It appears that Michael was only half right. Melissa had been part of the shadowy faction, but wasn’t the Second Specter herself. Which made sense once you thought about it, since the Second Specter was obviously a powerful or at the very least, influential member of that faction and Melissa was young. And getting her ass handed to her by Erea certainly couldn’t be considered a sign of strength.

As for who that mage was, Melissa couldn’t outright say it. She had signed dealings of her own when she entered her faction, but she had been clever enough to work her way around it. She told Michael and the others that the Second Specter was her direct master and she used the term ‘she’ when referring to the mage in question. She also told Michael he had already met her. In wasn’t hard to put two and two together. It was Narana and Michael smilingly told Melissa that, which was when the girl let out a breath and informed them, he was right. Apparently, certain secrecy oaths released you from their bound once the listener became aware of the secret.

Michael decided to repay her help with his own information. He told her how he managed to secure the funds for her release. Which was when the girl panicked. Apparently, oracular Spells were nothing to sneeze at. She freaked out and pestered Michael with questions about his exact phrasing to Regtris and only then managed to calm down.

Michael had seemingly dodged a magical bullet. If he had been certain of the information and relayed it to Regitris as so, Narana would have become aware of someone finding out her identity. Either instantly or the next time she cast her Spell, Melissa wasn’t sure. As things stood, they were in the clear.

Thought that did solidify the belief that they really should be more careful in their plotting.

Well, Michael should anyway.

What was left of their meeting was spent on their next steps. Each and every one of them decided to strive to elevate themselves inside their respective factions. That was the only way they could become trusted enough to be allowed to know valuable information. They also decided to use their Sunday mornings as a group-tutoring session. Which sucked, since Michael now exactly half a day free in his entire week, but ambition required sacrifice.

It was a… productive meeting, for all the general consensus seemed to be ‘keep on keeping on’. Then again, they were still in their first years and still managed to form a secret inter-faction cabal. Michael wondered how many times that happened in the history of Gnosis.

Probably hundreds of times. Gnosis was a weird place.

No imminent danger lurked over them now. His identity was safe, since Melissa was now his tentative-friend. He had found out what the amulet did. The only secret still floating out there was what the high mages of a couple of factions knew but refused to share. Micah told them that Ravena still had no clue as to what it was. And Kelunad simply smiled when asked.

But that wasn’t an immediate concern.

The next few days passed like a breeze. Erea was now Nahlil’s second and Melissa no longer tried to intercede. She even apologized to the elf, which both surprised and delighted Erea. They weren’t suddenly friends, but at least they weren’t still at each other’s throats.

So Michael was free to focus on his studies. Not that they went by as quick as his tutoring sessions. Nahlil thought them about had positions when casting and suggested different low-Level attack Spells for private study. Sinestra droned on about magical principles Michael had discovered weeks ago. Gerald was still detailing the nuances of Healing Potions. He learned about a few more magical animals and Qarai was now on human culture. A lot of it was basically ‘they breed like rabbits’. Seeing how his recent private experiences with Erea went, Michael couldn’t counter that. The other coursed taught interesting, but ultimately trivial information too.

Michael started to get a feeling that perhaps he was taking this place for granted. After all, when he first came here, he would have given a finger just to spent one more hour learning magical trivia. Now? Now the normal cursed just seemed… boring.

He mentioned as much to Alex, at lunch time.

“Well, yes, but you’re just a first year. Nobody expects you to learn real magic until your second year. Even the final tests are more theoretical than anything.”

“Yeah, I get that. But… I just feel like I could be learning more.”

“Dork.” Micah coughed from a seat over.

Michael graciously |Bolt|-ed a plate of gravy all over his robes.

He did try to teach Micah the |Clean| Spell, but the lycan seemed to think it useless. Oh well.

“I remember that in my first year I was… unsatisfied with the course work myself. It’s one of the reasons I joined the Martials. But take it from someone who’s been there, enjoy your free time while it lasts.”

“Right. And I respect your opinion.” Michael diplomatically told him. “But if I want to learn more? I mean, missions are great, but they don’t teach you a lot, don’t they?”

“Don’t let Erea hear you saying that.” He laughed. “Look, I personally think you can learn quite a lot from practical experience. But I understand what you mean. As to a solution… some teachers take on private pupils. Apprentices. A few even gain the Class, though I doubt you’d want that. Would that work?”

“Uhm… maybe.” Michael answered, trying not to let anything slip.

“Your truth face needs work.” Alex grinned. “Look, the entire school knows about your tutors. Or at least suspects. About… most of them? Your life is complicated.”

“Tell me about it. Ok, so, other than that?”

“You could try library runs.” He shrugged.

Libraries. Michael was aware that Gnosis had them. He was also suddenly aware he had never visited one of them.

I need to stop hanging around with Martials so much.

“What are those?”

“It’s basically a way to cheat the system. You know how every Friday activity has to benefit the academy somehow? Well, Gnosis has a lot of libraries and not enough librarians. And some of those are big. So, what some students do is that they take up a library-assistance task, like cleaning, indexing, cataloguing and so on and they use half the time there to either read through books that Gnosis usually bans on sight, whenever they happen to find them or straight out steal them, if they happen upon a valuable tome or a Spell book.”

“Wait, what?” Micah interposed himself back in the conversation. “And why aren’t you doing this? Why aren’t we all.”

