The further Darlene brought Aron over, the smaller the number of books became. In progression, every book or scroll present in this large hall had intricately carved covers with strange unrecognizable patterns over them.
Aron can't read most of the characters and as far as he can tell this was not the Ancient script as well. That left the only possibility of them being some entirely different languages altogether.
From her last few sentences, it was clear that this place was probably off-limits to at least ninety percent of the people inside the premises of the Academy.
There was a stupid smile plastered on Aron's face, the boy properly relishing the drastic change of his fate. To think that a mere slave will one day get access to the most secretive portion of the Central Library seemed just as unfathomable as it sounded.
"I am not proficient in Dark magic, but since you are just a beginner anyway, I guess.." Darlene talked to herself, her fingers grazing over the covers of spaced-out book stacks.
"This.. you can start your learning with this." She selected one of them and took it out, shifting through its pages for a moment. "Yeah, this should be good enough. Depending on how good or bad your comprehension is.. wait.."
An eager Aron had just extended his hands greedily to fetch the book when it was whisked away from his grasp. "Damn.. how can I forget that you are a little monster."
Darlene recalled the pace at which this little devil ravaged through the ancient scriptures, for once putting even the most learned scholars to shame. Sharing the analysis with no one but herself, the redhead replaced the book back on its shelf.
Aron can only stand behind her, not daring to even touch a single thing here unless explicitly told to. After a torturous quarter of an hour, Darlene finally seemed to have made up her mind.
"This can be too much stretch at times, but if you want to start with a bang, go with this." Aron looked down at the tattered book in his hands with piqued interest. "For someone not 'proficient' in Dark magic, you sure know a lot."
"Shut your mouth and give it a go once, see if it's out of your league." Taking it as of the brat was mocking her, she admonished like a real parent.
Aron shook his head wryly and filtered a few pages for a quick look. Darlene didn't know this but his earlier words were not entirely meant to mess with her, rather he can see the masked lady was hiding a few things from him.
He can't tell with certainty, but he had a hunch that when Darlene said that she wasn't proficient in Dark magic, she was lying. Or else, as he rationalized it.. she didn't tell him the complete truth.
Thanks to the enhanced senses he received from Lucy, he can pick up the small changes in a person's heartbeats or even the most subtle involuntary responses from their body.
Then again, it was a conjecture based on nothing but an instinct, so he didn't bother paying any heed to it. Darlene was a good woman, even if she was keeping secrets from him, he wouldn't mind it.
"Hmm.. mhh-hmm.. hm-hm.. hm.." He hummed going through the extremely old pages of the book. "You don't need to start reading it right now, genius." Aron woke up from his curiosity-induced stupor to find himself all alone, Darlene seems to have moved away.
"Here.. come to this side." He tracked her down on the other side of the shelf. "This is a technique that can help you get used to the Dark mana manipulation. It's quite a simple one, so it should not take you more than two weeks to learn it."
"Crater fists?" Aron read the text on the outside. Preceding to pull the scroll out and reveal its contents, he found much descriptive text along with proper diagrams on how to channel your mana in order to release the mist explosion power from your hands.
Aron can feel a pleasant sensation arise from his guts. Since the time he had touched that relic spear, his body had been itching to feel the same sensation again. Finally, he could try it out for himself.
"Thanks, Darlene!!" His words of gratitude were met with a slap to the back of his head. "Who the heck are you calling Darlene, brat?" Aron can only bite his tongue playfully. "It's either teacher, instructor, or Ms. Darlene. You understand?" She barked.
"Hehe.. my bad. It was totally a slip of tongue." "Hmph.." Aron loved teasing her. "Get your ass out of here." Darlene was probably too shy to face the boy any longer after that.
"I will make sure to bath properly tomorrow, Ms. Darlene." Aron chuckled, watching the lady stumble over and hold onto one of the bookshelves to support herself. With a vicious glare directed his way, the redhead left the scene.
***
"What did you two fetch?" Chris saw his sister walk in his direction, closely followed by Ben. "I got this book. It has a great number of details on how to increase your spell casting efficiency." Christina explained but quickly lost her twin's attention.
"What about you, Ben?" The guy in question grinned and put his book in front of him. "A book that will allow me to finally do a silent spell casting." Chris looked interested and took over the book for himself.
"Hm.. interesting. I can probably borrow it from you after I learn this." Chris announced pointing to a scroll in his hand. Ben's face muscles twitched at his words, nevertheless, he was practically a freeloader himself.
"So what have you got?" Christina snatched the scroll from his hands. "Hm.. Flames of Pandemonium? What a cringeworthy name!" Chris rolled his eyes. "What do you know?"
"Can I look at it for a second?" Christina had lost interest in the scroll and hence tossed it over to Ben. As soon she scanned the piece of paper, he chuckled lightly. "My bad.. I should have informed you."
