Fantasy Assassin in a modern world

Chapter 106 - Observing

  It was supposed to be another usual day for Loki but as he entered the library he immediately noticed something was off. The Spirit that would usually start talking to him the moment he entered the library was silent. Loki was rather surprised by the silence and wondered if the mana of the library disappeared alongside the Spirit. After a quick scan, Loki felt that not only was the mana in the library still there it was actually growing stronger. ''

'Well as long as I can meditate and absorb the mana in this place then it's actually better now that the noisy spirit is gone.' 

...

Loki went on with his work as per usual, and unlike the weeks prior there were fewer students in the library. As he was putting books on a bookshelf he noticed someone staring at him. The person in question was hiding behind the bookshelves but Loki already noticed him the moment he came into the library. In fact, Loki was honing his senses by keeping track of all the people in the library without using any spiritual energy. 

Loki turned around and looked at the wannabe stalker who immediately backed away and started looking at the books. Loki sighed as he started to wonder what Michael wanted from him. Despite following Loki all throughout the morning and lunch break, Michael never spoke to him. 

...

When it was time to go home, Alisa arrived in the library like usual to pick Loki up. 

"Um, sorry Alisa I have some work I need to finish today, so you better go home first." 

"I can wait." 

"There's no need to do that. Also, Liam should be waiting for us at home and not that I don't trust him alone but it would be better if you're there. Also, this might take a long time, and you still need to cook, right?" 

"... Alright, I'll be heading home first." 

"Just save some food for me." 

"Of course," Alisa answered with a smile on her face. After she had left, the library had become rather quiet and was nearly empty, but Loki knew that there was someone else in the library aside from him. 

"So do you need something from me?" After asking that question no one responded and the library remained silent. After waiting for a few minutes with no response Loki looked directly at the place where Michael was hiding before he spoke. 

"If no one is going to come out I'll be leaving." Loki took his things and was about to leave when somebody came out from behind the bookshelves. The person that came out was as Loki expected Michael. 

"Good afternoon Sir Loki." Michael awkwardly bowed his head. 

"So it was you, Student Michael." 

"You remember me?" 

"I remember the names of every student that comes to the library, especially the ones that borrow books. You have borrowed quite a few books, and you come to the library almost every day, of course, I remember you. So tell me what is it that you want from me? Don't bother saying you don't need anything, seeing as you've been following and observing me the entire day, you must have something you need from me, right?" 

Hearing what Loki said Michael felt even more awkward, he thought that Loki just noticed him now, but it turns out he noticed since the very beginning. Not only did it feel awkward to tell Loki what he wanted to ask at this point, but he also didn't know how to ask Loki about the question he wanted to ask, since what he was about to ask was quite a weird question. Worst case scenario Loki might think he was crazy. Still, he had no other choice since based on what he heard from the noisy Spirit, Loki was the only one that could help with his current predicament. 

...

A few days ago Michael had suddenly heard the voice of the Spirit. Even now Michael was still unsure if the voice he suddenly heard in his head was real or just his imagination. At first, he started to think he was going crazy, but after a few days of talking with the so called spirit of the Akashic Records, he found that it might actually be real.

The Spirit seems to know so much but at the same time knows so little. It then explained its predicament to Michael as well as the benefits of helping him. 

Michael learned about the existence of mana, and of the powerful people that could manipulate it to their will. The Mages were humans that existed before the Martial Artists and based on what the Spirit said, the Mages had higher potential to becoming something akin to a God. Though it also explained that Martial Artists have their own advantages and that at the start, Martial Artists would have the advantage in a battle against a mage. It then told him that as the two grow stronger the Mages' power and versatility would increase making it rather easy to defeat a Martial Artist of equal strength and experience. 

Mages could control the elements of the world around them, on the other hand, only martial artists beyond the Grandmaster level could perform similar feats. The more Michael learned about the Mages the more he wanted to try and become one. Yet after talking to the so called Spirit and after gaining the System, he found out that he couldn't start his journey as a Mage. The reason was simple it was because of his insufficient mana supply. At the current level of his mana supply, Michael couldn't use any of the spells the Spirit knew. He was also unsure as to how to increase his mana supply.

The Spirit was of no help in this regard. Even though the Spirit Claimed to be the Akashic Records that knew everything, it was a severely incomplete version. Michael tried to increase his mana supply with the same methods of increasing one's inner energy but that didn't help. As he was losing hope on becoming a mage the Spirit told him that someone in the school could teach him how to increase his mana supply.   

When Michael learned of who could help him he was surprised to hear that it was the librarian. It turns out that not only was the librarian a powerful rank four martial artists, but he was also someone who could teach him on how to increase one's mana supply. That would mean that the librarian was a Mage. This information stunned Michael when he learned of it. 

So for the rest of day, Michael observed Loki. He wanted to see if he could figure something out. Yet even after looking at Loki for the whole day, Michael found nothing. 

'What are you waiting for ask him to teach you how to increase your mana supply.' The Spirit suddenly spoke in Michael's mind.

'Why don't you ask him instead?' 

'Haven't you've been listening to what I've said? I already told you that when you activated the system I became bound to you and only you can hear my voice and feel my presence. I can no longer talk to this arrogant punk, so you need to ask him.'

Michael hesitated for a bit as he gathered his resolve. If he doesn't ask Loki now then he would never be able to do it. He decided that if the other party doesn't know anything about mana, Michael would just pass it off as a joke. Michael no longer hesitated as he looked at Loki eye to eye before asking. 

"Are you a Mage?"