• 3^rd Person POV

Evan wakes up in late morning almost going to an early afternoon as he look at his phone and sees the time. “Ah… again, at this rate I don’t think I’ll be able to achieve waking up according to my alarm” Evan thought while glancing the time and scroll down to see his notifications.

While in bed, his lips curved upward seeing the notifications. “Yes! It seems the branches got sold. That means I got 2000 GC = 200 dollars. I wonder who’s the buyer this time?” He opens the ‘Eidolon Mini’ app to check his M&M account.

“Night Edge? Well that’s even better naming than me. He doesn’t leave any reviews though…” Much to Evan’s disappointment but at least he pays well which makes him feel happy.

Waking up from his bed, Evan begin his daily activities of cleaning himself up and make a nice brunch to himself. For today, he made sandwich with spam, iceberg lettuce, and mayo mixed with ketchup. The bread itself is dipped in egg to make it more delicious.

Evan devoured the sandwich faster than he made it himself. “Sigh… cooking takes some time but when eating them just takes a second.” Grumbling but happily eating his brunch.

His eyes widened for a second realizing something. “Isn’t it the same as magic? Making the food take some time similar to spells. Although… the end product (magic) can last longer than food I’m eating… *nom *nom hmm….” Evan thought to himself.

Finishing his brunch, Evan enters the console. As he closes the glass lid though… he realizes his face have a milk moustache. He sighed before coming out from the console and clean it up then enters the console once again.

--

“The familiar alleyway where I logged out” Evan look around his surrounding and it is the same place he logged out as he eagerly look at his inventory.

Behold, lies in the currency tab. Evan can see that he holds 2248 GC which makes his lip curved upward uncontrollably thinking about the dollars he have. “It’s the sixth day and I have gained 439 dollars which already way pass my weekly goal of 275 dollars that’s not counting to convert this current GC.” He smiles

“I have more leisure time than I thought. Hmm… I’ll spend 4 to 6 hours on infusing the chest with mana. Then the other infiltrating the mage’s archive.” Evan decided as he summons Umbra to be on his side as he sat down and pull out the chest.

He’s stroking Umbra’s back “*Woof*” the dog wags his tail enjoying the affection given, as Evan commanded the dog to guard him while he’s infusing. Promising treats in return which earned the dog’s excitement.  

Evan begins infusing the chest with time passes doing it. He weaves the mana into one point and infuses them into the chest like pouring water to a bucket. But in this case, the bucket itself is incredibly large. More so than any items he had held to infuse.

“Gah… it’s probably the high-quality wood, that he mentioned. Hmmm… It makes me wonder what kind of items that have high mana intake in ‘Eidolon’. Yup! That solidify my goal to enter the mage’s archive more. Maybe I can read them in one of the books there” Evan continues to focus the tendrils of mana into the chest as it seems to be endless as he still pouring it.

From minutes, to an hour, to two hours, four hours, and turn to six hours. Evan concentration begins to wane as he felt the strain of continuous exertion. In doing so, he stopped the flow of mana coming in.

After that, he investigates if the chest really did contain the mana poured inside. Checking, in more detail he found traces of the mana inside that item which elicits a smile from Evan. Although it is little, only fits in a single compartment of the chest.

“I guess you could say, I managed to infuse a ‘part’ of the chest. Whoa… if you think about it, that took me 6 hours IRL meaning its 6 days here.” Evan look genuinely surprise thinking of the time needed to craft legendary magical items that archmages in the book recounts.

“I remember the book ‘History of Archmages’ recounted of the archmage Janus who studied space and time created the item ‘egg of time’ needing 10 years of his life to do so.” Evan sigh… as he gives treats to Umbra with the dog happily noms them although he added some kind of ‘Prank’ to Umbra.

After the dog finds them all, Umbra looked at Evan with a smug smile showing off his keen sense Evan stroke his back thinking ‘Good job’ complimenting the dog as he dismisses Umbra.

He then logs out to take a break to himself. Watching random MeTube videos again regarding wormholes and how big is the outer space. “I’m planning to make the chest having similar effects after all. Ugh… I’m having a headache, let me close my eyes for a moment respite. Sigh…” Evan thought.

Finishing his meal, he enters Eidolon once more appearing in the same alleyway as he leaves the place and moving towards Novitas’ Library.

Already having his pass to the library, Evan enters the dungeon <Moving Library> his mana control skills are sharpened to a point that he can immediately pin point where the books to deactivate the defence mechanisms are.

“It seems they are randomized every time you enter the dungeon. No wonder it isn’t in any guide” Evan pull out the four books with his hands as he tries another kind of magic.

The four books began to hover as he hides behind a bookshelf. It follows him as Evan control where the books move.

The four items slotted themselves on the gaps of the pylon where the eye construct lies. “Although I can’t move them further than this” His mind wanders on how to extend the range of the spell.

But his thoughts are interrupted when the light turn from purple into cyan as he confirms the defence mechanism have been deactivated.

