I always did science in my underwear.
Clothing symbolized society's constraints on the human spirit, the crushing power of civilization that tried to make the individual conform to a template. But being mostly naked allowed me to reconnect with my creative abilities, unencumbered by conformity.
So what's all this about... After my "first date" with Gluttony, about three days had passed and I still hadn't slept. Thinking about the state I was in, I felt some kind of movement in my head. Obviously, my "roof was coming loose"... Although even before that, I was missing some screws in my head.
Sitting in my dorm room, I organized all the information I had. I spent all my time gathering new information and sorting through what I already had. I spent four years in the library, and there was no book I didn't know. It got to the point where I made three lists of books I had read, those I had read but didn't understand, and those I hadn't read.
And out of this whole mountain of knowledge, I have to choose only the most useful books for my present self. Besides, at some point, the thought occurred to me that by devouring books, I was creating my mage build, and now I have to plan everything ahead... My poor brain finally understood the expression: the less you know, the better you sleep.
Sitting on the floor surrounded by scattered books and a pile of written papers, I ran my left hand over the cover of the nearest book in my usual way.
"Appraisal."
*Smack*
The tongue popped out of my left hand with a loud smack and immediately reached its target. It then licked the book cover, providing a visual display of the read information.
[The Difference Between Ignition and Combustion.]
[This book tells about advanced Fire Magic and explains the basic principles of Combustion.]
[Unlike Ignition, where fire is created on a chosen surface, Combustion creates flames directly in the air.]
[The advantage of Combustion is the ability to use it at a distance. However, its fire power is slightly lower than that of Ignition.]
[Your understanding of this book is very high (96.7%).]
[Book class: ordinary.]
[After absorbing it, you will learn the 1st Circle spell "Ignite".]
"That's a very useful spell, but right now I'd rather focus on electromagnetism or gravity."
Gluttony's Appraisal was a means of identifying food. It helped her determine the advantages of the consumed product. Thanks to the Appraisal, I could immediately understand what I would get even if I hadn't read the chosen book yet. In addition, thanks to this ability, I could pick books with specific characteristics.
"Thanks to this, book selection became much easier."
Although I myself had a pretty good idea of what was described in each book. After all, the life of a bookworm bears fruit, not without drawbacks, of course, but what is perfect in this world? And the main disadvantage of this lifestyle is that with such a huge number of books, it becomes difficult to find the one you need, or rather, it takes quite a lot of time. But this is solved very simply:
"I need to become stronger, and that means everything comes down to Circles."
After all, Circles are considered the pinnacle of magical achievements, a masterpiece of once-great human magicians. Circles are another organ fused with the mage's heart, providing for the collection and circulation of mana. Increasing the number of Circles not only increases the speed of mana collection, the maximum amount of magical power, the arsenal of available spells, and the speed of magical power circulation, but also improves physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
"By the way, about becoming stronger."
I looked back at Gluttony's information. It briefly mentioned an increase in my sensitivity.
"Magical sensitivity increases by 10."
The number was very small, and the changes themselves were quite insignificant. Nevertheless, before Glattoni, this number was almost equal to zero, so such a small increase turned out to be quite noticeable. Besides, initially, the sensitivity indicator could not be increased; it was still a kind of natural talent. But now everything is different, now this 10 can turn into 20, 30, or even 100. Of course, it will take some time, but even so, I received a gift that almost all magicians in the world dream of.
"Well, I'll have to read more books."
I was about to reach for the next book, when another inhabitant of this frail carcass spoke up:
".. Hunger. Feed me, please."
[Gluttony finally woke up.]
[The grimoire woke up from its slumber and complains about an empty stomach.]
[Regular meals have reduced its hunger.]
[There are more opportunities to choose dishes.]
[Gluttony will answer one question after devouring two books and will immediately fall asleep after eating the third book.]
[Remaining time: 30 minutes.]
Two or three books...
I have faced this agonizing choice several times. If I chose two books, I was given the opportunity to enrich my knowledge with something that is not written in ordinary books - the wisdom of an ancient grimoire, which was just what a weak mage like me needed. But if I chose three books, I could extract one more essence, which was also incredibly useful for me, because along with the books, I absorbed the magical power preserved in them.
"A terribly difficult choice, as if I am choosing between staying in bed and sleeping or going to the bathroom... how damn difficult."
