### Chapter 8: The Library and the Bully
The pre-dawn air was cold and sharp, carrying the scent of damp stone and distant dew-kissed grass. It was a cleansing scent, washing away the last traces of the stale, stagnant air of his dorm room. For the first time since arriving in this world, Su Yuan felt something other than the cold calculus of survival or the pressing weight of his predecessor's despair. He felt anticipation.
His night-long session with the Glowgrass had been more than just practice; it had been a revelation. It was the first time he had truly synergized his two impossible advantages: the boundless ocean of his mana and the endless stream of resources from the System. The result was a level of mastery over a simple cantrip that felt profound. It was like a master calligrapher practicing a single brush stroke ten thousand times until it became an extension of their soul.
He had the power. He had the materials. What he lacked was the knowledge—the blueprints for new spells, the fundamental theories that governed this world's magic. His destination was therefore clear. Before his first lesson with the formidable Instructor Valerius, he would visit the heart of the Aethelgard Academy: the Grand Library.
The library was not merely a building; it was a monument. Known as the Athenaeum, it was a towering structure of white marble and enchanted glass that seemed to drink the morning light. As Su Yuan approached, its grand bronze doors, etched with swirling constellations, swung open silently to admit him.
The interior was breathtaking. The air was still and reverent, thick with the smell of aged vellum, arcane dust, and the faint, clean scent of preservation magic. A vast, domed ceiling soared hundreds of feet overhead, not painted, but a living star-chart of shimmering, slowly wheeling galaxies. Sunlight, filtered through the enchanted glass, slanted down in hazy golden columns, illuminating motes of dust that danced like captured sprites.
Bookshelves carved from a dark, lustrous wood stretched up into the gloom, far higher than any ladder could reach. Students and instructors floated silently between the upper levels on softly glowing discs of light, plucking books from their resting places. Ghostly, spectral librarians, remnants of the Athenaeum's most dedicated curators, drifted through the stacks, their forms translucent and their expressions serene, ensuring silence was maintained.
To the gamer 'Void', this was the ultimate loot room, a treasure trove of knowledge waiting to be plundered. To the orphan Su Yuan, it was a palace of dreams he had never dared to enter, fearing the scornful looks of those who felt he had no right to be there. Today, those fears were a distant echo. He walked with a steady, purposeful stride, his eyes scanning the runic markers that designated the different sections.
He ignored the advanced sections on Elementalism, Abjuration, and Chronomancy. He was a beginner, and building a solid foundation was paramount. He made his way to the 'Foundational Arcana' wing, a less glamorous but far more crowded section near the entrance. Here, the shelves were lower, and the books showed more wear.
He ran a finger along the spines, his mind cataloging the titles. *Principles of Mana Flow*, *An Apprentice's Guide to Cantrips*, *Defensive Warding: Volume One*. He was looking for two things specifically: a basic defensive spell and a simple offensive one. The [Glow] cantrip was versatile, as he had just proven, but its combat applications were… limited.
He found what he was looking for: a thin, leather-bound volume titled *Core Constructs: Shield and Bolt*. It was the absolute beginner's textbook for combat magic. Perfect. As he reached for it, a shadow fell over him.
"Well, well. If it isn't the 'Empty Vessel'."
The voice was a sneering drawl, slick with arrogance and casual cruelty. Su Yuan didn't need to turn to know who it was. Leo Sterling. Son of a minor merchant lord, possessed of moderate magical talent and an ego the size of a mountain. He was one of the original Su Yuan's primary tormentors, a bully who derived pleasure from reinforcing the academy's harsh pecking order.
Su Yuan slowly turned, the book in his hand. Leo stood there, flanked by his two usual cronies, both of whom were larger and duller than their leader. Leo was handsome in a conventional way, with sharp features and meticulously styled blond hair, but his eyes held a petty, mean-spirited light. He smirked, looking Su Yuan up and down with open contempt.
"I heard a fascinating rumor," Leo said, crossing his arms. "That you had some sort of fit during the assessment and broke the crystal. Must be a new record for magical ineptitude. To be so devoid of mana you actually create a negative pressure. Pathetic."
