Day Four
On the fourth day...
Leo decided to break the monotony of his training routine.
It was not because he had grown bored, nor because he intended to waste even a fraction of the precious time remaining before the upcoming trials.
Rather, there was a thought that had lingered in the back of his mind ever since his return to the Dainhart family's territory.
The Grand Library.
The Grand Library of the Dainhart Family.
It was far more than a mere collection of books and ancient records. It was one of the greatest repositories of knowledge on the entire continent—perhaps even the greatest.
Some ancient accounts described it as a treasury of knowledge, a place where the accumulated wisdom of countless generations had been preserved.
Thousands...
Perhaps millions of books, manuscripts, scrolls, historical records, magical treatises, and forgotten texts were said to rest within its walls.
Some were only a few centuries old.
Others dated back thousands of years.
And there were even records said to originate from eras so ancient that their names had long since vanished from the memories of mankind.
Naturally, access to such a place was heavily restricted.
Only direct descendants of the Dainhart Family were granted unrestricted entry.
Even members of the collateral branches were not permitted to enter without special authorization from the family patriarch.
Leo stood in silence for a moment, contemplating the matter.
Then a faint gleam appeared in his eyes.
"This would be a good opportunity."
"I need to learn more about the history of this era."
"And if I can determine how far magic has developed during these years..."
His thoughts paused for a moment.
"That would be even better."
Ever since returning to the Dainhart territory, Leo had been deliberately concealing the true extent of his strength.
It would be foolish to suddenly reveal power that surpassed all common sense when everyone still remembered him as the useless, talentless youngest son of the family.
The more he understood about the current standards of strength...
The easier it would become for him to determine exactly how much he should reveal.
"I don't want to look like some monster that suddenly crawled out of nowhere."
"At least... not yet."
And so, Leo waited until evening.
As the activity within the estate gradually quieted and the sun descended beyond the horizon, painting the sky in fading shades of crimson and gold, he finally made his way toward the Grand Library of the Dainhart Family.
The closer he came, the more imposing the structure became.
The library stood in one of the most secluded and prestigious regions of the family's territory, surrounded by expansive gardens and ancient trees whose enormous branches seemed to have witnessed generations of Dainhart history.
Its colossal stone walls rose high into the sky, resembling the walls of a fortress.
Yet this fortress did not exist to protect gold...
Nor weapons...
Nor treasures.
It existed to protect knowledge.
At the enormous entrance stood several fully armored knights.
From the aura radiating faintly from their bodies, Leo could tell that nearly all of them had reached the Sword Expert rank.
But they were not the strongest guardians.
Standing several steps above them was a single figure who immediately distinguished himself from the others.
His presence was heavier.
His aura was deeper.
His very existence seemed firmly anchored to the surrounding space.
A Sword Master.
Leo studied the guards for a moment.
Then he thought:
"The family values this library even more highly than I expected."
He could hardly blame them.
If the library truly contained such an enormous amount of knowledge, then placing powerful guards here was only natural.
Leo approached the entrance.
After his identity was verified and his status as a direct descendant of the Dainhart Family was confirmed, he was allowed to pass without much difficulty.
And the moment he crossed the threshold...
He stopped.
His eyes widened slightly.
The sight before him was completely different from what he had imagined.
The library was...
Enormous.
No—
Calling it enormous was an understatement.
It was so vast that ordinary words seemed inadequate to describe its scale.
Endless shelves stretched in every direction, some rising dozens of meters into the air.
Countless corridors connected one section to another, while elevated walkways and suspended bridges allowed access to the higher levels.
Books were arranged with almost obsessive precision.
Every volume had its place.
Every manuscript had its designated section.
Every scroll was catalogued.
Nothing appeared disorganized.
Nothing was left to chance.
And this was not merely a chaotic sea of books.
The entirety of the library had been divided into countless specialized categories.
History.
Geography.
Science.
Literature.
Philosophy.
Magic.
Medicine.
War and Military Arts.
Magical Beasts.
Races.
Ancient Civilizations.
And even fields of knowledge Leo had never encountered before.
He stood there for several moments, silently taking in the sight.
A faint smile eventually appeared on his lips.
"Remarkable..."
Alovenus had seen libraries far grander than those found in ordinary kingdoms.
He had read texts that had vanished from the world long before this era was even born.
Yet even after witnessing countless repositories of knowledge throughout his long existence, he could not deny the grandeur of this place.
The sheer scale of the Grand Library, the breadth of the knowledge preserved within it, and the countless records that had survived the passage of time were enough to earn even his genuine admiration.
