Chapter 6

  As I began my trek down the street, I could feel Adam using my eyes and other senses to observe the Township. I had grown so used to seeing the buildings of Night Glen that I hardly noticed them anymore, but with this new sensation tugging at my consciousness I began looking around at my surroundings with renewed interest.

  Many of the buildings were constructed with a mixture of thick wood beams and stone blocks filling in the space between the wooden beams. The roofs of the buildings were arched and covered with tiles that allowed the rain to run off into the drainpipes that all the houses had running along their roof gables.

  The houses had a color scheme that was mostly the same, brown wood, gray stone, and red tiles. The only separation from this norm was when residents painted their window shutters different colors. Usually, to match the flowers some had growing outside their windows. Otherwise, the shutters were done up in a bright green color.

  The streets were alive with townsfolk who were fully awake and going about their daily lives. You had women dragging their children along while they did their daily shopping, City Watch soldiers going about their daily rounds patrolling the streets, you could even see a group of adventurers making their way out of town. No doubt on their way to complete a job they had just accepted.

  Luckily, Night Glen Township was modeled after the capital in its design, where all main streets converged into the center of town where an extravagant plaza was built. It was here that local merchants hawked their wares for the townspeople and where all important government buildings were located.

  As I entered the plaza the sights and sounds of the market came alive. Merchants shouted over the crowd to garner attention for their wares, while the smell of food stalls weaved through the crowd with the hopes of enticing people to come and partake.

  It was always bustling in the plaza during the early morning, so navigating through the crowd was a challenge, but by carefully weaving through I eventually made it to the other side of the plaza and emerged before a grand building with a sign hanging off to one side that depicted a tower shield with two crossed swords in front of it. The Adventurers Guild.

  The Adventurers Guild stood three stories tall and was built with the same materials as the rest of the town; except, for the huge double arched doors. The arched doors were made of steel that had been smelted together with mana resistant metals and then wrapped in huge iron bands for extra support.

  Every Adventurers Guild Hall was designed in this way as it was utilized in an emergency as an evacuation shelter for the townsfolk. Protecting them behind sturdy metal doors while having the registered adventurers guard both the interior and exterior of the building.

  As I ascended the stairs to the doors, they opened and a group of adventurers began to file out. Standing off to one side, they took no notice of my presence as I let them pass, then quickly slipped inside before the doors shut with a resounding bang.

  The inside of the Guild Hall was just as grand as the outside. Inside massive wooden beams could be seen crossing overhead holding up the massive roof. Meanwhile iron chandeliers and well-placed windows illuminated the hall making it easy to navigate the interior.

  Off to the right side of the interior, were numerous tables and chairs set up where groups of people could be heard conversing while enjoying drinks that were being served by the bar staff near the tables.

  To the left side of the hall stood the Posting Wall where jobs of every rank were advertised. The Posting Wall wrapped around for several feet eventually ending at a set of stairs that lead to the administration offices on the upper levels.

  In the center of the Guild Hall, with a bright red and embroidered carpet running down its length towards them, were the receptionist booths. Each one was being facilitated by a Guild Receptionist whose purpose was to register new adventurers, advise them on potential work, take job requests from patrons, or any other work that did not require someone of higher rank to oversee the completion of someone’s business at the Guild.

  It was these booths that I directed my attention towards.

  As I approached the booths, I was fortunate enough to be able to go right up to a receptionist that was not busy. She was a woman in her mid-twenties, with shoulder length brown hair and round glasses sitting upon her face.

  She also wore the standard Guild Receptionist uniform of a crimson red suit jacket, a black vest, a cream-colored shirt underneath the vest, and black pants covering her lower half. She also had a black flat cap with a crimson feather adhered to one side sitting upon her head.

  As I approached the Guild Receptionist’s station, she gave a pleasant smile and asked, “How can I help you today young sir?” Adopting a tone mirroring her pleasantness I replied, “I would like access to the public records and spell library please.”

  The receptionist just gave a nod of her head as this was a simple task and said, “Sure thing. That won’t be a problem. I just need you to sign this register with your name and today’s date and then I can show you to the Records Hall.”

  As the receptionist said this, she pulled a ledger out from under her station and opened it up to a page that had several names and dates arranged in descending order. Reaching to the right side of the booth I proceeded to grab a quill that was dipped in a bottle of ink, before then writing my name into the ledger.

  After I signed my name, the receptionist closed the book, stowed it under her station, and then proceeded to make her way to the left side of the booths, as I followed from the other side. At the far end she pulled up a section of the counter that was hinged and ushered me to other side while leading me down a hall directly behind the counter.

  Halfway down the hall the receptionist stopped before a simple wooden door with a brass placard nailed to that was engraved with the words, ‘Records Hall.’ Opening the door, she motioned with her arm for me to enter and once inside she closed the door behind me.

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  What was arrayed before me were stacks and stacks of books and shelved scrolls with all sorts information contained within them. There was even a smell of old leather and parchment that permeated the entire atmosphere of the Records Hall.

  Because the Guild managed these records it was also well organized as one could see that each stack had a brass placard nailed to the ends to let someone know what was housed in that section of the stacks. It was at this time that a familiar voice decided to speak and voice their thoughts.

  “Wow! I have to say that this is quite impressive. I know that your world is less advanced than mine was… but still… to have all these records available for anyone to view, shows how much your society values education.”

  Adam was not wrong in his assessment. Education was a corner stone of the Kingdom and the Council made sure that all citizens had access to this plethora of knowledge that could make them both literate and a productive citizen within the Equestra Kingdom.

