0036 Many Books and Many Paths

"Father Alberto! Father Alberto!".

After going through the first floor of the house and not finding Father Alberto, Alcione reached the second floor screaming for him, but was quickly held back by Watcher Freddy who calmed Father Alberto after holding his shoulder for a few seconds.

"Sorry Freddy, I think I let emotion get the best of me...".

"No problem, sir Father Alcione...

... I can feel their presence on the next floor, they are fine.".

Alcione took a deep breath and slapped Freddy's shoulder three times, and soon saw Sara, Maycon and Jeffrey approaching them, so he composed himself and smoothed his long beard with his hand as he smiled at the young people, looking a second time at Freddy, he turned and headed for the lounge where the stairs to the third floor were.

**************************************************

*"The Necromancer's Book! Rank A of the Gray Path!

Rank A! It really is Rank A! This is amazing!"*.

Alberto started screaming in exasperation, Jardel turned his head towards the stairs, he probably heard Alcione's screams, but as he sent a wave of bluish green energy in all directions, he realized that there was no danger, so he turned his attention to the book in Alberto's hands.

Lucius knew what the name Necromancer meant, even more so being in Thomas' body, he quickly decided he would get the information from these books later, for now he needed to better integrate with this world and its concepts, he still didn't even understand how those Ranks that he heard others mention work.

Looking to the side, he noticed that there were many other books, and quickly began to read the title of another one.

*"'The Soldier's Book - The Bluish Green Path'... Hey!"*.

*"Let me see!"*.

This time it was Jardel who took the book from Lucius' hand who got nervous about people taking the books from him and decided not to read the book titles out loud again.

*"Very good! The book has both Rank C and Rank B skills!"*.

*"Father Alberto, we must leave soon!"*.

*"Oh! Father Alcione! Come see it! Gray Path Rank A!"*.

*"What? Rank A?"*.

Jardel was delighted with the Ranks of the book, Alcione just arrived with the others, but on hearing about the book Alberto held up to show him the cover, he thought he'd better read it for information on what possible enemies they might face.

Freddy was curious about the book in Jardel's hands, he quickly understood that the book could have something about the Bluish Green Path, otherwise the Watcher Jardel wouldn't have let his guard down to read a book in this situation, looking around at everyone in the big office, he noticed that Lucius had walked away from the Fathers and decided to go in their direction.

Sara and Maycon were scowling, clearly furious with the church people rifling through their faction's books, but it wasn't time to cause trouble yet, they just walked over to watch what books they were taking away to tell their mentors.

Jenany was very delighted with the various things she saw in the house, and Jeffrey decided to follow her closely, so as not to leave her alone.

*"Look at this sheif with glass doors, there are so many cool things!"*.

*"Let's take a closer look, just be careful not to break anything..."*.

Lucius glanced at everyone in the office busying themselves in some way, and resolved to pull out the next book.

^"'The Scout Book - The Green Path'... Green?"^.

He opened the book which was divided into several chapters, the first contained a rudimentary study of plant biology, showed some species of plants, trees, roots and other information such as the hardness of a tree's bark, or the flexibility of a branch and roots.

In another chapter there was a description of insects and other animals that had a symbiotic relationship or some kind of dependence on certain species of plants, among the various drawings of animals, he was shocked by a species of ant that could reach the size of a bull, Earth Ants their name, and they had several variants of this species.

^"I don't know if these Paths are definitive, or I could study and master more than one of them...

... So I must know a little about each one to know which one I would adapt best and get the most out of it..."^.

*"Young man, can I ask you something?"*.

Seeing Lucius closing the book, Freddy who was already close to him waiting, decided to try to ask his questions to the person from the other world, Lucius looked at him and nodded shortly after picking up the next book.

^"'The Druid's Book - The Green Way', another Green Path?

Or is it just a continuation of the previous book?

Right, it still deals with plants and some animals, Druid, right?"^.

*"What you said before...

... Do you really believe that these different people are not wrong for choosing to do these kinds of things?"*.

