Chapter 81: Trials of wisdom and talent
Chapter 81: Trials of wisdom and talent
The Library was quite a large place from the inside, enough to fill the players that were in there. It could freely accommodate hundreds of people daily, and since there were three floors of the grand structure, the place was certainly one of the most attractive places in the entire Moongold.
Most players that came to this town were interested in books.
There were certainly libraries in the cities but to have a library in a small town like this one was a rare thing.
"Looks like I'm alone."
Participants were scattered all across the Maze that created the magic of the Librarian, and even though they were technically still inside of the library, what they were seeing before them varied greatly from a simple library structure.
[Ding.]
[Quest Objective: Escape the Maze.]
A simple message appeared before Elio as he found himself standing in the middle of a wide road with empty bookshelves on both sides.
The bookshelves on both sides were tall and though he could see the glass ceiling of the library, there was something more that he could 'perceive' thanks to his {Mana senses}.
"Is this what they call Arcanum?"
As he could feel with his special senses, there was a unique energy surrounding this entire place.
The ground beneath him, the bookshelves that looked empty, even the ceiling.
Everything was somehow covered in this special energy and he could tell this was no simple Mana.
He looked around and tried using some magic, but there was nothing wrong with anything.
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He could cast his magic just as normally as he could outside of the library, he could also circulate his Mana normally so, there really wasn't anything special going on.
Aside from this unique dense energy surrounding everything around him, there was nothing wrong with anything here.
"Well then…"
He folded the sleeves of his white shirt one more time, revealing his muscular forearms, and carefully couched down to the ground, placing his ear to the carpet covered floor.
"Hmmm…"
There were two ways he could go: forward or backward to where he was right now.
This was an endless looking straight road so, he had to make a choice, and he had his own ways of doing that.
"There are no movements around it seems."
Thanks to Mana, his senses had heightened so he could perceive even the small sounds and vibrations in his surroundings if he focused well.
He could not see anything or anyone here anyway, so he was going with the traditional method.
"Hmmm."
The first trick did not work, everything around him was normal, so he took out a normal twig from his inventory, something that Alex used during her demonstration when she was showing them the magic series, and placed it on the ground while holding it from one end.
"Going forward is usually the most common thing…"
But as he released the twig and it fell to the ground pointing not frontwards but to the back, he had made his choice.
"Let's go."
Instead of the path that was placed right before him, he walked back without hesitation.
Catching the attention of many of the spectators who had been watching him and the other participants of the trial.
They were surprised how he was going in a direction after making a conscious choice instead of others who were walking as they liked or saw appropriate.
He knew the path forward would be the path that was taken most of the time, but that was not where he wanted to go.
"Hmm? Looks like I was right."
He chose a path, he made a decision, and that decision of his led him to a book.
"The article said the books will give tests."
There were three ways to earn a star in this event.
First was to complete the trails that one comes across, second was to showcase their talents– be it anything, writing, singing, simping, sculpting, woodcarving, hunting, weapon techniques, magic.
There was no 'border' to these talents.
Anyone can do anything that they want in the designated places that they would find on their paths.
The main objective was to get out of the maze, and passing the trials of the books and getting recognition from the audience for their talent showcase will give them clues.
The maze was not like the normal mazes since it was made with a special kind of magic, so to get out of there, they would need certain kinds of special methods.
Everyone was going to have a unique way they get out of this place, and they will get stars based on how they do it, but the clues were going to play a big role if anyone wanted to follow the traditional method like Elio did.
"Let's see…"
He picked up the book, and a bright blue light blasted from it as soon as he did that.
-Oooooooooooooooong…!
The light soon died down, and when he opened his eyes once again, the book in his hand was gone.
[Q: What does Dawn look like?]
A message window was now present before him, and in his hand, there was a feather pen.
"?"
There was no paper or even inkpot but there was a feather pen in his hands now. And, from how the message window was showing a Question, he could tell he would have to answer that question.
But, to answer… was he supposed to write on the message window?
"..."
He tried it, but that was not the case.
This was just a normal message window and the tip of his feather pen just passed right through it.
"Where am I supposed to write then?"
He was confused about what he was supposed to do.
There was no quill, there was no paper. All he could see around him was wood and though he had paper in his inventory, he did not think he was supposed to use what he had for this test.
There was something else. The answer to his question was going to be somewhere around him as well.
He just had to find it, so he searched the empty shelf where he found the book, but, even after a few minutes of searching, he did not find either paper or any ink.
And it confused him…
"That's not it."
He was given a feathered pen with a sharp and strong looking tip.
This was not a quill or a pencil but a specific kind of pen that was used in the older times.
It was specifically used to write important things on parchment or costly paper.
There was something he was missing…
So he looked around once again.
"The book is not here anymore."
The window only had a question so it was not related to the system directly either.
"The shelves are empty."
The carpet beneath his feet was not something one can write anything on even if they had a magical nail that worked as good as a pen.
He could use magic-.
"Oh. That's right!"
He could use magic.
And grace series: toughness enhancement spells as well as sharpness enhancement spells were one of them.
If he paired them with this already sturdy looking feather pen, he could just write on these shelves!
There was practically an endless paper before him if that was the case.
"Let's try it."
It was a dumb idea, but he at least tried it.
There was a question that the book left for him, and he just had to answer the simple question. That much was not going to be too difficult.