Turan was born into the bloodline of House Zahar, also known as the Tracker or Hunter bloodline.
Their notable characteristics included superior sense of smell and reflexes, as well as the ability to use tracking and concealment magic more easily than others.
Among these, their concealment ability was particularly powerful, allowing them not just to become invisible but to completely escape detection by all living beings' perception abilities.
However, while Zahar was one of the most powerful houses, it was far from being an absolute ruler.
Even in their war with House Arabion, to which Keorn belonged, they couldn't claim victory despite having a slight advantage.
So how could Turan, who wasn't even of pure lineage but born between a knight and a commoner, be so special?
"Could you tell me more about my bloodline in detail?"
"Couldn't you ask your parents about such things?"
"I'm an orphan."
"Is that so?"
If he were human, he might have added meaningless words like "oh, that's unfortunate," but being a spirit, he simply moved on.
Turan wasn't particularly looking for sympathy anyway, so it didn't matter.
"Hmm, shall I check for you then? I just need your consent to examine your body."
"Yes."
Having received consent, the librarian immediately plunged his finger into Turan's chest.
Naturally, being an illusion, there was no pain.
After a while of changing expressions as if seeing something with his eyes closed, the librarian exclaimed.
"There are some minor ones, but the main bulk is Tracker, Hunter. This must be the trait of House Zahar? The ones who live in that desert?"
"Yes."
Since the other party had no ability to leak information anywhere, Turan readily revealed the truth.
However, even after discovering this, the librarian seemed to see something more and exclaimed.
"Oh? Oho... there's another one! It was mixed!"
"Mixed?"
"The power you possess is the result of two bloodlines combining. You know what that means, right? There was related content in the book I recommended."
At those words, Turan recalled the book about wizard houses he had read on the second day.
There was indeed such content written there.
Bloodline combination.
Noble bloodline abilities are usually passed down to children either completely or in weakened form, but rarely, they can become stronger.
This happens when abilities possessed by parents of different bloodlines combine to bloom into more diverse and powerful forces.
Like how a bloodline that controls water and a bloodline that controls ice might produce a bloodline that can handle both water and ice, or how a bloodline that heals wounds and a bloodline that cures diseases might produce a bloodline that can heal both wounds and diseases.
Houses that became founding families after gaining strong powers through such bloodline combinations were called great houses.
"Then what's the other one?"
"That, I don't know. It's still locked away. Perhaps it will unlock as you grow stronger."
The librarian said this kind of 'locked bloodline' was one of the symptoms that occurred in the first generation of a newly combined bloodline.
In other words, it was certain that half of Turan's power came from his mother's side.
'Mother...'
In Turan's memories, his mother was always gentle and elegant, but at the same time, she always showed clear signs of exhaustion.
It couldn't be helped, as she had to work as a shepherd without a husband, a job difficult even for strong men, while also caring for a young child.
No matter how much he thought about it, it didn't seem likely that she had been a wizard.
But thinking again, she had been unusually well-mannered and educated for a commoner.
Not just around Hisaril Hill where Turan lived, but even in cities like this, the class of people who could freely read fairy tales was limited.
Perhaps she had been a descendant of some noble family.
One whose bloodline had become so diluted that she couldn't even possess knight-level magical power herself.
After a long while, having finally sorted out all his thoughts, Turan rubbed his face with both hands and said.
"Alright, I roughly understand. Thank you."
One of Turan's objectives when starting his journey was to trace his parents' footsteps.
To find out why his father, who was said to be a 'good person,' didn't live with his family, who he was and where he was, and why his mother had to flee with Turan to the western end of the world.
And thanks to what he learned this time, Turan received even stronger motivation.
The answer would likely be in the Enril Desert, the land of House Zahar, which represented half of Turan's bloodline.
==
After learning the library spirit's identity, rather than simply immersing himself in solitary reading, Turan asked about various book contents and requested explanations from him.
Above all, the librarian knew even the knowledge contained in books that had been plundered and lost from the library over the past thousands of years, and the 'natural laws' he taught directly by word of mouth, due to all books being lost, were nothing short of treasure.
"Are you saying there are that many tiny invisible substances?"
"Yes. If you levitate water and shape it like this to look through, you can confirm it directly."
When he created an oddly shaped water droplet in front of his eyes as the librarian instructed, amazingly, objects appeared magnified several to dozens of times.
Through the subsequent explanation, Turan learned facts such as how various diseases arise through these microorganisms, and how the decay of organisms is caused by the feeding of such bacteria.
That wasn't all.
The refraction of light, the generation of heat through friction, the principles behind how living beings get injured and recover...
Many of these were related to the principles of magic he had learned from Keorn.
For example, while before he only knew that lightning magic became easier to use when there were many clouds, now he understood why.
Among these, there were some fields that even the librarian didn't perfectly understand or could only teach superficially, but even that was enough to change Turan's perception of the world.
Moreover, this knowledge didn't end with just knowing.
"Then, I'll experiment with decay first."
When Turan touched an apple he had brought from outside with his finger, the apple quickly began to rot after a short while.
As if time had been accelerated hundreds of times.
"How is it?"
"It's amazing..."
While such magic wasn't impossible before, both its effectiveness and mana consumption were terribly inefficient.
But now it was different.
Just by simply understanding the principles of decay, Turan could achieve such results while consuming much less magical power.
