Chapter 48 Library
Daneel walked at a medium pace, constantly checking Faxul's pulse as he tried to control his emotions.
All he needed was a single thought and he could have killed those three at the spot. But, he could not do so unless he was confident in his power to evade the King.
Now was still not the time, but Daneel resolved not to let go of this matter so easily. They could bend the rules? Well then so could he, and without a trace at that.
He had had no friends back on earth, and the limited social interaction of both of his lives made it so that his social skills were not very strong. Still, he was improving by leaps and bounds every day with constant exposure to his friends and family.
Now, he knew how much of a blunder he had made by not noticing the signs. Daneel etched this into his heart, and he would make sure it wouldn't repeat again.
As he got to the infirmary, he felt the desire for more power rising inside him again.
He knew that his father was crippled by the army in some way and could no longer train his body. This crippling had also affected his limbs, causing him to limp often and stay up many nights due to the pain.
He had dreamed of developing the healing spell by watching healers in the infirmary and using it to heal his father. But, he was sorely disappointed when the spell that was observed by Phenomena Analysis Module-2 turned out to be like the Advanced Teleportation Spell, which required him to reach the level of an Eminent Human Mage first.
Also, on asking the system, he had found out that this spell was not capable of healing his father's condition. For that purpose, he required a spell of a much higher level.
Hence, all of the intentional scrapes and injuries that he had sustained to observe the healers at the infirmary had gone to waste, but he was still glad because he had found a direction: the library.
He had heard from one of the healers that the library housed records of many spells up to the Exalted Human Mage level. Of course, although written records were much less effective than personal teaching, they were still stored because spells had many variations. One person could control the elementary particles in one way to result in a spell, whereas others could control them in a different way to achieve the same effect. This did not mean that one of them was wrong. In fact, both of them were correct. Spells were something that a Mage could only be guided in. In the end, it was his own intuition and will that would shape the spells he would use.
Since then, Daneel had tried to get to those records in the library but he had been restricted. His status as a first year student was not enough, and he had been constantly looking for ways to get access.
Now, finally, he could read the whole library!
Dropping Faxul off at the infirmary and making sure he was in good hands, he rushed over to the library and started a phenomena that he would be known for for years to come.
Each day, he would come to the library at the crack of dawn. He would stand at the podium for 9 hours, making book after book appear in his hands while he just opened a page in each. Then, legs shaking, he would make his way to the infirmary where he would have lunch together with Faxul who needed 3 days of rest. It seemed that the trio had gone overboard this time, as Laravel had just been humiliated and defeated by Daneel in the assessment. His ribs had been broken and his arm had been fractured, and because the healers here were no where near the level of the one he had seen in the Fists of Justice Training Hall, Faxul needed to stay for 3 days to get back to normal.
Then, it was back to the podium for another 9 hours before trudging to bed wearily.
His face became sunken and his eyes gradually turned hollow, as if he was morphing into a ghost.
Even in his dreams, books hounded him, chasing him while ripping pages off of themselves and throwing them at him.
5 days went by in this fashion. Each day, people would be shocked left and right seeing a kid who seemed to have not slept for years. He stared into the distance while he walked, as if something imaginary was floating in front of him.
Finally, on the 6th day, the last book went by his hands which were peeling by now. He collapsed at the podium and had to be carried back to his room by Faxul who had been alerted of the fact by a well wisher.
Daneel slept for a full day, not even waking up to go to the bathroom or eat anything.
The academy had given all the students 7 days to be assigned to a master. A typical student would inquire with the academy regarding which masters were experts in the focus they had chosen. Then, they would drop by all of the available masters in the order of their reputation before finally being selected by one.
Masters usually tested students in case they had low comprehension levels. As for those in the top grade class, many masters vied for each student, making it so that in the end, the student could choose which master they could go with. Typically, the masters with the most reputation were chosen because of their track record in successfully guiding a student to pass in as less time as possible.
It was the last day for students to hand in their chosen master's name to the academy. There was a very strict policy that any student who did not hand in the name would be expelled from the academy with immediate effect. Of course, this hadn't happened in many years because all of the students who could even gain entry to the academy in the first place were quite talented in their own right.
There were only 6 hours left till the time would be up, but Daneel was still snoring in his bed. Faxul could be seen inside the room, scratching his head as he tried to think of more ways to wake him up.
He had done everything he could. He had even poured a bucket of water on him, but the only result was the bed getting wet.
Finally, Faxul decided that he had no option but to beat Daneel awake. He, himself had not found a master, and he suspected that this was again tied to the prince. He had visited each and every master as soon as he got out of the infirmary but they had all rejected him saying that his comprehension was too low. What was disconcerting was that one master had accepted a student who had the same comprehension right in front of him.
The cunning smile from the master had made everything clear. Thus, he had walked back to the student quarters and had waited for Daneel to come back to discuss about what could be done. On arriving with that same gaunt face, Daneel had assured him that there was a master who would take them both in.
Together, they had gone to search for the master that Kellor had spoken of right after Faxul had gotten out of the infirmary. It hadn't been hard to find the master's quarters, as there was only one master in the academy who fit the description of "genius who lost everything" as Kellor had said.
The room had been empty, so they had no choice but to leave a note with Daneel's dorm room. If no developments were made even on the last day before the deadline, Daneel and Faxul decided to go to the academy council and find the location of that master. This could only be done on the last day as a last resort, as the council was only convened on special occasions like the Master Acceptance Ceremony that would take place after the deadline. Otherwise, the council members could not be found on the grounds of the academy.
Now, the time was ticking to an end and there was no sign of this master that Daneel had spoken of. If they wanted to find the location and get the acceptance letter, they would have to hurry. All he could do was hope that at least physical pain would wake him up.
Just as he raised his hand, preparing to punch Daneel in the stomach, a strong smell of alcohol wafted in from the door that was open.Although Faxul wondered who was drinking at this time in the morning, he chose to ignore the smell before raising his hand again to punch Daneel as hard as he could.
An instant before the impact, a man staggered into Daneel's room and hiccuped loudly. He had a bottle of wine in his hands and he seemed young, definitely not even 30 years old. His face was gaunt just like Daneel's had been before he had fallen asleep, and his strong features were masked by the stubble that was present on his face.
He was wearing an open shirt, through which Faxul saw many more bottles tucked away in his trousers.
After walking in, he looked at the two inside before promptly vomiting on the floor near Daneel's bed.
Daneel was woken up by one of the vilest stenches he had ever smelled in his life.
His happy dream of burning the library down was interrupted as he had no choice but to wake up and move away from the god awful smell.