Chapter 4: The curious Archlibrarian

It was a lovely day to explore a metropolis in a medieval fantasy world, the sky was clear, the sun hid behind the occasional cotton white clouds, birds chirping, pigeons cooing,... Charlie tousled his hair and readjusted his brass cloak pin, which was holding a brand new cloak he had just bought from a nice boutique. 

It was a wool cloak, dyed a pleasant green to go with Charlie's ranger motif, and it went just for 1 gold piece.

One gold piece was actually pretty pricey compared to the median salary of most citizens of this world - a skilled artisan could earn that much in a day of labor, but a simple farmer might have to work for multiple weeks. 

But Charlie didn't mind the price too much, adventuring was a well paid job due to the high demand and the dangerbound nature of the profession. He bought the cloak just to have a reason to use the intricately crafted cloak pin he found while out on his latest quest, which was also the anchoring point of an invisible creature - Charlie's latest companion, an extremely curious one at that, was a friendly will-o'-wisp named Lissa. 

She used to be a halfling, but long story short, she was unfairly murdered and somehow became an undead creature. Most will-o'-wisps are chaotic and evil, they lure adventurers and travelers to their demise with their curious light, and then they consume the dying thought of the unfortunate for sustenance. Lissa, however, retained her memories of the previous life, so naturally, she could not follow her instinct and murder any passerby for food. She had opted to wander and only consume from dying animals. This in turn made her extremely weak, so she had to constantly hibernate to conserve her precious energy.

From what Charlie heard from his adventuring party days before, Niliphy was one of the largest capital cities in the continent. And seeing it with his own eyes, Charlie could say that his party did not overstated the grandiosity of the urban sprawl. 

First thing that caught Charlie's attention was the neat stone roads - not made with cheap cobblestone but with processed limestone and layered with gravels to disperse the weight of citizens and carriages that traverse the road daily. Moreover, the roads were built with efficiency in mind, making it easy for carriages to traverse the city, except from the castle town where the neighborhood would be built a little more erratic to slow down attackers in the event of such.

The buildings were mostly rectangular, built with sturdy gray stone, lined with dark wood and had brick tiled roofs. Charlie could easily observe that each house had its own rain gutter made of metal that leads to the waterways on both sides of the streets. 

Charlie was impressed - Niliphy had a fairly modern sewage system - something he had not seen for the half-year he lived in this world. Another aspect that surprised him was the lighting system in Niliphy, there were multiple metal street lamps on both sides of the street, essentially stationary lanterns, these street lamps were fueled with oil and a long wick, covered with clear glass exterior. 

The city must have been very well-off to fund that much lanterns just for lighting.

The Niliphian Empire owed its riches to the fact that it lay in the center of the continent - any country, kingdom or vassal state that had the desire to travel to the other half of the continent must travel through the Niliphian Empire. 

And of course, most travelers would stop by the capital city and spend their hard earned gold on commodities, goods and souvenirs - the other attractive aspect of Niliphy. Merchants around the continent would haul their goods to Niliphy to ensure a guaranteed number of potential buyers. Even official merchants from the Lonan Trade Company from the other continent would opt to sell their exotic goods by boats to the Niliphian Empire via port in the town of Phicos. This was a result of the open border policy of the Emperor to encourage trade and bolster the empire's position in the continent. And it had proven to be quite successful.

Charlie looked at the chaotic scene before his eyes - buyers and sellers hustling through the Elder Birch Market - named after a giant birch tree in the middle of the square, merchants yelling prices of their spices and housewives haggling to save a copper or two for a dozen chicken eggs. 

People of all age scrambling through the market to make ends meet: middle-aged men pushing cartful of vegetables or carrying a crate of salt to their stalls, kids running chore for their mother carrying a paper bag full of leeks, clumsily dropping his changes on the street and tried to pick them up without bursting in tears. 

Charlie was currently in West Town of Niliphy after purchasing the cloak, and he was asking around for his next destination as he was as lost as a needle in a haystack. Luckily for Charlie, after pursuing the location of a post office from a street food vendor (and not before buying a stick of grilled pork), he was pointed to a private post office business near the conjunction of West Town and Moonstar ward. 

The pork was amazingly delicious, marinated in a soy-based sauce with some herbs unknown to Charlie. 

Charlie could have gone for the ordinary transportation service of the Guild, where adventurers who were traveling to any destination that had a guild hall would carry with them a parcel or two to make some extra funds. 

However, Charlie was not sending any ordinary letters or items - he was sending gold pieces to the orphanage at the Serepike church of Lathander as it was already the end of the month, marking the fifth time he had sent them money. 

The first few times, the head of the church vehemently refused to take the coins, but thanks to Roslie's and Charlie's persistence, she finally, yet begrudgingly, accepted the money. If Charlie was donating normally, the orphanage would have had no problem using the fund, but he was privately donating to them, and the amount was multiple times more than a month worth of donation, so their hesitation was understandable. 

Charlie's gold was put to good use - the kids now had three full meals a day with a wider choice of food (especially meat and other protein-rich food), their dormitory was fixed and furnished with cloth beds and wool blankets - no more leaking roof and cold night sleep. The head of the church sent a letter last month to update Charlie on their current project - a chicken coop to increase the meat quantity for the church and eggs to sell for funds. 