Putting the book away, Lucius looked strangely at the knight beside him who seemed to choose his words with difficulty, he noticed how the man tried to defend him earlier, and thought that either the man is experiencing difficulties in self-acceptance, or he knows someone who has suffered or suffers because of prejudice.

*"Do you mean people who like and are attracted to people of the same sex? What about people who behave as if they were the other sex?

No, I do not believe...

... You know, I think Sara told you about my current situation...

... Where I come from, different people also suffer because of it, there's nothing to say about whether here or there is the least worse place...

... It turns out that, where I come from, many people know that this is something natural, they know because there are studies on the subject...

... That is, there is nothing to believe, just accept, and whoever insists on causing problems or harming these people, must be criminalized and punished..."*.

Freddy was disappointed with Lucius' early response, he agreed with Lucius shaking his head on the hypothesis that Sara had told him what had happened, but the last part of Lucius' answer shocked Freddy in such a way that he was left speechless.

^"'The Shooter's Book - The Orange Path'... Sounds interesting...

... Fuck! Basic concepts of mechanical physics, kinetics, energy conversion and even explosive chemical reactions?

'The Explorer's Book - The Grayish Brown Path'... What is it?

It looks like a mixture of paleontology and archeology, it still has some rustic anatomical studies... Dinosaur fossil? What the fuck crazy world did I come to fall into?"^.

With each book that Lucius picked up to read, the more amazed he was, next to him, Alberto started to open other books and also seemed very excited.

Before picking up another book, he noticed that the Watcher was still standing beside him, and realizing that he wasn't going to say anything else, he just thought of what else he could say to make the knight back off a bit, but quickly thought of something.

*"You know... How would anyone choose to be one way or another, or like something or someone, knowing that they might be hated by others, hated by their own family, or worse, end up dying!

Who would choose this? It's not a matter of choice, people are born as they are, the most you can do is force yourself to be what you're not..."*.

*"I understand, I'll think about it, thanks..."*.

Freddy bowed respectfully, the way he would only do to a Father or some other superior of the empire or the church, and then walked away to look at the book Jardel had set aside after seeing the interaction between him and Lucius.

Alberto, who heard this part of the conversation, frowned, with the few words he understood the subject the two were talking about, Lucius' words messed with him once more, with that he ran his hands over his face and decided to ignore them, then went back to looking at the shelves choosing the next book.

^"What else do we have here? 'The Animist's Book - The Grayish Brown Path', this should be the continuation of the other one, I'll move on to the next one...

... These two are from the Cyan Path, one must complete the other, 'The Amalgamator's Book - The Cyan Path' and 'The Alchemist's Book - The Cyan Path'...

... Basic principles of chemistry, reactions, reagents, acids and a few more things I don't understand...

... Besides these, I didn't find books about other Paths...

... But I know these guys shine in white, so there must be a White Path, but I hope it's not a holy book..."^.

Finished looking through all the books on that shelf, Lucius looked at the people in the church and deduced that there might be several other Paths besides the ones he read and saw the church knights using, so he looked at the next bookcase and walked over to it.

*"It's worse than I imagined, Father Alberto, I think we'd better leave soon!"*.

*"But why Father Alcione? Look what we found here! There are several other books from other Paths, there must be many more important and valuable things in here!

Jardel Watcher, please look for another backpack, if you find more than one even better, there is a lot of good stuff here!"*.

*"The question is precisely this, Father Alberto, look at the amount of books, there are several different Paths, and Rank B books and even Rank A!

Imagine those countless people around that castle!

A Rank A can get up here in a matter of minutes depending on which Path he has mastered!"*.

Listening to Alcione's logical explanation, startled, Alberto looked up from the book in his hands and looked at Alcione with wide eyes, across the large office, Maycon and Sara smiled as they listened to the conversation between the two Fathers, it seems that the plan to be captured was actually the best option for them.

But remembering that the plan was made by Lucius, they couldn't help but look at him from a distance with mixed emotions, and Sara already wanted to think of some way she could save Lucius along with Thomas, so she was determined to follow him and testify on his behalf when the people of the faction rescued them.

*"You're right, let's look superficially at the rest of the things and select what is most valuable...

