The shack wasn’t nearby either, but this place still felt oddly familiar… I had the feeling that we didn’t move much from where we were before. Just to test it out, I walked away from the tower, and then I felt that same sensation of passing through an invisible barrier in the air. I kept walking and passed through another one.
There were two, huh? And I also just realized there’s magic in this world. I was so afraid of dying that I didn’t even notice, this is getting interesting.
As I turned back, my theory was immediately confirmed. The tower wasn’t there anymore, instead replaced by the hut from earlier. Toba didn’t even try to understand it, he just kept looking at me for what to do next.
I guess he has a good self-preserving instinct, he doesn’t want to fry his brains out all the time.
An illusion huh? I guess the owner must have thought no one would take an interest in a worn-out cabin. That was a little naive of him, someone lost in the forest could have easily headed there for shelter. Then again, the tiger and the wolves were apparently kept out by the barriers. I passed through the first one while riding, though…
Hmm, maybe I’m missing something, thinking is not my strong suit.
We headed back in, and I tried to find an entrance to the tower. We couldn’t leave this place on foot anyway, so we might as well explore. There was a simple wood door on the other side, and I stepped on Toba’s shoulders to open it. He didn’t even flinch, it was like standing on rock.
What the hell is he made of? Is my training routine that good?
Much to my surprise and delight, the door was unlocked! Seems the owner really was overconfident in his security measures. We got inside, and my eyes widened in amazement.
Hundreds of books were waiting for us, stacked on shelves, piled on the ground, and scattered about on a sturdy looking table. The whole place followed a dark color pattern and lacked any sort of polish or ornamentation. It was like it was made on a hurry with the simplest of materials and furniture, but after seeing only trees and bushes for a year, I was in awe.
The tower was two stories tall, with most of the books being on the bottom. Up top there were all sorts of glasswork and materials I’ve never seen before, nothing too fancy, however. If I had paid more attention to my chemistry classes, I probably would be able to use them. I wanted to explore it all as quickly as possible, but first I had to stop Toba from ripping apart all the books and notes.
I began with the first floor, and quickly realized that this place was abandoned for a long time. There wasn’t a lot of dust for some reason, but everything I touched seemed ancient, the books felt especially old. Speaking of that, they were, as expected, written in a completely foreign language to me. I kept fishing for illustrations but there were none, and so I didn’t spend that much time on them, only opening ones that seemed different enough to pick my interest.
Apart from books, I managed to find some tools that would prove useful for me, the most important ones being a little skinning knife, a set of silverware and leather pouches. I also made clothes for myself and Toba from random cloth I could find, I was used to the cold already, but we had to be a bit more civilized now. I also found all sorts of writing utensils, but those would only be useful if I managed to learn how to read first.
I was about to move to the second floor, when a little leather-bound book caught my eye, it seemed to be a dictionary of some sort. I opened it and was ready to dismiss it again as unreadable, only flipping through the pages trying to find drawings, but there were some letters that seemed familiar somehow… I was sure that I recognized some of them, mixed between the usual characters I found in the other books…
Yeah, now that I was looking at it properly, there was no doubt about it, this is Japanese! So, there is someone from earth here after all. And it seems to be mixed with this world’s language, so maybe this is a dictionary, and I could use it to learn on my own! There is only one problem, however... I couldn’t read Japanese.
DAMNIT. Why did I give up on learning it? If I had stuck with those shitty apps way back then, I could be fluent by now.
Well, there’s no use in crying over it now, I still remember some of it, so if this bastard doesn’t use any kanjis, I could learn at least the bare minimum. All that reading comes latter though, I need to check upstairs first.
I’m also getting a bit hungry; will we be able to get food now that we’re on foot and that tiger is prowling about?
I signaled Toba to follow me so I could keep an eye on him, and proceeded to climb the stairs, toddler style. I tried my best not to touch anything delicate, my hands were strong but they were small so I would drop something for sure, and I’m certain I would one day find use for some of these things. The lab equipment aside, I found some other books that looked a little fancier than those downstairs, they were high up, so I brought those regular ones to use as a ladder, it was an intense workout.
