Chapter 16: The Sorting of Souls (Part 2)
Location: Umbra House Common Room (The Crypts).
Time: 8:15 PM.
The air in the common room was heavy with the scent of formaldehyde and dried sage.
Kaelith kicked a footstool over to Ren. "Take a seat. Don't mind the smell; Vex is pickling a toad."
Ren sat down. The girl in the corner, Vex, didn't look up from her stitching. She was pale, with dark circles under her eyes, murmuring to the zombie rat on her lap.
"So," a deep voice rumbled from the shadows near the fireplace.
A figure stood up. He was massive, easily seven feet tall, wrapped in bandages like a mummy, wearing the academy uniform over them.
[ Analytical Eye ]
[ Name: Bastion ]
[ Race: Earth Golem (Awakened) ]
[ Class: Tank / Guardian ]
[ Level: 19 ]
[ Affiliation: Umbra House Prefect ]
"You are the Null," Bastion stated. His voice sounded like grinding stones. "Solon put you here. Why?"
"Because I'm expensive to keep elsewhere," Ren quipped.
Bastion stared at him. The stone face had no expression, but the intent was heavy.
"Umbra is for the broken," Bastion said. "We protect our own because no one else will. If you bring the Solaris wolves to our door... I will crush you."
Ren didn't flinch. He looked at the Golem.
"The wolves are already at the door, Bastion. I'm just the one who brought the trap."
Ren stood up.
"I have a shift at the Library. Don't wait up."
He walked out. Kaelith watched him go, a smirk playing on her lips.
"He's cocky for a human with no magic," Vex whispered, finally looking up.
"Oh, he has magic," Kaelith laughed, polishing her bow. "It's just... hungry."
Location: The Great Library of Oakhaven.
Time: 9:00 PM.
The Great Library made the Arken family collection look like a pamphlet rack.
It was a cathedral of knowledge. Spiral staircases wound up huge pillars of books that disappeared into a ceiling painted like a nebula. Floating candles drifted lazily through the air. Silence was enforced by magic; any sound louder than a whisper was instantly muffled.
Ren stood at the front desk.
Sitting there was a woman who looked like she was carved from marble. She wore grey robes and spectacles on a chain.
[ NPC: Head Archivist Grey ]
[ Level: 45 ]
[ Class: Word-Mage ]
[ Trait: Strict ]
"Name," she said without looking up.
"Ren Arken. Night Sorter."
She pointed a long, bony finger toward a heavy iron door at the back.
"The Restricted Stacks are off-limits. The Student Section is self-cleaning. Your job is The Rot."
"The Rot?"
"The Sub-Basement," Grey said. "Where we keep the decaying texts, the cursed scrolls, and the banned histories. They leak miasma. Sort them. Repair what you can. Incinerate what you can't."
She handed him a pair of heavy leather gloves.
"Don't read them. If you go mad, we have to incinerate you."
Location: The Sub-Basement (The Rot).
Time: 9:15 PM.
Ren walked down the stairs. The air grew cold and smelled of vinegar and old dust.
The Sub-Basement was a labyrinth of rusting shelves. The books here weren't neatly organized. They were piled in heaps, some glowing with sickly green light, others vibrating.
"Jackpot," Ren whispered.
He put on the gloves. He picked up the first rotting book.
[ Book: The Taxonomy of Goblins (Year 202) ]
[ Condition: Poor. ]
[ Action: Repair? ]
"Archive," Ren commanded.
He didn't repair it physically. He scanned it.
[ Copying to Bibliotheca... Success. ]
He picked up the next one.
[ Book: Theoretical Demonology (Banned) ]
[ Copying... Success. ]
Ren moved like a machine. To Archivist Grey, this was a punishment duty. To Ren, this was an all-you-can-eat buffet. These books were banned for a reason—they contained lost magic, dark rituals, and the true history of the Sins.
Ren worked for three hours. He absorbed over two hundred books. His Intelligence stat was throbbing with the influx of data.
Then, he found it.
Buried under a pile of moldy scrolls was a black book. It didn't have a title. It had a symbol embossed on the cover: A single, weeping eye.
[ Item: Diary of a Nameless Student ]
[ Date: 50 Years Ago. ]
[ Lore Fragment Detected. ]
Ren opened it.
Entry 4:
The Tower is a lie. They say the Ivory Tower protects the kingdom. But I hear it. At night, in the walls. The humming.
