As Viktor studied, he made a list of items that sounded cool or valuable, prioritizing items that were easily obtained if a person knew where they rested: items that were protected more by secrecy and easily avoided traps rather than items that were protected by monsters or power-testing traps. As he studied, though, he realized one fundamental problem:

He had no idea what made an item good or not.

This realization prompted a visit to floor 21, the first floor on magic. As Viktor passed the threshold, he stopped in awe at the sight before him. These weren't just books on magic, they were magical books. Strange drawings, runes, floated through the air between the books. The air felt alive with energy as magic permeated the atmosphere of the library floor. He breathed in, and his lungs felt charged with static. It was exhilarating, but it left him feeling empty in his chest. He recognized the feeling as the same one that pulled him towards the library and in the same spot as when Mephistopheles reached into him-- it was his soul. As he contemplated, a voice spoke out.

"Viktor? Where have you been?! Hooch and I were worried sick," Timothy said, slamming a book with flaming letters closed and depositing it back onto a shelf.

"We haven't seen you since yesterday!" He went on. Viktor held up a hand in a placating gesture, as much meant to signal his apology as it was to ward off any further complaints.

"I'm sorry, Timothy. I went off to study the books on another floor. By the time I finished, I was exhausted! When I went down the stairs, I was thinking about going to sleep, so the stairway just led to my bedchambers. I didn't think about going to find you guys and going to bed at the same time, you know?" Viktor explained. It was the truth; He'd gone down the stairs and found himself in a miniature apartment-style room. There was a kitchenette filled with various common foods: fruits, vegetables, meats, and a bucket of water that seemed to fill up whenever he filled a cup from it. The bedroom itself was comfortable, with a king-sized mattress and moderately-soft sheets. He suspected that other residents of Purgatory would not find themselves in the same accommodations that night.

Timothy nodded and seemed to let the issue go after another parting comment.

"I suppose that makes sense. Still, you had us worried! It's our first night in Purgatory, after all," He griped, "But, I'll say that our rooms at least seem fairly comfortable, right?" He looked to Viktor for confirmation, and Viktor nodded. Seeing this agreement, Timothy brightened and gestured at the room around them.

"Isn't this all amazing? The majority of these books are infused with magical effects! From what I've read, they're meant to be used by people that have the same affinities as them, which will never be us, but the primer I found on this section of the library says that we can give these books out to adventurers! It'll help them to learn the spells or skills inside a lot easier," Timothy informed him. Viktor felt intrigued. If he could use his class to trade for affinities, could he use the books found in the library? It was something to consider.

"Interesting," He replied enthusiastically, "Does that mean that there are only single copies of each book in here?"

Timothy shook his head. "I'm not exactly sure, but I do know that the collection of books can't be reduced. If a book is given or taken, a new copy appears back after exactly one week. Most of these books deteriorate as you use them. They're like skill books."

Viktor had read about skill books. They accelerated learning to a frightening pace, practically transplanting information directly into a reader's brain. Not jut the brain though, they helped train muscle memory and facilitate mana channels. It was always faster to use a skill book than to practice a skill until Purgatory recognized your proficiency enough to grant you a skill. Timothy continued, unfazed.

"And, guess what else I found out? That primer recommended using the gophers to find suitable skill books for the adventurers that come in. And I was like, 'what's a gopher?' and it went more in-depth! Watch this," Timothy held up a hand, and Viktor took an involuntary step back. In a room filled with magic books, an explosion didn't seem to be out of the question.

"Gopher an offensive spell for a water magic user!" Timothy enunciated clearly. A puff of smoke appear in front of him, and a small furry creature, not a gopher, plonked onto the floor, shaking its head. Viktor's mouth fell open, agape, and he leaned in to look at the small creature. It was like a small monkey with a single bulbous eye in its round head. It didn't possess a mouth. The gopher (Viktor didn't have a better name for it) shook its head and stood up, suddenly running into a nearby aisle and returning shortly with a blue leather-bound book titled 'Aquatic Assault: A novice guide to watery weapons'. Timothy thanked the creature, and it vanished in another puff of smoke. He turned to Viktor, beaming.

"Isn't that convenient?! You can do that for anything!" Timothy said, clearly very excited. Viktor couldn't blame him. If he could do that, his efforts to dive into certain items' histories or locations would progress much easier depending on what search criteria the gophers could use.

"Could I see that primer?" Viktor asked, and Timothy handed over a smaller book with a smile.

"Yeah, sure thing. You know, the more I learn about this place, the less I think I'll mind spending the next ten years here." Timothy said. Viktor disagreed, but chose not to voice his opinion out loud.

"It's certainly a wondrous place, I'll agree with you there. I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time here." Viktor smiled and decided to end the conversation there.

"I'm gonna go look around, okay? Let me know if you find anything alarming," He said, turning and walking away as Timothy gave a small wave. Viktor made his way into the stacks to pursue the knowledge he wanted.