So that was the version of the story that had trickled down to the dregs. It was distorted, twisted to fit their pre-existing image of him. They couldn't conceive of him having power, so they had rationalized the impossible event as an impossible failure. It was, Su Yuan noted with detached amusement, a very human response.
"I'm surprised they haven't thrown you out on the street yet," one of the cronies grunted. "Wasting academy resources."
"He probably came in here to hide," Leo mused, his eyes glinting. "But you've made a mistake, Su Yuan. This is a place for mages. It's a place of knowledge and power. Things you will never have. You don't belong here."
Su Yuan remained silent, his expression placid. He simply held the book and met Leo's gaze. There was no fear in his eyes, no anger, no defiance. There was nothing. It was like looking into a deep, still well. This unnerved Leo far more than any retort would have. The Su Yuan he knew was supposed to flinch, to stammer, to shrink away. This calm indifference was new, and it was infuriating.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Leo sneered, stepping closer until he was invading Su Yuan's personal space. The smell of expensive cologne was cloying. "Or are you finally realizing your place?"
He reached out and jabbed a finger into Su Yuan's chest. "You're nothing. A charity case. An empty bottle taking up space on a shelf meant for fine wine." He then flicked his gaze to the book in Su Yuan's hand. "And you certainly don't have the right to touch these books."
Leo's hand shot out, aiming to snatch the tome from Su Yuan's grasp. It was a classic, petty act of dominance.
But Su Yuan's reaction was faster. Not with his body, but with his mind.
As Leo's fingers were inches away, Su Yuan's free hand moved. It wasn't a block or a strike. His movements were fluid and economical. He gently placed his open palm flat against the center of Leo's chest, right where the bully had just jabbed him.
Leo froze, startled by the unexpected touch. "What do you think you're—?"
"You're mistaken," Su Yuan said, his voice quiet but clear in the library's hush. "It's not that I'm in the dark."
He paused, his eyes locking with Leo's.
"It's that you are."
And then, he cast the spell.
He didn't pour a river of mana into it. He didn't try to create an explosion. He channeled the same perfectly controlled, flawlessly stable stream of energy he had practiced all night. He took the simple [Glow] cantrip, a spell meant to illuminate a small herb, and focused it through the point of contact on Leo's chest.
There was no sound. No heat. No force.
There was only light.
A star was born in the Foundational Arcana section.
An eruption of pure, silent, white-gold radiance burst from Su Yuan's palm. It wasn't a flash; it was a sustained, overwhelming tide of brilliance that engulfed Leo completely. The bully's sneer vanished, replaced by a strangled cry of shock as his world dissolved into searing white. The light was so intense it bleached the color from everything nearby, turning the rich wood of the bookshelves to pale grey and the vibrant robes of onlookers to shades of bone.
Leo's cronies, who had been laughing a moment before, yelled and threw their arms over their faces, stumbling backward as if hit by a physical blow. Other students in the aisle yelped, their vision overwhelmed by the sudden, impossible glare.
Leo himself was at the epicenter. He flailed wildly, trying to push Su Yuan away, but his hands couldn't find him. He couldn't see. He couldn't think. His senses were annihilated by the sheer luminous intensity. The light wasn't burning his skin, but it felt like it was burning his eyes from the inside out. It was a sensory deprivation attack executed with the most basic light spell in existence.
"Stop it! What is this? Stop it!" he shrieked, his voice cracking with panic. He was completely helpless, a moth pinned by a searchlight.
Su Yuan didn't stop. He held his position, his arm steady, his expression unchanging. His face, illuminated by the blinding light he was creating, was a mask of serene concentration. He poured mana into the spell, a steady, endless flow from his infinite reserves. Any other apprentice would have been drained in seconds. Su Yuan could maintain this for eternity. He was demonstrating a level of mana control and endurance that was simply incomprehensible for a first-year student.
The commotion had drawn attention. From the upper levels, floating discs began to descend. The spectral librarians, usually so placid, were converging, their ghostly forms flickering with agitation.
Then, a new voice cut through the air, sharp and resonant with authority.
"ENOUGH. Cease this disruption at once."
The voice belonged to a stern-looking elderly woman perched on a librarian's disc twenty feet above. Her silver hair was tied in a severe bun, and her eyes, magnified by spectacles perched on her nose, crackled with arcane power. This was Head Librarian Elara, a master of Abjuration magic and a figure more feared by students than most instructors.
