“So the, uh… uh, hey Maiz?”

Maiz looked up, suppressing a twinge of irritation. It wasn’t that Hugan was actually annoying, but teaching was an exercise in a sort of patience that Maiz had never cultivated. Besides, he was getting very frustrated with his own work.

“What’s wrong?”

“What’s this one?” Hugan’s finger was too big for Maiz to easily see what word he was talking about, but after a moment’s examination he decided it was probably ‘malefaction.’ Maiz grimaced. Why was it that supposedly intelligent people couldn’t figure out how to use smaller words to get their points across?

Though Maiz felt for his friend, he refused to give in to the temptation to simply hand him the answer. “Try to do what we practiced.”

Hugan was already forming his lips around the word, trying to sound it out. “Mah-lef-act-e-on… maylefacteon?”

Stupid word. “Uh, sort of. You’re getting there.”

“Is this one of those words I’m never going to use in real life?”

Maiz sighed. “Yes.”

“Okay, thanks!”

There’d been quite a few of those, since their only reading material was the Temple library. There was no differentiation between old and new texts in the collection, and somehow they all remained in the same pristine condition. As Maiz had once helped his father look after the inventory, he knew that this was yet another wonder of the Temple, and not a small one either. However, it meant that of the few stories and historical texts in the library--the only ones that really interested Hugan--many were quite difficult to read. Speaking of which…

The Shifter extricates her stamina to her extremities, voiding the rest of her body of the great power. Then she focuses on the form of the noble wolf, calling the howls of the pack into her soul, and intensifying the power within her limbs until her hands and feet are claws and she is one with the Wolf.

Maiz had a strong urge to throw the book away. He was fairly certain that the author had misunderstood the meaning of the word ‘extricate,’ the use of ‘voiding’ made him think of some unpleasant bodily functions, and frankly he didn’t think the ‘howls of the pack’ would be entering his soul any time soon. This is useless. Even if the thought of a shapeshifting title was somewhat attractive, he already had enough combat abilities, and this one didn’t mesh with anything he already used. He still replaced the sheetwith care--now that he thought of it, the threat of a Master eviscerating any disrespectful readers was probably another good reason that the library was in such good condition.

He thought back to the list he’d made while helping Hugan pick out books. Doing research in this library was a true chore, because the only indexing system was based on the names of titles, with no notes for function or how each related to the others. He was forced to go off of what the titles sounded like, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that the perfect ability to complete his Journeyman feat was right under his nose, hidden by an innocuous title.

“Truly, the in-invading army was left no, uh, recourse…”

Hugan was progressing at an incredible rate thanks to his boosted Intelligence, especially considering that they still spent most of each day training their martial abilities. Maiz chafed at that time, because none of it would matter until he completed his feat, but he couldn’t reveal that to his friends. Besides, eventually the training would pay dividends. Soon as I figure this out.

“Good job, Hugan.”

“Thanks! On the next day, the bee-seged keep--”

That’s close enough. Now then, what was the next shelf? Twenty… four? Five? With a sigh, Maiz went back to the index room, trying to remember which titles he’d been interested in. You’d think a Grandmaster Nameless would have made sure this stuff was organized better. Then again, he probably had some way to find whatever he wanted in here anyways, it’s not like he would have been stuck looking through the inde--.

--I’m an idiot.

Maiz almost stopped walking, but, he manage to only stumble a bit. He smoothed his face--he wasn’t even sure what he’d looked like, and there wasn’t anyone watching, but still. He made it to the index, reading a skill description as he did so.

First Search(Scholar)- Randomly selecting a piece of information to study from a random collection (selecting a page from a book or a book from a collection of books,etc.) has a chance of finding information relevant to the question most prominent in the user’s mind. The question must relate to the user’s field of study.

Rank: 1

Effect: 25% chance to find information relevant to question, if such information is available in selection.

Maiz wanted to melt into the floor, just a little. How many hours had he spent researching in this place? Wasted time, all because he’d forgotten about one little Scholar skill. He didn’t like to look at his Printing rank--too many bad memories--and he’d simply let his eyes skirt over the First Search skill below it. Idiot.

When he made it to the index room, he stood for a moment, concentrating on his question. Which title’s abilities are most compatible with Heartshaper, Controller, and Shadeweaver mana? Then he activated his First Search.

Nothing happened.

Well, what did you expect? Maiz let his eyes wander over the stone tablets in the room until one caught his eye, then walked over and picked it up. PYROMANCER. Well, I definitely wouldn’t have guessed that. Except that, of course, the skill had a chance element, which meant that it only made it likelier that he would find the correct title, not certain. So I should try again, I guess?

He activated the skill, and picked another tablet. And another. And another. It was maddening, but this would save time over trying to look up every title he found. When he’d done a full twenty First Searches, he knew where he had to go for certain.

The Wraithling is kin to the quiet dead--spirits, revenants, old souls bound by servants of the Dark Master. But unlike simple Necromancers, or even Dreadlords and the like, we are one with our subjects. Our magic--the mana of spirit and death--surrounds us, and lets us become like wraiths ourselves. This is the Shadowcloak, which allows one to touch a spirit with flesh at will.

A little pretentious, not to mention ominous, but Maiz’s eyes took in the spell diagram greedily. The mana would be difficult to replicate, that wasn’t a particularly detailed description, but he could make it work. If this was what it took to become a Journeyman, he would make it work. Spirit and death… maybe if I start with something like air and water, then make it more ethereal? Or, are there some monsters I could study? There are those dust elementals...

“Hey Maiz, we’ve got to get going!”

“Just sound it out Huga-gah!” Maiz’s absent words cut off as his friend grabbed him and pulled him towards the exit, but as he righted himself, the words registered.

“Let’s go.”

He had a way forward to Journeyman, yes, but first, they had a raid to fight in.