'Morning sleepy head.'
Jed's voice was comforting as I inched my way into the land of the living. Greeting him a good morning as well, I surveyed the room, Tatsuya was sound asleep under me, George and Charles were both gone. I padded into the bathroom to do my morning routines and made my way into the cafeteria. I didn't see them there either, so they must be at work already.
After I finished eating, I made my way into the studio. Once I opened its door, a mote jumped from a cluster and siphoned the star's energy. Once ignited, I was now the owner of a replica of the Temple of Solomon, the man who, upon his death was heralded as the king of magecraft. It had the total knowledge he accumulated in his life, and with his title that was immense. I could access it in two ways, the key I held or by willing myself into it. I just willed myself in.
"Holy shit." Those words escape me in an awed breath, whispered to my surroundings.
"Language, young man, but yeah. This is impressive."
"No shit Sherlock. This place is beautiful, completely unlike the skulls' cramped and almost dilapidated room."
"In their defense they can't do much in the way of architecture and repair."
I nodded. "Point"
The sight that greeted me was majestic. Two floating islands: one a lot larger than the other and bare of anything besides polished stone floors, the other was an expanse of open space with a single building, the floor was polished light brown marble; they were suspended above a sea of clouds, up above in the clear blue sky, a ring of light provided illumination.
On the smaller island, I could see a majestic building of white marble it had golden accents adding to the sense of grandeur it all but screamed into the world. It stood atop a set of pyramidal steps, had marble pillars of the same color as the floor around its perimeter, a golden dome sitting on top, as well as massive twin doors of metal with carvings too far to see.
Willing myself into the smaller island, I ascended its stairs, as I stood in front of the door, I could make out a complicated set of circles and triangles which had many configurations: right way up, upside down, pointed to the left or right, or even overlapping. They had lines of unknown script weaving inside and outside, curving and following the lines of the patterns. It was beautiful, and knowing who owned this place, probably a magic barrier of some sort.
"Hey Jed." before I could even say my question Jed had already answered me.
"No, I can't read or interpret them, most likely because they didn't exist in this world." I raised an eyebrow at his words, before relenting at them, I came from outside of this reality after all.
"When we get out, I can access the internet to cross-reference them to known languages. Now hurry up! I want to see the rest of it." The sheer amount of urgency in his voiced amused me.
"Oh? I never thought you'd be this interested in things like this."
"What do you mean? I'm an AI, learning is what we do!"
"Well, this isn't really science. This is bonafide magic."
"Which makes it even more interesting! Besides, this isn't just some random wizard with wishy-washy mumbo jumbo. It's the research of the Wise King, the King of Magecraft. Think of just how much knowledge it has inside its walls." The longing in his voice prompted me to continue my exploration.
The doors opened even with just a light push, revealing a grand antechamber. I craned my neck upwards and saw the paintings of various angles doing a myriad of things. Some were blowing trumpets, some played with fluffy bundles of clouds, some shone golden rays towards places unknown. The walls of the antechamber itself were bare, besides the white marble and gold highlights. At the end was another set of twin doors made of the same metal as the first, the magic circle here was even more intricate. I didn't even bother trying to study the dizzying details besides allowing Jed to catalogue it for future dissection.
As I stepped into the threshold of the building proper, I couldn't help the but whisper. "That's a lot of books."
In contrast, Jed exclaimed. "All the books and scrolls you need to learn everything Solomon knew!"
I shook my head, sighing. "Will I even be able to finish these things? There's so much. I doubt even Solomon read every single book and scroll here."
I walked into the center area, bathed by the soft golden light shining down from the dome up above. A sweep of my gaze around me just cemented the mix of dread and anticipation welling inside me.
Rows upon columns of bookshelves reaching the floors' ceiling were neatly arranged, even the very walls were just floor to ceiling bookshelves. All contained an assortment of books, tomes, scrolls, and even tablets of stone and clay. The same scene was repeated on the second and third-floor I could spy from my spot. The golden domes light was shared by all levels of the building in thirds of a circle with scattered tables for reading.
