While passing by the librarian, Nial couldn't help but feel a little bit odd.
The woman's reaction had been weird when he had mentioned the coupon about the permanent membership to Katu's main library, but that was not all!
'Calling one of the shelter's strongest powerhouses 'a fucking bastard'...who the hell are these people I encounter all day long?'
Since his origin awakening, many weird things had happened, and the number of encounters with unique people seemed to be on the rise.
It was not that Nial had something against this, but that was only fine as long as the uniqueness of specific people didn't cross a certain threshold beyond which it could become extremely dangerous.
Nevertheless, now that he had entered the library, Nial's first task was to read all kinds of basic books about the appearance of dungeons, and much more information that was quite easy to digest.
This was a necessity for him to build a proper foundation of his knowledge, while simultaneously stimulating his reading capabilities.
With that in mind, he focused on reading familiar things instead of diving straight into complex stuff that would dampen his spirits.
Knowing many things was great, but it was even better if one could connect the dots, which was the reason for Nial's approach to the given situation.
After walking through the first floor of the library for a few minutes, he found a holographic log that allowed him to search for specific books before giving him the row and column numbers where they were placed.
This was quite an advantage and a tool he would have to use quite a lot in order to prevent wasting too much time while searching for a specific book.
Thus, while searching for a handful of books, he wanted to know where Melvin had disappeared because he had stored away the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique.
While reading the basic history books followed by that of dungeons, origin crystals, ability crystals, sighting of other races and much more information, he could always try to read a few sentences of the manual Master Junades had given him.
Having set the goal of finishing the entire [Control of the Ancient Monarch] book before he would enter a dungeon once again, Nial began to read attentively.
Hours passed with Nial trying to read various books with the use of his mana perception that allowed him to perceive the words written in them.
Initially, he felt as if he would fall asleep at any moment, knowing that he was not used to reading for a long time, however, after some time, Nial realized something that caused his sleepiness to be washed away in an instant.
'Is it just me, or did my brain suddenly improve?' Nial asked himself in confusion.
Trying to make sense of the situation, he furrowed his eyebrows but then dug his nose back in the book knowing that reading intently was said to be better than just hearing the information.
However, he hadn't been fully focused earlier because his mind had always averted to Melvin, who had placed the manual Nial wanted to read, in front of him at the table.
He had yet to understand that a few hours of reading wouldn't turn him into a bookworm, let alone someone who could read complex words right after learning how to read, in the first place.
Nonetheless, Nial was astonished about the pace at which he was able to learn, and comprehend most pieces of information he procured from the books he was reading.
The books were not really interesting because he had heard this information somewhere, but in the end, he had never really learned these things because blind language was not something many schools taught, and books about history written in the blind language were rarely found.
As such, so far he had learned most things from hearing about it from his surroundings, whether it was his mother, father, or other people who had spoken about things around him.
Nial felt that the information was easy to understand, even if some of them were not exactly interesting to him.
Thus, he found out that nobody really knew when exactly the first dungeon had appeared, which was weird because someone should have noticed it when a levitating mass of liquid manifested out of nowhere.
At least Nial felt like that, and after asking Melvin about it, he could only shrug his shoulders and respond,
"That's one of mankind's mysteries. There are quite a few of them, and the more you get to know, the scarier the situation we are in will feel to you...just try to ignore it, that's what most Originals are doing either way, or you can face the mysteries head-on. Whatever suits you best."
Melvin was rather nonchalant with his answer, and Nial sighed deeply at his friend's words before he went back to his seat.
Having spent a total of three days on reading, Nial got to know a vast amount of information which he digested much faster than he expected.
He had finally learned how to read properly with the use of his mana perception, and there were no issues in reading through the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique, which was something he achieved much earlier than he had first assumed.
However, he was dead-tired and both his brain and eyes hurt. Hence he decided to take a nap after staying awake the whole time.
The healing serum that was still coursing through his body was probably the reason for his energetic state that had allowed him to stay awake for three days without any issue.
Closing his eyes, Nial didn't even think about checking on Melvin, who had already left the library in order to do something with the shocking information he had procured.
If he would have perceived Melvin's mana fluctuations the moment his best friend had informed him that he had something to do, Nial would have definitely been worried.
Yet, Nial hadn't heard Melvin properly. Instead, he had just told his friend to go ahead.
As such, Nial didn't know that his friend was currently doing something that could lead to a disastrous situation.
Melvin was planning to return home to report Sabrina's deteriorating health to his father.
He hoped that his father would find a way to stop the illness from worsening further.
It might look like her condition had improved after she had received the medicinal serum, but that was not the case because her illness would resurface in an even worse state once they ran out of it and were unable to procure better resources for her.
