After several minutes walking Savani finally managed to get to the library. Looking around there were only a small handful of people inside. The library was a simple stone room with a large window in the back to let in what little light leaked through the clouds outside. Inside were rows upon rows of bookshelves made out of polished stone. On these shelves were books of various sizes bound in leather and beastskins.

On one wall next to the enterance was a wooden desk made out of some kind of red wood. On it was piles of books as well as a few other nick-nacks. Behind this desk was a middle aged man with a long beard reading a book. With one look you could tell he was an apprentice with little chance of breaking into the realms of a Sage.

From what Savani had gathered almost every Sage had broke through by 30 at the latest, with a few rare exceptions who managed to stumble across fortuitous encounters. Sadly the man behind the desk was clearly older than 30, maybe closer to 50. Add that to the fact that instead of exploring and looking for such a fortuitous encounter this apprentice was sitting behind a desk in the library one could instantly tell that his advancement had come to an end.

Looking around Savani started leasurely browsing through the various books. Taking one from the shelves he noticed that the books couldn't even be opened unless one purchased the privledge to read them. Not only that but when he tried to have the chip scan a book it replied that there was some kind of interference that would not allow it to scan beyond its covers. However his browsing wasn't completely useless. Savani found that the library not only contained various knowledges on magic and proffessions, it also held the spell modules for the various elements!

For a while Savani wondered why these modules would be placed here of all places. Then he realized that to most people these modules would take at least a day to learn, perhaps two if you were less talented. Even to the most talented apprentice it would still take between 10 to 12 hours to memorize these spells. So the price for learning a new spell could range anywhere from 10 points to 50! Add to the fact that there were probably multiple layers of protection on them then placing them with the rest of the books made some sense. This way if an apprentice had questions or was missing some form of knowledge to cast the spell the resources were all in the same place.

Savani on the other hand had the chip! Whereas it would take others dozens of times renting the same spell to learn it, all Savani had to do was scan it once and he would have a permanent copy! For an instant Savani almost bolted towards the spells to copy them before shaking his head. These spells might be helpful but right now his Spirit was simply too low. Later after he had grown some more he would start learning them but for now it was more important to build a foundation to earn the points he would need later.

After browsing a bit more Savani finally stumbled on the section that held the books on Necromancy. Grabbing one call Beginners Guide to Raising the Dead he headed over to the old apprentice he saw before. Once in front of him Savani cleared his throat before saying "Hello sir, I was wondering how does one check out a book?"

Looking up from the book he was reading the older apprentice gave Savani a glare. "To check out a book you need to place your badge on it. After that you will have one hour before you will have to renew your right to read the book. Also books are not to be taken out of the library." Pointing to one wall filled with doors he continued, "There are private reading rooms over there. Once you are finished with the book bring it here for me to put back. Sage Lance hates when books are placed on the shelf in random places so its just safer to hand them to me. Last person who placed a book in the wrong place was taken away for experiments as punishment. He is still in a coma."

Thanking the apprentice Savani went over and found a vacant room. All that was inside was a desk, a chair, and a light source coming from some kind of green glowing algea placed in the corners of the ceiling. Sitting at the desk Savani placed the book down and put his badge on the cover. Once the badge was placed a shimmer appeared over the book before disapearing. Taking back his badge Savani found that now he could open the book. "Chip scan the book and copy all information from it to your databanks."

[Initiating scan. Scan interupted. Unable to scan the book. Some form of interference is stopping scanning ability. Reccomendation. Host must physically read the book while chip copies information from memories in real time.]

Rolling his eyes Savani opened the book and started reading. "Scan all information in real time and save to databank." Without even comprehending the words Savani trailed his sight word by word as quickly as he could. For the several minutes Savani used himself as a human copy machine reading the words while the chip stored away the information. Finally after a half hour was almost up Savani managed to read the final word and close the book. "Chip has all data been stored?"

[Affirmitive. Data on basic Necromancy has been stored and compiled. Would the host like to recieve information?]