"Don't worry, I'll record anything you read in here and remind you so you don't forget things."
My response was dry and flat. "Gee, thanks. I still need to read them in the first place."
"I'll speed things up!" Was his cheerful reply.
As my eyes rove at the surrounding sight, a huff of breath escaped my lips as I regarded this place. "King of Magecraft, huh. Think I'd be able to catch up to him?"
"You would, you have the intellect necessary for it, maybe enough to surpass and become his replacement. The culmination of his wisdom, this is the sum of his life's knowledge. People would have killed to even have just a portion of what you have now. I think that if any magicians were to see this in its entirety, they might just die happy, then resurrect themselves to learn as much as they possibly could."
I continued to the last set of twin doors with the same carving as the one before it, Jed confirmed it. What awaited me on the other side was another a view of the lower but larger island, in its middle was a golden upraised dais, all along the ground was a mind bogglingly complex magic circle. The circle absolutely covered the entire place, the only thing not touched was the dais.
As I willed myself to reach the dais itself, I spun in place, trying to make out any detail I could parse and falling short. The only thing I could understand was how precise and calculated every single line, circle, triangle, and letterings were. But I noticed something, the dais' position was strategic, it was at the dead center of this entire dimension.
I let my gaze wander around the ground of where I stood. I can't even imagine how complex this magic circle around me actually is. It might be an amplifier of magic rituals, with how large it was, probably several city-blocks in size, the upraised dais was big enough to be around a few tens of meters in diameter, with a marking denoting its center.
Again, the larger island was bare, besides that utterly grand magic circle it had. So I willed myself back into the library. Once there, I inspected a table that was noticeably different from the others. It had a transparent crystal ball sitting in its middle, touching it made an interface pop up.
"Huh, a magical search engine."
There were various sections, sub-sections, cross-reference points, etc. It was a highly reactive and intuitive display. Jed was beside himself with joy at how we can streamline our learning process. But as we were browsing this database, I found a section containing techniques and philosophy related to alchemy. It made me remember my own alchemical talents, which I had completely forgotten due to everything that has happened.
"Do you think I should look at them first?"
"Can't hurt to try. You already have a built-in library and hard-wired instinct for performing and studying alchemy. But maybe there's some difference between what Solomon's people are practicing and whatever reality your talents came from?"
"Makes sense. By the way, why'd you never remind me of it? Alchemy I mean, it completely slipped my mind before this."
"Didn't really think it was that important? I mean, you already have a lot on your plate. No need to add another that can be set aside for the meantime. The most volatile part of your brand of alchemy is the understanding of the structure of the base materials and end product. You have me, that's a none-issue."
His words were logical, so I didn't dispute them, just returned to browsing the database. I located the various books and scrolls about the basics and principles of King Solomon's brand of Alchemy. Once done with my selection, the interface blinked out of existence, and a glowing arrowhead appeared on top of the crystal ball. Moving my head made the arrow follow my view, and still point in the same direction it was initially pointing at.
I padded after the directions as dictated, and as I picked up the book it highlighted with a soft glow. Another arrow appeared as I touched the book and I sighed.
"Heh, getting tired of the old school books and scrolls already? You haven't even started reading yet!"
"Digital media is more convenient. Just a single device with everything I need."
Silence reigned as I gathered all the books I selected, some of it being on the second floor of the building. So here I am, sitting on a table with various books and scrolls in front of me ready for perusal. But we hit a snag, we couldn't read them. They were written in an ancient language, and with Jed cut off from the internet, he couldn't help me. Hence why I just skimmed everything I could, letting Jed use my eyes to digitize them.
Once he was done, I popped back out into reality. With Jed focusing on translating, I had free time to explore the city. My artworks were still drying and I chose not to make more for the time being.
Z-City was split into zones, the residential zone; the beach zone, which was mostly hotels, resorts, and tourist spots; the mountainous zone bordering Q-City, which was too dangerous to be turned into a tourist spot like the beach; the city proper with office buildings; the entertainment zone with various malls and leisure activities; and the ghost town that was the western tail Z-City and bordered Y and R cities.
