After keeping up with the groceries with Talia, Nova decided to freshen up and head to the library, as he couldn't waste a single day without studying. Studying anything and everything was important. Especially math and physics, since both concepts governed the four realms. Without math or physics, logic wouldn't exist.
He got in the shower, without hesitation, quickly washing up. After shampooing and scrubbing down, he stepped out, dried off, and began dressing. He slipped into his signature attire: a fitted black shirt, partially unbuttoned to reveal a silver chain necklace with a cross pendant. Over it, he threw on a sleek, jet-black leather jacket with sharp, angular shoulders that gave him a menacing shape. His pants were slim, black, and reinforced, blending seamlessly with his obsidian-black armored boots, streaked with glowing red cracks that radiated like embers beneath the surface.
Then, he checked up on the kittens who were fed and had their water bowl full, which they could survive with for another couple of hours, and put on his sneakers. He air-kissed the kittens goodbye, then left the apartment, walking towards the library.
The library was a squat brick building with wide windows and a sign that read "Free Wi-Fi." Inside, it was cool and quiet, with the smell of old books with the faint sound of computers running in the background. He entered the library, approaching a desk, where a librarian with glasses balanced on her nose was looking up from a stack of books.
"Hi," Nova said, his voice a little rough. "I'm looking for books on… uh, the American Guild. And maybe something about awakening?"
The librarian raised an eyebrow, sizing him up. "Guild stuffs in the reference section, aisle 12," she said. "Awakening… you mean like spiritual stuff? Or something else?"
"I'm not sure," he admitted, scratching the back of his neck. "It's for a tournament. They said it's about people with potential to awaken."
Her expression softened, like she was used to weird requests. "Hmm. Might be some overlap with the guild materials. Aisle 12 for sure, and check the metaphysics section, aisle 8. You got a library card?"
He shook his head. "Just moved here."
She slid a form across the counter. "Fill this out. It's free, just need an address." He scribbled down the apartment's details, his handwriting messy from exhaustion. She handed him a card, and he nodded his thanks before heading to the aisles.
Aisle 12 had a few books on the American Guild, mostly dry histories and manuals. He grabbed one called The Guild: Structure and Purpose and another titled Awakening in the Modern Age. In aisle 8, he found a worn paperback called The Path to Power: Unlocking Your Potential. It looked a bit mawkish, but he took it anyway. Better to cast a wide net.
He settled at a table in the corner, a stack of books in front of him. The library was mostly quiet, only the occasional sounds of keyboards and whispers breaking through. He opened the first book, skimming the introduction. It described the American Guild as an organization formed in the 2000s. Then it mentioned how nearly fifty years ago, in 1980, strange monsters started to appear, and at first, countries blamed each other, but after another couple of years, about two years to be exact, people began to awaken abilities, and this allowed people to fight against the monsters, since normal bullets and tanks didn't faze even the E-rank monsters.
Then, about twenty years after the Surge, the global event where people started developing strange abilities, around the world, guilds started forming up. People realized that what was happening to them was exactly like what happens in a video game, so they incorporated some key things from video games, for example, clans or guilds, and calling awakened humans Adventurers or Players, both are equally used.
The book mentions how the guild regulated these "awakened" individuals into different categories, like a mage, battlemage, swordsmen, and many more. Then, it mentioned how tournaments happen each year, some are private, and the guild itself invites the Players to somehow unlock their potential, or sometimes public, where anyone can try, and if they awaken, they can enter the tournament to get recruited.
The book doesn't go into much detail on how someone can claim their ability or awaken. So, Nova still needed to search to awaken his inborn ability quickly. Then, he moved on to the second book. It was denser, full of theories about why the Surge happened, genetic mutations, cosmic energy, and even alien intervention.
Nova snorted at the last one but kept reading. He knew how the Circle of Pillars came into existence, how the dungeons spawned in, but the only thing he was missing was the way to unlock his "potential." That was the hard part, as the God of Destruction was given his Divinity of Destruction and __, and further refined them to achieve the level of power he had before turning into a mortal.
The book said awakening often came under stress or extreme focus, like a switch flipping in your brain. Training could help, but it was different for everyone. Some people meditated; others fought. Some needed a near-death experience.
Great, he thought. Just what I need, more near-death experiences. Like being broke as hell wasn't enough.
By the time he got to the third book, his eyes were starting to burn. It was less academic, more motivational, with exercises for "unlocking your inner spark." He tried one, closing his eyes and focusing on his breath, but all he could think about was how hungry he was again. He sighed, rubbing his eyes. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.
He checked the time, and it was 3:30 PM. He'd been at it for hours, between training, shopping, and now this. His body was begging for a break, so that's exactly what he did. He put all the books back in their places and headed back to the apartment, deciding to sleep on his bed.