Chapter 319: An Ocean of Knowledge
Early Morning - Early Summer : Atlas | Bahamut
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"Hooh..." I let out a deep breath as I took to the air and finally pulled my aura off everyone. *Vwoom* -Geez.. just controlling that much is so draining, and controlling it somehow isn't even my biggest problem...-
But such issues were to be addressed later.
"You're quite a good actor, you know," Mother spoke to me through wind magic, her tone tinged with slight pride.
It brought some ease to my mind right away. "Well, after calling myself a Whyte and pretending to be a demihuman for so long, I'd hope I've gotten pretty good."
"Hoho~, you speak like you want it to end. Are you excited to finally be able to use the family name once the festival rolls around?" A smile slowly broke through her facade as she spoke.
"How could I not be? Though I'm not sure exactly how it will all work out..." -I wonder if I should continue to lie low or finally announce myself... I'm sure Asgard knows about me now, especially considering the scene I made on the moon.. even if, for whatever reason, I was left alone...- From my perspective, it didn't make much sense, but there was undoubtedly a reason, although I would end up saving it for the next time I saw the goddess.
"Well, we still have a little over two years to think about it, so what's the rush. For now, let's just focus on the library."
"R-Right. Speaking of..." I quickly glanced at the horizon before turning back to Mother. "Where is it?" -I thought it would be at one of our estates, but.. I don't remember anyone mentioning we had one over here...-
"It's a few kilometers northeast of the academy." She spoke as if it were something I should have known.
But I was hung up on something else entirely. "Academy? Like where it used to be?"
"Haha," she chuckled. "Where it still is."
I tensed up immediately. -W..what?- Thoughts ripped through my mind instantly. I knew for a fact that I had erased every trace of the academy. -But it's.. still there?-
However, while I was still questioning my own memories, Mother motioned to the horizon ahead of us with a refreshed smile.
-Huh? What is she...- On the distant horizon, a series of massive, unfamiliar structures began to come into view.
They were all very simple and cubic, a stark difference from the intricately designed buildings within the city, and as we continued to fly, more and more of them started to appear until it had essentially become an endless field of them. -W..what are those?-
I continually questioned myself as we flew, eventually finding them similar to the Elder Hall's old housing district, but before long, something more familiar came into view.
The hole. The place where I incinerated countless ancients and erased an entire monument off the map.
But something about it was.. different... As we approached, I wanted to ask Mother about it, but the closer we got, the more of the hole I could see and the more of a whirlwind my mind became. -W..what the hell?-
The once-desolate and devastated site of the academy was buzzing with activity and life, the hole's expanded edges lined with the countless, newly constructed buildings with countless dragons traversing between them carrying tools, materials, and even artifacts leading toward the hole. "W..what are they.. doing?"
Mother was quick to put on a proud look. "Well, you remember how Poniria said destroying the academy would help bring dragons together again? Although she may have been a manipulative bitch, she was right about that."
-H..huh?- Looking back toward the academy, I could finally see into the hole, but rather than seeing the cooled molten rock like I expected, I saw nearly perfectly vertical, carved walls of stone with countless massive marble structures embedded in them, each with a dragon working on them from the surrounding scaffolding.
It was truly a sight to behold, but once the bottom of the expanded, nearly 18-kilometer-wide hole came into view, I saw an unbelievably massive mythril structure, and it looked like just the base of a colossal spire. "That's.. a lot of mythril..." I spoke with awe, unable to maintain my act. -I get that its mostly lower grade stuff, but holy shit, that's a lot...-
Mother's smile only widened after seeing my reaction. "Once things cooled down after your spell, we sent Sir Atsáli down to check things out, but rather than finding survivors or anything, he found that you had uncovered a huge, low, and mid-grade mythril vein. It's what we plan to use to construct the entire central spire, leading from the very bottom to the top of the hole, giving more support to the walls and connecting all the rooms at the same time. But mind you, construction only began a couple years ago, so it will take quite some time before it's done."
"I-I see..." I was honestly speechless. The sight of nearly a thousand dragons all working simultaneously on the same project was nothing short of mind-boggling. -So the buildings up top must be for the artisans to live here while they work on it...- "What about classes and such in the meantime?"
"They are temporarily being held at several different estates provided by various nobles around Atlas, but the main hall is what used to be the Chalastís estate just south of here."
"Used to be?" I tilted my head slightly as I glanced south to see if I could see it.
"After we cleaned up behind you, the Chalastís family was in shambles, and to make amends with Atlas and us, they relinquished most of their possessions, donating artifacts, literary works, and various resources and funds for the construction of the new academy." She slowly banked toward the north as she continued. "When everything is finalized, I believe my eldest brother will receive their main estate, and the rest will be given to us."
-Her eldest brother?- At first, it sounded a bit odd and random, but after seeing Mother quickly brush it off, I didn't put any thought into it. "So, are we headed to the library now?"
She nodded immediately. "It's visible on the horizon, but we will have to land before we get to it since the surrounding five kilometers is a no-fly zone."
-I.. don't see it.. but...- "Alright..." Not knowing what to expect, I simply looked to the horizon and followed Mother.
However, it wasn't a long flight at all, maybe only a few dozen kilometers before we landed, and began walking down a wide street leading toward what could only be described as a foggy bubble about five kilometers wide and three kilometers tall sitting on the ground.
It didn't make much sense, but as we hastily approached, trying to minimize the damage my aura felt to those in the city, Mother explained that it looked that way because of an ancient light artifact that had not been maintained properly.