Charlie paid for the fast transportation choice and sealed the envelope containing his letter and five platinum coins. He also made sure the post office clerk saw his silver adventurer tag before handing the envelope to him - a well known intimidation technique taught to him by Harrison the human warrior, to let the business know that he was under the guild's protection and potentially had enough resources to penalize them if something were to happen.

He made sure the clerk had written the correct address onto the envelope and put it into the pending crate before leaving the building.

Second agenda, done. 

Charlie smiled to himself. It had been a while since he had to explore an unfamiliar city on his own. Not counting the first time he set foot on the street of Serepike, the very last time he traveled alone was when he had had enough of his job back then, quitted and traveled around the world for a month straight. Admittedly, he had to work part time abroad to fund his travel, but it was plenty fun compared to being a monotone corporate slave.

Now… Where to next?

Charlie patted the curious looking shoulder bag on his side, making sure it was still there. It was a habit he picked up since he was a kid, living in a crowded metropolis brought equally as many conveniences and inconveniences. And larceny theft - pickpocketing and bag snatching, was unfortunately too common. 

However, Charlie sighed to himself, the shoulder bag he got at the moment was actually quite difficult to become a target of theft: it was a magical bag called Bag of Holding, with the ability to hold an insane amount of items in an extradimensional space while only weight as much as a full ordinary backpack. And magic items were usually resistant to any damage a petty thief could realistically deal.

Charlie reached inside the bag and pulled out a leather scroll tied with a silky red band and quickly opened it to reveal his handwriting. But he had never written anything like that - the scroll was one of the items in his possession on the very first day he was transported to this world. 

Charlie named it "The stat scroll" , true to the content inside: a live update of his current physical and mental status in numbers. This was an easy to understand format to Charlie, just because it was extremely similar to the experience system used in role playing games Charlie used to play in his old world. Charlie took a quick glance over the scroll and clicked his tongue.

Strength - 13, Dexterity - 14, Constitution - 12, Intelligence - 13, Wisdom - 15, Charisma - 12.

His stat hadn't changed since he had battled the Dragonkin in the kobold infested cavern months ago. 

It was certainly strange as he had done a lot more with his adventuring party - clearing out bandit camps, culling dire wolves, exploring abandoned ruins,... He still had no idea how the stat system worked in this fantasy world - He did not know the prerequisite for leveling up nor how leveling up actually made him stronger. 

The latter was actually gnawing on his mind for a long while now - thanks to the increase in his Hit points, he had survived the battle with the fierce Dragonkin. Back when he was still a level 1, three goblins were all it took to almost kill him, and now, he could take quite a beating before falling unconscious. 

He had fallen unconscious only once after the first time with the goblins while clearing out a dire bear cave, and got back to his feet mere seconds later thanks to Roselie's quick treatment of divine healing. And in that incident, the bear had to hit him three times before he went down - two claws swipes over his torso and one bite attack to his shin.

But once again, Charlie would quickly consider anything that couldn't be explained with his literal otherworldly magic. He might owe it to magic for strengthening his body, and that was all he cared for - getting stronger so as not to be dead. After all, this new world was far more hazardous to living creatures than his old world - one could suddenly be surrounded by a group of ghouls and be severely injured or even worse.

Charlie skipped the whole familiar content of the scroll and looked at a curious handwritten line at the bottom. The line was the only thing not written in his own handwriting and it read: O great Sage, do travel to the end of the world, on the Northern Grand mountain range , I will see you again by the white wisteria.

Who wrote this? Great Sage? Would that be referring to me? 

There were many questions that he could not find any answers to for the longest time. He tried asking his friends about the northern grand mountain range mentioned in the line, but it seemed that they hadn't heard of it before. 

None of his friends had ever even seen the sea in the northern Niliphian, so a mountain range located at the northern end of the world seemed to be… far fetched. 

Charlie didn't give up, he tried researching in books from the Serepike guild hall (his receptionist also tried her best to help him). Yet, it seemed all his effort was wasted on something he wasn't even sure was real. 

Maybe it was just a quote from the artisan who crafted the magical scroll for him. But he had to be sure - that mystical handwritten line was the only clue to why he was summoned to this new world, and he wished to figure out why, why was he the chosen one? Was there anyone else besides, before or after him? What was his mission in this fantasy world? Was there a way for him to return back home?

Too many questions without answers. Some of them he hesitated to even think about because he didn't want to leak out that he was an otherworldly human. He didn't want to know the reaction of his friends and others - what if otherworldly creatures must be killed on sight?

The thought tore him asunder. 

But his curiosity was killing him every time he laid down to sleep.

And the helpful guild receptionist recommended Charlie to look for the Headmaster of the guild - Liam Hazecrest, to borrow his wisdom. He was in Niliphy for important business back then, but Liam had traveled to other parts of the continent so Charlie was in a stump.

Liam Hazecrest - he had indirectly hired Charlie's party for multiple quests through the guild's communication system. In fact, the latest quest where Charlie had met his wisp companion was requested and paid for by the headmaster himself. 

However, one could not contact the headmaster easily - a fact seemed to ring true in any world Charlie had been to. He had tried to leave letters and notes to the guild hall in Serepike and Niliphy for Hazecrest, yet there was no reply.

As usual, Charlie was disappointed, but not discouraged. 

The amount of useful books in the Serepike guild hall was limited - So I just have to find a public library to research!

