"Is there a floor map of the library?"
Darc infused magic into his Sorting Card. In response, a layout of the library appeared on its surface.
St. Marian's library had only one floor—but the bookshelves were absurdly tall.
The academy used a very physical method of "difficulty control": the more advanced the books, the higher they were placed.
Without the ability to fly, you simply couldn't reach them.
But Darc's familiar had wings.
Advantage: him.
Ironically, familiars were meant to replace owls for message delivery. Yet most students' familiars couldn't even fly.
Darc located the section labeled "Familiars" on the map and headed there immediately.
Familiars differed from ordinary magical spirits in one key way: they could remain outside their cards indefinitely without draining their owner's magic.
Magical spirits couldn't. Once their time limit was exceeded, they consumed their own magic until disappearing.
And their intelligence rating was only 2—half a tier below familiars.
Even with the map, Darc spent nearly ten minutes finding the correct shelf.
An entire shelf—filled only with familiar-related materials.
"Do I really have to search manually from here?"
He looked up.
The shelf stretched so high it felt like it touched the clouds.
Just this one shelf probably held thousands of books.
"How am I supposed to find anything? Do I have to go back and ask the librarian?"
"Am I really risking a +1 indicator just to finish homework?"
Absolutely not.
He calmed himself and began scanning from the bottom up.
Impmon was demon-type, so he just needed demon-type references.
Except…
This shelf was filled with books like Special Magical Spirits: Familiars, The Untold Stories of Familiars and Spirits, Beginner's Familiar Crafting Guide, 101 Key Points for Making a Familiar…
"…Did I come to the wrong place?"
A realization hit him.
Information about Impmon wouldn't be in the Familiar section.
It should be under Magical Spirits or Magic Cards.
Preferably an encyclopedia-type book.
Darc decisively reopened the map and searched for the Magical Spirits section.
There were dozens of shelves.
"…Now I can't see the end horizontally either."
He sighed and began the long search.
…
After half an hour of browsing, he found a thin book tucked into a corner:
Into the Abyss.
His nearly dead hope flared up again.
He pulled it out and flipped through.
A table of contents!
He didn't even go to the reading area—just stood there flipping pages.
Then he saw the first line:
Gaze into the abyss, and the abyss gazes back.
He intended to skip it.
But suddenly, the words shimmered.
They shifted into a script he had never seen before—yet somehow could read.
"…Secret Ancient Script?"
This was the encrypted language once used by demons to pass down knowledge.
It required matching bloodline sequences to decipher.
Darc had no idea what sequence his bloodline qualified for.
But he could read it.
Dispel the fog. See the truth. The full moon will guide you.
Darc blinked.
Then he snorted and flipped to the index.
He quickly found Impmon under demon-type.
After all, this was just first-class homework. He suspected Professor Sylph only wanted them to learn how to use the library.
This encyclopedia laid out Impmon's details perfectly.
He took out paper and began copying.
Impmon: demon-type, dark attribute.
Within demon hierarchy: 12th sequence — Familiar class, the lowest tier.
Described as trash-tier demons. Weak, scheming, sycophantic creatures that survived by flattering stronger demons.
No higher evolution.
As a magical spirit:
1 starMagic: 100ATK/DEF: 100/100Skill: "Small Dart"—fires a giant syringe projectile to draw blood, cost 50 magic.
As a familiar:
ATK/DEF fixed at 100Magic 100No skillBonus flight speedSpecial ability: Tracking
Typical familiar stats. Mail delivery substitute.
Darc finished copying quickly, returned Into the Abyss to the shelf without a second thought, grabbed a random Magical Spirit Compendium, and walked to the reading room.
No homework from Magic Theory or Potions.
The rest of the afternoon was free.
Other freshmen roamed the castle or played games in the common room.
Darc had no interest in socializing.
The library corner suited him perfectly.
He poured a cup of the library's specially blended tea, sat in the corner, and flipped through the compendium with the mindset of reading a casual magazine.
This was the life.
In the enormous St. Marian Academy, only this tiny corner gave him peace.
Perfect.
Not only did none of the sin indicators increase—
Wrath and Sloth each dropped by one point.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
https://patreon.com/RogerTL