And so, the rest of the class went by with him crudely hacking at the training dummy. To Nick's disappointment, he hadn't gained another level in his new Sword Mastery skill but it would go up in due time, even sooner if he got the chance to attack an actual enemy. Were places like the slime forest rare? Once again, his questions boiled down to simply not having enough information about basically anything.

Following the advice of his one classmate, Nick decided to check out the library. Skill books looked like a cheat, one he would exploit if he could. He entered the building and found a surprising lack of students around. "Not many people need to be here on the first day it seems." He thought to himself as he walked up to the counter where he saw a somewhat familiar-looking student. Black hair and small black horns sprouted from the top of his head.

"Hey, sorry to bug you. You're Jade's brother right?" Nick asked him politely as he threw an Observe at him, noticing that his uniform was red, unlike his blue.

Skill Level up!
Observe has reached level 3!
Now reveals more information.

Jude Korinn (Level 19) (Age 23)
Bookkeeper
RS: 2
~Intrigued that you know his sister, happy to see someone use the library

"That's me. Did she need anything?" Jude responded as he got up from his seat, a worried look on his face.

"Oh no nothing, she mentioned you in my blade work class an-"

"Oh my god is she injured? What did you do to her? I knew she shouldn't have signed up for that class! Do you know how insane she is?! I told her not to sign up but mother and father are always sooooo happy to accommodate her and they say yes to everything! Without even thinking! I mean do they want her to get hurt? Or do they not care?! I mean I'm her older brother and she never listens to me, I don't even think she realizes how hurtful she can be sometimes. What's a girl doing playing with swords anyway? I knew this would turn bad and its as if sh-"

"Dude, she's fine. Nothing happened to her. She just told me you work in the library." Nick said as he interrupted the ramblings of the man in front of him. She really should have mentioned that he was crazy, or at least weird. He couldn't even tell how the man was feeling. Upset? Obsessed? Mad because his parents clearly favor her? Probably all of the above.

"Oh," Jude responded with a flat tone. "Well, you should have said so. Why are you here then?"

"For books?" Nick responded, shocked at the quick change of attitude. "What is it with this guy..."

"Right. Books. Well grab what you want and come back here to check it out. I'm not going anywhere."

"I should be so lucky." Nick thought to himself as he gave the man a quick nod before heading to the many many bookshelves. Luckily there were signs indicating what each section contained, otherwise, he would have been here forever. His main goal here was some sort of strengthening spell, but it wouldn't hurt to look around.

Taking a good look at it, the library was quite big. Aside from the rows upon rows of bookcases, there were many tables and booths for someone to study in. Might be handy to know if his roommate ever got too loud. There were even sections that were locked off without the proper key. After a quick search, Nick found what he was looking for, the 'buffs' section. It wasn't really called that, but he couldnt help but think of them this way.

The section was titled 'Invocations' and the kind of spell that he was looking for was labeled under 'Enhancements'. It was a bit surprising to see just what kind of spells fell under the massive umbrella category. Books that made you stronger or faster were expected. Books that made you temporarily taller or recolored your hair were not, and there many weird books like it. They weren't completely uninteresting to Nick, but far from necessary.

Reaching forwards, Nick grabbed the most interesting sounding book, 'Harmony of Body and Mind'. A quick skim through the early pages talked about balance in yourself. Something about not holding yourself back. It spoke of a common problem where mages would spend too much time mastering their spells that they would neglect their own body and all the harm that comes with that. The body shouldn't be too far ahead of the mind and the mind shouldn't be too far ahead of the body.

The message that Nick got from the book was that he shouldn't put everything into intelligence. It did make him frown a little but he knew it wasn't feasible anyway.

"Harmony of Body and Mind"
Would you like to learn this skill book?
Requirements: 50 int, 50 str

"50 points in two stats?!" Nick thought as he let out an audible groan. The book looked useful but it was locked behind way too many conditions. Conditions that he wouldn't overcome in the very near future. Still, he could take it now and acquire it whenever he had the points. 

Hopefully, other books wouldn't have such a steep requirement to deal with. Which prompted Nick to grab another book, 'Mana Flow for Beginners'. It was a smaller book, which raised Nick's hopes for something he would be able to learn today. Luckily, it seemed to be exactly what he was looking for. The book explained how one can increase the flow of mana temporarily in one part of their body for a quick boost with a reasonable cost.

"Mana Flow for Beginners"
Would you like to learn this skill book?
Requirements: 20 int, 5 wis

It was an easy choice. Nick hit yes as the book pages glowed and flipped through themselves before settling down.

New skill!
Flow: Increase the speed at which mana can flow through a set part of your body! Effect: 10%. Cost 15mp. Level 1

That looked like what he was looking for, and with how quick it was to simply learn the books on the spot he didn't need to check it out. He would have gladly taken that as a reason to avoid Jude if it weren't for him wanting to check out the first book he saw. Making a mental note to come back to the library with higher stats, he started heading back to the counter, one book in hand.

"Found what you're looking for?"

"More or less."

"If you're looking for a certain book by name, you can fill out a form and someone will see about getting it to you."

"Good to know," Nick responded as he handed the book to Jude, who seemed like he was casting a spell on it with a few hand gestures.

"There you go. Bring it back in a month or less, even if you need an extension."

"Thanks then."

"Wait wait! What else did my sister say about me?"

"Nothing. Just that you work here."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"..Okay," Jude said, prompting Nick to leave the building before the conversation took another weird and unnecessary turn. Must be weird being related to him. Poor Jade.