For someone like Alovenus, who had once stood at the pinnacle of an age long forgotten, such admiration was exceedingly rare.
And yet...
Here, in this place, he found himself genuinely impressed.
Leo soon made his way toward the historical section.
He selected one of the countless books from the shelves, found a quiet place, and began reading.
One hour passed.
Then two.
Then three.
Leo moved from one volume to another, examining ancient records and comparing accounts, slowly piecing together an image of the history that separated his current era from the one he remembered.
The information was incredibly rich.
Some of the books contained astonishing levels of detail.
Wars.
The rise and fall of kingdoms.
The names of kings.
Civilizations that had vanished from the world.
Great disasters.
Territorial changes.
Political upheavals.
Everything seemed to have been documented with extraordinary precision.
And yet...
Something began to trouble Leo.
No matter how far he searched...
No matter how many books he opened...
No matter how ancient the records appeared...
There was a clear boundary.
The oldest documented events he could find stretched back only approximately thirty-eight thousand years.
Leo slowly raised his head from the book.
For several moments, he remained completely silent.
Then he murmured inwardly:
"Strange..."
"I expected to find records dating much further back."
After a brief moment of thought, however, he understood.
"It seems..."
"The events of that era have been completely forgotten."
It was not particularly surprising.
Even the greatest civilizations could not resist the passage of time forever.
Generations succeeded one another.
Languages changed.
Books were lost.
Wars reduced cities to ashes.
Civilizations rose upon the ruins of those that came before them.
And eventually...
What had once been common knowledge became legend.
What had been legend became myth.
What had been myth...
Was forgotten entirely.
A faint, almost melancholic smile touched Leo's lips.
"As they say..."
"Small waves push aside the great waves."
"And so the ages move forward..."
"One wave replacing another, until nothing remains of the ancient sea but a trace barely visible beneath the surface."
He remained lost in those thoughts for some time.
But then...
He noticed something.
Or rather...
Someone.
Leo raised his head.
An old man was standing nearby.
His thoughts froze for an instant.
"Impossible..."
Leo stared at him.
"When did he approach me?"
He had heard no footsteps.
He had sensed no movement.
There had been no disturbance in the air.
Not even the faintest fluctuation of mana had reached his senses.
And yet the old man had somehow approached to within a very short distance of him without being noticed.
Leo's gaze sharpened.
After strengthening his body and advancing his magical cultivation, his senses had become far more acute than before.
He could perceive the slightest disturbances in his surroundings.
A shift in the air.
A movement behind him.
A fluctuation of mana.
The presence of someone entering his vicinity.
It was extremely difficult for anyone to approach him unnoticed.
And yet...
This old man had done exactly that.
Leo carefully studied the man's face.
He appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary elderly man.
Calm features.
White hair.
A simple appearance.
Nothing about him seemed threatening.
But there was something far more peculiar.
Leo could sense nothing from him.
No aura.
No pressure.
No fluctuation of mana.
Nothing.
His mind immediately began analyzing the possibilities.
"If I can't sense anything from him..."
"Then there are only two possibilities."
"Either he truly is an ordinary man..."
Leo paused.
Then immediately dismissed the thought.
"No."
"That possibility is almost impossible."
Even if the man were completely ordinary, I should have been able to perceive his presence the moment he approached.
It did not matter how deeply I had been absorbed in my reading.
And more importantly...
There was no way an ordinary person could simply enter this library.
Which left the second possibility.
"Either his level is far above mine..."
"So far above mine that he can completely conceal his existence..."
"Or he possesses some extraordinary status that grants him access to this place."
Leo continued connecting the possibilities.
"Perhaps one of the family's elders..."
"Someone holding a high position..."
"Or perhaps..."
"A prominent figure from outside the family who came here as a guest."
Before he could reach a final conclusion, however...
The old man's voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
It was calm.
Deep.
Almost strangely familiar in its tone, as though the old man had been watching Leo's thoughts unfold from the beginning.
"By the looks of it..."
The old man paused briefly.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
"You seem to be filling that head of yours with far more thoughts than you need, young man."
Leo's thoughts came to an immediate halt.
He stared at the old man silently.
Then, slowly, he closed the book in his hands.
His expression remained composed.
"What does Senior mean..."
"...by thoughts I don't need?"
The old man looked at him.
Then replied with astonishing simplicity:
"When you come to a library..."
He paused.
"...you come to read."
Silence descended between them.
Leo found himself without an immediate response.
The old man, meanwhile, simply stood before him with the same calm expression.
As though those few words had not been the conclusion of a conversation...
But merely the beginning of something far more interesting.