Mimic Awakening

Zyren and Dareon have reconciled with Azrael and Claire after the undead’s unreasonable attack on the humans. There have been misunderstandings and whimsical decisions on the undead’s side, but they have been resolved, and they have come to an agreement.

As they have discussed, they have joined their forces together. The undead’s floating island has to adjust its altitude to line itself up with Azrael. The surface of both islands are settled at the altitude of two leagues, or ten kilometers, above sea level.

Their battle released an immense amount of mana in the atmosphere, which could be felt on the mainland. Judging that their location might be compromised, they deemed that staying in the same spot might be dangerous and relocation is necessary.

Currently, the two floating islands are traveling west. As they always expect, all they could see is the blue ocean that stretches to the horizon.

"This castle is quite big," Azrael says. "It is still nice and tidy over thousands of years."

Inside the lobby of the castle on the floating island, Azrael, Claire, and Alina are moving their heads around as they look at the interior of the castle. It has been a day since the reconciliation of two parties, and Azrael and the others are on the other island for sightseeing.

"This castle is the last memory we have of our lord." Zyren reminisces about the past. "Keeping it clean is the least we can do to keep this land safe. We cannot let this abode rot over time."

"Is that so?"

After that, Azrael and the others continue exploring the castle as Zyren and Dareon guide them. Dareon is in his full armor anew. Azrael has been wondering if they have a room full of weapons and gears.

Since they are undead, Zyren and Dareon are actually emitting ominous negative energy to support their forms. For Azrael and Claire, they thought nothing of it, but Alina is not as powerful as them, and the ominous aura really sends chills down her spine.

Alina gets uncomfortable near them so she has been staying near Azrael most of the time. She even sneaks her hand to hold his, to which Azrael does not mind, as it is normal for lovers to do.

Azrael and Alina have been getting closer and closer since the night they became one. He even spent the night with her last night. Claire just stares at them as she has yet to improve her relationship with Azrael. Things get busy these days, so she cannot find a window to discuss it with him.

After passing several rooms and chambers, the group has entered the library of the castle. As curious as she is, Claire suddenly fires up, seeing an archive of information before the arrival of the two gods.

"There are so many books here I haven’t seen or heard," Claire excitedly says as she approaches the nearest shelf. "The Basics of Primeval Magic, The Great Extinction of Dawn’s Era, History of The Great Empire of Fulzion, The Continental Drift Theory, The Dark Side of Healing Magic... Some of these books have never been seen before. I feel like I found a treasure trove."

"You can read them if you desire, Miss Claire," Zyren speaks. "But the books might be dusty since I haven’t opened them in thousands of years."

"It’s no problem, Sir Zyren. I’m quite impressed by the conditions of these books through the years."

Claire grabs a leather-covered book from the shelf before opening it on a random page. Even though dust accumulates on the sides, each page is still white and free from dirt, dust, and deterioration. Not even damages from termites and rats can be seen in every book.

Since God’s Tongue is activated, Claire can clearly understand each word that was written in ancient scripture. Her eyes seem to glisten as she reads the contents of a random page of a book about primeval magic.

"She’s already absorbed by the book. It might take a long time before she comes back."

"She reminds me of myself in the past. I was so obsessed with knowledge that I collected so many books that it became this very library."

"So all of these are yours?" Azrael asks.

"Not at all, this castle already has books. I just added my collection here until every shelf is occupied."

"You are such a bookworm, Zyren." While crossing his arms, Dareon chuckles. "I heard some stories that you hole up in the library since you started living in the castle."

"It’s rare to find a library at that time, so I didn’t waste time reading."

As Azrael is chatting with the undead pair, Claire approaches them with a few books in her arms. From the looks of her face, she seems visibly confused.

"Sir Zyren, can I ask why there are relatively newer books in here? I thought you hadn’t left this place for twenty thousand years."

"Oh, those books. Yes, those are books that are not from our era."

"But how did you manage to get a hand on these books?"

When Claire asks that question, Zyren and Dareon look at each other before they take a nod in unison seconds later. They turn to Azrael and Claire and unveil something that they have not told.

"Actually, we, Dareon and I, are not the only ones living on this floating island. There is another person you haven’t met yet."

"What? There’s another person?"

"So where is this person?"

Claire and Azrael are shocked by this sudden revelation and ask them about it, respectively.

"He is currently not here since he has to do some business on the surface," Zyren claims. "We will eventually tell you about him later."

"I see." Claire nods her head. "So this person is the one bringing these books to the island?"

"That’s right. His name is Zachary. He is originally not an inhabitant here. He suddenly appeared here more than six hundred years ago. He has a mysterious aura around him, and even I could not fully grasp how powerful he is."

"If you can’t measure him, it means that this Zachary guy must be a powerful individual." As he conveys those words, Azrael presses his thumb under his chin. "If he were here right now, we might be cooked."

"?" Zyren cannot understand the slang in his last words. "Even if he were here, he would most likely stay in his room and avoid the fight as much as possible."

"You really think so?"

"Zachary claimed to be something called a lorekeeper. He said he was tasked to explore the world and create written accounts of the events that happened in this world."

"Mister Zachary is quite an eccentric person," Dareon adds. "He rarely shows his emotions and is always wearing a serious face. Maybe even more stoic than both of you, who are second awakeners.

"Ho?"

Both Azrael and Claire are surprised by Dareon’s claims about Zachary. Awakening one’s unique ability has a drawback of suppressing the holder’s emotions to a certain extent.

While first awakening only makes a person braver, more courageous, and have less guilt for killing, second awakening definitely affects how the holder should express their feelings.

As second awakeners, Azrael and Claire rarely express their emotions unless the feelings are extreme. If Zachary were as emotionless as Dareon described, they would be afraid that he is also a second awakener or worse.

"He does not show interest other than writing." Dareon continues. "When I asked him to have a duel with me, he just straight up refused my invitation. He said that he was tasked with not engaging in a fight unless it was absolutely necessary."

"Perhaps the reason he stays in this place is because it is isolated?" Azrael wonders.

"You’re right," Zyren confirms. "He can basically teleport between locations and only come here to transcribe his writings into books."

"He must be spending most of his time gathering source materials outside."

"That’s right. Since he can do that, I asked him to bring newer books here for me to read. That’s how I learned that there’s a new magic system and the primeval magic is now called ancient magic."

"So when are we able to meet this guy?"

"It’s hard to say," Zyren says. "Sometimes, he was gone for months and sometimes, years. He has been gone for approximately three months already, but his return is quite unpredictable."

Ever since Zachary arrived on the island, all he did was stay in his own room in the castle to turn his manuscripts into books. He only stayed no more than a week before he went back to the surface again.

"I see."

"Other than books, Mister Zachary brought some interesting things with him."

"Just like the item to measure a person’s mana capacity," Dareon says. "That was how I measured you to be around thirty million points."

"That sounds interesting," Azrael smirks. "Could you please show it to me?"

"Of course, just follow me."

"I will be staying here," Claire says. "I’ll see you later."

Afterwards, Azrael, Zyren, and Dareon exit the library while Claire stays along with Alina.