Master Of None

The books of the archive seemed to be enough to trap the little princess in thought. She had not imagined that the numerous amount of books before her was even possible. On top of this, they were not all about magic either. They ranged from everything about magic to the most fantastical fantasies gathered from other races. She had no idea where to start on her reading journey.

Walker knew that she wanted to focus on magic since she wanted to see more of the space mana she liked. That was the thing that caught her eye and her focus. However, this was a chance to broaden her mind even more. If she could read more here she might be able to learn even more related to the magics she wanted to attune herself to.

”Take your time, this is one of the best guarded places within the city because it holds the knowledge of multiple races. There are even elder dragons working inside to ensure that the books are treated with care. The dragons have a different way or recording their knowledge and one of their elders has been bringing knowledge here to be copied slowly but surely.”

Walker thought about the unique method of the dragons and how some knowledge could not easily be written down. However, he had heard there were those who could make crystal balls and capture images and memories within them. It was not something the library of Genesis could easily utilize now, but in the future it might be the best way to learn skills and just about everything related to someone’s teaching.

”This place has a lot of mana too…” Her whisper was barely enough to hear, but Walker could hear it clearly. This little princess could see the traces of mana left on books from both the copiers who worked hard to make sure the knowledge within each book was exactly what those who created it wished it to be.

Yet, that was not all.

In terms of mana, traces of those who created a technique, especially in terms of personal journals, left a great deal of their mana in the pages. Meaning that the original copies might be even more valuable than any copy due to those pursuing the same technique or knowledge being able to sense and understand that mana.

The form of mana used in a forging technique was about knowledge of materials and how to manipulate it. Therefore, the crafter using a certain kind of mana could be more important than any other aspect of the crafting technique. For someone else to master it, they may need to grasp how to match that singular form of mana.

If an imprint or remnant wisp of that mana is on a personal journal passed down to the one attempting to learn, there are a few possibilities.

If unable to sense that mana, the one learning may be able to unconsciously grasp the mana while they read and practice. Or, if very sensitive and sharing the same affinity, the one learning might get a large boost in comprehension due to that mana being left behind.

There are even those who can get better and teach based on the mana and technique they sense and learn. While they might not use it themselves, they could teach better because their skills allow them to pass on what they comprehend regardless of their own abilities.

”Sir Walker!” The shout from behind him came from an unfamiliar archivist. They were not necessarily someone he had spoken to before but if he thought back he remembered hearing about a larger number of new archivists, copyers, and other classes related to the library and their archives joining.

”Sorry to bother you if you are here to read, I was wondering if you could take time to assist in documenting some of the new books we brought in. Several are remarkable copies from archives within the ruins of the vampire castles we have sent groups to excavate. There are also several copies left from the ruined angel city that made their way here to be copied by experts.”

The archivist seemed like there was a mountain on their shoulders and most likely that was due to the change in dropped off books all with different needs. Some might not have the best quality while others were surviving from the ruins in good condition, but otherwise a mystery as to what they might be used for. Not to mention that there were some that might need extensive appraisals before they were worked on in case of unseen damage or just for general sorting before copies are made.

”We would like to see the new books just brought in. I have a feeling we will see very many interesting things.” Like a hawk, the young princess was focused on the books being carried toward the sorting areas. She had them in her sights like predator and prey, she wanted to see the manas left on the books and also learn what they were. Just because she could see the mixes of manas, did not at all mean she understood what they were or how they worked.

Following the grateful archivist who was talking in depth about the larger groups of books arriving, Walker began to realize just how large the library and archives had become. There was a connection to the underground section of the city which allowed for better storage to be made for some of the copies or for the working area where many were working to copy safe books.

On the other hand, he was now standing in a very large sorting area where some of the light healers were using purification skills on books. Some were being moved to damage piles that would be kept for expert researchers to delve in to. They would try and recover whatever they could but knew very well that some aspects of these highly damaged books would be gone forever.

Looking further, he noticed that many books were in shockingly good condition. ”These here, where did they come from?”

”That table is from one of the fallen vampire castles. Several rooms had stored herbs that were best used for documenting how herbs react in long term storage, some books like these that had rune shelves helping to keep them, and there were even some damaged vampiric armors that are not being repaired for historical examination then display.” The archivist pointed over to the next three tables, ”those are the fallen angel city books recovered that may be easily readable, then there is a third table of books we can’t make sense of due to the damage, rune formations on them, or we are unsure of where they came from due to the high amount of deliveries we have received.”

It wasn’t simply a few books, it was a few hundred books, but to understand that the books survived many years in the storage areas where herbs and armors had failed just proved how valuable they might be to the history of their related people. Time was hard to fight, but the rune formations used in ancient times by different races allowed for some safety in storage after all that had happened with wars and massively dangerous ancient monsters.

Besides everything else that they saw, Walker was going to ask about the books being purified. What stopped him was that the little princess was watching the books on the unknown section with curiosity. Her eyebrows were wrinkled and she could clearly not comprehend the manas associated with them.

”Let me start appraising the mystery table. That should help your sorting.” The archivist thanked Walker again before someone called for help with another pile of books on a cart being brought in.

Looking down at the table, Walker watched the little princess start to point out the books she didn’t understand. ’That one with blue mana is about water, it looks like it was the personal journal of a water mage, the pages are wrinkled because they were often damp, but the book seems to be more about her life rather than her magic. Still valuable to the angels if they wish to understand how an ancient water mage angel lived.”

He saw a few that were earth related and realized it was due to poor storage. They had been covered in dirt and gained some heart mana stuck to them. Even more, there were a few of the journals inlaid with small mana gems that held on to ambient manas. But shockingly, he found several books that were in pretty great condition. The issue was, the rune on them seemed to lock a few of them closed.

There were also a few that when he picked them up, were entirely blank but had the same patterns on the covers along with what seemed to be made by the same person. ”Alright, let me appraise these five books. They might be interesting.”

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