Chapter 114: Chapter 114

Kamus nodded, sensing his sincerity, but then asked, “Do you have a way to loosen this bottleneck enough for me to advance?”

“Yes, but I’ll need three petals of white frozen lotus flowers, and one drop of an Exalted-level Chaos Beast’s blood. Any Tier will do.”

Sokram felt safe to expose this because of the concoction spells he learned from Hannah, and because among the books he recently received, there was an almanac of medicinal plants.

Even if it was a stretch, Sokram could justify it as a genius idea or a glimpse of inspiration.

Especially since such medicines, although undiscovered on his planet, were quite common in the galaxy.

But Kamus was a two-thousand-year-old wolf, and not easily fooled.

Yet, remembering certain rumors about Sokram finding an inheritance, added to Leona's insistence, he decided to trust his Grand-Disciple.

“I know where to get the lotuses, as for the monster blood, I have that too. I’ll be back in four to five days. Don’t tell your grandma I left you unsupervised, hm?”

Kamus stood up and pointed at Lymus, “Until then, help my disciple convert his Core instead.”

“Sure, but are you sure you don’t want me to come along? The lotuses are difficult to collect without spoiling them.” But Sokram already knew Kamus's answer.

“Kid, do I look like a whelp to you? I may not know how to do that, but my wife is a great alchemist too; she may not be as good as the Duchess, but she’s not far off either.”

Kamus proudly bragged about his wife whenever he had the chance.

Kasine was just as he said: Norwinter's best alchemist.

Her naturally enhanced sense of smell, even sharper than most wolves', helped her find the rarest ingredients and create the rarest potions.

“Then I can rest assured and focus on aiding my sword uncle.”

Sokram nodded politely at Lymus, who was still struggling to regulate his emotions after the beating he received, but seeing Sokram’s attitude was back to being polite, he got even more irked. As he felt that, for Sokram, winning against him wasn’t worth bragging about.

Kamus quickly left, not wanting to lose any more time.

Lymus excused himself, admitting he wasn’t in a good mental state where he could cultivate.

Sokram, seeing that he had some free time, asked Leona to show him the way to the Arch-Mage’s Tower.

The Arch-Mage’s Tower was the highest in the palace, with a total of fifteen floors up and ten floors down.

From what Sokram heard from the twins in his past timeline, each floor housed a myriad of shelves filled with books and research material on various subjects related to Magi.

Arriving at the colossal double doors, Sokram felt a sudden chill.

Two hulking figures, crafted from what appeared to be raw Adamantium, loomed on either side.

Their unmoving figures created the illusion that they were mere statues.

Yet, the silent, formidable power radiating from them made their true nature clear; they were golems.

The fact that not a single speck of dust clung to their polished surfaces showed they were intelligent enough to maintain and repair themselves, hinting at a greater level of artificial intelligence or a powerful auto-repair enchantment.

Leona looked at Sokram with a complicated gaze, “I can’t go further than this; only those with a token can enter it without the Arch-Mage being there.”

“So the token is just like Sahvus said, I can enter whenever I want? Well, I got to thank him for the vote of confidence.”

Sokram felt slightly touched, but Leona threw a cold-water bucket on it.

“Don’t get full of yourself, kiddo. Grandfather Savus is the most pragmatic person I know; he doesn’t trust people, he trusts results. So you should know this is an investment from the Armfrost in you, but they will come to collect.”

Realizing how bad that sounded, she quickly added a clarification. “It’s not out of malice, it’s just how they are. Besides, the token will give you access to the library, practice, and study rooms on every floor except the top and bottom floors.”

“I see… Well, that is natural; mages are not very good at sharing knowledge. They know how valuable it can be.”

Sokram smiled and thanked his master.

But as he was about to head to the room, he heard Loena mumbling to herself, “But aren’t you a mage too? Why do you always share so much with me and the others?”

“Because I love you, Master,” Sokram replied without a glance back.

Had he turned, he would have seen Leona's cheeks flushed crimson, her lips parting in a silent gasp as she pressed a hand to her chest, a mixture of shock and utter delight warring in her eyes.

When Sokram reached three meters from the door, the Golems reacted and spoke with a voice that could only be described as metallic and rocky, “Only those with the token can enter.”

A metallic, rocky voice boomed from both golems in unison, as if a single, unseen being spoke from two separate mouths, and it wasn’t an illusion spell.

Without missing a beat, knowing the golems could easily squash him even before he could conjure his lightning, Sokram summoned the token Sahvus had given him.

As soon as he showed the token, the golems bowed to him, “Honorable Guest, Welcome!” and the double doors opened for him.

The moment Sokram stepped across the threshold, the air rippled like disturbed water.

