“Are you alright, your highness? Is there an intruder here?” a guard stepped forward, sword unsheathed.

Liu Feng looked at the old man. The guards had completely ignored him. Clearly he was unable to see the old man. Liu Feng thought about it and sighed,

“There was a mysterious black robed man who went that way, leading the guards back to the library.”

“The old man looked at Liu Feng laughing,

“Why didn’t you tell them that I was there? You even lead them somewhere else.”

“If I tell anyone that I saw a ghost they’ll think that I’m crazy. Who’s going to believe me? And if I tell them it’s nothing, who’ll believe me? I just screamed! You knocked over a few books in the library anyways. They will think that the intruder did that. After a few hours they’ll think he left.”

“Wow! You thought about all this in just five seconds? Are you really five years old?”

The old man walked around carefully scrutinizing Liu Feng. 

“For some reason I can’t see your soul. It’s masked by some black smoke. That's unusual.”

“Who are you? I asked you before, and now I’ll ask you again. Who are you? What do you want? How did you get into that book? Why do you look like that?”Liu Feng panted, asking question after question. His mind was in disarray. All logic just wasn’t applicable anymore.

“Calm down boy. I am Lucas Winfrey, a Class 8 wizard from the kingdom of Salem. You probably don't know about it. I couldn’t find any record of it in your library. I wanted to go out but I couldn’t go more than ten metres from the book. As for the book… I can’t explain it. I just wanted to go out, so I asked you.”

“And what about the way you look…”

“Very persistent. This is my soul state. My body was destroyed in an experiment… I think. And then this book suddenly devoured me. Careful, it's a mystery even to me. Guard it carefully.”

“Fine. But what should I do with you? I am just a child, and I am busy everyday. Wait a minute. Wait, you are an 8th Circle Wizard?”

“What’s a circle boy? We classified by classes. I really have to see how much the world has changed.”

“If you are very powerful then you can teach me how to use magic. I really want to learn, but my teacher only teaches me theory. He said that the entire month I have to learn the basics of Khair.”

“What’s wrong with that? It is normal even for a year to be dedicated to learning the Language of spirits. You are too ambitious.”

“But I already finished the elementary and intermediate books on my own.”

“What!”

Lucas’s eyes popped out. 

“You completed the intermediate Khair Books at the age of five. Wait, it must be a downgrade of the language. Maybe the knowledge passed on has degraded. Let me take a look at the books boy.”

“Here. And stop calling me a boy. I have a name.”

“Whatever. Let me just take a look. Here turn this page for me. I am still a soul and turning pages is too much a burden.”