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A Song Through Time - Chapter 43
🕑 Added 2024-05-06 22:38:17 +0000 UTCThe following day, William woke up refreshed. He performed his daily routine and put on the Academy's uniform, which consisted of a magic robe and a suit.
Looking at himself in the mirror, he smiled and elegantly smoothed out all the creases from his uniform using mana.
Today would be a unique experience for him as someone who had never gone to any academies or regular schooling since he had been self-taught for most of his life. He had tutors for private teaching, but that was different from attending an institution created to teach the next generation.
Classes wouldn't start until all the new students were admitted, but he wanted to tour the Academy and experience all its offerings. Leonardo had always praised it for its innovations and for being the best place to improve one's magic.
The first place he wanted to visit was the library. He had always had a thirst for knowledge, and the Marinus Mage Academy would indeed have books that would interest him.
Reaching the bag the Academy had given him with the necessary academy equipment, he found a map showcasing the areas of the institution. Finding his destination, he made a mental note and stashed the map away.
Exiting his dorm room, he walked down the hallway, descended the floor, and reached the entrance shortly after. The students passing by ignored him as they continued their daily lives.
As William stepped outside, he was greeted by the sight of a bustling campus filled with students. The academy grounds were vast and beautifully designed, with detailed pavements, manicured gardens, and intricate buildings designed to optimize learning.
The air was filled with excitement as students hurried to their classes, their robes flowing behind them. William took a moment to soak in the atmosphere, feeling a surge of anticipation and eagerness.
Since he had reached only the fourth rank in the previous timeline due to his unfortunate circumstances, his current situation made him feel like he was living a dream. Too many things had changed, and his potential could finally be reached.
He made his way through the courtyard, passing groups of students in discussions about their classes, exam difficulties, and the most controversial topics. William couldn't help but recognize that being young was a luxury since people wasted their time in the most useless ways.
William strolled around the Academy on his way to the library, enjoying his time.
Arriving at the library's entrance, he paused for a moment, taking in the elegant design. Its architecture was extravagant yet somehow optimized.
William pushed the doors open, and the smell of old books and parchment hit his nostrils.
William couldn't help but smile, enjoying the countless rows of bookshelves lined up neatly, stretching and filling every inch of the building to properly utilize its architectural elements. Since some of the bookshelves reached the ceiling, a few librarians could be seen using magic to move books around.
In the previous timeline, these books and all the knowledge held inside them were lost and completely destroyed. William was sure that the demons targeted places like the Academy for their importance to this world.
Just two years after the invasion began, they killed most of the influential and powerful individuals, from rulers to wandering adventurers, and destroyed any semblance of civilization.
They burned down libraries, institutes, and countless other places, leaving the remaining survivors to fend for themselves with barely any chance of survival.
'I'm glad I can finally witness this place while it still stands.'
He had visited this library before, but of course, it was only after the demons had completely destroyed it. Back then, he couldn't find even a single book left intact or even magic records, which were spells created for knowledge preservation, using catalysts to last for an almost infinite period of time.
Not wanting to sour his mood with such thoughts, William went to the librarian's desk, where a kind elderly woman greeted him with a warm smile.
"Welcome to the Academy library. How may I assist you today?"
She said with a pleasant smile. From his attire alone, she instantly recognized that William was a new student, so she was being extra helpful.
All the older students were in classes, which meant that only new students could have the leisure to enter the library at such a time.
Since the exam was held yesterday and William was already accepted, he wasn't a simple student.
William returned the librarian's smile and said.
"Hello, ma'am. I'm a new student who just enrolled yesterday. May I ask what permissions I have to read books?"
The librarian's eyes lit up excitedly, not expecting such a well-mannered response.
"First-year students with no credit can only browse the books near the entrance, though those books are more than enough for new students. If you're interested in even more exclusive books, you must contribute something to the Academy first."
William was slightly disappointed when hearing her words but understood that he would be asking too much with his current status.
Sighing, he asked the librarian for any exciting books in the section he could browse.
The librarian was pleased with his question and quickly gave him a list of books. They ranged from simple topics like elemental attributes and becoming a specialized mage to complex subjects like mana circuits and world theories.
Thanking the librarian, William took the list of books and made his way to the section she had mentioned. As he walked through the rows of books, he couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement. It had been long since he had read books like this with so much pleasure.
Owning books after the invasion was difficult and only possible if one had the strength and resources to procure them. William's library in the Bastion was created through donations by the other council members and his search to make the dimensional device.
He picked up a few books from the recommended list and started reading through them. The books were filled with information about the different magical disciplines and their respective schools of thought. He learned about the various uses of elemental magic he had never seen before, probably due to their redundancy and unique ideas and diagrams about mana circulation.
Just like he had done with the creation of his own unique meditation method, the mana brain, others had done similar things in the past with mixed results. William even found a person who had imbued mana into their whole body, just like Aura, resulting in something of an amalgamation of Aura and mana, which he called Prana.
However, William could see countless flaws in that method, like muscle atrophy and mana deviation, with just a quick glance, not to mention many other issues regarding future growth. Although flawed, this research and idea could assist him in improving his own technique. Even if he had faced no problem so far, he couldn't be sure in the future.
He also tried to find books that researched demons and their abilities. Although he had studied many bodies through autopsy and combat, he wanted to see how people of the current era saw the demons. He knew that the records would have been tampered with since the demons he knew and the demons he had learned from experience were completely different.
The folk stories of the heroes eliminating the wretched demons were widespread, but they were clearly over-exaggerated to portray the Heroes as the more powerful ones, while in reality, they had to sacrifice too much just to seal the demons away, the risk of their invasion remaining even after thousands of years.
William couldn't find specific books on demons and their powers, but he did find fairy tales that included demons.
As William lost himself in the books, eagerly devouring their knowledge, hours flew by. By the time he looked up from his reading, the sun had set, and the library was nearly empty. A few piles of books surrounded him since he had gone through quite a lot.
Feeling satisfied with his day's progress, William gathered the borrowed books, put them back in their proper place, and returned to his dorm room. The Academy campus was still active, with students freely walking around.
Even though William had spent the whole day cooped up in the library, he didn't mind. From what he understood of the Academy, everything functioned on a credit system. This meant training rooms and other resources were hidden behind a paywall.
So his goal for now was to spend his days in the library reading all the books he could for a week and then earn as many credits as possible through classes.
Before going to his dorm, he passed through the cafeteria and got some food. Thankfully, there was a free meal menu where he didn't have to spend credits to feed himself.
Entering the dorms, he went to his room and removed his uniform, using mana to place it on a clothes hanger.
After eating his meal to satiate his rumbling stomach, he took a shower and tucked in for the day, digesting all the knowledge he had acquired today and also creating his own conclusions.
Over the next week, William immersed himself in his studies, spending long hours in the library, pouring over all the books he could access freely. He delved into many different topics. The more he read, the more he realized how much there was to learn and discover.
Since he already had a solid foundation and advanced knowledge, these books helped him refine them further. Compared to the fragmented books he learned from in the previous timeline, he now had a vast library to browse through everything he wanted to know. For a bookworm like him, this was amazing.
William made meticulous notes as he read, jotting down ideas, theories, and questions that arose in his mind. He would occasionally stumble upon references to ancient magic and lost civilizations, but the books he had access to only scratched the surface of those subjects.
Nevertheless, he absorbed as much information as possible, building a foundation of knowledge that would serve him well in the future and connecting the knowledge he had missed in the previous timeline.
