The group left the market after speaking with the merchant. Zane suggested that they take a look at the second floor but Brad and his friends told him not to bother. They told them that each individual needed to have a million village points to be allowed upstairs. Zane was surprised to hear they needed such a large amount and he was also curious about what items could be so valuable.

“Well, were done with the market,” Sophie said when they exited the building. “Let’s try to meet an hour before night begins.”

“I plan on heading to the library,” Zane said

“Really? Why?”

“Shouldn’t we be focused on mastering what we already know?” Jason asked. “I want to take a look at what magic knowledge is in there but I don’t think that now is the right time.”

“I agree with you,” Zane replied. “I’m not going to the library to learn new skills. I want to ask questions about the starting village and get rid of some doubts.”

“What doubts could you have? All we have to do is complete quest, level up and… and…” Jason scratched his head while wearing a confused expression. “Actually, what are we supposed to be doing?”

“Exactly. If this is a trial then there should be a goal to accomplish or a challenge to overcome. We haven’t been pushed or forced to complete anything difficult. Our biggest challenge was the beard den and that was voluntary. Everything else we experienced has been easy.”

“Easy?” Brad exclaimed. “You think what we experienced was easy?”

“I’m sorry if what I said upset you.” Zane slightly inclined his head as a form of apology. “I’m aware that the people from your world have endured a lot and I’ve heard a bit about the difficulties that you have experienced. However, I know that the dangers you faced wouldn’t have posed a great challenge to people from our world or at our kingdom.”

“So, you’re saying were weak?”

“You’re not weak but you are untrained and unprepared. Everyone in our kingdom has received training when they are children. Surviving in the forest during the day and night would not pose a serious challenge to them.”

“So, you are saying that were weak,” Sam said.

Zane shook his head “Let me try to explain things from a different point of view. Would you be willing to share your highest leveled skill?”

“Basic Sword Mastery,” Brad proudly stated. “I got it to level six.”

“Mana Manipulation,” Sam said. “It’s at level eight.”

Zane didn’t say his highest leveled skill. Instead, he turned to Sophie and Jason. He knew that they would have increased their Mana Manipulation and Mana Control skill to a high level during the mana surge. He hoped that hearing their high skill levels would give a bigger shock.

“Mana Control,” Sophie said. “Level forty-one.”

“Mana Manipulation,” Jason said Level forty-five.”

Zane chuckled when he saw Brad, Sam and the others expressions. Their mouths and eyes were wide open. He felt extremely pleased to see them react how he expected.

“I’ll say it again,” Zane continued speaking. “You’re not weak but you are untrained and unprepared.”

“I'm sure you are wondering why our skill levels are so high,” Sophie said. “The reason is because of the training we received before we chose our class.”

“Although we started at the same level there is a big gap in experience,” Jason stated.

It took a few minutes for Brad and his friends to wrap their head around the difference in strength. Next Brad and everyone else decided to follow Zane to the library. Their flames of curiosity were fanned by the conversation they had. Also, nobody entered the library before. Brad and his friends didn’t enter out of fear of losing their points to the Messenger. Zane and the others didn’t enter because there wasn’t a reason before now.

The group walked to the blue building and entered through its doors. After a brief period where they lost their senses, they blinked their eyes and took in their surroundings. They were in a hall with a blue stone floor and walls. The room had seven arches that led to seven different rooms. The only other item of note was a circular desk in the center of the room which the Messenger stood inside of.

“Hey, Sam said. “where’s Frank and the others?”

Hearing what Sam said everyone started looking around. It only took a short discussion before they remembered that everyone would be sent to a library connected to the Messenger that guided them.

“We have to be careful of what questions we ask,” Brad said.

“We should communicate mentally,” Jason suggested. “If anyone has a question, they can tell it to the group. If everyone agrees that it’s a good question, they can ask the Messenger.”

The group agreed with Jason suggestion and approached the circular desk. The messenger watched them approach and wore a playful smile. The same playful smile she wore when she happily snatched away Brad’s points. She looked at all of them but her eyes settled on Brad.

“Welcome to the library.” The Messenger said. “It’s good to see you again. Have you come to give me more points?”

Zane saw Brad tense up before looking away. Zane thought this was a good move on his part. To Zane Brad seemed like a person who was easily angered. If he had let his emotions take control, he would have quickly paid the price for doing so. Everyone else respectfully greeted the Messenger before she continued speaking.

“Before I can begin taking your points, I’m supposed to tell you a few things. The library has information related to each of the six starting classes that can be found on the four worlds.”