Chris's face lost colour looking at Ben's dulled expression. "Please don't tell me there is a restriction in the scroll I can pick?" "Sadly there is." Ben put his finger on the page. "Two stars. It means this scroll is eligible for the second-year students."
"There is no written rule for this, but usually the number of stars corresponds to your number of years in the academy." Ben added with a straight face. "Pffffftt.. served you right hehe.."
Christina had been annoyed at the lack of attention Chris served her. She broke out into a peal of laughter at the depressed face of her brother.
"Please tell me there is a way for me to bring this along.." Ben rubbed his chin. "I guess our best bet is Aron himself." Chris mulled as well. "Huh.. haha.. brother Aron knows Mrs. Librarian after all. I am sure he can help us out."
"It's truly a marvel for brother Aron to be this resourceful. To think he got the personal credential of Mrs. Nancy Burton herself." Ben was still having a hard time coming to terms with the reality.
"Burton.. Isn't General Brooklyn also surnamed Burton?" Christina recalled. Ben nodded his head. "Obviously. Mrs. Nancy is the mother-in-law of General Brooklyn Burton."
The Desmond siblings stared at each other wide-eyed. "She is the mother-in-law of a General? Damn.." Chris exclaimed. "You think we can meet her here?"
"In your dreams!" Ben retorted. "You think she got so much time to meet us nameless first years?" He scoffed. "What is going on here?" Their conversation was disturbed by a fourth guy crashing their grouping.
It was Aron who had returned. "Sorry for being late. Hope all of you selected things you want?" Everyone except Chris nodded back at him. "Brother Aron, you must help me resolve this issue." He implored and explained his tragedy with the scroll.
"Give it to me!" Filled with confidence, Aron collected all the items from the group in his grasp and returned together to the reception. As he anticipated, the receptionist did raise her eyebrows at him, but in the end, they managed to get all of them sanctioned.
"Are you some kind of hero or something, brother Aron?" Chris remarked. "Hm.. what makes you say that?" Aron questioned back as the group rushed out of the library.
"Well before we met you, we siblings will always be the center of attention at every place. That was the norm. And yet, since we had met you, it's like we have been pushed into the role of the background characters ehh.."
Chris's absurd logic had everyone laugh out loud. "What kind of thinking is that? Everyone is a hero in their lives. It's just that I have been in the Academy for two years now. As such I am a tiny bit more familiar with things."
"Thinks about it. Won't I be a background character as well if.. let's suppose we decide to visit your church someday?" Neither Chris nor anyone else had expected Aron to talk so much sense.
For a minute, all three of them kept staring at the black-haired boy. Even Christina could not help but repeat his words in her mind again and again. Aron was right, beyond any doubt.
"Something about you makes us feel we are already a step behind at all times." She shared her raw thoughts with him. "haha.. Is that it? Then I will give you the same advice an elder gave me."
"Try relying on your friends and relationships you build up. Don't try to do everything on your own." Aron turned around and gave the most handsome smile he could.
Say less about Christina, even Chris felt his heart skip a beat. "You can't be talking about leveraging what's in our pants, can you?" Thanks to the male sibling, the atmosphere Aron had created was thoroughly destroyed.
"Okay. That's it. I shall rest my case here." Aron had nothing to say after that. "Brother Ben, please lead the way to the Radiance Arena." Ben picked up the pace to put himself at the forefront. "Aye.. aye. Follow me."
While they were making their way over to the next destination. Christina gathered some courage and approached the slave boy. "What did you get for yourself?"
"Hehe.. I can't tell you. I got them from the teachers' section. So I am not allowed to share it at all." Christina's face fell instantly. "Hmph.. what did I say about you being one step ahead of us?"
Aron laughed out loud. "Haha.. it can't be helped." Christina huffed her chest in annoyance but others only laughed along with Aron. Everyone knew Aron had helped them as much as he could without breaking any rules.
"Here.. let me compensate you." Aron tossed a piece of sweet candy over to Christina. "Hn? It's for me?" "Who else? I managed to sneak it from Ms. Receptionist when she wasn't looking."
"You did?" Christina hurriedly popped the sweet in her mouth, clapping her cheek as her tastebuds squirmed in pleasure. "Is it good?"
"You are certainly not as innocent as you make it out to be, are you?" She remarked, the first time with a genuine smile on her rectangular face. "What did I tell you about taking advantage of your relationships?"
"Hahaha.. I am pretty sure it was something along the lines of relying upon them, not taking advantage of them." Aron scratched his head. "Oh.. was it, pardon me then. Looks like I took undue advantage of Ms. Receptionist."
Saying that he popped the next candy in his mouth before he was rammed into by both Chris and Ben, each asking for their share of the candies. Aron was living the life he had always desired.
< Kudos!!>>