Tepo looked between Quill an Anvil. He felt some anxiousness, but mostly managed to keep a cool head. The fact that Quill's solemn voice still couldn't fully suppress his typical leisurely tone helped a lot. It took some seriousness form the situation.
On the other hand, Anvil was fully in her role. She stood straight, remained quiet and was ready to go through the ritual.
Suddenly, a cold voice sounded out. It shot into Tepo's bones, almost leaving him breathless.
"Let's begin!"
The young man naturally understood that the surprising female voice belonged to senior Wave. Obviously, the powerful beast had taken the lead role.
Gritting his teeth, Tepo took a step forward. There was no way out. He had to face the test.
Quill's black robe moved lightly. A white sleeve reached towards Tepo, holding a black cloth in his hand.
"Put this over your eyes. You are not yet eligible to see the tower."
Tepo didn't complain. He took the cloth, binding it tightly. Only a shimmer of light still reached his eyes. It was enough to make out vague silhouettes.
"The cloth blocks your vision fully."
Suddenly Tepo's heart skipped a beat. Nothing seemed to change, but his vision blacked out entirely. Quill's power shocked him once more.
Tepo felt two hands on his shoulders. Quill and Anvil stepped behind him. They slowly led him along.
Stepping on the stairs, Tepo focused his mind. He was thankful to Quill and Anvil. Their hands weren't forceful, even offering some reassurance. No matter what the mysterious organization was, Tepo at least felt like those two might be worth trusting. Maybe a friendship could slowly form between them.
Quill and Anvil didn't know Tepo's thoughts, but they were also slightly excited. This is their first time initiating a newbie. They were still rather junior among the organization, but now they felt as if they were entering the older generation.
Slowly, the trio walked up the stairs. Tepo soon lost count, but he knew they had already passed the third floor. Now, they had entered those floors he wasn't allowed in yet.
Suddenly the solemn atmosphere was interrupted. Tepo smiled. Cooing noises sounded out as a flame got close to his hands.
Quill and Anvil stopped for a second. From the noise, Tepo imagined elemental spirits all around them, cheering him on.
And this was indeed the case. The spirits were excited, wishing Tepo the best in their own way. They only parted slowly, as the trio's advancement continued.
Tepo was surprised as no stairs followed. Instead, a feeling of traveling upwards appeared suddenly. He realized they were taking an elevator.
Left with no concept of how many floors they passed, Tepo waited until the elevator stopped. He was ready to advance, but Quill and Anvil didn't push him. Instead, Anvil's serious voice sounded out:
"Newbie. After you enter this room, the test will begin. You will find a bookcase with preselected books. Rember as many as possible! You have twenty hours!"
Tepo nodded slowly. He branded this information in his mind.
The young man took a deep breath as he stepped forward.
"The cloth loosens."
With Quill's words the cloth obeyed obediently, fluttering to the ground. Tepo turned his head back, only to see a door swiftly closing. Now the test had begun!
Tepo scanned the room he was in. There wasn't much to see. Illuminated by a single shining stone, a bookcase stood against the wall next to a door. Other than this, a single desk and chair stood at the center of the room.
A handful wind spirits lined up cutely before Tepo. He understood that they were here to assist him. The young man nodded at his eager helpers before moving towards the bookcase.
He had twenty hours, so a clear plan had to be formulated.
But as soon as Tepo began roaming his eyes over the books, he drew a sharp breath. Those were… so many. How was he supposed to study all of them? Tepo felt dizzy. Even with 20 hours this task was impossible.
Analyzing the bookshelf for a few seconds, Tepo felt some relief. From studying their titles, he realized that many books might have repetitive content. In order to work efficiently he had to make sure to skip repetitions.
Furthermore, one book was especially highlighted. A note was placed next to it, telling Tepo that this book was necessary for the test. The young man's eyes lit up as he read its title: 'Spells and their runes'.
Feeling like he had a good grasp of the task, Tepo was determined not to waste any more time. He took 'Spells and their runes' with him and sat down at the desk.
Next to him, the elemental spirits behaved quietly. The tiny beings knew not to disturb Tepo's concentration right now.
Focused, the newly awakened opened the first site. But he didn't begin reading immediately. He worked so hard to become a warrior. How could he not try to use any advantage he had now?
Despite not having the time to test it earlier, Tepo hoped that his new ability worked the way he guessed. Carefully, he activated [Time Dilation: Body].
Instantly a strange feeling hit Tepo. Nothing around him had changed, but everything within him appeared to go into overdrive. The young man quickly had to get used to this sensation.
Suddenly Tepo recoiled. His skin felt strange. It took the young man a few seconds to make sense of what was happening. His body's image appeared in his mind.
It's like… everything within my body runs at two times the speed. My blood flows faster, my nerves transmit double the information, and my brain processes them at higher speeds.
Although I don't move faster and it's not like everything appears to be in slow-motion, but my reaction time should have halved. This is still valuable in combat.
But the real advantage lies elsewhere. My learning speed and absorption of forces should have doubled. I will grow stronger at twice the speed compared to others.
Well, that would only be true with unlimited mental strength. But still, the advantage is considerable.
After getting used to this strange state, Tepo was in high spirits. All his abilities were practical, great for beginner warriors.
Confident, the young man focused on the book before him. With his brain working in overdrive, he was soon engrossed in it, committing a mountain of information to memory. He marveled at everything he learned as the mysteries of warriors were slowly unveiled before him.
Since this book was important, Tepo spent a full hour memorizing everything by heart.
So that's how it is…
Everything has cores and circles, not only living beings. If something has no core, it will be affected by the Force of Natural Perception and will easily change.
A great example are the Nárees. As flying beasts only the strongest of them could resist the storms with their powerful bodies. But when other races saw them, they assumed that Nárees are immune to the storms.
Therefore, the Force of Natural Perception affected them, eventually giving them the ability to be immune to storms.
This ability subconsciously manifest itself within their bodies as a circle filled with specific runes. This is a spell.
If humans wanted to learn this spell, they have to study those runes and imprint them into their own spell circles, which will be formed around their core.
But many beasts and materials are naturally born with spells and cores. For example, recording metal will always maintain its ability to record and play images and sound. Still, copying its runes would still allow warriors to copy this ability.
Inferring the runes only from seeing a spell appears to be basically impossible. Even the other way around, guessing a spell's effect only from its runes, is rather difficult.
This is the case because a certain rune might for example always vaguely correspond to fire, but not every fire spell will have this rune. On top of that runes will affect each other, which ultimately leads to the formation of a spell, but makes it difficult to truly understand the meaning of single runes.
Tepo took a heavy breath. The book was filled with runes and their meanings. Since the test seemed to put a lot of emphasis on it, the young man had no choice but to cram them into his brain.
Although Tepo wasn't stupid, he never had to learn so much information in a such a short time in both his lives. Steam rose from his head after only memorizing the first book.
Pausing his ability, Tepo took a short break. He massaged his pulsing temples. But he wasn't discouraged. The young man smiled vaguely.
This organization had already delivered so much knowledge to him. And this might only be the tip of the iceberg. If he managed to dig deeper, he might find clues about 'outsiders', fulfilling his purpose of becoming a warrior.
Those thoughts highly motivated the investigator. With renewed vigor he asked Wind to bring him more books.