Over the next day, he learned about how magic worked. Essentially, a soul had affinities that changed mana as it was pushed through it. The higher an affinity, the more mana could be easily pushed into a spell formation and twisted to a mage's purpose. Ultimately, though, any mage could cast any spell with just 1% spell affinity for it, it would just be exceedingly difficult. They'd have to be able to push a very small amount of mana into a small piece of the soul to transform it into the required mana type AND hold the spell formation stable in the world for the entire time it takes to maintain that flow until there was suitable mana for the spell.

For example, a fire mage with 1% affinity could maybe channel 5 mana per second into the fire portion of a spell formation. This was only an estimate, as one could get better at channeling mana or transforming their mana. If a spell required 50 mana, they might take 10 seconds to cast that spell. On the other hand, a mage with 50% fire affinity could channel up to 200 mana per second into a spell due to the difficulty of channeling large quantities of mana regardless. The same spell that required 50 mana to cast for the 1% affinity mage would only take the higher affinity mage 0.25 seconds. The higher affinity mage would only have to hold a spell formation for the time required to channel the mana in order to cast it, making it far easier for them to cast spells in their affinity.

Magic items did a variety of different things depending on their purpose. They might have a spell formation stored in the item, allowing a mage with the requisite affinity to easily cast the spell without learning the formation or being able to hold it in the world. They might act as a sort of battery, storing mana or transforming it at a faster rate than one's affinity would normally allow. Sometimes, they might act as both, complex spell formations combined with ambient mana absorbers to create remarkable effects that would be difficult to replicate with spells.

Many items that were worn, consumed, or carried could increase a person's stats. How much the stats were increased was usually influenced by the materials used in the crafting process, the quality of the item after crafting, and the level of the crafter.

Armed with the knowledge of how items worked and the types of effects that were common, Viktor returned to his list-making on floor 70.

Over the next few weeks, he developed a pattern of self-improvement. In the morning, he'd wake up and make himself a healthy breakfast. He'd spend a few minutes hurting himself, digging the point of a knife into his palm until he could focus through the pain. On the first day, he didn't break the skin before he stopped. On the second, he drew blood, gritting his teeth as the blade dug into soft flesh. He watched with morbid fascination as the skin stitched itself back together over the course of a minute, his vital energies replenishing.

On the fifth day, he was able to continue prepping his meal while occasionally stabbing his arm with the knife. Using medical journals from the first alchemical journal, he avoided any vital spots. After the first week, he was confident in his ability to fight through pain on any of his extremities. He amped it up, setting aside 30 minutes in the morning to slash at his chest. On his first attempt, he immediately dropped the knife, cursing. It was a different experience on the chest versus an arm. Pain blossomed throughout his torso and he felt his vital energy dip by a hefty chunk. Blood flowed freely for close to half an hour as his health regenerated slowly. The next day, he forced himself to do it again just as brutally.

After 3 weeks, he knew he could fight through the pain of a nonlethal wound at this level. He also knew that this wouldn't be enough. His studies had warned him of terrible dangers. Men would throw fire at him, freeze him solid, send pain straight into his mind. Flying blades would destroy limbs, darts would send poison coursing through his veins, and many other gruesome injuries awaited him. He knew he'd need a way to prepare himself for these, but he also knew that his body couldn't handle it now. He'd work with what he had, and it would have to be enough.

Even with his limited resources, his gains were fine. Using exercise guides from the same section, he put together a workout routine to grow his body. In 3 weeks of training, he'd gained several points in each of his stats. Altogether, he was happy with his growth in just one month:

Name: Viktor Faust

Alias: N/A

Titles: [Divine Librarian]

Class: Heartmonger

Level: 1

Soulbound items: N/A

Affinities: N/A

Constitution: 18

Intellect: 25

Dexterity: 15

Strength: 15

Endurance: 18

Mental Fortitude: 25

Charisma: 18

Looking at his status, he was proud of his progress. Unfortunately, looking at it reminded him that he'd quickly exhausted his 50 points of training in just one month. Granted, it was one month of non-stop self-improvement, but still. It meant that others would likely be at least a few dozen points in if they were taking it lightly.

Still, he felt ready. He looked down at the paper around him, each sheet filled with notes and lists. A grim smile stretched across his face as his unclaimed treasures flitted through his mind. He hadn't only grown his statistics in this time.

After five weeks of 'self-improvement', Viktor's routine was set. At this point, he'd stopped his physical training and replaced it with memory recall. In the mornings, he'd make breakfast and sink a blade into his back in a non-lethal point. He'd spend several hours in the history section, a couple hours in the magical section, and an hour in the monsters section. Over the period of time he had available to him, he had obtained substantial knowledge on many of the lower-level creatures that could be encountered.

At night, he would review his notes and commit them to memory, preparing for the day that he might have to leave the library with nothing but his wits and memory. Should that be the case, he did not want to be bereft of advantages because of an assumption that he would have notes. After his memory training, he would attempt each test once. After the time period, he was the most accomplished librarian, accessing more floors in more categories than either of the other two.

Ultimately, his relentless studying was interrupted one fateful day when Timothy found him at a table on Floor 23.

"Viktor, come quick! There's an adventurer here!"