Entry 15:
I found the Fourth Floor. Not the Fourth Floor of the Library. The Fourth Floor of the Basement. It's not on the blueprints. The elevator skips it.
Entry 22:
I saw them taking students there. The ones who failed the exams. They don't send them home. They send them down.
Entry 30:
The Eye is watching me. The Eye of Envy. It knows.
The diary ended there. The rest of the pages were torn out.
Ren closed the book.
"The Eye of Envy," Ren whispered.
Envy (Leviathan) was the Sin of wanting what others possess.
"Is the Academy feeding students to a Sin?" Ren wondered. "Or using them as batteries?"
He pocketed the diary in his Dimensional Pouch.
"Hey! You!"
A voice echoed from the stairs.
Ren turned.
Standing at the entrance to the basement were three students. They wore gold-trimmed robes. Solaris House.
The leader was a boy holding a glowing wand.
"This area is restricted," Ren said calmly.
"Not for us," the boy sneered. "We're looking for... spare parts. Professor Thorne needs a necrotic sample for class."
He looked at the pile of cursed books. Then he looked at Ren.
"And look what we found. The Rat in the trash."
The three Solaris students walked down. They surrounded Ren.
"Draven said you cheated," the leader said. "He said you have a magic item that eats spells. Give it to us."
Ren sighed. "I'm working. Go away."
"Get him!"
The leader fired a [Stun Bolt].
Ren didn't dodge. He didn't block.
He simply... sidestepped.
[ Passive Skill: Mana Weaving (Sense Magic) ]
Ren felt the mana build up in the wand before the spell was fired. He moved before the bolt left the tip.
The bolt hit a stack of rotting books behind him.
POOF.
A cloud of green dust exploded from the books.
[ Hazard: Mind-Rot Spores. ]
[ Effect: Hallucinations. ]
Ren held his breath (thanks to Silent Lung training).
The three Solaris students inhaled the dust.
"Cough! What is this?" the leader gasped.
Suddenly, his eyes went wide. He pointed at his friend.
"A DEMON! HE'S A DEMON!"
The leader screamed and fired a Fireball at his own friend.
"AHH! DON'T BURN ME!" the friend shrieked, firing an Ice Bolt back.
The third student curled into a ball, sobbing, thinking the bookshelves were turning into snakes.
Ren watched them fight each other for a moment.
"Amateurs," Ren shook his head.
He walked past them, stepping over the weeping student. He went up the stairs.
At the top, Archivist Grey was drinking tea. She heard the screams and explosions from below.
"What is happening down there?" she asked, putting down her cup.
Ren took off his gloves.
"Some Solaris students came down to help me clean," Ren said innocently. "But I think they inhaled some mold. They seem... delirious."
Grey sighed, standing up. "Solaris. Always sticking their noses where they don't belong. Go back to your dorm, Arken. I'll handle the cleanup."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Ren walked out of the library.
As he walked into the cool night air, he checked his status.
[ Quest Progress: Explore the Library (10%) ]
[ Secret Uncovered: The Missing Floor (Basement Level 4). ]
Ren looked up at the massive Ivory Tower piercing the sky.
"Level 4," Ren noted. "I need to find the elevator."
Location: Umbra House, Ren's Room.
Time: Midnight.
Umbra House rooms were single cells, damp but private.
Ren sat on his bed. He summoned Grim.
The ink-doll appeared, holding a tiny quill.
"Grim," Ren said. "We have a new priority. Cross-reference all Academy blueprints in the Archive. Find the gaps. Find where the space doesn't add up."
Grim saluted and vanished.
Ren lay back.
He had survived Day One. He had secured a source of infinite knowledge. And he had found his first lead on the Sin of Envy.
Tomorrow, classes began.
"Combat Magic 101," Ren smiled. "I wonder if I can eat the teacher's fireball?"
End of Chapter 16
Summary:
Umbra House: Ren establishes his place among the outcasts (Bastion, Vex).
The Job: Ren begins work at the Great Library, scanning hundreds of forbidden books into the Archive.
The Clue: Ren finds a diary mentioning a hidden "Basement Level 4" where failed students disappear, linked to the Eye of Envy.
The Skirmish: Solaris students try to mug Ren. Ren uses the environment (cursed spores) to make them fight each other.
The Goal: Ren plans to investigate the hidden floor.