The amount of people in the entertainment zone was sparser than I thought, then again, the amount of humans on this planet is less than a third of where I'm from. However, ignoring that, uncomfortable could describe my current emotional state. People around me were pointing and having hushed discussions, mainly about me I reckon. Having a face that puts to shame every single person on the planet meant attention that can't ever be avoided.
Jed informed me that what I'm doing would make the establishment of my business a lot easier due to free publicity that the more social media-oriented people were doing, namely share my photos on the net.
'I'm not even doing anything, Jed. I'm just minding my own business and going about my day.'
'So are they. It's just now you're a part of theirs.'
'Isn't this a breach of privacy?'
'You're in a public area, so no, not really.'
A sigh escaped my lips at his words as I soldiered on. The malls were as expected; the more luxurious variants were few and far in between, where people dressed to the nines roamed, decorated by accessories of decent make, by my standards that is; I ignored the upscale establishments and focused on the regular ones.
My purpose for going to the mall was two-fold; one was to explore the city, and the other was to provide myself a cover story. Bookstores were my destination, I bought chemistry, material science, and metallurgy books. They would provide me with the smokescreen for future projects, displayed so that people won't question my knowledge, or at the very least mitigate them.
The journey back to the studio was filled with a lot more staring as people noticed me, some more than others. It was a relief as I entered my new safe space; I set my purchases aside as I calmed myself from being tense at attention being directed my way. Before this, I was just a random face in the crowd, unremarkable and therefore unnoticed. This experience was outside of my comfort zone, it made me hyperaware of my surroundings. A few minutes later and Jed spoke to me.
'Hey man, you alright?'
I let my attention turn to his voice, and sighed. 'I am now. Are you done with the translation?'
'Yeah. We can go back to the temple for it.'
I heeded his words and willed myself back into the library. Once there, I sat back at the table where the scrolls and books I gathered were. As I opened the very first book, an overlay of the translated words appeared in my vision. The double vision was disorienting, so I just sat the physical media aside and focused on what Jed was projecting in my vision.
A few hours passed with me reading, by the end I understood the basic differences between my brand of alchemy and that of King Solomon's people. The alchemy I can do follows strict rules that can't be bypassed, the alchemy in these scrolls and books were more forgiving, but less potent and permanent.
My alchemy was strictly physical, following the physical laws already in place; such as the law of conservation of mass and energy. The alchemy in these texts could bypass materials constraint to some extent, either using less or more or vice versa; but this came with a reduction in quality of the product that would continue to degrade as time went by.
'The two forms of alchemy have different uses. Your brand would be more useful with preparation, but theirs can be used in more versatile ways.'
"True, but honestly I'm not that interested in the alchemy here. I'll just stick to my own. Why bother learning something I can already do," I sighed at what I just realized. "We just wasted time. Or more like, why didn't you just tell me this?"
'I'm not here to tell you how to go about your journey, that's for you to decide. As your companion, I'm here to provide support: offer advise, ensure your digital presence is protected, analyze and report anomalies, fulfill requests. I was made for you, made to assist you in any way I can so that you have an easier time with what you want to do, never to tell you what you should do.'
I fell silent, mulling over his words. "No one's ever offered me anything like that."
'Hahaha! You've never had a companion AI tailored to your needs. I'll always be on your side, Aiden.'
A person who would never betray me, who will always have my best interest at heart, I can't thank the giant enough. I've had no one who would always be present to support me, and I don't think I'm the only person in that situation. Even your own family can't always be there. But here I have exactly that, an ever-present support system that won't collapse, a constant I would never question. I could feel tears prick my eyes.
Wiping the forming tears away "Do we still have time to read a few more?"
'Unfortunately, we don't. It's already late night, you need to sleep.'
At his words, I exited the temple and made my way back to the dorm. This time Tatsuya and George were gone, and Charles was asleep. After cleaning myself, I laid down to join him in the land of dreams.