Charlie was determined to find out at least an answer to his mountain of unsolved questions, tucked his stat scroll back in the bag of holding and joined the endless stream of citizens, in search of a library where he could look for information about his situation.

===

A crow perched on top of a wind vane let out a sad caw signaling the sun set.

Charlie wiped a drop of sweat off of his chin and sat down on a bench. He sighed and stared at the colorful waves of flags and banners hung overhead of the street. They seemed to have been hung there for a while, so they might just be ordinary decorations rather than for any special event. 

The sun had finally relinquished its throne for the moon as guards in armor started to light up the street lamps. Charlie would have been intrigued to look at the city when night came, if not for the wasted morning and noon he spent looking for a library. 

He was exhausted.

Asking the locals yielded little useful information - most citizens were not extremely studious or knowledgeable in the academic direction. Those who needed books and tomes for their study or business would purchase the book from merchants peddling such items, and most merchants selling useful books were traveling around the world and trading for books from different cities and cultures. Which meant if Charlie could find a traveling merchant, there was no guarantee that he had any helpful books for Charlie's research. 

The ordinary person of this world did not need to further their education, and that was a fact.

Most of the working class would learn the trade of their family and then take over when the time was right.

Only nobles, sages and those who had spare capital resources would join a school willingly. 

Not discouraged, Charlie tried to locate a school or university and surprisingly found an academy institute of magic in the middle of the Moonstar ward. His initial thought was to ask for access to use their library for personal research, but he was coldly turned away by the post guards. 

In hindsight, of course an institute training wizards would have many valuable tomes, books and forbidden knowledge that would destroy the fabric of reality if it fell into the wrong hands. A novice adventurer like him would never be allowed into the school grounds, let alone their library. 

He thought about infiltrating the academy but quickly gave up on the idea - one wrong step and he would become a burnt piece of meat. From what he heard about the spell casters of this world, wizards and sorcerers would not think twice before setting their enemy ablaze in an instance, and Charlie would love not to become a well done steak.

Maybe I should just go back to the inn for the day. I'll try asking the guild tomorrow.

After another sigh of defeat, Charlie raised from the bench and slowly traced his way back to West Town, where his party had checked in a reputable inn thanks to the recommendation (and payment) of headmaster Liam as the reward of the quest involving the will-o'-wisp Lissa. And of course, Lissa was currently sound asleep anchored on Charlie's chest.

It was already night time, yet the atmosphere was still bustling, Charlie frowned, he thought that it was even busier at night. While the sun was up, people of all walks of life headed out to make ends meet. But when the night fell, it was time for recreation and pastimes alike. 

Farmers usually had their dinner early and headed back to their houses for sleep after a long day of hard labor. Guards who were relieved of duty for the day would frequent taverns and bistros, drinking the cheapest, most bitter beer to conserve their hard earned coins to save up for a family. Adventurers, on the other hand, would generously spend their gold and silver for food and drink - those who did not even know if they would still be in one piece tomorrow would, well, be more open in consuming the best available goods. And it was not wrong or immoral or unethical in any way, adventuring had always been a dangerous job, and those who took up adventuring knew exactly what they signed up for. 

A brave new world required equally brave adventurers to explore the unknown, clear out the danger to allow for settlers to build frontier towns. After frontier towns are built and expanded, trade routes will be opened between towns, more posts will be built to keep out wild carnivores and monsters until more people settle down. Before long, the frontier towns will become the outer wards for a bigger city to be built inside.

In other words, adventurers were considered one of the most important occupations for a developing country in this world. It is true that the emperor (or any other country leader) could send out his army to open up the land, but it would cost much more in terms of salary for the soldiers. Food and all kinds of necessary items serving large scale adventures as such would dry out the royal coffer in a month.

New adventurers came up all the time. A villager who protected his home from raiding goblins or wolves would feel as if they could become an adventurer - they had fought monsters and survived, and that was the crux of adventuring, wasn't it?

No.

Unfortunately, new adventurers who were inexperienced would take on too difficult a quest one day and get themselves killed. They were under equipped, underskilled and sadly the guild could not careless. After all, the amount of new adventurers keeps rising daily - it did not matter if one adventurer or 100 adventurers fell in battle. All that mattered was the high ranked adventurers who could do the work of a thousand.

But…

Adventurers signed themselves up for that job, and they knew it clearly.

Gold and glory blinded them all.

Yet, Charlie had to become an adventurer if he wanted to travel the world. The high salary from doing quests would fund his adventure, the increase in physical strength and acquisition of magical spells would help him survive the harsh world. 

There's the fountain… next I should head to that alley to reach a bigger street and take a right.

Charlie sped up his steps. He wanted to be in bed already. Running around the whole day in full gear was physically demanding, Charlie was thankful that his increased strength score actually made him stronger and had more stamina. 

Near the fountain, a party of adventurers pulled a wooden cart full of monsters' hides.

It seemed that they were heading straight for the guild hall to sell their haul, but was stopped by town peddlers haggling for the goods.

Charlie couldn't identify which monster's hides those were, but he knew that those would fetch a fair sum.

Good for them. He thought.

He pushed through the crowd in the square and entered the alley.

