The title read: The History of Alidith.
I skim through the pages, flipping quickly between them.
It was a pretty thick and heavy book. I don't have the time to just sit here and read every single page.
I go back to the first page and just start from there.
There simply wasn't an option to skip throughout the book. Assuming that it was just like a textbook, I was gravely mistaken. This book tells a story.
As I read the first few lines, I began to realize that there was more about this world than I thought.
This world was named Alidith, or that was the name of the continent that I was on. The continent comprises of different regions: humans, elves, dwarves, beastkin, fairies, ogres, and merfolk. These seven regions were absolute, with each varying in size corresponding with the race's population. It seems that humans have the biggest territory due to that factor.
There was a map on the next page, and analyzing it, I make inferences.
The human region was in the middle, and surrounding it were the elves to the east, with the dwarves to the west.
There was an abundant amount of land between the next regions.
To the far north lived the beastkin, and to the far east of them lived the ogres, with the merfolk living in the ocean to the far south of the humans.
Looking around the map some more, I realize that there's a missing region.
Where are the fairies?
Putting the book closer to my face, I scan even more intensely.
Am I blind? They have to be here somewhere.
But my efforts were wasted as it was not to be found anywhere on the map.
What's going on? Why is the fairy region the only one that isn't labeled on the map?
I continue onto the next page, and there, I find my answer.
In the paragraph near the middle of the page, I learned that the fairies went into hiding after being constantly exploited for other races' gains. Their whereabouts are unknown, and they have not been seen in centuries.
What a shame. I've always seen them in fantasy manga and anime, and upon hearing that they actually existed in Alidith, I got my hopes up, but reading those sentences felt like a stab in my heart.
Analyzing the paragraph once again, a question arises in my head.
Why were fairies being exploited? There could be countless reasons, such as enslaving one, or perhaps they can secure a rare material. However, the book doesn't state the reason behind it.
On the next page, the header read The Royse Kingdom. I read the words that followed.
The human region is comprised mainly of one kingdom that is located in the middle and stretches far and wide, almost covering the entire region, about 75%. Like the header says, that kingdom is named Royse, and it's named after a certain man.
Next, it mentions the social hierarchy and the government as well.
As if copying exactly out of a fantasy trope, it pretty much follows the same structure as well. The peasants are at the bottom, and that is usually the average citizen. The knights are above them and protect the kingdom, of course. Next are the clergy, such as priests, bishops, and monks, and their religious stances have a huge influence on the people and sway their beliefs as well. Nobles follow after, and are comprised of lords, who have control over lands bestowed upon them by the king, who is in the highest position.
The social classes are more or less what I expected. I'm not surprised.
The royal family is a monarch and bears the last name Royse, who the kingdom is named after.
I finish up the paragraph and am shocked.
Wait, what?
That's it?
Why is there so little knowledge of the government? All it gives me are the social classes and the fact that the royal family's last name is Royse.
I flip a few pages, attempting to find an answer.
Again, it was futile.
This book must have been censored by the government before being published, and assuming that, I won't be able to find an answer in the other books here either. I'll just ask Alice what she knows.
Continuing on with the book, I find something that diminishes my other questions.
World History.
It is apparently the year 321 of the Alidithian calendar that was established after the creation of this continent. Assuming that the book is old, the date is most likely wrong. Years prior, every race was entangled in a war that stretched for five centuries. The reason being: territory. They all wanted the continent for themselves, but decided to finally arrive at a resolution, that being the idea to coexist with one another. That marked the first year of the Alidithian calendar. The one who proposed this peaceful treaty was a man named Bate Royse, who later became king of the human territory and created a kingdom, which is the one I am currently in. He's hailed as a hero throughout the entire continent for putting an end to the bloodshed.
I set the book down and grabbed another, flipping through it.
This book seems to mention the same thing about Bate Royse as well.
Doing the same with other books that seemed to fit the subject of history.
It seems like the existence of Bate Royse is common knowledge.
But while searching for another history book, the book that I've been yearning to look for catches my eye and latches onto it.
The Basics of Magic.
Acting as if I were a child who had just gotten a new toy, my eyes glimmered with exhilaration as I opened it.
Finally. Ever since Alice mentioned it, I've been wanting to learn about it. I need to know the ins and outs of the entire system.
But what I read contradicted all of my assumptions about how magic truly works. There are four main affinities. Fire, water, earth, and wind. Each possessing an advanced attribute that brings out the true potential of the element. For fire, it's plasma, water being ice, earth transforming into magma, and wind advancing to gas. Each affinity is assigned at birth and cannot change, no matter what.
