"What did you find?" asked Orphelia, looking through a window in his mansion in the Upper Noble District, holding a glass containing a green liquid resembling poison.
"Nothing, sir," replied an elderly man.
"What do you mean by that?"
"The person seemed to have mastered an Invisibility Spell, and we could not track his location," replied the servant.
"So, you're telling me I wasted all this time for nothing?"
"Send someone to monitor the library's entrance. I don't believe he won't show up," sneered Orphelia.
"I'm afraid we cannot do this."
Orphelia crushed the glass in his hand before turning around; his cold, snake-like pupil stared at the elderly man, not hiding his vicious desire to strike. However, the servant was rather calm about the situation.
"Your father has heard of the situation and sent specific instructions not to do anything during this period."
"Why does he care about a bloodless foreigner?"
"The Blood Crest Alliance is not very happy with the Curator's decision to change the third test at the last minute, but they cannot do anything about it. The family head does not want your actions to lead to an incident between the Curator and the alliance."
Orphelia exhaled before turning around, "It seems I should do it myself."
"Young master Orphelia–"
"There should be no problem if I do it without breaking the rules, right?"
Orphelia looked at the moon. He must get his hands on the Veela no matter what, since they are the only creatures capable of giving birth to heirs with bloodlines from both their parents. A child with the Pytherias family's poison magic and Veela's charming ability would increase his chances of inheriting the crest, thus defeating his brothers and sisters.
Christian headed to the library's central hall. On his way, he knew the reason: contract signing. Library members must sign a magically binding contract preventing them from sharing their knowledge.
'This explains why those families must access the library for every test. The contract prevents them from copying and using the books for their clan.'
Christian looked around, recognizing only Kallista, so he approached her. However, she signaled with her head not to do so, and despite his confusion, Christian respected her choice. A staff member entered the room and, without saying a word, waved her hand to summon hundreds of parchments that materialized in everyone's hands.
Christian read the contract, and it was straightforward. It had only 20 inches of written words, a signature at the bottom, and a place for a finger imprint. He did not immediately sign it, as his aunt warned him never to sign anything without reading it or consulting a legal representative. He remembered many terrible things from Jim's fictional stories about signing magical contracts with demons and being tricked.
So, he checked for small writings, any beautiful designs on the corner that may be an unknown language, and used Revelio to reveal any invisible ink before finishing with a check of the parchment's back. Finally, he wrote his Greek name before putting his thumb on the contract. He felt a sharp pain, and he instinctively moved his thumb, where there was a drop of blood.
The contract released a golden light that entered his forehead before the paper disappeared.
'What was that?' thought Christian as he used his Occlumency to check his mind; he soon discovered a chain around his soul.
'A soul-binding contract? This kind of contract magic is interesting.'
"All of you now are [First Class Apprentice] and have access to the first level of the library; you can start reading today or return home to prepare for tomorrow's test," the female staff member declared before leaving. Christian immediately noticed new words appearing on his identity card.
'Apprentice? Another hierarchical system to classify the library members?' He assumed the access levels of the library dictate their classification, but he also wondered what kind of power these classes or ranks have.
Christian followed the crowd through a few corridors and stairs to reach the first level, a room full of books made of papyrus, parchment, and scrolls. A staff member explained the rules and book classification before everyone quietly rushed in.
Christian looked around. This room was larger than his mansion, and most of the space was for book storage. He realized that the numbers contained in Mr. Crow's were the system used in this library; in other words, the crow had sent him to find a specific book in the library.
"The book you're looking for is on the third level, not here."
Christian raised his head, already on guard, and placed his hand on his wand underneath the robe. "Who are you, and why do you know what I'm looking for?"
"You can call me the Curator, just like everyone else."
"You're the Curator?" asked Christian, looking at the young man before him.
"Is there a problem?"
"From what I heard, you should be over 200 years old." Christian was not surprised that the Curator lived for so long since the average lifespan of wizards is 137 years old; however, wizards will age the same way as Muggles, so the Curator should not look so young.
"I have my methods," replied the Curator with a smile.
"I see. Then, how do you know what book I'm looking for?"
The Curator did not answer, but looked at him intently instead, lost in thought.
'His soul has developed a preliminary aura ability, so his awakened test should be the Foreign Soul Invasion, and he actually killed his invader.' The Foreign Soul Invasion is the hardest test for [Planeswalker Seeds] to pass, and they usually barely do so by holding on until the foreign soul fades away without a body to anchor them.
The test's difficulty comes with a reward: a memory of the future. The Foreign Souls are usually from an alternative timeline that is very close to the testers' reality.
'My intuition about him was correct. He not only killed and absorbed the foreign soul, but he also kept all their memories instead of just a few years,' thought the Curator, smiling in his mind.
"Excuse me?" asked Christian, but the Curator kept staring at him.
'He should have the Magus Eyes, which is understandable.' Seventy percent of Planeswalker Seeds have Magus Eyes; if not, they'll have another form of talent related to the eyes.
"It was a good idea to hide your eyes. The Blood Crest Alliance would go to extreme lengths to capture you if they knew you had the Magus Eyes," the Curator said.
"Who are you?" asked Christian, taking a step backward.
"You're suffering from a severe form of Cognitive Aequilibrium, so you should look it up. Luckily, your wand alleviates the problem, or you wouldn't even be able to cast a spell."
"What's that?" asked Christian out of instinct.
"The book you're looking for is on the third level, meaning you need to pass the third test to find it," continued the Curator, ignoring his questions. "If you display talent that interests me, I will give you a gift that may one day save your life."
Christian remained silent, unsure of what to say. Too many thoughts were rushing through his mind simultaneously. The Curator raised his hand to release a golden light that flew to countless books or scrolls in the room.
"You should only read these marked books, as their content fits the magical rules of your reality; the others are useless, at least for now."
Christian exhaled to calm down and was prepared to ask many questions. However, the room started to shake due to an expected earthquake.
"What a pain," the Curator muttered, looking in the distance. He raised his hand, materializing a long wooden staff with a half-moon curve on top. "Remember my words, boy." Then, in a flash of light, he disappeared.
After processing what had just happened, he looked around to realize no one was paying attention to him. 'Could it be they could not see or hear our conversation? They might not even be able to see the marks on these books, ' he thought. The situation was odd, but there was nothing he could do, so he focused on his task.
Despite the Curator's warning, he searched around, trying to understand what kind of system was used to classify these books. It was obviously not the Dewey Decimal system used at home, but there were some similarities.
Sadly, the Curator was telling the truth. Based on the number Mr. Crow left him, the book was most likely on the third level. Without much of a choice, Christian walked to the Magical Theory to get a scroll about the basic introduction to the Spark Theorem. Information about Cognitive Aequilibrium was located in the Healing Area, under a subsection titled "Magical Diseases." Christian desperately wanted some alone time with his thoughts, so he found an empty spot to think and read.
This brief conversation with the Curator revealed many things: his glowing eyes were due to a special talent called Magus Eyes. The Curator and Mr. Crow were part of a larger conspiracy or event somehow related to his prophecy, and why he began his multiverse travel. Finally, he was suffering from an unknown magical disease.
'More importantly, the Curator gave me the feeling he was scarier than Headmaster Dumbledore and the Dark Lord, but is that even possible?'
For many years, he thought these two had reached the pinnacle of magic. Although the wizard world worshipped ancient wizards like Merlin, there is no evidence that he was more powerful than those two, except for myths and legends. However, he was no longer sure about that claim.
After more than ten minutes of reviewing his memory of the conversation, Christian finally calmed down enough to read the book.