"Welcome to my personal library, or as I like to call it, the Mental Sanctum," Maya declared, spreading her arms wide in a welcoming gesture.
Barely after saying this, Maya tripped on a stray broomstick behind her and tumbled to the ground with all the grace of a sack of potatoes rolling down a staircase.
Alex and Amelia chortled, ready to tease the young woman, but their words died in their throats as they finally took in their surroundings. Whatever joke they had prepared was instantly forgotten.
Enormous.
That was the only word Alex thought would fit the library in which he stood right now. He had expected a modest-sized room after hearing how the "books" in this library functioned, but never did he imagine it would be this vast. For comparison, the space they were in right now was even larger than the mansion where Alex and his family lived. Of course, that was excluding the underground levels of the mansion, but just the outer structure of that estate was large enough to house his entire branch of the family, along with the multitude of guards and servants who served them.
A library of this magnitude was simply mind-numbing, especially considering it was built entirely underground rather than on the surface. The sheer scale of the excavation and architectural work required to create such a structure defied logic.
Several towering pillars, each dozens of meters in height, supported the immense ceiling, ensuring the library remained structurally sound. Each of these pillars was so massive that even ten people standing hand in hand wouldn't be able to fully wrap around one. They were made from a completely white, smooth material that Alex had never seen before—almost resembling polished marble but with an eerie, glass-like translucence that shimmered under the flickering glow of the torches.
Speaking of torches, there were so many that as soon as they stepped inside, the entire library was bathed in light.
The library was structured into three distinct floors, and each of them, without exception, was filled with seemingly endless rows of towering bookshelves. The sheer number of them made it clear that this place held an unfathomable wealth of knowledge.
On each of these shelves, a delicate metal plaque indicated the subjects contained within. The range of topics was staggering, covering broad fields such as mana theory, battle arts, historical accounts, and human anatomy, to more specialized subjects like beast taming, alchemical transmutation, and forgotten legends.
Each aisle was so spacious that the very carriage they had used earlier could have easily rolled through without disturbing a single shelf. The floors were arranged with a meticulous design, and at the center of each level stood a massive wooden table, long enough to accommodate more than a dozen people at once.
The "books" stored on these shelves were nothing like the conventional leather-bound tomes or parchment scrolls one might expect. Instead, each shelf held rows of small, round, and luminous globes that pulsed with an inner glow. Their radiance varied between deep purple and faint crimson, the swirling lights inside moving like liquid fire. At first glance, those globes almost resembled polished crystals, each one carrying a mysterious energy within. The way the light churned inside them was utterly mesmerizing, as if an entire galaxy had been trapped within their smooth surfaces.
"Impressive, huh?" Maya beamed, brushing the dust off her clothes as she carefully stood up, a prideful grin stretching across her face.
Both Alex and Amelia nodded absentmindedly, their eyes still roaming over the vast expanse of the underground library, trying to fully grasp the sheer magnitude of what they were seeing.
"Wait," Amelia suddenly called out, turning toward Freya. "You said that it was your elders who built this library?"
"Yes," Freya nodded, a subtle, proud smile appearing on her lips. No matter how she felt about the elders' lack of flexibility when it came to handling the tensions between the two branches of the family, she couldn't deny that each of them was remarkable in their own way. "This library is the result of their combined efforts, though it was Elder Lisbeth who personally filled the shelves with these books. In a way, she is the one who truly built this library—without her ability, none of this would have been possible."
'I wonder what her ability is… and what grade it has if it's capable of transforming conventional books into something you can absorb just by touching it,' Alex mused, his gaze flickering to the countless glowing orbs lining the shelves. 'It's probably an ability related to the mind, though.'
"So..." Maya suddenly appeared in front of Amelia, her eyes sparkling with anticipation, a bright smile stretching across her face. "When are you going to use the Tear of Knowledge?" she asked excitedly, practically bouncing on her feet.
Amelia chuckled, shaking her head in amusement. Somehow, Maya seemed even more excited about the Tear of Knowledge than she was—something she hadn't thought possible, considering how much she was looking forward to using it herself!
Wasting no time, Amelia pulled the Tear of Knowledge from her space ring.
