Chapter 65 Library
Before doing anything else, Nial had to clean himself properly.
This was necessary to look decent in front of others if he wanted to ask them for help.
As such, the shuttle drove him home and towards the flat he had rented, where Nial quickly showered before putting on a new set of clothes.
That was the most difficult to do because he didn't have any clothes that would count as formal attire and make him look presentable.
Because of that, Nial put on the cleansed leather armor before he hailed another shuttle that brought him to Master Junades' Dojo.
There, he wanted to talk with Master Juandes and hopefully receive more intel about the quickest way to enter Liondra, and see his family.
Unfortunately, Nial was not even allowed to come close to Master Junades because the guards prevented him from entering the dojo.
Even after he said that this wasn't his first visit and that he had even received a martial art technique as a reward, the guards didn't budge.
They simply asked him to leave and he was told that Master Junades was not even in the dojo.
In fact, he was not even inside the shelter anymore, which was something Nial was oblivious to.
As such, his efforts to meet Master Junades were for naught, and it was only when he realized this with a frustrated expression that he thought of the next best thing to do.
Hailing a shuttle once again, Nial advanced towards his new destination; the large Katu library, which he had visited with Melvin before.
He had permanent access to the library, which meant that it was possible to study for however long he wanted.
However, spending his time to study the books was not his current plan because he had something else to do.
Hoping to find librarian Mara, he walked through the large open gates of the library before releasing his mana fluctuations to perceive his surroundings with much more precision.
There were many more people than usual who wanted to enter the library and perceiving that the majority of them were gathering around a particular woman, he released his fluctuations in their direction.
Unfortunately, the woman was not the one he was looking for which caused him to sigh deeply before he entered the library.
The current librarian was not behind the counter, and most likely completing some basic tasks in the library.
With that in mind, he used his access card and passed by the other people that were flocking around the woman.
Paying no attention to her, he diverted his focus to finding librarian Mara.
There was no need to waste any time either as he had too many things to pay attention to, including training his body, adjusting to the physical enhancement he had received through the mana stored in his mana core, and many more things.
Nial was not sure how exactly it worked, but it was a known fact that beings that possessed more mana had stronger physical capabilities.
Even their senses were enhanced to a large margin, which was what Nial was awaiting eagerly to happen to him.
His senses were already great, but the more he absorbed and annexed mana, the higher their enhancement would be.
The same could be said about his Innate ability, but that was somewhat obvious.
With the overwhelming number of tasks at hand, he swiftly walked through the rows of bookshelves, releasing his mana fluctuations to the widest possible range Nial was able to control.
However, even then, he didn't find librarian Mara, which caused him to be disappointed as he continued to search while walking through the same rows over and over again.
The library was huge, but given his released mana fluctuations, it shouldn't be a problem for Nial to find someone whose mana fluctuations he was already acquainted with.
Unfortunately, luck was not on his side, and he sat down on a chair to rest for a few minutes, while simultaneously trying to come up with a proper solution to this issue.
Right now, he had only two plans in mind because Master Junades and librarian Mara were the only people he could ask about the things that were bothering him, and only with their help, Nial would be able to make this possible.
He could try finding other people who might be willing to help him, but Junades was the strongest person he had encountered until now, with the strongest martial art proficiency, while librarian Mara spoke about Junades as if he was weaker than her.
At least that was how Nial interpreted the situation.
He might be wrong, but that didn't really matter as the most important factor was that librarian Mara had offered her help to him.
It was evident that librarian Mara was not an ordinary lady, and getting her help was a relief.
Thus, she was almost his last ray of hope as blacksmith Arnold and Serl Tyr were not influential enough for what he wanted to achieve.
Not knowing what to do next, he laid his head on the desk in front of him, and rested for a few minutes, trying to figure out how exactly he could modify his plan in order to receive the same result he had in mind before.
Yet, just before he was able to make up his mind about what he should do for now, which was most likely to leave and come back later, someone pulled a chair next to him and a sonorous voice of a female could be heard next to him.
"Hey little one, are you looking for something? Maybe I can help you out!"
Lifting his head, Nial used his mana perception to visualize the woman, who had begun to speak to him out of nowhere.
It was the same woman who had been surrounded by a small group of men before, but now there was no one else around.
Rather, there were only he and the woman, which confused him a little bit as the men had flocked to her like moths would fly towards a flame.
This meant that she was either extremely charming in a unique way, powerful, beautiful, wealthy, or possibly all of this together.
