"CURDLE"
Quies flinched at the sudden voice. It didn't come from a specific direction, nor was it loud at all. In fact, it was but a mere whisper. However, he had just been taking a peaceful walk over a bridge, so any sudden noise would scare him.
'They're getting louder.'
When Quies woke up this morning, his suspicions of hearing the faint wisps of a voice had been confirmed. It had happened after he meditated his attunement, but had gotten stronger the more he used his blood ability.
'Speaking of which, I really do have to come up with a name for that blood ability. It would be really quite weird if I was in a fight and I kept yelling the same phrase over and over again.'
After a moment of thinking, which took him all the way to the front of the temple entrance, he figured that he should call it by what it is. Blood Enhancement. He would've gone with blood circulation if his body didn't do that already.
'I'm such a creative guy!'
He stood in front of the entrance to the temple. He had descended the stone staircase to his right, which led to the barbershop which he had just gotten a haircut from. The exterior of the temple heavily contrasted its interior, consisting of mostly stone architecture.
Compared to that cathedral he had dreamed about, the temple held some similarities. A lone guard stood at the foot of five tall pillars which stretched at least 3 stories high. The guard stayed silent as Quies ascended the steps and entered the inner temple.
He walked through a dark passageway, which he assumed bored through the mountain as it would've been too long and inefficient for a wall. As he exited the other side, bright sunlight shone down on him once again.
'This is reminding me of the first time I came here.'
As his eyes adjusted, he was met with a tranquil garden. Stone steps guided visitors from the entrance and split into two distinct paths, each one going in complete opposite directions. At the far back of the garden, centered with the entrance to the temple, was a small pond which looked artificially constructed. On the edge, a monk sat, meditating for who knows how long.
Quies walked down the stone path, acknowledging the lone monk for a moment, and turned left. He was going to the training section of the temple. He walked under a tall arch, and walked down a hallway lit with the luminance of orange torches that sat above green bushes. He walked through another entrance, this time it was an open door, to enter the familiar winding wooden hallways within the mountain.
This was where he would be training for the remainder of the time.
A sign stood propped at the center, a little above eye height.
'Blacksmiths and trainers to the left, library and mantras to the right… Decisions, decisions…'
Immediately after glancing and interpreting the contents of the sign, Quies altered his course to the right, heading for the library.
'No use for sparring if I don't even know how to swing a sword. Why are there so many doorways and entrances in this dang temple?!'
He walked through, yet, another doorway that separated the division of the temple into subdivisions. The library was just as Quies expected. It was a quiet area, suffused with dimmer burning lamps instead of torches for a calm atmosphere and to, obviously, not burn down the whole library.
As he walked past a thick metal waterpipe, a bright red book with yellow accents caught his eye. It was located in the history section, which wasn't what he was exactly aiming for.
'Wouldn't hurt to give it a read.'
He moved towards the book and put a finger in the slight dip between the cover and the pages, hesitating to pull it out. He put another finger and lightly pulled it out of its seated area. The remaining books on the same shelf level cascaded to fill the gap.
'The Eternal Flame and the Failure of Man, by Amorus Pleetsky. Gosh it looks so boring and introspective. No mortal would find the phrase 'The Failure of Man' not corny.'
He studied the cover and back of the book, feeling its grooves and bumps. The yellow accents glimmered in the dim light like gold. In the end, he put the book back in its place. From what he read on the back, the book discussed the different applications of flamecharm.
First of all, Quies wasn't a flamecharmer, meaning that this book would have no direct application towards him. Second of all, Quies wasn't very proficient in his own attunement, partly because there were no books about it, or at least that's what he had been told. If he honed his attunement for a few months or a year, maybe he would have the proficiency to take the teachings from this book and apply it to himself.
He walked past hundreds of colorful books as he walked through the aisles. Eventually, he reached the swordsmanship section and noticed that there were no more than ten books in one shelf row.
'Makes sense, because Vigil sort of has a sword training area right below where I am.'
He stood opposing the shelf, his focus moving from one book to another. Eventually, he decided on one of the books situated on the lower rows.
'The Basic Principles of One Handed Swordsmanship'
He looked at its austere cover, which didn't have much other than an engraving of what seemed to be a broadsword in a slightly warmer color. He opened the cover and skimmed over the preface of the book.
'This seems like a good start. If I have enough time maybe I'll be able to put this knowledge into practice.'
He closed the cover of the book and took a seat on the floor of the library. He wasn't planning on borrowing this book since there was the off chance he would be departing very shortly, and there were no ample seating areas in the library, so the floor had to suffice. He leaned back against one of the bookshelves and opened the book again, absorbing the knowledge written within its pages.
The subtle sound of bells in the back of his mind made it rather hard, though.