A faint hum vibrated through the floor beneath his feet, and the walls seemed to stretch and recede, subtly shifting the very dimensions of the space.

From the outside, the tower measured 400 square meters.

But inside, it stretched impossibly to three thousand; its floors each rose five meters high.

Sokram couldn’t clearly understand the magical principle behind it. Thɪs chapter is updated by novel⸺fire.net

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It was clearly a spacetime spell, but there was something else he couldn’t quite place within its weave.

He didn’t dwell on it.

Still, he was impressed; casting a spell of this magnitude would have required at least ten Exalted-level mages.

Sokram's gaze swept across an impossible expanse.

Ninety-nine towering hallways stretched before him, each flanked by a hundred rows of bookshelves that seemed to vanish into the distance.

Nine five-meter-long shelves, their dark, polished surfaces hinting at mahogany iron-bark, scraped against the ceiling in every passage, creating an overwhelming labyrinth of knowledge.

The lack of the smell of aging paper showed that every book was enchanted with preserving spells.

‘The Armfrosts truly know the value of knowledge, hm? Well, they are Mentyr’s follower after all.’

Every hallway had nine bookshelves that were five meters in length.

Every bookshelf, seemingly made of mahogany iron bark, reached the ceiling.

On the entrance of every hallway was a metal plaque indicating the subject of the books found there.

Sokram saw that every shelf on the first floor shared a common word: introduction.

Since he was there to spend his time productively, he went to the very first shelf, ‘Introduction to Elemental Magic’, and started reading from there.

Sokram planned his attack on the library, beginning from the lowest shelves and working his way up.

The tomes varied from eight hundred to five thousand pages each, which made Sokram very happy.

He read through half a shelf in less than half an hour.

Twenty-five books in total, yet what truly struck him was how these introductory tomes were anything but beginner-friendly.

If someone who was starting to learn Magi were to read it, they would not be able to grasp these concepts, which now seemed so simple, but weren’t at all.

Sokram continued to read, being careful not to lose his sense of time, and spent six more hours there, managing to barely finish a single bookshelf.

But reading through it gave him enough material to revise some of his spells.

Feeling satisfied for now, Sokram left the tower, but something felt strange; the palace’s hallways should have been bustling with activity in the morning, but except for a few guards, there was no one there.

Looking through one of the hallway windows, he saw that it was still night.

Only then did the full realization dawn: the tower's spell also wove a temporal distortion.

This realization almost made Sokram jump in celebration because, as he analyzed the position of the moons, and with the subtle confirmation of the clock on the wall, only one hour had passed since he had entered, meaning a time dilation of almost seven for one.

One week inside the tower would be equal to one day outside.

Sokram didn’t lose any more time and went back inside excitedly, as he still had seven more hours until sunrise.

But this time, when Sokram entered, he saw something he was sure wasn’t there the first time.

A gigantic clock, right in front of the door, was ticking the time so slowly that Sokram knew for sure it was counting the time from outside the tower.

Then he felt a hand on his right shoulder.

Sokram spun his body toward the person behind him and saw no one.

‘An illusion? No… a mental curse!’

Realizing the trap, Sokram surged his energy, racing it through his body. As if the very space around him tore open, Camile materialized directly before him.

“No fun, you figured it out too fast…”

Camile pouted in mock sadness before a slow, approving smile spread across her face. “No wonder she’s so fond of you, you’re truly something else. That was one of my strongest mental curses in the Reformed level.”

Sokram, not knowing who she meant, raised a brow. “Cecille?”

“Hah, right, Cecille is fond of your talent too, but tell me, you couldn’t see past it, right? I wanted to mess with you a little more, make a few books disappear like I did with the watch, but now it’s not fun anymore…”

Camile pouted, and Sokram couldn’t read her at all.

But then he thought, ‘Too? Who else would be interested in… Oh, shit! She’s talking about Mentyr.’

“Well, yeah, I couldn’t see it past it; it was a good mental curse. Sorry for ruining your fun, haha.”

Sokram smiled wryly, trying to keep his composure.

He hated dealing with Mentyr’s fanatics; they were always very eccentric.

This was the main reason he had been avoiding coming here since he found out the Armfrosts’ connection to Mentyr.

But now that he was there, he couldn’t let go of going through this library, so he would have to endure it for the time being.

“It’s fine,” Camile smirked, her tone suddenly inquisitive.

“So why were you so stuck on reading the basics of elemental magic?”

Such a simple question, and her eyes betrayed the Nether Energy locked behind them.

‘There it is,' Sokram thought, a familiar prickle of unease tracing his spine.