Yet, Nial couldn't care less about her looks or materialistic wealth, and simply answered her,
"I'm not searching for something, but someone. I came here to meet librarian Mara, but I cannot find her anywhere."
After that Nial began to mumble incomprehensibly, of which the young woman could only pick a few words,
"Master Junades was also not there…what kind of rotten luck is that?"
His words made her smile lightly at the young man, ignoring the fact that he didn't even turn to look at her, or open his eyes, at all.
She felt that this was weird, but his behavior could have its reasons, so she kept her mouth shut about this.
Instead, she averted her attention back to the things Nial had mumbled.
"I don't think she is here right now. If I remember correctly something important came up, so I have no idea where she is, but why are you looking for my sister?"
Hearing the last two words finally made Nial raise his head as he felt as if he had suddenly found a solution to his issue.
"You are her sister? That's great, can you help me please?"
Without thinking, Nial blurted out that he needed the librarian's sister's help, which caused her to feel a little bit stumped.
"Can you not see how similar we look? There are many people calling us twins, even though she is older than I…which is not really nice to hear from them." She gave an audible sigh and continued, "By the way, why are your eyes closed?"
Being unsure what the last question had to do with librarian Mara, or them looking similar, Nial just understood that the sister had not yet realized that he was blind.
As such, he opened his white and lifeless eyes, before he perceived that the sister's mana fluctuations were stagnant which astonished Nial a bit.
"Occasionally I close my eyes when I know that there is a big group of people. Others are sometimes uncomfortable when speaking to me as they see my eyes, so it became a habit… I guess?"
There were more reasons for his eyes to be shut but that didn't matter, and librarian Mara's sister didn't seem to be bothered about that either.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm fine with that. I don't think I've introduced myself yet. My name is Kira Lyx, nice to meet you!
Either way, let me help you out a bit. What is the problem you have, little one? I don't think you would have searched for my sister for more than half an hour if it wouldn't be important."
Irked by the way she treated him like a toddler, Nial's first thought was to retort to her, but instead of plainly blurting out his thoughts, he waited for a few seconds before voicing his opinion.
"Please don't call me little one, thanks. I'm Nial Orin, it's nice to meet you, Kira.
The reason I was looking for your sister is relatively simple. I want to become strong enough to enter Liondra and to meet someone who has probably been hidden by the government.
Unfortunately, I don't have any idea how I'm supposed to do that. As such, I thought Master Junades or your sister might be the best to give me some helpful tips or guidance.
After all, they're the strongest powerhouses I know of…
I do have some ideas in mind, but I'm not sure which one is the best."
Saying so, Nial turned quiet, only to realize that Kira was waiting for him to continue speaking, and reveal the thought he had in mind.
His encounter with her was weird, but even if he was unable to know for sure that Kira and Mara were siblings, he sensed that the woman in front of him was powerful.
Thus, she might be able to help him.
Because of that, Nial didn't even think of the possibility that Kira was someone who worked for the government, which he should have thought about earlier.
As such, he had already revealed something that should have been hidden from strangers; the fact that he knows someone who was hidden by the government, in Liondra, at that!
Fortunately, Nial didn't run into someone like the Eclipse Assassins as they would kill him the moment they got to know that he was openly speaking about specific information that was a well-guarded secret and not supposed to be known by others.
Instead, he encountered Kira, who was completely different from those people.
"I planned to apply to Katu's military training camp. If I heard correctly it should be different to the normal soldier training camps, and if I excel in everything that will be evaluated, it should be possible for me to enter one of the promising Military academies, where one can become a high-ranked authority in the military, or enter specific organizations with enough influence…
But, I need someone's recommendation if I want to enter Katu's military camp because my own reputation or that of my family cannot be considered extraordinary, so I won't be accepted with a normal application…even less while being blind!"
Nodding her head, Kira indicated that she could understand Nial's predicament.
His situation was truly tricky, and she understood why he would try to get Junades or her sister's recommendation.
However, there was one point she didn't feel was correct.
"So, you want to tell me that you want to compete with the younger generation of influential families of Katu? Despite being blind, and having less wealth, power, and connections? You know that is just foolish, and the Katu shelter's military training camp is definitely not somewhere you should go!"
Nial could hardly disagree with Kira, but he had his reasons for planning to do so. He wanted to justify himself, explain what he wanted to do, and clear her misunderstanding.
Yet, before he could even say something, Kira continued to speak, revealing her thoughts to Nial.
"Even if the Katu shelters training camp is not the correct one for you, how about you enter the Teradan military camp, the 10th training camp?"