Dust encompassed the section of the library that held magic items and artifacts. After the loud sound of an explosion echoed throughout the library, the place slowly returned to its previous calm and tranquility.
As Tyler watched the dust settle before his eyes, he was at a loss for words. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He had never heard of an event where the orb exploded. As far as he knew, even legendary heroes didn't have their orbs explode in their faces, causing various theories to float around in his head.
'Was it too old? No, no, no, that's a magic item we're talking about. It won't get ravaged by time unless the magic inside is used up. What do I do now? You'd think there would be an instruction manual here somewhere. It's a library, after all.'
Unsure of what had happened, Tyler decided it best not to stress about the strange phenomenon with the orb and find another way to determine if he had any magic abilities.
Without the orb to guide him, he wouldn't know where to start his studies and what aspect of magic to focus on. However, the only way to know if he could use magic now was to just do it.
Of course, this was not as easy as it sounded. He had no idea what he needed to do and lacked tools or a teacher to help him. He had to try learning a spell and using it just to be sure. If he only had mana now and still could not cast spells, then he had to find another way of gaining strength from this library.
With his path already determined by fate, he went back the way he came to pick a book he had seen before, "Magic Fundamentals." Even though he had learned the basics of magic before, he wanted to refresh his memory.
He took the book off the shelf and noticed there were twelve other volumes all lined up. "This is going to take a while." Looking at the other books on the shelf, he slowly sat down on the floor, leaned against the wall, opened the book to the first chapter, and started reading.
The basic theories of how magic worked were explained in the first few chapters. He had read half of the book and only learned one thing he didn't know before. It seemed he needed to read more books to get all the basic knowledge he needed to understand magic. But the one thing he learned shocked him to his core.
"There are nine Tiers in magic. I thought there were only seven."
Tyler frowned slightly. He remembered in the Ruz Kingdom on the human continent, he had only learned of four Tiers, and most people could only use up to Tier 3. It was rare to see a Tier 4 mage, wizard, or sorcerer, although a Tier 4 Magic Swordsman was a little more common. Magic Swordsmen were specialists and could only use a handful of spells. They tended to learn powerful spells that complemented their weapons and fighting style and secret techniques.
There was only one Magic Swordsman back when Tyler was an Adventurer who was considered above the Tiers. He was a hero amongst heroes, he had fought on the frontline in the war, and he was most likely the one to kill the Demon King, or so he thought. Even if the Demon King couldn't use up to the Ninth Tier, he knew demons could match heroes and even one-up them (Tier 5). So the Demon King had to be far stronger. 'How did they win?' It's already been more than a thousand years. Even if he wanted to know the truth of the events that unfolded, it was probably too late. Shaking his head, he brought his attention back to the present and continued his previous train of thought.
Unlike Magic Swordsmen who were different from warriors, Magic Swordsmen could be considered sorcerers with swords as they could use magic. Mages were a little different. They could use any form or aspect of magic they studied and were only limited by their magic potential and affinity.
Tyler flipped through the book and took the next volume, and the next, and the next. He was reading so fast he was becoming a blur. He moved to where he sat to return and pick a new book, then he went back to where he was sitting, then he repeated the same motion again and again. He read all twelve volumes and started to read the other books on the shelf:
History of Magic
Crux of Mana
Mana Body
Magic Runes
Magic Circle
If he had read like this in college, he might have been the best student in the whole school. He learned about the basics and history of all nine Tiers of magic. He learned the formations of magic circles from magic Runes. He learned how to read basic magic Runes and decided to get back to that later as it was a little complicated and quite expansive. He learned about the different forms of magic: Elemental Magic, Control Magic, Necromancy, Spirit Magic, Astrology Magic, and Arcane or Bizarre Magic.
After more than ten hours of reading, he finally stopped and picked up a book, "Elemental Basic Spell Book - Tier 1."
He had tried researching other ways of testing magic potential, but the only spell for that was all the way up at the 7th Tier, and that was not something he could even dream of.
He also didn't notice his abnormal speed when he was reading the books. He had lost track of time and enjoyed the feeling of understanding what he was reading as he read it, which was what frustrated him when he was in school, having to study something over and over again before understanding it a little.
Scanning his surroundings a bit, Tyler noticed an open area in the center of the columns. There was a massive engraved magic circle on it, but he could not decipher it. However, it looked like a protection tube.
Tyler then walked there with slight hesitation. There was enough space to try a spell, but he felt hesitant. The library had shown itself to him by accident, so he could not be sure it would remain open to him.
Something this good to be true wasn't natural, and he had a stinging fear that if he left, he would never return. This was probably his only opportunity in the library, so he had to take it.
"Hmm, I should try to be extra careful. I can't damage anything in here, now can I? So what should be my first spell, then?"
He forced himself to calm down as he focused all his attention on what he wanted to do. He was a little excited to be testing magic but couldn't let himself get carried away.
He flipped through the book almost halfway before finally stopping at a page containing a spell. Up to seven basic spells could be contained within a single book as they didn't contain much information. Tier 2 and above spells would take their books and be increasingly complicated.
He had considered various spells to test but disregarded them as he was in a special place and could not afford his spell to damage anything.
He decided to try a basic defense spell he had seen before to increase his chance of success. After deliberating between his top two choices, which were the spells Magic Barrier and Earth Wall.