His friend was thinking with his coin purse again.

“Because it’s not actually that profitable. |Librarians| have Skills that allow them to find valuable books and they scoured the libraries for centuries. It’s rare to find something with real value. The students who do things like that are doing because they enjoy reading and learning. The treasure-find part is just the bonus.”

“And the librarians just let them do it?” Michael asked.

“They turn a blind eye most of the time, as long as you’re pilling your weight. Gnosis knows, they need all the help they can get.”

That… was interesting. And definitely worth a try. Michael started to hunt for a library group right then and there. Micah was instantly in, grinning about how his luck of the lycan would surely allow him to find something good. Seeing how the whole unresolved Bahin-issue still floated around, Michael wasn’t so sure about that, but he welcomed his friend. Bob was out. Alex too. Erea just laughed. But Melissa was delighted about the idea. Apparently, it wasn’t her first time doing it. Out of the others Michael asked, only Mihli seemed interested, but she Quora and Laen all had a mission to do that Friday with Bob, Alex and Erea. Maybe next time.

And so came Friday, when Melissa guided the two to one of the biggest Libraries in Gnosis. Also, one in need of the most help.

“Oh, you’ll love Granusha. She’s one of the top |Librarians|. She has a specialized Class too, but she doesn’t talk about it. But probably one of the oldest faculty members around, except Regitris.”

They walked through the massive open door and Michael saw once again while Gnosis compared to nothing back on earth.

The library itself looked like an open field. There was no sky, though that was probably an illusion and the ‘wall’ was basically a circular, continuous small hill. Green, with lush grass. He saw a number of students who were basically performing their version of an academic picnic.

But it was still a library. As proof of that, Michael saw that the entire field was filled with bookcases without rhyme or reason. Built of wood, stone, metal. Tall and short. They weren’t static either, most of them floating around gently, even as a few seemed to be doing loops around the field. Michael even saw one pop out of existence. Literally, since his |Serpentine Senses| Spell didn’t make it visible again.

“Melissa, welcome back dear. Are these your friends?”

Michael turned around and saw what the female version of Regitris looked like. Granusha was tall and white-haired. But besides her wrinkled face and the color of her hair, Michael saw nothing on her that would signal ‘old’. She stood straight and her eyes were keen, for all her gentle smiled seemed grandmotherly.

“Yes, Mage Granusha. These are Michael and Micah. From the Ascentionalist and Naturalist factions.”

“Ah, yes. Mage Michael. Well met, dear. Your exploits have made themselves known even in my domain.”

“Err, well met Mage Granusha. I’m… happy to hear that.”

“Tell me, Melissa, have you any plans for today? Or should I just pick for you?”

“We haven’t taught about anything specific. What can we help you with?”

“Oh, we have just uncovered a new bookshelf. The pesky thing was hiding behind layered invisibility and illusion Spells. I’ve run a check on it myself. Nothing harmful was found.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Melissa smiled. “So, will it be cataloguing?”

“As best as you’re able. Just give each book a quick skim and write down what the contents is generally about. Details, if you can, about the author and age of the book are appreciated.”

They moved on and Micah waited until they were out of earshot to shoot his first questions.

“Why do we gotta do this by hand? Aren’t there Spells for this? Or a Skill?”

“Granusha has both. But some books are warded against that. If they’re also dangerous, they were mostly personal possessions. These, though, are probably just warded against such Spells by paranoid former librarians.”

“You seem to know a lot about this.” Michael remarked.

“Books have always been my friends.” The girl shrugged, distracted.

That… was an incredibly lonely thing to say. It seems there was a lot more to the girl Michael had yet to discover.

That being said, the activity proved to be surprisingly fun. Well, for two thirds of the team at least. Micah kept grumbling about whatever book was in his hands not being ‘the one’. Michael, however, passed through a few interesting finds. Two histories of Gnosis, one written entirely in rhyme. A book that contained a census about the population of the student body and representation by race and original nation, the list of nations being thirty-two pages long. Two potion manuals, though they looked to be old classroom manuals. Interesting, but not enough to steal. And a more recent book detailing the major pieces of art that could be found in Gnosis. Apparently, one of them was dedicated to a former head of the Naturalists. A beautiful siren, though the statue captured her in a quite indecent pose. Well, it was good gossip material for Micah.

Michael was currently taking a breather, when he felt a familiar shiver up his spine. The air grew warm around him and he felt a breeze directing him to a… book.

Gnosis? Is this you again?

The space around him seemed to ‘blink’ in that familiar and slightly frightening way.

“Really hope you don’t trick me again.” He muttered.

“What?” Melissa asked.

“Nothing. Just thought that booked looked interesting.”

“Help yourself.” Micah yawned, currently on his third break.

Michael did and found that the tome was quite old. The leather it was bound with was frayed and its pages were yellowed. Yet, the silver letters that spelled out the title still gleamed, signaling they were most probably enchanted.

The Internal Balance: A Guide for Magical Affinities

by Aspertus N’keh, |Soulguide Magus| Level 58

The solution to one of his most pressing problems just laying on a shelf next to him. And the academy just guided him to it.

Ok, Gnosis. Guess this makes up for you throwing me to the hounds. Good academy!

…wonder if I could teach it to play fetch?

The rush of air that bowled him over had nothing to do happenstance.