Suddenly, Charlie was startled by a painful jolt in the middle of his chest. It was a sharp pain but quickly dissipated only leaving behind a warm sensation. Lissa? The will-o'-wisp didn't say anything to him. Frowned for the fifth time, Charlie pressed his back to the alley wall and brought his hand to the general location of Lissa's ephemeral body. 

Warm…

Charlie's hand heated up as if there was a stream of warm water running through his fingers - this meant that Lissa was still latched on his cloak pin, invisible and still asleep.

Maybe she was just kicking around…

Charlie sighed and thought to himself he was probably too tired so he overreacted before setting his foot down again.

It was at that exact moment he saw it. A strange warm light, almost as if it was flowing out from a glimmering and slightly open door in the middle of the dark alley. 

No.. not as if.

The door was real.

He wasn't sure if the door was there before, but Charlie knew it was magical in nature - the door was slightly glowing with purple-ish particles and it absolutely did not fit to the whole aesthetic of the valley. 

Most doors he saw in the city were made from dark wood, reinforced with metal strips and had metal knobs. Yet the door before him was as white as ivory and its elegantly carved door handle, which was easily observed in the low light condition thanks to the warm light inside, was made of gold like metal. 

Charlie knew he should not meddle in people's business - there were many things he didn't know about the world, but one thing he had learned from adventuring for a few months was to leave people alone to do what they were doing. 

Curiosity killed the cat. Charlie had adhered to this saying many times, sometimes he would miss out on great opportunities, but sometimes he would actually benefit from not charging head first into people's business.

However,...

Satisfaction brought it back. The saying went both ways, and Charlie knew that. 

Charlie leaned on the door and took a look inside, just to be frightened and surprised. Behind the ivory door was not what he expected to see. Although Charlie didn't even know what he was expecting - A normal living room of a family with a burning fireplace? A grain storage with a lantern still lit? No.

He saw sunlight. He saw clouds and trees. He saw a vast field of grass, well cut and maintained. And in the middle of the field stood a magnificent mansion, its foyer was open and had three large ivory pillars supporting the tiled roof above. And he saw what seemed to be multiple bookshelves inside the building, although briefly and unclear due to the distance. 

A magical library?

Charlie wondered. He was unsure whether to enter the door or not. On one hand, a magical library might have what he was looking for and even more. On the other hand, a convenient library appeared out of thin air before him? Right after he was feeling down from wasting a whole day looking for one? Nothing screamed "I'm a trap!" louder than that. 

It could be a once in a lifetime opportunity or it could be a colossal mistake.

And Charlie was ready for it. Placing his hand on the hilt to ready for a quickdraw, Charlie took a step through the ivory doorway. In the middle of passing through, he felt a slight resistance, as if he was resurfacing from underwater. But nothing happened beyond that.

Wind gently tickled his bare skin and there was a familiar aroma that he had smelled many a time while traveling around the fields of the frontier town Serepike: fresh grass and wildflowers.

He was actually standing in a grassy plain. The doorway must have been a portal of sort, teleporting creatures to another place or even to another plane of existence. 

Charlie could still breathe normally, he could still see clear. 

He looked back at the door to confirm it was still there before taking steps towards the mansion. His heart suddenly raced, pumping adrenaline to every nook and cranny in his body as he felt a shiver. Fight or flight, or so they said. His head ached. But he had set foot onto the marble flooring of the foyer and everything seemed to be in order. 

Inside the mansion was a strange sight. What seemed to be the living room had been transformed into a makeshift library with shelves covering every blank wall. In the middle of the room was an arrangement of three tables surrounding a fluffy lying chair colored red with multiple pillows and blankets. And of course, books. Books and scrolls were littered throughout the tables, some were open, some were stacked on top of each other making multiple towers of books. The sight reminded Charlie of a certain fictional character's study - messy, chaotic but had a sense of order that only the master of the room could make head and tail of..

A comfortable floral sense came from an incense burner placed on a stool.

A large chandelier situated exactly above the tables and chair illuminated the room with a warm light.

But before Charlie could take another step, a sound made him jump and panicked. A dull thud and a click of metal, the sound of a thick door being closed shut. 

He quickly turned around and prepared himself for a sudden strike, but none came.

Standing before the doorway was a curious person. 

A woman garbed in a long, silky robe complete with a hood covering her long silver hair. The robe was styled in white and gold with a spider web-like pattern made of gold strands covering her chest over the white robe. 

She was wearing multiple necklaces, some were adorned with gemstones of red, of blue and white, some were symbolic pendants intricately crafted, some were simple silver and gold necklaces. She was also wearing a silver chain on her hips, which held a large leatherback tome on the side.

A loud ephemeral voice abruptly came into his mind.

It was his will-o'-wisp companion. Lissa was jolted awakened from her slumber just by entering the vicinity of the woman - she was shrouded in arcane energy with an intention to kill.

"Well well well… what have we here?"

The woman smiled and tilted her head slightly to the side as her hood dropped, her dazzling blue eyes looked straight at his. Her voice was husky and breathy and alluring in many strange ways that the human ranger couldn't ascertain why. 

Her voice reminded him of his older sister's - but he did not have a sister. He had a brother. Charlie felt as if a heavy blanket had covered his mind as his eyes went unfocused and his hand hung loose to the sides. He did not know how to react. He could not react.

"Please disarm yourself, young boy, place your weapons on the ground." the woman whispered, keeping her cold gaze fixed onto his torso.

