So here we are again. At the usual cafe with our usual orders doing our usual chats about the game. However, the topic this time is a bit surprising since Kazuki declared his new goals in the game.

"You want to try and train your [Scribe Mastery]?" Zac repeats in the same surprised tone that I was about to let out. "I know you want to get stronger in [Isekai], but why that [Mastery] though? I heard all you can do with it is just draw and stuff?"

"I think you're confusing it with [Artistry Mastery], Zac. But he's right. What's with the sudden interest on that [Mastery]?" Damon also wonders, which I don't need to add in my comment.

"I know it seems to be a useless [Mastery] to you three. But as I learned from Mr. Zale, I need more than [Magecrafting] and other magic [Masteries] to level up. I know grimoires exist in [Isekai Online] and after seeing him using a tome of sorts, I want to make my own along with scrolls for us to use. Besides, out of all of us four, Zac can't use any magic [Masteries] and he may need a scroll to save himself."

I burst out in a small fit of chuckle once he mentions his flaw as his face turns red. I know my brother and I know he's also not the type to filter in criticism. Though in my honesty, I have no idea where he got it from.

"So I took a sneak peek on the [Mastery's] skills and I'm surprised how many of them can use it to its full power. If I want to become a strong mage, then the [Scribe Mastery] is the way to go first!" He quickly emphasizes this by standing up and pointing his spoon up in the air... right before seeing us and some awkward stares from other customers as he sits back down. "Although, I do need to go back to the library to start training. I can't use its crafting skills until level 12 after all. If you don't mind, Hayate..."

I smile and pat his head before he can ask. "Don't worry. We can go there later after dinner. I haven't finished my arrowheads and Ol' Wally texted me yesterday that he's going to be offline for a while due to a large order he got in his real-life shop. Besides, I want to check it out to get a bit more info about before the expansion release."

"Really? That's great!"

I then turn to my friends, seeing they might be interested.

"If that what your brother wants, then I don't want to pass this chance to visit the game's library," Damon speaks up. I already know his answer considering his love of books is on par with Kazuki's.

But to my shock, Zac shrugs and replies, "I'm not much of a book kind of guy except the Seraph series, but I'm happy to tag along with you two. My sword is currently with my blacksmith friend for some repairs and I need a bit of distraction from fighting."

Well, at least that counts as a yes. Although, I have a bad feeling about them once we get to the library.

"Good, we'll meet up in front of the inn later. Though I suggest you two better prepare yourselves for the worse to come. And I don't mean the part where you have to face a strict librarian."

"Huh? What's worse than some books and a librarian?"

I don't say any more of it. Rather, we continue chatting about other stuff until it's time for us to split and go home.

Eventually, after dinner, we log in to the game and meet up with Arthur and Razul as promised before we head to the library. As usual, it wasn't crowded, but before Kazu and I head inside, I turn and smile as I see several stacks of test papers placed in front of my friends. As expected, Arthur isn't happy as he picks up one of them from the stack.

"Okay, the midterms are bad enough. But this... This is just pure torture from the developers!" I quickly shush him just before the librarian NPC notices his shouting. Sure, she might just give him a scolding, but I saw what happened with that shouting guy from before and I don't want him to end up like him if he even continued playing the game after that incident. "Don't tell you to have to leave us here forever?"

"It's not that long to finish it, though. I haven't taken the [Quest] because I have a [Scribe Mastery], but Wind passed it with flying colors," Kazu says, who is thankfully oblivious to the pain I endured from taking the [Quest].

"I'm okay with written exams, but isn't this a bit excessive for a [Quest]?" Razul asks in a sheepish tone.

"Yeah! Wind, please say something! I don't want to spend a Friday night doing more papers and home-"

"You get used to it," I calmly say as I stare at the two with no emotions and colors on my face. After that, I leave them to accompany Kazu into the library while ignoring Arthur's groans in frustration.

After leaving my friends to their fates, we pick up several books from the shelves we were interested in. I pick some books on geography and culture while Kazu picks up some books on Mana, myths, and history. After that, we spend a few hours there reading while Kazu takes some notes from them.

To be honest, this training he mentioned is more of his notetaking on the game's lore. But it isn’t all that bland and bad since we're killing two birds with one stone with this, namely to learn more about and [Mana Landmarks] and help him level up Kazu's [Scribe Mastery]. Even though I can't take notes, I did help him clarify some details for Kazu to understand, so I did contribute his training a bit.

Eventually, I become exhausted as I lie on the table, trying not to sigh loudly to avoid the library's ire. Checking on HUD's clock, I notice that an hour has passed since we started his training and it seems that Kazu seems to be exhausted as well. Yet, he shakes his head and tries to continue reading. Talk about some dedication over reading. No wonder why he was late leaving the school earlier. Still, I decided to break his concentration by tapping his shoulder.

"I know you want to keep reading, but how about you should take a quick rest?" I suggest.

"No thanks. I took a quick meal before we enter the library, so I'm good for now."

"I know, but you can't read and train forever. Just rest your head for a while. I know the game doesn't have any function on naps, but it still helps with your head when playing VR for hours now."

Thankfully, Kazu understands what I mean as he puts down his book and rests his head on it.

"I didn't mention this before to you, Wind. But the library is actually my favorite place to hang around after school."

"I can tell from earlier."

"Y-Yeah. But it's not only because I can read books as much as I like without being bullied there. But ever since that day when you first rescued me, it became a gateway of worlds I've never dream of before. Well, worlds except for textbooks. I can't even read through math without hitting my head."

