Chapter 77: Acquaintances?
Zephyr watched the display in slight amusement. For someone with such a grand name, Sage Maximus couldn’t be more different from what his name suggested. For one, he was small, nothing like the figure Zephyr had in mind when Guide Rita had mentioned his name. Aside from that, he also looked like he was still in his prime. Zephyr had created a mental image of an old man nearly about to cross to the next life... like Master Gregory.
Guide Rita had described Sage Maximus as ’the oldest and most knowledgeable person in Freehold,’ but Sage Maximus looked at most fifty. His hair was dyed a bright red color, or at least Zephyr thought it was a dye, it all added up to give him that young look. Zephyr was sure there was most likely some grand spell or technique in play that made him look younger than he was.
The Sage walked out with the bald butler in tow while the other two old librarians bowed their heads respectfully.
After he left and they raised their heads, the old lady stared at Zephyr like she wanted to say something, but she decided against it, nodding and going back to her post. Master Gregory though, wasn’t as calm as she was. He started rattling every thought and theory that had crossed his mind since he saw how quickly Zephyr comprehended the word Quanta—only Zephyr knew he had comprehended the word as Bit.
Zephyr had to admit the man was humorous. His wild theories made Zephyr laugh a few times. He tried reading at a point to give off the impression of being busy, so Master Gregory could leave him be, but the mental exhaustion Sage Maximus mentioned, and Master Gregory’s utter disregard of his subtle cue prevented him from reading past two lines. He left the rest up to Aegis, simply glancing over the words as he opened each page slowly like he was skimming through so Aegis could capture the whole thing. After going through the whole book, he decided to retire for the day.
The mental fatigue made him think back to how it would be for Exalted and Half-Exalted that were not enhanced like he was. The thought made him ask Master Gregory how long it took to recover after comprehending a word, and the old man explained that it depended on the level of comprehension, the usual thing being, the greater the level of comprehension, the more time it took to recover.
He estimated Zephyr’s recovery time to be around four days before he could attempt comprehending another word.
Zephyr filed the information away, factoring his enhanced body into the estimation and reducing the time by at least half. But he at least knew what was considered normal, so he knew how to proceed.
As he left the Grand Library, he felt a sense of fulfillment that he hadn’t in a long time. He had finally achieved something significant. A major step in the right direction. He now had a clear path of progression that could even bypass his single mana node deficiency.
Things were looking up...