And what came next brought the difficulty of performing magic to the next level.
In order to perform spells, a catalyst is required, which causes the mana to flow out of your body. The catalyst being anything as long as the user is wielding it. Each affinity requires a different type of catalyst. For example, in order to perform fire magic, you must use something that is flammable, such as a stick or a torch, as the catalyst, or with earth magic, you must use a rock or mineral in order to activate it.
But it gets even more complicated. As if this wasn't fucking hard enough.
Each catalyst has a set value that is not changeable and is assigned by the creator of this world. On top of that, the more advanced the magic is, the more valuable the catalyst has to be. For example, performing a simple spell, such as a small fireball, would require a torch as the catalyst, as opposed to performing an advanced spell like creating a pillar of fire, you would need five trees as the catalyst.
This is so fucking inconvenient. Not only must you learn the spell, but you also have to have a catalyst on hand in order to activate it? What a joke.
I read a bit more.
There are 5 tiers that determine how powerful a magician someone truly is. Being named after how much of a threat that person poses. Ranging from weakest to strongest, it starts off with raid-level threat. Mages at this level have enough power to bring down a small animal such as a rabbit.
How pathetic. That level of magic is useless with the invention of weapons.
The tier above it is tempest-level threat. At this level, mages are strong enough to kill medium-sized animals such as cows or deer. At the third tier, it was calamity-level threat. Mages who reach this tier are well above average and are strong enough to kill a group of adult men.
Oh? That's interesting.
The ones that followed terrified me a bit.
Tier 2, and the second highest, was named catastrophe-level threat. There are only a handful of them according to this book, and mages of this tier are able to kill an entire kingdom.
What truly frightening power. But if I could attain this level...
Tier 1, and the strongest one, was deemed an apocalypse-level threat. What the book states is as follows:
Apocalypse-level threat: Anyone who is able to reach this godlike stage would have the power to bring an end to Alidith. There is only one in history that has achieved this stage.
A sinister smile appears to arise on my face.
This.
I must attain this type of power. But hold on, it says that someone was actually able to get to apocalypse-level. Who are they?
I skim through the rest of the book, and as usual, it's a dead end.
These books seem to really enjoy leaving me on a cliff-hanger like this.
I continue reading anyway.
Each tier had three subdivisions: high, middle, and low. To get to the next tier, you must advance through those subdivisions. The average adult is usually low-tempest and to break into that next tier usually takes years of harnessing your mana and practicing magic.
Years? This has got to be a joke. I wonder what tier I'm at right now.
My body fills with excitement as I read some more.
The higher tier you are, the less valuable the catalyst needs to be in order to perform magic.
SERIOUSLY?!?
A spell to create a fireball would take a low-tempest level ten large torch as its catalyst in order to activate, but would take a catastrophe-level, just a blade of grass, and on top of that, it's more powerful as well.
That's more like it.
A knock on the door interrupts, that is followed by a soft voice.
"Col?" The door slowly opens, and a head peeks through the crack. It's Alice.
"What is it?" I respond in a well-mannered tone, closing the book and setting it down.
"I just thought you got hungry, I brought some more soup for you." Alice creaks the door open some more, revealing to carry a bowl in her hand. "You've been here for a few hours, let's take a little break, okay?" She gives me another whole-hearted smile.
I really can't. I just can't fucking stand this woman.
"You're right," I give a laugh, although fake, hides my true intentions.
I get back on my feet and grab the bowl.
"Thank you very much," I say, gulping the soup down.
I need to stay here for a bit longer for a few reasons.
One being that Alice has an abundance of books that make accessing information a true breeze.
Second, Alice is a citizen of Royse, so what better way to learn about this world than by having a primary source to help me.
Third, I need a place to stay, assuming that Alice would be kind enough to allow me to stay until I could find proper housing.
I can't believe I'm relying on this conniving peasant to help me. It's fine. It's only temporary.
As I finish up the soup, I start to feel queasy.
Stumbling a bit, I try to maintain my balance and drop the bowl on the floor, spilling the contents.
"What the fuck?" my body plummets to the floor and my eyelids get heavier and heavier with each attempt at a blink.
My eyes wander around the room and find Alice, who is standing over my body with a lustful look on her face. Cheeks flushed and fingers playing with her lips.
"You bitch, what did you do to me?!?" the words try to leave my mouth, but is overpowered by my drowsiness.
Until finally,
Everything turned dark.