Moving on to the topmost of the floor, Evan also tries a new method of mana weaving. Rather than using his hands, he plan to move it with his mind alone.

He began to imagine the concept of what the person in MeTube explained about wormhole. Of how it folds the space like paper allowing fast travel in great distances.

In doing so, he folds the mana around him as he feel the strain on his head for a while until he felt something else; the shift in the air, the smells of musty tomes, and the sounds of wood creaking.

Opening his eyes, he can see the result of his spell. “Hah! It worked for me … fiuf…no wonder there are risk of travelling through based on the lore. Its so unstable! In my senses the tendrils of mana are too squiggly. But if I shape & mould it enough, I think I can make it stable for only me to pass through. No wonder Janus was recognized as an Archmage. To think… he can open a gate that stays for hours on end. Allowing multiple people to transport. I know player would just learn them instantly ” he sighs as Evan have a sympathy to the hard work of mages. He have been transported to the first floor of <Moving Library> where the bookshelves move constantly.

A short-range teleportation spell have been formulated in Evan’s mind. Although he started to transport items first, mainly playing ‘teleport’ pranks with Umbra by moving treats to random spots in the alleyway.

“Heh… Umbra keen sense can find all the treats I hid.” Evan chuckles reminiscing what happened. As he continues to practice moving instantly in short range. “Hmmm… objects wouldn’t get affected by the instability unlike living being. That’s why it’s more dangerous to transport organisms” So far, this is his conclusion.

The range of the teleportation, it is where he could see within a short range and he couldn’t use it too much or he’s going to have a headache as it consumes MP and of course disorienting for starters.

Moving to the topmost floor manually as his MP regenerates, Evan follows the trails of mana leading to the hidden entrance of <Mage’s Archive>. As usual it is hidden amidst the illusion wall with Evan dispelling it by straightening the wisps of mana.

Revealing a hidden path that’s blocked with a real wall this time. Evan realizes his mistake, “Ah… I forgot to clear the dungeon first”. He turn around to the ebony wood bookshelf as he outstretch his palms, with that the books began to be pulled out as if with invisible hands then arranged one by one with Evan waving his hand correlating to the movement of the books hovering.

“This is really fun!” Evan smiles while doing this. Learning magic like NPC is much more enjoyable to him rather than getting a spell book then click learn. He compared to the one he got from using his beginner’s staff and his own magic arrow.

The spell on the staff is the textbook perfect version which would be the same thing that players would have learned. “By having classes & advance version of them. The same spells would be improved based on the system” Evan is interested by the idea but…

Evan’s version of magic is more home-made capable of manipulating the spell on the get go in ease making them hard to miss since it is homing rather than firing straight arrow. “Yeah… my own home-made spells are better.” He smiles.

“But… if I get stronger than before maybe I can perform what the players in MeTube have used like fire storm or meteor and an enhanced version of them too. Hehe…” Unconsciously Evan chuckles as the bookshelf puzzle is completed.

He can feel the breeze coming from the back of the bookshelf signifying the dungeon has been conquered as Evan turn to the side going another way towards the entrance to <Mage’s Archive> he also look at the time panel for in-game time.

“Good… it shows night-time outside. I’ll be safe” Evan passes through the entrance as his figure disappears.

 

Coming out from the <Moving Library>, Evan is greeted with the familiar tower filled with bookshelves reaching the height of the ceiling. It is night-time with the moonlit shine coming through the windows.

“As usual, I am on the top floor” Evan look down and sees there are sections of the tower probably around ten of them including where he’s at with the last one would be the ground floor.

Sharpening his senses to mana, he began to feel the tendrils of mana that have been refined into magical circles that is invisible to the naked eye but not Evan. “Ah! I see them much clearer now… before its just glows and strings” Evan is happy with his progress in recognizing those things.

Moving closer to one, he inspected it. “Yeah… its amazing on how details this is.” Evan assesses the magic circle that he knew if activated would trigger an alarm thankfully, he’s not that close to activate one.

“So that’s why magical circle exist. I see… it holds a spell and it takes the mana around it akin to solar panel for the spell to activate when it is triggered.” Evan ruminates a bit more as he tries to copy it by etching a similar circle to his notepad as a reference later when he leaves.

“Alright! Let’s go explore this place” Evan made a round on the 9^th floor (topmost floor) of the <Mage’s Archive>. While looking at the titles of the book etched on its spine, he ponders “Hmmm… it appears the ninth floor mainly consists of archmages accounts and their history including general magics & their respective schools” Evan reads few of them to gain familiarity of the archmages.

“Aha! this is the more complete version of ‘History of Archmages’. ‘Legend of Archmages’” Evan pulled out a book from one of the bookshelf that’s already old and rickety.

Opening it, he began to read, the images inside the page moving on their own retelling the stories vividly rather than just words.