... Here Father Alcione, I know that you have been studying the Green Path in recent years, keep these two books for you, one is Rank C and B and the other is Rank A...

... These two from the Grayish Brown Path are quite rare too, I thought that only the Witches of the south had stored knowledge about them..."*.

Alcione agreed to Alberto's request, but when he saw the two Green Path books, his eyes lit up, he quickly joined them with the other two books that Alberto mentioned.

Seeing the Watcher Freddy holding a book in his hand without saying anything, Alcione approached and took it from his hands, placing it with the other four, leaving Freddy extremely grateful.

Soon Jardel arrived with another backpack and handed it to Father Alcione who was holding five books in his hands.

*"Sir Father, I only found a backpack!"*.

*"All right, if Father Alcione takes this one, what does he already have?"*.

*"I have five books here, this backpack is full, and how many books do you have there, Father Alberto?"*.

*"I have here two books from The Spiritualist and a book from The Necromancer, if we don't find any more rare books, we can fill the backpack with copies of the Gray Path or copies of the Grayish Brown Path..."*.

As soon as Jardel announced that he had found only one backpack, the two Fathers did the math on how many they could carry and what the best books to take, and quickly came to an agreement, both accelerated the search for the books.

Jardel looked at everyone and went to the middle of the office to observe everything again, Freddy who was occupying the center of the office, decided to move away, and went to the stairs, it was obvious to him that Jardel was trying to provoke him.

Lucius thought he could choose some books too, but the current shelf he was on only contained books on geography, fauna and flora, not that it wasn't important, but it didn't appear to be privileged or secret information, so he gave up on that shelf and went to the next one.

But when he turned the body, he found a book under a large table, it looked like the main desk of the office with a large chair and cushion in front, the table had several other objects, such as feather pens, inkwells, several other papers and an open book.

He bent down and picked up the book from the floor and quickly read the title.

^"'The Mage's Book - The Colorless Path', colorless?"^.

*"What is the Colorless Path?"*.

He asked in a loud voice to get the others' attention, in which the two Fathers looked at him for a moment and then went back to looking at the bookshelves.

*"Forget it young man, the Colorless Path is a beginner's Path, almost no one tries to master it, and those who master it only do it to get some tricks to cover the weaknesses of some skill..."*.

*"But it's still a good reference book for those who haven't chosen a Path yet..."*.

The first to respond was Father Alberto, who somehow didn't consider that Thomas should already know about the Incolor Path, according to the memories passed to him by Alicia.

Alcione responded next, shed some light on Lucius' personal quest, but he soon realized that neither of the two Fathers would let him take this book, as it was considered trash, so he decided to read a bit of the contents.

^"It says here that the Colorless Path is a way to use magic discreetly and directly...

... It also says that the Mage can combine his techniques with the other Paths, creating differentiated classes like...

... The Green Path classes can become the Green Mage class, the difference is more focused on how magics and abilities work...

... Sounds interesting, I'll try to take it..."^.

*"I think it would be better if you stopped asking questions!"*.

Lucius was surprised by the speech addressed to him, and as he turned, he noticed Maycon and Sara approaching him, Sara who heard Maycon's words, rolled her eyes and held Maycon by the shoulder.

*"He means you're giving yourself away when you ask certain questions you shouldn't ask...

... You see, an Envoy fought us before, in that same underground salon you woke up in, and he had already reported to the Father that Thomas was a Colorless magic user...

... It's possible that both Fathers know this, and I don't know what the other Father will do to you if he knows you're not Thomas..."*.

*"And why should I care? Weren't you the one telling the others about it too? If one Father knows, soon the other will know that I'm not Thomas..."*.

^"Of course I worry, but damn it! If you don't know how to keep a secret, how can I be safe?"^.

Lucius shrugged his shoulders and decided to ignore them both, he tucked the book under one arm and went to grab the open book off the table to read, her disregard made Maycon furious, and Sara was upset, as she really told the others everything, but she didn't know what to do and was worried about everything that was going on.

*"What did I just hear here?

Are you not Thomas? What does that mean?"*.

Jardel's loud voice made everyone in the office look at them as the knight began to emit his bluish green aura.