This was not a perfect test, as he may still be a Tier 1 Magic Swordsman and proficient in a different element. If he failed, he intended to try the safest spells in all the other elements.
He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. The anxiousness he thought had left him came back like a tsunami. Taking a few more deep breaths, he opened his eyes and stretched out his right arm, trying to cast a spell. The moment the words left his mouth, he heard his strangely deeper voice fill with unknown confidence he hadn't possessed a moment ago.
"Earth Wall."
The magic circle made up of magic Runes slowly started to form around his opened palm. This was the final step in learning magic. Once the magic circle is fully formed, it would be fused into one Mana body and would only take an instant to cast whenever the spell is cast again. As every rune in the circle was arranged in a place, he could feel the vibrations on the ground.
Tyler was getting excited by the second as each rune went in place before his very eyes. This was a feeling he had never experienced before. Using his ability didn't use much mana and did not require a magic circle. It was an innate ability that worked more like a skill, which was what monster's abilities were called.
The entire library began to vibrate as the magic circle became more complete. In that instant, Tyler felt a huge surge of energy leave him and enter into the magic circle. He felt a little drained but quickly recovered.
The library started shaking violently. It was like a high-magnitude earthquake was about to occur. 'What in the world!' Tyler exclaimed inwardly as he witnessed this scene. He had only performed a Tier 1 spell. It wasn't something that would lead to such a reaction.
In that instant, a giant wall that was over 3 meters wide shot up from the ground beneath his feet. It was so large and wide that it almost hit Tyler in the chin when it rose. The wall was more than six meters tall. It looked like it was made to hold an ancient Giant's temple, something that wasn't made for humans.
*BOOM!
Before Tyler could react to the size of the wall, the library shaking intensified. In the same instant, the wall shattered in a large explosion. The shockwave sent him flying straight for the door over 60 meters away, which had been opened at some point in time.
Whoosh... Bang!
Tyler was sent flying out of the library straight into the wall on the opposite side of the library's door. "Ouch... what the... what happened?"
Feeling the slight pain in the back of his head had brought back his headache, and now he was feeling a little dizzy. He slowly got up from the ground and lightly massaged the back of his head to relieve the pain he was feeling from hitting the wall. The speed at which he had hit the wall should have killed him, or maybe would've is the better word to use, but his attention was not on this little issue. He was focused on something else entirely.
He stared blankly at the place he had been shot out of. "What happened? Did I mess up a basic spell? No, no, no, that's not supposed to happen. Even if I messed up, at most the spell will fail and won't activate. It was even in one of the books I read." Tyler was deeply confused about the sudden turn of events. One moment he was activating a Tier 1 spell, the next moment he was literally kicked out of the library.
He slowly approached the library door step by step, trying his best to be cautious and not let his emotions get the better of him. After reaching the door, he placed his hands on the doorknob and turned it.
The door did not open. He tried again and again, pushing and pulling, but nothing worked. He tried breaking the door, but it felt like steel. His punches and blows made loud impacts that reverberated in the massive room, but he did not pay attention to his own strength.
His heart beat faster by the second.
'Calm down, calm down, calm down, CALM DOWN, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!'
Thinking back to what had happened before the library revealed itself to him, Tyler forced himself to calm down with a punch as he walked out of the room and out of the castle.
Play by play, he spent another few hours repeating everything he had done until then before walking back to the library door that hadn't hidden itself but was still met with failure.
With no way to access the magic library in sight, the one place he saw the hope of survival, he was devastated, staring at the tightly shut door with red eyes and a red cheek, a series of bundled-up emotions finally swelled up within him.
There wasn't much hope in surviving the demon continent as a human. Humanity had made an enemy out of almost all inhuman races in this world. Their only allies were the dwarves, and he wasn't even sure that was the case anymore. He hadn't realized it, but the library had given him hope. Yet the one chance he had to get stronger in this crazy world, he blew it. Tyler fell to his knees with a somber expression. At that moment, the reality of his situation hit him like a ton of bricks.
He had been extremely calm since he woke up underground and didn't take the entirety of his situation to heart. It had all played out like a movie in front of him, but this was reality. He was in the demon continent, not to mention the heart of the demon continent, the Demon King's castle.
Even if he was somehow a Tier 5 Magic Swordsman or mage, there was no way he could walk out of the continent alive without any help. Not only that, but he had nowhere to go. If he tried going to the human continent, he would be killed the moment he stepped foot on the borders. After all, some demons looked exactly like humans, to be precise, most demon races looked human, and he had heard there were a few.
He didn't even have any information on this period. He had no idea what the relationship between the other races was like. He was alone in a strange world on the enemy base with no help and no strength to fight back.
He felt various emotions burst out of him at once: sadness, despair, confusion, pain, sorrow. A single teardrop leaked out of his left eye as he felt the negative emotions swell inside of him.
He slowly sat down on the ground with his back against the door as he stared out the window with a melancholic expression. His one chance at survival was behind the door, and he let himself be kicked out of it. His greed had overtaken him, and he wanted to stay in the library until he had gotten what he wanted from it. He wasn't better than the people who used and betrayed him.
In the end, what was the point in him surviving for so long? Why did he awaken in this place if he was just going to die soon anyway?