Charlie wanted to obey the woman's command, and he didn't know why. All he could think of at that very moment was to do what the woman told him to and everything will be alright. He slowly unbuttoned the gun holster before grabbing the grip to reveal the weapon and threw it down onto the grass plain.

"You don't look like an assassin, nor do you look like a vampire… How did you get inside my mansion? Hmmm…

Nevermind that… Come in. I rarely get visitors."

The woman glided past Charlie carelessly, silently, albeit her many trinkets, and took her place on top of the red lying chair. 

She smelled faintly of perfume.

"Tea? Warm milk?" She inquired and flicked her fingers. Quickly after, to Charlie's amazement, a porcelain teapot suddenly came into existence and floated next to her.

She silently stared at him as if waiting for his reply.

Charlie stood still on the plain, sweat beaded on his forehead. Something was clearly wrong with him, he could realize that much. He had just thrown his main weapon away before an unknown person, mindlessly following her command. 

How? Why?

Was I hypnotized? Did the woman use a charm spell or a command spell on me?

Charlie was taken aback. He did not catch the mysterious woman making any casting signs or using any component, which made him extremely concerned. If a magic caster could cast a spell on him so subtly, they must be a very experienced caster or in possession of a high tier magic item.

Yet…

The woman didn't seem to bore any ill intention for him. She nonchalantly poured a honey-colored tea into her cup and slightly tilted her head.

"I'll… I'll have what you are having…"

Charlie dry swallowed. Uncertain of his fate. 

"Very well. Come."

The woman pointed at a leather chair and placed his cup on top of a pile of books before sipping hers.

Might as well do what she says… I don't want to mess with this lady…

"Can I have my gun back?"

He asked while sitting down. The tea was refreshing.

"Don't worry about it. Now… let's start over with a proper introduction, shall we? My name is Immith, the proprietress of this abode between dimensions."

"I'm Charleston… Sorry for… intruding your property, miss Immith. I can assure you that I had no foul intention of stealing from your mansion!"

Immith once again portrayed her mysterious smile and set her teacup down. "Hmm… Charleston… Please forgive me for not being able to believe you just yet. You see, someone recently placed a bounty on my head, dead or alive." She reached inside her long and baggy sleeve before producing an old scroll and rolled it open on the tabletop. "And I'm sorry for casting a charm spell on you to help encourage you to disarm yourself before we could exchange pleasantries. But… You did break into my house so I believe that I was well within my right to defend myself don't you think?"

"... Sorry about that."

"So please forgive me once again for using this", She raised the scroll with both hands "to confirm your truthfulness, Charleston."

Immith spoke a word of arcane - the type of word that is intelligible and unrepeatable to the untrained ears, and the scroll dissipated in a puff of white smoke.

And quickly after, a brightly glowing magic circle appeared on the marble floor underneath both Charlie and Immith. Charlie could make out some symbols related to the goddess Tymora, the goddess of good fortune and adventures: coins and feathers motif. But the rest of the magical symbols and arcane words were unknown to him. 

"Please, Charleston, do tell me, what do you do and who do you work for?"

Hmmm… Is she interrogating me? 

"I'm an adventurer, employed by the adventurer's guild itself. I've been working as one for about six months."

Immith tilted her head and nodded. Charlie wondered if she was aware about her constant head tilting, but he did not say anything. 

"What of the creature clinging onto your vest?" Immith's eyes suddenly sharpen

"This… don't be surprised but this will-o'-wisp used to be a halfling girl with the name of Lissa in the town of Mere. I just found her on a quest a few days ago and… well, long story short, she is traveling with me for the time being."

"A… sentient and friendly will-o'-wisp?"

"Yes. She didn't want to consume the dying thoughts of humanoids so she had to kind of hibernate to conserve energy."

Immith went silent for a second, her lips pressed against each other as she observed Lissa. Then she nodded and tilted her head lightly. 

"Very well Charleston, you are full of surprise, huh? So, how did you trespass into my mansion?"

"I saw the door to this… uh… dimension appeared in an alley and my curiosity got the better of me…"

Immith hummed and slightly frowned. Her silvery hair took on the orange-ish candle light reminding Charlie of a vibrant sun set. It seemed that Immith was in deep thought as she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples - at this moment, Charlie thought the woman before him was frail and harmless, against his best of judgment.

"...Hey, Miss Immith? I understand that I have caused some trouble for you, but can I impose myself on you? Can I ask you for help in my personal… quest?"

"Personal quest? I don't think I'm of help to your adventuring, Charleston. I'm merely a librarian, you see." She made a wide gesture with her arms, indicating her surroundings.

However, she was exactly the one Charlie was looking for. 

He wondered if someone actually knew his intention and set up his meeting with Immith.

Was it some gods above trying to help me? Or was it some malicious individuals trying to trap me? Is Immith a demon waiting to steal my soul?

He was conflicted. But he steeled his resolve and spoke in a serious tone.

"Then you are exactly who I needed to find. I'm in need of someone who is knowledgeable in arcane and magic. You see…"

Charlie saw Immith frowned once again and he thought he had almost lost her interest, so he took a risk and took out his Stat Scroll. He had hoped to never have to reveal his otherworldly identity, but it seemed that to gain someone's trust, he must first trust them.

Was it an action of desperation? Yes.

