Aether began pulling books from the shelves of the Refinement Section, his eyes darting through titles like Foundations of Mana Refining and The Flow of Mana: A Beginner's Guide. One manual, The Six Stages of Refinement, seemed promising at first, promising to teach a user how to slowly absorb and purify surrounding mana.
However, as he used his Comprehension talent to analyze the text, he grew frustrated. Every technique he read felt fundamentally flawed—they were too slow, inefficient, and full of unnecessary steps. To his superior mind, these "standard" methods were like trying to fill a bucket with a leaky spoon.
He closed the final book with a heavy sigh and headed toward the front desk.
The Librarian was an old man who looked like he belonged to Aether's grandfather's generation. He sat behind a desk of dark oak, his eyes clouded but sharp. When Aether asked for something more unique—something beyond the standard curriculum—the old man's gaze sharpened.
The Librarian stared at Aether for a long, silent moment, as if weighing the boy's soul. Finally, without saying a word, he pointed a bony finger toward a distant corner of the library. Unlike the other areas, this section had no name written above it. It was tucked away in the shadows, forgotten by the modern scholars of the palace.
As Aether walked toward the unnamed section, he heard the librarian mutter under his breath behind him: "Eldric... it looks like you have a very talented grandson."
The air in the unnamed section of the library felt heavy, vibrating with a frequency that made the hair on Aether's arms stand up. While the rest of the palace library was a monument to organized, modern knowledge, this corner was a graveyard of ancient power. Aether moved deeper into the shadows, his eyes scanning the spines of books that hadn't been touched in decades.
Inside the hidden alcove, the air felt different—thicker, as if the mana itself was ancient. Aether first saw a note carved directly into the stone wall: This section holds records from 10,000 years ago.
His heart hammered against his ribs. He reached for the first book on the shelf. It had no title on its spine, the leather worn smooth by time. He sat on the floor and opened it.
The pages described a history far different from the one in the public books. It told of his ancestor was from a powerful family who existed even before the mana hit the world. When the Rift opened and the chaos began, this ancestor didn't just survive—he became one of the strongest people to walk the earth.
According to the text, this ancestor was the one of many who dared to go inside the Rift and return alive. He was the one who gathered the survivors and founded this very Empire.
Aether gripped the edges of the book, his fingers tightening as if the truth might slip away.
Aether thought so this Empire has 10,000 years of history and his ancestor wos one of the strongest person.
he turned the page.
inside the page, "the Rift was a doorway" written only.