Camile’s smile, though sweet, couldn't quite mask the unnerving intensity in her eyes, a glint of something insatiable, a deep, gnawing hunger for hidden knowledge that seemed to pulse from her very being.

‘That cursed insatiable curiosity they all share. I know they literally hunger for secrets, but for Nhiria’s sake, can’t they make it less obvious?’

Sokram nodded slowly, carefully choosing his following words. “I was just revising the basics, although I was well taught, I didn’t have this range of fundamental knowledge.”

As he spoke, he tried his best to conceal his discomfort with the madness behind her gaze as he explained.

“Oh, so you’re the type that wants to know everything about something before moving to the next thing, hm? I like your type.” Camile smiled sweetly; if not for the madness in her gaze, he might have thought her stunning.

Which she was, but his inability to ignore the scent of the Nether and the madness that came with it prevented him from wanting to be closer.

“Yes, there’s no such thing as too much knowledge, just like gold.” Sokram nodded, trying to get used to her staring.

“Well, I’ll leave you to your studies, then. If you need anything, I’ll be on the seventh floor. I would offer you a tour, but I think it’s unnecessary, right? You want to read every book in this library, right?”

Camile’s smile would be creepy if it weren’t so beautiful, Sokram thought.

But breaking out of his daze, he nodded, “Yes, that’s the plan. Since your family is giving me this opportunity, I’ll indulge as much as I can.”

“Be our guest, darling.” Camile shot him a flirty wink and turned, walking away.

Sokram, throughout his eons of existence in his previous timeline, could confirm one thing about women: the crazier they were, the wilder the experience became.

Still, he couldn’t help but stare as she walked away, ‘Such a tempting sight, why Mentyr always picks the stunning ones? Or every beautiful woman is somewhat crazy?’

“Don’t stare too much, you’re too young for such thoughts,” Camile's voice tickled his ears, but her tone wasn’t reprimanding; on the contrary, it was like she was welcoming him to feast his eyes on her form instead.

Yet her words finally gave him enough strength to look away, while thinking, ‘Damn!’

After this brief encounter, Sokram returned to his reading.

He allowed himself to lose the sense of time and focus solely on the books, tomes, and scrolls.

But from time to time, he glanced at the clock.

To prevent being fooled again, he periodically pushed his energy to its peak in case any illusion or curse had been cast on him.

But every time he did that, he heard giggles from the floors above.

When sunrise arrived, Sokram didn’t know how much time had passed inside; he felt like he had been reading for days.

But he wasn’t tired at all.

He only stopped when he heard that same metallic and rocky voice that came from the golems before, announcing, “The Arch-Mage Cecille has arrived.”

Then he realized how he had fallen into Camile’s trap.

Right after Cecille, there were two other announcements, one for Sienna and one for Cassandra.

That meant that earlier, when he had arrived, his arrival was announced the same way, thus allowing Camile to trap him in one of her curses without him noticing.

Realizing it was time to leave, he went to greet them, but once they saw him, they didn’t seem surprised.

“So, how do you like our humble library?” Cassandra teased him, flashing him a smile.

“Amazing, truly amazing! I learned so much more, and I’m still just revising the basics.”

Sokram smiled back and then thanked them, “Thank you for this.”

Sienna shook her head slowly, her lips twitching with amusement. “You earned it.”

It was only then that Sokram noticed: The number of energy circles surrounding her body had gone up by two since the last time he’d seen her.

“Congratulations on your advancement, Grand Magus Sienna!” Sokram smiled praisingly.

“Well, thank you for the technique. But if you want to pass as a millenary Master, a better word choice when writing your techniques would be best.” Sienna teased.

“Haha, I was only eight…” Sokram paused, covering his mouth, while Cassandra and Cecille looked at him wide-eyed.

Sienna had a knowing smile on her lips, but then he quickly rushed his steps toward the door, “Oh, haha, well, it’s getting late, and my team is waiting for me. I’ll be back later.”

Of course, Sokram didn’t let that slip; he did it on purpose, as he knew a lot about the followers of Mentyr, and they took delight in things like these.

Secrets the one let slip, thoughts one reveals while drunk, bits of information that escaped accidentally, sated their maddening hunger for secret knowledge, albeit only temporarily.

This was the curse Nhiria cast on Mentyr for all her misdeeds. A curse all her followers shared.

But it was also thanks to it that she managed to find the Light of Evolution in the eternal darkness of the Nether.

Thus, if Sokram did this from time to time, he wouldn’t have to deal with them surrounding him, preying on him, trying to get at least one secret from him, or as many as they could.

Instead, he would be the one baiting them, and, in the meantime, he would feed his Soul Realm with as much knowledge as he could.