After wiping the sweat off my forehead, I managed to grab one and bring it down. I also found a little box while up there, I would investigate it soon. This book was especially heavy for its size, it had metal lining every corner of the cover, and the pages were made from a different, darker type of paper. At first it looked like any other book in terms of its contents, no pictures in sight, only letters I couldn’t understand, but after flipping through a few pages, there were lots of simple drawings, arranged like a kind of step-by-step tutorial it seemed.
They looked like medieval sword technique manuscripts, except there was no sword in sight, only a man holding a scroll with a red circle inside, doing some weird movements and then… Casting a fireball! There was a chance that it was just fantasy, so I calmed myself and flipped some more pages, but then, my face lit up in a dim red light, and there it was in all it’s glory: a magic circle.
Holy shit! This is it, right here. Who cares about reading and writing, my next meal will be charred tiger meat!
I immediately head for the nearest window, book in hand, and start imitating the pictures.
Ok, first I put my left hand on the circle, just touching it with my fingers seems fine according to the picture. Then I raise my right hand on shoulder level, and quickly close it with my thumb facing my face like I’m squashing something, easy enough. Now extend my arm, point my finger where I want to shoot it, and then…
And then I throw up, apparently.
I ended up vomiting all over the book. In a panic I hurried to find some water so I could clean it, but when I placed it standing open near the wall, nearly all the vomit just slid right off. I wiped the rest of it with some cloth and the pages were brand new, they weren’t even wet.
So, this really is some fancy paper, huh. Thank God I didn’t ruin my…
As the relief from not loosing the magic circle washed over me, I started feeling dizzy, and lost consciousness again.
It didn’t feel like I was out for too long, I woke up just as Toba was rushing my way, so it must’ve been only a few seconds.
What was that? did I run out of MP or something? That nausea too, maybe I don’t have enough power to cast the spell yet. That tiger will have to wait, but I will learn this sooner or later.
I pat Toba’s head again and remember I still haven’t checked that fancy box I was eyeing before. I arranged the books from the window back to the shelf again and laughed as I noticed Toba looking at the magic circle with a scared face, he probably saw me throw up and faint right after touching it.
The box was heavy, but after a lot of effort I managed to bring it down without dropping it on the floor.
I have been wolf ridding and hunting for months, but my best workout in a while started right after I found a library. I feel like there’s a message in there somewhere.
Ok, let’s get this over with, I hope it’s not something useless.
I open the box and my eyes are graced with the most beautiful sight. In my previous life, I was considered a hard guy to please, not because I was ungrateful with the presents I received, but because I didn’t really care about most of them. I was also bad at hiding emotions, so everyone could see right through me even though I always tried being as polite as possible.
There was one exception, however, one gift that always got an ultra-rare, limited edition, genuine smile out of me: Knives. I loved knives, swords, guns, and anything of the sort, it was my only “manly” obsession, since I never really liked sports or cars, and always felt awkward talking about women.
And no, I’m not gay, fuck you.
Inside the box there was a beautiful blade, wrapped around a fine red cloth with gold detailing. It had a straight, shiny blade and a golden guard in the shape of a semicircle, the hilt was made of an extremely pretty, reddish wood, and there was a scabbard next to it, made from the same wood and golden metal. It resembled a roman gladius, but it was a lot heavier than a typical one should be, despite being the same size.
I tried picking it up and wielding it a bit, but it was impossible yet, my hands were just too small, and the sword was too heavy for me to effectively use it. But I made up my mind, this is my sword from now on, and I’ll train with it every day, along with my usual pull-ups, pushups and squats.
I stood there admiring it and testing it for a solid half hour, I didn’t even notice time pass until my stomach made a weird noise. I had to find something to eat, Toba must be hungry too.