'Morning sleepy head.' As is my now usual alarm clock, Jed's voice jarred me back to the land of the living.
A quick survey of the room let me know that I'm alone again. Coming back from doing my morning routine, I was met with George fiddling with his phone. He didn't seem inclined to start a conversation, so I ignored him. The trip to the cafeteria was a silent affair with nobody to talk to, not even Jed was starting any.
After I finished my meal, I went back to the room and found the passed-out form of Tatsuya, while George is now asleep as well. Since there's nobody from my dorm to accompany me, I went to the studio. Once there, I willed myself back into the library.
I selected books that dealt with the basics of magecraft: magic circuits and how to open them, mana and od, chants, etc. With Jed doing what he did last time, I was again free to burn some time. I did that by painting a new artwork. By the time I was done and left it to dry, Jed was done with his translation. I could have studied the dead language myself, but Jed's here, so why bother?
The books, scrolls, tomes, and even a clay tablet taught me the fundamentals of what separates a magus from a regular person. The Magic Circuits, pathways of power from the soul, determined at birth it's what allows a person to cast magecraft. I needed to activate it first to progress my studies of Solomon's knowledge. This process is notoriously painful for those who's doing it for the first time, especially so late in life like mine. It was also dangerous with a risk of death, good thing that in this place I can't die.
Jed was vehement that we needed to learn as much as we can about the procedure of opening them before we actually do it, no need to needlessly die if I could avoid it. So that's exactly what I did, searched for more reference and left the translation to Jed. I returned to reality and went back to painting another piece.
By the time I was done with that, it was nighttime, so I ate at a restaurant and went back to the dorm, everyone was there this time. Charles was being his usual self and chattering away at Tatsuya who was listening and responding when he felt necessary, George ignored them. Upon noticing me, Charles immediately included me in their discussion.
"Hey Aiden! We were talking about hero costumes. Apparently, they were usually left to the Hero themselves to get one."
I raised an eyebrow at that, "They don't give you a budget for that? Or some sort of PR person to take care of it?"
Tatsuya shrugged, "Only A-class heroes have dedicated PR officer. B-class has a budget but is smaller than an A-class. C-Class heroes have to make or buy one on their own."
I scrunched my eyebrows together in thought, I mulled over them. The system seemed kind of harsh but understandable, C-classes mostly dealt with muggers, and assisting evacuation of civilians in the case of monster attacks. They also had a high turnover rate, few choose to remain and try to climb the rankings.
"So, the two of you are brainstorming possible hero costumes for Tatsuya, huh? What do you have? Any themes? Type of armor? Color scheme? Where are you going to have it made?"
They both looked shocked at my barrage of questions. Seems like neither of them were at that point yet. I sighed and went to pick up a pencil and paper.
Once done, I raised an eyebrow at Tatsuya. "So?"
"Uhm, ah. I kind of wanted to be seen as a martial artist?
"Hm, mobility then. Thin layers to support movement, can you do sleeveless or short pants?"
"No, I don't."
"Okay then, you'd need some sort of reinforced leather for the vitals like the chest, stomach and back. Armpits would need to be thinner so you don't lose range of motion, shoulder pads aren't needed. Greaves and gauntlets for extra protection with blocking and more force for punches."
The end product I gave him was an uncolored sketch of a person with a similar body type as him, wearing exactly what I just said. I handed it to him, and he took it gingerly. A look of wonder and longing was plastered on his face, he stared at it eyes glazed over. His eyes were glancing at the paper and his own body rapidly.
Charles whistled from his side, having moved there as Tatsuya continued to picture himself wearing what I drew. "Seriously, this is great. The details are incredible, I can see how he'd look like wearing it," He looked at Tatsuya, stared at him dead in the eye and said, "You'd look great."
Tatsuya was all but vibrating with excitement, eyes burning with passion as he gazed at the drawing. "I'll pass the exam. If only to wear this."
Once again, my eyebrow rose. "You realize that you'd need to get the money to buy the materials first, right?"
He gave me a single nod. "I've saved enough to commission a decent one with what I have."
