After using magic, Cade's mana entered a berserk state.
Due to him practicing blood magic, the majority of his mana was mixed into his blood, so his entire body instantly became red, his veins bulging all over, his blood rushing throughout his body like water through a broken dam.
Cade was hoping that 'Negary' was going to help him, but 'Negary' continued to silently read his book.
After a brief moment of despair, Cade realized that something wasn't quite right. The berserk mana was causing him discomfort, but not enough to actually threaten his life.
At the same time, he could sense his mana gradually disappearing from his blood as his veins grew increasingly 'tougher', it was as if his veins now had the ability to fuse with mana, capable of storing and restraining mana within them.
Furthermore, under the influence of his veins, the pressure that the mana tide exerted on him was gradually subsiding, eventually becoming indiscernible from a normal environment.
My veins have finished evolving.
This thought flashed through Cade's mind. Since he never had this ability, it could only have been 'Negary's' aid.
'Negary' closed his book and left the carriage, turning his gaze towards the sky. There was an indescribably beautiful aurora right above where they stood, a phenomenon created by the overflowing mana within this environment.
〖 Do you want to come in as well? 〗as 'Negary' disembarked the carriage, he turned to Cade and asked. This was the second time 'Negary' had spoken ever since he asked Cade to be his coachman.
Is this another test?
Cade was slowly understanding how this entity he had pledged himself to liked to act. Each of his actions could be considered to be a test, and those who passed his test would be rewarded with benefits; Cade still didn't quite know what the consequences of failure would be, but it might be best for him to never find out.
It is extremely dangerous inside, if I went in, I might--- no, I would definitely die if I went inside.
Should I continue to choose the same answer as the previous tests and blindly trust him?
Cade was thinking, but he knew that he didn't have much time to do so. When a superior asked you a question, hesitating for too long before giving an answer itself was already the wrong answer.
"I won't be going inside, Sir 'Negary', I have a very clear understanding of my own capabilities" after some serious consideration, Cade answered.
〖 Then wait right here until I leave. You may take a look at that book I was reading earlier 〗'Negary' adjusted his outfit a bit before heading into the center of the mana tide.
Cade sighed in relief.
It seems I've made the right choice.
If he had been blinded by his previous gains and acted blind before absolute danger, thus foolishly deciding to follow 'Negary' inside, that would have been playing with his life.
And 'Negary' only appreciated smart people.
Cade picked up the book 'Negary' had left on the carriage, seeing the knowledge of magic written within it, he understood this was the reward he was given. By absorbing this knowledge as his own, he would be able to make further progress on his spells.
…
The building they stopped at was a mundane library with various horse carriages and other transportations parked around its entrance. By observing the insignias on the carriages, 'Negary' was able to make a simple educated guess of the Mana Banquet's participants.
There were two prerequisites to participating in the third night of the Mana Banquet. The first was an invitation, other than the House of Mages' members, only those with a certain level of reputation would be sent an invitation. Of course, one could also obtain an invitation from other sources; like from the people of the House of Mages who received an invitation but didn't want to participate, for example.
The second prerequisite was the journey to this library itself. Without taking the chaos created by the mana tide into consideration, there were also various traps laid by those who wanted to get rid of the opposition.
Case in point, the short path that 'Negary' had taken from his horse carriage to the gate of the library had at least 10 different curses hidden. Being carelessly afflicted by any of them didn't necessarily mean you'd die, but you'd definitely be at least injured enough to lose the ability to participate in the later banquet.
'Negary' was standing in front of the main gate of the library, which was decorated by a vicious-looking beast head with its eyes closed and a bronze ring in its mouth.
When 'Negary' reached his hand forward, the vicious beast's eyes abruptly opened, even its metallic material turned into flesh and blood as it opened its razor-sharp teeth to bite 'Negary'.
As the sharp teeth bit down, it swiftly made a slow grinding sound before shrinking back to normal. Quite obviously, this little trick couldn't deceive 'Negary' as he kept his hand on the bronze ring, knocked it twice against the gate, then let go.
The large gate slowly opened, revealing a bare-footed little girl standing behind it. Her small face displayed zero emotions, this was the one he saw in the Grand Library before, Akasha Allenz.
Seeing 'Negary', Akasha slightly lowered her body to greet him, then tilted her head while observing 'Negary', the emotionless expression on her face had also changed slightly as if she was doubtful of something.
〖 So perceptive? 〗
'Negary' was a bit surprised. Currently, as he was wearing Michael's skin bag, his identity had already changed, which was hidden by the true name of Negary. While Akasha couldn't confirm it, she had still managed to become suspicious.
After slightly improving his evaluation of her, 'Negary' took out a small card in the shape of a bookmark, which was the invitation to the Mana Banquet. As he entered the library, he found himself already within the Grand Library; evidently, during the night of the Mana Banquet, the entire Grand Library had become fully overlapped with this physical library.
As 'Negary' looked up, he saw the seemingly endless floors above him as well as all of their books; under Akasha's guidance, another part of the Grand Library began to display itself to 'Negary'.
The marble floor gradually opened up beneath his feet, revealing a downward spiral staircase.
Under Akasha's guidance, 'Negary' began treading down the spiral staircase. There were quite a few strange and unusual things on both sides of the wall as he walked down the spiral staircase: some of them were dissected specimens of various creatures, some were objects that contained mana, as well as many other things that couldn't really be described in words.
On a certain part of the wall, 'Negary' saw the corpse of a male elf hanging there, his upper half remained as a beautiful and graceful elf, but his body from the waist down was nothing but a series of tentacles, most likely caught in the crossfire of Life Bearer's attack.
〖 This kind of half-infected individual would only appear during the invasion stage, as all living elves beyond that point would have been afflicted by the Seven Gods' curse. Meaning, the Great Magus was already on the Moon Tree world at that point in time? 〗'Negary' was attempting to collect information on the Great Magus from these items in his collection.
"If you want it, you can take it" Akasha suddenly spoke, her head still tilted as she looked at 'Negary', apparently feeling more suspicious of him: "This is the rules of this place, as long as you have the capabilities, you may take any of these items in the collection; additionally, everyone is given only three chances"
〖 No need 〗'Negary' replied. This entire collection was connected to the Grand Library itself, so taking any of them would mean facing the entire defensive system of the Grand Library. If you could endure it, you could keep the collection item to yourself, but if not, you'd be literally courting death.
If 'Negary' truly wanted to take any of them, he could do it, but there was really do need to do such a thing.
The spiral staircase wasn't too long, nor was it too short, 'Negary' soon arrived at the banquet hall beneath the Grand Library. A large dining table had been prepared in the middle of a large room, surrounded by similarly large seats, some of which had already been taken up by people.