This had shocked Melvin the moment he had found a clue that the description of a disease he had read in a book matched the one Sabrina had.
He couldn't be certain of this, but even the smallest possibility of this being the truth was more than enough for him to return to his father, and if necessary, beg him to help Sabrina.
That was because Melvin had found out what kind of disease Sabrina had, after starting his research in the section pertaining to books about all kinds of super rare and mysterious diseases, mankind hadn't found a cure to yet!
Melvin had hoped that he wouldn't find Sabrina's disease there, but his worst fears had come true, and not a single cure was named in the book he had read.
Even after reading the chapters about the details of the disease, Sabrina seemed to have, Melvin was unable to figure out a single way to even tend to her disease or ease it for a longer period of time.
Because of that, Melvin forgot the grudge against his family for threatening Nial's family, and he returned home as quickly as possible, leaving Nial, who had no idea what was going on, alone and sleeping on the pile of books in the library.
In the end, this was not the issue because nothing could happen to Nial, while the same could not be said about Sabrina, whose health worried him the most.
Meanwhile, Nial was ignorant to everything that happened, and it was only the librarian, who had seen the tears in Melvin's eyes.
As such, she had been curious to know the reason for Melvin's disappointment.
Hence, she approached the wooden table Melvin had been reading and where dozens of books were still spread open.
Glancing through the open pages, the librarian read through some before she stopped on a page and a frown appeared on her face,
'Myset Hoeart?'
Recalling that the young man, who had been searching for something for several days, was from the Tyr family, she remembered that the government had informed a few higher echelons that special guests were researching a new type of dungeon that had emerged inside the shelter.
Thus, given the fact that each of the books had the page of the exact same disease laid out in front of her, the librarian was able to put two and two together.
'I hope none of his friends has that disease, and if… he shouldn't be running home, not right now… the jerks are definitely resting in the Tyr family's manor...aren't they?... I hope they will be out of the mansion when this lad arrives home...otherwise, chaos will descend…'
Even if she tried to think positively, that was not possible right now, not with the dread that was filling her heart about the outcome.
This caused her mood to plummet, and she couldn't help but turn to the blind, young man, who had arrived with the descendant of the Tyr family.
Sighing deeply, she felt that she had to do something. As such, she ignored her principle of not bothering the visitors of the library and she shook Nial, who had been sleeping soundly, awake.
"Brat, you should eat something... and go home, sleep, and return later. You shouldn't sleep in the library.
Furthermore, you should go and take a shower because you stink. I don't want my books to stink of the sweat and perspiration of an overzealous brat."
By saying all of this at once, she wanted to break the ice between them, which didn't really seem to work because Nial was yawning, while rubbing his eyes sleepily.
"You should be a late-bloomer, right? I understand that you feel like you are in a hurry, but you are blind, and there are too many restrictions that hinder you from advancing. That being said, work thoroughly and advance with slow but steady steps! A proper foundation is the most important."
Yawning once again, Nial didn't understand why she was suddenly reprimanding him and only tried to answer her while stifling a yawn.
"Miss...I'm currently building up my foundation...It's not like I can improve my knowledge within a single d-..."
Nial wanted to reason with the librarian, clearly saying that he was not only a late bloomer in terms of his origin awakening but almost everything.
Yet, before he could do anything, his phone began to ring as a robotic voice resounded through the room.
When the librarian heard this, followed up by an annoying ringtone, she first wanted to shout at Nial to maintain silence in the library.
However, when she heard the name "Arnold Birg" once again, she frowned as she stared at Nial in confusion.
'You know not only the heir of the Tyr family, but also Master Junades, AND Arnold?'
Cursing out while fumbling to get hold of his phone, Nial quickly apologized to the librarian and answered the call before he began whispering.
"Hello Mister Birg, how can I help you?"
When his Original ID was created, Nial had to import his contact details into the ID too. As such, by exchanging the contacts, the blacksmith got his phone number.
However, Nial didn't expect the blacksmith to call him ever again which was the reason for him to accept the call readily despite the librarian standing next to him as he believed it had to be something serious!
"Eh...kiddo, I initially didn't want to call you, but I need to ask you for a favor..."
Nial was astonished because he had never heard the blacksmith sound so desperate, and even the librarian, who could easily hear Arnold's voice, couldn't help but feel shocked.
"Of course I will help you, I need to repay my debt for the Viper spear, either way! How can I help you?"
There was no need for Nial to be hesitant, and when the chance to make up had presented itself, he was openly offering his help.
Yet, what he heard next caused Nial to stiffen as Arnold's voice was laced with desperation and worry.
"My daughter...Shana...she is….please help her!"