As they entered professor Reed's office, Yamato directly went for an old book that he picked at random.
"Don't you want me to tell you how they are ordered?"
"If I had to take a wild guess, then I'd say they are ordered by how much you like them."
"What, how did you know?!"
"I can see why you are under investigation, professor…"
"Ouch… Well, but even so I can still tell you where the things you look for are."
"I already have something…"
"The one you just picked? Let me see!"
Professor Reed glanced over Yamato's shoulder at the book he had taken from the shelf. It was a large and thick one, slightly damaged but not in a way that would impact how well one could read it. Though it did not have a title written on the outside, one was on the first page at the upper left corner.
"The Tales of Jack Morgan, Focus on Magical Creatures… Who is this Jack Morgan?"
"Hm… History isn't my specialty… But if I remember correctly, he was one of the first magic users, revolutionized the worlds understanding of mana and was also the first to make it around the globe. No one knows where he was born or where he came from at all, he just suddenly appeared one day. This book is the original hand written diary he wrote during his adventures, it is about 1700 years old."
"He sounds very important professor… Should you just forget someone like that? Ajd have something priceless like this just lay in a shelf?"
"Eh, it's fine… Go on, read it."
"It will only take a moment…"
Yamato skipped through pages as he read them as fast as he could to get a picture of his personality.
"So in the book he describes various encounters with magical creatures and how he beat or didn't beat them. He gave them names and categorized them from F to A depending on how dangerous they were. Here is one… "The Snow Wolf, I encountered one alone as I hiked over a mounted during a snowstorm. About two meters tall, it was quite imposing but one of the smaller creatures I had encountered up until now. At first it was just that one. It just stared at me, without any movement, so I was uncertain if it was even real, or just my eyes lying to me… It's white fur almost let it blend in with the snow completely, only it's red eyes left it visible to the naked eye. Then I heard my crew scream from behind, as I had been walking ahead. As I turned around, I heard it rush towards me, so I grabbed it by its snout and ripped its head off. When I came down to look for my men, only blood and bones remained. There were footprints of at least twenty different wolfs in the snow, or that was as much as I could count before the snow storm covered them and I had to leave alone. They are a solid Class C, as they seem to hunt in packs and lay traps to isolate and distract individuals while taking on the rest with overwhelming force, yet they lack the ability to sense if something or someone is stronger than them."
Interesting… He seemed to be strong and vers observant. I should take his writing as credible source for information. Here's another one…
"Target Spider, first encountered in a cave, it's name comes from a red point with a red circle around located on its black back. The cave entrance was too small for a larger group, so I entered alone, though the spider was about eight meters tall, which made me wodner how it even entered. It had to be born here of entered as a baby, which would explain why it was the only one even though spiders usually have small groups near or with them. I saw it sting a small dragon, which seemed to either paralyzed or kill it instantly, after which the spider wrapped it in webs and hung it on the ceiling. The whole cave was like this, and it was without a doubt the apex predator here. Once it noticed me, I jumped on its back only to find that my sword could not penetrate its back, instead it just shattered. The power I had teaches myself recently, called magic, also seemed to have little effect on it. It even seemed to suck the light which my magic created in, and use it as a source of energy. I only managed to escape as it got distracted by larger pray, though it did leave a scar across my eye which ended up turning me blind on it, I will have to wear an eyepatch from now on. Class A+, without a doubt one of the most dangerous things I have ever encountered. It was so incredibly fast, as if it were only a little spider crawling up a leaf, yet it was four times my size and on the wall and ceiling which where all covered in webs, which I suspect to be toxic as well, although I cannot confirm, the creatures in contact with it seemed to move slower immediately after contact. Evade or distract."
He doesn't mention what he did in that cave in the first place though… Maybe it is part of his journey around the globe? Like a shortcut? Or I need to read another diary for that… The title does imply there are multiple, ones that aren't focused on magical creatures… Oh, but what is this? It sounds familiar…
"World Ender Salamander, encountered as I rested against a rock, which the creature seemed to be resting on as well. At least 40 meters in length, curled up to a ball, completely invisible at first, I noticed it through its breathing and the form in the sand below the rock, as only its main body was on the rock, I could map out its body. Even though I wish I hadn't, I attacked the creature, thinking it would be my chance to strike as it was sleeping. How wrong I was. All my magic attacks just bounced off its skin, it did not even flinch or wake up. If only I would have taken that chance to leave, instead I told all my men to attack it with their iron. I did the same, which is when it happened. The Catastrophe of Thoo. Thoo was a large city next to where we and the creature were. The center of this kingdom, I was informed, though I only had arrived here a few days ago and was yet unfamiliar with its history and inhabitants. Regardless, as the creature woke up, it released a roar so horrible that those who hadn't backed away from it already just died, and everyone far enough away covered their ears as soon as they heard it. It did not waste time and rushed to attack each and everyone that it saw. Even though it could swallow a person whole without a problem, it still chewed on everything it got into its mouth for as long as it could, before they were ripped to pieces so small one cou not recognize them as anything anymore. It seemed to revel in the blood and get a rush from it, as it only got more aggressive the more men it devoured. As we tried to retreat, it followed us into the city without us noticing, as we thought flying above the clouds would be enough. Yet it seemed to have followed us from the ground to the city. I do not know how and why it was able to track us across such a long distance, not even a guess. it was faster than us as well, as when we arrived, it was already too late. It was crushing buildings, crawling through rubble to try and kill everything stuck in between collapsed stone buildings. It also let out roars which hurt our ears so much that we all lost focus, some of the less experienced survivors even passed out and just fell to the ground and died. I and a few others managed to land somewhere in the middle of the chaos but were attacked almost immediately after. I was the only one that survived. When it seemed to have enough of that, it spit fire in all directions, leaving nothing but burned space in a 4 kilometer radius, before just lying down again like nothing happened, on top of the destroyed city. This one took my hand, and I am grateful that I managed to keep the rest. Classification S, this monster requires its own category, and needs to be avoided at ALL costs. There is no survival in a direct confrontation as its skin is impervious to any form of damage infliction known by mankind. It's intelligence rivals or may even surpass humans, as I am certain it let us get away so we would lead it to the city, probably thinking they were our family, and killing them only out of spite. Senseless cruelty is a characteristic reserved for self aware life forms, which this monster definitely is. If I ever encounter another one, I will stop my expedition and return home."
Oh, it's his last entry... Hard to tell what happened to him… But I suppose I have a better picture of what Iky is now. Great book. If only he had the opportunity to study it to give me more detailed information instead of observations made in battle… Oh well, can't have everything.
Yamato put the book back in the shelf, much to professor Reeds surprise as he only held and skipped through it for about three minutes.
"Anything interesting in it?"
"Didn't you read it yourself?"
"Oh, heavens no, it looked super boring. I'm just a collector."
"Ah… Well, nothing noteworthy or helpful in it. I'll keep looking if you don't mind."
"That's fine. Just call me if anything happens. I have to go now though, will you he alright alone?"
"Sure…"
"Great! Have fun then!"
Then he just left Yamato alone with his entire collection. Not that he would steal anything, but he found it odd how carefree he was about what seemed to be his only, or at least mist passionate, hobby. He chose to just accept it and look around for information about the other things he wanted to learn more about.