“Shall we store this on the bookshelf or, do you want to find the rest first?”

  “No, let’s go to the bookshelf first. Maybe something will happen…”

  I can see her point of view although I doubt something might happen as we still have to find the other two “books”. Anyway, quite casually, we walk up to said bookshelf and once there, I slowly and carefully store said book on that specific shelf and that specific part of it. Well, I was somewhat wrong and correct at the same time. Now, what do I mean by this? Quite simply, while nothing drastic has happened something did indeed happen.

  “Did you notice that?”

  “Ah, not really… I’m sorry…”

  Oh my, did I really ask this question? Am I dumb or what?

  Of course, she didn’t see anything! After all, I asked her to not use magic!

  And now because of my idiocy, she once again apologised!

  “I-Uh-I mean, what I’m trying to say is that, nothing special happened as you didn’t see it without magic…”

  What a lame excuse that makes no sense whatsoever but one that does take into account her current “predicament” of not being able to see or sense magic. Though the reason I said is to make her think that I didn’t forget that she “can’t” use magic. I hope it worked though... Either way, as I said nothing special has happened however, I did notice that the magic traces towards the other two “targets” have gotten slightly stronger as I can see them much more clearly and of course, that also includes sensing them. I know that both of them go above us, towards the second floor but now, I can properly see where both of them go as in this case, it’s towards two completely different directions, something that I couldn’t distinguish before as the magic line was that weak and small. One of them is on the right side while the other on the left, just like these two that we have picked up on this floor. Although, if I keep this new information to myself, she won’t know about it and after what my idiotic rear end did, I more than believe she’s thinking about it, thinking about what she missed. Well, time to stop her before she goes way too far.

  “Ahem! Do you remember the magic traces? The moment that I stored the book those magic traces got quite stronger, allowing me to actually follow them individually with only Magic Sense for example.”

  “So that was what happened… I understand then, we made a good decision to come here it seems.”

  “Yep, and I have to thank you for that as I would simply keep going otherwise.”

  “Ah, I didn’t do anything special... Seriously…”

  I wasn’t joking when I said that as I would just keep on going until I was done. Welp, let’s move on towards the future! I mean, the second floor!

  Step! Floating noises!

  And so, both I and Miss Pink Orb walk up towards the second floor, although she floats towards it rather than walking. The moment that my left boot touches the first set of stairs a “creack” noise is heard, forcing my instincts to act and of course, making me back of in that very instant as they believe I will fall through the stairs. To be honest, I might be on edge although I don’t understand why. Maybe it’s because nothing has happened yet and I cannot fully relax until something actually happens? It makes no sense at all why I’m feeling in such a way. With Magic Sense I can’t sense anything dangerous at all and yet… Here I am backing of at the sound of wood cracking and squealing. Also, if it did break, this is the first step, it’s not like I’m going to fall into oblivion or anything like that. Right?

  “Something wrong?”

  “Uh no, I just wasn’t expecting this to make noise, that’s all.”

  Of course, I’ve made her worry thanks to my abrupt and sudden movement. I hope that she does not think that I’m a scared cat or anything close to that but, with what I just did? Yeah, I can only hope and dream of such. Although, there is a way to remedy this and that’s to simply power through it! Just keep moving forward and put this behind!

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Step! Wood noises!

  Well, these stairs sure are old as each set is making said “creack” noise but, they do feel quite solid or at least I can walk without worrying that they might collapse on me. After a few good steps we are in the second floor, on the right side to be more precise as we took the right set of stairs. Up here in this floor, the same chaotic nature happens but, in a much more dramatic and vicious state than the floor below. What I mean is that, there isn’t a single object standing up or that was lucky enough to come out from whatever caused this, unscathed. Pieces of broken wood are everywhere, the same can be said about the chairs, tables and books. While there are quite a few books spread out through this floor, you end up noticing the chairs and tables much quicker as they are much bigger than the books themselves, easily grabbing your attention to them instead. However, the more you look around the more destruction you find and the sadness of such quickly sets in as you imagine how this place might have look like on its pristine state. But once again I diverse, while this is nothing more than the consequences caused by an unknown great force, I can still easily walk around and of course, she can easily float around. Not only that, the magic present here is much inferior to the floor below meaning that, we will find what we are looking for, much easier. I think. Though this small fact also proves that, there are no threats around here. No monster waiting to ambush us, no trap waiting for us to ignorantly trigger and so on. Nothing at all, just the magic traces from the bookshelf downstairs and a few magic residues here and there.

  “This floor looks even worse than the one below us. Judging from the layout I think this was the place where you could read in peace.”

  Judging from the layout? Huh, now that she said that I can actually see it. Although, downstairs there are a few tables here and there, couldn’t you use them to read in peace instead of coming here? Maybe this floor is slightly different in that sense? I mean, in terms of layout it is as there is a massive opening right in the middle but that’s thanks to the stairs. The rest of the floor is basically a square and it’s in fact just slightly smaller than the one beneath it as the area of the entrance and the receptionist area are non-existent, having only a wall at the “edge” of said areas. But that’s not here and there, I’m still trying to figure out what she means by that. I mean, I could ask her but… I’m too stubborn as I for some reason prefer to yap rather than get to the bottom of my current “dilemma”. Anyway, think for a bit... Looking around I can say that the bookshelves are next to the walls rather than in a “line”, one that would create corridors because of it. Then, between the bookshelves and the “opening” in the middle, one that is surrounded by railings or what’s left of them in this case, somewhat next to them there are tables, chairs and of course, books. All of them are destroyed, that still hasn’t changed and even those bookshelves are the same. Seriously, there isn’t a single piece of furniture intact on this floor.

  “Judging from the layout you say... I think I can see that as the tables were supposed to be between the railings and the bookshelves themselves but even then, the floor below you also had a few areas where the tables are right in the middle of the corridors.”

  “Yes, but downstairs, how many people do you think can read at once? In here I believe you could easily have more than a hundred people reading all at once.”

  That’s actually a nice point of view and one that I, yours truly, didn’t think about it. I can easily see this happening; you’re downstairs looking around for a specific book but you’re not sure if the one you picked is the correct one. Rather than going upstairs, you can easily just use one of those few tables to have a quick look and in the case that it’s what you want then, you go upstairs without any worry that you might have to descend down because the book is not what you want. Not only that, you might want to look for more books of similar genre, slowly increasing the pile, making it harder and harder to move, now imagine climbing several sets of stairs with all of those books in hand. In this scenario, you will use one of those tables’ downstairs instead.

  “Yeah, after thinking about it for a little bit, I think you are right. Anyway, shall we get moving? I have a clear “path” towards where the magic lines are leading us to.”

  So, with a simple but effective “yes” from Miss Pink Orb, we get moving towards where the magic line is leading us to. After walking for a few seconds, we reach the destination and just like the previous one, the magic line leads us towards a pile of debris but, it seems the goddess of luck has not forsaken me as the dust here is nowhere near as much as the previous one. I do mean it as it’s only a little bit. I just hope this little bit is in fact a little bit for my sensitive nose as otherwise, well, I’m screwed… Well, not much that I can do about it. If I do start to sneeze around without caring about anything and everything that is around me, all with a massive will to destroy the very world with said sneezes, I can simply do what she did to stop them on their villainous track.