Did Charlie act on impulse, something he was taught by his fellow adventurers not to? Yes, he did.

But was it worth it? Arguably yes, according to the observable change of impression on Immith's pale face. Her eyes opened wide and her mouth hung ajar as she unknowingly tilted her head in amazement.

"This… scroll. Where did you find it?" Her voice trembled.

And it was understandable. To Charlie's ordinary eyes, the scroll was just… a scroll. Except the fact that it was magical in nature and could update his physical status live. 

Most magic items and trinkets would have a slight glimmer, a faint glow of the arcane enchantment imbued on them. This effect could even be seen by a normal farmer if the enchantment was strong enough. 

Charlie had seen multiple magic items since he had set foot onto this fantasy world, most were in possession of high ranked adventurers. They ranged from weapons to rings, armors to boots - in fact, Harrison the human warrior and Elluin the elf archer - two of his close friends, owned magical weapons. The human warrior got a magical axe from a dungeon and the elf, a magical longbow from her village.

Yet…

The scroll he had, the Stat Scroll, did not look magical in any sense to Charlie. It was not glowing, it was not emanating any kind of magical aura to his eyes.

But Immith was not Charlie. 

And to her eyes, the scroll was illuminating the whole room with an intense violet shade, overpowering the candlelight and casted a dark shadow onto her and the room - the type of aura Immith had only witnessed once before. 

Boons of the Gods. 

Incredible items willed into existence from the gods themselves. Almost any Boons of the Gods contained an absurd amount of magic essence that could even power a golem or an automaton for thousands of years without even depleting any significant amount of its innate magic. 

Items that could turn the tide of wars with just a flick of wrist.

And one of them was presented before Immith by a young and amateur adventurer. 

Did he loot it from a dungeon? Did he steal it from the guild? Most boons would be hoarded by individuals and organizations of power… No way an adventurer like him could possess such an item. Unless…

"I… can not disclose where I got this scroll as I don't even know how I got it in the first place myself. Ah… no… I know how I got it… more than six months ago, right before I became an adventurer, I was unconscious in a forest. And when I woke up, I found it in my backpack."

Immith wanted Charlie to lie, to hide the fact that he stole it somewhere.

But he was, in fact, not lying in any capacity - the zone of truth she had casted from the spell scroll had assured her of that.

Then… he was blessed by the gods themselves, no doubt.

Maybe… just maybe… he could help me…

Another blessed being. Immith had encountered a fair share of the blessed. Some were given immense power, some were bestowed answers to every question ever existed, some were bequeathed boons. 

And not every blessed being would do good to the world.

"You are actually full of surprises, Charleston dear. Can I see it?" Immith offered her hand.

It was certainly understandable when he hesitated, his hand instinctively gripped the scroll as if scared that she would snatch it from him. 

Charlie looked into Immith's crystal-blue eyes and sighed.

"This… scroll is a magic item." He uttered "And I mean… You already know that, don't you? But I… this scroll is somewhat very personal about me, and I am looking for answers, for knowledge about it, about myself. So, I understand that you could just forcefully take it from me with your magic prowess, but you did not. Not yet anyway. So I hope that… My intuition is correct in thinking that you are a trustworthy person for me to confide in."

Immith nodded. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest. She felt lightheaded from the immense aura of the scroll, and it was so much more overwhelming when Charlie put the scroll in between her open palm.

"The scroll actually displays my physical status at this very moment in a numeric system." Charlie revealed as she untied the scroll and cast her gaze onto the content inside.

Physical… status?

Immith read the handwritten scroll, in common language, of Strength, of Dexterity, of Intelligent, of Wisdom and of Charisma. But she didn't understand. What did that have anything to do with the scroll? The boon? She had expected some sort of forbidden knowledge or a medium to summon arcane prowess to a certain extent.

Immith wanted to ask the young adventurer in front of her if this was an elaborate joke, but he had yet to reveal everything , or so it seemed.

"I know its… hard for you to understand what was written here… please allow me to explain."

Charlie slowly went over what he understood about the status system that he was bound with, about how when he "level up", sometimes his stats would go up or he would be able to learn a new spell. He admitted that he didn't fully understand how the stat worked, but apparently, he actually got stronger when his strength score went up. He went through the Hit points - his life force, nakedly displayed as a number. He showed how the scroll worked by cutting himself over the palm to cause the Current HP in the scroll to change from 32 to 31. 

In hindsight it was a stupid idea because he had inflicted a painful wound on his hand, rendering him more clumsy in wielding weapons.

"Very interesting… and you wish for me to find information about this scroll in particular?" Immith handed the Stat scroll back to Charlie and sipped some tea.

"Yes… I mean… I do have other questions too, but I wanted to know who made the scroll, why it was attuned to me and how it actually made me stronger, faster when the stat score went up. I believe by increasing the stat scores, I could get stronger very quickly, much quicker than any ordinary training."

Charlie hesitated for a moment as he caught Immith's deep blue eyes staring at him silently. Her lily-white skin made his heart skip a beat as he averted his eyes.

"And… I wish to learn about a spell that could teleport people or… creatures from one world to another." 

He slightly squeezed the scroll in his sweaty palms. He was sweating bullets.

  Did I over-shared? Is she irritated by my torrent of questions?

"Hmmm…" Immith suddenly roused from her lying chair and went over to the shelf directly behind her before grabbing a large tome with tattered leatherback. "Charleston. You said you were an adventurer, weren't you?"

