"Access to everything?" Andrew was quite doubtful of such bold statement. It sounded too good to be true.
"Huh, you don't believe the words of your headmaster?" Lilian asked with an annoying grin.
'This woman doesn't get tired of teasing me' Andrew rolled his eyes as he was fed up with her attitude.
'Let it be, I can't do anything to her....for now' Andrew exhaled a breath of turbid air as he put a warm smile on his face.
"I wouldn't dare! I just wanted to clarify how far my limits stretch" Andrew said.
'He didn't take the bait' Lilian grunted with displeasure as she wanted Andrew to make mistakes that would make him indebted to her. And what kind of mistakes you might ask? Affording something that's too astronomical for him or offending some young master.
"You can buy anything as long as it's within your level and realm of existence. You can also have a bit more time compared to those equal to you in special training facilities" Lilian finally gave a proper explanation.
"Got it, what about methods of transportation? I'm not a Lesser Mage so I can't manipulate space yet" Andrew asked.
"Stairs" Lilian plainly said.
Andrew was quite perplexed.
'It's sure going to take a lot of time' Andrew thought.
"Am I free to go?" he asked since he wanted to explore this place. Sapphire Tower specialized in arrays, logically speaking he could get the best knowledge from here.
"Naturally, you can go explore my domain" Lilian let him go.
Andrew bowed as he left to exit this place.
He opened the double doors as he headed to the nearest stairs...
___
3 full hours had to pass for Andrew to finally navigate through this complex web of stairs and corridors.
He stood in front of a facility that had a shining sign on it saying [Sapphire Library].
'This gives cyberpunk vibes' he randomly thought as he passed through the entrance of the facility.
Strangely, such an important place had no doors in it.
Suddenly...
The previously blank scenery changed into rows and rows of stone doors.
'This is...independent space?' Andrew once again came into contact with a marvel which was a pocket world.
'No...It might be just an illusion array, but there is still a high chance that this is a pocket dimension' Andrew intently looked at the entrance of the library.
He extended his hand as his fingertip went past the entrance, nothing happened...
'It looks like I have to meet special conditions to warp through space' Andrew thought as with a step he exited the library.
He turned to look back at the entrance as he saw nothing but the usual blank pitch-blackness.
'What condition does exactly make me shift through space?' Andrew wondered as he conducted a couple of experiments.
Nothing happened even when over 50% of his body was inside the library.
'Incredible!' Andrew exclaimed in his mind with a smile on his face like a child who discovered something new.
His excitement was understandable since the existence of separate spaces was nothing but a work of fiction in his past life.
He always wanted to have an independent space where only he could access piles and piles of his riches.
Once again this world reminded him that magic was exciting!
'Soon I'll be able to do this' with such a promise in his heart, he strode towards the nearest room in the library.
Andrew wasn't unfamiliar with the process as he swiftly entered the room.
As usual, it was nothing but absolute emptiness and a small monolith in the corner.
Andrew took out his token and put it into the slit of the monolith.
A translucent hovering screen popped up.
[Select Category]
[Magical Martial Arts]
[Spells]
[Arrays]
[Alchemy]
...
And the list went on as Andrew swiftly chose [Arrays].
He went through a big list as he could choose any array blueprint as long as it was relevant to his existential state.
Blueprints essentially were a step-by-step guide to array creation.
Andrew was pulled into the world of arrays as he saw countless ideas realized in the form of arrays.
Be it for daily use or war oriented, there was almost everything and anything!
Andrew holed himself up for the next 3 days...
___
3 days later.
Andrew sat contemplatively as he had a translucent screen in his hands. Surprisingly, he could grab it.
He thought about whether he should engrave an array into his body...
[Dark Lotus Array]
[Casting Place: Body]
[Existential Requirement: Initial Apprentice Mage]
[An array that can spread as far as the caster's mana sense. Victims will be sucked dry of their mana the moment they come in contact with the dark light of the lotus...and...]
Andrew read through the description even though he could afford to pick anything randomly.
'I wonder how does this work? It's a fact that mana can be indefinitely used from the surroundings of a mage as long as they have enough mental capacity to sustain it. Logically, it probably should consume way less mental energy for it to even exist' Andrew pondered as he went through all the implications of engraving an array directly into one's flesh.
'I should buy it to see more details' Andrew decided as he purchased the file.
A new symbol appeared in the small black stone that was engraved right into the center of his token.
Andrew accessed it with his mana sense as a new translucent icon appeared in front of him.
[WARNING: Do at your own risk since each body reacts differently when they come into contact with the specific inputs of mana. The side effects can range from none to absolute rejection of the engraving process]
[The most prominent side effect that casters had received was...
Infertility!]
[It's especially the case when they absorb the mana of too many members of the opposite sex. Of course, it doesn't matter when a mage is on a higher level than their victims, but still do it at your own risk]
Andrew was quite baffled by this...
'What the fuck?' he blurted out as this defied the knowledge that he had learned so far.
'Wasn't mana considered universal energy? How come does this affect the caster? It's supposed to suck mana! Not hormones!' Andrew repeatedly looked through his knowledge.
But everything he had seen and learned so far indicated that mana was universal energy that was unbiased towards its caster as long as they could handle it.
'What a load of bullshit...Is that a prank or something?!' Andrew thought with confusion and bewilderment.
This array would be extremely useful if not for this strange description...
'I am not going to refrain myself from devouring my enemies of the same level and realm. Otherwise, it would defy the purpose of this array' Andrew thought.
He truly wanted to acquire something that would let him rob mana off his opponents.
One would ask, does robbing mana even matter when they can use the surrounding mana? It does, tremendously at that.
It puts tremendous stress on the soul core and mind when a mage tries to use the surrounding mana without refining and converting it into their own mana.
Although, mages can passively absorb the surrounding mana, it will still remain as the world's mana in their bodies since they still need to dedicate their time to meditate to safely convert it. Of course, it takes a lot of time and energy to do so, but at least it will not make mage's head crack into halves.
What about just manipulating the surrounding mana? It's possible to manipulate mana in the range of mage's mana sense to some degree, but as it was mentioned before. It's still the world's mana regardless even if it's in someone's mana sense. It will just make manipulating the surrounding mana slightly easier.
Then, why would a mage robe someone off their mana if they can't even properly control the surrounding mana? To put it simply, it has to do with World's Will.
Its largely believed that the world is equivalent in existence to gods. Hence, making it impossible to deny that they don't have their own soul domain.
The soul domain being the entire planet itself! The world lets all the living and non-living beings use its mana so they can progress, or so it's thought. No one actually knows what the world is. Only countless theories remain among baseless assumptions.
Moreover, it's a fact that it's easier to snatch and refine the mana of someone equal to you in level and realm than painstakingly absorbing the world's mana since the higher mage goes up in evolutionary scale the harder it becomes to refine the surrounding mana since to progress they need mana of their level. Naturally, the world's mana has all levels and grades of mana.
Taking away mana simply requires erasing the energy signature of a being.
Meanwhile, Andrew looked through similar arrays as they also had varying side effects...
[Triton's Touch]
[...a high chance of being tainted by the opponent's mana...]
[Mating Deathmark]
[...drains off all the mana of the opposite sex while copulating...]
[Demetra's Kiss]
[...you can say goodbye to your muscles...]
'Well, this doesn't look great. All flesh-engraving arrays are flawed to the point that the risk far outweighs the profit. It looks like I should ignore them for a while and focus on traditional arrays' Andrew decided as he once again dived into the endless list of arrays...