"And all of that because I bought you that Seraph novel. Guess I did a lot of good after all, huh?"

"Yeah. Also, I started trying to write my own fantasy stories in my spare time. Though I'm not going to show them to you yet. It's a bit embarrassing and even some of my classmates were laughing just at the glimpse of it."

Wait, what?! Do those jerks never learn?

"Hey, you said you're starting to write them. Besides, what's so embarrassing about them?"

He then silently stares at me for a few seconds before he answers, "I once wrote a story about a knight trying to save a princess from his overprotective brother."

Huh? What's wrong with...

Overprotective?! Don't tell me he wrote a diss story about me?! I'm a bit speechless, but I'm guessing I know why he doesn't want to share some of them. Although this hurts me a bit, so I may need to lower my protective tendencies for his sake.

"Well, don't give up on them. If you keep at it, you may be able to write stories you'll be proud of. Heck, you can try to write a story on "The World of Seraph"."

"But isn't that copying someone else's work, which is a no-no? Plus, it might mess up the timeline."

"Not exactly. You're just writing a non-canon story set within it with a different character you've made as long you give credit to the author who made it. It's called fan fiction and lots of fans are writing it out of love for the series." I actually read some fanfics of them along with other fandoms and that's the whole other can of worms I rather not share with him at this time. "Just keep writing. I'm sure you have a bright future for it."

Once again, Kazu smiles as he raises his head and hugs me. "You're right. I'll try to study hard and become something you, Mom, and Dad can be proud of!"

Now I know why Dad wanted to give him that gift for his birthday. Which means I have to work hard to make his dream come true. After a while, I take a deep breath and say, "Anyways, what do you want to do now? I think we read through most of the books we got so far."

Kazu hums in thought at this until his eyes widen. "Maybe not all of them."

Not all of them? Before I can verbally ask, I notice that he takes out a book from his inventory. But it's not just any book: it's the same hardcover one that Kazu got from the NPC during our first visit here. And to my surprise, he wants to take a closer look at it after all of this time.

"Hopefully, I might open this book after gaining more magic [Mastery] levels," he mutters to himself as he tries to find a lock or something.

"What do you mean? A few times we tried to open it, it just gives us a bit of [Electric] trap. And by us, I mean me." I quickly shudder at the memory, which I still feel the tingling feeling of electricity in my virtual body.

"Actually, I talked about it with Azel a few weeks ago, which by the way, sorry for revealing it to somebody without your permission." Of course, he had to bring it up to them. Then again, I'm guessing we're running out of options to open it though. "They guessed that there's some kind of a requirement to unlock the book."

"Requirement? Don't tell me we have to do some difficult [Hidden Quest] like we did in or something?"

"Not exactly. But they mentioned that there's some kind of an invisible message around here. Something that can give us a hint on how we can read it."

"If that's so, then should you use magic or an item to reveal it?"

"It's more than that. Remember when I managed to communicate with Bai Hu before we completed the [Hidden Quest]? I think that might be the key to unlocking it."

Communicate? Now that I think about it, what he said reminds me of one of the items Bai Hu gave us.

[Charm of the Wild]

[A magical charm created by [Bai Hu], the Thunderous White Tiger. They are only gifted by those who earned his goodwill.

Effects: [Symbol Speech], [Thunderous Bond]

Quality: 80]

[Symbol Speech]? Compared to the equipment we bought and crafted, it shows the skills we can use for it rather than the stat bonuses and enhancements that we’ve gained from wearing it. Although, I begin to realize what he's trying to say.

"In other words, one of these skills may help us learn more about the book and why you were given it to you in the first place. Isn't that right, Kazu?"

"That's right. If I can find that message, then..."

He quickly stops talking as he stares at the back cover of the book.

"Hey, what's wrong, Kaz?" I asked, now concerned at what he found.

"The strange letters... It suddenly appeared out of nowhere!"

"What?!" I quickly check on the book and to my shock, he's right. Several runes or scribbles were appearing on the back cover. But after a few seconds, they transform into English alphabets. Is this part of the charm's skills? Regardless, I quickly read it aloud without raising too much of my voice.

"[The secrets of the Messengers will be unveiled deep within the hills hidden in the forest.]" Normally, I would be confused about what the message meant. But when they say those last few words, I gasped as I realize the said location. "Wait, is it telling us to go deep within the ?!"

The ... That's the same place we were killed by the [Link Ants]! Still, this gives us an incentive to try again now we know the first clue behind the book's mysteries.

"It looks like it. Which makes me more determined to get our revenge against those ants!"

I might have been a bit disappointed. But since we're going back there anyway, I guess we’ve settled on our next big goal.

"All the more reason we should prepare for the worse to come. Keep training on your [Scribe] while I work on my equipment."

"I couldn't say it better myself. [Link Ants], get ready for payback!"

Thank goodness he didn't shout when he declared that. But he's right. There is no time for us to lag around. If we want to learn more about this world, then the should be our next location. The time limit: Before the [Monarch of Light] expansion.

But after we take care of the ants, we may need to get some help. Right after they recover from the library card exams, of course. Hehe...

Wind's Masteries

[Archery] Level 19

[Woodcrafting] Level 9

[Swordsmanship] Level 18

[Cooking] Level 9

[Wind] Level 16

[Physical Enhancement] Level 17

[Hunting] Level 15

[Blacksmithing] Level 8

Kazu's Masteries

[Arcana] Level 20

[Thunder] Level 18

[Wind] Level 15

[Alchemy] Level 18

[Magecrafting] Level 11

[Magical Affinity] Level 19

[Scribe] Level 10