"Y… Yes I am…"

"Hmm…" The magic caster hummed, flipping pages from the tome carefully so as not to damage the ancient piece "What would you say to a trade, Charleston?"

"Trade?" For a second, Charlie thought the woman would force him to give her the scroll, but Immith quickly shook her head when she realized he misunderstood what she had to say.

"Yes. I wish to hire you for a quest. The reward will be my cooperation in your research. What do you say?"

Charlie leaned onto the table before him. He considered the offer, of its pros and cons. It was true that he was an adventurer, but his party was temporarily disbanded for a few days so taking on a quest might be too difficult for him. But on the other hand, Immith was an experienced caster, a potent arcane wielder. If someone could figure out the mysterious shroud blanketing Charlie, it might as well be her.

Immith traced onto the yellowed page with her slender finger as she mumbled the knowledge written inside before slamming the tome shut and laid it onto the table before Charlie.

"Well… Charleston, you piqued my interest. Honestly, what wind brought you to my doorsteps, huh? Alright, I would like you to trust me before you decide. My name is Immith Murnyethera, an Archlibrarian from the kingdom of Qarchehia. And similar to you, I am currently also in need of help as I'm on the run. You see, Charleston, I'm being hunted by vampires and dhampirs from all over the continent and I'm in search of an item to help get them off of my back. And my search landed me in Niliphy, the capital city of the Elven Emperor Ilphas Aranorin. I'll confess to you, I almost cast a disintegrating spell on you when I saw the door ajar and you standing in my mansion."

Charlie performed a dramatic sigh and patted his chest.

"Well… the door was already ajar, you forgot to lock it or something?"

"What?... I thought you… the door should be invisible to most…" Immith expression suddenly went dark. She realized something didn't add up. Her interdimensional mansion summoning spell should have been hidden from most creatures, and the door should have been impervious and almost non-existence to all but her.

Before she left, she had made sure to close the door. That she could be sure of.

So how did Charleston see the door? Why was it ajar?

And before she could finish her mumbling, she screamed in pain as a rapier suddenly appeared and pierced her shoulder from her back. Charlie saw the sharpened rapier tip ripped the white gown and immediately painted it crimson with Immith's blood.

And behind her stood a creature. A humanoid. Its skin was pale, sickly pale, its hair black, curly. And it was smiling a wicked smile before revealing a long and red tongue, licking Immith's cheek despite her struggle. And above its tongue were two long and sharp fangs.

Vampire or dhampir. Charlie didn't know.

Charlie broke free of his surprised freeze and reached for his dagger before the creature jerked its head and stared at him. Its blood red eyes pierced his soul.

"Boy. Sit still. I'll get to you soon." It spoke with an alluring voice, a voice most men would not be able to resist.

It attempted to cast some sort of charm onto Charlie - he felt once again, a heavy blanket dropped onto his mind as his hand grabbed the hilt of the dagger before freezing completely.

Yet…

He felt as if the spell had failed and the charm spell Immith casted on him earlier was much more potent.

The creature didn't know he was not affected by its spell, and he would take it to his advantage. It turned to the struggling Immith before stabbing her other shoulder with a dagger.

She whimpered in pain as the creature cackled.

"Well well well… the wench Murnyethera is not as dangerous as the others warned me huh… You could not move your slutty mouth to cast a spell huh, wench? The mouth which you used to curse our father into eternal slumber. Heheh, just a little venom from a Giant spider and our little witch is paralyzed huh? Oh what's that? Are you wondering how you could not see me? Oh please, your gem of true sight would never pierce the Ancient One's magic veil."

The creature cackled again before lifting Immith with both blades up and threw her into the bookshelf behind. Immith couldn't even utter a whimper now - the paralyzing concoction slathered on the weapons had proven to be quite effective. 

"I will take my time with you, wench. I will skin you alive, then I will drain your blood dry, to pay for your insolent action, foolish witch. You will wish for death, yet you will find no such mercy from me. The Ancient One has allowed me to do as I wish, as long as I bring your head back on a platter."

The creature leaned down and forcefully pulled Immith's face upward and disgustingly licked it before bursting into an uncontrollable laughter. And it was showing its back to Charlie.

He quickly located his gun - no more than 5 meters behind him. A quick jump and roll would guarantee the gun in his hand and the iron sight trained on the creature's head. He quickly went through simulations in his mind - counting the bullets, considering the dagger, taking into account the surroundings, of what could be of use.

The creature was of vampiric descent - Charlie gathered as much from the fangs and the inhuman strength and speed.

Yet… There was no time. The creature finally started to reach for the dagger on Immith's shoulder. He must act now to preserve the magic caster's life.

Charlie leapt from the stool onto the grass plain, tightly gripped the gun and rolled before bringing the gun up and cocked the hammer.

But he had miscalculated.

The creature had superior senses. It heard his movement and rushed right at him, shoving the table in the way slamming into the wall with a mere fling of the arm, its claw grew into the length of a paring knife in mere seconds and its speed was insane. It was already at arm length before Charlie could squeeze the trigger.

There was no doubt that one strike from the creature would render him incapacitated.

Time almost slowed down for Charlie. He could see the blood splatter on its wicked face, Immith's blood no doubt. He could smell the faint sickly sweet smell emanating from its hair and he could hear the claws cutting through air, aiming for his neck.

