The library was inside the main building of the academy. Vidra missed the entrance ceremony, so this was the first time he entered the giant castle. What greeted him as he stepped in was a big front hall with supporting columns on both sides.
Students from different grades walked around, doing their business. Some still had a class to attend, while others had other business to take care of here. Vidra walked up to the desk right beside the entrance to ask where he could find the library.
It turned out that most of the second floor belonged to the library. Vidra only had to take a proper look upwards to find it. Millions of books across countless rows of bookshelves. Every single one categorized.
'This is more like a maze, isn't it?'
Vidra wondered as he started searching for books regarding traits and trait holders. It wasn't uncommon for him to end up in a spot he had already found once. The library seemed endless. It took him a while to find a book about traits in some secluded corner.
Vidra took off a rather dusty book. It had a simple red cover making it close to impossible to find if one is not paying enough attention.
'A collection of observations from trait holders to trait holders by Mort. Could this be a coincidence? Or is the author of this book our teacher?'
Vidra opened the first page and started reading. he was about to close the book after a while, noticing that most information regarding traits and trait holders were speculation with no basis.
"Traits could manifest under seemingly any circumstance. Different traits require different conditions to be fulfilled to appear. Some are easy to fulfill, while some are close to impossible."
"The one thing we know about traits is that we don't know any of the requirements needed to manifest one. It appears seemingly nowhere. Some have it from birth, while others gain it as they go through their life. However, they always seem to appear to fulfill a specific goal."
"The following observations were made by the trait holders of the past."
Vidra continued to read the book. Soon, he learned the information he was most curious about. The reason he entered the library was to find out how to improve the progression percentage of his trait.
"It appears that most trait holders learned how to improve their traits once they understood the reason behind their appearance. Those who remember the circumstances under which their trait appeared have an easier time understanding the reason for their existence."
"No one knows how traits manifest, but many trait holders of the past knew why their trait appeared."
This sentence was on the last page of the book. Vidra closed it and walked out of the library, his head filled with thoughts.
'Did our teacher Mort write this? So, will I be able to control my trait if I understand the reason behind its existence?'
Vidra walked back to his dormitory room and lay on his back. Uros was still outside doing something. He took out a piece of paper and wrote down everything he remembered regarding his trait.
How it appeared, when did it appear, how did it feel? These were questions that Vidra had a somewhat hard time answering. It's been six years since he gained his trait, and he didn't have time to properly learn how to use it during that time because his parents made him study.
'My trait says in its description that it is the last will left behind by the villagers of Inaka. Does that mean they had a specific wish they couldn't fulfill until the end?'
Vidra tried to sleep, but couldn't fall asleep due to the constant new thoughts entering his mind.
'It doesn't matter how I look at this. Inaka was a paradise. How could they all have the same regret during their last moments?'
Uros arrived shortly after Vidra entered a focused state. He simply sat down on his bed, seeing that his weird roommate was concentrating on something. Suddenly, Vidra started blinking. He snapped out of his torpor and looked at Uros with a motivated grin plastered on his face.
"Uros, do you know any places where we can drink something good?"
"Forget about it, first years are not allowed to drink. Also, don't we have classes tomorrow?"
Vidra stood up from his bed and got closer to Uros.
"You don't have to come with me if you don't want to, just tell me what do you know and I'll leave you alone."
Uros sighed in frustration.
"There's a tavern inside the academy for older students who have come back from long missions. It is also a famous drinking place that most students frequent. However, I don't know where it is located exactly, and they don't serve anything to first years."
"Now get lost, and don't ever mention my name if you get in any trouble."
Vidra shot out of the dormitory with unusual speed. Uros stared at the door, dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events.
'I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be an alcoholic.'
Vidra ran across the academy, from one building to another, earning concerned glances from other students. Lune was walking back from the library along with Arcine when they spotted Vidra dashing out of a building.
"Isn't that Vidra?"
Arcine asked as he turned towards Lune.
"What is that idiot planning to do now? Why does it have to be him every single time? Let's go!"
Lune and Arcine decided to follow Vidra. They wanted to catch up to him, but the speedy elf suddenly entered the forest near the academy entrance and disappeared.
Vidra thought about the location of the famed tavern as he checked the buildings one by one. The territory of the academy wasn't big enough to hide an entire tavern unless they did it with magic.
Running out of unknown buildings, Vidra decided to check the entrance of the academy, where students who returned from a mission would enter. He suspected that the travel would be somewhere close to the entrance.
It didn't take long for him to find a less-traveled path leading into the only forest inside the academy territory.