“Wait what do you mean by four worlds?” Brad asked “Our world doesn’t have any class-”

Brad shut his mouth and stopped talking. Everyone looked at him as if he was the dumbest person on the planet. Zane wondered if Brad took pleasure in suffering or was given a Debuff that made him lose self-control and act impulsively. In the end Zane concluded that it was probably a unique talent that only he had.

The Messenger raised her hand to her mouth in attempt to stifle her laughter. “You don’t have to worry. Fortunately for you I can’t start taking your points before the introduction. You can ask as much questions as you like as long as they are related to my introduction about the library. Questions outside the scope of my introduction will cost you points but I will ask you if you want to spend those points before taking them. Oh, I forgot to mention that each question cost 10,000 village points.”

Zane expected the increase but he was a little surprised the amount. He looked at Brad who looked a little pale. Zane guessed that 10,000 village points either exceeded or was close to his maximum number of points.

“Now let’s get back to your question. The four world each have information related to the six classes. People may not actively train in these classes but the information does exist. The Divine Spirits collected that information and made it available in the library.” The Messenger paused for a moment before continuing.

“In addition to information about the six classes there is general information about the four worlds. The information is separated but unorganized. If you want to find specific information you will have to search or ask me. Of course, if you ask me you will have to pay for the information.”

The Messenger continued to give an explanation about the library. There were only a few questions about what the Messenger said but they were easily answered. Once the Messenger was done explaining the library, she asked everyone if they had any questions. Zane contacted everyone mentally and explained what he wanted to ask the Messenger about. After a bit of back and forth with everyone Zane received their approval and spoke.

“I heard that this is a trial the system created for us. How do we pass the goal of this trial?”

“Not all trials are meant to be passed. Some trials are only meant to be endured. If you want to increase your ability to endure this trial then I suggest you do three things. Improve your skills, gain experience and form connections with people from other worlds. I hope I answered your question and thank you for the 10,000 points.”

Zane felt some pain when he heard the Messenger’s final sentence. While he wasn’t happy about spending the points, he was happy about the information he received. From what the Messenger said Zane could make some guesses about his future in the starting village. Zane communicated with everyone before asking his final question.

“What is the greatest challenge we’ll face?”

“I can’t tell you that,” the Messenger spoke while shaking her head. “I don’t know how long you will last in the trial and I’m not allowed to talk about the future dangers you will face. Good news is that since I can’t answer your questions, I won’t be taking your points.”

Keeping his points was a good thing for Zane but he would have preferred to find out about what would be happening in the future. Zane told the others he had nothing left to ask and if they wanted to ask questions, they should only consider asking things they needed to know. Everyone had questions but nobody had any that they felt they needed answers to. Sophie was the only exception. She shared her question with the group before asking the Messenger.

“Will the price of things continue to increase?”

“In the next few weeks, you shouldn’t expect the prices of anything in the village to change after today. I hope I answered your question and thank you for the 10,000 points.”

Everyone was happy to hear they wouldn’t have to worry about any changes in prices. Otherwise, they would have felt pressure to spend their points before things increased. They would have eventually found out prices stopped increasing the next day but they would have always wondered when that would change.

“I guess it’s time for us to leave,” Sophie said.

“Shouldn’t we look around the library first?” Sam asked. “I mean, were already here.”

“I agree there’s a lot we can learn here,” Jason added.

“Nope,” Sophie said to Sam. “I understand your curiosity Sam but its unlikely that you will find helpful information. The Messenger already said that the library was unorganized. You might find boring diaries that provide no beneficial information about people’s experiences with your class.”

“We might be able to find some beneficial information,” Jason argued. “We have to carefully read between the lines to uncover the mysteries hidden within.”

Sophie glared at Jason and he quickly stopped speaking. “Jason is someone who likes to read and research. Also, he is extremely talented. He can look at someone ramblings as they attempted and failed to create a proper spell, pick out key details from it and create a spell of his own. Your world never had magic before this so you wouldn’t be able to do this without a proper foundation.”

“So, we should just stick to figuring out skills through trial and error?” Sam complained.

“Not at all,” Sophie happily responded. “I see that you chose the mystic class like me. I would be more than happy to share my knowledge with you and give you some help learning a few skills. After all the Messenger suggested that we should start working together.”

Learning from Sophie’s example Zane offered to help Brad improve his skill. Zane chuckled when Sam and Brad excitedly declared that they would be learning from the masters. Sophie tried to correct them but Zane didn’t bother as he stepped through the door to leave the library.