But its claws never reached him as a brilliantly blue lightning shot out from his torso and slammed into the charging creature.

A frantic voice telepathically filled his mind - Lissa's voice: "Careful Charlie!"

He smirked. Lissa had saved him from instant death. Her lightning attack forced the creature to recoil and bared its fangs in pain. A burnt mark could be seen on its bare chest, running along to its arms and neck. 

"Youuuuu…" It hissed. The creature was pissed.

But Charlie couldn't let the opportunity pass. It was his turn.

He squeezed the trigger and the hammer slammed onto the ignition chamber, sending the metal bullet exploding outward from the barrel in a fiery cloud of flame.

And quickly after followed a scream of pure terror as the creature's right hand was obliterated when it swung wildly trying to reach him. Dark blood, bone fragments and sinews all splattered and spilled out in a grotesque manner.

Charlie spared no time to celebrate his accuracy. The pistol he was holding was improved by the dwarven artificer back at Serepike - it utilized the recoil of the ignition process to push the hammer back and primed another bullet into the chamber.

All he did was trained his aim onto the creature's wailing mouth. And squeezed the trigger again.

The creature was terrifying at first, but now, it was tenfold more scary. Charlie had successfully opened a hole through its pharynx and he could see through it to see an unconscious Immith with blades protruding from both her shoulders. The creature was not dead, it stared at Charlie in disbelief before pouncing at him with incredible speed.

No ordinary creature could resist such a fatal wound. If it were any living humanoid, it should have been choked with its own blood.

Yet vampiric descent did not require air to breathe.

But he was ready this time. His left hand unsheathed the dagger, he skillfully sidestepped to avoid the clumsy claw attack and drove the blade into its right ribs. A muffled cry came out from its bloody throat before Charlie let loose the last bullet loaded in his gun into its temple.

The creature slammed into the ground similar to a doll whose strings were abruptly cut. Yet Charlie could not risk it faking death. He drove the dagger again into its heart - his limited knowledge of slaying a vampire involved a stake through the heart or pushing it into daylight or using silver metal.

The dagger he was holding was silver. It will do as a makeshift stake - he assured himself before rushing over to a fainted Immith, whose blood had made a big puddle beneath her.

Fuck! Please don't be too late!

What should I do?

Charlie did not bring any medical equipment with him - he had always relied on Roselie the cleric girl for any medical aid on their adventure. And he cursed himself for not preparing for moments like this.

He took out a knife from his boots and quickly ripped Immith's sleeves out, exposing the grievous wounds the creature dealt her. He could observe faint blue veins popping out from the wound, highlighted due to her porcelain white skin.

In his panic state, he felt a cold gaze fixed onto his back. Goosebumps immediately appeared on his arms and neck.

Was the creature still alive? Did I fall for its fake death?

He spun around and quickly sprang from crouching, ready to meet his fate. But it was not the creature of the night. Behind him, a corporeal humanoid, glimmering in purple and floating mid air, offered a wooden chest to him.

It did not speak, it had no facial features.

But its action clearly confirmed its intention. It wanted Charlie to use whatever was in the chest to save Immith.

There was no time to think, Immith could die at any given moment. He did not know if his amateur first aid skill could stop the bleeding from such fatal wounds.

Charlie snatched the chest and opened it. And to his surprise, it was a chest full of potion vials. He quickly recalled the color of vital potions in his travels - red was the default color of the lowest tier of healing potion, and green was for antidotal potions. He grabbed two vials of healing potion, carefully removed the blades from Immith's wounds so as not to worsen the injuries. Then he poured the content of both vials directly into the wounds.

Thanks to the magical properties of the potion, the healing process was quickly streamlined. Charlie could see white bubbles fizzled from the open wounds similar to the effect of disinfectant in his old world. The bleeding stopped immediately, then he saw Immith's skin attempting to regrow.

Charlie popped the cork from another healing potion and carefully fed it into Immith's mouth, alongside with an antidote to cure her from the paralyzing venom on the poisoned blades.

Not 30 seconds later, both Immith's wounds had been closed, returning the faultless white skin back to her. But the shock from the blood loss would not be remedied that easily - she needed to rest.

Charlie carried the unconscious magic caster to her lying chair and laid her down. Her silver hair was tainted by her own blood, her white and gold gown turned crimson. But she was alive. He was alive. 

The curious ethereal humanoid left the room for but a second before returning with an ashen blanket and handed it to Charlie. He understood what it wanted, he covered Immith up to keep her warm.

Then he had to prepare. From what Charlie observed, Immith was shocked to learn that the door to her mansion was visible and opened - it must have been the creature's doing.

Did it come alone?

Will any other creatures try to kill Immith?

Charlie pushed the tables and chairs and stools to both sides of the ivory door in the middle of the plain, creating a makeshift barricade. He knew any vampire could easily break through the flimsy wooden furniture, but at least it gave him the false pretense that he was safe.

He had forgotten that it was night time, and after the adrenaline rush from the battle, he was dead tired. He settled down in the corner of two bookshelves, watching multiple ethereal humanoids appear and cleaned up the room before sleep took him.

It was a rough day for him.

But at least, he had successfully found a path forward.

He was on his way to uncover the mystery of how he was transported to this world.