"Oh, pervert, a battle. This should be interesting." The receptionist grinned at the trouble that was slowly brewing.
"Hey woman, receptionist, are you sure you cut out for this job. You always seem to lose focus." Alex used his words to jab at her.
"Disrespectful kid, I have a name. It's Xiao En, and this job – well it's not like I wanted it, I was forced to take it up."
"No wonder you have a temper." He whispered.
"And you… whatever your name is, I accept your challenge. Just don't expect me to pay for your medical expenses."
"My name is Katherine. You stole the words right out my mouth." The girl introduced and charged at Alex.
"Stop right there," Arabella commanded. Seeing that the person that commanded her to stop was a senior in red uniform, Katherine immediately stepped on her brakes.
"Did I do something wrong?" She asked politely. Katherine had failed earlier, to notice that there were two seniors with Alex.
"No, not really, but you can't just attack my friend without telling me what happened." Arabella reasoned.
"Ah, you are friends with the pervert." Katherine blurted out without thinking. "I'm sorry about that, it slipped out of my mouth."
"No problem, tell me what happened between the two of you. I presume that today is the first time the two are meeting right?"
"Yes. This is what happened…" She proceeded to explain what happened to her from her perspective.
After listening to her explanation they started to think that Alex was really a pervert.
"Hahaha, that's all that happened? I wouldn't blame you girl. It's this boy's fault but that doesn't still make him a pervert." Xiao En stated.
"How?" Andrea asked.
"You still haven't noticed the abnormality of your friend even when you walked down to this place with him? Well, I don't blame you, it is different from how it was this morning when he passed by the reception."
When Alex walked by the reception this morning, he had his presence hidden. If Xiao En wasn't as strong as she is, she wouldn't have noticed him walking by.
"What kind of abnormality?" Andrea's curiosity got the better part of her. "When you walked with him, did you hear the sound of his footsteps?"
Andrea and Arabella tried to recall, but they couldn't because they didn't even notice it in the first place.
"Kid, what you're using is a high-tier marital skill right? Probably around the 5th or 6th tier." Xiao En questioned Alex.
"I don't know." Alex truthfully said.
"Being secretive eh? Well, it's none of my business. Get back to your battle." She dismissed Alex. "And don't forget, if you break anything here in the reception, you pay for it. You are loaded after all." A wicked grin found its way to her lips.
"There's no need to battle. We are in the same group and we would need to find members to join us quickly before all the good ones are gone. Katherine, come with me, we'll search for members together."
"Huh? Why me, what about the pervert?"
"Alex has some other important things to take care of." Camron held her wrist and dragged her out with him. She tried to release her hand from his grip, but she realized that he was stronger than she was. All she could do now was to follow him as he wished.
"It's a good thing that you didn't start a fight here. You might have been beaten up and sent to the infirmary by a certain someone." Xiao En looked at the steward who was standing at a distance as she spoke to Alex.
Alex followed her gaze and saw the man smiling at him with his eyes closed, he felt shivers run down his spine when he saw that smile. He had escaped a beating thanks to Camron.
['Can he even see with his eyes closed?']
['Well ask him.'] Al replied.
"This place is so boring." Xiao En sighed and complained.
"Alright. I'm heading to the library now." Alex and the girls made their way to the exit and went their separate ways.
…
Alex got the directions to the library from Andrea. The library was in the same location as the martial skill pavilion that they passed by when they were going to check what element they had an affinity with, with Duna, the first day that they arrived. It was a 10 story building that was made of glass.
He walked to the entrance and pushed the glass doors open. Alex was greeted by the smell of books and the silence of a graveyard. The first thing that stole his attention was the huge, tall, battalion of shelves filled with books in the long and narrow hallway; under the bright lights that shone like the sun, the milky tiles on the floor amplified the brightness of the place. If one wasn't careful they could get lost in here from wondering around...
He looked to his right and saw a young-looking woman with glasses sitting behind a wooden mahogany desk; in the darkest part of the library – a place that the bright lights didn't seem to lighten up, smiling at him. That was the only thing he could see clearly, her face. The woman's brown hair looked disheveled on her heart-shaped face and she had dark circles under her eyelids.
['Creepy.'] Al commented.
"Hello, from the looks on your face I take it that you are a new student right?" The young-looking woman asked.
"Yes, I am. Are you the Librarian here?"
"Caught red-handed. You can call me Nana." The woman kept her smile on her face. She had a welcoming vibe about her.
"I'm Alexander."
"Alright. Before you can view or even pick a book out of the shelf, you would have to pay with what is acceptable as a medium of exchange in the academy. I assume that you already know what that is?" She dropped her glasses down a bit.
Alex bobbed his head in reply.
"Good, now tell me what you would like to read so that I can show you how to get it." Nana got up from her chair and walked into the light.
Alex's brows raised in revelation to Nana's appearance under the light. Now what had him stunned wasn't her feminine physique, but her sense of style. Nana was wearing a white nightgown that looked like a see-through garment. The length of the gown stopped midway along her long slender laps, and she was barefooted.
Nana was a view to spectate, despite her rough hairdo and dark circles. As she walked closer to Alex all he could do was to make sure his gaze didn't linger.
['Why is she dressed like that. Isn't this a library? This is… it's indecent.']
Soon as Nana arrived next to Alex, he noticed that she was very tall, taller than he was.
"What would you like to read?"
Nana asked when she was within arm's reach of Alex. He dared not to look at any other parts of her body but her face.
Alex recalled the time when he had a boner right in front of Sheila and the embarrassment that came with it, and he got scared that the same thing might happen if he lets his eyes dance around Nana's figure.
"I would like to have a look at Alchemy manuals and recipes and I would also like to read books about rune inscription."
"Oh, unusual. Students come here most of the time for martial skills. I'm liking the first impression you are making." Nana winked at him.
['This is a hit Alex, she looks like she down for anything.'] Al howled.
['Shut it, you mutt of doubtful pedigree.'] Alex said in frustration.
"Follow me." She walked past Alex. He turned and followed behind her with eyes on the ground because he did not want to mistakenly or intentionally feast his eyes on her figure.
"The books, manuals, and martial skill books are classified into 3 different parts. The beginner's epoch, the intermediate epoch, and the advanced epoch. Now for the beginner's epoch, you can gain access to with ECs, the same applies to some of the intermediate epoch.
While those that you cannot access with just ECs, you can get them with the combination of ECs and MPs depending on the price tagged on the book. Then some can only be accessed with MPs, so which one do you want?" Nana explained while she was walking.
"Let's go with the beginner's epoch." He replied with his head down.
['Why do you have your head down?! Look boy, you think she minds? If she did then she wouldn't have dressed like that. Since when did you have a conscience!?'] Al furiously reprimanded Alex.
Alex didn't know what to say in response to Al's statement because what he said was right. If she minded, she wouldn't have dressed like that. Alex didn't know if it was the logic behind Al's statement or the fact that he was also tempted to a sneak peek at her, which made him speechless.
Normally he would have thrown an insult at Al, with or without a suitable comeback.
He slowly raised his head and stared at her backside as she walked ahead of him, and the only reaction he could express was;
"Huh?!"