While Anastasia was changing, I proceeded to sit in the meditating position and replenish my Energy and my Brio.
I wanted to dive into my psyche but unlike before the uneasiness in my mind made it quite hard for me to even get to 'Bibliotheca'.
I managed to get into my psyche, but it was just dark and empty, the majestically designed section of my brain called 'Bibliotheca' was completely gone.
It was quite frustrating, I hiked for what felt like hours before I caught a glimpse of what I was looking for, I began trotting towards it at full speed.
I finally got to Athena's employee only table and I fell onto the ground while breathing heavily, I had never felt so fulfilled in my life.
-{Oh, You're Here, I Thought You Abandoned Me}
"W-What do you mean?"
-{You Successfully Reached A Goal. You Weaved Around A Hurdle. Hence You Have Attained Access To A Part Of The Knowledge. The Problem Of Looking For Me And 'BIBLIOTHECA' May Happen Again But That Doesn't Matter Now. The Problem Is Unlocking More Knowledge For Yourself. Set An Earnest Goal And Succeed In It. Then Finish Integrating The Available Knowledge And More Should Come}
[A/N: Athena knows of the weird occurrence of the masked man since she is the System but since Azur doesn't know and she doesn't want him to know, she won't bring it up.]
"A routine? For reading? I'm not too excited about that."
-{What!? You Can't Possibly Mean That Right? You Really Are Different}
"As long as I can learn about the things I want to. Then it should be fine." I said as I walked into the part of 'Bibliotheca' that was now open to me.
In this part there were a few dozen shelves and each contained about eighty books.
I was feeling this odd happiness in my soul.
Just as I was about to pick up a book and delve into my newly opened treasure trove of knowledge I got a rude awakening from Anastasia who gave me a fist to my stomach.
"What are you doing sleeping!?" I was forced out of 'Bibliotheca' in this manner and it really hurt.
It seemed I was right about my meditation position being quite weird or maybe Anastasia was trapped as a subject for so long that she had no idea what I was doing.
I had no time to even inquire.
Before us were a group of unknown humanoids who looked to be at the very least civil because they wore clothing.
-{Humans, That's Actually Good}
"Humans!?" I said this aloud to Anastasia and I got back up and stepped backwards bracing my entire body for any situation that I could possibly think of.
My Flame Stigma began to glow a bright orange color for threatening purposes and it was quite evident from outside my clothing.
"What are Humans?" Anastasia asked me as she took on what I thought to be a battle pose, her horns grew a few millimeters and her hair began standing on end.
"The species that Stein originates from"
After I said this Anastasia was vividly startled and she began to shudder in what seemed to be fear.
-{Oh No. Don't Get Me Wrong, Azur. Stein Is One Of A Kind. Not Every Human Is Like Him}
These words were reassuring and put me at ease.
I relayed this to Anastasia while I whispered in her ear and then one of the humanoids stepped forward.
Out of a shadow casted by a tree and his face was clearly seen while he spoke fluently, addressing me and Anastasia.
"What are you people doing here, wasn't this place supposed to be off limits, Right Zane?"
A young man wielding a long spear said.
He sports red hair and a simple gray battle attire, the sensitive parts of his body are covered by what seemed to be metal.
He was addressing one of what seems to be his teammates who wore similar clothes to him and had brown hair.
In fact, the four people in the party that confronted Azur and Anastasia were all in similar attire.
"Well yes. It is supposed to, but those two are clearly Sorcerers. From my deduction the female may possess a Dragon Volition. So, they both must be very strong."
The one called Zane was able to deduce wrongly but he was so close to the mark that it startled me.
I signaled for Anastasia to conceal her horns and she immediately did.
I expected her to maybe retract them or something but she used her hair to tie over them.
We then cautiously moved forward and I could see a crow flapping and calling out loudly in its raucous tone.
I was quick to understand that it was Athena and that I was the only one that could see and hear her.
I had no idea what she was doing and it actually piqued my interest.
then the one with the vermillion red hair spoke.
"Hello, probable travelers, I am Whitlock and this is my Party."
I instantly took a mental note of each and every one of their appearances as they stepped into places where I could see them.
"This guy over here with similar hair to mine is my brother Zane. The other guy with a bald mirror as a head and huge muscles is Ashford. Then the auburn-haired female is Madden. She doesn't want to tell us her actual name, that's everyone." Whitlock revealed in a welcoming tone.
They acted nothing like what I had expected.
In fact, the one that spoke seemed to be quite stupid.
Maybe it was because Stein set the intelligence bar a bit too high.
Revealing names to people you just met was uncalled for.
"So this is some kind of nomadic party or something?" I asked.
I was trying to exploit the situation and understand more things since Athena was preoccupied with making a whole lot of irrelevant noise as a crow.
"I take it you are not adventurers then." Whit lock said in an eased tone.
"We are an Adventuring Party. We explore and clear locations known as Crypts or Ruins, and salvage items and other important resources that have monetary value." The one to answer my question was the bald Ashford.
It was a bit hard to take him seriously with sunlight reflecting off his head in the manner it did but I still tried to keep a straight face which was clearly faltering at particular periods.
"The person laughs at my head." in shame Ashford scurried off somewhere after what seemed to be a tear fell from his eye.
He looked quite "Impervious" from how hefty he was physically but it seemed I was wrong.
"Don't worry about him. We can still find him. Our Party is referred to as the Crypt Zephyr or Group No 2667." Whitlock said as he leapt into the trees and signaled to Zane to continue the conversation and ask the obvious while he went to find Ashford.
"So, your names?" Zane asked as soon as Whitlock left and we were alone with Zane and Madden.
I felt a bit weird and Athena was still making quite a ruckus.
"Oh, I'm Azur and this is my. uhmm, good friend Anastasia" I replied only to see a scene that wasn't even expected.
It was extremely obvious that Zane shuddered.
It was so clear he lost his previous state of mind and got this new weird one.
"Was he scared or was my name just weird?" I was unsure.
"A-Azur?" he asked with a shaky voice that was evident through his stammering.
"Did he stutter?" Anastasia asked as the awkward sight seemed to obligate her to ask.
"Oh no, no it just sounded familiar, that's all"
Then there was a brief and irritatingly weird silence and the stare of the one called Madden made the atmosphere even more tense.