His magical ability had improved just by changing how he perceived the world.
As if he had suddenly 'mastered' such magic.
Turan chuckled at a thought that suddenly occurred to him.
"Head Lug was wrong."
"About what?"
"He said there weren't any amazing ancient magic or secrets to increasing magical power in this library."
While the librarian didn't actually know such knowledge, these principles were an even greater secret than that.
He thought that perhaps some powerful houses might be monopolizing such knowledge.
Since their competitiveness would decrease if all wizards knew such things.
The librarian agreed with this thought.
"I was wondering why people's knowledge level seemed to only decrease over time, but if what you say is true, it makes sense."
The librarian said these natural laws he taught Turan came from books written directly by the Prea god-folk during the time of the old empire's existence.
After the empire's fall, such types of books became extremely rare.
"Come to think of it, you said this library was built during the old empire era. Was your creator, who made you, a god?"
"Yes. The Lame Goddess created me. In fact, most of the old empire's legacy was probably created by her. Even among gods, few had creative talent."
The Lame Goddess.
She was the greatest blacksmith and architect among the Prea god-folk, who created all sorts of powerful treasures and palaces used by the gods.
Because of this, houses that created magical devices all claimed to be her descendants.
"Did you ever converse with the goddess?"
"If you're going to ask what kind of being she was, I'll answer in advance that I don't know well either."
His creator, the Lame Goddess, had disappeared right after creating the library and implanting the librarian with his mission to protect it.
As if she was too busy to delay even for a moment.
When Turan sighed in disappointment, the librarian chuckled.
"Don't be too disappointed, you fool. There are many divine legacies in this land. Perhaps among them, there might be spirits unlike me who were close to the gods."
After ten days of happily chattering while receiving direct teachings from his new teacher like this.
Turan bid farewell to the librarian.
"You're leaving?"
"Yes. The owner of this place has been openly giving me hints to leave."
In truth, any loss from Turan staying here would amount to just some minor food expenses, but Head Lug seemed annoyed by having his lost prey constantly lingering before his eyes.
Turan briefly regretted not leaving some room for possibility instead of outright rejection, but soon dismissed such thoughts.
Going that far would have been improper as a guest.
"I see."
In the librarian's impassive face as he answered, there wasn't the slightest trace of disappointment or frustration at parting with a conversation partner met after long years.
Turan could newly feel that when the librarian had said he could wait another few thousand years, it hadn't been empty words.
"Then, I'll see you again next time."
"Come if you want to, or don't."
"There are still many books I haven't read."
In truth, there wasn't much reason to visit the library anymore.
He had acquired most of the common knowledge he would need in life, and he had learned pretty much all the 'natural laws' the librarian knew that would help with magic.
But Turan intended to return here someday.
He wanted to tell more stories about the outside world he had experienced to this old teacher who could wait for a very long time, perhaps even longer than he remembered.
==
After briefly greeting Head Lug, Turan immediately left the city of Orem.
The clothes he wore were neither the rags he had worn when he first arrived nor what he had worn as a guest of House Baltas.
White shirt and stiff but sturdy pants, and durable leather shoes with a hooded cloak that could cover his head.
Far from looking like a noble aristocrat, wearing all new clothes made him look more like a wealthy traveler.
Though the old sheepskin backpack at his waist looked somewhat out of place.
According to the continental map he obtained from the library, House Zahar's base, the Enril Desert, was about a month or two's journey east from Orem.
There was no need to hurry anyway.
If any clues about his parents were going to disappear, they would have already vanished during the past eighteen years, and if they remained, they wouldn't disappear just because he arrived a bit late.
Turan repeated walking the road and hunting Masu detected by magic to gain power, just as he had done before coming to Orem.
He deliberately twisted his route and avoided large cities, having experienced how troublesome it was to visit other houses as a guest.
If he had done this without a map, he would have completely lost his way.
The difference from before was that this time he paid some attention to hygiene management even while traveling.
After living cleanly once, he wanted to maintain some level of care, and above all, after recognizing the existence of microorganisms, living dirty felt uncomfortable.
Since there was plenty of water in nearby streams and he had brought a bar of soap, he could maintain reasonable cleanliness, though not as much as when the maids had taken care of him.
After walking like this for about nine days.
Once again, traces of a Masu caught in Turan's detection magic.
Judging from the hoof prints larger than a palm stamped in the ground, it was probably a Masu that had mutated from a horse.
However, when he approached while hiding his body at a proper distance, he saw a strange sight.
[Neigh-!]
The red-haired horse roaring in front of a large tree was, befitting a Masu, about one and a half times the shoulder height of an ordinary person.
Behind it, a person leaning against the tree sat unconscious, eyes closed with blood flowing from their head.
At first, he thought they had been attacked by the Masu, but looking closely, the beast was actually protecting the fallen person.
With a saddle attached to its back, it was probably a Masu raised by that man.
And right next to the two, a man and woman in unfamiliar attire were having a conversation with ominous intent.
"Damn this devil beast, how can a mere pet Masu be so strong?"
"Try to create an opening somehow."
"Easier said than done!"
It seemed they wanted to break through the horse's defense and finish off the fallen man.
Drawing closer, Turan was shocked to realize they weren't human.
Purple-black skin, silver hair, ears split lengthwise up and down...
They were dark elves, beings he had only encountered in fairy tales his mother told him and in books.