Last time, I thought it was much more important to improve my skills and decided to feed Gluttony three books, so why not ask a question this time? Besides, I really have something to ask Gluttony about.
"In any case, I'm not losing anything. After all, it was a simple priority question."
So, which two books should I feed Gluttony today?
I immediately put aside [The Difference Between Ignition and Combustion.]. Ignition was quite useful magic for the 1st Circle, except for being too difficult. However, this spell consumed much less magical power than any other. Even I, who had just reached the level of the 2nd Circle, could use it about 100 times in a row.
Then it was time to evaluate another book.
I decided to rely on the Appraisal of the grimoire, rather than relying on my intuition. Magic of assessment was probably even better than my own analysis.
"Appraisal."
A hungry tongue quickly slipped out of my palm. It crawled between the books, and then began to evaluate them. As soon as the books became sticky from the saliva produced, information began to flow into my head.
[Evocation] - the magic of summoning spirits... Discard it. If I don't have closeness with the spirit, I can't make a contract with it, so there's no point in summoning it.
Thirty years ago, the secret of making contracts with spirits was revealed, and it became known that without the proper level of closeness with the spirit, it was impossible to make a contract with it, and therefore there was no point in summoning it.
When I entered the academy, I was immediately told to give up on this endeavor, as my proximity to spirits was close to zero... just like in any other field of Magic.
"It's sad, of course, but there's nothing to be done."
This was not the first time I had been in this situation - having to give up on something due to lack of talent. This has instilled a certain restraint in me, which could be mistaken for insecurity, but that's not the case... probably.
In any case, I could be unsure in certain areas related to practice, but I had no equal in analyzing situations among other students. So I calmly discarded all unnecessary books. Moreover, when choosing books, certain rules had to be followed:
Firstly, it would be pointless to give Gluttony a book if my understanding of it was low;
Secondly, regardless of how high my level of understanding was, it was impossible to master magic that was outside the scope of my Circles;
Thirdly, some spells were simply useless in practice, even if I learned them;
And fourthly, rereading the same book did not give me anything.
... Of course, there could be other nuances that I don't know about yet, but apart from these four characteristics, no others have been identified so far. [Evocation] was just an example of the third case.
"Think about it, there are spells that require castration as a mandatory condition... What's the point of such magic in the world of DxD?!"
Nevertheless, since such magic existed, someone must have practiced it. Honestly, who even came up with this!? Even just flipping through such a book made me nauseous, let alone studying it. What were these people even thinking?
Shuddering, I placed my hand on the next item. It was [Deflexio] - a defense magic that provided a complex of protective structures that shielded the mage from almost any kind of influence. But for now, I was not planning to delve into this area.
My understanding of the next book - [The Basics of Water Magic] - was lower than I thought. If I ate the book, I would get something completely insignificant, so I put it aside. With magic that temporarily improved vision, [Eagle Eye], there was a side effect of gradually worsening one's own vision. Naturally, I didn't need that.
After 15 minutes, only one book was left in front of me. Remembering its title, I trembled with anticipation. According to my assumption, the value of this book was obviously the highest among all seven books he had selected for today.
"Appraisal."
And so, before my eyes appeared information about the essence of the book.
[Sagitta Magica]
[This book describes the use of magical arrows. It explains the methods of forming and compressing magical arrows, as well as changing their shape.]
[Thanks to the magic described in the book, the author, Nagi Springfield, became a true hero of the war, receiving the title of The Thousand Master.]
[The depth of wisdom in this book is much higher than in standard manuals.]
[Your understanding of this book is very high (97.2%)]
[Book class: rare.]
[After absorbing it, the effectiveness of the "Sagitta Magica" spell will significantly increase.]
[This is an original copy written directly by the author. You have little chance of absorbing Nagi Springfield's experience.]
And indeed, the book did not disappoint my expectations, even more so, it surpassed them: it turned out to be an original!
As a rule, magical books were written by the authors themselves, and then copies were distributed from the obtained original. Everything, from the cover to the content, was completely copied using magic. That is why it was extremely difficult to distinguish the original from the copy. Originals were hidden, concealed, and forged, after which they were sold to private collectors.
"If not for Gluttony's abilities, I wouldn't even have known that I was holding an original."
But what is even more interesting is the fact that this legendary magic belongs to the legendary Nagi Springfield, Master of Thousand...