"This place was meant to look like a uniform continuation of the city from the outside, but supposedly, as time passed, the artifact continued to deteriorate before eventually turning it into this." She spoke swiftly as we continued down the street, eventually reaching the very edge of the cloud and coming to a stop.
Pushing my aura inside, I immediately saw several ancients standing about, seemingly light-headed, before one finally walked up to the inside edge of the cloud.
"M..miss Ragnarok..." He immediately bowed, just outside of the public's sight. "I apologize for not having prepared for your arrival." His words and expression were quite strained.
"You are alright. I apologize for arriving unannounced, but as you see, I have a guest."
"R-right, Madam! Please enter."
Quickly walking forward, we made our way into a thin layer of fog before finally peeking through the barrier.
But as I came face to face with nearly thirty older ancients donning pure white and gold armor, kneeling before us, my attention was drawn upwards.
-W..woah...- Although I knew to expect that a beautiful structure would be hidden within the fog, I certainly had not expected a massive spire, just over two kilometers wide and three kilometers tall, littered with intricate carvings, gold, gems, artifacts, and even entire statues made from black mythril.
-The carvings are tiny, too...- With no distinct start or end, the carvings seemed to tell a story that didn't take place over a set time but rather showed countless separate stories molded together like a photograph showing the lives and experiences of thousands simultaneously.
To someone who couldn't see the details from such a distance, it may have looked like made-up details or carvings with no meaning except to portray beauty and showcase wealth.
But that couldn't have been farther from the truth. "This is a library?" I immediately looked toward Mother, wanting to ask for some kind of explanation, but she simply nodded.
"This is a true Ragnarok estate, the Library of Eternity. It holds just about every piece of history and information Bahamut has ever known, at least from about a thousand years after the end of The Great War..." She spoke as if she were a little disappointed. "Unfortunately, during the great war, the inner sections of the library were cut off from all outsiders, and with no one to help maintain everything, countless ancient texts were left to rot..."
-Oh shit...- "Were they that worried about information leaking?"
She quickly nodded as we finally started approaching a massive door at the base of the spire. "Even since then, because it was Bahamut's order to lock it off, no one has been in there since the very end of the war."
-Geez... So if it's as old as the rune in the Tree of Prayer or the Acardi facilities... Most of the texts are probably really rotten...-
Finally arriving at the door, Mother reached up and injected some of her mana into it, lighting up a large formation just beneath the stone before slowly opening the door. *vwoom-Click* -What a clean mana lock...-
Quickly making our way inside, we were immediately presented with the view of a seemingly endless ocean of books, stacks of paper, stone tablets, and even animal hides covered in fairly primitive languages lining shelves hundreds of meters high and managed by several younger and older ancient stage librarians. -They must be the caretakers...-
"Miss Ragnarok! Wel-" Their cheeriness instantly halted when my aura reached them.
"Haah..." Mother could only sigh. "One of you, please show my guest to the aura control and aura reading sections." She quickly looked back toward me before whispering. "Go ahead and take your time. While there are rules against removing books from here, given the status of the Fenrir now, they won't apply to you. But to be sure, I will fill the rest of the caretakers in on it while you're out."
"Alright." Looking back over toward the caretakers, I saw one completely frozen and shaking slightly, but compared to the other two, she was in rather good condition. "You seem to be able to handle my aura the best, so why don't you show me around."
The next thing I knew, she gulped her anxieties and nervously nodded. "Y..yes! Dear guest..."
After that, it took some time to eventually get moving, but after leading me around the massive, circular library for a few moments, she stopped in front of a massive shelf before hopping up onto one of the many small balconies lining the wall of bookshelves.
Although it took her some time, she actually managed to slowly get used to my aura. "This area here should be most of the books related to aura, aura control, and aura reading, a-although there are a few techniques elsewhere if you would like me to grab them."
Quickly walking up under her, I used my aura to start scanning the names of the books, pulling out the ones that stood out. "If you could, I'd be grateful." My voice was fairly soft as I had already started reading some of the texts.
From the looks of things, it made her a bit flustered. "Y-yes, my lord! I will fetch them for you right away!"
Before I could say anything more, she hopped off the balcony before gently landing on the ground and rushing around the corner. -She really is quite dedicated...-
But while I was extremely hopeful seeing just how many books there were on the subject, numbering close to a thousand, I was quickly let down by their content. -Some of these really sound like weird fantasy cultivation techniques...-
'If you imagine every place the blade of grass can be, then where it is will never be a surprise. You can read your aura in a similar fashion.' -Ya don't say...- *pop* Closing the book with a bit of agitation, I moved it back up to the shelf before turning to the next book I head ready.
It had been about an hour since I arrived, and I had fully read around 700 books, but somehow, I felt dumber than when I started. -These.. really aren't helpful...-
To put things simply, the technique I was using was leaps and bounds beyond the ones in these texts, and the worst part was simply how cryptic and symbology-driven the texts were. -No wonder these texts are meant for geniuses.. you have to be a genius to even understand what the hell they're trying to say...-
Needless to say, I was starting to get upset and eventually just abandoned the technique texts entirely in favor of the theory ones.
The caretaker assigned to me was actually beginning to get nervous after seeing that I was getting a bit agitated, but eventually, I completely changed the subject.
"So, what kind of texts are in the inner layers if stuff like these techniques are out here?"
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