We were in a troublesome situation. Our wolves were nowhere to be seen, and that tiger was probably still prowling about. We had to find our way to a river, but I doubt there’s another one in this area besides the waterfall, and that place is risky. I could lure some small animals near the barrier, but I had no bait with me.
I decided to finish exploring everything in the tower, in search of something that could expand my options. Just hunting alone would be hard, I had been relying on the wolves for too long, and I had to make a new bow since my old one broke earlier. I needed a better plan, searching for sticks and bait alone in this part of the forest was something I would like to avoid.
After looking through everything, I found multiple other fancy books that could contain magic circles, but I didn’t bother opening them just yet. I also found some empty scrolls made from the same darker paper as the magic book, and I was sure I could find one with a circle if I looked enough. That wouldn’t help me right now, however, so I got down to the first floor again.
It took me an hour, but I did find something interesting after pushing through dozens of old books. In a small bookcase in the corner of the room, behind a heavy tome with a little yellow dot on the cover, there was a little button, with three symbols above it, as well as a fancy hair pin next to it.
The hair pin was made from a bluish metal, and its head was composed of multiple circles interlinked, it was a tiny work of art. The symbols were really simple though. They were, in order: A human, a dog, and a bird. The symbol representing a dog was glowing, and there was something written near the bird one. It looked like a puzzle from an old RPG, and there was no way I could even begin to understand it.
I pushed it anyway, I was getting really hungry, and my patience was already low to begin with. As I did, the dog symbol lost its glow, and the bird symbol started glowing instead. I tried all sorts of things with the hair pin, but nothing reacted to it, so I pushed the button again, and as expected, this time it changed to the human one.
What the fuck is this shit? Some children’s interactive toy? I guess I am a child though, so I can’t complain.
I messed with it a lot, until I finally gave up and left it on “bird mode”, since it seemed to be special with all that writing near it. I searched the upper and lower floors again, but I wasn’t finding anything, sooner or later I would need to risk going to the waterfall again…
I gathered all my courage, grabbed an empty waterskin I found in my search, and signaled for Toba to wait in the tower. I didn’t want to risk his life again, although if I died, I had my doubts about whether he would be able to survive alone. Regardless, I set outside.
I must provide for this family, how can I look my hungry brother in the eyes, and tell him there’s no food? There is no grater pain a father can endure... Wait, I think I’m getting confused already.
Just as I was about to risk my life, I hit my head against something and fell on my butt.
Ouch… What the hell?
There was nothing in front of me, but I surely hit something, my forehead was throbbing with pain. Still confused, I got up and immediately hit my head again… Now I was feeling really stupid. As I tried carefully extending my hand in front of me, I touched a wall, an invisible wall.
Wait, is the barrier closed now? Am I trapped here?
Just as I was about to head back, I heard a thump, and shortly after, a dead bird dropped in front of me.
FOOD! FINALLY, I- Oouch… I deserve it…
I was so hungry I didn’t realize it was on the opposite side of the barrier, if I banged my head any more, I would end up retarded. Maybe the shock was useful however, because I finally realized something, seeing the bird symbol before, and the dead bird now, that button probably controls the barrier! I didn’t know how, but there had to be a connection.
I rushed back so I could change it again and test it, but then I saw the hair pin.
Hmm, maybe I should test something.
I didn’t press the button, and instead took the pin with me, I slowly pushed the tip of it against the barrier and then… It went through! My hand also passed with it, so I tried getting my whole body across, and like magic (well I guess it IS magic), I crossed it just fine! I knew it was strange that it was hidden so neatly together with the secret button, this wasn’t a hair pin, it was a key for the barriers, and the button controlled some aspect of them.
But what does it change, exactly? It shows a bird in there, and surely enough one hit the barrier while flying and died, but I also couldn’t get through, and I’m no bird… At least I haven’t found any feathers yet.
I was using up every inch of my smooth brain to figure this out, and then I remembered, that tiger had stopped before the first barrier I felt, and I didn’t feel the second one before getting thrown off, so the wolves probably stopped before it. Maybe it’s size? Considering the different species involved, that would make sense.
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