With a flick of her wrist, a wave of shimmering purple energy washed over the scene. The moment it touched Su Yuan, his [Glow] spell was not just suppressed; it was unraveled, its magical structure dismantled. The light vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, plunging the aisle back into its normal, shadowed state.
The aftermath was stark.
Leo was on his knees, gasping, hands clutching his face. He was blinking furiously, tears streaming from his eyes as spots of black and green danced in his vision. His cronies were huddled against a bookshelf several feet away, similarly disoriented.
And Su Yuan was standing exactly where he had been, his hand now fallen back to his side. He looked calm, unruffled, as if nothing had happened. He still held the book.
The silence that followed was profound. Dozens of students were now staring, their faces a mixture of shock, confusion, and a dawning, fearful respect. They hadn't seen a high-level duel. They had seen a bully, a well-known figure, utterly and humiliatingly incapacitated by the academy's biggest joke using a spell every one of them had mastered in their first week. They didn't understand how it was possible. The sheer power and control required were absurd.
Librarian Elara's disc descended silently until she hovered at eye level. She fixed her piercing gaze first on the whimpering Leo, her expression one of utter disdain.
"Brawling in the Athenaeum, Mr. Sterling? Have you forgotten the rules, or do you simply believe they do not apply to you?"
"He—He attacked me!" Leo stammered, pointing a trembling finger at Su Yuan.
"I saw an instigator and a response," the librarian countered, her voice dangerously soft. "The use of any spellwork between students within these walls is forbidden. You and your associates will report for scouring duty in the restricted archives for the next two weeks. Perhaps cleaning ancient, cursed tomes will improve your temperament."
Leo's face went white. Scouring duty was the most dreaded punishment in the academy. The cronies looked like they were about to be sick. Without another word, a spectral librarian solidified beside them, its cold, misty hand gesturing firmly towards the exit. Defeated, they were escorted away.
Then, the Head Librarian's fearsome gaze turned to Su Yuan.
"And you," she said, her eyes narrowing. "That was a [Glow] cantrip. Yet you cast it with the intensity of a signal flare and the duration of a ritual. Explain."
Here was another interrogation, albeit a more minor one. Su Yuan gave a slight, respectful bow.
"My apologies, Librarian. My control is… volatile. I have only recently experienced an awakening of my mana." He used the same narrative he had given Valerius. It was his shield, his all-purpose excuse. "He was attempting to take my book. I reacted… excessively."
He sounded apologetic, but his explanation was a masterpiece of understatement. It confirmed that he was the source of the power, while simultaneously framing it as a lack of control, a weakness.
The librarian stared at him for a long, hard moment. The story of the broken Assessment Crystal and Su Yuan's subsequent meeting with Valerius was already circulating among the faculty. His explanation fit the profile of the anomaly Valerius had taken under his wing.
"Excessively," she repeated, her tone flat. "Apt. See that your… volatility… is not displayed in my library again. Instructor Valerius may have taken an interest in you, but the Athenaeum's rules are absolute."
She gave him one last, searching look, then her disc ascended smoothly, carrying her back to her perch among the high shelves. The show was over.
Su Yuan was left alone in the aisle. The other students didn't approach. They just stared, their whispers now filled with a new brand of awe. He was no longer just the 'Empty Vessel' who broke a crystal. He was the boy who defeated Leo Sterling without throwing a punch, using a light spell.
Ignoring them, Su Yuan walked calmly to the main desk, where a stern-faced human librarian checked out *Core Constructs: Shield and Bolt* for him with a simple stamp of magical ink.
As he walked out of the Athenaeum's grand doors and back into the morning sun, Su Yuan felt a quiet sense of victory. It wasn't just about defeating a bully. It was about testing his new power in a controlled conflict and succeeding beyond expectations. He had turned junk into a tool, a cantrip into a weapon, and his reputation from a joke into a terrifying enigma.
He now had mana, resources, and knowledge. The three pillars of power.
The sun was higher in the sky now. His first lesson with Instructor Valerius was about to begin. For the first time, Su Yuan felt he was truly ready.