With a quick look, Lars opened the system notification on the heads-up display.
The user has accumulated ten Book Points (BP), basic requirements for Quest: Knowledge is Power has been fulfilled, would user like to spend BP to complete quest, Y/N.
With an excited look, Lars selected Y. In the next moment, a small counter in his heads-up display emptied out as the book points that he was slowly accumulating was spent by the system. Lars winced as he saw the counter hit zero, that took a lot of hard work to reach and now everything has been spent. He silently swore to himself that henceforth he will ensure that he would have enough book points in reserve and never let that counter hit zero again.
Requirements for Quest: Knowledge is Power has been met, permission levels for scribe second class has been unlocked, additional AEGIS functionality has been unlocked, please wait while system dispenses rewards.
A soft glow enveloped the old crystal as it started humming. This glow slowly spread over Lars, energising him as well as making him feel as though he was more aligned with the world. Looking at his heads-up display, what appears to be a map of Lars and his surroundings could now be seen at a corner of his vision.
So it turns out that the additional function of the system that has been unlocked is a mapping function? That's kind of useful, falling into deep thought as Lars mused over the upgrade and it's implications.
The air around him felt dry as he looked at the grand city before him. Spotless white buildings with many runic inscriptions were built in concentric circles radiating out from the middle of the city, enclosed by an enormous outer wall. The outer rings had shorter buildings while the middle rings had floating island gardens with vegetation hanging off them. The buildings progressively grew taller as one looked further towards the inner rings. Right in the center of the city, a grand zigurrat pierces the heavens and disappears into the clouds. Looking from afar, it was glowing and humming with anima, fortified with spells as a new level was continually constructed one after another. With a surge of anima, he jumped off the cliff, heading in the direction of the city.
Lars dreamily opened his eyes, letting out a short yawn as he sat up on the library couch. Using his arm, he wiped off a bit of drool on the corner of his mouth.
"I dozed off…" Lars mumbled to himself and he quickly took note of his surroundings.
Sensing some movement behind a bookshelf to his left, Lars took a closer look and saw a figure hide back behind the books. A new pale blue dot appeared near the green dot that represented Lars on the map in the heads-up display, under the blue dot, a familiar name appeared, Nyx.
----
Nyx had gone to the library earlier today to continue his daily routine of reading, as he was wandering around the library searching for an interesting book to read, he heard a faint snoring behind a bookshelf. Shifting a nearby library stool, he took two steps up before his eyes finally got above the row of books on the second highest shelf, taking a quick peek, he looked through the crack between the shelf and books and saw Lars curled up on the library couch, drooling as he slept.
Adjusting his black rimmed glasses, Nyx sized up the sleeping boy before his eyes stopped at Lars's face again. The usually serious and studious face that he was used to interacting with was now replaced with a serene look, he even looked moderately goofy due to the drool accumulating on the corner of his lips.
"He actually looks kind of cute when he is asleep like that.." Nyx mumbled under his breath.
Nyx gulped as he suddenly realised his face felt warm as his heart was beating faster than usual. Quickly shaking his head in an attempt to clear thoughts inside that should not have been there, he noticed the aura around Lars for the first time. It was a clean white glow. As long as he remembered, every person who's aura he has seen all had a hint of color, himself included. This was the first time he had seen such a plain aura. Unknowingly his gaze was transfixed on that sleeping face again.
A while later, the sleeping figure sat up and stretched, before taking a look around. Nyx immediately felt his heart skip a beat as he quickly ducked and held his breath.
Slowly and quietly exhaling, he gingerly made his way down from the library stool. Readjusting his black rimmed glasses, Nyx quietly backed away from the bookshelf, retracing his step while his body and face was still looking at the stool. Just as he was about to clear the aisle and make it to safety, he felt himself bump into something, as a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind and held him in place.
Nyx stiffened as he felt a warm breath travel down his neck.
----
Looking at the heading of the blue dot, a cheeky thought flashed across Lars's mind as he swiftly moved to ambush his friend.
He kept quiet as he saw his friend's silhouette slowly moving towards him. When he was about a arm's length away, Lars moved forward and hugged a very shocked and tense Nyx from behind.
Still giggling he let go, Lars looked at an exceedingly red-faced Nyx. "Gotcha!"