Then he asked how he should address her, and she said she had no name. He could call her whatever he liked. She even suggested something like a cute nickname.
Turan decided to call her Miss Librarian, and she found it strange that he had suddenly become so polite, especially since, according to her, he had been ordering her around earlier.
Turan denied that, and asked her not to get so close, because it made him uncomfortable.
Next he asked whether she was a mage from the ancient empire, or something like that, and she explained that she was not even human. She was something like a spirit.
She went on to explain that when a soul inhabits something living, it becomes a living spirit. When it inhabits something dead, it becomes a spirit of the dead. And when it inhabits nothing at all, it is simply a spirit. In her case, she was part of the library itself, and the appearance she wore existed only to make communication easier — like a reflection in water.
Curious, Turan stepped closer and ended up passing his hand through her stomach, which made her complain. She said it was bizarre and irritating, especially because she could not directly use force against intruders. Otherwise she would already have punished everyone who had ever mistreated the books.
Turan commented that it seemed nobody in the Valtus family knew of her existence — perhaps nobody who had ever used the library did.
She explained that no one had the qualifications to perceive her. Her creator had made certain that only people with a certain level of lineage could recognize her. In other words, only Turan could see her, something she even called romantic.
Confused, he asked what kind of lineage she meant, and she replied that she was talking about the lineage of mages.
So Turan asked whether she could detect anything about his own lineage, and asked for more explanation, but she answered that he should ask his parents about that.
When he said that he was an orphan, she offered to examine him — though he would have to allow her to analyze his body.
He found that strange and asked her to stop talking like that, but even so, without waiting for an answer, she passed her hand through his chest, something possible for her as a spirit.
Afterward she explained that they were now connected, and that she had noticed certain characteristics in his lineage. She identified a main lineage of a pursuer, linked to the hunters of the Zahar family. But she also noticed another lineage mixed in.
That meant Turan was the result of two different lineages, though the second one was sealed, which is not uncommon when lineages mix. She explained that as he grew stronger, that lineage would eventually reveal itself naturally.
Hearing this, Turan thought that his mother might have been more than she seemed. She had been far too educated and refined to be just a commoner, even if her lineage had weakened to the point of no longer manifesting any power.
After better understanding the true nature of the librarian, Turan began to make much better use of his time there. He did not just read. He started asking a great many questions, seeking explanations on all sorts of subjects. The librarian showed knowledge even of books that were no longer in the tower, whether they had been looted or simply lost over time.
She taught him the basic principles of nature. And so Turan learned that many diseases arise from microorganisms, that decomposition occurs because germs feed on bodies, and he also came to understand concepts such as the refraction of light, the heat generated by friction, and even the processes of injury and recovery in living beings.
With this new knowledge, Turan began testing things in practice, starting with decomposition. He touched an apple and it rotted instantly, which left him impressed. He realized it was not impossible to do that with ordinary magic — but understanding the principle behind it allowed him to use far less mana. His magic evolved significantly, simply because he had changed the way he looked at the world.
He even considered that powerful families might hide this kind of knowledge precisely in order to maintain an advantage, since if all mages knew it, they would lose that edge. The librarian agreed, saying that this would explain why people's level of knowledge had been decreasing over time, and that it made sense as a theory.
Later, Turan decided that it was time to leave, since the owner of the place was already giving clear signs that he should not stay any longer.
The librarian asked to go with him, but ended up simply passing through his body, because she could not leave. When he asked whether she truly could not, she admitted that she could not, and then tried to convince him to stay, saying she would take very good care of him. He refused.
Before he left, she explained that on this continent there were many legacies of the gods, including other spirits like her, and suggested that he speak with some of them in the future, since he might find spirits with even greater knowledge.
Turan said that he would come back to visit her, and although she pretended not to care, he remarked that there were still a great many books left for him to read there.
After that, departing from Oren, Turan remembered that according to the complete map of the continent he had found in the library, the Enhil Desert — the base of the Zahar family — lay to the east.
He decided to head in that direction to try to find clues about his parents, but without haste. Along the way he traveled calmly, got to know the region better, made camp, faced monsters and absorbed their mana. He also thought that if any clues still existed, they would not suddenly disappear, since eighteen years had already passed.
On one of those days of travel, Turan came across a strange situation.