He find a section that he’s familiar with “Yeah… I know the Archmage Janus, the one who studied time and space. Including transmutation magics… due to that when there’s a missing pen or eraser, the students often blame Archmage Janus even though he’s already passed.” Evan smiles seeing the image of a pen suddenly disappears as if engulfed by a small portal with a student frantically searching for one.

“There’s also Archmage Miriam with his illusions and renowned for his pranks to the students giving a scare increasing the students awareness against illusions in the process. I used his pranks too, its handy!” Evan chuckles on the section recounting the history of Archmage Miriam scaring off the students.

“Oh! There’s also Archmage Merlin, who learned destructive magics. Bringing down mountains and summoning meteors from the skies. Whoa…” Evan turn the page seeing the depictions of the Archmage Merlin with the stereotypical grandpa-esque look, hurling a powerful lighting that parted & scorched the land.

*Flip*

He turn the pages again, with more and more Archmages being told through the years. Until he find the latest Archmage who still lives. Archmage Fabian known for his keen insight as he learns divination magics.

“Really interesting” As Evan smiles putting the book back and look at the windows as it is still night-time, he came down to the eight-floor taking care to not trigger any traps or deactivate any since it would bring attention.

“The eight floor eh?” Before he enters though, he sharpened his senses to mana to clarify if there’s any more ‘hidden’ traps lying around different than what he normally sees. “Huh? It seems the traps are the same.” With that he feels at ease in exploring.

Looking around the moonlit tower, it feels tranquil without any people in the <Mage’s Archive> as he continues to explore. Investigating the bookshelves with Evan continuously heightening his senses of mana avoiding the traps.

“Hm?” Evan eyes caught something interesting. “There are books that has been etched with magical circles on their covers to trigger traps but this one is infused with mana instead” Evan recognizes as something similar to the ones in <Moving Library> although he did not know for what purpose.

His sense of curiosity grew bigger as he weaved the mana surrounding him into some kind of cover to protect him. As Evan took the book from the bookshelf, he opened it. He anticipated to find writings or a magical item rather what he sees is a blank book.

“Eh? No… wait… it’s a secret” Evan quickly deduce as he sharpened his senses focusing on eye-sight with the flow of mana coalesce on his eyes. From the normal blank book, something begun to appear in cyan glow.

“Wait a minute…” Evan realizes what he’s seeing. It is not a book as the writings there doesn’t resemble any language rather a shape. A hexagonal shape which he recognizes.

“This is a map!” His lips begin to curve upward to what he finds in the eight floor. “But… something is different” His mind wanders, it is true that the map he’s holding shows the <Mage’s Archive> but it also shows an extension located on the topmost floor. As each of the pages, depicted the blueprint of the tower.

“The extension seems to be connected somewhere but it trails off… is this the work of Archmage Janus? Ah! What am I saying… Hehehe” Evan chuckles to himself seemingly taking a trend in blaming Archmage Janus.

Evan decided to go up to the ninth floor as he already put the map into its respective bookshelves since he’s paranoid if the book leave the parameter it will trigger something as it is infused with mana after all.

“If I remember correctly its around here...?” He put his hands on the walls as he feels it is solid. In doing so, he sharpened his senses of mana until he sees words written on the walls.

 

“Huh… there’s even a place for me to type the words in” Evan genuinely surprised as he begin to type the words ‘Future’. With that, the words on the walls begin to glow brighter for a second as the walls vanishes revealing a path leading to endless darkness.

“Let’s do this!” Evan summoned Umbra to his side with the dog as usual wags his tail in happiness whenever he sees Evan. Upon entering the place, his & the dog figure vanish to thin air as Evan got a notification in his panel

 

“EH!?” Evan confounded on what he sees on the notification panel as he looks up to where he’s placed at. He is inside a room that he doesn’t know how wide. As the smell of musty tomes invade his nose and sounds of paper rustling can be heard from afar.

Rather than the books sorted in bookshelves, they appeared to be piled up against one another in stacks like hills. There’s even pages floating about like dust devils in front of him.

Although it is dark, Evan’s thankful that there are spheres of light giving off dim-lighting and spotlight to the ground allowing him to see those dust devils made from pages. But beyond that, Evan cannot see.

There’s a monument beside him. It contained the words.

 

“I see… its telling me to stay on those spotlights and avoiding exposing myself with the darkness. But that words ‘Beware of the light itself as it might hide something sinister’. Makes me curious of what sinister means” Evan ponders for a bit before it is interrupted by an idea that arrived in his mind.

“I can just make my own light then!” Evan tries to make a ball of light as well but when he did, it seems the tendrils of mana seems to not weave together to make that spell.

“As if they are interrupted whenever it’s going to happen” Evan looked up and sees the place. “I see… light emitting spells are being repressed or in fact disabled” Evan thought, giving up the idea of creating light.  

“*WOOF*” Umbra barks with his tail still wagging even in this weird area. As Evan pats his head calming himself down from the situation that he’s in. “Sigh… I can’t open the net in dungeon. I guess I’ll try to complete this… Uh… this place is Level 50, I hope I didn’t die” Evan decides.