"Yes please." Feeling the now familiar throb of pain in his head Savani winced as a flood of information entered his mind. Looking through the information it seemed the art of Necromancy required two spells. Raise Undead and Control Undead. Raise Undead was needed because it converted a body into an undead puppet using darkness energy. The caster would create a control node that held his spiritual signature in the creatures skull. This node would then bind itself through spikes into the skull and start infecting all the bones in the body with darkness energy. First the energy would engulf the bone before seeping through the tiny pores the bone posessed refining it until the darkness essence coagulated in the area where the marrow use to be.

The caster would do this bone by bone until the entire skeleton was refined. Once that was done the Necromancer would then cast Control Undead using the node he built earlier as a control station. After that the Necromancer would divert some of his conciousness to manipulate the bones in a way that would have the skeleton move and attack while they stayed back out of harms way. It seemed that the reason why a Necromancer rarely got involved with battle was that they diverted the majority of their conciousness into the undead. The stronger the Necromancer the more times they could divide their attention. However the drawback was that for each undead a Necromancer possessed, the undead would take up a part of the Necromancers Spirit. At least until the control over it was extinguished.

Once Savani realized this he began to laugh. While it is true for others Necromancy would be a difficult occupation, for Savani all he had to do was give control over to the chip! Savani was quickly realizing how many advantages the chip would bring him in the future. Just today he discovered it would save him a large amount of time and resources as well as taking a load of the difficulty off battling with undead. Simply these benifits were enough to go mad over.

Calming down Savani readjusted his plan. Origionally he was going to get a few books on darkness energy with his remaining points but now it seened like he needed to use two of his points to get Control Undead and Raise Undead. This left him one final point to use. Thinking it over Savani decided to get a book on herbology. With that the chip could start identifying the plants he came across in the wild. There were also the several herbs he already picked up on his way back to the tower. Hopefully there was something decent he could trade for a body or two to experiment on.

Quickly Savani went out and collected the books he needed. For the next two hours Savani copied both spells and a book called One Thousand Herbs and their Various Usage which, as the title suggested, was a list of one thousand common magical herbs and their various properties. It was this book that took the longest and Savani was only just barely able to finish it within the allocated hour.

Finally Savani spent all 4 contribution points and managed to increase both his knowledge and his arsenal. Now all he needed were a few fresh cadavers to practice Necromancy on. Taking all four books Savani placed them on the table with the old apprentice before heading out the door. While walking to the cafeteria Savani asked the chip to identify the herbs he had picked up.

[Scanning now. Host has picked up 2 instances of Bloodweed, 3 instances of Lullaby dasies, and one instance of Demons Dream.]

As the names of each of these herbs was said the cooresponding traits were sent over. Bloodweed was a magical grass that grew on blood. First the seed would need to be bathed in blood of a victim and then the weed grows using blood found in the soil over the course of 24 hours. In order to grow the dirt surrounding Bloodweed must be bathed in at least several pints of blood. Whats more this blood has to be from the same source as the blood that first soaked the seeds. From this information Savani could gather that someone was killed in the spot he picked the herb from within the last twenty-four hours. Its main use was in potions that stimulated the blood and was very important to body refiners.

Lullaby dasies were a kind of flower that absorbed Earth essence from the ground. These dasies produced a kind of pollen that could send various types of creatures to sleep and was often required for smoke bombs apprentices would use to explore areas filled with large number of creatures.

Finally Demons Dream was a type of mushroom that feasted on the souls of those who died. These souls would be trapped in its head and become resentful demons. Anyone who ate this mushroom would find their soul torn to shreds before becoming a type of undead that would destroy everything around it in a rage. However if an alchemist managed to get their hands on it they could refine the head into a potion that could be used to temper an apprentices Spirit.

Looking at the spoils he managed to grab while out in the forest Savani couldn't help but sigh. It was no wonder despite the danger some apprentices would explore the forest. Each of the things Savani found would be extremely useful if he were an Alchemist. Sadly he would have to wait for now and trade these spoils away in order to get the resources he currently needed.