  For the next few hours Adam and I combed through the texts that pertained to the soul and how to quantify it. Unfortunately, all we found were theoretical documents that where never proven. It seems that the concept of the ‘soul’ having a physical effect on the world was something we would have to practice with to see how it applied to our situation.

  Adam and I next went through the historical records for any mention, whether factual or legend, about anyone who had experienced a reawakening like we had or anyone who claimed they had a past life.

  Again, all Adam and I found were stories that were never confirmed or records of a person claiming as such only to be declared insane when they showed their status board and it did not back up their claim.

  It was frustrating. And something that would only make me more upset the further I researched it with no progress made towards an answer to the questions about Adam’s and mines situation.

  Taking a step back I figured it was time to dive into the spell guides housed within the Records Hall so Adam could start memorizing the magical diagrams. That way when I went to practice my skills, he could also start to practice how spellcasting would feel through our combined consciousness.

  As I walked to the section of the records where spell guides were shelved Adam decided to voice his ideas, “So. I have been thinking about where you can start when it comes to the spell guides and I have a few suggestions.” Intrigued about what Adam thought on the matter, I let him continue to voice his ideas.

  “Alright, so per your explanation, my skill Grand Elemental Magic is going to make those types of spells my most powerful. Hence, you will need to find some beginner, moderate, and advanced spell guides pertaining to the elements for me to use my Scholar’s Eye skill on so I can absorb the spell diagrams for practice later.”

  Interrupting Adam’s explanation I thought, “Hold on… are you telling me that Scholar’s Eye isn’t only for gleaming information, but also allows you too immediately memorize what you use it on?” I could sense some irritation from Adam for being interrupted, but he still answered my question. “Yes. As you were walking through the Township, I was getting a feel for the skill by using it on the people and items you passed by.”

  “What I learned was not only could I view everything about what the skill was focused on, but afterward I could perfectly recall everything about what I had used the skill on.” I was just dazed by what Adam had just explained to me. I had heard rumors from adventurers about the Scholar’s Eye skill, but none of the stories said that it was also a perfect recall skill.

  This would greatly speed up the process of improving what Adam could contribute towards our future battles. If Adam did not have to memorize the spell diagrams, then all he would have to do is practice the spells to perfect his control and mana usage.

  Picking up where he left off, before being interrupted, Adam continued his thoughts, “After that, I would like to view some general spell formulas. If you can try to find some guides with spells that have no affinity to them, something like ‘physical enhancement’ diagrams and utilitarian spells, I think I will be able to make great use of those types of spells”

  At first, I was puzzled by Adam’s suggestion for the ‘general’ spell diagrams, but after thinking about it, what he was suggesting made sense. If, while I was engaged in combat, he could also increase my physical traits at a moment’s notice, I could gain an edge over my opponent by surprising them with the sudden boost.

  Or, the proper utilization of a utilitarian spell, could lead to a similar situation. I had heard of a sharpening spell that was utilized by both butcher’s and loggers to help them cut through certain tough materials they encountered.

  Adventurers ‘generally’ could not learn these types of spells. They usually left these support spells for someone with a Skill that specialized in that area of magic. Even if a magic practitioner could learn these spells, they tended to forego them. Instead tending to favor spells that covered a wide area or were powerful enough to bring an adversary to the point that the rest of their party could finish it off.

  Many hours later my eyes were physically tired from all the texts I had pulled off the shelves for Adam to scan with his skill. Just when I though he had gotten his fill, he would express interest in another spell guide he had happened to notice and urged me to pull it from the shelf so he could memorize it.

  I don’t know where Adam was storing all that information, but I guess the advantage of not having a physical body meant he had more mental room for spell diagrams.

  As I noticed the sun beginning to set through the windows, I heard the door open on the other side of the Records Hall and the same receptionist from earlier walking in, “Sir… we are closing the Guild Hall soon… which means you will have to exit the Records Hall at this time. If you currently have a book in hand, please lay it down on one of the tables and it will be reshelved by a Guild worker later.”

  Her tone had the same politeness from earlier and in response I promptly emerged from the stacks and began making my way out of the Guild Hall.

  At the end of the research session, Adam had dragged me through, the list of spell diagrams he had used his Scholar’s Eye skill on was extensive.

  In the fire spectrum, I had picked up spell guides for Fireball, Fire Shield, Fire Lance, Blaze Cannon, and Flare Burst.

  From the water spectrum Adam had memorized Waterball, Ice Wall, Water Arrow, Tsunami, and White Out.

  The wind spectrum consisted of Wind Cutter, Wind Burst, Updraft, Tornado, and Gale Wall.

  Finally, the earth spectrum comprised of Iron Skin, Earth Spike, Ground Erosion, Rock Throw, and Sandstorm.

  That was just the list of elemental spells Adam had me pull from the shelves. The more physical and utilitarian aligned spells were not as extensive and some of the spells were just downright confusing as to why he wanted to memorize them.

  It bothered me a little but, Adam was the one who would have to memorize them and find a way to work them into our combat style to not hinder us during an encounter.

  The physical and utilitarian spells Adam ended up selecting from the shelves were, Sharpening, Physical Enhancement, Far Sight, Language Perception, Magic Wrap, Sound Wave, Mapping, Float, and Force Reduction.

  It was an exhausting day of research and the only thing I could think about was going home, eating dinner, and then getting some much-deserved sleep.