“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait about a week and a half,” The librarian told him apologetically. “The head librarian is out right now but I can schedule a time for when they’re back if that works for you?”

“Uh, sure, sounds good.”

He felt himself deflate with the news but there was nothing he could do about it, so instead he just gave his thanks and submitted the report Myriad asked him to before going to wander the many shelves.

“You sure you don’t want to take the test yourself?” He asked Thera as she was looking around, trying to see where to read. “It seems like a decent opportunity since we’re here.”

“Mmh, maybe I’ll give it a go in the future, but you’re obviously going to pass so just make copies of anything that seems interesting for me after.”

“I’m not a printing press.”

“Aren’t you?”

I’m not sure if I’m going to take that as a compliment.

“So anyway, which floor do you think you’ll focus on today?” Thera asked him while she was still deciding for herself, using whatever he’d pick to help make up her mind.

“I’m thinking third. If I’m trying to go up a couple then it would make sense I’d be tested on the highest one I can currently reach, right?”

“Makes sense, in that case, I’m going to the second if you need me. I doubt I’d be able to get much reading done on the same one as you given how you’re going to be drawing attention.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She looked at him quietly, trying to see if he was being serious before sighing and kissing his cheek, not giving him an answer.

“I’ll grab you for lunch in a couple hours so just try not to disturb anyone else reading, okay?”

Seriously, what’s that supposed to mean? I’m a perfectly quiet reader. Mouselike in my dedication to it, completely unnoticeable. Not even remotely distracting.

He told himself all of that and more as he got to the third floor before standing in front of the nearest shelf, holding out his hand to let his magic flow through his as books flew out of it, twenty-five lined up before him as pages fluttered past his eyes before he put them back and moved onto the next set, the sound of paper being quiet yet filling the space with its sheer volume as the few others on that floor turned to stare, none of them actually believing that what he was doing was reading as he moved to the next shelf after only a few minutes.

What, reading in silence?

Excuse you, I’m still incredibly human, minus however the demon organs are changing me and how my minds have changed.

Shush now, no yelling in the library.

If he was going to honestly look at himself, he had to admit he understood what his god was saying. Reading so many books at once wasn’t exactly normal, and what was worse was that he wasn’t even reaching his full potential. The only reason he wasn’t reading more wasn’t due to the limits of any skill or amount of mana, it was because of his eyes and the space around him. The shelves were packed tight enough that he couldn't step back to give himself more room to read more at once, and even if he could, no matter how good his vision had grown thanks to the combination of different skills, none of the skills he had were specifically dedicated to vision either.

Which means I should add vision enhancement to the list of skills I want to pay Zandale to acquire and then teach me after. Well, not Zandale since I think he would need eyes to get it, but maybe one of his apprentices. Then I’d be able to do even more.

No? I’m going to become even more efficient at what I do.

Sure I am, I’m a machine that turns knowledge into cool magic toys. That makes me the best sort of machine really.

He kept bantering with Myriad as he read, going from shelf to shelf as hundreds of books were finished in minutes, only stopping as he felt a tap on his shoulder.

It’s not time for lunch yet, is it?

But when he turned, it wasn’t Thera standing at his side, but a librarian, looking unusually stern for no explainable reason.

“Uh, hello?”

“Sir,” They began, trying to be professional but mostly coming off as annoyed. “If you have access to the third floor, we ask that you don’t just play around and instead take your time here seriously.”

“I am though?” He asked, unable to keep the questioning tone from his voice as pages kept turning for the few books in his field of view.

It obviously wasn’t the reaction the librarian wanted, shaking their head as some of their professionalism slipped, letting the annoyance sneak through.

“What part of this is taking things seriously?”

Ugh, fine.

“I’m aware of how this looks, but I just happen to be very good at reading is all,” He explained, trying to keep up a friendly atmosphere. “I have a few skills that make it easy to go through a few books at once, and a magic that lets me flip through multiple pages instead of being stuck with whatever my hands can do. I assure you, I’m taking my time reading here as seriously as one can, this is just me getting the most out of it.”

“Mmh,” The librarian hummed through pursed lips, not believing him in the slightest before going to pull a book from the shelf that he’d already finished. “In that case, I don’t suppose you’d mind sharing your thoughts on this one with me?”

It was one they’d read before and not light by any stretch, but when they pulled it out, Ben’s eyes lit up. “Oh, that was an interesting one. I don’t do too much work with fire magic compared to some other branches, but to have a comprehensive volume comparing how the awakened magic could be combined with other unawakened branches isn’t something you get to see a lot of. I think my personal favourite part started at page forty-five and was discussing how the level of control an awakened fire mage should possess lends itself nicely when paired with an unawakened life magic, letting the caster manipulate a subject's body temperature to enhance the healing process. Of course, it’s easy to see the more violent subtext hidden in that too. If a person’s body temperature is being manipulated with life magic then there’s all sorts of nefarious, torturous things that could be done as well. Not that you need to worry about that from me, I’m no fire mage.”

“Um, right, well…”

At a loss from the sudden spiel, they flipped through to the page he said, finding he’d been exactly right yet not stopping, letting themselves be swept away by the feeling that he’d just gotten lucky and pulled out another.

“What about this one then?”

“Oh, that?” He asked, barely giving it a glance before going back to flipping through the books he still had hanging out in the air. “Boring. Derivative. It goes deeper into what an awakened fire and earth magic could do in tandem, but it doesn’t go beyond what the unawakened versions of the skills can do together. Honestly, it would feel like a waste of space being on the third floor but it seems like the author at least did a good job of taking measurements of temperature, mana cost, and earth densities in the areas they were testing in. The graphs in the back are at least worth your time if you’ve already read other books on the subject.”

Again they flipped through them and again they found he was right, yet that only stroked their competitive spirit as more books were pulled from shelves to test him on. Surely they were just getting the ones he’d actually looked at or had some past experience with, it’s what they told themselves with each following correct answer as they were slowly being beaten by the truth of the matter, all while Ben barely noticed. He just kept up his reading as he did, with enough minds free to think of what he and Myriad had been talking about before the interruption.

If I’m being limited by my body, isn’t there a way I can beat that? Without getting any new skills to help? And doesn’t it just so happen that I’m dating the perfect person to help me with exactly what I’m thinking? I’ll bring it up with Thera over lunch, it seems like it would be good practice for her too.