deeper of a connection you had with nature. This was what allowed strong mages to use more power.
At the end of the day, it was only borrowed power. Magic only allowed a mage to borrow power from nature. But according to all the books, that was not the only power that magic had.
One of the effects that magic had on the body was an increased perception. This was something Leo knew himself, so he wasn’t surprised. Another effect was an increase in lifespan.
Mages could live for a long time. Even 4th Circle Mages could live for 200 years at the least. After that, each increase in power gave the mages a 30 year increase in lifespan.
And finally, Leo learned about the different uses of magic. He had been under the assumption that magic was only used to cast spells that harmed people, but he was only thinking that because that was what he saw the most.
Magic was what people used to make pills. Magic could be used to make weapons as well. There was magic that bound itself to blood and made people stronger. There was also magic that could be used to curse people.
The applications that he found out were immense. Most of these applications required the mage to be at least in the 4th Circle, so the entry barrier was pretty high. It also meant that the people who could actually use it in the territory he was in were pretty low.
He got up and stretched. He put the books back in their place and slowly walked out of the library. As he was walking out, he noticed that there was another person walking into the library.
The other student wasn’t expecting the conversation from Leo but showed a positive reaction.
“Thanks. I’m in a rush now, so I can’t speak. But I really appreciate it,” he said.
Leo waved as he walked out of the floor and down the stairs. He went to the desk to get his card back.
“You were inside for 74 hours and 26 minutes. That comes to 37216 points.” There was another student at the desk. He was probably a newer student so he gaped at the length of Leo’s stay in the library.
“Is that common?” He leaned in and asked Leo. “I’m just a first-year so I don’t know.”
Leo shrugged. “I wouldn’t know either. I am a first-year too.”
Leo walked back to his dorm, leaving the student stunned. He had seen a first-year blow 37000 points in a library when he didn’t even have 500.
When Leo got back to the dorm, he immediately collapsed onto the nearby chair in the living room. He didn’t even have the energy to go to his own room. He closed his eyes and immediately went into a nap.
He opened his eyes again after 4 hours. He got up and stretched. As he was doing that, he noticed a presence near the door. The door slowly creaked open as a person walked in.
“You?” A voice sounded.
The person on the other side of the living room was the same person that Leo had seen at the library. It was his mysterious roommate all along.
“What a surprise,” Leo said. “I never thought that that would be our first meeting as roommates. I’m Leo.”
The boy smiled widely. “I’m Roland Ironheart. I am incredibly happy to find out that my roommate is a person who enjoys pursuing knowledge like me,” he said.
Leo reciprocated his feelings. “Me too. But what makes you think I only went there for knowledge and not for an Aura Technique?” He asked.
“You weary state. You would have spent an hour or less if you went for an Aura Technique or a Magic Spell. You would only need to memorize it and come back. But looking at your exhausted eyes, I would bet you spent at least a dozen hours in there. My question is, where did you get the points for that this early in the year.” He asked Leo.
Leo sheepishly said, “I had a rank. I used most of my points at this point.”
Roland gave a thumbs up. “That’s an exceptional use of your points. If you ever run out, tell me. I can get you Library Passes for a good price. Not too many though. Points are still hard to get.”
Leo was confused by those words. Buying Library Passes with Starcoins? That was something only- At this point, Leo realized something. He had forgotten to check the aura level of Roland. But when he did, he didn’t find anything. That was because Roland wasn’t an Aura Knight. He was a mage. He was a noble.