"Whoaa," Maya marveled, her eyes widening in wonder as she took in the shimmering, translucent droplet resting in Amelia's palm. "Are you going to use it right now?" she asked, her excitement doubling in intensity.
"Uh-huh," Amelia nodded, but then she cast a questioning glance at her brother. "I can, right?"
"Yes, but before that," Alex's expression turned serious as he shifted his gaze to Freya. "Is it safe for us to take off our masks?"
"You can," Freya reassured him with a confident nod. "No one is here besides us."
"I'm not just talking about this library," Alex clarified.
"Ah," the Matriarch exhaled softly, immediately understanding what—or rather, who—he was referring to. "You don't have to worry. They won't… can't say anything about what they witness," she assured him, a fleeting hint of sadness passing through her eyes before vanishing just as quickly.
"They?" Alex narrowed his eyes slightly. 'So there are several of them following us.'
He was, of course, referring to the guards assigned to protect the young heiress. Before taking any risks and revealing their faces, Alex wanted to ensure they wouldn't report anything about their identities. But, while he still had some reservations, he trusted Freya, and that was enough. Without hesitation, he dissolved both his and Amelia's masks, the smoky veils dissipating into the air.
The instant her mask vanished, revealing her delicate yet striking features, Amelia wasted no time. She brought the Tear of Knowledge to her lips and swallowed half of it in a single gulp. Without missing a beat, she lifted the remaining half and downed it as well, consuming the entire treasure in mere seconds.
Alex, Maya, and even Freya observed the entire process with curious yet expectant expressions. They all knew about the Tear of Knowledge and its effects, but none of them had ever witnessed someone actually using it, so, naturally, their curiosity was piqued.
However, as the seconds ticked by after Amelia consumed the Tear of Knowledge, absolutely nothing happened. There was no visible reaction to indicate that the artifact had taken effect. But even if it had, how were they supposed to know? The Tear of Knowledge worked solely on the mind of the one who absorbed it. Unless Amelia herself confirmed that it had worked, they would remain in the dark.
The trio waited patiently, but as more than five minutes passed without Amelia moving or saying anything, their patience began to thin—especially Maya's.
"Uhh, did it work?" she finally blurted out after ten minutes, her voice tinged with impatience.
"I'm not really sure," Amelia admitted with a slight shrug, her expression puzzled. "I don't feel anything out of the ordi—"
Her words came to an abrupt halt. Her body stiffened, freezing in place. A second later, her pupils glowed, casting a brilliant white light upon her surroundings.
At the same time, it was like a bomb had gone off right inside her mind, but it wasn't the bad kind of explosion. Instead, it felt as if the fog clouding her mind had just disappeared—better yet, it felt like she had been blind her whole life, only to regain her sight at that very moment.
A euphoric sensation, unlike anything she had ever experienced, flooded her being, threatening to overwhelm her. But before that feeling could fully take hold, another transformation had already begun. All at once, her mind started to expand—not in strength, but in sheer capacity. It was becoming vast, boundless, stretching beyond its previous limits like a universe unfolding within her.
All the knowledge she had ever acquired—whether crucial insights about her abilities or trivial, forgotten details—began to consolidate. Life choices, past decisions, fleeting thoughts, and even the most insignificant memories resurfaced, each one becoming sharper, more refined. But it wasn't just recollection—she was seeing them in a completely new light, understanding them in ways she had never thought possible.
In that instant, Amelia came to a realization. No—she came to several. And among all those revelations, two stood out above the rest.
The first was that Alex had been right all along. Her Cell Master ability was far more powerful than she had ever given it credit for—more broken, more limitless than she, her brother, or anyone had ever realized. She had been severely underutilizing what was, without a doubt, her greatest asset. If she truly wanted to have a chance to remain by her brother's side despite his fulgurant progression, she needed to start using it to its full potential.
The second realization—perhaps even more astounding than the first—was that she didn't need to possess complete knowledge of human anatomy or medicine to unlock the true power of her ability. Of course, understanding those fields was essential, but even with her current level of knowledge, she could already achieve far more than she had ever imagined.
A sudden thought crossed her mind, and without hesitation, Amelia raised her hand.
Under the stunned gazes of Alex, Freya, and Maya, her open palm began to expand. In the blink of an eye, it stretched and grew—elongating more than twenty inches before their very eyes!