The well-built youth with square framed spectacles appeared behind the bookshelf, his piercing blue eyes looked around before his gaze landed squarely on Lars.
"It's not good to keep yourself locked up in here, look outside, the weather is so nice, it will be a fine waste to just keep reading here when we could go for a walk." Stretching out one arm, he pat Lars on the head while his other arm took the book that was in Lars's hands and placed it back on the pile of books that were stacked there.
"You just disappeared for an entire week, even skipping your lessons and I catch you here doing more reading? This will not do, come let us get some fresh air." His vice like grip held on to Lars as he half pulled and half dragged Lars out of the library.
"Brother, I have important stuff to do back in the library" Lars protested as they both sat down on a bench near the garden outside the library.
Keith shot Lars a bemused look, before he gently pinched Lars's on the nose. "Telling lies will cause your nose to grow longer Lars"
Lars turned away, pouting. As Keith saw this, his expression softened, clearly affected by how cute his little brother was.
"I was wondering why my studious and hardworking little brother would have started playing truant. To think that it's been so many days and none of the instructors saw fit to inform anyone." Keith fumed clearly irritated by the actions of the instructors. His word had the effect that he was looking for as he saw that he once again got his cute brother's attention.
Lars sheepishly smiled at Keith before asking "Does father also know about this?"
"He would know if I told him about it, unless you can explain to me why you started hiding in the library." Keith gave an absent-minded reply.
Lars looked at Keith and sensed a feeling of uneasiness in his stomach. Should he tell Keith what had happened in the past week? Even now Lars still felt everything he experienced was like a dream, even if he were to tell, no one would believe him. In the end, Lars decided to tell afew half-truths, explaining how him reading a book on astral projection ignited an interest in the subjects, resulting in his sudden urge to get more information from books in the library.
"So now that you know about what happened, can you not tell anyone about me skipping lessons?" Lars put on the most pitiable face he could think of as he looked at Keith.
"If you promise me that you will no longer skip your lessons as well as you having to spend the rest of the day with me to enjoy the spring season, then I will ensure father does not find out" Keith looked at Lars with a grin.
"No fair! That was not part of the deal!" Lars exclaimed.
"It's your choice." Keith shrugged.
"…" Lars sighed in resignation, "Okay, I promise." Shifting slightly, he moved to lean in against Keith, as he drifted into sleep.
Keith took the chance to cuddle his cute little brother as he looked at Lars while he took his nap.
He really cared for this little brother of his, of all his siblings, the two of them were most like-minded. Looking at Lars peaceful face while napping, Keith could not resist the urge to stroke his forehead. Thinking about the explanation from Lars, a tinge of sadness appeared on his face.
"You are still so young, why must you be so hard on yourself… Children at your age should be playing outside, making friends and enjoying their childhood. It doesn't matter what those muscle heads say about you, you are still my brother and you shouldn't have to do and suffer so much just to prove yourself." Keith mumbled.
Keeping his promise, Lars started to attend his lessons again, before scurrying off to the library to continue with his reading. He also did not neglect his training and cultivated every night. In a months' time, Lars had managed to make a huge amount of headway, his reserve of anima continued to build up and the progress bar for the quest slowly inched up to twenty five percent.
One day, Lars was searching for more books to read where he noticed another boy around his age was flipping a big dusty tome at one of the reading tables in the library. The boy had long brown hair and was currently writing down notes and annotations from the tome in front of him. When the boy noticed Lars was staring at him, he was so shocked that he nearly fell from his chair. The other boy was clearly shy and slightly embarrassed, intending to break the awkward silence between them, Lars decided to speak first.
"Hi there, my name is Lars, that book you are reading, are you ok with sharing it?" Lars spoke as he gave the other boy an inquiring look.
"I.. I.. I am .. Nyx." He stammered as he pushed the tome on the reading table towards Lars, showing his intention to share.
With the ice between them broken, they began to read together. As they started to get comfortable with each other's presence, they shared a little about each other's back ground. Nyx had arrived at the clan with his family. His parents were engineers who had been hired to assist with some projects that were being carried out on the estate. As they had just moved in, his lessons have yet to be arranged, as such, compared to the other children on the estate, he was allowed to do as he pleased for the time being.
Both Nyx and Lars had very quiet personalities, as such occasionally when they bumped into each other in the library, they would always decide to sit together at the same reading table and read, each appreciating the silent company of the other. When they were both done for the day, they would exchange and discuss the content of the books that they have read, as well as the many questions they each had because they could not understand the books.
Lars really enjoyed his time with Nyx, and the system also approved of such discussions as a way to better understand the content recorded from different views.
After another month of reading and discussion, a system notification popped up on his heads-up display.